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Undiscovered Classics: Blu- Her Favorite Colo(U)r

After finishing up my top 20 albums of the decade list their were quite a few albums I felt should have made it on the list or ones on the list that are for others. This new undiscovered series is going to be me going more in depth about some of my favorite albums. This weeks pick is from the West Coast MC Blu.

Gaining popularity in the underground for his classic “Below The Heavens” with Exile, Blu would drop a few lo-fi projects in the underground, but it was not until 2011 when his self produced and personality my favorite album of his was official released.

To me “Her Favorite Colo(u)r” is what a 2000’s Indie Film would sound like if it was made by a rapper. Using samples from scenes in films like “Closer”, “Punch Drunk Love”, and “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou”. This technique is used masterfully on the track “Morning” which even though it’s just a clip from a film over a beat it’s still super dope to me. Like who would think to sample that on a Hip-Hop album.

Some of my favorite parts of a Blu album is when he samples the word Blue into a beat, like on “Amnesia”. For me I feel the album is about Blu and his girl, making Blu her favorite color.

The more jazzy tracks like “Amnesia” and “Vanity” have a riding your bike on a cool night watching the sunset with your girl type of vibe. On the track “Pardon” Blu shows his Madlib influence with a more soul sampled based track. “Beggars/BlackGold” has a J Dilla’s “Doughnuts” feel.

Sometimes I need a break from NY street rap and Trap music, Blu is my escape from that. I wish Blu would produce more of his own work but at least he still drops projects on an independent level. Even though he’s never been able to capture the magic on this project I will always continue to follow and support Blu because he gave this project to the world.

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My Execution Might Be Televised.

Artist: Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist

Album: Alfredo 🍝

Favorite Tracks: All of Em

Least Favorite Tracks: None

Grade: 5/5

Fresh off last years masterpiece “Bandana” with Madlib, Skinny Suge is back with another instant classic. This time pairing with The Alchemist, to create the Mafioso Rap equivalent to “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.”

With the duo collaborating for years as part of the group “Fetti” alongside Curren$y, it was only a matter of time before Gibbs and Alchemist would drop their own collab project.

The album goes from a banger track to a more mellow sound almost one after the other, showing both sides of Gibbs and Alc. I am sucker for producers that continue the instrumental from track to track, even after Gibbs is done rapping. I would a lot of the lines on this album really relatable.

Like I mentioned previously, this album reminds me of Kanye’s 2010 classic “MBDTF” mainly due to how the features fit perfectly on each song. The Rick Ross and Conway features are over more lush production, highlighting a new flow from Conway. The Benny feature on “Frank Lucas” is just a barrage of bars from both MCs. I think each one used about 4 different flows on one verse so that’s definitely going to be a track of the year. The Tyler The Creator feature on “Something To Rap About” doesn’t sound out of place next to Freddie Gibbs over what sounds like a beat from a Blu project.

Ten tracks all bangers, no duds in the bunch. At this point Freddie has to be recognized as one of the best in the game with almost 3 classics in the last decade. This project further adds to the legacy of The Alchemist, who hopefully one day will be looked at on Madlib and J Dilla’s level.

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The Compromise To Save Baseball.

After the NHl announced their playoff format to resume the season by early July, and with the NBA and NFL looking to comeback on the horizon. MLB is on the hot seat to decide a plan for the 2020 baseball season.

The MLBPA sent a new proposal to MLB in order to get the season in motion. An 114 game season would be played from June 30 – Oct 31. The players have agreed to an expanded playoff for not only this season but next, which would boost T.V. revenue. Teams can defer salaries if no postseason is played. If a player does not want to participate, they are allowed to opt out.

With a shortened season players have agreed to take a prorated pay cut, with the players at the top having a higher percentage taken out. To go to that extent I feel the players want to just get back on the field, even if it is at a reduced salary. Mike Trout one of the highest paid players in the league could be looking at an over 80% pay cut.

