10 comments

1. 

   Tray says:

   January 29, 2009 at 4:00 pm (UTC -7)

   Reply

   Shit, even Busta’s verse is good! These sorts of “sounds like the 90s” songs always make me a little sad, though, because it’s not like hip-hop can live off the occasional Where Are They Now remix, the rare record that does a great job of recapturing that sound. It’s great when they happen but it’s not a sustainable direction.

2. 

   douglas martin says:

   January 29, 2009 at 4:03 pm (UTC -7)

   Reply

   line-for-line, the most quotable rap tune of the young year. every dude (even q-tip’s verse from the original) killed it.

   i’m not entirely sure why, but “throw your hands in the air if your pussy don’t stank” is strangely resonant to me at this particular moment. well played, mr. f. baby.

3. 

   bding7 says:

   January 29, 2009 at 5:40 pm (UTC -7)

   Reply

   only tip could convince weezy that autotune isn’t the best idea. it’s good to hear raekwon start to, you know, rap again as opposed to all that whispering he did with ghost on ‘fishscale.’

4. 

   Disco Vietnam says:

   January 29, 2009 at 6:43 pm (UTC -7)

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   Tray, I’ll engage you on this one (Though I’ll ignore your backhanded Busta compliment because it makes no sense to me). Like you said, these tracks are great when they happen, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect a song like this to provide a sustainable direction. Your sadness, therefore, is unreasonable.

5. 

   Tray says:

   January 29, 2009 at 10:55 pm (UTC -7)

   Reply

   Who says sadness has to be reasonable? Of course I don’t expect a sustainable direction out of this, but songs like this both remind you that the 90s are, for the most part, an irrecoverable era, and that there is no great sustainable direction we are going in. Year after year my favorite songs are the one thing that sounds like it could’ve been made 12 years ago – that’s sad. As for Busta, he (a) sucked on most of what I heard off the Big Bang, (b) turned New York Shit, which should’ve been another one of these great back to the 90s moments, into a major disappointment, (c) turned ‘Touch It,’ which could’ve been a great club record that would’ve been replayed for many years to come a la his earlier singles, into a dud, (d) made ‘Arab Money,’ which could’ve been a great ignorant record for the ages, into a merely halfway-amusing song, (e) did that awful song with Linkin Park recently, (f) had this really embarrassing transformation when he turned brolic/started rapping about selling crack, and (g) has done a lot of other bad things in the past couple years that I’m forgetting. So it’s really surprising to me when he does anything right anymore. But he is great on this song.

6. 

   Deen says:

   January 30, 2009 at 12:12 am (UTC -7)

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   The hair Busta donated to charity > all that shit.

7. 

   Disco Vietnam says:

   January 30, 2009 at 7:56 am (UTC -7)

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   “Songs like this both remind you that the 90s are, for the most part, an irrecoverable era, and that there is no great sustainable direction we are going in. Year after year my favorite songs are the one thing that sounds like it could’ve been made 12 years ago – that’s sad.”

   But that says more about you than it does about hip-hop. The world keep spinning. Sadness doesn’t have to be reasonable, but if you want to be legitimately critical you’re supposed to use logic and reason, not emotion.

   I’m going to continue to ignore the negative things you say about Busta Rhymes because you continue to overlook the obvious: he’s a legend with a 20 year history. If he’s made some questionable creative decisions in year 19 you can’t allow that to distort what’s true. For instance, “Don’t Touch Me” is an incredible (now sadly underrated) track, but at no point while listening to it was I surprised the person responsible for it was Busta Rhymes.

8. 

   bding7 says:

   January 30, 2009 at 1:58 pm (UTC -7)

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   but it is surprising to hear him spit a verse where he basically equates his/his crew’s strengths to that of various animals when, not too long ago, he changed his style into that of a reformed dealer. the lack of consistency in his rap persona, especially such a jarring change after a long history of what a “busta rhymes” record meant, is what is really frustrating for me. besides, that “new busta” didn’t really raise his profile at all. it was a silly gamble.

   but this is a great song, and i thought busta stole the show.

9. 

   Sach says:

   January 31, 2009 at 11:11 pm (UTC -7)

   Reply

   I agree with Douglas, song of the year so far.

   A-rab money is hillarity and Busta’s been quietly killing some of these remixes. I don’t expect a good album out of him (news flash: even his best albums were uneven) but it’s nice to see him rip it.

   The only thing this remix could use would be Posdnous or Dres blacking out at the end.

10. 

    Evillincoln!? says:

    February 3, 2009 at 2:01 am (UTC -7)

    Reply

    Ugh…
    This track is fantastic.. but there’s too many ‘fans’ of hiphop that are stuck in the 90′s. Listen people.. Com said that I don’t even know how long ago.. THE 90′S IS NEVER COMING BACK. EVER.
    Period.
    Get over it & realize that hiphop has to grow for it to move forward.. the sampling laws helped hiphop more than it hurt in in my opinion cuz’ it made hip hop start moving in a different direction & without that you wouldn’t have albums like The Renaissance..
    Good hiphop is everywhere.. just get off your @$$ & look for it.