May 30, 2025 • 35 mins
On this week's episode, Kendrick snubbed for Eminem at the American Music Awards. Did Joey Bada$$ actually win the battle against the West Coast? 5 hip-hop albums currently in Vegas's rotation. Let's talk about it!
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Hip-Hop NOW Podcast's Theme music is produced by McLovin Beatz (@mclovin-beatz)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up on this week's episode of hip Hop Now podcast,
Eminem beats Kendrick at the American Music Awards, snub Joey
v everybody? Or did he win? And what's in my
hip hop music rotation right now? A little bit of new,
(00:25):
a little bit of old. Let's do it. Welcome to
hip Hop Now, Potts. If you come the future, you
know what to do. Show as out of life, so
disrespect the leg hip hop is say this today. Let's
(00:49):
get right into the business. What up, y'all? I am
your host Vegas and this is hip Hop Now podcasting
podcast specifically designed to keep you caught up on all
things hip hop music and culture that happened throughout the week.
Big shout out to the subscribers in audio form on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, third party apps like Pockecast, which is
(01:14):
my preferred podcast listening tool app, whatever as you will,
whatever you know. Big shout out to those who've been
listening to audio form, because audio is where the podcast started.
It was a hobby, so to speak, something I liked doing,
(01:35):
and it got some traction, and you know, I kept
doing it until I got to the point where I
was feeling like, yeah, maybe it's time to end fifty
years in hip hop was upon us and I was like,
how can I end on the fiftieth year of hip
hop when I've been doing this podcast for so long? Right?
So I was like, you know what, I'm going to
(01:55):
keep it going for a little bit longer and see
what happens. But let me bring a feature that some
people had asked me a long time ago to do,
which is video podcast. So now you have hip Hop
Now Podcast on YouTube if you're listening in audio form
the linkers in description of this episode, big shout out
to the supporters over at YouTube because we are now
(02:21):
not at ten thousand subscribers, for twelve thousand subscribers right
here on YouTube. I applaud everybody who came through, especially
those who are new to the channel, because I got
the stats on the new subscribers is crazy. But a
lot of it has to do with people, like in
(02:42):
the flow of shorts that I post, and essentially I'm
not always creating shorts. No shorts are really original when
you're talking about taking videos and you know, putting your
brand in over and stuff like that. But what I
do is I don't block out your branding. I just
stuff related to hip hop that I find dope or
(03:03):
funny or interesting, and apparently you do too, so big
shout out to them. One video in particular, one short.
I'm not even here, I'm not even flexing. It's just natural, right.
I didn't pay for no bots, I didn't go on
no hype train. I didn't originally get the video footage
(03:26):
and then post it. Someone else did and I just
shared it and it got two million views. I'm not joking.
Two million views. Now I only have a couple of
thousand subscribers. But the important part is, and this goes
for any content creator who's content you like. If you
(03:48):
like what they post, subscribe so you can see more.
I say it all the time, but in particular with
this channel, if you want to go deeper down the
hip hop rabbit, well, you can watch and listen to
podcasts like hip Hop Now podcast, which is weekly news
with my perspectives also your perspectives, because you can leave
(04:10):
them in the common section below. So with that being said,
stay tuned for more content. I've released some reaction videos.
There'll be more, but I'm also working on something I'll
talk about a little bit later in the episode. So
that being said, big shout out to hip HOPDX dot com,
(04:31):
who is really the only place I'm getting some of
this stuff from. So let's get right into the business.
Eminem recently beat out Kendrick Lamar at the American Music
Awards American Music Awards, and a lot of people are
(04:51):
up in arms. This is coming from hip Hop DX
dot com and this was let's see, let me just
read from the top, Kendrick Lamar, we are beaten by
Eminem at American Music Awards. I don't want to read
their whole thing, but let's just get into a little
bit of kendricks seemingly unbeatable streak has finally come to
(05:13):
an n at the AMA's. While the Comptence Superstar did
pick up a win for Favorite Hip Hop Song with
not Like Us, he was otherwise shut out at the ceremony.
Let's rewind real quick. Not trying to be a k by,
but I'll watch a lot of sports. The term shutout
(05:35):
means you didn't score, so if you got one, it's
not really a shutout. You feel me, I'm just a
sports head. I'm just saying. Lamar was nominated across five
other categories, included Artists of the Year, but was beaten
by Billie Eilish. I think that one is like, okay,
(05:55):
whatever American Music Awards. Sure, Eilish also triumphed over Lamar
and Album of the Year and Song of the Year.
That also can be a toss up. I didn't listen
to Billie Eilish. I know she's extremely popular. I know
that song was just as popular, so hey, it's not
(06:16):
a Grammy though. The biggest upset came in the hip
hop category hip Hop category, with Eminem taking home both
Favorite hip Hop Artists and Favorite hip Hop Album. And
here in lies the problem. Now, I'm a fan of both.
(06:36):
The Death of Slim Shady I thought was a good album,
but did it have the momentum to win in those
two categories last year and even the beginning of this year,
but probably last year mostly was it better than G
and X. I think it's too different to compare as
(06:59):
far as the albums go, because they're really two totally
different vibes and concepts and execution overall. But I didn't
think Eminem should be nominated for awards in that regard artists.
We all know it belongs to Kendrick. It was everywhere
(07:22):
it was everywhere on the radio. I'm in the Tri
State area on the radio in New York. I didn't
hear any any You're talking about American, right, all of America,
we leaving out New York City. I'm just saying, right,
But in general, Eminem is not the person he should
(07:44):
lose to. I know there was probably some other categories
that could have, like, you know, maybe you could have
put Pete and cl in the album discussion, but artists
definitely should have been Kendrick album. It's subjective, right, it
could have been whatever album. It just wasn't eminent. Now,
(08:05):
I'll say this, I know this is mostly a fan award, right,
not not like the Grammys with kind of like your
peers and music casemakers or whatever voting, including myself. But also, well,
(08:26):
my bad, I got a mixed up. I'm thinking about
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even though I
don't remember. Maybe I didn't, I don't know. But nevertheless,
even as a fan vote, Eminem has a lot of fans.
