Biggie in his casket

Howdy folks! I'm coming here for help after not finding anything really searching by myself.
I have a very good friend who's losing the fight with the dreaded C. He's a pocket watch fanatic, and the boys and I would like to get him a decent one, engraved from us, to carry from now and then into the casket.
I asked him to show me his favorite watch one day, and he showed me this tiny thing he likes to keep in the little pocket in his jeans. It's somewhere between 1.25inch and 1.33 inches, which looks to be like rougly 30-32mm, or sizes 1s-3s.
It doesn't need to be super fancy, but in silvestainless. Hunte.5 huntedemi hunter or open don't matter. We'll need an engraveable back side though.
Could you folks please suggest some options that fit the above, in $100-$300 range. If the watch can be engraved by the manufacturer, great, if not no biggy.
Thank you for the help! OB_T

Biggie is a Dark Age of Humanity Superweapon - There is no other possible explanation.
So, Biggie was spawned of the ritual-suicide of humanity's most powerful shamans and diviners. This is obvious bullshit which has 0% chance of not being fabricated, obfuscated, or improperly transcribed over the last 40,000 years.
What IS fact is that Biggie doesn't appear in the human records until about 10,000 years ago. A Guy of this power exists basically in obscurity for all this time until 5,000 years into the Age of Strife? Nah, no way.
Biggie bears all the hallmarks of DAOT shenanigans - apocalyptic power, callous abandon, intrinsic megalomania, and other pairs of words that sound cool together. Most of all though, he bears an all-consuming obsession with mega-projects. The Great Crusade, the Webway, and his genetic hobby of finding a way to perfect humanity through the Custodes, then the Thunder-Warriors, then the Primarchs and Space Marines, and later the Primaris projects, if you believe that project was of his creation.
There's only one explanation. The reason Biggie wasn't in the records before 30K is because he didn't exist before circa 25K and the Age of Strife.
In the early days of Strife, unburdened by the shackles of measured humanity, Biggie was created in secret labs by space-fascist sects to be the pinnacle of Mankind, in their unique image. A Human answer to the unstoppable Machines. The perfect fascist - perfection of body and mind, borne of meticulous eugenics bolstered by glitterworld gene-tech and a positively Spartan outlook on childrearing. And then the bombs came.
The work, the lab, the fascists, all dead or dying. Biggie, prototype for the space-ubermenschen, sitting in the Hushed Casket, awaiting a Clarion Call that never came.
Or maybe they weren't even fascists, maybe they were just... let's say naive scientists. Or give them the benefit of doubt and speculate that some rival scientist or perhaps 4 non-omnipotent but pretty powerful shenanigan-makers corrupted the process. How you get there is up to you as long as you agree that I am right and all other explanations are Heresy/Hearsay.
Cut to about 5,000 years later. His form - too perfect to deteriorate, the near-perpetual machines, but not perpetual enough, stop working. Stop keeping him asleep. Or some random junker stripped the wrong cable for hyper-copper to sell for space-heroin, what do I know, I wasn't there.
He's awake, he probably just killed that space-junkie, and he has 3 directives practically hardwired into his mega-cortex. 1) Unite humanity by force. 2) Perfect humanity through genetic shenaniganry. 3) Be a dick to your kids because that makes them stronger.
Suddenly everything that has occurred in the past 10,000 years makes sense.
He emerges. He observes the Ur-human. He's probably a bit charmed by the techno-viking aesthetic at first. But he remembers space-Goebbels' brainwashing, and after measuring some freshly harvested skulls, he's unimpressed. So he sets about fixing up his nursery into a new lab. He jury-rigs the glittertech into a new lab, and hand-crafts the Custodes. Then the lab gets bombed in a periodic raid. He can't fix it - the repair-tech can't be found. He bootstraps. He's really quite resourceful and pretty smart despite his questionable parentage. He crafts the genetic equivalent of a moonshine still and makes the Thunder Warriors. Pathetic untermench, but useful ones. Enough to acquire him some decent lab equipment? Enough to win the planet and cobble together enough to make those slightly-less-wretched Space Marines. Maybe throw in some random shit with the control inhibitors relaxed and make a baker's dozen test batch. How about we add some space-wolf to this one? Sounds fierce. One of these new vampire-folk? Perhaps. A crow? Why not. A lump of basalt? Does that have genetic material in it? They never sent him to DAOT preschool to learn these things.
What now? He's a geneticist, not an engineer, not a scientist. (And to be clear, my definition of "geneticist" in this case has been expanded to include space-fascist eugenicist obsessives.) I guess we have to default back to Directive 1, unite humanity.
And the rest, as they say, is an ever-expanding compendium of works of dubious cannon and variable author talent / history.
I'm drunk, what's your excuse?

Do I publish this? only gonna give you a sneak peak but....
Monologue
It was Saturday. The sky was bright. It was the middle of June. My father was right beside me, wearing his best black suit. Tears dripped down my face as I stared at the casket. My black dress is timeless and fluffy. Jules would have loved it. He always said I would be the perfect Wednesday. The tragedy is like a river, and it flows directly through my life, always hitting me with the worst. The pain was thick as blood. This was a pain I could no longer endure. My one true love died. Murdered. His house was lit on fire. His room was left untouched due to his closed door, but the smoke that got into his room through the vents killed him in his sleep. It was a silent drive home, a drive full of tears and sorrow, but not once did they say a word to me and I couldn't find enough strength within me to say anything myself. I went to bed that night numb. Tears became my transport to nightmares.
Chapter 1
I woke up that morning with a headache. My pillow was wet from the tears of the night. I glanced at my phone. Two thirty-seven. I rolled over to see whether or not it was day or night. It was day. A late start to the day. I slouched out of bed and made my way to the closet by the door. I changed from the dress I had worn at the funeral into a hoodie and sweats. I walked down the stairs nearly slipping because of my socks. I went to the kitchen and found a note dad had left behind on the table.
Dear Amber, I'm sorry I had to leave at such an upsetting Time for you, however, Work calls. I will be home by 6. there are donuts out on the table. You are excused from chores for the time being and I will allow you to stay home until Wednesday. Kaeya went out with her friends and will be back around 2:30
-love dad
I walked into the dining room and opened the box of donuts. I grabbed the chocolate one with blue sprinkles and started munching on it. I turned to my right and saw Kaeya, my step-sibling, leaning against the wall, phone in hand. She typed one last message before shutting her phone off and looking at me ready to speak. She probably said something about how annoying I was or how she was so upset my boyfriend died before she could fuck him. Too bad he has a pussy. We went out to the couch and kaeya wouldn't shut up.
"I'm sorry about Jules. The funeral was… surreal. I don't know what to say. I'm just… I'm so sorry. I'm sorry Amber." She gave me an apologetic look.
"What are you apologizing for? Did you kill the bitch?" I couldn't even laugh at my joke. The room filled with silence.
"No, It's for opening your mail. It's some weird VHS tape with today's date on it. Guess the guys found out you're single again." She stares at me with anticipation. What does she think I'm gonna do? I walk up to her and grab the tape she had been holding in a taunting gesture. I started running down the hall. "Where are you going?!" Kaeya yells as she starts to chase after me. "Dad's old VHS player is in the basement!"those were the only words I needed to say. We laughed when we got to the basement. She fell onto the couch as I put the tape in and pressed play. all color faded from my face as it started to play and through the static, a face started to form. It was his face. He couldn't talk and it was mostly dark but I saw him. "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING ON?!" Kaeya yelled loud enough to shake the cart the VHS sat on. Fear formed on her face, although only for a second. Then it was gone. "You shouldn't fuck with the dead. Shut it off. SHUT IT OFF!" I was so surprised she could say such a thing. He's not dead! If he is, then at least I can see him. Why would she want me to not want me to see him? What did she know that I didn't? However, to shut her up, I shut the tape off. She made me promise not to watch it. I promised. Night fell quicker than I thought it would as anticipation filled my day. When everyone was asleep, I crept downstairs to watch the tape. I was horrified by what I saw. The tape was blurry and distorted. The only thing fully visible was Jules' face. And that looked pale and pained. He never said anything throughout the whole tape. I could see the threads sewing his mouth shut. Pulling an Exacto knife out of his pocket he used it to open his mouth and screamed out in pain. in the last few seconds of the video, he said, "there is no air. Help me." That night I couldn't sleep. Fear kept me up. Confusion, fear, happiness, and sadness. I felt everything and nothing at the same time. I sat there on the floor for hours.
The next morning everything seemed wrong. As if it wasn't real. I woke up that morning on the floor next to the window. I remember the VHS tape but nothing much after that. Kaeya had noticed my behavior. I could tell she had. She never brought it up. Dad left rather early for work. Stepmom was out of town for the week. The only person to stop me was kayea. And I know how to ditch kaeya rather easily. Around noon I left saying I was going to get some food from down the street. The town was relatively small. Seven streets, four stop lights. A small Walmart, a Seven eleven, the old museum that's not even in town, and a taco bell. Well, and of course the graveyard across town. We live off of Ariana Avenue we get only a few visitors. And most of the time they come to see the hill crave museum. Which isn't even in the town; it's about a three-hour drive due west. I headed down to Taco Bell and ordered a breakfast burrito. I then crossed the street and for a coke from Seven eleven. I decided to go check the graveyard. We had these bells. They would connect to a string that goes into the casket. When pulling the string a bell would be rung that's attached to the gravestone. I thought I would see if the bell was ringing or at least moving. I get there and sit on the bench near Jules's grave. There was no bell. I noticed this after declining Kaeya's call for the third time. I walked over to look if the bell had fallen. It hadn't. There was a string leading to where the bell used to be. But no bell. I went home and listened to Kaeya lecture me about how worried she was. They had just finished when the doorbell rang. I answered to find Maria the mailwoman with a package. She handed it to me, turned, and left, nothing more. I looked at the package and shut the door. No return address. Nothing signaling who or what sent it. I took it to the kitchen and opened it. A VHS tape. Another one. With today's date on it. Kaeya entered the kitchen as I was looking in the box for clues.
"ANOTHER ONE?!" Her sudden appearance and loud shriek of terror frightened me. Kaeya looked at the tape then at me, then at the tape yet again. "You better not open that. Give it to me. I know what you did last night. Don't play dumb" her already angered face switched. I could tell she was pissed off. I could tell she knew something I didn't. She was hiding something from me. I knew I couldn't get away from her just yet. I slowly reached for the VHS tape. I grabbed it and started to run. I ran to the basement door and slammed it in her face, locking it behind me. "OPEN UP!" She yelled. She kept screaming at me but I didn't listen. I knew what I had to do. I took out the old VHS and put in the new one. "Baby, if you're watching this, I need help. I love you, so very much. I will tell you when to do it and what to do, but for now, you won't know. Keep your head up." What is he talking about? I felt a tear run down my cheek as I watched the tape in horror. It was hard to make out in the darkness but I could tell that his face was covered in blood. It ran down from his lips. "Find the bell. Find the bell, Amber. The river. Find the bell. Find the bell. I need the bell. Find it. Find the bell. The bell is-" just then static took over. I was shook. Where is the bell? I took out the tape from the player this time. Only then did I notice a small piece of paper attached to it. "Church bells." I had to go. But how? I can't leave now. Kaeya is pissed. She's still banging on the door. I shouldn't leave now. She's going to school tomorrow. It's Monday. I'll be able to get the next VHS and watch it. I'll go to the church tonight. I will find the bell. I'm going to find it. I set an alarm that night for 11:42. I packed a bag with a lighter, matches, a candle, a flashlight, batteries, a foldable ladder, a lock pick, pepper spray, and a taser. I laid out my clothes, a black hoodie, black sweats, a black ski mask, black gloves, thick black socks, and black sneakers. I dressed like a fucking robber if it wasn't obvious enough. I would probably end up breaking into the place. It's 4 stories tall. I don’t plan on coming back too soon.
My phone vibrates and rings on the quietest level. I pray to god it didn’t wake anyone up. I shut it off lazily and start to change. I grabbed my bag slowly so as not to make a sound. I carefully unlocked my window. I had forgotten to take the alarm off and a loud ringing filled the house. Shit. I took my bag off hastily and threw it under my bed. I attempted to throw my ski mask off and cover my sneakers with my blanket. But it was too late. My dad ran in with a gun and saw me wearing all black with a ski mask half off and a blanket just barely covering me. “What's going on, Amber,” dad said sternly. I knew I couldn't tell him about the tapes because he would flip his shit but what COULD I tell him? Oh yeah sorry, dad. Was just going to break into the church, no biggie. I can’t say that. “I was gonna go to the cemetery to see Jules and I was scared to wake you up. I’m sorry” my eyes went down and dad’s face seemed to rest and he let out a sigh. “Come on. I’ll drive you." I and dad walked to the car with our heads down low. Dad let me sit up front and turned the car on. The seats were heated so I didn't have to freeze my ass off. Dad dropped me off at the cemetery and told me to call him when I wanted to be picked up. I had brought my bag with me. I had played it off this time. I saw my opportunity but as I went toward the church I realized that someone else was there. A man. I couldn't see him very well but he seemed to look like…. “JULES! ” I yelled as I ran towards him. The man looked at me with fear and started to run away. He ran so fast that I was unable to keep up. I could feel eyes on me the whole time I was there but I decided to ignore it and follow Jules’ instructions and I went to the church. The bottom floor seemed to have someone inside. Likely the priest. I ended up climbing through an open window on the second floor using the ladder I had packed. I decided to climb up the stairs and then the ladder to the top floor. This floor was full of bells. Bells that were never rung. I was looking for a bell no bigger than my palm. The rim of the bell was coated with blue paint and the bell was engraved with runes. I had seen the bell at the funeral. They had set up the string while lowering the casket. I looked for what seemed like hours. It had taken forever to find it and I was exhausted when I did. I simply put it in my bag and crept down the ladder to the third floor. The floors were old and creaky. Each step seemed to become louder. By the time I had made it to the stairs my hand was shaking. I made it down the stairs. They were much quieter as they had been replaced 2 years ago after they collapsed. I took three wide paces to the window and in one motion jumped out landing with a wet splat. I looked down. Mud. I looked up. Storm clouds. It had been raining. I then noticed my dad's car sitting down the road near the graveyard entrance.
"Fuck" I said in a whisper. I walked around the back side of the church so he wouldn't be able to see me from the car then acted as if I had just left the church. I walked up to the car acting as if I was sad. I knocked on the car window and the car locks clicked open.
"Amber, where were you? I was starting to get worried!" My dad said as I entered the car and slumped into the seat.
"I went to the church. I wanted to send a message to Jules." I said bluntly as I slid the bag off my back.
" Well, I'm glad you're alright. I hope your message will reach Jules soon."
My dad stated with an apologetic smile. The drive home was silent and boring. By the time we arrived back at the house, I was exhausted and parched. I grabbed a bottle full of water and went off to bed. The next morning I immediately went to grab the bell. But it wasn't there anymore. Someone had taken it. I kept digging in my bag and that's when I saw it. A VHS Tape. What the actual fuck is going on. How did it get in my bag? There's only one answer. He’s inside the house. I check the date. The date was normally on a strip of scotch tape on the side. Today. I put the VHS tape on my desk and stood up. I then changed into a different outfit and grabbed the VHS tape on my way out the door. The basement entrance was down the hall. I snuck to the door and headed down to watch the tape. I put it in carefully. I froze when I realized the tape was filled with footage of me. Me sneaking into the church, me looking, me walking down the stairs. Me sleeping, it was all me. Why was there footage of me? Why is he doing this? That's when I froze. A video of me changing. He zoomed in on my body as though I was a toy. It scared me. Then, the worst part. A picture. The priest. He was dead. He wasn’t in the church that night. Who was? Was it the murderer? This couldn't have been him. Was the murderer in my house?

Yo i was looking for a certain picture/drawing i remember. It depicts 2pac laying in a casket dead and someone putting a mic up to him still trying to interview him.
I believe Nas may have seen this image or someone heard nas’s tribute lyrics and drew this picture
maybe not though ?
In his tribute to Tupac and Biggie in his song we will survive he says
“The industry be talkin , offending me often , they don’t believe your dead, wanna see you in your coffin”
Anyway hopefully someone else can shed some light on this i have obviously tried to google it but no luck so far
Peace yall
rest in peace 2pac and Biggie

My grandfather recently passed and as mentioned above he was a WW2 vet and Vietnam War veteran. He enlisted at 17, was a paratrooper and one of the first and few American soldiers to step onto Japanese soil after the bombings. Despite this NO army representatives were present for his burrial. No flag supplied by the army, no honors supplied by the Army. Nothing. For a WW2 vet...
What I have next is second hand information as I personally did not participate in setting up the arrangements for his funeral other than speaking and handling the casket. My Aunts/Uncles were told that the Army would supply a plot if he chose to be buried with in the Armys cemetery, but because he wanted to be buried in a plot he and his wife selected with their previously deceased family this was passed on. No biggie. There was 2 weeks from the time of his death to the burial. 2 different relatives then reached out to discuss setting up burial honors. Again second hand info, but essentially what I have gathered is that at first the Army rep said that they could assist with honors, taps, a small color guard (maybe I'm saying the wrong thing, but I hope you get the point, basically a handful of dressed individuals to march with their rifles, salute, fold the flag and present it to my grnadmother.) As the details were confirmed at the church and cemetery the Army was informed. 3 days before the funeral my aunt was informed that no one would be present. Naturally I am very disappointed at this result. Now, I'm not saying that my Aunta and Uncles did everything perfectly because I wasn't involved, but they are all educated and competent people. My aunts both worked in social services and my uncle was an attorney and currently works for a university. If the process is complicated to the point that they messed up, then the process is too complicated for the average person experiencing grief.
We did ultimately get some retired military personnel in uniform for the funeral. Earlier in life my uncle had aided someone in their political career and he reached out to them. He was able to pull some strings to get a retired Marine to speak/present the flag (which by the way was folded by the hearse assistant because no Army member was present to do so) as well as a 4 person ensemble from the Navy to march and salute.
I'm just here to vent and express my disappointment in the treatment of my veteran grandfather. Can I say %100 that the Army is at fault? No, but they were notified and sure as shit didn't do anything to assist. If some random politician can scramble 5 military members to assist with 2 days notice, I feel the Army could have done better.
This man was an early volunteer, brave, fought in 2 wars, jumped out of planes, represented this country in the best way possible and the Army had nothing for his memory.
TLDR: my WW2/Vietnam War veteran grandfather passed, the Army did little to nothing to assist my family in his memory.