Owners can cry that they might be losing money due to fans not being at the games, but with the added playoff teams and increased T.V. revenue due to more games the owners will be fine, just not make as much as they should have this year.

I feel it is in the best interest of the owners to come to a compromise with the MLBPA for the sake of baseball and it’s fans. Some of the die hards won’t be able to stomach no 2020 season while all other sports resume. As a new season ticket member with the Tampa Bay Rays, I would definitely tune in to every game they play on T.V., at this point it’s better than nothing. It would really piss me off if Rays fans get no baseball this year just because the owners wouldn’t budge a little bit. The community is already a little salty on the Rays ownership anyway so no baseball would definitely be a bad look.

The two sides need to come up with some kind of agreement by the end of the week. It’s already June and with all the health protocols they have to put in place, having the meat of your season played in August up against every other sport would be bad for baseball. With everything going on in the world a little Rays baseball could be the bright spot in our day that the community needs.

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Eating Local With Food Trucks.

With COVID 19 having its effect on the restaurant industry,Food Trucks have began to rise up, feeding all the hungry locals from a safe distance. Here are a few of my favorite spots to grab a bite and go.

The girls at Shiso Crispy have been serving up handmade Gyoza Potstickers and their signature Dirty Rice for a minute now. My go to are the homemade Bao Buns, usually with the bang bang chicken or shrimp. Sometimes they even feature grouper or other local caught fish as a special. No lie the Bao Buns are the best I’ve ever had!

The Food Truck that started it all for me. Funnel Vision is a food truck with one goal in mind, spreading the joy of funnel cakes around the world. Zack and the crew have battered goodies from savory to sweet. The Nashville Hot Chicken is hands down my favorite in the city, make sure you get it extra spicy.

On the dessert side I usually go with the Bananas Fosters funnel cake, but recently I switched up and went with the Fruity Pebble covered “Bedrock”, with strawberry and marshmallow drizzle. The “Claw Dog” which is a Lobster meat corn dog is definitely a standout on the menu. If your a fan of getting everything extra crispy this is the truck for you.

One of the newer trucks I’ve been checking out Anju Korean Gastrotruck has some of the best Korean Street food the Bay Area has to offer. The Beef Bulgogi and Bibambap are already good on their own but Anju let’s you add an egg to pretty much any dish. My personal favorite are the K pops. Their take on the boneless wing, ANJU’s K-Pops are always extra crispy and extra saucy.

With restaurants slowly reopening, remember to get supporting your local food trucks. Comment below if you have any trucks I should try out, who knows maybe they could land on the next list.

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Bolts Are Back In The Playoffs.

If a Jet Ski hype video wasn’t enough to get you pumped up, the Bolts are back and ready for another run at “Lord Stanley”, from a safe distance.

A 24 team playoff will begin around early July with 12 teams from each of the two divisions playing games in two host cities, one representing the Eastern and Western Conferences. Teams seeded 5-12 will play a Best-Of-5 Qualifying match to determine who will remain in the playoffs facing the Top 4 seeds from each conference. Eventually coming down to a 7 game conference and Stanley Cup playoff.

The Lightning were 1 of the 2 teams to vote against the top 4 seeds getting first round byes in favor of playing meaningful games instead. The Top 4 seeds would have not seen any hockey action since the league suspended in late March, making it a major disadvantage against a team that just played in a 5 game series. The Bolts will be playing in a Round Robin style tournament, to determine seeding of the top 4 teams. Meaning the team has to play Boston, Washington, and Philadelphia all once. I would like to see The Bolts get either the Florida Panthers or the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round. Florida because of the in state rivalry and Columbus because it would be redemption for the clubs sweep of the Number 1 seed Lightning last season in the first round.

No fans will be allowed at the games so fans will have to bring the Thunder from home. The rest players like Stamkos got during this whole COVID 19 suspension, hopefully allows the Bolts to finally reach their potential, bringing another cup back to the Bay!!!

