My name's Jake Bourey, and I've dedicated a significant portion of my life to music and deciphering the science behind its beauty. As you can guess from my blog's title, I'm especially passionate about hip-hop. I post and review the best songs hip-hop has to offer, old and new. Most are in the “underground” genre, considering that’s where the vast majority of hip-hop's true art resides these days.
C-Rayz Walz - In Your Soul (ft. Slug & Sum In One)
Sadly, even though he’s been active in hip-hop for over 15 years and has worked with a plethora of artists and labels, most of you probably never heard of C-Rayz Walz before. He doesn’t even have a youtube video over 75,000 plays. If you watch the mini Def Jux documentary I posted awhile ago, you’ll see in the first video C-Rayz Walz spitting freestyles with Aesop Rock and Vast Aire. If you haven’t watched it yet I highly recommend you do. In my opinion, this short yet exceedingly profound documentary manages to define the true essence of underground hip-hop better than anything I’ve ever seen. In Your Soul embodies this pure essence in multiple ways. It’s my favorite song by C-Rayz Walz, and is off of his 2009 album Who The Fuck Are You?.
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My Song Rating: 9.8 out of 10
Played 613 times.You can donate at their Kickstarter page Cannibal Ox Returns.
Vast Aire & Vordul Mega are definitely on the broker side of hip-hop…especially Vordul Mega, so I can attest the money would go to good use improving this album’s quality and features. Just like their timeless classic The Cold Vein, this is far from a big budget project.
If you haven’t yet you should check out the Def Jux, Cannibal Ox, Aesop Rock, and El-p documentary I posted a while back. It’s my 2nd favorite hip-hop documentary of all time.
Vordul Mega - My Knuckles
Cannibal Ox is a hip-hop duo consisting of New York MC’s Vast Aire and Vordul Mega. They’re easily the best abstract hip-hop duo of all time, and will most likely remain so…even though they only released one album titled The Cold Vein. It’s a true hip-hop classic of classics, and if you haven’t noticed yet it’s one of the vinyls I’m holding in the top logo for my blog. Each song on it is an instrumental/lyrical/poetic triumph. Vordul Mega’s specialty is his ability to vividly spit full fledged ghetto poetry. Of all the rappers I know that depict their problems and mental anguish, he’s gotta take the cake for consistently having the most personal/meaningful lyrics. He suffers from sever clinical depression, and you really get a good sense of this through his colorfully illustrative lyricism. My Knuckles is off of Vordul Mega’s extremely low-key 2004 album Yung World. If you enjoy this kind of hip-hop, my all time favorite song to spawn from Vordul Mega’s solo career is Megagraphitti, which I rated a 9.9 out of 10.
“Remember young days…now it’s all about ice, bottles, and guns, and who sprayed him…”
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My Song Rating: 9.1 out of 10
Played 387 times.
20th February 2013
Notes: 22
#vordul mega
#my knuckles
#yung world
#cannibal ox
#hip hop
#vast aire
#def jux
#el-p
#underground hip hop
#best hip hop
#best underground hip hop
#real hip hop
#east coast
#new york hip hop
#indie hip hop
#alternative hip hop
#song review
#megagraphitti
#song rating
#the cold vein
#jake bourey
#hiphopfightsback
If you go through my “Cannibal Ox” tag you’ll find out real quickly just how much I love their work. I’m also holding a copy of The Cold Vein in my blog’s logo, in case you didn’t notice.
Cannibal Ox - Pigeon
Cannibal Ox’s classic song Pigeon is profound in many ways. The poetic lyricism work perfectly with the extremely potent guitar laced instrumental. This song represents the epitome of abstract/poetic hip-hop, and it’s my second favorite song off of their masterpiece 2001 album The Cold Vein. Def Jux founder El-P produced the whole album by himself, and I firmly believe that The Cold Vein’s instrumentals still represent El-P’s all time best production and some of the greatest abstract instrumentals ever made. Also, not only was this the only collaborative album of Vast Aire and Vordul Mega, but the best abstract hip-hop album of all time. Also, if you’ve never noticed, The Cold Vein one of the vinyls I’m holding in my blog’s logo. It will always have a special place in my heart.
Vast Aire recently said that Vordul Mega and him are currently making their second Cannibal Ox album. I personally can’t wait!
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My Song Rating: 9.9 out of 10
Played 744 times.If you’re a fan of Cannibal Ox, El-P, Aesop Rock, Def Jux, or underground hip-hop in general, this mini documentary is a must see. As you can tell, this was made a while ago…back when Def Jux was first starting to really take off.
Cannibal Ox - Def Jux documentary (Part 1)
I’m a huge fan of Cannibal Ox, so as you can imagine I’m extremely happy about this. I really hope the album is amazing…since they’ve been keeping their fans waiting for close to 15 year for their second album. Vast Aire and Vordul Mega work best together. That’s a scientific fact! Their album The Cold Vein is one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and if you’ve never noticed, it’s one of the vinyls I’m holding in my blog’s logo.
Also, if you’re not familiar with Cannibal Ox, do yourself a favor and check out these songs.