Part 1, detailing 1981 and 1991, can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/hiphop101/comments/rs7tp2/i_listened_to_pretty_much_all_rap_music_from_1981/
Having found a new creative outlet to inflict my music taste on the world in my previous post, here’s part 2 of my end-of-the-year wrap-up, featuring 2001. I’m yet again splitting a post, Reddit isn’t very kind to longer posts (I’m getting crazy lag while formatting these monsters of posts). I’ve listened to almost 2000 songs off 144 rap albums and a few hundred loosies, remixes, demos, or live tracks.
2001 is where things will get tricky for the first time. The closer we get to modern times, the more listeners on Reddit will have diverging music tastes. I think it’s still fairly easy to find some consensus of what constitutes ‘good’ rap in 1991 (and that’s especially so for 1981), that’s not going to be as easy for 2001. By 2001, the rap scene was thoroughly split: there were thriving underground and regional scenes. I’ve attempted to listen to all notable releases from the year, across these borders of subgenres.
I’m fairly certain I’ll get called out for omitting album x or song y by artist z, which is fine by me. It’s business never personal. My aim is to provide you with new rap suggestions and to provide an overview of rap songs. With that in mind, let’s jump into 2001.
AotY candidates

• Project Pat – Mista Don’t Play: Everythang’s Workin’
• Beanie Sigel – The Reason
• Cormega – The Realness
• Juvenile – Project English
• La Chat – Murder She Spoke
• Mac Mall – Immaculate
• Mack 10 – Bang Or Ball
• Max Minelli – Me & My Hustle
• Mystikal – Tarantula
• Bubba Sparxxx – Dark Days, Bright Nights
• UGK – Dirty Money

My best rap albums list of 2001 is heavily dominated by Southern rappers. At this point in time, there was still a lot of great rap music coming out the East Coast, though not always necessarily through great albums. Beanie Sigel and Cormega are the only two East Coast representatives, and especially Cormega’s album still manages to captivate audiences after 20 years. On the West Coast, it was slim pickings, but Mac Mall’s Immaculate and to a lesser extent Mack 10’s Bang Or Ball were both excellent efforts.
Down South, 2001 was right in the golden age of New Orleans rap music, with artists from Birdman’s Cash Money label (Juvenile and even Mack 10, a West Coast Ice Cube affiliate, was signed to the label by this time) and Master P’s No Limit (Mystikal) still popping. In Memphis, the Hypnotize Minds camp didn’t show signs of slowing down (La Chat and Project Pat. Pat, imo, deserves AotY for his Mista Don’t Play). Also the subgenre of Country Rap Tunes, pioneered by UGK, was very much in full swing, with great efforts from UGK themselves, as well as Bubba Sparxxx (no joke, this album has aged tremendously and imo definitely deserves its spot in any top-of-the-year list) and the lesser-known Baton Rouge legend Max Minelli.
Most disappointing albums of the year

• Let’s get this out of the way immediately: I think Jay-Z’s The Blueprint and Nas’s Stillmatic didn’t age well. There definitely are songs on both albums I really like (and will be part of my best songs of the year list), but the albums themselves aren’t anything to write home about. Even most of the songs from Stillmatic I liked up to a decade ago (Stillmatic Intro, Got Urself A Gun, You’re Da Man and 2nd Childhood) sound very humdrum and are far from Nas’s best work. I like God’s Son a lot better than Stillmatic, as the singles from the former album have aged so much better than most of latter album.
• As for Jay-Z, I can’t help but feel many of the songs on The Blueprint (such as Izzo (H.O.V.A.), Girls, Girls, Girls, Jigga That N\**a* and Hola Hovito) are super corny now (and perhaps always were). I firmly rate (at least) Reasonable Doubt and Vol. 1 over The Blueprint, with Vol. 1 overtaking Reasonable Doubt as my current personal Jay-Z favourite.
• Many good old school rappers dropped very weak albums. Notable disappointing 2001 albums are Run DMC’s Crown Royal, Redman’s Malpractice, Cypress Hill’s Stoned Raiders, RZA’s Digital Bullet and Kurupt’s Space Boogie.
• Plain bad were albums from Benzino (I think corny runs in the family as I also don’t like Coi Leray) and Cappadonna, who managed to deliver one of the worst Wu-Tang affiliate albums in The Yin and The Yang, which was so bad I don’t even remember if I got through it all without skips, which is a rare thing for me.
• Cannibal Ox’s The Cold Vein is often regarded as one of the best underground/backpack rap albums of the early 00s. Revisiting the tape after 10+ years has not been kind to the album. I think most of the Anticon/Def Jux rap has aged incredibly poorly. Best 2001 underground album for me would probably be Edan’s Sprain Your Tapedeck and J-Zone’s Pimps Don’t Pay Taxes.

Songs of the year:
I’ve broken the list up in a few sections based on the region of the recording artist.
East Coast

• Beanie Sigel – Beanie (Mack Bitch)
• Busta Rhymes – As I Come Back
• G-Dep – Everyday (Remix)
• Ghostface Killah – The Sun ft. Raekwon, Slick Rick & RZA
• Jadakiss – We Gonna Make It ft. Styles P
• Mobb Deep – The Learning (Burn)
• Agallah – Telemundo ft. Sean Price
• Akinyele – Do You Wanna?
• AZ – Problems
• Cormega – They Forced My Hand ft. Tragedy Khadafi
• Fabolous – Young’n (Holla Back)
• Jay-Z – Takeover
• MF DOOM – Voices Pt. 0
• Lake – Crushed Linen
• Sean Price – Don’t Say Shit To Ruck
• Nas – The Flyest ft. AZ
• Slick Rick – He Kills
• Black Rob – Gun Hell
• Big Punisher – Brave In The Heart ft. Triple Seis, Fat Joe & Prospect
• Pretty Ugly – Stack G’s Regardless
• Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On

Song breakdowns

• Beanie Sigel’s Beanie (Mack Bitch) is just pure hard lyrics over a hard Just Blaze beat. Between ’99 and ’09, Beanie had two minor classic albums in The Reason and The Truth and a host of great songs, legendary features and even good songs as part of his group State Property.
• Busta Rhymes As I Come Back nearly pioneered a New York brand of crunk music. One of The Neptunes best ever beats. Hardcore New York anthems in a slightly different vein than Mobb Deep and M.O.P. It’s a shame this song would be more-or-less a one-off, as I really dig this style and would’ve loved to see more come out of it.
• Bad Boy’s G-Dep is a now often forgotten rapper, who had a very good album out in 2001 called Child Of The Ghetto. Besides the album’s title track, Special Delivery, Doe Fiend (which is an homage to Rakim’s Microphone Fiend), Let’s Get It and the OG Everyday are clear standout tracks, but the remix to Everyday, which features Faith Evans (aka Biggie’s wife), gives the song a little bit more pizzaz.
• Ghostface Killah’s The Sun is an unreleased track from his Bulletproof Wallets sessions. Bulletproof Wallets was a slight disappointment, in the sense that the album was pretty alright but could’ve been a lot better if various ultimately unreleased tracks were included (besides The Sun, I’m also thinking of the Raekwon-assisted The Watch). The Sun, which featured, among others, my personal favourite Slick Rick, is an ode to the sun. It’s a great song.
• Jadakiss is one of those critical darlings who can’t hold an album down by himself (also looking at French Montana, of course). His 2001 solo debut Kiss Tha Game Goodbye was a pretty decent album, but imo is too patchy to be considered a classic. That’s not to say it didn’t have great songs on it. We Gonna Make It might be my favourite Jadakiss song, where Jada and Styles trade verses and flows over a beat that sparked controversy between Ras Kass and The Lox, as Ras Kass claimed The Alchemist resold the beat to The Lox after Kass used it on Goldyn Child. Whatever the situation might have been, this Jada and Styles song is much better than anything Ras Kass could’ve done with it.
• Mobb Deep, while still making great music in 2001, was a group in decline. Their 1995 The Infamous and 1996 Hell On Earth are rightfully considered old school classic albums, 1999’s Murda Muzik was still very good but had a few dodgy moments and their downward spiral continued in 2001 with Infamy. While nowhere close to be a bad effort, the meh and mediocre tracks outnumbered the good and great songs. Luckily The Learning (Burn), which of course featured affiliated henchman rapper Big Noyd is one of their most club friendly songs while still also going hard as a motherfucker.
• Did you ever wonder what would happen if NY rappers would rap Mexican news channel’s theme music? Look no further than Telemundo, a joint effort of perennially underrated one-time Dipset affiliate Agallah and the late great Sean Price (R.I.P.).
• Akinyele debuted with Nas on Main Source’s Live At The BBQ, but sadly their career paths diverged enormously after. Most noted for his Put It In Your Mouth song, Akinyele has a pretty deep discography of great music. By 2001, he was signed to Koch Records, which effectively meant his career was in the 9th inning. That didn’t stop him from including a few good songs on his 2001 Anakonda, most notably Problems and Do You Wanna? featuring the virtually unknown and practically ungooglable female rapper Uneek. Akinyele and Uneek trade bars and shooting the shit about the guys and gals they got to know.
• AZ dropped a slightly disappointing album in 2001 called 9 Livez. The album’s best track is called I Don’t Give A Fuck, but that song was originally released in 2000. His 2001 track Problems is definitely the best of the rest.
• Cormega dropped his debut album The Realness in 2001, a serious contender for AotY status. It contained a host of great songs which makes it super difficult to pick just one. They Forced My Hand is my pick, while I’m also partial to Thun & Kicko featuring Prodigy and Fallen Soldiers.
• Another exhibit why The Neptunes ruled 2001 can be found in Fabolous’s Young’n (Holla Back). Typical Neptunes production and great songwriting by Fabolous make this one of the year’s best songs.
• I’ve already discussed Jay-Z’s The Blueprint in detail in an earlier section. This album does contain three tracks I still bump on the regular: Takeover being Jay-Z’s best diss song, U Don’t Know as Jay-Z’s personal mission statement (bragging about being able to sell ice in the winter is, looking back, extremely poignant from one of rap’s premier entrepreneurs) and Heart Of The City, which is equal parts corny and amazing. Jay-Z’s a bit of a personal bete noir of mine, but you can’t deny his music.
• MF DOOM was on top of the world after his 1999 Operation Doomsday (which I personally regard as a top 10 rap album of all time). His 2001 solo track on MF Grimm’s The Downfall Of Ibiliys: A Ghetto Opera confusingly called Voices Pt. 0 (confusing as part 0 is a sequel to part 1) might be a top 5 DOOM track of all time.
• Lake is a QBC affiliate of Cormega, Nas and Mobb Deep and dropped his career highlight in 2001, a track called Crush Linen. Bit of a deep cut from the QBC repertoire, but if you’re into that sound, definitely worth a listen.
• Sean Price (R.I.P.) didn’t drop an album in 2001 but he did drop this great one-off track called Don’t Say Shit To Ruck. Ruck being his nickname. Hardcore N.Y. underground rhyming in the same vein as the aforementioned Telemundo.
• Even though Stillmatic wasn’t as good as I remembered it, it did have a few good tracks which can still get burn in 2021. One Mic might be the most well-known song, but I can never pass Nas & AZ’s The Flyest as their chemistry is almost always on point. I would’ve loved a Nas x AZ album in the late 90s or early 00s, but sadly it was not to be.
• Slick Rick’s He Kills might be a bit of a faux pas because I’m not entirely sure it was actually recorded or released in 2001. The information I could find about it suggests this year, but the sound is a lot more reminiscent of his early 90s work. At any rate, it’s vintage Slick Rick.
• Still lounging after dropping his career best song Whoa in 2000 (and for me a top 20 best rap song of all time), Black Rob (R.I.P.) only had one solo joint in 2001. Gun Hell is a more rugged underground song which would’ve sounded great on Life Story, for instance in tandem with his B.R.
• Big Punisher’s Endangered Species was one of rap’s first post-death compilation albums. Besides including the OG version of his career best song The Dream Shatterer, it also included a Terror Squad assisted Brave In The Heart. His verse on that song always manages to make crack up and appreciate his crazy lyrical skills.
• Stack G’s Regardless by Pretty Ugly is for sure the most unknown song by a virtually unknown artist on this year’s list. Pretty Ugly is from Philadelphia and besides his song Spit Game, which apparently was featured on the GTA III soundtrack, he has virtually no other credentials. The song bangs, another great underground hardcore East Coast record.
• I’m not entirely sure Missy Elliott can be considered an East Coast artist, or her career best Get Ur Freak On an East Coast song. This might be Timbaland’s best beat, and that’s saying a lot. Great rap anthem and easily one of the year’s best songs in my book.

West Coast
Imo the West Coast was experiencing a minor talent drought around the turn of the century. In 2001, the G-Funk and Death Row era was coming at an end (pretty much stopped in 1999 after Dre’s 2001). The Hieroglyphics crew and other socially conscious rap was also no longer in vogue. Only in the Bay Area was Mac Dre (R.I.P.) experiencing a casual renaissance around this time, reinventing himself a bit after his stint in jail, which he perfect in subsequent years with Feeling Myself, Thizzle Dance and Off The Rictor. 2001 also kind of marks the starting point for West Coast Mob Music, when The Jacka released his debut, though the subgenre wasn't yet fully formed.

• Mack 10 – Connected For Life ft. Westside Connection & Butch Cassidy
• Casual – Studio D
• Cutthoat Committee – You Ain’t My Dog
• Mac Dre – Bleezies-N-Heem
• Keak Da Sneak – Here Comes Keak Da Sneak
• The Jacka – Mack Hand
• The Coup – Pork And Beef

Song breakdowns

• Mack 10’s Connected For Life is imo his career best song. He coaxed a great feature out of Ice Cube at a time where Ice Cube lost most of his sparkle. I think Ice Cube’s verses on Connected For Life are probably his last great additions to rap. Especially noteworthy is the chemistry between the rappers – the way Mack 10, Ice Cube and WC trade verses is as close to Jadakiss/Styles, Boosie/Webbie and Run/DMC type chemistry.
• Casual’s 1994 Fear Itself album is a stone cold West Coast classic (and possibly the best album of all time out of the Hieroglypics-camp), but by 2001, he had mostly run out of steam. His 1997 effort Meanwhile wasn’t great and the same can be said for his 2001 album He Think He Raw. Luckily, Casual was still able to deliver a few great songs on the album, most notably Turf Dirt, I Gotta (Get Down) and the earlier mentioned Studio D. It still bangs as hard as anything on Fear Itself.
• Cutthoat Committee was Mac Dre’s group, which also featured Mac Mall, Dubee Aka Sugawolf and PSD. A pretty stacked line up if you’re into the classic Bay Area sound. Their 2001 album Turf Buccaneers (I always loved the name of that album) is very good, and imo just misses out on making the AOTY shortlist. You Ain’t My Dog is probably the best song on the album.
• Mac Dre also released some solo material in 2001, I listened to his albums It’s Not What You Say… But How You Say It (words to live by for any rapper) and Mac Dre’s The Name. Again, both albums are good but not top 10 good. I have a hard time pinpointing his 2001 best song. I went with Bleezies-N-Heem, but could just as easily could’ve went with Mac Dre’vious or Doin’ What I Do. None of the songs are top 10 Mac Dre songs in my book, but as a trifecta probably already eclipse the top 3 best songs of most rappers.
• Keak Da Sneak is a bit of an acquired taste. His super raspy voice either works for you, or it doesn’t. His 2001 effort Hi-Tek was pretty decent, but ultimately also pretty patchy. My favourite song off the album is Here Comes Keak Da Sneak, but I also liked Moe Doe and Tankin’, Tinkin’, Stinkin’ featuring E-40 (who’s notably absent on the list as I don’t think he released any material in 2001).
• Though The Jacka debuted in 1998 on C-Bo’s Til My Casket Drops, the head Figa in charge dropped his first solo album three years later in 2001. Jacka Of The Mob Figaz was, again, a pretty good West Coast tape, but Jacka wasn’t the full-formed rapper he was between 2005 and 2015. Off the album, I liked 1,2,3 and Die Young, but imo his best song was a loosie which, as far as I know, never saw an official release on an album, called Mac Hand.
• I fell in love with The Coup’s Pork and Beef when I saw Superbad in 2007 and saw Bill Hader and Seth Rogen dance to it after busting a teen party as cops. Rap songs about the police have been potent since 1988 and this song is another entry in the ever growing subgenre.

Down South
There was a lot of great music coming out of the South. Not just a lot of great music, but also sonically so different that it feels unfair to just lump everything together as ‘down south’.

