Under The Crown (A K1ng Eljay Blogsite)

Thanks for the support. I promise, next time I do one of these, it won't be such a "MySpace"ish picture... Hey, at least the tub's clean, right?

This year has been one full of surprises, to say the least. We started up hiphopstateofmind.com… and I actually kind of got into the hip-hop writing thing way more than I originally thought possible. It’s crazy, because I can see there’s a venue for my style of writing now because no one else is doing it.

If they are…they’re not doing it well, to say the least.

Either way, I’m just thankful for all of you who actually take the time out to read what I write. One of the things I think about all the time is impact. I always write from the heart, because I want people to relate (or at least understand) what I write. I want people to see the intelligence that’s missing in writing nowadays. So far, I hope I’ve been doing a good job.

As always, criticism is welcome as long as you’re not being retarded with it.

Anyway… That’s really it. This could be the last post of the year, so I figured I’d just thank everyone for reading. Whether you jumped on early at the previous jokes, or if you’re facebook friends with me and got interested in what I write, or if you JUST started to read thanks to the Lupe Fiasco post…

Thanks.

Happy Holidays to everyone. I would say Happy ChristmaHannaKwansicaWeen… But I don’t think that’s a real word. And if you want to watch someone completely beat around the bush and NOT say Merry Christmas and/or Happy New Years… you can watch a Gap commercial.

Yes. I’m still going there.

Check the links:

K1ngEljay.com

HipHopStateofMind.com

K1ngPoetry.Blogspot.com

K1ngEljay.Tumblr.com

Twitter.com/K1ngEljay

And the newest addition… Formspring.Me/K1ngEljay

Until next time…

LJ

(Disclaimer: This is longer than I usually post, so bear with me. This also doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of CaliLive and Rhymestyle. This is all K1ng Eljay, so feel free to direct the hate towards me if you have a problem with this.)

Recently, Lupe Fiasco released his highly-anticipated mixtape “Enemy of the State: A Love Story”. Through all of its apparent flaws (mostly snippets, the mixtape topping out at over 22 minutes) it was still worth listening to, especially with the promise of a new mixtape to finish it supposedly coming out on December 25^th. As the time got nearer, people started to talk about it more, and the buzz actually spread thanks to the last mixtape and the Santa vs. Blitzen commercials.

Yes, that’s Lupe as Blitzen and KRS-One as Santa. A Black Santa. Score one for hip-hop.

Then he cancelled it. Which is weird to me, because at the time Lupe would always say he was in the studio recording via Twitter, and etc, etc. so I don’t think he cancelled it because it wasn’t done. Unless Lupe lies in his tweets, he should have well over enough stuff to release a mixtape.

Then I remembered the whole “Mountain Climbing for Charity” thing and I figured that might have something to do with it, and then I let it go. I’m not a huge Lupe fan to begin with (although for the most part, he releases dope music, except that Twilight: New Moon crap), but I figured the one thing that Lupe has over a majority of other artists is intelligence. If he cancelled it, there has to be a good reason for it.

Then I began to read the comments on his blog. I read both sides of the argument. I understand both sides of the argument. On one hand, yes he promised the mixtape and cancelled. Yes, he’s cancelled stuff like this before. On the other hand, he’s climbing a mountain and needs to train. I can understand that.

That’s not where my problem is with this.

For some people, music is just music. For others...

So people begin to voice their complaints, one particular user goes harder than the others. Although he’s cursing up a storm, he’s making good points too. Enough to summon Lupe away from his “super-busy schedule of training” to post this:

“Oh please…stop whining…n-ggaz catching feelings over this?  :/ mixtapes are easy…climbing a giant mountain is hard… just hope you don’t have to pay for the next one…if there is a next one… Thanx for the love..”

For some reason, that didn’t sit right with me. Someone that’s super intelligent suddenly surprised that he has such a high demand for his music?

For someone who I hold high as far as intelligence…that was a stupid comment.

Read more…

"Better not bring your kids!!!!" Dave Chappelle said it best, I think.

(DISCLAIMER FROM K1NG ELJAY: This is just a joke. Don’t get mad. It’s just jokes. Well…some of it. Kind of. Just… read it, lol)

Dear Shane Sparks,

I know you’ve been through a lot lately. So I’ve thought of a way to maybe lessen the blow of what I had to ask and or say to you. Granted, my commentary isn’t exactly “revelation” or anything inspiring. It’s more along the common sense theme than inspirational, and because common sense seemed to be lacking in your current.. predicament… I figure I need to make this as easy as possible.

