On this date in 2013, the media was in a frenzy around the death or the whereabout of Timothy Blair, a rapper from the Bronx who was better known as “Tim Dog”, who is most famously known for his West Coast diss track “Fuck Compton”. However, Tim Dog will now be forever etched in the history books of Hip Hop after being accused of Playing Dead, as described in Elizabeth Greenwood’s best seller about celebrities who are believed to still be alive.
On February 14, 2013, The Source exclusively revealed the death of Tim Dog, but just three months later, mainstream media such as MSNBC and even urban media such as Vice began to question the validity of The Source’s report and even accused “The Bible Of Hip Hop” of aiding Tim Dog in a death fraud scheme.
Tim Dog was wanted in several different jurisdictions around the world for defrauding women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, so it was suspected that when his death was reported that it was only another one of his schemes to get out repaying one of his defrauded victims. After over a year of research by many different outlets, it was eventually revealed that Tim Dog died from a heart attack in his home in Fulton County, GA on February 14, 2013.
On this date in 1993, N.W.A. co-founder and then-Death Row Records in-house producer Dr . Dre released the second single from his iconic The Chronic album entitled “Dre Day”. Dre Day was a diss record featuring Death Row newcomer Snoop Dogg, who together aimed at Dre’s former partner Eazy-E, Miami Hip Hop pioneer Uncle Luke and Bronx rap nemesis Tim Dog.
Originally titled “Fuck wit Dre Day(And Everybody’s Celebratin’)”, Dre sent shots at former N.W.A. members Eazy-E and Ice Cube, accusing Eazy of cheating N.W.A. members out of their money along with Jerry Heller. This was also the diss track aimed at Cube that ws the catalyst for “No Vaseline”.
In “Dre Day,” Dre vows to “to creep to South Central,” which is Ice Cube’s hometown, “on a Street Knowledge mission,” while Cube’s own record label was initially named Street Knowledge Productions. Dre lyrically “steps in the temple,” evidently alluding to Cube’s affiliation with the Nation of Islam, and claims to “spot him” by a “White Sox hat,” which Cube often donned. Earlier that year, Cube had the single “Check Yo Self.” Dre adds, “You tryin to check my homey, you best check yo self.” Not parodied in the “Dre Day” music video, however, Cube instead would cameo, signaling reconciliation with Dre, in the September 1993 music video of the next and last Chronic single, “Let Me Ride.”
“Dre Day” prompted a response from Eazy-E with “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s”, an EP from Tim Dog titled Bitch With a Perm and Luke even shot back with his second solo album’s song “Cowards in Compton,” whose music video parodies both Dre’s inclusion in the 1980s electro-rap group World Class Wreckin’ Cru and casts Dre and Snoop lookalikes ridiculed in a mock of the “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” music video.
Just a year short of a decade ago, we received an early morning phone call that BX rapper Timothy “Tim Dog” Blair, who gained fame from his East Coast vs. West Coast shot “Fuck Compton”, died suddenly at 41 years old. There was no other report of Blair’s death aside from the article on TheSource.com.
It wasn’t discovered until September 2014 that Tim Dog did indeed pass away in Atlanta Hospice on February 14, 2013 when his actual death certificate surfaced. Source staff writer Sha Be Allah, the writer who broke the story, was interviewed and featured in best-selling author Elizabeth Greenwood’s book Playing Dead as a result of the unfortunate events surrounding the death of Tim Dog. The entire 2013 article about Tim Dog can be found HERE.
Early in this decade, Cormega proved that one could still make major noise through the independent channel. The Queensbridge veteran accomplished more on his own than any famed label could seemingly do for the unique spitter. Throughout the last 20 years, Mega has fed his faithful fan-base with award-winning gems like The Realness and The True Meaning to incredibly introspective projects like Born and Raised and Mega Philosophy. Cormega never fails to deliver the real. Now, for the first time in four years, Mega is giving fans another vivid update of his life experiences through music.
MEGA is an abbreviated release as the title may suggest, but it packs a punch. On the song “Empty Promises,” Cory draws from his trademark well of lyrics about honor and betrayal – something he’s dealt with a lot personally and professionally. “A man with everything that lacks integrity is morally bankrupt,” he raps to open the song’s second verse. “You can’t buy dignity / The wilder side fools grasp for petty things / Words ain’t real if they lack sincerity / Those who never seek never find anything / My relentless pursuit got me seein’ better things.”
On the more uplifting “Live Your Best Life,” Cormega stresses the importance of putting oneself first and the struggles of helping those who don’t want guidance. “When you been through the worst, learn from it / Every lesson is a blessin’ and a curse,” he raps on the track, which features an opening verse from Mobb Deep’s Havoc. “Every day a step closer to the essence / Live your best life, put yourself first / When you been through the worst, learn from it / Every lesson is a blessin’ and a curse.” For an MC known for working with DJ Premier, Large Professor, Hi-Tek, Pete Rock, Alchemist, and others, these sounds mark a change in direction. The beats favor pianos and synth above drums. This evocative lyricist found tracks to match his many moods.