• Jermaine Dupri – Welcome To Atlanta ft. Ludacris
• Juvenile – Set It Off
• Lil’ Jon & The Eastside Boyz – Put Yo Hood Up
• Ludacris – Area Codes ft. Nate Dogg
• Max Minelli – R.N.S.
• Mystikal – Bouncin’ Back (Bumpin’ Me Against The Wall)
• Project Pat – Gorilla Pimp
• Slimm Calhoun – Characters
• Bubba Sparxxx – Wide Spread ft. Sebastian & Timbaland
• Dungeon Family – Follow The Light
• Gangsta Boo – Same Block
• Gucci Mane – Muscles N My Hand
• La Chat – A Crumb 2 A Brick
• Petey Pablo – Raise Up
• Pastor Troy – Vice Versa
• Soulja Slim – Bout Dis Shit
• Trick Daddy – I’m A Thug
• UGK – Choppin’ Blades
• Luke Campbell – Suck This Dick ft. Cam’Ron & Pitbull
• T.I. – Heavy Chevys ft. P$C
• UGK – Choppin’ Blades
• Three 6 Mafia – We Shootin’ 1st

Song breakdown

• I’ve never been a great fan of Jermaine Dupri’s solo work (his So So Def remixes are often noteworthy though), but I really can’t front on his Ludacris-backed Welcome To Atlanta. I love the beat and Ludacris is a perfect fit to rock over it.
• Juvenile might be one of my favourite rappers ever. His 1997 debut Soulja Rags is imo criminally slept on and as an album eclipses everything he did after it, and that says a lot because his output until 2005 made him a New Orleans juggernaut. One of those songs is Set It Off off his album Project English, another album that just missed out of being on the AOTY shortlist. On Set It Off Juvenile retreats the classic Drag ‘Em N Tha River beat by U.N.L.V. for one of his career top 10 songs. Other good songs off the album are H.B. HeadBusta, 4 Minutes, Mamma Got Ass, What U Scared 4 and the Outro.
• In the 90s, ATL was a bit of a rap backwater: rap groups such as OutKast and Goodie Mob weren’t really repping ATL like that and hadn’t given the city a unique sound or identity. And then crunk hit, around 2000. Lil’ Jon & The Eastside Boyz were at the forefront of the subgenre and their 2001 song Put Your Hood Up still goes hard in 2021. The song (and pretty much Lil’ Jon’s entire discography) aren’t concerned with complex lyrics and flows, but use repetition and harmonizing to devastating effect. I can only handle crunk in small (but concentrated) doses, but I’ll always make an exception for Put Yo Hood Up.
• Ludacris is a great singles and features artist, his albums don’t really do it for me. When Ludacris hits, he hits hard. Area Codes is one of those songs, a stone cold 5 star general of a song. Nate Dogg lays down one of his career best hooks over a super lush Jazze Pha beat. Off his 2001 album Word Of Mouf, I’d also pick Move Bitch featuring Mystikal and I-20 as a great song that would’ve made the list if Area Codes wasn’t on there.
• Max Minelli is one of those lesser-known rappers from the South. Around the turn of the millennium, Max was part of C-Loc’s Baton Rouge Concentration Camp and a member of Lay-Lo with his brother J-Von, alongside Young Bleed (known for his 1998 No Limit classic Balls And My Word) and a prepubescent Boosie. Max Minelli’s Me & My Hustle is a Country Rap Tunes minor classic. It boasts a few great songs, not limited to but including Immuh, Whoa Na, Throw It Up featuring Boosie and Boo Da Boss Playa (aka Boo Rossini, another Concentration Camp alumn), Do Ya Thug Thang and, imo most notably, R.N.S. The album really has no bad song on it, please go bump it now.
• In 2001, another New Orleans titan, Mystikal, released his album Tarantula. By 2001, Mystikal was on top of the rap game and released both commercially viable and critically successful songs. While he might be more known for other songs, two of his 2001 songs are definitely part of his top 10. If It Ain’t Live, It Ain’t Me is vintage Mystikal switching his flows over a very clean production. Bouncin’ Back (Bumpin’ Me Against The Wall) is a great Neptunes-backed single. Might be my favourite Mystikal song of all time.
• Project Pat released three classic albums after each other between 1999 and 2002, so in 2001 he was on top of his game. His 2001 album Mista Don’t Play: Everythang’s Working is my personal AOTY. Stacked with great songs, it still goes dummy hard. Gorilla Pimp probably is one of the best rap songs out of Memphis, my personal favourite Project Pat song of all time and starkly reminds me of Larry Brown, C.C. and Reggie Love, pimps in the TV show The Deuce. Other notable songs off the album are North North, Cheese And Dope, Chicken Head (which easily could’ve made the list but was released in 2000), Aggravated Robbery, We Ain’t Scared Hoe and If You Ain’t From My Hood. Salute Memphis GOAT Project Pat.
• Dungeon Family associate Slimm Calhoun’s Characters is a little-known gem of his 2001 album The Skinny. Aside from this song, the album itself is pretty decent but ultimately largely forgettable.
• I already waxed lyrical about Bubba Sparxxx’s Dark Days, Bright Nights. Another great Country Rap Tunes album worth listening to. Fat Shan and Timbaland laced Bubba Sparxxx, (whom I’ve heard being described as a white people apology to Timbaland for slavery, which still cracks me up to this day). Ugly is probably the best-known song off the album for the WTF-inducing music video. Lovely is another good song, but the album’s best song according to yours truly is Open Wide. Possibly one of Timbaland’s best beats, I can never get enough of it.
• The Dungeon Family as a supergroup isn’t often talked about, as these discussions often eventually gravitate towards OutKast as a group-act (and of course for a good reason). Even In Darkness was a good album in 2001, though nowadays largely forgotten. Trans D.F. Express and They Comin’ are still very good songs, but Follow The Light kinda outshines them and is definitely part of any top of 2001 rap list.
• Another Hypnotize Minds / Three 6 Mafia associate makes this list, in the form of Gangsta Boo. Her 2001 album Both Worlds was pretty good but misses out on the AOTY shortlist. Mask 2 My Face and Same Block are my personal favourites off the album. The latter edges out the former for me.
• Gucci Mane had his official but not very well-known debut in 2001. His album La Flare isn’t very good and isn’t talked about often for a reason, but you could definitely see the raw talent on his song Muscles N My Hand. It’s not as good as most of his 2007-2009 output, which were his peak years, but it’s good enough for a spot on this list. Sidenote: Young Jeezy also released his debut album in 2001 in Thuggin’ Under The Influence, back when he went by his rap aka Lil’ J (yeah, the switch from Lil’ J to Young Jeezy was a masterstroke). The album is pretty ass and I struggle to find any song of his worth listening to.
• Third Three 6 Mafia associate on the list La Chat released a minor classic in 2001 called Murder She Spoke. I was pleasantly surprised when listening to this project, it was leaps and bounds better than what I expected. A supremely cohesive and consistently good album, which unfortunately lacks that one hit that elevates an album from a minor classic to a bonafied great legendary album. Crumbs 2 A Brick and Salt Shakers are great songs in their own rights though, with the former being my personal favourite off the album.
• Petey Pablo’s Raise Up works as a B-side to Bubba Sparxxx’s Open Wide. Another Timbaland produced Country Rap song which just has absolutely amazing production. As said, I’m partial to Raise Up, though I also liked 919. The album itself, Diary Of A Sinner, 1st Entry, was pretty alright and worth a listen, but nothing crazy in my book.
• Pastor Troy is one of those early Crunk rappers from ATL. He has a few amazing songs, and Vice Versa is one of them. He’s a bit hit-or-miss and I’m sure not everybody can appreciate him or his style in 2021, but a top 10 of Pastor Troy is definitely worth listening to.
• Soulja Slim (R.I.P.) was killed in 2003, right before his Slow Motion featuring Juvenile blew up. He rightfully is one of New Orleans most beloved artists, and Bout Dis Shit absolutely is one of the reasons for it. Great songs by a great artist.
• Trick Daddy isn’t talked about enough. He’s one of the first notable Florida rappers who had national hits. His 2001 album We Are Thugs was pretty alright, but it’s all about his single I’m A Thug, which is kinda reminiscent of Jay-Z’s Hard Knock Life, in the sense that it’s a commercially friendly song which featured a backdrop of children’s singing. It’s still easy to listen to in 2021.
• Luke Campbell’s, aka Luke Skyyywalker of 2 Live Crew fame, possibly last good to great song. A bit of a weird line-up for his Suck This Dick, as it features a young Pitbull and N.Y.’s own Cam’Ron. 2 Live Crew were never known for their diverse or intellectual subject matter, but that doesn’t matter when you make songs as good as Suck This Dick.
• T.I. peaked with his 2003 album Trap Muzik, but in 2001 he dropped his very lacklustre debut I’m Serious. Tip’s Heavy Chevys, featuring his early group P$C, is the best song by far on the album, although I’m also somewhat partial to the ATL posse cut and remix to I’m Serious, which featured YoungBloodZ, Bone Crusher and Pastor Troy.
• UGK had another great album out in 2001, Dirty Money. The album’s best song is clearly Wood Wheel, but was officially released in 1999. That leaves two other great songs, Choppin’ Blades and Let Me See It. Hard to pick one, both are great, I went with the former.
• What better way to end this Dirty South song breakdown with a song by Three 6 Mafia. 2001 was definitely a hallmark year for Three 6 and their affiliates, as there are no less than 4 songs by the camp on this list. To be fair, I’m not really a fan of their 2001 album Choices: The Album. They have better albums in their repertoire and it lacks those great songs we’ve come to know from the Memphis powerhouse. That’s not to say they didn’t have any good songs in 2001 – I like Ridin’ On Chrome, Dis Bitch, Dat Hoe and for me, most notably We Shootin’ 1st. Pretty much a posse cut, as it also features Project Pat, GladTV favourite Crunchy Black and Ludacris.

Other

• Legit Ballaz – Ball Wit Us
• Edan – Schoolly D Knew The Time
• Camu Tao – Hold The Floor
• Rodney P – Big Tings We Inna

Song breakdown

• Legit Ballaz was Twista’s group out of Chicago, before the Midwest was turned into a rap force to be reckoned with in the early 10s. They are pretty underrated and rarely mentioned in general. Between 2000 and 2003, they released a few great songs. In 2001, that song was Ball Wit Us.
• Edan is one of the only underground rappers around the turn of the centary that, in my very humble opinion, didn’t suck. Much of the 2001 underground rap didn’t age gracefully at all, but Edan’s work kind of did. On Schoolly D Knew The Time, Edan finds himself impersonating the Philly legend Schoolly D to give him his flowers. I can imagine the song is a bit difficult to get into, as it’s a 2001 underground white rapper impersonating a 1986 black rapper from a different city. If it’s your thing, welcome to the club. If it’s not, listen to Adrenaline Rush featuring Skillz Ferguson, which is definitely easier to get into and maybe every bit as good as Schoolly D Knew The Time. An honorable mention goes out to MHZ’s Magnetics, another very good underground record in 2001 which just missed out on the list.
• Camu Tao (R.I.P.) might’ve been the best artist on Def Jux and his Hold The Floor was not only his personal career highlight, but maybe also the best song on the label ever. Much better than anything on The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox.
• One song from the UK in Rodney P’s Big Tings We Inna. I’m super unfamiliar with UK rap but I know this timeless legendary track. This is one 4 the Brits.

Worst songs of the year

• Luke Campbell’s Save Me From The Devil. Rap-rock song which made me want to go to hell if this song would be played in heaven.
• Cypress Hill’s Catastrophe. Song title says it all really.
• Capadonna’s Shake That. Worst song off one of the worst albums I’ve ever heard.
• Multiple songs off RZA’s Digital Bullet. What a shit album. Can’t Lose, Shady, Bong Bong, Be A Man and Build Strong almost make me wish the Wu never existed.
• Ever wanted to hear three genres fused into one? Look no further than Run DMC’s Walk This Way remix, a fusion between rap and rock (the OG song) and house music. It’s as bad for your ears as it looks on paper.
• There are a few rappers that should never be allowed to talk about sex. Ras Kass is one of them. Don’t ever listen to his creatively titled song Sex.
• I love De La Soul, but definitely could’ve (should’ve) done without Pawn Star.
• D12’s Devil’s Night was pretty swell, but Pimp Like Me definitely took the album down a notch.
• I like Akinyele a lot, he often makes listening to sex rhymes pretty fun(ny), but Eat Pussy again is a WOAT sex song.
• Angie Martinez’s Up Close And Personal was bad. Go!! (Muthafucka) definitely shouldn’t have been this up close and personal.
• All songs on Benzino’s The Benzino Project. Seriously.

I don't think we got the complete answer yet. Every previous answer we got were vague because interviewers are soft and they don't ask Nas any hard questions at all -- not NORE on drink champs, not the breakfast club, nobody. Nas chooses who he interviews with and basically has the Jay-Z treatment of people gushing over him without asking any hard questions at all. Jay doesn't do any interviews at all because he's going to get grilled on things he did in the past that only recently surfaced but Nas also has easy interview questions.
first of all, nas and biggie had a 'rivalry beef' because biggie flagrantly said 'ducktaping your fam, destiny lays in my hand", which is mentioning Nas' family and daughter but the record didn't get released until Biggie died and it was on Puff's album https://genius.com/19143951 I don't question nas had his biggie war at all, but I really think Nas also had subliminals at 2Pac as well. Biggie's "Kick in the door" was subliminally dissing Nas as well saying Nas, the rapper don, had a short reign on the top and how everybody including Nas had different styles but studied Ready to Die and now they are emulating Biggie's blueprint trying to sell a million albums, etc
Biggie never claimed to be a thug in any of his songs. Biggie may have toured with 2Pac's Thug Life crew and had freestyle cyphers with Pac but Biggie never claimed to be a thug https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi6TnG2SpvM https://youtu.be/XGpxscefrDg?t=107. So when Nas said on "The Message", "Fake Thug No Love" and "A thug changes, and love changes, and best friends become strangers" saying Nas fell out with Biggie when Raekwon said Biggie bit Nas's album cover and Nas was cool with Wu-tang even though biggie already has a song with method man...Nas supposedly had a method man feature for IWW but method man never showed up to the sessions...and why did Nas sing "Thug Life is Mine" when featuring Mobb Deep in 1999? https://genius.com/311923 2Pac and Mobb used to have beef but Nas always rode with Mobb Deep because they are both from QB? Nas dissed 2Pac on a freestyle "Black pirellis rolling over this makaveli" https://genius.com/789777 and said "2Pac pretends" on a rare feature https://youtu.be/YCAGWWy5USY?t=61 that's all 2Pac right there. Nas said he was going at Biggie in recent interviews talking about "The Message", but the interviews always go limp and move on to another topic without anybody being investigative journalists and asking further. Why would Nas even name that song as "The Message" if it's not already subliminal? The original 1982 Message talked about the harsh realities of life and heed this warning in the message of the song before you end up dead. Nas named his song as "The Message" because it wasn't just another song and shouldn't be taken lightly. "one love, one life, one king" line could be going at Biggie because Biggie was dressed in garb with a crown on his head as the king of new york for several photoshoots.
Nobody asks Nas about what he was thinking when he wrote the 2nd verse, but Nas probably already forgot his 2nd and 3rd verses to most of his songs by now. "Talkin' about how you ran the Island in '89" could have been a diss towards anybody. Biggie's intro for ready to die had him narrating from jail but plenty of people got locked up and said that they ran the island. Nas then proceeds to narrate about a shootout in the streets but ends up narrating what really happened to 2Pac in 1994 at Quad Studios: "felt my leg burn, then it got numb/...caught a hot one/...Then they came askin' me my name/What the fuck? I got stitched up/Left the hospital that same night, what" https://genius.com/302878 ....2Pac checked out the hospital the same night that he went in because he had to show up to court on the next day https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-01-mn-3635-story.html Nas probably got high trying to diss Biggie but ended up talking about 2Pac's life as if he was him. 2Pac had a rant on one of his outro songs that Nas's lyrics sound like Nas was living 2Pac's life and dissed Nas on "Against All Odds": "God don't like ugly, it was written/Ayo, Nas, your whole damn style is bitten/You heard 'My Melody' (This nigga sounds like Rakim!)/Read about my life in the papers/All my run-ins with authorities, felonious capers/Now you wanna live my life/So what's a "chazzer," Nas?/Niggas that don't rhyme right/You've seen too many movies" saying that Nas based his life and music videos on too many Italian mafioso movies rapping like he's a don and scarface and had Italian strings when Italians are racist and don't even like black people. 2Pac mocked the Italian strings that every rapper in 1996 from Jay-Z to Nas to Biggie was trying to emulate on "Made Niggaz" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLefh6BOsoI
After 2Pac and Biggie died, of course all beef would end and Nas would big up both of them paying respect on "We Will Survive" and Nas comparing his life to Biggie's and 2Pac's on "Got Urself a Gun": "To take it back to Africa, I did it with Biggie/Me and 2Pac were soldiers of the same struggle" https://genius.com/21768 but then they were alive, there were tension, especially when Jay did his "city is mine" song saying that he is taking over the reign of Biggie as the king of new york MONTHS after biggie died even though biggie never fully enjoyed his reign. A follow up question would be for "Get Down", the annotations does say it's based on his cousin about "Midnight they crept in his room and shot the doctor too" https://genius.com/80970 but Pac fans would continue to say that this was also based on 2Pac life about how paranoid everyone was when 2Pac got shot the 2nd time and people wondered if the killers would show up at the hospital just to "finish the job" Nas was vague on his explanation and I have yet to see a news article where somebody had shot the doctor at the hospital because of beef but was very reminiscent of Pac's 1996 hospital stay. Nobody really asks about Nas' posthumous Biggie and 2Pac collaborations like "I really wanna show you" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuJBzHQQfA "Thugz Mansion" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PTuRnBAn8A and "Living in Pain" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkadakRv7ek where Nas blacks out only to pay tribute because he didn't have a real collaboration with either of them while they were alive. No Pac collaboration was understandable given there was the east coast west coast beef and Nas and 2Pac hardly saw each other and had plans for an album before 2Pac died, but the studio session where Nas said he got too high with Biggie for "Gimme The Loot (remix)" where biggie spat "damn it feels good to see people up on it" https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/nas-notorious-big-collaboration-16202/ and ended up going to "Young G's" featuring Jay-Z and also remixed into "Breakin Old Habits" with TI and Slim Thug. Nas instead got on another song featuring another biggie verse along with 2Pac talking about "The House of Pain" where Just Blaze and Mary J Blige blacked out on the collabo instead of having Nas try to complete the original "Gimme The Loot (Remix)" on the 2005 Biggie duets album, but this was probably because Jay already collaboed with Biggie for that verse and Nas didn't want to be the 2nd. These are the loose ends that people had for years that interviewers should ask but don't for one reason or another.
Nas used the same beat as 2Pac's All Eyez on Me with Street Dreams so 2Pac also sampled Whodini's Friends for Fuck Friends OG and Troublesome 96 as a response to Nas's If I Ruled The World. Nas teamed up with Dr Dre and the rest of the Firm just to go against Biggie's Commission/Junior Mafia crew and 2Pac's Outlawz. https://youtu.be/Yukq8ftD160?t=201 Nas also said on "Hate Me Now" that his door got shot up when he was driving: "Ride for the cause while drivin' niggas shot at my doors" https://genius.com/Nas-hate-me-now-lyrics How come every time Nas runs out of inspiration, he tells tall tales acting like he lived 2Pac's life? https://youtu.be/a_yyBIPcATA?t=386 2Pac got crucified on his makaveli cover as well as on Scarface's Smile video and Nas decided to do the same on "Hate Me Now" and get "God's Son" on his belly like 2Pac got "Thug Life" and how Nas's QB chain is modeled after 2Pac's Euthanasia chain and how Nas wanted to date one of Quincy Jones' daughters on "It's Mine" after 2Pac already dated one of them and how Nas's verse of "It's Mine" basically detailed how 2Pac's remains were cremated and his casket was empty with no ceremony: "Cremate your flesh to ashes/You don't need a suit, no wake, no funeral, and no casket" https://genius.com/Mobb-deep-its-mine-lyrics Nas referenced "Thug Passion" on Turn it Out https://genius.com/Jermaine-dupri-intro-turn-it-out-lyrics and also did his Hennessey deal because of 2Pac but every time Nas dissed his fictional "rambo" character described to have a bandana on, Nas was actually talking about 2Pac similar to when Nas made "When Thugs Die" based on "When Thugs Cry" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw-Ya9Dv-sk. Everything was subliminal with Nas. Nas runs out of ideas, start narrating 2Pac's life in his storytelling rhymes but then go bipolar and diss "Rambo" and finally pays tribute honoring and backtracks his subliminal Pac disses after he died

