JumpinJack AJ

Unless you're referring to something I'm not recalling, I don't really fault him for not putting his business out in the street. Some of the personal stuff that came out later wasn't really the public's business. I wouldn't consider him keeping some things private lying. I'm also hoping he focuses a lot on the early days and music, but I'm prepared for this to be aimed at the mainstream audience.

Wow. He put out some stuff like that over the years with minimal copies. There's so much that aren't even aware exists.

Will and Arsenio have always had the best chemistry. I've always wanted them to do a film together. This was Will's wildest appearance on the show. You'd never see something like this on late night anymore.

Yeah, this is a bit of a holy grail. When I was younger, I watched The Arsenio Hall Show almost every night. I somehow missed this episode, but I knew it existed because when he would do "Props 2 Hip-Hop" shows, he would show pictures of guests he had from Hip-Hop and he showed a picture of this appearance. Even when they aired reruns, they never showed this episode. I'd never seen Arsenio have that stage on his set, or the greenscreen, so this has a lot going on that was never done any other time on his show. The fact that they did the street remix is dope, too. Back in the 90's artists would perform their remixes sometimes, but it was rarely done once the 2000 hit. I do get the impression that this was during the time that Will's ego was a bit big. He kind of likes hearing himself talk during this appearance. Thanks for finding it. I thought I might never see this performance.

It's insane to think it was released that long ago. Life is so different from back then. Having never separated myself from Homebase for long, it doesn't really sound dated to me. This was the album that made JJ+FP my favorite group. I was old enough to really latch on to, understand every lyric, plus 1991 is kind of my favorite hear for music (and the music that was released shortly before after it. The album deserves a remastered and expanded treatment. A few years ago they digitally released Homebase: The Remixes (https://www.amazon.com/Homebase-Jazzy-Jeff-Fresh-Prince/dp/B01MR3HFUE), which basically features the content on the singles and promotions singles for that album. That needs to be a part of a proper physical release.

I love how you remixed the website. It looks clean and modern, but has the charm that it's always had.

As an optimist, I always thought he was going to pull out of his health issues. In recent years, Biz has lived about an hour from me and frequently DJ's at a venue I like, but I never made it out on the nights he was spinning. I'm really regretting that. I did see him spin at the Will Smith & Friends event years ago. I also saw him at the recording for MTV's Back In Black, Men In Black special. The last time I saw him was when I saw TLC in 2015, in which New Kids On The Block brought him out in the middle of their set to perform. Biz Markie is one of a kind. He is Hip-Hop's class clown. Few emcees are as fun-loving as him. I think because he can be so silly, we don't recognize him for the song writer that he is, the producer he is, and how much music knowledge he has. There have been some great tributes over the last couple days and they shed more light on that side of him. There's a reason he was tight with JJ+FP. We lost a legend. It's a shame that it took this loss for him to get some light shed on his music, but let's hope it's recognized the way it deserves to be.

I love when this kind of stuff survives to be preserved digitally. This might be the only full length mix I've heard that was done while JJ+FP was still active.

I am totally getting this. It's so random.

I'll have to carve out time to watch this. The first 10 minutes are gonna determine if I try to get through the whole thing. lol

I just watched the 20th anniversary release of Independence Day or blu-ray. I was going through the special features and smirked at the story boards that had Will, Vivica, and Ross' characters drawn as white people. It made me realize that Hollywood always expects all white characters in their movies. I'm curious about this statement. For those who live outside of the US, would you agree that there's any truth to this. Issues with racism and white washing in the US are so ridiculous that I rarely consider them other places in the world. I think one of the factors that makes ID4 work is the ensemble casting. I can't imagine an character's casting holding that much weight since it's balanced so well. It kind of makes me think there were race issues at Fox.

I'm guilty of not reading The Alchemist. I need to make a point to do so. I recall Will referring to the book in the past. This project does look, good, so I'll be checking it out.

I'm curious why you suspect that Will wouldn't be honest with the book.

Thoughts? Is Napoleon sharing this to get in a headline? It seems kind of out character of Jada, and all together unnecessary. Tupac only ever seemed to show Will respect, appreciating JJ+FP and casting Will in the lead of his screenplay. Why would he have a problem with Will unless he did Jada wrong?