Don't get me wrong, but when did this vote take place?
How was it promoted? You know, like I didn't see
(08:50):
it as much as I saw that, And maybe this
maybe It's because I followed the Grammys a little bit
closer than the American Music Awards, but it felt weird
that it would be Eminem, But nevertheless he won. It
is what it is. Pretty sure m might say he
(09:11):
didn't deserve Artists of the Year album. He might debate
that because I'm pretty sure he thought his joint was great.
But that album came out and then it was done,
and it wasn't a black album. To me, it was
just that Hendrick was on fire man. People only cared
about if this man did a commercial, everybody, everybody's attention
(09:34):
would just go in his direction. People who hate him,
people who like him. It was just like he owned
the year as an artist, so anything that dropped from
the albums to videos or whatever, he kind of controlled
that space in a lot of ways. But again, if
this is a fan vote and the majority of the
(09:54):
fans voted for Eminem, it is what it is. I
will say this, If the American Music Awards as a
committee had anything to do with this, I would say
the most they could do was not deny this song
(10:15):
not like us, but to ignore gn X and songs
like Luther. It's interesting, you know, considering how popular it is,
considering the sole dout concert that's happening right now. I
think they didn't necessarily want to do what the Grammys
(10:36):
did and choose a side. I think that's what it is, y'all.
I think they didn't want to choose a side, you know.
And it could be for reasons that make absolute sense. Right.
For one, we don't want to get involved. We can't
deny this song was what it was. We're just going
(10:59):
to follow the Grand's lead and everybody's lead and not
like us as song or the year or whatever. Cool,
but we don't want to stack this man's trophy case,
mostly for not like us, given the opposition who probably
for years, you know, they've eight off of I'm gonna say,
(11:23):
Paul's okay, eight off of Drake's success, right, And you
don't want to give up too soon on a popular
artist because who's to say that bygones or bygones? And
Drake's back and he has hit records and now he's
not showing up to your awards show, or he won't
(11:45):
work with anybody related to you. For what it could
be a number of reasons, right, and some of it
I'm fishing, But at the end of the day, the
Eminem pick is what makes it questionable. It's like, this
is a artists in the album that really only fans
talked about honestly, and then they moved on. I haven't
(12:10):
listened to it since I reviewed it, not because it
was bad, but Eminem just makes typically except for that
music to murder By that was actually like dope and
have variety, but he typically makes albums that are like
Mister Morale and Big Steppers. You have to kind of
be in the mood to listen to it rather than
(12:34):
throw it on, let it rock or whatever, because it
could kind of become background. And that doesn't mean it's wack.
That just means the music is so based on a
concept that if you're not paying attention, what's the point.
You know what I'm saying, It's just white noise, no
matter whose album it is. So at the end of
(12:55):
the day, more awards for Kendrick. Who cares if he
doesn't get all the awards, but the fact that he
got another award for Not Like Us says a lie.
It just does next. So on a previous episode, I
(13:17):
asked the question does Joey look desperate? Meaning Joey Badass
if you don't know in calling out Hendrick at the
beginning of the year and the West Coast as a whole.
And I really only asked that question because of the
Kendrick thing, because it seemed like, fresh off of this
(13:39):
battle with Drake, Joey Badass is trying to throw his
hat in this battle space, and it just felt like
something he didn't really need to do, but wanted to
draw some true attention to what he had coming up,
which was you know, television show Canaan, the Power Joint,
(14:05):
also some campaigns he had going on as far as endorsements, right,
some ads, some stories, you know, his his woman, she's pregnant,
and then obviously and ultimately an album. And I think
in a lot of ways, as much as I didn't
(14:27):
like how he was, like, I'd rather him say something
slick that's a warning shot on an album than to
make a song about you know, Kendrick don't want it basically,
But at the end of the day, he did what
he did. And in the winter there were a couple
(14:48):
of replies, mainly from Ray Vaughn, who was signed to
TV Younger Cat, Newer Cat as far Newer and most
sides and Daylight, well known battle rapper from the West Coast.
And then it fizzled, and then Joey did a freestyle
(15:08):
with Absol and Big Sean, not only talking about that
but taking more shots, specifically at those guys who responded, Well,
that opened up a whole can of worms. And it
has to be more than ten. Gotta be more than
(15:32):
ten replies, replies and Joey replying to them and back
and forth. But it just was a crazy back and
forth and it was probably a really dope moment for well,
not probably, it was a dope moment for hip hop,
mainly because everybody was displaying bars and skilled and again
(15:52):
I credited Drake and Kendrick Battle because Kendrick won off
of bars. Kendrick off a technique and varied flows and
styles and and strategy, and it really got these guys
to do some of that, in particular Joey Badass. So
(16:16):
Joey versus everybody, did he win? I would say, I
don't know. I think it was a drug. And I
know some people, you know, they heard what Joey Badass did.
I did too, and say to themselves like, yo, he
(16:36):
was cooking them. But Ray Vaughn has some dope joints.
Daylight has some dope joints. And then he did what
Daylight does where you wonder to yourself, is he still
even battling? Is he still battering? What is he doing? Right?