I was really tired of funerals. Biggie S, Biggish Ass, aka: Soloman Blankardbiles was about to be laid to rest. Despite the best efforts of Lt. Falk, word got out that there had been shots fired at Sony’s club. The Medical Examiner had tied up the big dude’s body in storage, with a drawn-out autopsy and review. Then the family had to fool around and fight over details and inheritances while his outsized remains resided on ice in the funeral home basement. It seemed Biggie S had made the rounds and produced many “Little S’” with numerous “ladies”. It had been two months since the “Battle of B.A.E. View”. I didn’t really want to be there, but I’d promised Sony that we’d help him with Serpiente. Never mind that I had my own bones to pick with that ersling. The best way to do that was to re-establish some ties with the various factions of mortal turds. Shabeel / Skittle had been doing his part and had all but put himself in position to inherit Sony’s Block when the old reprobate either died or grew too fog-brained to run things.
A screech arose from the front of the big church, and I tensed, ready for an attack. It was just another female relative or associate having a "'ttack a Lo'dias", a screaming, wailing fit in which “Oh, Lordy!” is repeated loudly in staccato fashion. The string of “Lo’dias” usually begins with a screech and ends with a wail. It was like a comical version of the Ban Sidhe’s Wail. I stifled a laugh at the absurdity of people competing to see who could grieve the loudest and Sorcha pinched me. She’d only been herself for a couple of days, since Mid-Summer Solstice, but she was completely healed, so it had been worth the wait. I almost lost it again when an image of her trying to pinch me with seal flippers popped into my mind. Don’t get me wrong, I felt badly enough for those left behind by ole Biggie S, I was simply in an exuberant mood; I had my Sorcha, and she was alive and well and her breath no longer smelled of raw fish. I’d made the mistake of telling her that when we were on the way to the services. She’d harrumphed and replied, “At least I don’t have cat breath from chewing on… eewwww… Kot’ka…” Touché.
We’d left M.B. at a stable in Wyoming; gotta love those Portals. I found out that a Fae from The Western Plains Horse Clan, named Fiona ran a horse ranch up that way. She’d married a mortal cowboy, now long dead, and had fallen equally in love with that little slice of Mundania. She had invited M.B. there many times to sample the fillies and during his visits, she played TV in the barn for the visiting Fae horse and his contemporaries among the Long-Lived equines, to keep them occupied. They tended to be far more intelligent than Mundane horses but were still dumb enough to enjoy the drech and drivel of that medium. Fiona had shown me his papers, his official, legal name was “Manfred Bravo” … M.B.; the private joke on me when I’d first dubbed him, “M.B.” He’d watched my reaction as I read the documents, and we shared a laugh. I’d shrugged and said, “Your papers give you a more dignified name, but Mighty Bike is cooler.” We’d laughed some more and settled on “M.B.” as being the best handle for him and our own little bonding joke. The ranch was a relaxing place for him to unwind from his ordeals and I was happy to oblige, he was after all a noble steed and a good friend. Fiona was happy to have such a sire for her colts.
One of The Mac Tíre Mór’s horses, Archetrix, had succumbed to her injuries. Her sister, Opterix had survived but Grandfather and Gyrrwr decided that it was time for her to retire and help train another team. Fae animals tended to be smarter, more vigorous, and longer lived than their counterparts in Mundania, but they were far from immortal. The chariot horses had been no more than eighty years old, M-Time, still in their prime. Grandfather had taken us home as soon as we found out that Sorcha would recover. He was, after all, a High Lord of his Clan… our Clan, and had duties and obligations to attend.
When Archetrix at last slipped from life, I’d sat for hours and listened to Gyrrwr lament the loss of the “grand beastie”. I learned that chariot teams were both born and trained to their tasks and that, “the sweet, fierce lass” was exceptionally good and required only the merest flick of reign for direction. Gyrrwr and I had never spoken much, he was taciturn by nature, and I’d always been busy with lessons from my elder or plotting obstreperous activities with the both of them. Yet that evening, we bonded because I listened to him. In his words, “…You being a True Fae Lord an’ all, but still listening to the blubber of a poor henchman in his grief. It’s a fine thing and you are much like your sire and grandsire, though you have some strange ways and speech. I suppose that’s why they left you there though, to learn the manner of…” He’d caught himself and pretended to snuffle back some tears. He thought he’d given away some tremendous family secret that was not his to tell, but I’d suspected for a while that my family had meant for me to experience Mundania for a number of years, to develop instincts for that environment. I just didn’t know the purpose. After all, The Big Bad Wolf seemed rather contemptuous of that World. He’d impart the secret when he was ready, if there was one to impart.
I learned that Gyrrwr was from a family of mortals that had been transported to Otherworld in centuries past. They became part of “The Long-Lived”, not truly Fae, but they benefitted greatly from the association with immortals. They didn’t get sick and aged slowly for a long time, then rapidly for a short one. They made up the majority of the inhabitants of Otherworld, at least among the “Anthros”, Beings with anthropomorphic form to greater and lesser degrees. Many other Beings possessed different forms. They were no less intelligent or capable than Anthros, just different in form, function, mind, and purpose. Others were more like regular animals, only… better… more so… perhaps an truer essence of them. I’d found that it was best when in Otherworld to assume that Beings were more powerful and intelligent than mortal versions until they proved otherwise. After all, many were from other Worlds… other planets under different stars, which accounted for the tapestry of landscapes that one encountered on travels in Otherworld. The Multiverse was a big place!
Otherworld was mostly a highway that traversed it while at the same time existing as a Place of its own. The inhabitants called it The Living World and referred to all others as The Dying Worlds. Maybe the translation would have been better rendered at The Cycling Worlds, where life and death begat one another in waves and circles. It could get confusing, the grand scale of it all. Even the scale of a single world, Mundania, which was apparently some grand Crossroads, truly the Middle-Earth, The Hub World, was at times staggering and at times simple. If we could get through all the current conflicts, perhaps Sorcha and I would be able to explore.
We stayed at Caer Mac Tíre until Sorcha transformed once more. I’d worked with the Folk of the castle to learn new skills. Gyrrwr’s cousin Gern had started me on chariots. He was younger than Gyrrwr and was shopping for a worthy Lord to serve. We weren’t there yet, but we’d hit it off and over the next month O-Time, I found myself able to fling javelins from chariot poles while the horse team was at a gallop, and then leap back into the car without grazing the tall helmet that Gern liked to wear. I wasn’t yet up to backflips. I also wasn’t ready to switch from cavalry to chariots full time just yet, but I enjoyed practicing the new skills and the rush of wind and thunder of wheels. No idea why the Ancients on Mundania ever gave up these conveyances. Probably the lack of Portals and shifting relativities that made them more practical in Otherworld and less so on the poor roads that covered long distances in ancient mortal times.
I hadn’t neglected Sorcha, of course, lovely seal rather than perfect maiden though she was at the time. There was an exquisite lake below the high fortress. Water ran from a natural spring, under and through the structure and then over a precipice into the deep, cold, body of water. From there, it overflowed into a creek and then developed into a small river as it was fed by tributaries on the way to another, less dramatically high but equally magnificent cliff, where it fell into a churning grey sea. My ancestral home was breathtaking. I explored as much as I could while Sorcha stayed near and within the various waters. I recalled Grandfather’s admonition that I learn about water before I strayed near, so I learned what I could from observation and from the tales of the various Folk and Beings who dwelt on the land near the waves. The Sprites were helpful, small and translucent, they played among the droplets of every place where the water splashed. Lovely Creatures whose forms broke light into tiny rainbows that radiated from within their tiny bodies. They could grow when need or mood seized them, but they mostly wanted to play.
It was a magical time and despite her form or maybe because of it, we bonded even more closely. There was no physical attraction… except for the eyes, those were the same… and the hair color. Anyway, it gave us time to get to know one another without the hormones setting our hearts afire. We were in Fae terms, in the earliest stages of adolescence. For the moment, Sorcha couldn’t speak in a language that I understood… at least at first. However, by paying careful attention, I learned to make out the meanings of many of her barks and squeaks and undulating gestures. Then Mid-Summer’s Eve arrived, and those of The Western Wolf Clan under the liege of The Mac Tíre Mór celebrated long into the evening. Sorcha and I left the merriment behind us fairly early in the evening and made our way down to the sea. She was in need of water and I in need of a walk. It was a long journey in miles, but Otherworld had a way of reducing the length of journeys. Something about The Nature of the Place.
It was cold down by the sea, despite the season, and when she’d finished her swim and perched on the rocks to dry her fur for a while, we sat beside one another, and I babbled on about what we would do when we got back to Mundania and how I wanted so desperately to hear about what all had happened to her while she was held captive. I’d long since given her my portion of the tale. It got cold as the night deepened, and we both grew sleepy. I wrapped my cloak around our two bodies, and we shared the mammalian warmth as we slept until sunrise. I awakened to a naked Sorcha curled up against me, using one of my arms for a pillow while my other wrapped around so that my hand rested… well, that’s not really anyone else’s bidness!
**** * ****
The call to stand, shuffle forward, and take one last view of the bling-bedecked carcass… er, loved one, interrupted my reverie. We shuffled up to the large casket with the eight pallbearers standing to one side and along with the rest, pretended to say our goodbyes. The pallbearers looked like the line for a football team. They’d need to be. Biggie S was a heavy dude, and the casket was ornate and made of metal… flashy as a gangster’s casket should be, especially when he’d fallen in the line of duty. I saw Sony seated on the front row among the family. I nodded to him courteously… still couldn’t manage genuine respect, but it would do for the show that was all most people needed or wanted. He nodded back gravely, putting on his own act, pretending to solemn dignity. He was definitely grieving for Biggie S, but he wanted to ensure that everyone saw him grieving appropriately: like some fairytale king for a fallen knight. Shabeel sat on the second row, just behind the official widow. He winked at me and tried to get me to laugh when I nodded to Sony. He almost succeeded. Dick move, but hilarious, I was glad he was on our side.
I really didn’t want to go to the graveside ceremony and even more I didn’t want to go have a meal with the Crew and affiliates and the family and their extensions. They might talk some business, but they were mostly there to give Biggie S a good send-off and gorge on the fare that followed a funeral. I’d talked Sorcha into bolting as soon as we could get away from the throng of people now packed into the parking lot on their way to load up the cars and drive the three-hundred yards to the gravesite. The line of cars would be longer than the drive, so the funeral director would take the lead vehicles in a wide loop and help disperse them along the narrow lanes of the cemetery. We quickly found our way to her car and prepared to wait out the rest of the mourners and then simply sneak out the exit into traffic. My mind wandered when I should have been alert: Wham!-Wham!-Wham-Wham!... etc. in a staccato of automatic gunfire… the all too familiar and dreaded sounds of shots fired rang out from the street in front of the funeral home complex. A gold SUV roared past, and three passengers in white jackets and red berets disappeared inside, tugging their little automatic weapons with them.
There was a great deal of screaming and running and diving for cover. No one was hit beyond some wounds taken from broken glass and ricochets. There were more shouts of anger about damaged vehicles than cries regarding hurt bodies. Producing dead bodies hadn’t been the point. The point was that the war was still on, and Sony’s Crew was losing. Serpiente wanted to ensure that the message was received and it likely was. A drive-by at a gangster funeral was so cliché, but I’m sure that if Biggie S was in an Afterlife and could see, he’d be proud he’d rated one. He’d been a “righteous crude”, I later snickered in memory of another old movie line I’d corrupted to my purposes. At the timed I was nearly apoplectic with anger.
We left as soon as we could negotiate the jammed parking lot. I was seething: Serpiente and his trash had put her in danger once more! I had enough reasons to hate that dude but now I was growing furious. It took all the control I possessed to hold back one of those Rages, the fit that had come upon me and allowed me to wipe out a small herd of Kobolds and their larger allies single-handedly. Serpiente had not taken a direct role in Sorcha’s abduction, but he’d allowed the kidnappers to pass through his turf in both Otherworld and Mundania with my sweetheart in tow and he’d allowed them to employ a particularly dangerous creature from his lake to transport her… a Kelpie. He could have stopped the foolishness but had refused to help because discomfiting The Mac Tíre Mór was more fun to him that assisting a Lady in distress. Besides, he wanted to stay in the good graces of certain Dark Powers in Otherworld, especially his Father. He likely had some personal motives… lust for power and control.
Among his other sins that irked my ire, he’d sent his minion, the Lamia, to murder Mercedes and to attack me, simply to dissuade me from interfering with his enterprises. He’d taken over Jaguar’s human trafficking scheme in Mundania and made it even worse. There were rumors that he used many of the victims in sacrificial rites after he was done with the carnal uses of their bodies. It was a good thing Sorcha was driving. She could see that I was a bubbling cauldron, more so than she’d ever witnessed. The worry that she might be afraid of me brought me back to some rationality. She placed her hand over mine and I was soon well. She was my cure.
**** * ****
We went back to her mother’s home… okay, her step-mother’s. The woman’s Glamour would fade one day, and she would recall that she had only one daughter, unless Sorcha decided to renew it. I’d helped her put one on her regarding Siobhan. We hadn’t figured out how to tell her that her daughter had died on the threshold of Otherworld and that her remains were beyond recovery. We discussed a Glamour to have her recall that a plane crash had killed Siobhan, but we’d have to extend it to Shane in case they wanted to discuss the matter. Others would just have to settle for her being gone and take Ms. Ellie’s word for the loss. I’d suggested that maybe a “lost at sea” scenario might work. Maybe she went on a cruise and never returned. There’d always be some hope to run alongside the misery of losing one’s child. It wasn’t our first priority.
I really wished that Tom had been there to watch over Ms. Ellie, but Sorcha told me that he actually visited only rarely, via a Portal somewhere in the back yard or under the back part of the house. I wondered whether he would be willing to add the numerous stray cats of the city to our cause. They’d be able to take out some of Serpiente’s small-statured minions, like the Hu’Tau. Regardless of where His Majesty was, we had other priorities. First, I would have to contact some of my old ‘hood rat friends and gather our Mundanian allies.
Sorcha was not going to like that I hadn’t planned to take her along, but most of my turd friends were dedicated misogynists. In their world, women rarely did more than submit. It wasn’t that they weren’t tough, they just were mostly kept from being awful enough to do what the men did. Those that could manage it were infinitely worse, but very rare. The remnants of Sony’s Crew and the entirety of Shabeel / Skittle’s Crew combined, was still no match for the numbers that Serpiente now commanded. He’d taken the pitiful remnants of Jaguar’s Crew, mostly affiliates, brought in his own soldiers, recruited other local Crews to his side, and then consolidated the entire mess into a Super-Crew: a veritable sewage treatment plant of criminality. I planned to recommend that we recruit some members of other organized criminal elements from other parts of the city. Perhaps the Kitsune, or one of the other gangs I’d dealt with in the past. Shabeel was the only one other than Serpiente, with the vision to deal with anyone outside his Block, maybe he’d have some contacts.
“So, Sorcha, sweetheart, I really need to go to the rough part of town to speak with my old compadres…”
She looked at me askance, “…and you believe that I would be only a liability in their eyes. However, I’m coming with you. We are a bonded pair, now more than ever. Besides, I was more offended than you were by being the object of a kidnapping, like some… baggage, not even a person.” She raised a hand to forestall my arguments. “I know how they are; you’ve warned me often enough, but you forget, you are not some mindless gang-tard… you are a Lord of The Fae and I am a Lady thereof… a full Lady. I can Glamour myself to be whatever we need me to be. Besides, we fight better alongside one another and could take out the measly threats any of the local arselings may present. I was thinking maybe I could be some other minion of Big Mac…” she giggled, “I can’t believe that was what you called him in front of Sony.”
I smiled and shrugged. “Well, it was a stupid title for a stupid substratum of society. Your idea is actually really good. I would definitely feel better alongside you, though no smooching in front of the turds. Maybe we could call you “Hot Shake.” That got me the tinkling laughter I’d longed for in her absence; the seal version just didn’t sound the same. “Hey, it’s Independence Day weekend… maybe it would be a good time to shoot off some fireworks… an opening salvo…” From there, we made our own plans to offer to the criminal council of elders.
**** * ****
I was in no position to lead the council. I had no Crew, and as far as anyone but Shabeel knew, I had nothing to offer beyond what any soljah might provide. Still, Shabeel and Sony both were aware that I’d taken out Jaguar and a big chunk of his Crew and rumors abounded that I was some kind of secret assassin’s guild apprentice. Shabeel knew more of my genuine history, but Sony had seen me in action at the Battle of B.A.E. View, so I got a seat at the table, along with my leftenant, “Salty”, aka Sorcha. I’d hinted that I could bring some forces to the fight when the time came. Some of The Western Wolf Clan might decide to go on the expedition. If Serpiente had Otherworld troops, then I might be able to bring some of my own, perhaps some Gnomen Folk. I’d encountered Ma’chka at Caer Mac Tíre: it turned out she was what amounted to the Major Domo for The Mac Tíre Mór’s primary residence: She’d told me that some of The Cat-Folk held me in high regard for taking out Kot’ka… “some” she’d emphasized as though to leave me in doubt as to whether she was one of them… cats!
In any event, I was in the room when we made the big plan. We’d chosen a neutral territory in downtown so that we could invite some guests. The pre-meeting briefing with Shabeel and Sony had been short. Shabeel had encouraged me to lead that effort so that Sony would be the one to invite me to “the big table”. It worked and we’d decided to meet with the Kitsune, whom Shabeel informed, maybe warned me? Were Fae of The Eastern Fox Clan… one of the many Fox Clans, just like I was part of one of the many Wolf Clans… see? It gets complicated in Otherworld, what with the Portals and Crossroads often leading to other planets…
We’d also invited a pretty rough outfit that had competed directly with Jaguar before his well-deserved demise. Their gang had split between those who wished to go with the clearly organized and ruthless Serpiente, and those who wanted to remain traditional undisciplined gangsters. They didn’t actually perform crimes other than hitting other Crews and low-level “civilians”. They were freelancers, like I’d been, though they worked as teams and were entrepreneurs of murder rather than mere transportation. Altogether, an unpleasant bunch of rogues and butchers: I liked them. There were several minor Crews and a small group of geezers that had been Bikers back when that was a thing. They mostly smelled of Meth and Weed; not necessarily from using, they were just dealers for the most part. Every single one was a greybeard, and several were missing limbs, teeth, ears, and eyes. Altogether, the ensemble looked like a gathering of pirates. In a way it was. We were getting ready to raid the up-and-coming competition. Uurrrrgh… I rumbled a wolfish internal growl of anticipation.
The motley marauders had met and argued and sat sullenly and taken breaks to speak among their outfits. It had taken all of a day and most of a night to determine who was in and who would remain on the sidelines. We did not set a date or time for our opening salvo, at least until we had a committed core of cutthroats. We hoped it would surprise those who’d attended in bad faith and the outright spies that Serpiente’s Crew had no doubt hidden among us that we intended to attack that very night, as soon as we broke from the huddle, we intended to hike the ball.
Mundanian Tech was sketchy about detecting Otherworld figures and structures, so our surveillance was limited. The Portals helped to send signals haywire and electronic images tended to blur or fail altogether. However, we had our own spies and knew that the snaky butthole had demolished Jaguar’s old junkyard arena and brothel and replaced it with a modern complex that included a small pyramid inside the rectangle of a tall concrete wall. Lesser structures lined the inside of the wall and there was still an arena at the base of the squat pyramid, the steps of which were part of the arena seating. A pool of water separated the arena floor from the base of the pyramid. There was only one big gate, at the east entrance. There was a smaller one at the base of the pyramid at the west end. Lt. Falk had supplied much of the information based on what the city codes employees had seen before their manager rubber-stamped the project. He bought a new house with what Serpiente used to bribe him. Falk had lower tech but more effective means and relayed some observations from the various raptors that lived around the city and dined on the rodent population.
Salty and I ended up with the dubious honor of taking the sallyport… the western door. It definitely led directly inside the pyramid. It was an entrance and an escape hatch, though Serpiente likely had others. It was hard to see, it blended well with the concrete wall and the murals painted thereon. I must admit that they were well done, if a little graphic and bloodthirsty: People, Beings, and Creatures dying from various unnatural causes; being sexually assaulted; or submitting themselves to terrible Beings of Great Power. Flames and streams of blood wound throughout the imagery, issued from the mouths of Mythological Beasts. I couldn’t wait to destroy that fine artwork.
Before we started, I tripped up to Wyoming to retrieve M.B. He was game. Still pissed that he hadn’t been part of the final battle at the ziggurat inside the downtown high-rise and in need of a fight to restore his confidence. One of the mares, an exceptional half-Fae specimen, had consented to carry Sorcha / Salty. Fiona had been ready to sell her for a very good price, but Sigrid, the mare wanted to have an adventure before she became a riding horse for some bored rich child of a former celebrity. We left them “parked” nearby and crept toward the back wall. There was very limited cover or concealment, Serpiente or his minions had a military eye toward defenses. We would have to settle and wait for a while until the main assault started. That was to be our signal. We stayed back in an alley, near a noisome dumpster that was rolled against one wall. It was unpleasant, but we didn’t have time to get overly nauseous before the battle began with a BOOM!!! that coincided with the fireworks display that the city council had put together near downtown.
The hit gang had access to military surplus from other countries and they’d supplied a wonderful anti-tank missile to take out the east gates. I had the story from Shabeel later, the gate was breached but didn’t open as they’d hoped. His Crew had driven up, used grapples to attach to the remnants of the barriers, and pulled the top of the things outward until the panels crashed. Then Sony’s SUV led the way into the Serpent’s Lair. They drove along the south side of the complex and fired all the light to medium range weapons they had into the structures and arena seats on the roofs of the buildings. When the line slowed at the gate chokepoint, the rest began to peel away along the northern route. They met in the middle and poured everything they had at the entrance to the pyramid.
In the meantime, before the echoes of the first explosion had finished rebounding, Sorcha and I started our foray against the back gate. A guy named Wahoo, from the greybeards, had supplied us with an old-style antipersonnel mine that had been adapted to blowing the door if we could find no other way to open it. We got up close and as an experienced burglar, I knew that the first way to try was simply to push and pull and turn any handles. Sometimes people left doors open… These had not, but the latch was fairly easy to finagle, and shortly the door opened inward on a dimly lit hallway. All too easy… I thought, satisfied that my felonious skills had not abandoned me. Then M.B. belled out a warning neigh. And I heard the loud thrum of his hooves impacting the empty, malodorous dumpster.
Salty and I whipped our heads towards the sounds and saw that the dumpster had shifted to the other side of the alley. An opening below where it had rested now disgorged several dark figures, one of which was too big to be Mundane. It rose into the night and slithered up the wall like an enormous millipede until it reached the apex of the low structures to either side, then launched into the air, long and sinuous scaled body, beneath feathered “wings”, that had been wrapped around the length of the great body and now spread out to either side, like some feathered outer skin that the enormous serpent had shed, that yet still clung to its form along the spine. The wings were not wide but extended along the entire length of the body like an extended hood on a cobra. They were covered with feathers in every hue imaginable between red and yellow. The scales on the body were golden and glittered. The nightmare head, shaped similarly to that of a hippopotamus, to include large, pegged teeth, was pale and shone white against the darkness. It was the living nightmare image of one of the carven heads at the complex of Tenochtitlan, just outside Mexico City. The head was the same size as those of stone at the complex and the body stretched toward thirty feet.
The other figures attacked the horses but M.B. had the good sense to flee behind the mare who had already startled and bolted. I took a moment to set down the charge in its little pack as a door stop. I wedged the detonator inside the space between the door and the frame, so that if anyone closed the door, the charge would blow. Then Salty / Sorcha and I attacked the ambushers. I glanced up and saw that the “plumed serpent”, aka Quetza… Dragon? had made a circle and now shot down toward us as we crossed the open space to the alley. It was a race, and the big creature was winning! Still, it couldn’t do much unless it could breathe fire or spit poison or skim us into its jaws like a fishing bird. It wasn’t big enough for that, but Otherworld containers were tricky, so might be the maws of Fae Beasts…
Sorcha dug something out of a pouch that bounced at her side; one of the selfsame small outer / voluminous interior pouches I’d just considered. She tossed it over her shoulder: there was a wheeze and then a pall of smoke rose all around us. She seized my hand and dragged me toward the direction from which the Quetza-Dragon approached. We cleared the smoke ring even as we felt the rush of air when the monster passed just overhead. It felt like a rollercoaster, and we were the tracks! There were shouts of anger and dismay from the alley and our erstwhile opponents launched projectiles towards where we had been. We turned into the next alleyway and fled as fast as we could. It was narrower and more crowded with obstacles than the other, and we had to dodge and leap to negotiate the passage. I was onto the plan now though, and we worked flawlessly as a team. We passed the first turn back toward the other alley and instead turned again to our left. We went up one and then finally made the loop back toward our opponents. Several times, a large shadow passed overhead, and an ear-splitting roar set our nerves to jangling.
As we made our way along a narrow passage back toward the first alley, a pair of large shadows loomed ahead, and a low rumble issued from one of them. We stopped and raised our unlimbered weaponry, prepared to fight, then the teeth gleamed, and a whicker of low laughter issued. It was M.B. and Sigrid. We mounted gratefully and now, faster than our enemies could account for, sped toward the fight. The group of ambushers was composed of several large, slope-shouldered, bow-chested, Beings. Their heads were covered in plumes and feathers sprouted from their bare arms. Their chests were reminiscent of birds rather than humans and their backward bending legs ended in heavy claws like those of an ostrich or emu: made for running and kicking. They were essentially what terror birds would be had evolution been kinder to them. Apparently, it had been, Somewhere.
We burst through the group and slashed and stabbed to either side. Sorcha turned out to be an excellent rider and her lance drove home true. It split the breast of the creature on her left, even as it leapt for her. However, the one on her right sprang successfully and raked at her with both sets of razor claws. I had used my broadsword to hack off the feet of the first one to reach me and leap. It tumbled into a squawking ball of injured flesh that rolled behind M.B. and received the barest flick from his passing hooves. I slammed the point of the blade into the breast of the next one on my right, even as the second that faced Sorcha leapt. I couldn’t get the weapon loose fast enough to help her. It didn’t matter. She’d let go of her lance and drawn her dagger. She couldn’t avoid the impact, but she was able to let the bastard bird drive its own neck onto her blade when it tried to savage her with its beak.
Then we were through. We wore light armor and Sorcha’s was now rent and she was bleeding from the side of her thigh. The saddle, just behind her right buttock was torn down into the padding, but there was no blood flowing from Sigrid. Sorcha grinned, “I’m alright. The bruise will be worse than the laceration.” She patted Sigrid in praise and to comfort the brave but untrained mount. A noise and a hint of shadow attracted my gaze as I looked toward and then beyond my Lady. We’d been so busy with the flock of bird-turds, we’d forgotten the Quetza-Dragon! Sorcha saw my expression and turned to look. We were back in the opening between the wall to Serpiente’s compound and the opening to the alley. M.B. wheeled toward the alleyway and Sigrid followed. We made it inside and just past the dumpster when the Quetza-Dragon finally showed its power.
The area we’d just vacated lit behind us, not with fire, but with a directed beam of ultraviolet radiation that burned the way the hot sun does, with a long day of the hottest desert radiance concentrated into a single burst. It wouldn’t melt anything metal or set a fire unless it was focused for a while, but it would fry flesh and singe it from the body and hair and feathers would catch into momentary flames. The blast of blinding white radiance bathed the mouth of the alley for just a moment as the winged serpent passed. Fortunately, none of us looked back. It was already blinding enough with the rays that found their way to and around us. It was hot enough to feel but not so intense outside the direct beam. Two of the Bird-Folk carcasses that rested near the front of the alleyway roasted like Thanksgiving turkeys, only with the unpleasant odor of burned feathers and innards as though someone forgot to remove the plastic-wrapped giblet container before they placed the bird in the oven. We took the first right turn and M.B. slowed but still moved rapidly. We circled back to the space between the older buildings and the compound wall at the next alley from the turkey-roast.
The shadow was gone. There was no sign of the avian-reptilian dread in the near sky-view. We heard it again, but it was above the inside the compound. No doubt it attacked our comrades at the front of the pyramid. This end of the assault was over and FUBAR’ed. We rode back to take one last, longing look at the opened doorway that beckoned us inward to what was definitely a trap. I’d about decided to spring the trap and take our chances when from the interior, figures crowded toward us. This bunch was more than a few Guardians, it was a swarm of soldiers. I had picked up some skill with the javelin during our last sojourn in Otherworld. I drew one of the darts from M.B.’s saddle holster and urged him toward the door. “Stay here, I’ll be right back!” I called to Sorcha over my shoulder.
Doubtless it looked like a foolhardy, suicidal charge into the slavering mob that ran toward us from the interior of the pyramid. I let fly and M.B. wheeled even as the last molecules of the javelin shaft parted from those of my hand. A crump! soon sounded behind us to indicate that I’d struck the little pack and allowed the back door to the pyramid complex to close. I met with Sorcha and we turned the horses toward the rendezvous point. I chanced a glance over my shoulder. The door had held but something dark and liquid now seeped from beneath it and had begun to pool just in front.

