Intro inscribed illiodically by Zilla Rocca. The Firm’s self-titled album sold a million copies…and was universally considered a colossal failure, so much so that Eminem took a shot at it when he ghostwrote Dre’s verse on “Forgot about Dre”. The project was such a travesty that it fractured the relationship of one the most talented […]

Deen’s only problem with the 90s is that the word “Fanute” had yet to be discovered. I could only listen to this once. But that’s because I’ve heard enough from Life Is Good at this point and want to salvage that initial listening experience by avoiding further leaks. Still. HOLY SHIT! This is excellent and […]

Son Raw checked his calendar: Escobar season has arrived. All apologies to Deen but The Don connected like a Mike Tyson uppercut in the original Punch Out!, at least on an underground level. Nasir has been a topic of discussion amongst my peers over the weekend and while some would crown him the greatest of […]

Deen had been wanting to fanute this for a while. I’ll start this with the conclusion: one of my English teachers once told me that that was a powerful way to open an essay and that it would help inspire better writing. Bear with me, writing about the process of writing is all I have […]

Deen is not like a bird. This post ostensibly should be about Nelly Furtado’s return — at least her English language return to the scene. But I’m going to use this as yet another excuse to ramble about Nas. After all, it’s Escobar Season again. The amount of publicity that Nas is doing via guest […]

In light of Nas’ “Behind the Music” special and his recent string of stellar singles, Zilla Rocca breaks down the brilliance and maddening contradictions of the street’s disciple. You can check out Zilla’s own impeccably executed raps here. If you’re reading this, your relationship with Nas has probably been bumpy over the years. You’ve made […]

Deen only needs one person to agree with him. I was gonna say this song “grew” on me, but that’s untrue. I loved it from jump. As is often the case with Nas singles, I was more concerned about OTHER people’s reactions to the song than mine (for the record, this may be the only […]

A combination of Deen’s latent interest in the NFL Draft and the recent wave of Nas publicity/and artwork leak led to this. Stop it Nasir. I’m not used to all this publicity for a Nas project. Def Jam must really want to get their money’s worth outta this one. Videos, VH1 documentaries, proper single roll […]

Photo via Up North Trips Deen is calmer than you are, dude. I don’t know what it is about this damn song that gets me so extra hype. I think, and correct me if I’m wrong, that it’s the perfect definition of irony when a song titled “Calm Down” makes me want to shank something. […]

This single did not make Deen’s life good.  What the fuck Nasir? For real? Why do you have to make my internet and barbershop lives so damn hard NasGawd? I can’t get jiggy to this shit. I can’t defend it either – even though the stan in me is desperate to rationalize this shit. This […]