Kind of how you did with the girls.

But that’s not important… Read more…

So...I'm pretty sure Kelis got to keep the money from that picture too.

K1ng Eljay – For the longest time, I’ve always thought that in terms of MUSIC, 50 Cent has been the ultimate hustler. Sure, you could say that Jay-Z is better and all of that, and it’s true in certain aspects. Jay-Z pretty much hustled a RECORD LABEL at the end of its life expectancy (arguably, Def Jam).

But I’ve always viewed 50 Cent as the black Donald Trump because he’ll abuse anything and anyone to get money and to get his way. I also favor 50 in this aspect because he’s had more MUSICAL talent around him to actually siphon off than Jay-Z (another arguable fact, by the way). I personally would take Game, Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, and Olivia (then) over Memphis Bleek, Beanie (although I messed with Beans HEAVY), and Freeway/company.

50 Cent kicked Young Buck out of the group and still had Buck on the 2^nd G-Unit album like nothing was morally wrong with it. Not to mention he’s somehow still making money off of Game, and Game’s still selling records. That’s maybe the biggest win ever, considering the fallout/suckage from the rest of G-Unit nowadays. But once again…I’m sure someone would want to argue that fact too.

F.Y.I., I’d win that argument. I’d just say that Yayo’s technically the frontrunner for G-Unit now, and all conversation would stop, because technically Yayo never had any talent…

But now, there’s another person I think has 50 beat. From now on, when you talk about hustlers, I’m going to need you to remember Kelis.

People keep saying "It would've been cheaper to keep her," but you can't keep what wants to be let go. That's the case here...

When you look at it on paper, it’s one of the most BASIC moves – in every sense of the Lil’ Duval definition –  a person can make (marriage/divorce), combined with one of the STUPIDEST moves a person can make (no prenuptial agreement), but before those developments it sounded like a great story to watch and read about.

Established hip-hop pioneer Nas and singer Kelis got together and decided they loved each other and got married. They were so in love he didn’t sign a prenuptial agreement, because they both were established in the entertainment business.

Remember that phrase. I’m coming back to it.

So life goes on, she gets pregnant, and into the pregnancy things start to go south. If you were ANYTHING like me, you knew this was about to happen. And sure enough, before the baby came out, every problem surfaced, and before it was all over Nas ended up paying a monthly stipend to Kelis to the tune of 44,000 (ish) dollars. They tried to reconcile, she wasn’t having any parts in it. Somehow, the case got back to court, and 44 grand increased to 51 grand for child support because Kelis alleged that she never saw most of the profits from her musical endeavors…

…And Nas STILL doesn’t have the rights to see his baby.

So, let’s recap. Kelis convinced this man that a prenup WASN’T needed, won a settlement, and then got more money out the same settlement, and STILL has the money she previously had from her old endeavors. And all of it is approved through legal qualifications and Nas is basically screwed because NOTHING HE’S DONE FOR HER IS IN PAPER FORM. There are seemingly no documents or anything to prove she’s been getting money from him or anyone else. To top it all off, she’s a new mother.

Kelis seems like an EXPERT. She seemingly knew things that only people established in the entertainment business

Laura Wasser, famous for dealing with the personal affairs of Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie, and more. Google her for history lesson.

would know. She seemingly knows the system. She knew that without documents, you can allege stuff, and if you’re a mother, the court’s more lenient with the female than the male in the situation. She might’ve even knew the rapper card could play against Nas.  She went and hired the lady who specializes in celebrity representation (Laura Wasser. Google her) to talk for her. And even though Nas says he’s been sending her money, Kelis has “no records” of it. But as amazing as that is, the biggest feat Kelis has accomplished on her trample to the top is how she convinced Nas to NOT sign a prenup…

Most of this would’ve been avoided if there was a prenup somewhere in there, but Nas had a BRAINFART and decided to be the good guy. And he got screwed over for it. And it wouldn’t of happened is Kelis wasn’t “established in the entertainment business.”

I’m not saying that was her purpose to have gold-digger like qualities in the first place. And I might even be giving her way too much credit now. But when you look at the facts, this is how it played out, and in the end…

Kelis >>> 50 Cent.

Sad day. I really do hope everything works out between them though.

King Eljay

Welcome back, homie. Don't know who you're peacing to, but word.

K1ng Eljay - I’ve rode with him this far, I might as well keep riding, lol.

I’ve been following Charles Hamilton since the drunken freestyle/cipher was featured on allhiphop.com between him, The Game, and Kanye West. For some reason, the cat looked homeless (no offense, but he did) but I was interested.