((Chapter 2 takes place NOW. It has been several weeks since the dreams of Chapter 1.))
((You can find the end of the previous chapter here!))
Seth sensed the sound of applause and hushed voices. Someone was inside of his room.
Klutzy or not, several months of living at a survival camp could ingrain a few self preservation instincts into just about anyone. Rather than shrug and sigh at the spooky sleep paralysis demons without a second thought, his eyes snapped open and he reached out for the sheathed dagger on the nightstand. Miscalculating the distance by a large margin, he tumbled out of the bed hopelessly snared in the blanket. Typical Westley wakeup.
“Swear to Gods-“ he swung his arm in the darkness to find the contour of the nightstand and instead found nothing. The unclaimed camper held himself deathly still and peeled the stifling comforter off of him. He would force his eyes to adjust if he had to, and then find the Hermes clown that snuck into his room to rearrange his furniture. “Friends, look, I love myself some hijinks, but… get out. Right now.”
His face turned beet red when his fingers brushed against.. polyester? His hands traveled down. Buttons. Cummerbund. Trousers. Fastened against his neck an object tickled his chin, and a bead of sweat trickled down the back of his head.
Please don’t be a bowtie. Bowties were sexy and all, but if a cabinmate had undressed him in the middle of night, paid such attention to detail as to give him a well-fitting concert attire complete with bowtie, all without him waking up, then he was going to have a meltdown, as well as a stern talking to his counselor about grievous violations of anatomical privacy. Even the cummerbund was a perfect measurement. Seth reached up and gently pinched at his collarbone. It was a bowtie. He whimpered. “Cool.”
His ears instinctively perked. Several heavy clacking noises sprouted from opposite corners of the room until an enormous breaker switch was thrown and the ‘room’ became drowned in searing light. Several creative curses later, once the twinkling in the back of his skull subsided, he hazarded a peek to find that he was in no room at all, but a featureless void with nothing but polished wood floor, his messy bed behind him, and a row of stage lights from an invisible ceiling illuminating a path towards a priceless grand piano. Beyond the instrument the murmur of voices died.
Seth’s head swam while his body disobeyed him and sluggishly strode over to the piano. As much of a resourceful guy Kit was, the son of nobody doubted that even he could replace Seth’s room with a concert hall in the time span of one night. The only other explanation was that he’d been kidnapped (not entirely out of the realm of possibility; he did fancy himself cute enough to be abducted by a crazy suitor), or he was dead. Or..
“Crap in a casket.” He pinched his nose. “Seriously? Again?”
Ever since he had defeated spooky evil alternative universe alien girlfriend-eating lava-barfing Brandon Teagan Supreme for the first time, the following nights were uneventful, peaceful snoozes devoid of nightmares and soon he had forgotten about the entire ordeal. A few notes in the book, perhaps, some brilliant imagery for a sci-fi fantasy story he was working on in his spare time, multiple winks of an inside joke to the real Brandon, and nothing else. He was back to being as normal as normal permitted… Until tonight.
The plus side seemed to be that no enormous sulfuric spawn of Satan was currently attempting to eat or melt him into Sethy goo. Just a standard run-of-the-mill nightmare involving stage fright and some repressed feelings of inadequacy, no biggie. Well, the world was a stage, and Mr. Westley refused to back down from a performance. His talent for the piano, while rusty, had won him many (one) a heart in sophomore year. At least until that girl Emma Dempsey dumped him for someone taller and later posted on social media that he was a loser, but life went on. The lights bore down on his forehead and he tugged at his collar. The audience was fake, not to mention invisible, so why be nervous? Faking it ‘til he made it, Seth executed an overly dramatic introductory bow, snagging a glance at the rest of his handsome wardrobe in the process and nodding in approval.
Lucid dreaming, eat your heart out. He sat down and admired the piano – the first clue, of course, that this was another unordinary dream. Details were too sharp and focused. The enticing contour of the flawless polished instrument before him, the soothing cool sensation when he ran his fingers delicately across the keys, soft enough not to elicit any sound, the glare of the lighting overhead. It consistently demanded every ounce of attention not to panic.
Silence, save for his nervous fluttery heartbeat. The void was waiting for him. A set of sheet music was already set out for him: Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Not his favorite one to practice, being a fan of more bombastic pieces, but not difficult. He fiddled with the cuff links, drew in a deep, stale breath that tasted like resin on the roof of his mouth, and began to play.
Most demigods got to go on quests. Fight monsters, prove themselves a hero, earn rewards and glory, and maintain a reasonably healthy social life at the same time. Grow up, learn about their parents and discover their kickass powers. Seth got to experience vivid hallucinations of playing on the grand piano for a crowd of faceless strangers in his sleep and then wake up the next day to have people tell him he was crazy. Fate had a funny way of making him feel special sometimes.
The playing didn’t need to be impressive, since there wasn’t anyone there for him to impress. One of his most common daydreams was exactly this; dazzling a chamber into silence with his music and looks alone. The biggest hurdle that reality presented was his own lack of drive; he became lazy about practicing and learning new progressions until his skills stagnated and it became just another passing hobby, joining the dusty halls of fencing and photography. Right now, Seth embraced the fantasy, and as he did so, the stage built itself around him. Royal purple curtains unfurled, the lights magically swirled around and re-positioned, and sheet music turned on its own. The song had changed in the middle of the piece – Moonlight Sonata, Second Movement – and Seth only grinned.
“Allegretto,” he sighed in happiness, surprised by the sudden switch but too engrossed in the trance to worry. Panic had melted into pleasure. Rose petals fluttered out of the lights and danced in the air around him as they drifted to the floor. For several minutes he swayed and smirked. The change in brightness was so gradual, the disembodied stage lamps moving on their own, that he only noticed one he was shrouded completely in shadow. The sheet music was unreadable. He knew much of the movement by heart, and could improvise a little if the need arose, but the instant he hit an incorrect chord a buzzing noise croaked out of the piano and his body was wracked with pain.
Seth’s well-dressed body flopped onto the polished floor with a crack. The chair had receded into a hidden trapdoor, impossible to see now that the lights were so dim. Abruptly shaken from the fantasy and shivering in shock from the sourceless sensation of agony upon making a single mistake, he pushed himself to his feet and craned his neck around. Gears and pulleys churned within the walls. Curtains folded and unfolded.
Someone else began to play. The cones of light targeted another trapdoor that collapsed inward and ropes uncoiled from the void above. They pulled taut. An identical grand piano was hoisted from the aperture, supported by a mountain of uneven shapes Seth could not discern.
In unison the lamps snapped back to full glaring intensity. A stranger furiously continuing the third movement of the Sonata sat upon an ornate walnut bench, ascending with the spotlight. Sporting a fancy tuxedo jacket with gold trim, metal eppaulettes that shook with each exaggerated flourish across the keys, spotless white pants with matching heels and gloves, the prodigious phantom’s face remained concealed by an odd combination of two objects; a fencing mask, over which an additional theater mask was frozen in a porcelain smile of the classic comedic expression. From this angle, below the mountain of what Seth now realized were crushed and broken instruments – violins, cellos, clarinets, harps, all either bent, their strings plucked clean or strangled with their own bows and discarded – a faint fluorescent glow flickered across the mask.
Seth had to admit two things; A.) Whoever this person was, he was extremely good. B.) Seth was in love.
Face or no face, the mystery maestro’s imperious posture juxtaposed by moments of absolute frenzy across the piano made for an enticing spectacle for the eyes. From the forgotten shadows, he knelt and listened in awe. There were dozens of covers of one of the most influential of Beethoven’s works, all perfect, but the anger and pomp that oozed from each curved finger, as if daring the instrument not to respond appropriately, made the demigod’s heart soar.
When the end of the piece was reached the masked performer threw his head back and stopped, chest silently heaving. The void beyond the lights gave no response. The uncomfortable silence grew. The gloved hands shook and reached up. They clutched at the mask, pressing it tighter to his face. The spasms continued until an awkward bout of clapping caught his attention. The pianist slowly turned his gaze down to stare to his right, where Seth was enthusiastically applauding like an idiot, taking a break to give a shrill whistle of appreciation before chuckling nervously.
“Well, you’re better than me, that’s for sure.” Was he about to flirt with a figment of his own imagination? Yes. Absolutely. “So, come here to the unfathomable labyrinth of my insane brain often? Or are you just living in my head rent free?”
The masked prodigy did not respond. The mask, in its perpetual laughter, did not move a single inch. A hot wave of embarrassment made Seth flush and the concert attire was suddenly too tight for his liking. He fixed the bowtie so it was no longer lopsided, wiped his glasses with his shirt pinched between his fingers and then tried again. “Are you.. someone I know? Could you maybe-”
A gloved hand extended a single index finger, then raised it to the mask’s lips.
”Shhhhhhhhhhh.” .
The commanding hiss, louder than expected and echoing through the room’s pronounced acoustics, made his mouth clamp shut. After silencing him, a single rolled wrist and a shooing gesture conveyed everything they wanted him to hear; he was disturbing the atmosphere. Gotcha. Message received.
Wilting under the glare of contempt, he stuffed is hands into his pockets and bit the inside of his cheek until he could taste blood.
Lights brightened. The performance resumed. The maestro flicked a rectangular stage lamp protruding unnaturally from the front of the piano like a cancerous growth, tapped it again until it activated to reveal a screen, then swiped to the left four times. After a sharp inhale the fingers slammed down on the keyboard. Seth didn’t even know the name of this arrangement, and he feared interrupting a second time to earn another hateful shushing. Unfortunately the musician’s full attention was on him now; not even bothering to face forward to land every note, the mocking giddy expression of the white façade remained locked firmly on his eyes. Two minutes of an unmistakable message: ’I can play this without looking. You are beneath me. Get off of my stage.’
Because this apparently wasn’t enough of an insult to further grind Seth’s confidence into dust, he began to play with one hand. Sorry, arm. Seamlessly transitioning into a medley of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody, the musician’s left arm took over the entirety of the piece, jabbing an elbow down into the lower octaves and tickling the ivories on the higher chords. Their posture hunched over to make reaching the keys easier and continue doing the impossible. Now the right arm was free to witheringly point at the unclaimed jackass in a tux before brushing an invisible flake of dust off of the jacket in a final gesture of dismissal.
Seth couldn’t meet the stranger’s gaze anymore. His hands clenched and unclenched in his pockets, stretching the seams. Sensing his humiliation, they turned back to their piano and resumed using both hands, with no audible shift in quality. Part of him wanted to climb up the tower of ruined instruments and shake some sense into the obnoxious showoff. The other part of him… also wanted to do that. To Hades with it. No overconfident jerk in a mask was going to upstage him in his own fantasy – and he was ninety percent sure nobody could play the piano with an elbow. Except maybe amputees. That might be an insensitive intrusive thought to have.
After a few moments of stretching, he marched over to the mountain and tested the stability of an abandoned harpsichord stained in a dark murky substance. It wobbled slightly, and he deemed it safe enough to perch on. If encroaching on the misshapen tower of terror beneath the piano bothered the pianist in any way, he gave no indication. Seth accidentally kicked a poor oboe into submission to gain a better foothold, then scrambled up the slope. Resin, dust and a strange multicolored sludge that stung his nostrils with its metallic scent were present on many of the instruments, immortalizing frantic fingerprints and claw marks left by unknown individuals.
The tempo increased. The movements from the pianist became more frantic, the first and only sign that he was exerting any effort. The octaves thundered back and forth, demanding pristine attention to detail that consumed his attention. Seth had his opening. He had scaled halfway up the treacherous makeshift obstacle course, with about fifteen feet remaining. A few more good lunges and he would make it to the top, closing the curtains early on the smug elitist.
More and more the pacing of the music accelerated. The masked musician refused to back down from his own impossible standard, even as he swiveled his head back and forth.
The sound of Seth’s approach was smothered by the assault currently taking place on the piano. He crept until he was facing the square of the performer’s back and reached out to tug at the brilliant blue jacket. “Okay, man,” he smirked, “Concert’s over.” He opted for a single, startling tap.
The performer gave a piercing – and noticeably female – yell of surprise at his touch, catching him equally off-guard. An ugly, mismatched chord was slammed down upon by mistake and the entire dream churned in protest. Lamps fizzled out and in, shifting hues to cast iridescent shadows on the trembling figure in front of him, and he she whirled around. A crack formed in her mask, creeping down and passing by a furious grey iris smoldering with indignation. Her mask’s smile spasmed and curled downwards. The same odorous fluid from before dribbled from the newly formed frown.
The rectangular tablet embedded in the stage lamp no longer displayed sheet music. Greek symbols and robust equations flashed across its surface before a trial of similar cracks spread through the display.
“I-I didn’t mean to,” Seth began, and that was about as far as he got before she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt with both hands, then shoved him off. He plummeted away from the hill, waiting for the inevitable crack of his skull on the floor and the abrupt awakening. The mattress of his bed bounced him back up and broke his fall, having been displaced by unknown means of dream logic. Laying back on the blanket, he propped himself on his hands to glance back up and feel an unexpected pang of pity for the person whose night he just ruined.
Hugging herself tightly and shaking her head furiously at the stage lamps that now dangled themselves from ropes and wires, desperately wiping the brackish sludge that dripped out of the mouth of her mask, she uncoiled, slammed her balled fists into the keys to produce a cacophonous noise and choked back several angry sobs. Her hysterical breathing slowed long enough for her to peel a glittery, holographic capsule from the digital display on her piano. She tilted her head back and poured the capsule into the mask’s mouth.
She shuddered and went still. The lights flicked back on and her smile clicked back into place with a sound resembling torn paper. The crack down her face faded and replaced itself with a golden layer of stitches, vertically spelling out ’attempt 649: FAILURE’ down her right cheek.
With a tenuous sigh her shoulders relaxed and she caressed the phrase now marring her mask with gasoline-stained gloves. Then she huffed, stood up, her heels clacking on a dented cello, and stepped onto the bench, surrounded by the stage lamps as they all mimicked the appearance of digital screens. The lights tattooed her outfit with words.
’FLAW’. IMPERFECTION’. ’MISTAKE’. ’INADEQUATE’.
The lamps shone on her shoulders, creeping closer and closer on invisible strings until she growled threateningly and swatted them away.
The tablet behind her played an audio file of tires screeching and metal crunching. She spun around, climbed off of the bench and dug her fingers around the entire stage lamp to pry it off and fling it behind her with a wild grunt. She knelt to retrieve two objects Seth could not see, since he was busy scrambling off of the bed to avoid a lamp to the ribs, then turned back around. She planted a heel onto the bench, stepped back up and sprung off of the mountain in a graceful front flip.
Landing on Seth's bed and compressing the springs underneath, she arced off with another flip and landed in front of him. The heels clacked against the polished surface and stalked sensuously around trapdoors that opened up to swallow falling lamps. The source of her frustration backed away with stammered apologies. She merely tilted her head, brandished twin violin strings that sported serrated metal wires instead of hair, and shrugged as the tablet magically tumbled off of the bed, freed from the lamp, and began to revolve around her head like a satellite, plastering more harsh names into her mask and displaying hypnotic sequences of Greek letters and equations.
Seth stumbled backwards and slipped on a puddle of digital slurry. His duelist flipped the bows into icepick grip, still with that aching, fake smile, and drove them down like daggers.
((Microsoft Word deleted entire portions of this post even though I saved, twice, and had to retype it. Blegh.)) ((Brandon's time in the spotlight is over, and it seems as though someone new has taken the stage! Big thanks to the writer for allowing me to use their character as inspiration for this segment. Of course, just who could it be behind the mask...?))
((Each chapter is going to follow this format - corrupted, villainous, or fallen "nightmare" versions of campers we all know and love essentially trying to beat the stuffing out of Seth. F in the chat for Westley))