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Let’s Get Tropical, Tampa Bay!

With talks of the NBA resuming play at Disney’s Wide World Of Sports in Orlando, could Florida soon become a basketball hot spot?

With Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis basically welcoming all pro sports to play in Florida, the NBA which was on the brink on the playoffs before COVID 19 suspended the season has looked into resuming play in Orlando. With a large number of games needed to be played in a small amount of arenas I feel it would be in the NBA’s best interest to look at playing some games at Amalie Arena in Tampa.

The NBA currently has two franchises in NBA the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic. You could play two games at both teams home stadiums, but Amalie Arena is a prime location to host some NBA playoff games. The 2019 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four proved the Arena could hold basketball with a sold out crowd of 20,127 basketball crazy fans. If fans are able to go to games soon imagine the opportunity to see some of the NBA’s best come play in our home stadium, I know for sure it would be sold out every night. This rise of interest in the market of Tampa Bay for basketball could entice the NBA into making Tampa Bay the Eastern Conference Expansion Team ro join alongside the Seattle Sonics of the West, once the NBA explores expansion.

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What If St.Petersburg Got A Hockey Team In 1992?

Imagine in a bizzaro world were the St.Petersburg Ownership group fronted by Peter Karmanos and Jim Rutherford won out over Tampa Bay hockey godfather Phil Esposito’s Tampa Ownership group that would in the real world become the Tampa Bay Lightning we all know and love.

If I had it my way the team would be called the St.Petersburg Gasporillas featuring a skeletal pirate ghost similar to the Milwaukee Admirals logo. The Gasporillas home would of course be the beloved Thunder Dome, which in fact the Lightning would call home from 93-96. Imagine a dark blue lit arena, with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers esque ghost pirate ship that would fire every time the Gasporillas score a goal. A loud “Argggggggggh!” would fill the area breaking the oppositions morale. Just picture John Carpenter’s “The Fog.” meets NHL.

Even though St.Petersburg didn’t win the expansion war due to only being able to offer $29 Million as opposed to Espositos $50 Million expansion fee, its safe to say the Tampa Bay Lightning represent the whole Tampa Bay Area very well and it’s so dope the Bolts called the ThunderDome home, even if it was short but sweet.

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TheNack ….AndHowToGetIt!

Artist: Estee Nack and Superior

Album: BALADAS

Favorite Track: “SAMMYSOSACLEANCOCA” “AROCKANDAHARDPLACE” “MANGOMARMALADE”

Least Favorite Tracks: “PLEGARIAAUNSICARIO”

Grade: 4/5

If after the flood of projects from Griselda and Metal Clergy weren’t enough, Estee Nack and Superior are here to give you a fix of hard bars and dope beats.

The first time I recall hearing Estee Nack was on Westside Gunn’s “Banana Yacht” track from last year they had Nack over some lush production spitting bilingual street bars over some of the lushest production I have heard. For me Nack’s style is like if Roc Marciano and Styles P combined, the flow is a little slow but the hard street life lyrics, put you on the block with Nack.

The production handled by Superior is definitely dope bringing that sample heavy Boom Bap production that fits Nack like a glove. “AROCKANDAHARDPLACE” is probably the hardest track on the project where Nack spits “Show me the guap or get out my face, I’m not trying to hear about your saint, uppercut one of motherfuckers to outer space”.

The only really problem I had with the project was it needed one or two more bangers toward the latter half. I saw where Nack was going with the theme of reflecting on street life on the track “WISDOM” to differentiate the content, but the following two tracks had a similar style that wasn’t as aggressive as the earlier tracks like the intro and “AROCKANDAHARDPLACE”.

With that being said “BALADAS” will definitely be in the rotation, it’s a nice break when I want to hear a grimy street rapper with a different approach. I will be checking out anything Estee Nack and Superior drop in the future, I know I’ll have his catchy ad lib “woooooooooah!” in my head for a long time.