So you know me… I did my research. Found the November 10th video, and fell in love with homie’s music. To top it off, his favorite game icon is mine too?

WORD??? We Sonic fans???

So then I downloaded a mixtape he did, dropped an opinion piece on it (first ever for hiphopstateofmind.com) and reviewed the mixtape “Sonic the Hamilton” (here) and I basically said that C.H. was nice, but he had to come more and more correct if he’s to be representing the Sonic franchise like that.

Although technically, his CD for Rihanna failed, it still produced some great and interesting songs/instrumentals, and is still worth listening to.

I reps for Sonic. Keep in mind I had a custom Sidekick Slide with Sonic graffiti… It was sick… But enough about me and Sonic.

A whirlwind of things happened next. His blog took off, he began releasing mixtapes as if he breathed them. In no particular order, he formed (and severed) partnerships in the industry, dropped some EPIC freestyles on DJ Green Lantern’s radio show, got featured in XXL, dropped one of the dopest mixtapes EVER (The Pink Lavalamp), and teamed up several times with controversy to get mentioned for all of the wrong reasons, .

Whether it was ciphering with a fan, or getting rocked by an (ex?) girlfriend, or having the right idea with the wrong methods to do it (J. Dilla situation), it got crazy to just BE a Charles Hamilton fan…so I can imagine how insane it became for him to be IN it.

And then when his album was supposed to drop…he disappeared completely. If it wasn’t for random sightings here and there from me and Rhymestyle, we might’ve half thought C.H. was dead… Read more…

Gasp. He's in front of ANOTHER NEW CAR??? Somebody's got their priorities screwed up...

King Eljay - Birdman has a formula that has worked fairly well for him. He’s stated a long time ago that he’s not a rapper. Yet he continues to put out rap albums that do fairly well for what it’s worth. How does he do it?

Step 1: Production

Whoever produces for his album should be applauded. The production value is sky high, thanks to the team he has set up around him. Usually, each beat appeals to your speakers in some shape or fashion.

Step 2: Features

Birdman has a feature on almost EVERY SINGLE SONG. Whether it’s just for a hook, or if the song has so many features you forget whose song it is (I originally thought “Money To Blow” was Drake’s song, because of the verse, the hook, and the shoutout from Lil Wayne at the end of the verse). Regardless, this is step two. You cannot have a successful Birdman album without this.

Step 3: Rehash

For some reason, Birdman is the only person in America that I know of that can talk about the SAME THING and make the radio play him. He has mastered the art of superficial rap. I never said it was dope, or even good. I just said that he’s mastered it.

You put these three steps together and you have a Birdman album, devoid of any type of hip-hop flair or content. The production makes it tolerable for you to listen to Birdman “rap/talk” over it, and the cameos boosts the album’s appeal to the public heavily. Especially if you’re a Drake/Lil Wayne fan. This is how he’s always done it. This is how he sells records. Don’t expect him to stop anytime soon.

