What's New In Dart's iPod #33 AKA The Truth Crushed To Earth Shall Rise Again Edition

Last night I had a hell of a time at America's most beloved ballpark. Fenway Park is easily one of my favorite places to go on planet Earth. I've never gone to a game there and not had one of the best experiences of my life and last night was no exception.

I saw a home run, a brawl, a whole bunch of injuries and several players getting hit by pitches. The game started at 6:05 so as not to run into the Celtics game at 9:00 PM. The Red Sox game ran for 3 hours and 45 minutes because of delays from fights, pitching changes, long innings and injuries as the Red Sox beat the Rays to win 13 straight at home. By the time I walked home the Celtics game was almost at halftime and the Lakers were leading.

In the second half of the game the Celtics made some adjustments and got some big play from their bench to get back in the game. The Big Three powered a comeback that the Celtics bench sustained as they outscored the Lakers by 15 in the second half and held Kobe Bryant to 9 of 26 shooting from the floor. Kobe is a beast...LeBron James started out 8 for 42 so Kobe's already ahead of the curve!

Seeing Paul Pierce go down, get carried off the court and placed into a wheelchair just to come back 5 minutes later while his team is already on a run without him was great. If Phil Jackson is such a great coach how come get couldn't strategize his way around the suffocating Celtic defense. I know Doc Rivers didn't outcoach him last night...did he? Either way, there's still a long way to go before a champion is crowned so let's all see what happens next.

The four projects I'm reviewing today are as follows and will be reviewed in order of listing: Custom Made "Original Dynasty", Tyga "No Introduction", N.E.R.D "Seeing Sounds" and Lil' Wayne's eagerly anticipated LP "The Carter III". For those of you new to the party, 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 "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:


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.

Fuck a boss, I'm a God! © Royce Da 5'9"


California rhyme consortium Custom Made has previously released the projects “Sidewalk Mindtalk”, “Truth Be Told” and “Heavy Traffic” all to critical acclaim. Now it’s time to review their newest effort “Original Dynasty”. Does it bang? Let’s see:

Best Joints: Live From Los Angeles, Stack Em Up, Murderous Speech, So Sorry, Original Dynasty, Maybe Tomorrow, Chemical Romance, Real Life, Thug Warz, The Lion King, Gangstas Theme, Last Breath, Mass Appeal, Envoy, Nasty World

Hot Garbage: I didn’t like Troubled Adolescents

Dart’s Take: This was a loaded CD from the top to the bottom. Solid beats, solid rhymes and it’s that hardcore, aggressive street hop that gets you hyped and gets your head noddin’. If you want to hear some real official dirty, gritty, bullyfoot lyrical Hip Hop from the West Coast than this is the album for you. This LP gets a highly recommended maybe from me. Check it out on iTunes.




Tyga is Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes little cousin and the newest signee to MTV’s Decaydance label. Will he convince me that his buzz is deserved and his deal isn’t just a case of industry nepotism? Find out below:

Best Joints: Diamond Life (Don’t Regret It Now, Cartoonz, Press 7, Woww and EST. (80’s Baby) were all just meh).

Hot Garbage: Coconut Juice, Supersize Me (worst chorus I’ve heard in a while), Pillow Talkin’, AIM, First Timers, Summertime and 2AM

Dart’s Take: What the fuck were they trying to do with this album? Who is the target audience for this shit because it clearly ain’t me. This album sounds like, to paraphrase Bell Biv Devoe: Hip Hop smoothed out on a faux Rock tip with a Pop feel appeal to it. The production is all over the place and sometimes it has the equivalent of a boy band/Pop type of sound at times. I would think that Tyga is signed up with Disney’s record label based on his production.

Tyga has flashes of niceness but he also has some terrible lines, meh verses and poorly executed concepts all over this album. I didn’t rewind one track on this album. Not once did I ever get the inkling to do so. “Cartoonz” was lame and songs like “Press 7” were spoiled by the producers trying to do too much and appeal to too many different fanbases. You can’t make an album with something for everyone in real life. “No Introduction” gets on oh no from me. This joint is a discus.



N.E.R.D’s new album was getting major buzz while they were on the Glow In The Dark Tour with Kanye West. The single “Everybody Nose” was everywhere and after “Spaz” leaked and the new Zune ads dropped people knew it was only a matter of time before “Seeing Sounds” hit the ‘net. Will it live up to the hype? Find out below:

Best Joints: Time For Some Action, Everybody Nose, Windows, Anti Matter, Spaz, Yeah You, Sooner Or Later, Happy, Kill Joy, Love Bomb, You Know What and Laugh About It

Hot Garbage: N/A (It sucks that I couldn’t get the Japanese retail version with the Everybody Nose Remix and Lazer Gun as bonus tracks)

Dart’s Take: This album was the perfect mix of Neptunes production, 80’s synth pop aesthetic, musicianship and trademark Pharrell songwriting. I liked the previous two N.E.R.D projects and I loved “In My Mind”. This album is another level in the evolution of the N.E.R.D. sound. I couldn’t stop playing “Laugh About It”, “Sooner Or Later”, “Happy” or “Yeah You” after I first got this album. I can’t give this anything but a mos def. Go cop it when it drops on June 10th!




