It’s the next edition of the reoccurring Must Not Sleep Rocks the Classics! These are episodes that MNS uses to take a look back at what many consider to be classic hip-hop albums. On this ep, we’re goin in deep on The Diary by Scarface. We have categories, discussions, debates, music, and a whole lot more. It’s your favorite podcast’s favorite podcast. (This ep is brought to you by the new meditation app No More Mind Tricks. Use the offer code MNS to get the first month free.)
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The holidays are over, and the Must Not Sleep Podcast has returned from our break. “The State of the Union” is our rundown of hip hop in 2018. Last year’s topics to come out of Neil’s random generator (it’s a thing!):
You’re gonna like this one. It’s your favorite podcast’s favorite podcast, and we’re back!
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You know we had to do a remix, right? It’s been a year since the original Must Not Sleep Top 10 X-Mas Hip Hop Songs was first constructed and X-Mas cheer was bestowed upon ye (not ye, ye). The problem with making a top anything list? You have to leave things out. And when the CHHXMS (that is the Committee for Hip Hop X-Mas Songs in case you forgot) was whittling down to the top 10, it knew there would be some things omitted that needed to be mentioned for one reason or another. So we’ve remixed the list to give you a host of other entertaining X-Mas songs (or songs sort of related to X-Mas in some way) and placed them into vigorously researched and considered categories. Let’s explain:
Honorable Mentions (almost made the Top 10 but just missed):
DisHonorable Mention (only bringing up to begin a movement to erase said artist from hip-hop history):
Good (maybe even Great) Songs That Just Don’t Bring X-Mas Cheer and May Not Even Be X-Mas Songs (that’s self-explanatory, right?):
There you have it. If you’re tired of the same old X-Mas carols played every year, MNS has provided you now with TWO posts full of good, great, and even horrible hip-hop X-Mas songs. You’re welcome!
We like Lauryn Hill. We really do. But if you listened to our ep on her, you know that there are some things she does that we can’t let slide. And then this happened:
Ms. Hill, fool us once shame on you. Fool us…how many times has it been now? We’re not sure, but it’s all easily explainable:
It was the curfew! Who could possibly know Europe would be in a different time zone?! See, all easily explainable.
If someone finds that Madlibs excuse doc, please send it our way.
Look, we’re not saying that we’re saving the country one conversation about emojis at a time. We just don’t see anyone else out there asking the difficult questions. Case in point:
I have a confession to make. Before Neil asked me about the white emojis, I never really paid attention to the shades getting lighter. I just assumed they were lighter shades for POC and chose the one that matched me best. Why?:
Btw, white allies, don’t do that ^. I hate to sound like the NRA but stay your lane (may I never repeat another thing the NRA says). Continuing below, “supremacisty” was definitely on purpose:
Good job, Neil. Asking the tough questions and slyly referencing a past MNS blog post.
And we did post it. Problem solved. We ask the tough questions and put them out into the world. Feel free to use this post as a conversation starter in your upcoming family holiday discussions. What could go wrong?
It’s your favorite podcast’s favorite podcast! Neil and Erik explore Vince Staple’s album FM! on this ep. Before that though, we answer the question everyone’s been asking: What exactly was Jermaine Dupri (11:20) thinking during his TMZ interview? Then we give our first impressions of FM! (23:20) before exploring Vince’s seemingly random lyrics and beats (34:10). Also, you should really watch Vince’s video for “FUN!” because he has a lot to say and we talk about it (51:10). Don’t sleep on this ep!
Links to things mentioned in this Ep:
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And we’re back! It’s been a long time, but Neil and Erik return with a discussion on Lupe Fiasco’s DROGAS WAVE and so much more. If you haven’t been down this particular internet wormhole, we provide some background to Lupe’s concept album (21:55). Erik compares Lupe to the Reddit age and shows like Westworld (34:00) while Neil compares Lupe to Eminem and The Force (41:35). We finish off discussing concept albums’ place in hip-hop (1:07:30). It’s a lot, but being down with the fish takes some time to explain.
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This Ep is Part III of Must Not Sleep’s epic trilogy also known as Neil & Erik had a lot to say on this one. If you’ve listened to the other two parts, you know that this one is all about Lauryn Hill and the piece she wrote on medium.com a couple of weeks ago. We begin with some background on Robert Glasper’s interview, the importance of his sunglasses, and his accusations against Lauryn Hill (7:15). From there is a deep dive on Ms. Hill’s piece beginning with her decision to compare herself to Harriet Tubman (14:40). We also give our theories & opinions (30:45) on the L-Boogie rumors that her fellow performers over the years were not allowed to look her in the eye (something she denies) and instructed to call her “Ms. Hill” (something she confirms). We finish with some similarities between Lauryn Hill & Michael Jackson (43:35) and the importance of Black artists (& Black people) asserting personhood (50:50). There’s a lot in this one, and we still make sure to provide you some Must Not Sleep items (1:05:20). Action packed!
Important links for this Ep:
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