((Chapter 2 takes place NOW. It has been several weeks since the dreams of Chapter 1.))
((You can find the end of the previous chapter here!))
Seth sensed the sound of applause and hushed voices. Someone was inside of his room.
Klutzy or not, several months of living at a survival camp could ingrain a few self preservation instincts into just about anyone. Rather than shrug and sigh at the spooky sleep paralysis demons without a second thought, his eyes snapped open and he reached out for the sheathed dagger on the nightstand. Miscalculating the distance by a large margin, he tumbled out of the bed hopelessly snared in the blanket. Typical Westley wakeup.
“Swear to Gods-“ he swung his arm in the darkness to find the contour of the nightstand and instead found nothing. The unclaimed camper held himself deathly still and peeled the stifling comforter off of him. He would force his eyes to adjust if he had to, and then find the Hermes clown that snuck into his room to rearrange his furniture. “Friends, look, I love myself some hijinks, but… get out. Right now.”
His face turned beet red when his fingers brushed against.. polyester? His hands traveled down. Buttons. Cummerbund. Trousers. Fastened against his neck an object tickled his chin, and a bead of sweat trickled down the back of his head.
Please don’t be a bowtie. Bowties were sexy and all, but if a cabinmate had undressed him in the middle of night, paid such attention to detail as to give him a well-fitting concert attire complete with bowtie, all without him waking up, then he was going to have a meltdown, as well as a stern talking to his counselor about grievous violations of anatomical privacy. Even the cummerbund was a perfect measurement. Seth reached up and gently pinched at his collarbone. It was a bowtie. He whimpered. “Cool.”
His ears instinctively perked. Several heavy clacking noises sprouted from opposite corners of the room until an enormous breaker switch was thrown and the ‘room’ became drowned in searing light. Several creative curses later, once the twinkling in the back of his skull subsided, he hazarded a peek to find that he was in no room at all, but a featureless void with nothing but polished wood floor, his messy bed behind him, and a row of stage lights from an invisible ceiling illuminating a path towards a priceless grand piano. Beyond the instrument the murmur of voices died.
Seth’s head swam while his body disobeyed him and sluggishly strode over to the piano. As much of a resourceful guy Kit was, the son of nobody doubted that even he could replace Seth’s room with a concert hall in the time span of one night. The only other explanation was that he’d been kidnapped (not entirely out of the realm of possibility; he did fancy himself cute enough to be abducted by a crazy suitor), or he was dead. Or..
“Crap in a casket.” He pinched his nose. “Seriously? Again?”
Ever since he had defeated spooky evil alternative universe alien girlfriend-eating lava-barfing Brandon Teagan Supreme for the first time, the following nights were uneventful, peaceful snoozes devoid of nightmares and soon he had forgotten about the entire ordeal. A few notes in the book, perhaps, some brilliant imagery for a sci-fi fantasy story he was working on in his spare time, multiple winks of an inside joke to the real Brandon, and nothing else. He was back to being as normal as normal permitted… Until tonight.
The plus side seemed to be that no enormous sulfuric spawn of Satan was currently attempting to eat or melt him into Sethy goo. Just a standard run-of-the-mill nightmare involving stage fright and some repressed feelings of inadequacy, no biggie. Well, the world was a stage, and Mr. Westley refused to back down from a performance. His talent for the piano, while rusty, had won him many (one) a heart in sophomore year. At least until that girl Emma Dempsey dumped him for someone taller and later posted on social media that he was a loser, but life went on. The lights bore down on his forehead and he tugged at his collar. The audience was fake, not to mention invisible, so why be nervous? Faking it ‘til he made it, Seth executes an overly dramatic introductory bow, snagging a glance at the rest of his handsome wardrobe in the process and nodding in approval.
Lucid dreaming, eat your heart out. He sat down and admired the piano – the first clue, of course, that this was another unordinary dream. Details were too sharp and focused. The enticing contour of the flawless polished instrument before him, the soothing cool sensation when he ran his fingers delicately across the keys, soft enough not to elicit any sound, the glare of the lighting overhead. It consistently demanded every ounce of attention not to panic.
Silence, save for his nervous fluttery heartbeat. The void was waiting for him. A set of sheet music was already set out for him: Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Not his favorite one to practice, being a fan of more bombastic pieces, but not difficult. He fiddled with the cuff links, drew in a deep, stale breath that tasted like resin on the roof of his mouth, and began to play.
Most demigods got to go on quests. Fight monsters, prove themselves a hero, earn rewards and glory, and maintain a reasonably healthy social life at the same time. Grow up, learn about their parents and discover their kickass powers. Seth got to experience vivid hallucinations of playing on the grand piano for a crowd of faceless strangers in his sleep and then wake up the next day to have people tell him he was crazy. Fate had a funny way of making him feel special sometimes.
The playing didn’t need to be impressive, since there wasn’t anyone there for him to impress. One of his most common daydreams was exactly this; dazzling a chamber into silence with his music and looks alone. The biggest hurdle that reality presented was his own lack of drive; he became lazy about practicing and learning new progressions until his skills stagnated and it became just another passing hobby, joining the dusty halls of fencing and photography. Right now, Seth embraced the fantasy, and as he did so, the stage built itself around him. Royal purple curtains unfurled, the lights magically swirled around and re-positioned, and sheet music turned on its own. The song had changed in the middle of the piece – Moonlight Sonata, Second Movement – and Seth only grinned.
“Allegretto,” he sighed in happiness, surprised by the sudden switch but too engrossed in the trance to worry. Panic had melted into pleasure. Rose petals fluttered out of the lights and danced in the air around him as they drifted to the floor. For several minutes he swayed and smirked. The change in brightness was so gradual, the disembodied stage lamps moving on their own, that he only noticed one he was shrouded completely in shadow. The sheet music was unreadable. He knew much of the movement by heart, and could improvise a little if the need arose, but the instant he hit an incorrect chord a buzzing noise croaked out of the piano and his body was wracked with pain.
Seth’s well-dressed body flopped onto the polished floor with a crack. The chair had receded into a hidden trapdoor, impossible to see now that the lights were so dim. Abruptly shaken from the fantasy and shivering in shock from the sourceless sensation of agony upon making a single mistake, he pushed himself to his feet and craned his neck around. Gears and pulleys churned within the walls. Curtains folded and unfolded.
Someone else began to play. The cones of light targeted another trapdoor that collapsed inward and ropes uncoiled from the void above. They pulled taut. An identical grand piano was hoisted from the aperture, supported by a mountain of uneven shapes Seth could not discern.
In unison the lamps snapped back to full glaring intensity. A stranger furiously continuing the third movement of the Sonata sat upon an ornate walnut bench, ascending with the spotlight. Sporting a fancy tuxedo jacket with gold trim, metal eppaulettes that shook with each exaggerated flourish across the keys, spotless white pants with matching heels and gloves, the prodigious phantom’s face remained concealed by an odd combination of two objects; a fencing mask, over which an additional theater mask was frozen in a porcelain smile of the classic comedic expression. From this angle, below the mountain of what Seth now realized were crushed and broken instruments – violins, cellos, clarinets, harps, all either bent, their strings plucked clean or strangled with their own bows and discarded – a faint fluorescent glow flickered across the mask.
Seth had to admit two things; A.) Whoever this person was, he was extremely good. B.) Seth was in love.
Face or no face, the mystery maestro’s imperious posture juxtaposed by moments of absolute frenzy across the piano made for an enticing spectacle for the eyes. From the forgotten shadows, he knelt and listened in awe. There were dozens of covers of one of the most influential of Beethoven’s works, all perfect, but the anger and pomp that oozed from each curved finger, as if daring the instrument not to respond appropriately, made the demigod’s heart soar.
When the end of the piece was reached the masked performer threw his head back and stopped, chest silently heaving. The void beyond the lights gave no response. The uncomfortable silence grew. The gloved hands shook and reached up. They clutched at the mask, pressing it tighter to his face. The spasms continued until an awkward bout of clapping caught his attention. The pianist slowly turned his gaze down to stare to his right, where Seth was enthusiastically applauding like an idiot, taking a break to give a shrill whistle of appreciation before chuckling nervously.
“Well, you’re better than me, that’s for sure.” Was he about to flirt with a figment of his own imagination? Yes. Absolutely. “So, come here to the unfathomable labyrinth of my insane brain often? Or are you just living in my head rent free?”
The masked prodigy did not respond. The mask, in its perpetual laughter, did not move a single inch. A hot wave of embarrassment made Seth flush and the concert attire was suddenly too tight for his liking. He fixed the bowtie so it was no longer lopsided, wiped his glasses with his shirt pinched between his fingers and then tried again. “Are you.. someone I know? Could you maybe-”
A gloved hand extended a single index finger, then raised it to the mask’s lips.
”Shhhhhhhhhhh.” .
The commanding hiss, louder than expected and echoing through the room’s pronounced acoustics, made his mouth clamp shut. After silencing him, a single rolled wrist and a shooing gesture conveyed everything they wanted him to hear; he was disturbing the atmosphere. Gotcha. Message received.
Wilting under the glare of contempt, he stuffed is hands into his pockets and bit the inside of his cheek until he could taste blood.
Lights brightened. The performance resumed. The maestro flicked a rectangular stage lamp protruding unnaturally from the front of the piano like a cancerous growth, tapped it again until it activated to reveal a screen, then swiped to the left four times. After a sharp inhale the fingers slammed down on the keyboard. Seth didn’t even know the name of this arrangement, and he feared interrupting a second time to earn another hateful shushing. Unfortunately the musician’s full attention was on him now; not even bothering to face forward to land every note, the mocking giddy expression of the white façade remained locked firmly on his eyes. Two minutes of an unmistakable message: ’I can play this without looking. You are beneath me. Get off of my stage.’
Because this apparently wasn’t enough of an insult to further grind Seth’s confidence into dust, he began to play with one hand. Sorry, arm. Seamlessly transitioning into a medley of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody, the musician’s left arm took over the entirety of the piece, jabbing an elbow down into the lower octaves and tickling the ivories on the higher chords. Their posture hunched over to make reaching the keys easier and continue doing the impossible. Now the right arm was free to witheringly point at the unclaimed jackass in a tux before brushing an invisible flake of dust off of the jacket in a final gesture of dismissal.
Seth couldn’t meet the stranger’s gaze anymore. His hands clenched and unclenched in his pockets, stretching the seams. Sensing his humiliation, they turned back to their piano and resumed using both hands, with no audible shift in quality. Part of him wanted to climb up the tower of ruined instruments and shake some sense into the obnoxious showoff. The other part of him… also wanted to do that. To Hades with it. No overconfident jerk in a mask was going to upstage him in his own fantasy – and he was ninety percent sure nobody could play the piano with an elbow. Except maybe amputees. That might be an insensitive intrusive thought to have.
After a few moments of stretching, he marched over to the mountain and tested the stability of an abandoned harpsichord stained in a dark murky substance. It wobbled slightly, and he deemed it safe enough to perch on. If encroaching on the misshapen tower of terror beneath the piano bothered the pianist in any way, he gave no indication. Seth accidentally kicked a poor oboe into submission to gain a better foothold, then scrambled up the slope. Resin, dust and a strange multicolored sludge that stung his nostrils with its metallic scent were present on many of the instruments, immortalizing frantic fingerprints and claw marks left by unknown individuals.
The tempo increased. The movements from the pianist became more frantic, the first and only sign that he was exerting any effort. The octaves thundered back and forth, demanding pristine attention to detail that consumed his attention. Seth had his opening. He had scaled halfway up the treacherous makeshift obstacle course, with about fifteen feet remaining. A few more good lunges and he would make it to the top, closing the curtains early on the smug elitist.
More and more the pacing of the music accelerated. The masked musician refused to back down from his own impossible standard, even as he swiveled his head back and forth.
The sound of Seth’s approach was smothered by the assault currently taking place on the piano. He crept until he was facing the square of the performer’s back and reached out to tug at the brilliant blue jacket. “Okay, man,” he smirked, “Concert’s over.” He opted for a single, startling tap.
The performer gave a piercing – and noticeably female – yell of surprise at his touch, catching him equally off-guard. An ugly, mismatched chord was slammed down upon by mistake and the entire dream churned in protest. Lamps fizzled out and in, shifting hues to cast iridescent shadows on the trembling figure in front of him, and he she whirled around. A crack formed in her mask, creeping down and passing by a furious grey iris smoldering with indignation. Her mask’s smile spasmed and curled downwards. The same odorous fluid from before dribbled from the newly formed frown.
The rectangular tablet embedded in the stage lamp no longer displayed sheet music. Greek symbols and robust equations flashed across its surface before a trial of similar cracks spread through the display.
“I-I didn’t mean to,” Seth began, and that was about as far as he got before she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt with both hands, then shoved him off. He plummeted away from the hill, waiting for the inevitable crack of his skull on the floor and the abrupt awakening. The mattress of his bed bounced him back up and broke his fall, having been displaced by unknown means of dream logic. Laying back on the blanket, he propped himself on his hands to glance back up and feel an unexpected pang of pity for the person whose night he just ruined.
Hugging herself tightly and shaking her head furiously at the stage lamps that now dangled themselves from ropes and wires, desperately wiping the brackish sludge that dripped out of the mouth of her mask, she uncoiled, slammed her balled fists into the keys to produce a cacophonous noise and choked back several angry sobs. Her hysterical breathing slowed long enough for her to peel a glittery, holographic capsule from the digital display on her piano. She tilted her head back and poured the capsule into the mask’s mouth.
She shuddered and went still. The lights flicked back on and her smile clicked back into place with a sound resembling torn paper. The crack down her face faded and replaced itself with a golden layer of stitches, vertically spelling out ’attempt 649: FAILURE’ down her right cheek.
With a tenuous sigh her shoulders relaxed and she caressed the phrase now marring her mask with gasoline-stained gloves. Then she huffed, stood up, her heels clacking on a dented cello, and stepped onto the bench, surrounded by the stage lamps as they all mimicked the appearance of digital screens. The lights tattooed her outfit with words.
’FLAW’. IMPERFECTION’. ’MISTAKE’. ’INADEQUATE’.
The lamps shone on her shoulders, creeping closer and closer on invisible strings until she growled threateningly and swatted them away.
The tablet behind her played an audio file of tires screeching and metal crunching. She spun around, climbed off of the bench and dug her fingers around the entire stage lamp to pry it off and fling it behind her with a wild grunt. She knelt to retrieve two objects Seth could not see, since he was busy scrambling off of the bed to avoid a lamp to the ribs, then turned back around. She planted a heel onto the bench, stepped back up and sprung off of the mountain in a graceful front flip.
Landing on Seth's bed and compressing the springs underneath, she arced off with another flip and landed in front of him. The heels clacked against the polished surface and stalked sensuously around trapdoors that opened up to swallow falling lamps. The source of her frustration backed away with stammered apologies. She merely tilted her head, brandished twin violin strings that sported serrated metal wires instead of hair, and shrugged as the tablet magically tumbled off of the bed, freed from the lamp, and began to revolve around her head like a satellite, plastering more harsh names into her mask and displaying hypnotic sequences of Greek letters and equations.
Seth stumbled backwards and slipped on a puddle of digital slurry. His duelist flipped the bows into icepick grip, still with that aching, fake smile, and drove them down like daggers.
((Microsoft Word deleted entire portions of this post even though I saved, twice, and had to retype it. Blegh.)) ((Brandon's time in the spotlight is over, and it seems as though someone new has taken the stage! Big thanks to the writer for allowing me to use their character as inspiration for this segment.))
((Each chapter is going to follow this format - corrupted, villainous, or fallen "nightmare" versions of campers we all know and love essentially trying to beat the stuffing out of Seth. F in the chat for Westley))

