Since last summer, McGee has been building and posting instrumentals to Reverb Nation (a platform for independent musicians, producers, and venues to collaborate and communicate). Big Daddy Wookie, known as JMAC on Reverb Nation, has produced over 25 Hip Hop and R&B tracks and attracted over 86,000 fans online. He has favorited “Dumb It Down,” a JMac Produktion by the Co-Op. (I believe he was featured in the song, but I have not been able to confirm.)
Wale … Washington, D.C.’s first rapper with nationwide worldwide appeal. Some people were a little ‘comme ci, comme ca’ on his debut studio album, Attention Deficit, but I thought it was pretty damn good. Count me a fan of Wale’s music.
The other thing you gotta appreciate about Wale is that he passionately represents the District of Columbia … well, almost.
You’ll often find him talking about the Redskins or using Ovechkin in one of his raps or wearing a Nationals ‘Curly W’ hat. He even sat in the “celebrity” seats at a handful of Wizards games last season. But that’s where Wale’s fandom of the Wizards kinda comes to a halt, at a courtesy attendance via free court-side seats … until now.
When I first learned about Gilbert Arenas and guns on Christmas Eve, way back when it was as “innocent” as him getting the firearms out of his humble, grotto-encased abode because he didn’t want them around his new kid when he already had another kid for a couple years, I tweet-dedicated a Christmas song to him … Onyx, Throw Ya Guns.
This one’s for you Gilbert and Javaris. I don’t know much about astrological signs, but it seems like Capricorns don’t get along … especially when it involves gamblin’.
Oh yea, Happy Birthday Javaris. You turned 22 on New Year’s Eve. Hope you woke up feeling well today. Arenas will turn 28 on Wednesday.
Oh, and Gil, I’m sorry that the media is camping outside of your house. On a positive note, you made it man … Whitney Houston levels. If we’re lucky, we’ll get a chopper with live video.
As it’s becoming apparent, this Wale/Wizards thing has become a pet project. I “exchanged” tweets with Wale once (more like baited him into responding), sending a reply when he tweeted his support for the Cavaliers during the playoffs last May.
Yeah, but I gotta be honest, I’m not the biggest Wizards fan. I usually root for the Nuggets and the Cavs.
Since the initial exchange, he’s answered nary a baiting tweet from @Truth_About_It
Wale can root for whomever he wants. That doesn’t mean he’s any less of a lyricist … and he’s a damn good lyricist. And his fandom regarding the Wizards doesn’t affect my fandom of his music. Still, if you’re going to rep D.C., might as well go all out and get behind the Wizards.
We already know JaVale McGee is handy with the video editing software … but producing music? Seems like he’s got a hold on that too.
Via his Twitter account, McGee aka Big Daddy Wookie, has been posting new songs on Reverb Nation, a web platform for musicians/producers to upload tracks and possibly collaborate with others.
One can only assume that the artist to whom JaVale is linking, “JMac” from Flint, MI, is young Epic Vale himself (oh, and the fact that the picture above is also posted there … and he’s also confirmed it’s him via Twitter).
But don’t take my word for it, go listen for yourself … (there is a music player of his tracks below, but you might not see it if you are using a reader/aggregator.)
Graduation takes a back seat to Late Registration and College Dropout. Yea, yea…producer rapper, we all know his lyrical repertoire will never live up to the greats, but Yay seems to be digressing. But I’d still rather hear Kanye’s egotistical, yet sometimes thought-provoking lyrics than that of what wanna-bes like Juelz Santana and Young Joc. There’s a hint of popcorn rap. Is this album more mainstream? Well, Kanye’s always been relatively “mainstream” as a rapper. Could be that this more simplistic approach contributes to increased sales and Kanye’s fly Malcolm X status…by any jeans necessary. The overall presentation is there. I mean, this is a nice album. The beats are well produced. Kanye has a nice voice and a rhythmic flow to his pitch. Is Graduation better that a lot of crap out there? Definitely. Do I personally feel that Common’s Finding Forever is better? Yes. Is Kanye’s third album a disappointment? I would say so, then again, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Good Morning Not a bad way to start off Graduation….wake up everyone and hear Mr. West. A relaxed beat you can still tap your foot too which eases you into the album. The tightest part is when a Jay-Z verse comes in towards the end….from ‘The Ruler’s Back’ on The Blueprint. This is actually the full line, but Kanye only uses the parts in quotes: Yo, gather round “hustlers that’s if you still livin”. And “get on down”, to that ol’ Jig rhythm. Song Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Champion Smooth conversion to a nice change of beat….funny that Kanye uses a Steely Dan sample on this track. However, this song doesn’t jump out at me as being anything past “generic Kanye” — he’s not impressing anyone with his lyrics, but the catchy-ness makes the song a decent total package. Song Rating 7 out of 10
Stronger Club/Workout song that doesn’t really get annoying, assuming that it is not played out on MTV. Kanye definitely flaunts his arrogance here — are people who view his arrogance as unfortunate considered haters? Song also has that cross-over appeal with the 2001 Daft Punk sample. Song Rating 8 out of 10
I Wonder Some may think the broken verses he’s spitting at the start is annoying…I don’t mind them so much. But I think he could’ve cut it out after the first verse and cut back to normal after the chorus. This is Kanye’s quarter-life crisis song. Song Rating 7 out of 10
{this picture was procured on the internet}
