The Roots feat. Big K.R.I.T.-Make My

There are few things better musically than a rap song that takes its time to drop. My favorite song of all time, "Elevators" by Outkast, knows that good things come to those to wait, and "Make My" by The Roots and Big K.R.I.T. follows that legacy to a T.

I didn't do a "best-of" list for last year, but if I had, Undun by The Roots would have been very very near the top. Today's jamandahalf is a clear standout on that brilliant album, and it truly is an album in the purest sense of the word. Featuring a verse by longtime favorite Big K.R.I.T., The Roots know they have earned the right to ride out for as long as they want to, and that's what they do. Other than said verse by KRIT and a reflective banger by Black Thought, the thing that is most notable about the track is how expansive it sounds. At the beginning of the album, but at the tail end of the life of Redford Stephens, the central character to the story of Undun, both verses focus on taking one final look back on a life of both good and bad before Redford's subsequent suicide. Although the dark lyrics do weigh the song down, there is some glimmer of the triumphant hidden in there somewhere. Finishing an album-long story with a serious dose of class, The Roots give Stephens a proper farewell.

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Download The Roots Make My (feat. Big K.R.I.T & Dice Raw)

e-dubble feat Kom-My Last Dream

e-dubble has been on his grind. From building an initial buzz by releasing an album quality track every week for a full year to now turning that into maintaining a constant presence on some of the best blogs out there, e-dubble has slowly inched his way to become an artist that you need to know about. I haven't posted his music until now but this one needs to be heard. "My Last Dream" features an incredible sample from "Weighty Ghost" by Winter Sleep and is the perfect intro track for those who aren't familiar with e-dubble. His deep baritone juxtaposes the chill beat with an intense flow, one that hasn't slacked off after years of continuing to push it, and the two rap about the temptation of dreams. While I'm sure he hasn't quite reached his dreams, e-dubble continues to chip away at that mountain in front of him. With tracks like this one, I'm pretty confident he'll get there.

 e-dubble feat. Kom - My Last Dream by edubble 

Blu & Exile-Cold Hearted feat. Miguel

On a classic Exile beat: perfect use of a sample, complex, but simple enough to give Blu a free canvas to paint his picture, Blu takes 99% of rappers out there to school. Consistently making top notch jams, Blu and his musical muse Exile have been a beautiful combination for years now, the rap ying and ying interlocking seamlessly.  This song borders the line between hip hop and poetry, as the best ones do. If you break this song into two levels-with and without the beat-you start to unravel the DNA of the best hip hop-the forever interwining nature of the beat and the lyrics.

Telling a story about being a young, dumb, kid, and eventually killing a man, the song is also the story of how Blu found hip-hop. The soulful beat and Blu's effotless flow at first mask the dark story at the heart of the song, but after repeated listens the story itself becomes the proverbial diamond in the rough. Above all, this song is a study in hip hop poetics, about bringing the defining characterisitcs of poetry and applying them to rap. Blu's structure repetition throughout is pure Hip Hop 101. Repeating the "dumb kid with a gun" line over and over until the last few lines of the track where he completely flips it and says "Dumb kid with a tongue, that I got from Hip Hop," Blu has transformed that previous one line narrator into something finally positive, ending his, up to that point, bleak history with a bright brushstroke. Forever bridging the literary and the vocal, this is a prime example of a rap workout brought to you by Blu.

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Blu & Exile Cold Hearted f. Miguel

Blitz the Ambassador-Accra City Blues

For years now rappers of West-African descent have been making it big in their new countries, especially in England where rappers Dizzee Rascal and Tinie Tempah have blown up in a major way. The descendants of immigrants who left their homes to pursue a better life, they truly are the epitome of the immigrant dream: making a better life for your children than you had for yourself.

Today's jamandahalf comes from an artist that is from a place that is close to my heart, Accra, Ghana. I lived in Accra with my family for my first two years of high school and my family soon moved back after I graduated high school in the States, and have lived there since. Accra has become a second home to me, and when I found out about Blitz the Ambassador's story, I had to show some love. This jam is about this sweltering labyrinth of a city, about a city which grows and changes each time I visit, but the city which still remains Accra. Starting off rapping in the local language twi, Blitz fills the song with both visual lyrics and heavy instrumentals, with a horn section that impresses in its intensity, burning bright like the dry season sun. Whether talking about losing a woman or the city that raised him, Blitz's lyrics reflect a loss of something that he will never get back. Moving to the US to study at Kent State, Blitz found his true home as a rapper, and recently released his latest album, Native Son. This track shows Blitz looking back while still moving forward, not forgetting where he is from, but moving on to continue to make unique, quality music like this track.

 06 Accra City Blues 2 by jamand1/2

Slick Rick feat. Big Boi-Street Talkin'

Slick Rick’s flow is undoubtedly one of the smoothest in rap history. He strings together words effortlessly; sliding from one to another like he is playing on a jungle gym. With his unique British accent, eyepatch, and gold chains, Slick Rick’s persona is one of a kind, but luckily he backs up the flash with a career that has been as long and as bright as almost anyone out there, with a focus on storytelling and imparting wisdom like only of the originators can. On this jamandahalf he raps over a baby butt smooth beat with Big Boi stopping by, the two creating a helluva jamandahalf.

Two of the best ever on the same track deliver their raps with night and day flows. Slick Rick sounds like he’s  rapping with one eye closed, and on his second verse he has the ultimate lazy-river flow. Throwing in adlibs left and right, his combination of subtle humor wrapped in a layer of wordplay makes a lot of Top-40 rappers sound elementary by comparison. Big Boi comes guns blazing. Not pausing for a breath, Big Boi’s Usain Bolt verse comes and goes before you know it. The paced beat gives both the canvas for their very different styles of painting, but at the end of the day the two combine to create one of the smoothest jams around.

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