That being said, his last album was better, and this one isn’t that great besides the songs you’ve already heard on the radio. Birdman’s worth to him might be priceless, but to me, I wouldn’t pay 3 dollars to hear him on this CD. Point blank.

~~~

Flow (Album Playability) -> .5 <-

Lyrics -> 0 <-

Originality -> 0 <-

Wildcard -> .5 <-

Sound (Production) -> 1 <-

Bottom Line: —> 2 / 5 <—-

It's not dirty money...well...it might be. I wouldn't ask them though. Word of caution.

King Eljay – I could give you some type of introduction, but I really don’t need to. If you know of the Clipse, then you know what they’re capable of and how nice they are lyrically, even If all they do is rap about drugs (on the surface). If you don’t, then now’s the time to get introduced to them.

(Click here for rating scale link)

Flow (Album Playability):
-> .8  <-

For the most part, this album can be played from the beginning to the end. However, one of the things that the Clipse didn’t use to have was that completely playable album, and although the album was great in its own right, there was always that ONE song (or two) that just kind of threw the album in a different direction. Unfortunately…the problem is still here. “Never Will It Stop” sounds like a track removed from one of the Re-Up Gang mixtapes. That isn’t a BAD thing, but in the vibe of the album, this can easily become a skippable track. “Door Man” might get tiring to you too after a couple of plays.

Lyrics: -> 1 <-

Clipse has ALWAYS been nice with the pen, from the first time I bought a bootleg copy of “Lord Willin’” in front of Ford’s Crossing in Tuskegee, AL. Long time ago. Nothing’s changed, and Pusha T has actually gotten NICER with it… Read more…

I got the Clipse album…. just in case you DIDN’T know, I really, really like the Clipse…

I got a review for that, and also I guess I could give you a quick hit on Rihanna and Snoop Dogg’s new albums.

Stay tuned…

K1ng Eljay

Well...I never said the album was ORIGINAL...

King Eljay – Juvenile returns with his newest solo album since the release of his highly underrated (in my opinion) album “Reality Check” in 2006. The newest release, “Cocky and Confident”, almost seems as a part two to the last album.

Juve easily combines his street-savvy punchlines with trunk-rattling production with a Southern swagger that a lot of rappers try to imitate (hi Dorrough, how are you today? Swell…swell…) but they never quite duplicate as well.

As far as hip-hop appeal, there’s not much here. Juve stays in the streets with his lyrics, only taking a hip-hop break on the last track to address his son and to tell him not to be like him. To me, it somewhat contradicts his whole CD because he acts as if the street life is something he enjoys and embraces, but then he tells his son not to use him as an example.

Either way, for some solid RAP music (not hip-hop…rap…there’s a difference) that you can play and vibe to in the vehicle, Juvenile does it again. His street style is still prevalent in today’s music climate, and he does it better than most, so you can expect to hear more of the songs off this album on the radio soon.

For better or for worse, depending on how you look at it. I say ok (this time), but I’m one of the few hip-hop heads that has some type of weird appreciation for regular rap music when I’m in the right mood.

So…Yeah.

Final Rating: —> 3 / 5 <—

Eljay’s Favorites

• “Gotta Get It”
• “It’s All Hood”
• “Everything” f/ Bobby V
  

The cover art is dope. What do you think?

King Eljay – Guess what? Timbaland’s back at it again (surprise, surprise) with a new album that’s sure to shock fans in every single way possible. Unfortunately for him, that might not work out as well as it did the first time around…with one HUGE, Bran’ Nu exception…

(How about we roll out the rating system for this and see how it FLOWS? Check here for the details on it.)

Flow (Album Playability):
Because of the fact Timbaland jumps genre almost every single track, it’s hard to judge this one. If you like pop/rock/hip-hop infused with Tim’s new, traditional, eclectic style, then this will be great for you. If you prefer Timbaland’s OLD classic style and you aren’t too big on the new one, then you’re not going to appreciate this as much. I personally liked how it flows because I appreciate most of the genres represented on the album. As far as the songs…some were hit and miss. Sorry Miley Cyrus, but I’m not ever listening to “We Belong To Music” ever again.

EVER.

Lyrics:
Because it’s a compilation album of sorts, once again it’s hard to judge on this one as well. Some songs are deep and lyrically inclined (“Say Something” with Drake, “Long Way Down” with Daughtry, “The One I Love” with Keri Hilson and D.O.E.), some are just fun tracks to vibe to for some people (“Ease Off The Liquor”, “We Belong to Music”), but it honestly depends on your musical inclination. For me, I felt like the album met in the middle.

The headphones aren't really plugged in. It's probably just a picture. Disappointing...I know.

Originality:
Let it be stated that there is NEVER any question if Timbaland is original or not. The day he stops being original is the day that he falls off completely. If you’ve followed Tim from the beginning, you’ve seen how he’s evolved his style and remained relevant. Regardless if you like his new style NOW as opposed to THEN (which is understandable), his originality is all over this cd. He takes each artist and meshes them into his own style, for better or for worse.

Wildcard:
Timbaland has drifted further and further from the hip-hop scene, but he does have a seemingly nice backup business plan. He reinvents music artists, and the test subject for today is Bran’ Nu, aka Brandy. She’s featured on two songs (“Meet in the Middle” and “Symphony”) and to be completely honest… she’s a dope rapper. I’d be interested to hear an album from her more than Nikki Minaj…

Sound:
This one’s easy. It’s Timbaland. Of course the production is astounding, even if some of the songs aren’t.

Bottom Line:

Tim’s officially crossing over. It’s sad to see, and hopefully he’ll get back into hip-hop soon, but for this album, it’s only a glimpse of hip-hop, and more of the eclectic side of Timmy. But even as far as crossing over, his last album performed this more effortlessly, and included EVERY genre well, and this album excludes us hip-hop heads. Even still, it’s a solid compilation album if you’re not big into hip-hop and you like Tim’s sound.

Final Rating: —>3.25 / 5 <—