But nevertheless, it was bars. There's a playlist that I
(16:57):
have at the end of description of this episode, also
on audio form for y'all want to check it out,
that has all the battles rap songs from Joey Badass
and everybody else listed and it's thirty of them. Now,
this is going all the way back to January when
it started. Nevertheless, this whole thing has been has generated
(17:22):
thirty this songs, thirty from various artists. Of course Joey
Badass has multiple Daylight rayvaugh But as I scrolled through
real quick, this is where things picked up, right, because
I don't think all of it was here, So the
(17:46):
one take cipher right, that took place two weeks ago
from now. Then there was Rayvaughn's whole era. Then it
was Joey Badass the finals. Then there was Reason Dead
Apple h and as see because Joey bada Is called
(18:08):
him something else, I and to forget how to pronounce
the last part of it as Chike Chick Cheap, but
he was featured on gn X on I think peakable
h and his song was what would You Do? Then
there was Daylight with word to whatever. I don't know
(18:33):
Daylight just just speak English though word to Mevilla whatever.
I don't care. C J Fly with Stingray. I don't
even know who that is, k Cash Nixon six. I
think Kate Cash was part of pro Err. I think
so really j One Bobby m I don't even Oh
(18:58):
that's Jada kiss Son. Everybody says that one was really wack.
I guess he was this in the West Coast, but
nobody care. Joey Badass My Town featuring Loaded Lucks, which
is tough. When I heard it, I was like, oh
Joey punching back Ray Vaughn GoldenEye, which was dope a
(19:19):
Daylight Ao, Joey Badass, crash dummy. This is when Joey
Badass said I'm gonna drop a bop just like not
like us, and I messed with it. It was over
the Tupac hit him up style beat. I like what
he did with it. It was a great response. Daylight,
I can't hold you something because it's cut off here.
(19:39):
I can't I can't see it, but it got chopped
cheese on. The cover word is Bond featuring Daylight. That's
that was more of a dedication than a disc where
I was just sort of like Daylight, what you're doing man?
The last supper for Hit a J three headshot from
(20:02):
Hitter J three. That's Kendrick's homie and I think he
was also on gn X. Nick Caushin Died Another Day.
That's the dude from pro Era. That was all right,
and Daylight end credits, which was cool, but it was
so rapidly rap I'd stopped listening halfway through. So bars
(20:26):
now they are more records than this because I just
went from two weeks ago. There were a number of
songs before them. I feel like in the beginning, Joey
Badass just seemed desperate for Kendrick battle. In some ways,
he still does seem that way by recently saying, you know,
(20:47):
oh got scared, which is I mean, I don't know.
It's not that I don't want Joey to say anything.
I just come on, we just did the battle thing,
like just dropped, just dropped something fire and people will
(21:07):
pay attention because they're gonna be looking for Kendrick. This
is here and there, and you got what you wanted, Joey.
But I will say this, Kendrick decides to respond, I
will be interested because I think Joey held it down
not only for the borough BK for New York. You're
not the King of New York. But I get it.
(21:30):
But just at the simple fact that there were multiple
people this in him. See Drake said the twenty v one,
But it was really like Rick Ross had kind of
a you know or whatever distrack metro booming. I mean,
they weren't really making distract. It wasn't really rating Boss.
The only bars that were coming at Drake were from Boss,
(21:54):
from or from Kendrick. Right. So at the end of
the day, it was kind of like it was really
one v one. There were just a couple of people
who didn't like you, but they weren't really going any
like that. This was different. These were rapper rappers from
the West Coast and such who got bars making multiple
(22:16):
records about you, and Joey was just taking them, taking
on all comers like yo, I guess I gotta say,
pauls the game. I hate y'all kids, but you know
what I mean. So I think he walked out with
a little bit more respect than most. I'm a Joey
Badass fan. I'm sitting on albums and mixtapes and stuff
(22:39):
like that, so I already liked dude, and I would
already anticipate an album. But I think this battle and
how he was able to, you know, stand up and fight,
you know, I think it did a lot for his
image as an MC. I think he gained a couple
a few more fans as result, because I think the
(23:03):
difference between these records, the three records he dropped and
the videos coming for the joint with Loaded Lux, if
it's not a reality, these new records, new diss records
he dropped, the finals My Town and Crash Dummy are
way better than the tracks he started with in December,
(23:27):
I mean in winter, like January or whatever, way better.
So to me, it was like those were like I
think somebody said I think it was Crooked Eye, was like,
those were them coffee house raps. And on December now
this was like, yo, I'm in the bodega ordering a
chop cheese with the Thames on Joey so great, for
(23:52):
hip hop, great moment if you would like to just
go down the rabbit hole in order and just listen
to eat a song from Joey Badass. Each reply mainly
from Rayvon in Daylight, but all the replies of that,
and most of them are dope. Sorry Jadak his son Yeah,
because I was just like, who is this? Who said
(24:14):
your name? But nevertheless, I think it was a dope
time for hip hop and a battle. So let me
know what you think. Do you think Joey Badass one?
Do you think the West Coast got him? Is it
a draw? Are you a bigger fan of any of
these artists as a result including something new that drop
(24:37):
that sort of kind of related to this from Abso
leave your comments in the comments section below, and least
so as we approach the halfway point of twenty twenty five,
(24:58):
most music outlets like to put out a best of
the year so far. Right here on hip Hop Now podcast,
we do the exact same thing. I also have a
playlist that represents a lot of the music that's been
released thus far and will obviously be the best of
(25:18):
a year playlist in December. But I also have my
list of best of the year so far, and that's
coming up in an episode in June that you can
check out, and it'll be a special episode dedicated maybe
even a live stream dedicated specifically to some of the
(25:39):
best projects, albums EPs in hip hop that have dropped
in twenty twenty five. But it's old. Wayne's fun because
as a music fan, I listen to a lot of
music that's not just hip hop. But we all have
a rotation, even if it's one album you've just been
listening to riding to. Everybody has a list of some
(26:03):
sort of what they've been listening to, even if it's
like a playlist, you know what I'm saying. Like the
other day, I was listening to a Ransom playlists on
Spotify and I'm just like, man, this man just got
bars for things. I got a lot of his projects.
But it's it's always nice to step away from your
own music. Right now, I'm going to give you five
(26:28):
albums that I'm currently listening to right now as far
as heavy rotation and why no order right we're not
ranking them. Number one Freddy Gibbs Freddy from twenty eighteen.