I've been running dual LW honors for a while now with the goal of seeing just how broken the game is in hindsight. My main comp is usually an INT necro/warfare/poly/scoundrel with a buddy running pure ranger (warfare/hunts/ranged/scoundrel). The rest gets dumped wherever I need to unlock spells. Typically, I'll run a Fane/Sebille team (in either order) because time stop and flesh sacrifice (particularly when you can mask Fane into getting both) are just too good.
I worried about some of the big battles on my first run because I refuse to deathfog cheese (cheese should be aged and rich, not straight out of a spray can ... um, barrel). So far, my favorites are:
Dallis (Act 1): murder every magister in FJ, teleport them into the gaggle at the gate, beat the arena, get your collar removed (and promptly go stealth), have your ranger plink her in the face from above (Yarrow's perch) to get her attention, and then have your necro creep in from the back to set off mass corpse explosion. It's over in once cast.
Radeka (Act 1): did you sufficiently buff your necro? Get up on the high ground above her and use corpse explosion on Gawin's body. Boom bitch, and adds don't spawn. I did this at level 8 with 2 pyro, non-crit. (I don't recommend this because you lose out on a ton of XP!)
Alexander (Act 1): Gareth wants to chat after the shriekers die? Send your buddy down to teleport Alexander into the middle of the Seekers and watch the fun as 20+ NPCs finish the act for you. Fair warning: you need to be ready to do some serious healing and damage mitigation if you want to do the next part ....
Dallis (Act 2 interlude): after she nukes the surviving seekers (you want max corpses down there), use character 1 to teleport her and her pal into the corpse pit, and use character 2 to set off mass corpse explosion. Bitch never learns. (Alternately, port the deadliest parts of the boarding party into the pit before setting them up the bomb. Depends on which trophy you want.)
Hannag (Act 2): screw her lava ... and screw her wandering so you can't talk to her. Teleport her into the lava after dropping an AOE on her face to stop her. Fair warning: you had best have top tier wits or she'll lava your dude. Keep your buddy on the boat or out of range just in case. Now, you can use terrain transmutation to tote that lava puddle around the zone and murder anything you feel like, unless you feel that's too cheesy (I do).
Aetera: What is our solution for strong women? First, have your buddy wait back in the mines with a pyramid. Use the casket and immediately use your pyramid to travel to your buddy. Chat her up for the luls. Pile up the corpses of the magisters and voidwoken from the Aeteran dig around her and her puppies, then ... yeah. Boom, one shotted. We need a wheelbarrow in this game.
I'LL KILL YOUR SHINING LIGHTS!: use blood rain all over her flames and then have fun with necro source skills while your ranger beats her head in from the high ground. This should take one round. Alternatively, feed her to either Jahan or Grog the Ogre while she's talking crazy for extra luls.
Black Ring at tree: sneak in behind each duder and assassinate them ... you have a few shots before you'll have to flee, so keep 2 AP handy for two backwards jumps and you're out of combat. Do it to the next dude. The only trouble is the last two with evasive aura: burn em with magic and hope for lucky arrow hits.
Advocate at tree: you can do the exact same thing. Alternately, pile up a ton of corpses around the duders and tell them to say hello to Dallis for you.
Big Ass Voidwoken in Paradise Downs: I feel bad for this fella ... get to the highest ground N of his spawn and start with assassinate, then teleport him onto his buddies for splash damage when he void glides. Pew pew katchoo ... dead.
Sallow Man (Act 3): if you don't want to throw him into the lava so you can taunt his spirit, stand on the ledge near the entryway, throw all his friends into the lava first, then ... yup, assassinate. Port him away when needed, and keep on pew pewing for an additional round. Dead.
All of Act 3: there are few places you can't terrain transmute lava to if you're patient enough. Do you really need to, though?
Alexander (Act 3): to the SE of him is an isolated platform with no ladder up. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Pew pew and laugh at the ijits from there.
Shadow Prince and co.: If you go up the tower to the SW, there will be one invisible duder up there, but still: assassinate the SP's ass. Port his buddy down onto the mob that is near the SP towards the center, and for some reason all the others will dogpile there as it is closest ranged point to hit you. AoE the shit out of them, using corpse explosion as they become available. Whee~
Arena of the One: go to your right (boss's left) in sneak and you can get in close. Use ranger to drop arrow storm on it and if it's not dead, let your necro feast on what's left.
Kemm (Act 4): try to port your enemies to the center where Arhu was (using one port to remove him to safety) and AOE them down. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Kemm arrives, and assuming you survive the first attack (which you should), teleport him into the mess and mass corpse explosion. Not so tough now, are you (bewm 12-20K damage)? Have your necro put on the death wish shield from his basement for added boom power.
Doctor (Act 4): the only hard fight to cheese. Have your ranger creep around his house assassinating his nurses and jumping away to break combat. You can kill ALL OF THEM except the one by his desk this way. Sneak your ranger in behind him and cast blood rain all over him and his remaining nurse with your necro. This works best with Fane, though I've done it with a custom elf and/or Sebille before. Pop a +2 AP tea and apotheosis and walk into range of attack (not chat), then smack him with a throwaway spell (he will heal to full after telling you off, so don't bother with a big hit). If your initiative is high enough, you've just won. Have elf Fane flesh sacrifice, then use -2 AP cost tea, then time warp, then blood storm/grasp, measure your AP and damage left, perhaps infect him or feed him to the skeeters, then skin flay and do it again. At some point during that fun, have your buddy assassinate the back of his noggin. If you arrange your AOE circles right, you've also killed his nurse buddy, so congrats. While this can be dicey without time warp (100% crit is mandatory), with time warp it's a cakewalk. Das rite: full strength, and fully dead before he can react. Necro is OP.
Final fight: go in with +2 AP tea, living on the edge, and evasion (ranger buddy). Tell everyone to reddit themselves sideways, and with any luck you'll go first. You probably won't. Lucian acts retarded, getting into AOE range, and then it's your turn. Much like the doctor above, blast them to shit. The trick here is making sure you get a killing blow on Vrederman: if you don't, you're on to part 2. If this happens, it's not a biggie. LOTE is still up on your necro and evasion is still up on your ranger. Let the chips fall as they may, then use your two character's turns to burn Braccus to the ground. Helpful in this is jumping your ranger to high ground for those super sexy scoundrel/huntsman crits (8-12K normal shot), but it's not necessary. (It's actually preferable to avoid killing the magisters here because they become primary targets should round 2 ensue. Try to line your AOEs to demolish just Lucian, Dallis, and Vrederman).
For maximum reliability I'd recommend level 19 for ganking Kemm, and then finishing out your quest log and ganking Isbiel at 20, then rekking the paladin bridge and all their friends to hit 21 before facerolling the Doctor and Lucian and co. If you're finding your ranger friend isn't up to snuff with his assasination duty, there's a talent for that (realistically you won't need far out man in endgame, so swap it out), and enjoy the massive DPS burst from cloaked attacks.
Extra fun:
My worst recovery was being drunk and doing the pocket realm. Stupid me triggered the purge with my main character, but luckily Fane was standing on a poison trap which prevented lava spawn. Cue two hours of tornado to save my main and figure out how to clear the lava and deathfog from the core so I could stop the second purge. Don't mix DOS2DEHM and alcohol!
Back on topic:
Any other fun cheeseball (non-deathfog) tricks you all have learned?

So I’m heading on US 54 East across NM because my company likes nonsense. (It’s mostly a 2 lane road, one lane each direction)
I catch up to a truck doing 63ish when I’d like to hit my governor at 68. No biggie, it happens all the time. But this guy was a special kind of annoying.
Whenever headlights appeared coming towards us, he’d jack on his brakes, going down to about 50mph. Apparently he thought that might allow him an open casket funeral instead of closed, if anyone crossed over. He’d then get back up to speed a few moments before another oncoming vehicle had him back on his brakes.
I figure I only have another 30mi of this crap before we reach a town, where we get multiple lanes and I can pass this guy.
Thats where I was wrong. Apparently this asshole does 63ish in a 70, but also does 55, in 30mph zones. I’d have to risk arrest to pass this fucker.
You’d think given how scared this guy is of the road, he’d want somebody to follow. But nope.
I end up stuck behind this guy for well over 100mi.
Right as I’m debating whether I’m going to blow through an upcoming town like an asshole to get by this guy, or simply plow into him, I get brake checked again because of oncoming traffic.
This time however, when I hit my brakes, my dash lights up like a Christmas tree. Apparently, it was in the Christmas spirit....
My air pressure is near red line, and my truck wants to remind me at this moment, of every system that runs off of air. It might have warned me about windshield wipers for all I know.
Air pressure isn’t going back up, so I find a quick place to park. I have a massive air leak coming from under my engine, but it doesn’t last long enough when I turn the key off, for me to find it.
So I’m fucked, and shut down. But all I could think at that moment was “At least I’m not following that asshole anymore.”

Heyyy reddit people and friends out there in the webiverse! I need your help right now, Please give me a hand.
I used to be a victim advocate, worked in the courts and hospitals and public speaking at schools and all sorts of trainings and on television and radio. I ran huge volunteer campaigns and was excited to make a difference in the world. My passion has always been to travel everywhere. I woke up every day so thrilled that I was alive!
I turned 54 this week. I look and feel 30. Okay...I feel 30. I look 45. I have spent the last 32 years caring for children and being a mom, making lunches, being room mom, picking up, dropping off, drying tears, cheering on, ballet-ing, karate-chopping, breathing treatment giving, money stretching, special needs finding, advocating, finding the best pediatrician for this, the best surgeon for that the best school and camp and equipment and shoes and turning out two people who are now two AMAZING fully functional human adult people!
All while
Fighting and advocating glioblastoma (brain cancer grade 4) and finding every best surgeon, best treatment, best trial, best medication, best last ditch effort, best hospice, best suit for a frail thin baby brother, best casket, best graveyard, best gravestone, best way to heal a crushed heart because you have learned you are not; in fact; magic. Best way to watch the light dissapear from your mother's eyes, from her heart, from her soul.
While also
Trying to find a couple of donor lungs somewhere, my husband needed a few, how to hold a husband's hand and tell him it's ok to go, that you've got this, you and the kids will be strong and you'll look for him in rainstorms and the crashing waves in Maine and holding his hand and kissing his cold fingers, drenched in your tears, just as you'd always always promised until you were certain he'd made it all the way "home". He knew you would.

Then
The two years of aggressive leukemia, c'mon mom, we got this, it's just a touch of leukemia, no biggie. Sitting by her side and trying to make her smile because that was your job from birth. Protecting her from dad, telling her we'd take care of the business but dont be silly mom, you'll be fine, playing the old movie Gigi on her last day though she was unconscious because it was always her comfort and escape, I wonder if she heard it? Looking down at my mom,my mommy. My first home, my first love. Gone. Orphaned in my 40s. Ten years later I want my mommy back every day. I have questions for her. We need to talk. Oh for just one day.
So you see, I have a degree, but I'm not worth much.
I have no experience at all.
Can anyone in the Twitterverse or websphere think of some job that requires no experience, because I have no job and I need to find a purpose and a reason now that my family is gone.

