What's New In Dart's iPod #101 AKA Welcome To Hell Week

This week sucked as far as writing went. I'm WAY behind making posts, this was the proverbial week from Hell (but for good reason). I spent most of it working on helping my boy Overcast get his career back on track. He's trying to get play on the radio and he has some shows set up in New England already. Our brother from another mother Nasarok One will be visiting from Hawaii some time next week and all of them will be recording and possibly be even rocking together for the first time in a decade. That's some big shit y'all! I'm also gonna do a collaborative blog with some of my most respected peers called Bloggerhouse. Look for it on November 1st!

My beloved Patriots killed the hapless Tennessee Titans 59-0 and once again I've failed to post about it on Armchair Linebacker. I need to post something on on Nerd With Swag soon. The Celtics lost to the Knicks but then killed the Cavs in preseason so all was forgiven. The referees will be back by the start of the regular season so that's huge. I was pissed off by Sasha Frere-Jones' New Yorker article because I feel that it was irresponsible. He gave the impression that Hip Hop was dead and stagnant in '09 and he said that Freddie Gibbs was the ONLY upcoming emcee he'd put he's money on. I'm a Freddie Gibbs fan myself but get the fuck outta here with that bullshit!

I'm continuing to pray for the quick recoveries of Hex Murda, Kon of Kon & Amir & DJ Hideo. I'm hearing that Hex is continuing to improve so thank God for that. Hex Murda's benefit in Detroit on Saturday drew damn near all the illest cats in Detroit Hip Hop (hence Hip Hop, period) as well as some cats from the West Coast (shout out to Alchemist!). More than 800 people showed love @ The Shelter. Too bad the UStream fucked up. Homie will be home in a couple of weeks I heard. Peter Rosenberg also did a Noisemakers with Talib Kweli a few days ago. Noisemakers footage is up right now on That's Major (shout to Neomatrix & G. Valentino Ball!)

This week I'll be reviewing seven new projects that recently hit the 'net/bloggerverse and/or will be landing on store shelves soon in the following order: Crooked I "Mr. Pig Face Weapon Waist", Diamond District "In The Ruff", Doom presents Unexpected Guests, Kam Moye "Splitting Image", Mr. Hudson "Straight No Chaser", Sean Price "Kimbo Price" and Snowgoons "The Trojan Horse". For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my recently revised "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:

Opinions be damned. This particular project has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should come with a Surgeon General's warning and/or a biohazard sticker. It should only be handled by hazmat teams or bomb/demolitions squads. To quote Common & Canibus, this album is your worst nightmare squared.

Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.


Mos Def! Cop the album when it drops...'Nuff said.

It rools © Hex Murda

Best Joints: Mr. Pigface, One More Time, Should Have Made A Phonecall, Guess Who's Back, Cypher & Woodstock

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: This is an interesting EP from Crooked I who stole a considerable amount of thunder from his fellow members of "Slaughterhouse" on their album and murdered Charles Hamilton on his own shit that never came out. He had some memorable guest spots on recent releases as well (including Royce's "Street Hop") but now he takes center stage and carries the entire project. Guest appearances from Slaughterhouse, Horseshoe G.A.N.G & Snoop Dogg round out the project. I'm looking forward to a full length. I give "Mr. Pigface Weapon Waist" a recommended maybe.





Best Joints: Intro, Streets Won't Let Me Chill, Who I Be, Back To Basics, I Mean Business, Get In Line, In The Ruff, The Shining, The District, Make It Clear, Off The Late Night, Let Me Explain, First Time, Something For Ya'll and Hologram

Hot Garbage:

Dart's Take: This was a top 5 or top 10 album back when it first dropped as a free edited album via Fresh Selects & their own website. Now? This is the dirty version with two more tracks on it. Buy this album when it drops on October 27th because it doesn't get better than this. You wanna know what a classic sounds like? Listen to this. Mos def.





Best Joints: Fly That Knot, Sniper Elite, Yikes, Sorcerers, Da Supafriendz, Quite Buttery, ? , All Outta Ale, E.N.Y. House, Bell Of Doom, My Favorite Ladies, Street Corners (Doom Remix), Angels, Fire Wood Drumstykx, The Unexpected, Project Jazz & Black Gold

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: If you're not a Doom stan like I am and you didn't already have all these songs (either from the various releases, 12"s or other sources) then you should definitely cop this. If not, then you still might want to have a physical copy for personal reasons. If there was something "new" on this I could be more excited for it. I liked these songs already and I already have 'em so I don't see the point when I can just scroll up and down my own iTunes library. I give it a recommended maybe.