https://thesource.com/2021/07/02/jada-tupac-will/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jada-tupac-will OUTLAWZ RAPPER CLAIMS JADA PINKETT SMITH ASKED TUPAC NOT TO HURT WILL SMITH WHEN SHE BEGAN DATING HIM JULY 2, 2021 Jada Pinkett Smith and Tupac Shakur’s close relationship from childhood to adulthood has been well-documented. But there was a moment when things got rocky when she began dating Will Smith who she eventually married and had two children with. Outlawz rapper Napoleon appeared on The Art of Dialogue and shared a story about the time when Jada offended the late rapper. “I remember when I first came around ’Pac, Jada Pinkett was in a movie—might have been the first movie she ever starred in, with the Wayans brothers,” Napoleon began. “Then a couple days later, I heard him mentioning to someone that he knew the actress, which is Jada Pinkett,” the rapper continued. “Later on, she became a star. The second time I probably heard him talk about her is when he went to L.A. He was very upset. ’Pac came in the room and was like, ‘Jada, she gon’ contact me and tell me don’t do nothing to Will Smith.’ So ’Pac was upset and said, ‘I don’t know why she think I would have tried to make some problems with Will Smith.’ I guess it kind of hurt him… He had a lot of love for Jada Pinkett, a lot of respect for her.” Back in January 2020, Will Smith admitted that he was jealous of his wife’s relationship with Tupac and never spoke to the West Coast rapper because of that. “Oh my God!” Will said. “Dude! And that was in the early days. And it was like, that was a big regret for me too, ’cause I could never open up to interact with ’Pac. You know, we had a little bit of a thing because they grew up with each other.” He added, “They loved each other, but they never had a sexual relationship. But they had come into that age where that was a possibility and then Jada was with me. So, ’Pac had a little thing on that. But she just loved him. He was the image of perfection, but she was with the Fresh Prince. We were in the room together a couple times, I couldn’t speak to him. And he wasn’t gon’ speak to me if I wasn’t going to speak to him.” Do you think the claims Napoleon is making about Jada, Tupac, and Will are true?

I pre-ordered the hardcover book and the audio book on CD from Amazon. I'm looking forward to this. I always get a craving for Willennium and Big Willie Style in November, so this will hit at just the right time.

I don't understand why people are still trying to tie Rakim to the song. This whole thing confuses me. The music was done by Hula and K. Fingers. Are they saying the track was offered to them first? It doesn't make sense. ....am I the only one who reads Rakim's response with his voice in my head?

DMX's final studio album, Exodus, is coming May 28th. DefJam Records announced it earlier today. It's almost certain that it'll do well. Let's hope it hits number one like all of his earliest releases and has legit impact on the mainstream...and has the material that's worthy of doing so.

I dig it. I think he'll inspire a lot of people to take their health more seriously...at least for the time being. I know I could use that motivation right now.

Been awhile since I listened to this album. DAS EFX - Shine Generation Efx (1998)

The groove on this is undeniable. AUBREY LOGAN - Louboutins 2.0 Standard (2021)

DMX - Born Loser Born Loser CD Single (1993) I heard this years ago. I always wanted it, but didn't want to pay the high price for an old, rare release. When he passed, I went ahead an got it, knowing its value would spike. I'm glad I did.

I just gave Life Story a serious listen. I honestly only listened to it once years ago and put it on the shelf. I'm not comparing it to classics, but when it comes to mainstream rap albums, it is a good listen.

This one has hit me hard. It was the late 80's when I was at my cousins house and heard "The Humpty Dance" for the first time on WPGC. That bass line, Humpty's outrageous lyrics, the energy....Digital Underground is one of a kind. People want to give Dr. Dre props for incorporating p-funk into Hip-Hop. No. Shock G did it first and he did it best. I haven't felt loss like this (unless I personally knew the artist we lost) since Heavy D. Shock G/DU were always in my top 10. Shock G was a creative genius. His imagination was wild. He made the DU album inserts a comical and artistic adventure. He was a student. He was a self-taught piano player, turntablist, and drummer. As a writer, he could write an outrageous song for Humpty, then hit you with a conscious song. Shock could rhyme and sing on a song without doing it terribly like a lot of the 2000's rappers did. Shock G not only brought us Tupac, he kept his legacy honest. All these other people tried to pimp him as a Deathrow rapper, a thug, and gangsta rapper, but Shock always made it his personal mission to make sure we know his heart and the man he really was. Without Shock G brining him to Digital Underground, he may have stayed and underground rapper in Strictly Dope. Shock G is also one of the funniest guys in Hip-Hop. He could talk about anything and it would be entertaining. I was heartbroken when he "retired", but he had the sense to say that the studio and the industry depressed him and made him turn to drugs, so he left to not live that life. It'll be sad if it was drugs that played a role in losing him. So many emcees have shown love to him recently, so he was definitely loved by all that met/knew him.

I knew he had an album completed, but Snoop just mentioned that it was recorded at his studio. https://thesource.com/2021/04/24/snoop-dogg-reveals-dmx-recorded-his-last-album-at-his-studio/