Rap fans have been waiting for Lil’ Wayne’s “The Carter III” to drop for more than a year now. Since it’s so heavily anticipated I won’t waste anymore time with writing out an intro and I’ll just launch into the review. Here it is just below:

Best Joints: 3 Peat, Mr. Carter, A Milli, Got Money, Comfortable, Dr. Carter, Tie My Hands, Shoot Me Down and Let The Beat Build

Hot Garbage: Phone Home (there is only one Andre 3000, Weezy....you are not him), Playin’ With Fire, Lollipop and La La (Nothin’ On Me, Mrs. Officer and Misunderstood were all meh to me)

Dart’s Take: In the past I have said some mean things about Wayne all over the internet. The thing about him that pisses me off is that he went on a great streak (Hollywood Divorce, LilWeeziana, The Drought mixtape series) and once he began calling himself the best rapper alive he just didn’t live up to it. He spit lazy guest verses next to Jay-Z, Little Brother, Kanye West and bunch of others and put out a gang of mixtapes using an annoying ass style. He needs to leave them goddamn drugs alone and focus on his emceeing.

When Wayne focuses he’s one of the best in the game but when he reverts back to that “I can say anything and it’ll be hot” mode it makes for some crappy music. Overall, Wayne manages to keep it together on an overwhelming majority of songs and keep the crap to a minimum. He got help from some A List producers that kept him in line as well. The disappointing tracks and that grating style of Wayne's kept this LP from being a mos def in my opinion. “The Carter II” easily gets a recommended maybe.




Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):




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

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

Dwele-Sketches Of A Man

Skillz-Million Dollar Backpack
Joe Budden-Padded Room
Rhymefest-El Che
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light

Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Immortal Technique-The 3rd World
Blu-God Is Good

Termanology-Politics As Usual
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Platinum Pied Pipers-Abundance
Method Man & Redman-Blackout 2
Redman-Muddy Waters 2

B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
The Game-L.A.X

The Alchemist-Chemical Warfare
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Common-Invincible Summer
Omen-Be The Judge
Capone-N-Noreaga-Reporting The War
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
Heltah Skeltah-D.I.R.T (Da Incredible Rap Team)
Royce Da 5'9"-The Bar Exam 2


Dart's Fat Tape/CD-R (as of June 6th, 2008):

Departed Flights-Blu (prod. by GodLee Barnes)
Been Down-Dice Raw
Sooner Or Later-N.E.R.D (prod. by The Neptunes)
G4-Gemstones f/Lupe Fiasco (prod. by Prolyfic)
Reverse Pimpology-Immortal Technique f/Mojo
Movie Writerz, Businessmen & Gangstaz-Currensy f/Mr. Marcello
You Know What We About-Ransom (prod. by MoSS)
Brooklyn Girls-Charles Hamilton
I'm Cheatin'-Dwele
Laugh About It-N.E.R.D (prod. by The Neptunes)
6 Letter Words-Mickey Factz (prod. by Jet Audio)
A Regular Nigga-Ab-Soul f/Rapper Big Pooh
W's Down-Crooked I (prod. by Komplex)
Mad As Fuck-Celph Titled
So Sorry-Custom Made f/Element, Bluff, Scoobs & Aneek
Cold World-Lupe Fiasco
Close Your Eyes-The LOX
Shoot Me Down-Lil' Wayne (prod. by Kanye West)
Catch Me-Tame One f/Del The Funke Homosapien
Diamond Life-Tyga
Yeah You-N.E.R.D (prod. by The Neptunes)
Done Talkin'-Royce Da 5'9"
Envoy-Custom Made f/Bluff, Element, Paradox & Scoobs
Let The Beat Build-Lil' Wayne (prod. by Kanye West & Deezle)
Black President-Nas (prod. by Green Lantern)


Ubuntu! © Boston Celtics


Go Celtics! Take care of home on Sunday!


The Boston Celtic Most Likely To Have A Big Game On Sunday Award Goes To...:

Kendrick "The Hulk" Perkins will board and defend like a man possessed in Game 2, trust me. He's angry...you already know the rest.


One.