This was an album Freddy Gibbs dropped that the cover
and the title of the album were homages to Teddy
(26:54):
Pendergrass album Teddy same album cover. Freddy Gibbs did a
whole promotional rollout that was real R and B is.
But what made me go back to this album was one,
I liked it, but you know how you like something
and you played it a lot one year, and maybe
(27:14):
you haven't revisited the album in a long time, so
you sort of forget. You kind of only remember a
song or two. Man, when I pressed play on this joint,
I was like, I forgot how crazy this album was
and what I like about it is it was the
first time. And I said this on the Homie Kills
podcast Apartment five B. Check that out on YouTube and
(27:38):
the audio form. But I said, like, when I heard
this album, I was like, Yo, this man could rap
over anything. He can sound dope over anything. He's so
polished as an MC. It doesn't matter how many albums,
what the song is, what the beat is, He's always
on point. But with this album in particular, Freddy, Yo,
(28:03):
the beats Like, I don't have no crazy system in
my office, right, I got a monitor that's right here,
but you can't see it. And you know, I got
a little you know, you see that what is that
apple iPod whatever? That basketball tennis ball? You see that joke,
But I have them synced up. And when the beats
(28:23):
hit on that album, Yo, the the base was crazy
and I was in here like yo. It's almost as
if I was hearing it for the first time. So
as a result, I've been listening to it more than often. Also,
album released this year, Westside Gun twelve. To me, this
(28:44):
is like West Side Gun's best project in a little while.
To me, I think probably since the joint called ten,
I thought that was dope, but this joint twelve is
though for a lot of reasons, you know, features a
lot of Stove God, which is, you know, I'm a
(29:05):
big fan of stove God. But one of the things
about Stove God what Griselda is the fact that Stove
God has some contractual dispute going on where he can't
really release an album. Last year he released an EP
on an independent site that was crazy and they had
to take it down, which is crazy in itself, But
(29:27):
a way to keep him out there in the hip
hop lexicon was to feature him on Griselda projects prominently,
and on this West Side Gun album he's on, he's
featured prominently on here, and everything is just dope and
it's not just him, you know what I'm saying. So
I really liked that joint. I did a review a
(29:48):
couple of episodes back Buster Rhymes nineteen ninety seven when
disaster strikes the reason why I'm listening to this album
well on his very every channel. What I'm going to
do in the very near future is a Buster Rhymes
ranking of albums. I've done a few like ray Kwon
(30:10):
and Daylight, Soul and Metha Men and Red Men albums,
Ghost Face Snoop, I've done a couple of eminem Common,
and the list goes on, so Smith and Wesson most
recently also, So I wanted to do one on bust
to Rhymes because like all of those other artists I mentioned,
(30:30):
a lot of times, you know, once you have like
five six albums from an artist, some people check out
and some albums become a blur and you really only
remember those that stand out the most. But that doesn't
make every other project you can't remember why you just
(30:51):
don't remember it, you know what I'm saying. And a
lot of times I've found when I go back and listen.
Great example, I did it episode and this was only
audio at the time. Excuse me, but I did an
episode on Big Daddy Kane's albums Tasted Chocolate and Prince
of Darkness, which are prominently named as his fall off projects.
(31:17):
I realized that Taste the Chocolate was not that bad.
Sure the album cover was what it was, but it
was kine. But the album wasn't as bad as I
My memory told it told me it was Prince of
Darkness was sleet trash. But that's how I feel with Buster.
(31:37):
I feel like when I think about Buster's catalog without listening,
I think about the albums that stand out, which maybe
like two or three, and then I really don't remember
the rest, Like when disaster strikes I vaguely remembered, I
remember the high points, but I don't remember anything else.
So that's the album I'm listening to right now. I
(32:00):
already listened to The Coming, and I'm going to go
through the whole catalog, including that other one, the Blockbuster,
and look out for a video releasing. All right, two
more to go so we can get up out of here.
Lloyd Banks aon three. Despite my mistakes, it was released
(32:20):
this year. I did a review a couple of episodes
back Very Dope album. I think when Lloyd Banks has beats,
like beats that are really tough, his lyrics shine through.
He always has bars, but sometimes it become a little
monotonous listening to him, and some of that's here also,
(32:40):
but he raping rapping on here, and the beats match
it so and the guest appearances are perfect, so I
check that joint out. And lastly, it's an album that
I kind of only listened to because I saw no
Id and I was like, well, I like no Id,
so it could be great Saba and no Id from
(33:03):
the private collection of Saba and no Id. I'm gonna
tell you right now. I know there's a lot of
albums coming from mass appeals, in premier clips and whatever
else is on the docket that can potentially make my
top five of the year, but it's going to be
difficult to knock this one out because I think this
(33:26):
is just such a great album. It's kind of refreshing
from a different style of rapper, you know what I'm saying.
And then when I say style, I don't mean he
strayed so far away from what you know. I just
mean that it's dope beats from no id and a
rapper who can wrack, who is thought provoking when he raps,
(33:47):
interesting when he raps, and relatable. You know everybody either
shot shooting up the spot or got more money than you.
It's refreshing sometimes to just hear somebody rap about anything
and everything, to be honest. So there you have it.
That's my top five in rotation. What's it your rotation?
(34:09):
You know what I'm saying. Oh, you listen to any
mostly new stuff, mostly old stuff. Leave your comments in
a comment section below. Rate and rank or rate I guess,
rate and review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts. I
appreciate it if you do that. Also, if you love
this kind of content, subscribe to this channel. Obviously we're
(34:31):
just going to keep going up. We had twelve thousand subscribers.
I'm looking at it now. Why now just look for
twenty five. You know what I'm saying, you never know,
So subscribe. If you love the content you're seeing here
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that episode, comment below. I read the comments, trust me,
but more importantly, share it with people you know enjoy
(34:55):
this kind of content. Until next time, y'all. I'm not
a critic, I'm a fan.