Yak Ballz - Gas Galaxy
If you’ve never heard of Yak Ballz before, I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s pretty much as low key as it gets. He has a lot of great work though. His lyrics are consistently provocative, and his music always has a very original and organic style. Gas Galaxy is one of my favorite songs off of Def Jux’s 2009 label compilation album Definitive Jux Presents, Vol. 4. My favorite song off of this album is Look Alive by Despot.
“If life exists in the sky, then let the word be announced.
If time is not on our side, then lets all live this one out”
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My Song Rating: 9.0 out of 10
Played 799 times.Killer Mike - “Big Beast” (ft. Bun B, T.I., Trouble) (prod. by El-P)
Trust me when I say this is hands down the most badass hip-hop music video of all time.
If you haven’t yet, you should check out my song review for Big Beast.
“I am Sam, I am known to go H·A·M, the full retard
Playing taps on a keytar, in the Benz or the Beamer
Either, etherlicious or rebel yelling the theme of
Son of forgotten freedom, rebel ¡Arriba ‘riba!”
- El-P
This is a snippet from a mini documentary about Cannibal Ox and Def Jux. It’s my second favorite hip-hop documentary of all time. I REALLY love how Vast Aire talks in normal conversation, because he always sounds like he’s flowing with no beat. This is my favorite quote from any documentary I’ve seen concerning music or hip-hop. Vast Aire is a very profound dude, which you would already know if you’ve listened to any of his verses from Cannibal Ox’s classic album The Cold Vein. If you’re a fan of Cannibal Ox, El-P, Aesop Rock, Def Jux, or underground hip-hop in general, this is a must see. As you can tell, this was made a while ago…back when Def Jux was first starting to really take off.
Cannibal Ox - Def Jux documentary (Part 1)
Played 1539 times.
Cannibal Ox - Iron Galaxy
I honestly can’t praise Cannibal Ox and this song enough. Vast Aire and Vordul Mega are easily the best abstract hip-hop duo of all time, and will most likely remain so…even though they only released one album. The Cold Vein is a true hip-hop classic of classics, and if you haven’t noticed yet it’s one of the vinyls I’m holding in the top logo picture. Each song on it is an instrumental/lyrical/poetic triumph. To this day it still leaves me awe. El-P produced all of the instrumentals on the album, and they’re still his best works to date (which is obviously saying something considering all he’s done).
The Cold Vein is a true piece of hip-hop history and needs to be treated as such, regardless of how underground and unknown it is to the general public. Iron Galaxy is my 5th favorite song off all time, so I’m obviously including it in my “Top 25 Favorite Songs of All Time” list, which I’ll be posting in the near future.
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My Song Rating: 10 out of 10
Played 1589 times.
Despot - Look Alive
Look Alive is off of the 2009 label compilation album Definitive Jux Presents IV. Back when I first heard this song I was actually somewhat disappointed, since it absolutely blew me away, and at the time Despot didn’t really have any other songs available. His reputation has been steadily growing since then. He’s been featured on a lot of badass songs, such as Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire’s epic The Last Huzzah, but he’s still pretty damn low-key at this point. Look Alive was also recently re-released on an outstanding compilation mixtape to promote El-P, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Killer Mike, and Despot’s Into The Wild Tour. If you don’t know these artists, you really need to download this mixtape. You’ll be happy you did.
Download Link: Into The Wild Tour Mixtape
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My Song Rating: 9.7 out of 10
Played 1269 times.
Cannibal Ox - A B-Boy Alpha
I honestly can’t praise Cannibal Ox and this song enough. Vast Aire and Vordul Mega are easily the best abstract hip-hop duo of all time, and will most likely remain so…even though they only released one album. The Cold Vein is a true hip-hop classic of classics. Each song on it is an instrumental/lyrical/poetic triumph. To this day it still leaves me awe. El-P produced all of the instrumentals on the album, and they’re still his best works to date (which is obviously saying something considering all he’s done). The Cold Vein on vinyl costs $80 online…used, and I’m fortunate enough to have a copy in mint condition. I’m creating a new banner for Hip-Hop Fights Back soon, and I’m making sure my copy of The Cold Vein is included somehow. It’s a true piece of hip-hop history and needs to be treated as such, regardless of how underground and unknown it is to the general public.
“I lost my first wish, but remembered every detail of my first kiss…that’s that Bronx Tale bliss”
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My Song Rating: 9.8 out of 10
Played 1349 times.
El-P - Stay Down (ft. Nick Diamonds)
This is off of El-P’s new solid album Cancer For Cure. It’s not his best album, but it’s pretty damn good. If you like abstract hip-hop you’ll really enjoy it. Stay Down is my favorite song off of the album. Here are the lyrics, which you will definitely want to look at, since every song El-P has ever made is laced with lyrics that represent some of the most complex and profound bars in all of hip-hop. Aesop Rock is definitely the epitome of this abstract poetic lyrical style…El-P without a doubt comes in second. You definitely appreciate this song more if you smoke and then turn the volume way up and max out the bass.
As a side comment, I really love Killer Mike’s feature on the album and that El-P and him are doing a fair amount of collab work. Both are outstanding artists, and complement each other extremely well even though their overall hip-hop styles are incredibly different.
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My Song Rating: 9.5 out of 10