Interestingly, the physical and DSP versions of MEGA include the instrumentals for all of the tracks on the EP. The entire project is available for streaming on all major platforms and for those who want to purchase it, CD, cassette and vinyl versions of Cormega’s latest can be purchased via Red Line Music Distribution.
Early in this decade, Cormega proved that one could still make major noise through the independent channel. The Queensbridge veteran accomplished more on his own than any famed label could seemingly do for the unique spitter. Throughout the last 20 years, Mega has fed his faithful fan-base with award-winning gems like The Realness and The True Meaning to incredibly introspective projects like Born and Raised and Mega Philosophy. Cormega never fails to deliver the real. Now, for the first time in four years, Mega is giving fans another vivid update of his life experiences through music.
MEGA is an abbreviated release as the title may suggest, but it packs a punch. On the song “Empty Promises,” Cory draws from his trademark well of lyrics about honor and betrayal – something he’s dealt with a lot personally and professionally. “A man with everything that lacks integrity is morally bankrupt,” he raps to open the song’s second verse. “You can’t buy dignity / The wilder side fools grasp for petty things / Words ain’t real if they lack sincerity / Those who never seek never find anything / My relentless pursuit got me seein’ better things.”
On the more uplifting “Live Your Best Life,” Cormega stresses the importance of putting oneself first and the struggles of helping those who don’t want guidance. “When you been through the worst, learn from it / Every lesson is a blessin’ and a curse,” he raps on the track, which features an opening verse from Mobb Deep’s Havoc. “Every day a step closer to the essence / Live your best life, put yourself first / When you been through the worst, learn from it / Every lesson is a blessin’ and a curse.” For an MC known for working with DJ Premier, Large Professor, Hi-Tek, Pete Rock, Alchemist, and others, these sounds mark a change in direction. The beats favor pianos and synth above drums. This evocative lyricist found tracks to match his many moods.
Interestingly, the physical and DSP versions of MEGA include the instrumentals for all of the tracks on the EP. The entire project is available for streaming on all major platforms and for those who want to purchase it, CD, cassette and vinyl versions of Cormega’s latest can be purchased via Red Line Music Distribution.
Despite being a perennial Grammy darling, with 44 nominations and 15 wins, Eminem’s 2018 Kamikaze album has no nominations. The LP also was missing from a number of prominent “best album of the year” lists. But, make no mistake, Kamikaze, which became Em’s 10th album in a row to reach the top of the charts, was a return to form for Slim Shady and made him the most talked about MC of 2018, not named Kanye or Tekashi.
Released as a surprise project on August 31, Kamikaze was a 45-minute long scathing rebuke of Em’s critics, both media and peers. After the tepid reception to Marshall Mathers’ 2017 album, Revival, a project which was at times melancholy and introspective, Eminem returned with fire in his belly on his follow up LP. Backed by longterm collaborator and mentor Dr. Dre as his executive producer, the album was chock full of aggressive music to match Marshall’s lyrical fury. Throughout the project, which effectively served as one long diss record, Em took shots at Joe Budden, Machine Gun Kelly, Tyler, The Creator, DJ Akademiks, Donald Trump, Vince Staples, Token, Lil Yachty, Lil Pump, Lil Xan, Charlamagne Tha God, and the Grammys…just to name a few.
As part of a Christmas special on his Sirius XM Shade 45 radio station, that’s exactly what Eminem did. Dubbed the “12 Days Of Diss-Mas,” the Detroit Rap God was joined by his longtime manager Paul Rosenberg and DJ Whoo Kid to not only discuss his favorite diss records, but also break down the history behind each one.
The records Em names range from classic to obscure, with him citing Rap beef songs like Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline” and Boogie Down Productions’ “The Bridge Is Over” to records railing against institutions, like N.W.A.’s “F*ck The Police.” The list is diverse, highlighting songs from the 80s and 90s, paying homage to women MCs and, showing no bias, he even cites a couple of records that diss Dre. Here is the entire list, as well as a playlist of the songs below:
Despite being a perennial Grammy darling, with 44 nominations and 15 wins, Eminem’s 2018 Kamikaze album has no nominations. The LP also was missing from a number of prominent “best album of the year” lists. But, make no mistake, Kamikaze, which became Em’s 10th album in a row to reach the top of the charts, was a return to form for Slim Shady and made him the most talked about MC of 2018, not named Kanye or Tekashi.