Coming up on this week's episode of hip Hop Now podcast,
Eminem beats Kendrick at the American Music Awards, snub Joey
v everybody? Or did he win? And what's in my
hip hop music rotation right now? A little bit of new,
(00:25):
a little bit of old. Let's do it. Welcome to
hip Hop Now, Potts. If you come the future, you
know what to do. Show as out of life, so
disrespect the leg hip hop is say this today. Let's
(00:49):
get right into the business. What up, y'all? I am
your host Vegas and this is hip Hop Now podcasting
podcast specifically designed to keep you caught up on all
things hip hop music and culture that happened throughout the week.
Big shout out to the subscribers in audio form on
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, third party apps like Pockecast, which is
(01:14):
my preferred podcast listening tool app, whatever as you will,
whatever you know. Big shout out to those who've been
listening to audio form, because audio is where the podcast started.
It was a hobby, so to speak, something I liked doing,
(01:35):
and it got some traction, and you know, I kept
doing it until I got to the point where I
was feeling like, yeah, maybe it's time to end fifty
years in hip hop was upon us and I was like,
how can I end on the fiftieth year of hip
hop when I've been doing this podcast for so long? Right?
So I was like, you know what, I'm going to
(01:55):
keep it going for a little bit longer and see
what happens. But let me bring a feature that some
people had asked me a long time ago to do,
which is video podcast. So now you have hip Hop
Now Podcast on YouTube if you're listening in audio form
the linkers in description of this episode, big shout out
to the supporters over at YouTube because we are now
(02:21):
not at ten thousand subscribers, for twelve thousand subscribers right
here on YouTube. I applaud everybody who came through, especially
those who are new to the channel, because I got
the stats on the new subscribers is crazy. But a
lot of it has to do with people, like in
(02:42):
the flow of shorts that I post, and essentially I'm
not always creating shorts. No shorts are really original when
you're talking about taking videos and you know, putting your
brand in over and stuff like that. But what I
do is I don't block out your branding. I just
stuff related to hip hop that I find dope or
(03:03):
funny or interesting, and apparently you do too, so big
shout out to them. One video in particular, one short.
I'm not even here, I'm not even flexing. It's just natural, right.
I didn't pay for no bots, I didn't go on
no hype train. I didn't originally get the video footage
(03:26):
and then post it. Someone else did and I just
shared it and it got two million views. I'm not joking.
Two million views. Now I only have a couple of
thousand subscribers. But the important part is, and this goes
for any content creator who's content you like. If you
(03:48):
like what they post, subscribe so you can see more.
I say it all the time, but in particular with
this channel, if you want to go deeper down the
hip hop rabbit, well, you can watch and listen to
podcasts like hip Hop Now podcast, which is weekly news
with my perspectives also your perspectives, because you can leave
(04:10):
them in the common section below. So with that being said,
stay tuned for more content. I've released some reaction videos.
There'll be more, but I'm also working on something I'll
talk about a little bit later in the episode. So
that being said, big shout out to hip HOPDX dot com,
(04:31):
who is really the only place I'm getting some of
this stuff from. So let's get right into the business.
Eminem recently beat out Kendrick Lamar at the American Music
Awards American Music Awards, and a lot of people are
(04:51):
up in arms. This is coming from hip Hop DX
dot com and this was let's see, let me just
read from the top, Kendrick Lamar, we are beaten by
Eminem at American Music Awards. I don't want to read
their whole thing, but let's just get into a little
bit of kendricks seemingly unbeatable streak has finally come to
(05:13):
an n at the AMA's. While the Comptence Superstar did
pick up a win for Favorite Hip Hop Song with
not Like Us, he was otherwise shut out at the ceremony.
Let's rewind real quick. Not trying to be a k by,
but I'll watch a lot of sports. The term shutout
(05:35):
means you didn't score, so if you got one, it's
not really a shutout. You feel me, I'm just a
sports head. I'm just saying. Lamar was nominated across five
other categories, included Artists of the Year, but was beaten
by Billie Eilish. I think that one is like, okay,
(05:55):
whatever American Music Awards. Sure, Eilish also triumphed over Lamar
and Album of the Year and Song of the Year.
That also can be a toss up. I didn't listen
to Billie Eilish. I know she's extremely popular. I know
that song was just as popular, so hey, it's not
(06:16):
a Grammy though. The biggest upset came in the hip
hop category hip Hop category, with Eminem taking home both
Favorite hip Hop Artists and Favorite hip Hop Album. And
here in lies the problem. Now, I'm a fan of both.
(06:36):
The Death of Slim Shady I thought was a good album,
but did it have the momentum to win in those
two categories last year and even the beginning of this year,
but probably last year mostly was it better than G
and X. I think it's too different to compare as
(06:59):
far as the albums go, because they're really two totally
different vibes and concepts and execution overall. But I didn't
think Eminem should be nominated for awards in that regard artists.
We all know it belongs to Kendrick. It was everywhere
(07:22):
it was everywhere on the radio. I'm in the Tri
State area on the radio in New York. I didn't
hear any any You're talking about American, right, all of America,
we leaving out New York City. I'm just saying, right,
But in general, Eminem is not the person he should
(07:44):
lose to. I know there was probably some other categories
that could have, like, you know, maybe you could have
put Pete and cl in the album discussion, but artists
definitely should have been Kendrick album. It's subjective, right, it
could have been whatever album. It just wasn't eminent. Now,
(08:05):
I'll say this, I know this is mostly a fan award, right,
not not like the Grammys with kind of like your
peers and music casemakers or whatever voting, including myself. But also, well,
(08:26):
my bad, I got a mixed up. I'm thinking about
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even though I
don't remember. Maybe I didn't, I don't know. But nevertheless,
even as a fan vote, Eminem has a lot of fans.