Best Joints: RE: Born, Reality Check, Stars, Splitting Image, Imani, Hello Karma, No Substitute, Let's Be Honest, Don't Forget, Do What It Takes, Nobody's Fool, Give Out, Give In, Life Line, MK-ULTRA and Forever Fresh

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: Kam Moye has released a ridiculous album where he spit hard bars all over the place over top tier production from Vitamin D, Illmind, Khrysis, D.R., Symbolyc One, Jake One, Marco Polo, Veterano, etc. There isn't a weak moment on this album and I was headnodding from beginning to end. I was rewinding multiple tracks and telling people around me to check songs out. I even passed my headphones to other folks so they could hear what I was hearing. That's what good Hip Hop is supposed to do. "Splitting Image" gets an easy mos def from me.






Best Joints: Anyone But Him (meh), Everything is Broken, Instant Messenger (meh), Knew We Were Trouble (the 1st song on this album I might like), Learning To Live (meh), Lift Your Head, Stiff Upper Lip, Straight No Chaser, Supernova, There Will Be Tears (meh), Time and White Lies

Hot Garbage: Central Park

Dart's Take: If wanted to hear an old Police or Sting album I'd go play one. If I wanted to hear a classic 80's Brit Synth Pop album I'd go play one. If I wanted to hear an album full of AutoTune effects and a dude emulating 3 different singing styles that singers in the 80's already did first and better (Sting, The English Beat & ABC) I'd be a moron. Is it too much to ask for to hear a human voice singing on a modern Pop or R&B album without effects all over it?

This album was a chore to listen to for me and while it wasn't at bad as I may make it out to be to me this album was like watching a film that got mad promo with a big name director with horrible writing & too much goddamn CGI & too many special FX bitten from other older more popular films. Is it just me or does Mr. Hudson remind you of a mix between Roy Batty from "Blade Runner" and Fayde from "Dune"? I know I personally don't need to ever hear "Straight No Chaser" again. Maybe.





Best Joints: Ruckdown, Godfather Part P, Goodnite!!!, Abortion, TKO, Car Thieves, Megasean, Boost, Bars Of Death, Pork Chops & Apple Sauce, Get Ya Sket Mic, Bueno Times, Hot, Street Shit, This Is Us, Weed & Hoes, Mamma I Wanna Sing, Bullshit, P's Up, Suicide Doors and Duckdown

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: It's a Sean Price mixtape. Need I say more? Find that shit © The Beatnuts. Recommended maybe. I want "Mic Tyson" and "Random Axe" yesterday. P!




Best Joints: The Trojan Horse (meh), King Kong, Hey Young World, Krush University, Git Cha Gully Up, Full Force, Hate On Me (meh) (Yunno what? Fuck this shit...)

Hot Garbage: I'm done with these cats...

Dart's Take: This is the third straight Snowgoons release that's sounded like throwaway Stoupe beats or Jedi Mind Tricks/Army Of The Pharaohs tracks. It sounds like the same damn beat with a different sequence for about 2 straight years. Same damn kinda vocals under the beat. Same damn drums. Flip something new! Change some shit up! Vary up your emcees! I'm sick of it.

I'm not reviewing any more Snowgoons shit. Life's too short for repetitive music and no progression after two plus years. If you're a Snowgoons stan it's more of the same. If you ANYONE else, unfortunately it's more of the same. Maybe. After "A Fist In Thought" & "The Trojan Horse" I'm officially good. Maybe. *Wipes hands clean*




Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):

Projects I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop:

Rhymefest-El Che

Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot, Son Of Chico Dusty
Pac Div-Grown Kid's Syndrome
Blu-God Is Good
Drake- Thank Me Later
Alchemist & Oh No are Gangrene
Eternia & MoSS- At Last
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Statik Selektah & Termanology Are 1982
Lil' Fame & Termanology-Fizzyology
Baatin-Titus
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
The Beatnuts-The Planet Of The Crates
Ski Beatz-Half Man, Half Amazing
Evidence-Cats & Dogs
Statik Selektah-The Hangover
Buff1 & Rhettmatic -Crown Royale
Apollo Brown & Boog Brown-UPS


Bloggerhouse is coming! November 1st, 2009: Dart Adams (Poisonous Paragraphs), Travis Glave (Wake Your Daughter Up), Eric Coons (When They Reminisce) & Brandon Soderberg (No Trivia) are Bloggerhouse. Content is king and we are the undisputed kings of content. Fuck an aggregate blog that posts what everyone else on the internet already does...we off that!

One.