Rest In Peace Ol' Dirty!

ODB - Baby I Like It Raw
ODB - Rawhide
ODB - Pop Shots
ODB - If Ya'll Want War
Lord Digga - My Flows Is Tight

What up loyal followers of all that is fon-kay? It's been a while since Brother B has stepped aside for a guest post from your boy K-Boogie, or TiVo, or whatever the hell you want to call me. Let's breeze through a couple of hip hop-related topics to help take your mind over whatever other BS you've got ruining your life today.

"Cause McGirt you ain't seen!"

Over the years, through DJ Mentos, Brother B and I have worked our way into a little e-mail circle of hip-hop heads that shares links to the latest songs or news or whatever. Back when ODB's Premier-produced Popshots was posthumously released, none of the cats were really feeling it. But I've been banging it lately, and I'm loving the lines about just going to Roc-a-fella "cause this is where the cheese at" and "more money, more problems, my ass!"

Dirt always did have a way with words. In fact, he was never much for writing them -- it sounded like he freestyled a lot of the best songs on his albums -- but the delivery was infectious. Now, with stepped-up lyricism, Dirt's latest could really be top notch. Who knows if we'll ever hear the best of it though.

Recently, a second track has made the rounds, this one with ODB and Ghostface. It kinda reminded me of the days when anything Wu-Tang was a sure shot, and inspired me to bust out the Return to the 36 Chambers tape.

Lucky for me, I have the Bama-ass old-school Discman set-up in my ride, so I can play a tape every now and again. And I didn't switch over to CDs until about 9-6, so I had to flip sides after listening to Shimmy Shimmy Ya, Brooklyn Zoo, Rawhide and Hippa to the Hoppa.

Ol' Dirty's old stuff was one of my summers-home-from-college soundtracks, and it was still with me even though I hadn't listened to it in years. And as good as his new songs are, it's making me wonder if I'm gonna miss this guy a lot more than I originally thought.

A new addiction

If y'all aren't up on this Lime Wire, get it. Sure, P2P sharing is not a new phenomenon, but I've recently rediscovered how much fun digging in the virtual crates can be.

Brother B's been hooking a brother up with dope mix CDs for about six months now, and I figured it was time to download the proper programs and return the favor. B's best came after we brainstormed a list of songs for Dance-Hop week here at The Funk. He followed with a four-disc set of joints ranging from Herbie Hancock's Rock It to Bobby Brown's Don't Be Cruel and KLF's 3 a.m. Eternal. Even certain jams you didn't really like at the time, like Doo Doo Brown for me, bring you back to a time and place when the first few beats drop.

For the collection I'm about to hit B off with, I'm rediscovering the dopeness of House of Pain's Shamrocks and Shenanigans and the ultra-wackness of Vanilla Ice's Ninja Rap. It's pretty easy to get sidetracked and start working on other themed mixes too. It's nice to know that, thanks to Lime Wire, you can still hear Al B. Sure's Off on your own girl or Luke's Scarred any time you want.

Before these record companies try to snuff out our joy, remember that you can use Lime Wire to peep artists you've heard of but never heard, or get on CD stuff you would otherwise never buy or already own on tape or vinyl. With regard to the former, Brother B's mixes have sent me looking for more K-Os, J-Zone and Blackalicious recordings -- joints I apparently missed the first few times around.

Unfortunately, I haven't found Lime Wire to be a good source of super-rare stuff, like Philly's Ruggedness Madd Drama or Boston's TDS Mob - joints from my younger days. But for any hip-hop that ever made it onto Yo! MTV Raps, there's someone out there with it on their hard drive, ready for you to share.

A better source of info

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm actually feeling XXL. Having sworn off the Source first after they gave Foxy Brown rhyme of the month, then again after Benzino started acting crazy, I bought a copy of the double-X for a recent cross country plane ride.

Yeah, I read about Dame Dash and whatnot, but I was surprised and pleased to see MF Doom and Common profiled as well. Still doesn't touch hiphopsite.com or my boy Davey D, but nice work.

One-take Dave

In honor of our boy and yours, Dave Chappelle, we of course hope he gets better ... for selfish reasons. That damn season 3 of his show can't start soon enough. And I've been a fan so long I remember him on Yo! telling Mom jokes with Ed and Dre.

I had a thought for a rappers' product line ... remember the skits that produced Wu-Tang financial and Roc-a-Fella Tampons? I think 'What would Jigga do?' bracelets would have flown off the shelves.

OK, I'll leave the comedy to Dave.

Dopest sample?

One song I always wanted to peep again that Lime Wire found for me was Lord Digga's My Flows is Tight, where he samples the opening theme from a game show (The Price is Right, I believe).

In any case, the song actually kind of sucks -- You gotta use the N word a lot of times to get me to notice it, and trust me, I think Lord Digga was collecting $200 every time he passed "nigga" -- but the use of that sample makes it a dope listen anyway.

With Luda's No. 1 spot borrowing from Austin Powers, it got me wondering what the best ever use of a pop-culture sample is. Post your responses in our comments section, I'm curious to hear.

Six degrees of separation

From the same mind that brought you the 'Quick, name Eric B. and Rakim's two best songs' game is a new twist on that age-old Kevin Bacon game.

Given MCs propensity to be featured on each other's shit, or to have crew ties with producers who work for other groups, or whatever, I got to thinking that any rap group has to be able to be connected to any other by six degrees of separation or fewer.

Off the top of my head, Will Smith and M.O.P. ... Hmm. Willie from Philly did a song with Slick Rick and Biz Markie a few years back. Biz rocked with Kane back in the day, and Kane appeared in a Jay-Z video (Jigga What, Jigga Who? maybe). M.O.P. was/is signed to the Roc-a-Fella label that did/does belong to Jay-Z.

How many degrees was that? Four?

I'll give some random combos. See if you can connect them in our comments section.

1. Arabian Prince and AG
2. Any member of Hieroglyphics with any member of Wu-Tang. Or the Boot Camp Click if that's too easy.
3. Big Boi and Sir-mix-a-lot.

I have no idea if those will work.

Good luck.
TiVo aka K-Boogie

Catch All Thangs Funky guest blogger K-Boogie's musings on Fantasy Sports on Wednesday mornings at www.rotogods.com.