Don't get me wrong, but when did this vote take place?
How was it promoted? You know, like I didn't see
(08:50):
it as much as I saw that, And maybe this
maybe It's because I followed the Grammys a little bit
closer than the American Music Awards, but it felt weird
that it would be Eminem, But nevertheless he won. It
is what it is. Pretty sure m might say he
(09:11):
didn't deserve Artists of the Year album. He might debate
that because I'm pretty sure he thought his joint was great.
But that album came out and then it was done,
and it wasn't a black album. To me, it was
just that Hendrick was on fire man. People only cared
about if this man did a commercial, everybody, everybody's attention
(09:34):
would just go in his direction. People who hate him,
people who like him. It was just like he owned
the year as an artist, so anything that dropped from
the albums to videos or whatever, he kind of controlled
that space in a lot of ways. But again, if
this is a fan vote and the majority of the
(09:54):
fans voted for Eminem, it is what it is. I
will say this, If the American Music Awards as a
committee had anything to do with this, I would say
the most they could do was not deny this song
(10:15):
not like us, but to ignore gn X and songs
like Luther. It's interesting, you know, considering how popular it is,
considering the sole dout concert that's happening right now. I
think they didn't necessarily want to do what the Grammys
(10:36):
did and choose a side. I think that's what it is, y'all.
I think they didn't want to choose a side, you know.
And it could be for reasons that make absolute sense. Right.
For one, we don't want to get involved. We can't
deny this song was what it was. We're just going
(10:59):
to follow the Grand's lead and everybody's lead and not
like us as song or the year or whatever. Cool,
but we don't want to stack this man's trophy case,
mostly for not like us, given the opposition who probably
for years, you know, they've eight off of I'm gonna say,
(11:23):
Paul's okay, eight off of Drake's success, right, And you
don't want to give up too soon on a popular
artist because who's to say that bygones or bygones? And
Drake's back and he has hit records and now he's
not showing up to your awards show, or he won't
(11:45):
work with anybody related to you. For what it could
be a number of reasons, right, and some of it
I'm fishing, But at the end of the day, the
Eminem pick is what makes it questionable. It's like, this
is a artists in the album that really only fans
talked about honestly, and then they moved on. I haven't
(12:10):
listened to it since I reviewed it, not because it
was bad, but Eminem just makes typically except for that
music to murder By that was actually like dope and
have variety, but he typically makes albums that are like
Mister Morale and Big Steppers. You have to kind of
be in the mood to listen to it rather than
(12:34):
throw it on, let it rock or whatever, because it
could kind of become background. And that doesn't mean it's wack.
That just means the music is so based on a
concept that if you're not paying attention, what's the point.
You know what I'm saying, It's just white noise, no
matter whose album it is. So at the end of
(12:55):
the day, more awards for Kendrick. Who cares if he
doesn't get all the awards, but the fact that he
got another award for Not Like Us says a lie.
It just does next. So on a previous episode, I
(13:17):
asked the question does Joey look desperate? Meaning Joey Badass
if you don't know in calling out Hendrick at the
beginning of the year and the West Coast as a whole.
And I really only asked that question because of the
Kendrick thing, because it seemed like, fresh off of this
(13:39):
battle with Drake, Joey Badass is trying to throw his
hat in this battle space, and it just felt like
something he didn't really need to do, but wanted to
draw some true attention to what he had coming up,
which was you know, television show Canaan, the Power Joint,
(14:05):
also some campaigns he had going on as far as endorsements, right,
some ads, some stories, you know, his his woman, she's pregnant,
and then obviously and ultimately an album. And I think
in a lot of ways, as much as I didn't
(14:27):
like how he was, like, I'd rather him say something
slick that's a warning shot on an album than to
make a song about you know, Kendrick don't want it basically,
But at the end of the day, he did what
he did. And in the winter there were a couple
(14:48):
of replies, mainly from Ray Vaughn, who was signed to
TV Younger Cat, Newer Cat as far Newer and most
sides and Daylight, well known battle rapper from the West Coast.
And then it fizzled, and then Joey did a freestyle
(15:08):
with Absol and Big Sean, not only talking about that
but taking more shots, specifically at those guys who responded, Well,
that opened up a whole can of worms. And it
has to be more than ten. Gotta be more than
(15:32):
ten replies, replies and Joey replying to them and back
and forth. But it just was a crazy back and
forth and it was probably a really dope moment for well,
not probably, it was a dope moment for hip hop,
mainly because everybody was displaying bars and skilled and again
(15:52):
I credited Drake and Kendrick Battle because Kendrick won off
of bars. Kendrick off a technique and varied flows and
styles and and strategy, and it really got these guys
to do some of that, in particular Joey Badass. So
(16:16):
Joey versus everybody, did he win? I would say, I
don't know. I think it was a drug. And I
know some people, you know, they heard what Joey Badass did.
I did too, and say to themselves like, yo, he
(16:36):
was cooking them. But Ray Vaughn has some dope joints.
Daylight has some dope joints. And then he did what
Daylight does where you wonder to yourself, is he still
even battling? Is he still battering? What is he doing? Right?
But nevertheless, it was bars. There's a playlist that I
(16:57):
have at the end of description of this episode, also
on audio form for y'all want to check it out,
that has all the battles rap songs from Joey Badass
and everybody else listed and it's thirty of them. Now,
this is going all the way back to January when
it started. Nevertheless, this whole thing has been has generated
(17:22):
thirty this songs, thirty from various artists. Of course Joey
Badass has multiple Daylight rayvaugh But as I scrolled through
real quick, this is where things picked up, right, because
I don't think all of it was here, So the
(17:46):
one take cipher right, that took place two weeks ago
from now. Then there was Rayvaughn's whole era. Then it
was Joey Badass the finals. Then there was Reason Dead
Apple h and as see because Joey bada Is called
(18:08):
him something else, I and to forget how to pronounce
the last part of it as Chike Chick Cheap, but
he was featured on gn X on I think peakable
h and his song was what would You Do? Then
there was Daylight with word to whatever. I don't know
(18:33):
Daylight just just speak English though word to Mevilla whatever.
