"Allow me to re-introduce myself

My name is Hov!"



Saw Jay-Z live at Ally Pally this week and this track was my personal highlight. It's from The Black Album and is just an absolute banger right?

Read my review at my day job here

On a side note the producer of this track Just Blaze has done a lot of Relapse 2- Eminem's next disc. Will be interesting to hear some Shady tracks without Dre.

Guess Who's Back? Back Again...

Finally we got a release date for Relapse this week (May 19) and the news that Em' and Dre have made so many songs that there will be a Relapse 2 before 2009 is over and out.

Lots of people hate Shady including a lot of 'serious' hip hop heads who see him as too commercial. Admittedly he can be puerile, childish, sexist and homophobic- though often he's sending up others' views.

Re-listening to his output you hear a dip in quality around Encore in 2004. He'd ran out of things to say and decided to produce most of it himself. Dr Dre's beats were missed. Now five years on- with The Doc' on the controls allowing him to concentate on lyrics- he should have a lot to say.

But he will also have to convert a new generation of rap fans raised on T.I and Lil Wayne. My 18 year old sister was 10 when Eminem's confessional masterpiece The Marshall Mathers LP was released.

Oh and don't be fooled by Crack A Bottle- Shady always does party records alongside the Stans, Hailies Songs, Toy Soldiers and Kims. Video hits the net this week.

Dre Goes Topless

Dr Dre (Andre Young pictured here in 1984) turned 44 this week and a track called Topless leaked to the web. It's possible ths song (with verses by T.I and Nas) will be on his THIRD album Detox but also entirely possible it won't.

Get the MP3 at one of my favourite blogs Nah Right

One theory on the net is that T.I- who is really growing on me- won't be on Topless at all and has just ghost rapped and written Dre's verses. The Nas verse and production are pure fire. As they say.

I cannot wait for Detox and pray it comes out in '09.