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Brothers Killing Brothers.

Artist: Ka

Album: “Descendants Of Cain”

Favorite Tracks: “Every Now and Then”, “Unto the Dust”, “Solitude of Enoch”, “Land Of Nod”, “Pray”, “Sins of the Father”, “I Love (Mimi, Moms, Kev)”.

Least Favorite Tracks: None

Grade: 5/5

Brownsville’s own Ka is back with his first solo project since the samurai inspired “Honor Killed The Samurai”, this time intertwining street life and biblical elements thus giving us the title “Descendants Of Cain”.

Ka’s style is similar to that of DOOM and his close collaborator Roc Marciano who both form the group Metal Clergy. Just think very coded bars about street life and the effects that lifestyle has on Ka and his community. On his earlier album “Grief Pedigree” Ka’s production had a heavy use of drums but later on Ka focused on more dark sample based production depending on the theme of the album. On his collaboration “ Days With Dr.Yen Lo” with Preservation as Dr. Yen Lo, the idea of the album was to create songs with no drums relying on just the rapper and the sample.

Starting with 2013’s “The Nights Gambit” now considered an underground classic, Ka began creating concept like albums set up with sample snippets woven in to complete the theme. Chess was the focus of “The Nights Gambit”, but on his 2016 classic “Honor Killed The Samurai” Ka compared the street code and lifestyle to the way of the samurai. Ka’s lyrics create grim visuals in your mind that compliment the dark cold production of that album. On his last release from 2018 “Orpheus vs. The Sirens”as Hermit and The Recluse focuses on the theme of Ka’s music being used as an escape like Orpheus using his music to distract the Sirens.

The theme of “Descendants Of Cain” is pretty clear with lyrics like “brothers killing brothers, descendants of cain” of one of my standout tracks “Solitude Of Enoch”. Although the theme isn’t as up front like on his past projects, it is coherent enough that you get what Ka is putting down. “Sins Of The Father” features Roc Marciano giving fans a taste of that rumored Metal Clergy album. Ka ends the album on a lighter note, giving thanks to his family and friends a nice change from the usual dark subject matter.

Ever since it dropped all I’ve been listening to is Ka and Roc Marciano so they must be doing something right. Other than Griselda, Kendrick, and Freddie Gibbs no one is on Ka’s level and with another damn near flawless album and probably my favorite project of the year. He is slowly joining the legendary ranks of underground MC’s like DOOM.

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To Play Or Not To Play?

With the season in jeopardy the MLB owners have come up with a plan for the players to decide on with the 2020 season fate in the balance.

The new proposal would see a shortened 82 game season ultimately ending with a 14 team playoff. A universal DH would be in place meaning the National League would no longer have to use a Pitcher in their batting lineup. Home stadiums that have local and state government approval would be set up for play, likely with no fans . With Arizona and Florida being open for pro sports the MLB should use the Grapefruit and Cactus League systems similar to Spring Training.

With an upcoming collective bargaining agreement coming next season the MLB and its owners could be up to something fishy with their new fifty fifty revenue spilt for this proposed 2020 season, with players making basically half of their salaries. Rays star pitcher Blake Snell spoke out on his about the idea of making less money saying “I’m not playing unless I get mine”. Snell also spoke about his health concerns being a factor with playing at a lower rate as well as the risk of the corona virus. Although the players do make a lot of money it would be like my job asking me to take a 50% pay cut on top of being in a high risk environment. Snell has received some heat for his comments but eventually one of the players was going to speak out, it just happened to be a Tampa Bay Ray.

As a new season ticket member it sucks that I will miss out on my first season but I rather have a season done right than the teams and players rush everything just to cram in a 2020 season that will eventually have an asterisk next to it. I am already signed up for 2021 so I am willing to wait a little longer for my Rays baseball, no matter how much I miss it right now.