I don't care. C J Fly with Stingray. I don't
even know who that is, k Cash Nixon six. I
think Kate Cash was part of pro Err. I think
so really j One Bobby m I don't even Oh
(18:58):
that's Jada kiss Son. Everybody says that one was really wack.
I guess he was this in the West Coast, but
nobody care. Joey Badass My Town featuring Loaded Lucks, which
is tough. When I heard it, I was like, oh
Joey punching back Ray Vaughn GoldenEye, which was dope a
(19:19):
Daylight Ao, Joey Badass, crash dummy. This is when Joey
Badass said I'm gonna drop a bop just like not
like us, and I messed with it. It was over
the Tupac hit him up style beat. I like what
he did with it. It was a great response. Daylight,
I can't hold you something because it's cut off here.
(19:39):
I can't I can't see it, but it got chopped
cheese on. The cover word is Bond featuring Daylight. That's
that was more of a dedication than a disc where
I was just sort of like Daylight, what you're doing man?
The last supper for Hit a J three headshot from
(20:02):
Hitter J three. That's Kendrick's homie and I think he
was also on gn X. Nick Caushin Died Another Day.
That's the dude from pro Era. That was all right,
and Daylight end credits, which was cool, but it was
so rapidly rap I'd stopped listening halfway through. So bars
(20:26):
now they are more records than this because I just
went from two weeks ago. There were a number of
songs before them. I feel like in the beginning, Joey
Badass just seemed desperate for Kendrick battle. In some ways,
he still does seem that way by recently saying, you know,
(20:47):
oh got scared, which is I mean, I don't know.
It's not that I don't want Joey to say anything.
I just come on, we just did the battle thing,
like just dropped, just dropped something fire and people will
(21:07):
pay attention because they're gonna be looking for Kendrick. This
is here and there, and you got what you wanted, Joey.
But I will say this, Kendrick decides to respond, I
will be interested because I think Joey held it down
not only for the borough BK for New York. You're
not the King of New York. But I get it.
(21:30):
But just at the simple fact that there were multiple
people this in him. See Drake said the twenty v one,
But it was really like Rick Ross had kind of
a you know or whatever distrack metro booming. I mean,
they weren't really making distract. It wasn't really rating Boss.
The only bars that were coming at Drake were from Boss,
(21:54):
from or from Kendrick. Right. So at the end of
the day, it was kind of like it was really
one v one. There were just a couple of people
who didn't like you, but they weren't really going any
like that. This was different. These were rapper rappers from
the West Coast and such who got bars making multiple
(22:16):
records about you, and Joey was just taking them, taking
on all comers like yo, I guess I gotta say,
pauls the game. I hate y'all kids, but you know
what I mean. So I think he walked out with
a little bit more respect than most. I'm a Joey
Badass fan. I'm sitting on albums and mixtapes and stuff
(22:39):
like that, so I already liked dude, and I would
already anticipate an album. But I think this battle and
how he was able to, you know, stand up and fight,
you know, I think it did a lot for his
image as an MC. I think he gained a couple
a few more fans as result, because I think the
(23:03):
difference between these records, the three records he dropped and
the videos coming for the joint with Loaded Lux, if
it's not a reality, these new records, new diss records
he dropped, the finals My Town and Crash Dummy are
way better than the tracks he started with in December,
(23:27):
I mean in winter, like January or whatever, way better.
So to me, it was like those were like I
think somebody said I think it was Crooked Eye, was like,
those were them coffee house raps. And on December now
this was like, yo, I'm in the bodega ordering a
chop cheese with the Thames on Joey so great, for
(23:52):
hip hop, great moment if you would like to just
go down the rabbit hole in order and just listen
to eat a song from Joey Badass. Each reply mainly
from Rayvon in Daylight, but all the replies of that,
and most of them are dope. Sorry Jadak his son Yeah,
because I was just like, who is this? Who said
(24:14):
your name? But nevertheless, I think it was a dope
time for hip hop and a battle. So let me
know what you think. Do you think Joey Badass one?
Do you think the West Coast got him? Is it
a draw? Are you a bigger fan of any of
these artists as a result including something new that drop
(24:37):
that sort of kind of related to this from Abso
leave your comments in the comments section below, and least
so as we approach the halfway point of twenty twenty five,
(24:58):
most music outlets like to put out a best of
the year so far. Right here on hip Hop Now podcast,
we do the exact same thing. I also have a
playlist that represents a lot of the music that's been
released thus far and will obviously be the best of
(25:18):
a year playlist in December. But I also have my
list of best of the year so far, and that's
coming up in an episode in June that you can
check out, and it'll be a special episode dedicated maybe
even a live stream dedicated specifically to some of the
(25:39):
best projects, albums EPs in hip hop that have dropped
in twenty twenty five. But it's old. Wayne's fun because
as a music fan, I listen to a lot of
music that's not just hip hop. But we all have
a rotation, even if it's one album you've just been
listening to riding to. Everybody has a list of some
(26:03):
sort of what they've been listening to, even if it's
like a playlist, you know what I'm saying. Like the
other day, I was listening to a Ransom playlists on
Spotify and I'm just like, man, this man just got
bars for things. I got a lot of his projects.
But it's it's always nice to step away from your
own music. Right now, I'm going to give you five
(26:28):
albums that I'm currently listening to right now as far
as heavy rotation and why no order right we're not
ranking them. Number one Freddy Gibbs Freddy from twenty eighteen.
This was an album Freddy Gibbs dropped that the cover
and the title of the album were homages to Teddy
(26:54):
Pendergrass album Teddy same album cover. Freddy Gibbs did a
whole promotional rollout that was real R and B is.
