The Sermon's Domain

It’s Philly in this bitch! If you’ve ever heard a Meek Mill tape chances are that you’ve heard him say just that. You have to put on your area and nobody in the state is doing it more than the Grand Hustle spitter. His latest project, Mr. Philadelphia, further backs up his claim while proving to the rest of the game that he is Philly. Take a trip from Philly to Cali to Canada with DJ Ill Will and DJ Rockstar.

There is a reason why T.I. handpicked Meek for potentially signing to his Grand Hustle imprint. One of those reasons lies within his lyrical abilities. He’s proven it time and time again. He even has his own unique fast paced style that nobody else possess’. The verses are never boring because of the energy he includes into his music.

Alongside Jahlil Beats, Meek creates some of the best records of his career. The energetic, club banging “Rose Red (Remix)” has the sound and eye appeal featuring Hip-Hop heavyweights Rick Ross and T.I. as well as newcomer Vado. Boasting an off the wall Indian sample in the production, “Indian Bounce” is just straight bars for over two minutes.

One of the things that bring down the tape is some of the freestyles following the same format as the original. Over Drizzy’s “Miss Me”, he starts out with the same “tell me what’s really going on…” lyrics. The type of flow that is shown on “Raw” is what needs to be applied to the previously mentioned freestyle because it’s got that Meek spin. With super charged bars and a much needed, greatly appreciated verse from AR-AB, “Hard In The Paint Freestyle” is the only other one that gets a pass.

After three installments of Flamers and Mr. Philadelphia, it’s time for Meek to step up to the big leagues and drop an album. He has the flow, style, production and the appeal. With Jahlil Beats on his side, he can come up with a single that’ll make his buzz become crazy. For now, we get some dope free music in the form of Mr. Philadelphia.

Bei Maejor. It’s a name you know but not necessarily know. The Grammy nominated producer has kept a low profile up until now. However, he has plenty of production credits from Bun B to Trey Songz to Chrisette Michelle and tons more. On the flip side, he’s an amazing singer. He’s graced Plies “She Got It Made” hook and does his own music too.

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The definition of EP has been greatly stretched. People like Rick Ross have confused the public as to what an actual EP, Extended Play, is. An artist like Willie The Kid respects the craft of the EP and exults it with Never A Dull Moment. The six track project is entirely produced by Lee Bannon and has been in the works for some time. Trying to perfect a project to live up to it’s title isn’t an easy task.

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A famous saying goes “third times a charm” and it seems to be working in the favor of North Carolina’s young legend, Rain. Never has someone on the East been on such a consistency path appearing on blogs weekly for an uncountable number of weeks. A lot of the material was set loose with no signs of making any projects. Just call First In Flight the East Coast Brick Squad….with skills. Rain returns with the third installment of his street album series, American Dreamin’, hosted by P. Smirf and DJ Folk.

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Fat, black and full of facial hair is one way to describe William Roberts Jr. Another, more accurate to his career, would be an incredible rapper with an ear for great beats. The three #1 albums in four years will back up the previous sentence. With a plot of assassination on his career in 2008 when details surfaced about being a former C.O. in the late 90’s, he pulled through it, fighting G-Unit as well. The fourth album jet back to his original rap name, Teflon Don and follows the same tactics that lead him to success thus far.

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The Dream has already solidified his spot in this generation of R&B with two incredibly well received albums and the countless hits he has written. Dream continues to raise the bar with everything he does in his career. The man values his sound a lot to which you have to respect him. His albums have structure and his third solo album, Love King, is no different.

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Say word? This isn’t music related. You have to expand your horizons sometimes. Anyways, yesterday at work I had the opportunity to purchase one of these. What made me do this? It looks like a Twix, which is my favorite candy, so I figured it would be well worth it. Let’s break it down:

Taste – For it being like a Twix, it wasn’t too satisfying. They seem like smaller sticks and it doesn’t have that soft break off when you bite into it. It’s all hard and even the inside isn’t very pleasant. The regular 3 Musketeers are soft and chewy but these bars are not.

Cost – I paid 75 cents for one. They probably go for more in actual stores like a buck. I’d say this is definitely not worth it if you looking for a light snack. It’s smaller than a light snack.

Final verdict – It was a cool idea but it needs a lot more tweaking before they should have it on the market. Hopefully, they’ll not entirely abandon it. Just a touch up on taste and size is required to make it perfect.

Round 1 left the competition lying face down in their blood. However, Round 2 was a little less than great. The champ seemed to have lost his title. One year later, he’s ready to reclaim it. We are talking, of course, about Jadakiss’ The Champ Is Here series. With DJ Green Lantern and DJ Drama, deemed Dram King, in his corner, how can Jada lose?

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Whether it was from blogs or half of the XXL Freshmen, Jae Millz has been subject to a lot of criticism. He’s been rapping for 10 years and never dropped an album this, Lil Wayne resurrected his career that. One thing you can’t criticize is his work ethic. He pledged to drop one mixtape every month in 2010 (besides February due to suffering a stroke) and has stuck to that. We got warned in January, and then came the actual flood in March. Now, in April, The Flood Continues.

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It’s obvious to see where the creativity in hip hop has gone. Ideas are constantly reused and the out-of-the-box thinking that once created countless classics in the 90’s has vanished. There are still some who do have creativity. This is where Chris Connery comes in. The duo is built up of Theo (Rapper) and $port (Producer). Their first effort together titled “You Can’t Do That On Television,” derives from the 1980’s Nickelodeon TV show. The great minds that they are, they added the twist to give it a 2009 feel about the right to censor certain things that go on. In simple terms: it’s real hip hop.

The soulful slow piano rises and begins “The Letter.” Backed by an Ossie Davis sample in the beginning and end, Theo has the chance to reminisce on the past, discuss the present, and predict the future. Despite having such a simple beat, it brought out the best in him lyric wise. You have to really listen to get what he is talking about because he doesn’t just come out and “this is what happened in my past, my present, & future.” Moving in to “The Monocle,” seems like it’s an added version of “The Letter” beat but with a more energetic flow.

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