I got a hundred guns a hundred clips - I'm from New York

Updated today 12/9, scroll down for the new bits:

One of the unintended benefits to being ipodless for a month or so was getting forced to listen to Hot 97 in the car. HOT NINE-SEVEN (as they shout it out on-air) is the pre-emeninent, and until recently, the only exclusively hip-hop station in New York and the quality of the broadcasts varies from typical corporate radio crap to transcendent. On the plus side they have bona-fide mixing DJ's on the tables, at least during primetime hours.

The highlight of their day is the "Five O'Clock Free Ride" which is an hour long commercial free block of music mixed by DJ Enuff (Funkmaster Flex used to do it, but think he's just got a night show now). Generally it's freeform mix of whatever's hot at the moment so when hip-hop is good, the show is good and when hip-hop sucks the show sucks. Lately it seems hip-hop has been very good because I found myself on the LIE shouting as the bass dropped, punching the dashboard and giggling with delight as banging tune after banging tune dropped.

It feels like hip-hop producers have finally come to terms in the last few years with what sounds good in the clubs and started bringing in the same kind of production values that house, techno, and drum n' bass producers have been pounding for the past ten years. You used to hear a lot about jeep-beats in the early nineties, but the era is clearly over and the bass is way deeper.

Top Ten recentish Hip-Hop tunes that rumble:

10. Jah Rule - I'm From New York - I still say he's mostly a no talent ass clown, but you have to give it up for a good tune when it drops. The bassline just creeps right up the spine like any quality dancefloor tune. Best rap line of the year: "You can tell I get real ignorant - I'm from New York." Only in hip-hop could that be a boast.

9. Snoop Dogg feat. Pharell - Drop it Like It's Hot - every time I think this guy has pulled out his last hit he finds his way back into the limelight. When the izzle suffix got oversaturated in the cultural discourse I thought he was done for good, then came this You've got to give it up for Snoop. And do the Neptunes ever miss?

8. N.O.R.E. feat Nina Sky and Tego - Oye Me Canto - not technically hip-hop, it's reggaeton, but it's totally infectous and getting Hot 97 airplay so it's close enough. As a genre reggaeton is way more fun than a genre founded upon the very premise of being derivative has any right to be. When I first heard this I called Tripp in a panic to let him hear it over the phone.

7. Mannie Fresh - Real Big - The dirtiest South crew back with another club banger. Gotta love it.

6. Terror Squad - Lean Back - Never had to really worry about what happened to my gun while I danced, but I'm sure if it was a problem of mine I'd "just pull up my pants, lean back, lean back, and do rockaway."

5. Fabolous - Breathe - Maybe my favorite of all the helium vocal hip-hop tracks - this one is a lot of fun.

4. Destiny's Child - Soldier - The raps parts pretty much sound like shit, but the production and the singing sound great. Beyonce, back at the top of her game with this one and the video has really got to be seen to be believed. One can only hope that the short denim jacket and damn near nothing else look comes into serious style on the streets.

3. Lil' John and the Eastside Boys - Stop Fuckin With Me - Easily the greatest rap-metal song to come from the rap camp, this one sounds so big it actually scared the shit out of me when I first heard it. If you've had a bad day there's just no better way to channel the anger than to get in the car, cranks this puppy up.

2. Ludacris - Get Back - More crunktastic goodness from Luda. Has anyone else noticed that this guy is quietly compiling one of the best catalogues in hip-hop. Four album's and about ten veritable anthems in (Southern Hospitality, Let Me Be Your Fantasy, Rollout, Stand Up, Area Codes, Move Bitch, Yeah!, Gossip Folks, and whatever else I'm forgetting) he's making a case for inclusion among the greatest all-time.

1. Lil' Jon and the Eastside Boys - What U Gonna Do Standout track on the standout album of the year. These guys did for gutteral shouting what the Beach Boys did for harmonies. The production here is just unreal. If you can't hear it on a good system or at least a heavy duty pair of DJ headphones, don't bother cause it's all about the baaaaasss.

After writing yesterday's post I slipped on my headphones and decided to check out the rest of the Destiny's Child album and realized that I had totally forgotten about the brilliant opening track "Lose My Breath" with it's crackling marching bandesque breaks, punchy perfectly balanced harmonies, and ridiculously belligerent hoover basline. Chills. I bumped it again on the way into work today.

On a side note it seems I have found the solution (knock on wood) to the problem I was having with my car stereo all fall. There had been this really annoying hum whenever I selected the auxillary input, which is the line the iPod is hooked up to. The problem can be defeated by hooking the iPod up to the Sik Imp adapter before car is started. It's either that or the problem comes and goes without warning or explanation - either way I'll be enjoying it as long as it lasts. If you need me between 5 and 6:30 look for the vibrating black Eclipse on the Long Island Expressway or the Queensboro Bridge.

I might also let my nerdcore flag fly and post some pictures of the iPod install in my car, because it's really a beautiful thing, neat, flexible, secure, and bumping beyond reason.