Released as a surprise project on August 31, Kamikaze was a 45-minute long scathing rebuke of Em’s critics, both media and peers. After the tepid reception to Marshall Mathers’ 2017 album, Revival, a project which was at times melancholy and introspective, Eminem returned with fire in his belly on his follow up LP. Backed by longterm collaborator and mentor Dr. Dre as his executive producer, the album was chock full of aggressive music to match Marshall’s lyrical fury. Throughout the project, which effectively served as one long diss record, Em took shots at Joe Budden, Machine Gun Kelly, Tyler, The Creator, DJ Akademiks, Donald Trump, Vince Staples, Token, Lil Yachty, Lil Pump, Lil Xan, Charlamagne Tha God, and the Grammys…just to name a few.
As part of a Christmas special on his Sirius XM Shade 45 radio station, that’s exactly what Eminem did. Dubbed the “12 Days Of Diss-Mas,” the Detroit Rap God was joined by his longtime manager Paul Rosenberg and DJ Whoo Kid to not only discuss his favorite diss records, but also break down the history behind each one.
The records Em names range from classic to obscure, with him citing Rap beef songs like Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline” and Boogie Down Productions’ “The Bridge Is Over” to records railing against institutions, like N.W.A.’s “F*ck The Police.” The list is diverse, highlighting songs from the 80s and 90s, paying homage to women MCs and, showing no bias, he even cites a couple of records that diss Dre. Here is the entire list, as well as a playlist of the songs below:
It’s been nearly a decade since Cypress Hill released a group studio album, but that changed late last month with their new LP Elephants On Acid. That effort restores the production to DJ Muggs, a welcomed shift both for the group and its legions of fans. In honor of the project, the South Gate, California quartet has been making a press run, and most recently, they stopped by the Hot 97 studios for a conversation with Ebro In The Morning.
During the interview, an interesting topic sparked when B-Real was discussing Cypress’ come-up in the early 1990s. Dr. Greenthumb says that during the filming for the music video for their breakout single “How I Could Just Kill a Man,” things got antsy. The video was filmed in the middle of Manhattan, including some vintage footage of Times Square from nearly 30 years ago. At the time, the then-trio’s RuffHouse Records label-mate Tim Dog had just released his infamous video diss track “F*ck Compton,” which was a dig at a slew of West Coast rappers and groups, especially N.W.A. In the Ced Gee-produced track, the proud Bronx, New Yorker spit, “I’ll crush Ice Cube, I’m cool wit’ Ice-T / But N.W.A. ain’t sh*t to me / Dre, beating on Dee from ‘Pump it Up!’? / Step to the Dog and get f*cked up! / I’m simplistic, imperialistic, idealistic / And I’m kicking the ballistics / Having that gang war / We want to know what you’re fighting for / Fighting over colors? All that gang sh*t’s for dumb motherf*ckers!”
Ice Cube, ironically, was one of the cameo appearances, along with Q-Tip and others, that would end up in Cypress’ breakthrough 1991 visual, directed by Shady Perez. While Cube had recently split from N.W.A., he was still called out by name. Knowing Tim Dog was there, things went left when the video’s director wanted to take a group photo.
“It had just come out because I remember when [Ice] Cube showed up,” B-Real recalled. “He had got to New York City and heard we were filming a video, so he shot down there. EPMD had apparently been telling Ice Cube about us for a long time. They were like our street team. He came to the show and ‘Shady’ David Perez, who was the director of the video wanted–obviously you’ve got all these rappers, and he wanted to get a shot with all of us, and Cube was like, ‘Nah man, I ain’t shooting with dude. I gotta go home and eat.'”
Heads may wonder why Cypress Hill didn’t come with that same energy. They explain that to them, it was just music. “We felt that too, but it was like, ‘Ah whatever. A song’s a song,” B-Real said. “Nobody said nothing to us. But you know that’s music. What are you going to do man?” Executives had Cypress rolling with Tim Dog during the early 1990s. “[Sony executives had us sit next to Tim Dog and go on tour with him]. At that time, you didn’t say no [to offers like that].” Moments later, he adds, “That was a crazy tour, ’cause that tour that we went on with Tim, we were opening for 3rd Bass. We were all releasing music at the same time. Sony thought, ‘Well, let’s package it all together.’ It was cool on the East Coast; people was eatin’ that sh*t up. Then, when we got to the West Coast, Tim knew how real it was with them N.W.A. fans., those Eazy-E fans. Interesting situations popped off.” B says that Cypress was able to avoid getting in the crossfire of the beef. “Unfortunately, we were traveling on the same tour bus. So if they did decide to get with him, we were gonna be right in the middle of all that sh*t.”
Also during the interview, Cypress Hill discussed creating “Insane In The Brain,” a period of beef with Westside Connection, and the group’s connection to the weed game. Cypress’ new album Elephants on Acid was released on September 28 and features 21 songs and no outside MC’ing. It’s their first group release since 2010’s Rise Up.