But what made me go back to this album was one,
I liked it, but you know how you like something
and you played it a lot one year, and maybe
(27:14):
you haven't revisited the album in a long time, so
you sort of forget. You kind of only remember a
song or two. Man, when I pressed play on this joint,
I was like, I forgot how crazy this album was
and what I like about it is it was the
first time. And I said this on the Homie Kills
podcast Apartment five B. Check that out on YouTube and
(27:38):
the audio form. But I said, like, when I heard
this album, I was like, Yo, this man could rap
over anything. He can sound dope over anything. He's so
polished as an MC. It doesn't matter how many albums,
what the song is, what the beat is, He's always
on point. But with this album in particular, Freddy, Yo,
(28:03):
the beats Like, I don't have no crazy system in
my office, right, I got a monitor that's right here,
but you can't see it. And you know, I got
a little you know, you see that what is that
apple iPod whatever? That basketball tennis ball? You see that joke,
But I have them synced up. And when the beats
(28:23):
hit on that album, Yo, the the base was crazy
and I was in here like yo. It's almost as
if I was hearing it for the first time. So
as a result, I've been listening to it more than often. Also,
album released this year, Westside Gun twelve. To me, this
(28:44):
is like West Side Gun's best project in a little while.
To me, I think probably since the joint called ten,
I thought that was dope, but this joint twelve is
though for a lot of reasons, you know, features a
lot of Stove God, which is, you know, I'm a
(29:05):
big fan of stove God. But one of the things
about Stove God what Griselda is the fact that Stove
God has some contractual dispute going on where he can't
really release an album. Last year he released an EP
on an independent site that was crazy and they had
to take it down, which is crazy in itself, But
(29:27):
a way to keep him out there in the hip
hop lexicon was to feature him on Griselda projects prominently,
and on this West Side Gun album he's on, he's
featured prominently on here, and everything is just dope and
it's not just him, you know what I'm saying. So
I really liked that joint. I did a review a
(29:48):
couple of episodes back Buster Rhymes nineteen ninety seven when
disaster strikes the reason why I'm listening to this album
well on his very every channel. What I'm going to
do in the very near future is a Buster Rhymes
ranking of albums. I've done a few like ray Kwon
(30:10):
and Daylight, Soul and Metha Men and Red Men albums,
Ghost Face Snoop, I've done a couple of eminem Common,
and the list goes on, so Smith and Wesson most
recently also, So I wanted to do one on bust
to Rhymes because like all of those other artists I mentioned,
(30:30):
a lot of times, you know, once you have like
five six albums from an artist, some people check out
and some albums become a blur and you really only
remember those that stand out the most. But that doesn't
make every other project you can't remember why you just
(30:51):
don't remember it, you know what I'm saying. And a
lot of times I've found when I go back and listen.
Great example, I did it episode and this was only
audio at the time. Excuse me, but I did an
episode on Big Daddy Kane's albums Tasted Chocolate and Prince
of Darkness, which are prominently named as his fall off projects.
(31:17):
I realized that Taste the Chocolate was not that bad.
Sure the album cover was what it was, but it
was kine. But the album wasn't as bad as I
My memory told it told me it was Prince of
Darkness was sleet trash. But that's how I feel with Buster.
(31:37):
I feel like when I think about Buster's catalog without listening,
I think about the albums that stand out, which maybe
like two or three, and then I really don't remember
the rest, Like when disaster strikes I vaguely remembered, I
remember the high points, but I don't remember anything else.
So that's the album I'm listening to right now. I
(32:00):
already listened to The Coming, and I'm going to go
through the whole catalog, including that other one, the Blockbuster,
and look out for a video releasing. All right, two
more to go so we can get up out of here.
Lloyd Banks aon three. Despite my mistakes, it was released
(32:20):
this year. I did a review a couple of episodes
back Very Dope album. I think when Lloyd Banks has beats,
like beats that are really tough, his lyrics shine through.
He always has bars, but sometimes it become a little
monotonous listening to him, and some of that's here also,
(32:40):
but he raping rapping on here, and the beats match
it so and the guest appearances are perfect, so I
check that joint out. And lastly, it's an album that
I kind of only listened to because I saw no
Id and I was like, well, I like no Id,
so it could be great Saba and no Id from
(33:03):
the private collection of Saba and no Id. I'm gonna
tell you right now. I know there's a lot of
albums coming from mass appeals, in premier clips and whatever
else is on the docket that can potentially make my
top five of the year, but it's going to be
difficult to knock this one out because I think this
(33:26):
is just such a great album. It's kind of refreshing
from a different style of rapper, you know what I'm saying.
And then when I say style, I don't mean he
strayed so far away from what you know. I just
mean that it's dope beats from no id and a
rapper who can wrack, who is thought provoking when he raps,
(33:47):
interesting when he raps, and relatable. You know everybody either
shot shooting up the spot or got more money than you.
It's refreshing sometimes to just hear somebody rap about anything
and everything, to be honest. So there you have it.
That's my top five in rotation. What's it your rotation?
(34:09):
You know what I'm saying. Oh, you listen to any
mostly new stuff, mostly old stuff. Leave your comments in
a comment section below. Rate and rank or rate I guess,
rate and review of the podcast on Apple Podcasts. I
appreciate it if you do that. Also, if you love
this kind of content, subscribe to this channel. Obviously we're
(34:31):
just going to keep going up. We had twelve thousand subscribers.
I'm looking at it now. Why now just look for
twenty five. You know what I'm saying, you never know,
So subscribe. If you love the content you're seeing here
on this podcast, hit the LFE button. If you like
that episode, comment below. I read the comments, trust me,
but more importantly, share it with people you know enjoy
(34:55):
this kind of content. Until next time, y'all. I'm not
a critic, I'm a fan.
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