Previous post for the 2nd Doctor here and the 1st Doctor here.
Continuity:
The most inconsistent thing of all is the 3rd Doctor's outlook on his exile. Sometimes he hates the Earth and wants nothing more to be rid of it forever, sometimes he loves it and wouldn't leave even if he could, depending on who's writing the episode that day. The exact nature of the exile seems to vary too. Sometimes his knowledge of the dematerialization codes has been erased, sometimes it's just that the TARDIS can't function even if he wants it to, and in a few cases (awful short trips, mostly) he has no knowledge of Gallifrey beyond that he's a Time Lord exiled for meddling.
There's also inconsistencies with Liz leaving, she keeps coming back so often. She had 3 different "final" ends, and then people decided "no, she came back again and had this adventure and it was her last and it's better because I wrote it so there." She sprang up a couple times after leaving for good, like in the Wages of Sin, where she joined Jo and 3. I think the upcoming 3DAs are also set during that time?
Other Thoughts:
I love the way 3's outfit progresses over his era, it's pretty great. He starts off wearing the one outfit constantly, eventually gets his red coat and purple lined cape (as shown in a short trip, which I like, rather than him just deciding to wear different colors one day), and switches between those at first, with different bowties/cravats, and occasionally his checkered cape. Eventually he gets a green jacket and brown cape, and retires the red one for good (even in all EU material, being shockingly consistent for once) except for when he wears it in one scene at the beginning of Planet of the Spiders. After Jo leaves he changes it up completely, with different color schemes of his frilled shirt/waistcoat/bowtie/jacket combo in a multitude of colors, and that mysterious thing he wore around his neck all S11. I love his outfit in S11, I wish he had it longer.
Best Part of the Era Overall:
I guess it'd be too vague to say "all the time post-exile," but it's true. As soon as the exile was gone, it felt like Doctor Who again, not the "UNIT stops the monster-of-the-week" show. At around season 9 UNIT stopped being a regular feature, with them spending more time away from Earth than on it, because I guess even the writers knew it was getting really stale. Even then, it still felt off, just because they had to come up with more ways of getting them off the planet than "the Time Lords have decided that you're allowed to interfere in things again I guess, idk" that they used so often, apparently forgetting the whole point of the exile. I know it's because the Time Lords are hypocrites who only want to protect themselves, but it still feels like a weak excuse, especially when it happens so often.
I think the best part was probably S11, there was just something so new about it, and such a different feel, that it made a perfect transition into S12 and the rest of the show. New companion, new outfit, new, highly improved, kinder characterization of 3, less infernal novels and TV Action comics to slog through, the only bad thing about it is the lack of EU material. Normally I don't complain about the lack of EU material for something, when it's done it's done, and I'm glad to move past it and make more progress. But in this case it was all so good, it just left me wanting more.
Worst Part of the Era Overall:
The exile, even if it is rather general. I really hate how underutilized it was, it was just sort of there and was occasionally mentioned. There were a few parts of some stories (Big Finish in particular) where 3 explains just how much it affects him, being stuck in one place and time, and you feel how awful it must be for him. Then you go to anything else, especially TV, and it's just like "oh yeah, the exile makes me pretty angry sometimes i guess, idk" and you're just left wondering why they do almost nothing with it.
Even the end of the exile it awful and anticlimactic, it feels plastered onto the end of the Three Doctors. "Oh by the way, here's the dematerialization circuit back." "Wow cool, I have my knowledge of time travel back too, thanks guys." cliffhanger sting, credits
It's not like they ran out of runtime, there's even a stupid joke about a side character after that, they just decided that this was good enough to end a 3 years-long plotline, which the Doctor had based this version's entire personality around as a reaction to it. "Do you think he should give even a little bit of a monologue, of how it makes him feel, being able to get back what he thinks of as an integral part of his identity?" "Nah lmao, that's good. But I have a good idea for an amazing joke after that scene, watch this."
Best Novels:
The Harvest of Time: 3 is up against little robot crab things, which are after the Master. He has to save him, things I don't want to spoil happen, the Master temporarily turns truly good, we find out that somehow his future selves being evil is what makes him evil or something (not particularly keen on that, nor do I understand why that is in the first place), and there are 400something future versions of the Master trapped on board a spaceship. I had a note in my huge spreadsheet calling it "the Day of the Master," but after recent Eight Doctor news that's kind of redundant. Definitely the best novel, at least a 9/10
Eye of the Giant: the first of 3's novels, and a good start. The plot isn't anything super exiting, but it is fun, and a later novel is a sequel to it, which is uncommon. It makes them feel interconnected, which is a pretty good thing, since the novels often feel like their own thing, devoid of much else around them.
Verdigris: My first time reading a story with Iris in it (I previously heard her in Find and Replace), somehow she and 3 know each other very well, despite not ever meeting 1 or 2 in any story that I know of. It's very fun and Magrs-weird, even if the resolution if kind of anticlimactic and stupid.
The Suns of Caresh: Shockingly one of, if not the best, books of the era, despite its absolutely atrocious cover. It's almost like a Moffat story, there's so much messing with time and paradoxes and Time Lords and fanwank. Another Time Lord even regenerates into Jon Pertwee, just for shits and giggles. However, the author decided to shit all over what was a great story, by adding 70 unnecessary pages describing how Jo and 3 get this alien girl back to her planet. Had it just been left to be resolved off-screen at the end, or just a trip in the TARDIS there, it would have been perfect. But then it's 70 pages of rather confusing things happening on a planet we don't really care about, and somehow we need to save it by going to this place and hitting buttons and moving this other planet away and fbvfvhjhfbvkljfbjkhbukuibsdbsdjhbgvhbdxfvbhujb. Anyway, 3 did his sums wrong and it turns out the planet just needed to go 100 feet to the left in space, problem solved (that's not actually what happens, I'm exaggerating for comedic effect. But not by much).
Dancing the Code: I don't really want to spoil much, but I think it's pretty good. Which is shocking for a VMA. These bug things have taken over this area in a desert, making weird, honey-filled clones of people and taking over the world, kind of standard stuff. It gets pretty edgy at times, with so much "oh and then terrorists came and BOMBED THE WHOLE VILLAGE, KILLING NOT JUST THE MEN, BUT THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN TOO, INSTANTLY" and stuff. Still really good, I recommend it.
Amorality Tale: Second or third best story I think, set during S11 so of course it's great. Sarah sees an old photo of 3 and some gangster guy in the 50s, they go back to the time poisonous smog killed thousands in the East End. Of course naturally it's part of an alien plot to take over the world/universe, and they have to stop them from taking over the earth. with the help of this gangster and his... gang. I recommend this one too, absolutely great.
Worst Novels:
Rags: Now, if you read my last post, you all knew this was coming. For those not aware, this is Mick Lewis' only other contribution to the Whoniverse, and I hate it with every bone in my body. It's better then Combat Rock, making it worse, if that makes sense. It has fewer blood and guts and sex and penis gourds, so you can tell the editor still had control over him at this point (Rags was written before Combat Rock). Which ends up making it worse, because there's absolutely no entertainment to be had from it. The only joy I could find in Combat Rock was laughing that someone could be that edgy and awful, this didn't even have that. Of course, there were still a lot of moments of edge, but not enough. The plot is garbage, nothing makes sense, Jo is mindcontrolled into becoming an edgelord and hating the Doctor, many many many attempted rapes, more suicide squad edgelord buddies because it's the only fucking thing Mick Lewis knows how to write.
There's an alien called the Ragman who lands on ancient Earth in a rock somehow except the rock is a prison except apparently maybe it isn't in the end and I don't give a fuck. Somehow people in medieval times killing each other on top of it allowed the Ragman to become (???) or maybe make or maybe summon a rock Golem and then it uses that to be edgy and awful.
Then in modern times (modern being the 70s or 80s of course), there's a punk band playing out of the back of a truck. Their music makes people violently kill each other because edge. Mick Lewis is particularly insistent on reminding us of the lead singer's spiked codpiece for some reason. These band people play a concert out of nowhere, vomit on people, make people kill each other, whatever, and then pack up in their truck and go off to the next place. This makes them get a following of fans, Jo included.
3 makes Jo follow them after seeing their first concert, and Jo is quickly taken into the newest Suicide Squad, which is sadly lacking Pan's influence of making everything intolerably awful. The characters are Jimmy, who wears a baseball hat with the confederate flag on it, and that's about all we know other than he's an edgy piece of shit. Then there's Sin, one of Mick Lewis' few female characters, so of course every 5 seconds we're treated to "and then her h u g e , p e n d u l o u s b r e a s t s got in her way and she thought to herself 'man, do I want to fuck Mick Lewis' self-insert, who is also my boyfriend in this story.'" I can't remember the boyfriend's name despite him being the main character of the suicide squad, let's just call him Not-Mick Lewis. He has no defining characteristics other than that, and does absolutley nothing, so I'll never have to refer to him again anyway.
There's another member of the DK crew who gets killed the night after being introduced. They're stopped for the night, he gets out of the RV and goes up a hill and suddenly it's filled with dead bodies in cages but it's not and it's really an illusion and also there are brainwashed cops behind him who kill him and then go home and kill their families for no reason and it has no effect on the plot and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Nobody notices his absence, and as the band plays on(...), they keep getting more and more followers, killing more and more people, and nobody cares. Which works out perfectly, because I don't either, I only wish they'd all die so the book is over. But oh no, there's still 150 more pages of this.
Eventually they reach a cemetery and do absolutely nothing for 100 pages. 3 sends Yates in to get Jo out, Jo doesn't want to come with him, he gets found out and gets called a pig and gets beat up.
We're introduced to Kane, who is the Pan of this book, in that he's fucking awful and has no redeeming qualities about him. He's an alcoholic who keeps being edgy while doing nothing of importance before eventually going into a church to piss on Jesus or something. He sees a casket of his dead great-grandmother or something, and it's revealed she was allegedly cursed, which I find highly likely, given that she had to live in Mick Lewis' writing.
3 also checks out a book from the library later about Kane's family history and finds out he is indeed cursed by something and oh my god i don't fucking care, how is there still half a book left.
Eventually he ends up back in the graveyard, he goes into the band's van, which is actually a portal to another dimension/bigger on the inside/I don't even know, it was nonsense even by Doctor Who standards.
There was a journalist lady there before him, and apparently she had a flashback of her father dying and now the memory is him being the Ragman for some reason and she's tortured and blah blah blah. Anyway, the truck is empty even though she's in it.
The truck is underway to the final concert, with 3 in the back, being mentally tortured because of course. Some Mick Lewis nonsense dreamscape for a couple pages, making it even more unintelligible than usual. Then 3 is tied to a stake, with all his past companions throwing stones at him and about to burn him. Also Zoe is naked for absolutely no reason other than Mick Lewis fucking loves making underage characters naked. Mick Lewis completely forgets how the third Doctor talked, instead writing his dialogue more like Pan at this point.
Stuff is still happening to 3, the Ragman cometh. He shows 3 a movie/his memories, and 3 sees things we already knew so what was even the point of this oh my god end me now. Eventually 3 escapes the Ragman, but not the truck. He sees the TARDIS, and figures the Time Lords have sent it to get him out of this. He opens it and finds it's not the actual TARDIS, and then, for absolutely no fucking reason, with no prompting, foreshadowing, or indication he's not in his right mind, decides that he's just a delusional person, the TARDIS and Daleks and Time Lords aren't real, he's been lying to himself all his life. Jo comes in to the TARDIS at this point, tells him to knock it off, except it's not Jo because she's still outside being an edgelord, so don't ask me what this fucking means. The police box telephone rings, 3 answers it, somehow this makes him have hope that it all was real again.
And while all this was happening, the band has been outside putting on their final concert. They're been maximum edgy, and maximum s p i k e d c o d p i e c e t h r u s t i n g because Mick Lewis loves that phrase. I feel I should also mention at this point that he constantly uses the phrase "and the band played on..." as a cliffhanger for things, using the ellipses every time.
The spiked codpiece-wearing lead singer has been t h r u s t i n g, vomiting maggots, vomiting in general, and spitting into the audience. The only lyrics we ever hear of their song is "scum, scum, scum of the earth" and "the scum shall inherit the earth" because Mick Lewis makes a music-based story and then never makes any actual fucking lyrics. At one point Jo and Sin kiss, which is the only progressive thing Mick Lewis has ever done, and the only reason that happened was because he did it to be edgy and revolutionary.
The singer takes the journalist girl out of the truck at this point, and summons Kane up on stage. Kane has been harassing the poor reporter the whole novel, and keeps telling her he'll make her fuck him one day. Anyway, now for the big edgy twist: Kane and her are distant cousins, and one of their common ancestors fucked the Ragman. Worth nothing that the Ragman is basically a sentient rotting corpse with worms for hair. That's what all the stuff about him being cursed was about. Apparently the Ragman's influence made him edgy, but Mick Lewis is a fucking imbecile who never resolves or asks why the reporter was unaffected.
The whole "mega-edgelord rapist turning out to be really really really into incest" thing is almost exactly reused in Combat Rock, proving Mick Lewis can only write two things (the other being suicide squads of course) .
Yates has been approaching the band this whole time, with the intention of blowing them up. But zombies have kept him from doing it and killed all his men and oh my god I'm so fucking tired of describing this novel at this point, I'm going to skip most of the minor points from now on.
3 comes out of the truck, tells them to knock it off, killing is bad, blah blah blah. They of course ignore him, the Ragman comes out of his rock and on stage. The band has apparently been possessed by him all along or something, and they're all filled with maggots and collapse.
Apparently he needed hatred to be able to break free of his rock prison, which is odd considering he's literally right fucking there, very clearly not in the goddamn prison rock. Whatever, Yates lobs a grenade at him and it does nothing. 3 tells it being edgy is stupid and bad, it says it doesn't care, Kane decides he hates it and despises the fact that he's related to it. He wrestles it into the rock somehow (it's literally just a rock, no hinges of door), and they're both pulled inside and trapped for eternity apparently.
Book over, and thank god for it. I now want to interrupt this bad novel section more than I already have, to inform you all about what I've learned about Mick Lewis.
So apparently, the reason I couldn't find anything about him before is that his real name is actually "Mickey Lewis," and he's actually still involved in Doctor Who. He's an actor for background characters, including a UNIT soldier in Zygon Inversion, a Dalek in Asylum of the Daleks, TUAT, and the special weapons Dalek in Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar. He's also played a Cyberman in WEaT/TDF, and, worst of all, the 3rd Doctor.
You know how they did that special effects shot of all 12 (at the time) Doctors at the end of DotD? They used body doubles, in the original outfits when possible, and then CGed the original actor's faces on. Well, apparently Mick Lewis was the 3rd Doctor's body double. I would like you to behold, the true face of evil. According to an interview with him in a youtube video in one forgotten, dark corner of the internet, he reveals he accidentally tore part or the outfit during filming the scene. He's so extraordinarily cursed that he can ruin invaluable things just by being near them.
The only trace of him online still remains this page, where you can pay him 15 pounds to sign one of his pictures, and probably send you an ancient black magic curse in the mail.
Now, I think I should probably get back to the whole point of this section, bad novels:
Speed of Flight: Set right after Dancing the Code, the quality whiplash couldn't be more severe. Apparently these alien things have a lifecycle where they're little flying baby monkey things at first, then they turn into literally just normal men (no women at this stage for some reason, just men), then they gain a ton of muscle and have to fight to the death. The winner evolves into a flying monkey thing again and I don't know what purpose it served or why it's 3 stages of life but okay. Anyway apparently at this point some of them become female at random. The flying monkeys are smarter than the men and they all hate each other. But none of this is really relevant other than that fact that even the Doctor thinks their lifecycle makes no sense, so he looks into it and they're all just a big genetic experiment, even the planet. The sun is fake and is actually the control area for it all. A man wants to use it to fly away from the dying world and people agree, but it all goes wrong and blah blah blah. At one point Yates dies, but don't worry, all dead things on the planet get turned into mud golem creatures called "Dead." Anyway, this is all undone at the end because 3 tells Yates that he just killed Jo and made her brain dead for life, shocking him out of the hivemind and also suddenly with no explanation, they put him back into his original body again.
Nightdreamers: A Telos Novella, being short is its only redeeming quality. The plot was non-existent, everything was confusing, and 3 continues to be completely out of character. The "plot" was that the TARDIS is drawn to this moon called "Ican'tbebotheredtoactuallyrememberthename Bright," which we learn 80 pages into the 97 page story, is actually a cocoon for the giant mind-eating worm inside it. There is also apparently a moon (?) called "Ican'tbebotheredtoactuallyrememberthename Dark" and there are only bad people there or something???????????????????? No idea, they just kind of showed up out of nowhere 80 pages in and then all got killed by the brain worm.
There's this princess (?) something or other who is being forced to marry this prince guy on Ican'tbebotheredtoactuallyrememberthename Bright, and she doesn't want to. She instead wants to marry her cousin (because of course, this is a Wilderness Era story) and is trying to escape the castle. Then unintelligible trash happens and we're introduced to 5 more characters. They are assumedly from a near by town or something, since they're talking about not supposed to be near the castle (remember this, this is important later). They're practicing for a play, for reasons unknown, and decide to do this right outside the castle. Anyway, they're being boring and rehearsing and confusing me, and then the TARDIS lands. They accuse 3 of being a "Nightdreamer" and decide to chuck him into the Nightdreamer King's cave, which will supposedly make all their dreams come true. They fly there because the planet has pockets of low gravity that constantly shift, because the brain worm is moving in it (which we also only learn 80 pages in). 3 is chucked into the cave and we're treated to a novelized equivalent of the shitty 5 minute mind fight with Omega in the Three Doctors. Meanwhile Jo wakes up in the TARDIS after she was attacked by the mind worm as they landed. She gets up and sees literally just Tingle from the Zelda series. Not-Tingle sings stupid rhymes the entire time and then she gets mad at him, and he fucks off in a puff of green dust. She meets the princess from before and then they hate each other and then they're perfectly friendly within 3 minutes.
3 is now in the castle because somehow he wandered in there through the cave, and meets this butler-but-he's-not-a-butler-and-is-actually-a-spy-but-he's-actually-tricking-3-the-entire-time-and-is-working-for-the-Dark-moon-things. Except then he wasn't and I have no idea why they implied he was when 3 wasn't there to see it. Spy man has a fragment of moon, which 3 takes to the TARDIS to analyze. Why he couldn't use literally any piece of rock off the ground I don't know. This is when we discover the moon is actually an egg a cocoon for the mind worm.
Then the mind worm attacks and we're told it'll kill everyone on the planet. 3 says he has to get everyone off, and goes back to the castle. then boring shit happens, until woo-hoo, the mind worm is defeated. But only because it decided it ate enough minds to evolve to the next stage. Apparently either the only people living on the planet were the people in the castle (but they weren't because the actor people weren't and clearly didn't come from there), or the author just decided the rest of the planet didn't matter. The castle is a space ship and has blasted off the planet at this point, which promptly explodes. They see the space-butterfly brain worm, and decide that it's so fucking cool looking, that it makes up for fucking genocide. This includes the Doctor, in a wildly out of character moment.
Then they leave and everyone lives happily ever after, except the people whose brains got fucking sucked out of their skulls to feed this thing. No biggie though, it looks, like, really cool man.
Catastrophea: Bootleg Combat Rock, down to the jungle setting and edgelords and attempted rape. Almost all the novels have attempted rape, there are more with than without for 3's era. Awful.
Deadly Reunion: So this book was cowritten, one half from Terrance Dicks, one half from somebody else. Neither of these have anything to do with each other. The first half is by Dicks, about this time the Brig went with one of the beings that was the basis for Greek mythology of the gods on. Basically it's the Brigadier in the Percy Jackson series for 120 pages. At the end he's mindwiped and it all means absolutely nothing. The second half is just average, but the first half being completely useless and without the Doctor drags it down so much.
Devil Goblins from Neptune: The first half of the book is useless. There's a traitor in UNIT pulling the Brig around on a wild goose chase, then he somehow escapes, goes to Nevada to solve the plot, and then the traitor is resolved off-screen. Also acid trips and edge and general awfulness.
Best Audios:
The Scorchies: Different and amazing. I love it and everything it does with the format.
Ghost in the Machine: another CC, uses the format really well too. There's a sentient audio recording on this disk, it slowly takes Jo over. Also Jo and 3 bodyswap at some point.
Rise of the New Humans: I love BF's Monk a lot. The story is interesting, the concept is interesting, and it's pulled off really well.
The Tyrants of Logic: A great Cyberman story, I loved 3 slowly becoming a Cyberman. And speaking of Cybermen stories:
The Blue Tooth: Really loved it, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did since it was from early on in the companion chronicles range. I expected them to take a while to find their footing, but I guess not.
The Paradise of Death: One of the few non-BF audios, and pretty good. It especially helps having Pertwee, Sladen, and Courtney together. But Jeremy is a little bitch and he can go rot in hell for all I care, he is the worst companion ever. I hate him so much. A later novel (Island of Death) succeeds in making him even worse, shockingly. Why writers kept bringing him back is beyond me, he should have stayed confined to these two audios.
Worst Audios:
The Prisoner of Peladon: There's really not much here. It's just so dreadfully average and boring, the only thing it has going for it is the return to Peladon, and we got that in Monster of Peladon.
A True Gentleman: Thematically fitting that it's placed with the TV Action comics in the timeline, because it's stupid, dull, and weird in a bad way. There's really nothing happening at all.
Lost in the Wakefield Triangle: These bug things in this guy's shed can grow his rhubarb super fast for him. The Doctor thinks they're evil at first, but it turns out they just accidentally killed a guy so it's fine. 3 lets them stay and the farmer guy gets more business.
The Walls of Confinement: 3 watches a tiger in a zoo, accidentally teleports a boy into the enclosure, oops. Then we get some disappointing monologue as 3 realizes "wow it's almost like my exile is me being in a cage away from my natural environment, this is so sad, can the Time Lords rescind the exile?"
The last 3 stories I listed were all early Short Trips stories, can you tell I don't like them very much?
Best Short Stories:
The Monster in the Woods: It's like a cross between Resolution, Dalek, and Into the Dalek. Really good, can't really say much more without spoiling it.
The Christmas Inversion: 3, Jo, and Yates show up during the events of the Christmas Invasion, confusing Jackie immensely. 10 takes some of 3's regen energy to wake up on the Sycorax space ship, which I like as an explanation a lot more than him having some tea. The whole story is pure fanwank yet also absolutely amazing.
Hidden Talent: The Master makes a talent show in the stupidest scheme ever just because he wants the Doctor's attention.
...And Eternity in an Hour: Time storms are ruining this planet, wreaking havoc on it and killing everyone. The people create an elder god to get rid of it, which expectedly backfires on them all.
Hide and Seek: A Dalek story, and surprisingly better than any of them on TV. There's not anything innovative about it, it's just nice, and 3 is characterized very well.
Morphology: Aliens come which remove people's ability to say any vowels other than O, leading to some very creative writing. The plot itself is kind of dumb, but the creativity turns it into a good story.
The Switching: The Doctor and Master switch bodies and just mess with each other's lives until they switch back. Amazing and a perfect summary of their relationship.
Separation Day: Very few stories get a 10/10 on my spreadsheet, this one did (though I am a little more lenient on short trips). It features messing about with time, great writing, and 3 giving some amazing speeches.
Worst Short Stories:
There are so many, it's hard to choose. But I'll try and keep it somewhat limited.
Still Lives: There's no resolution, but that's fine, because there's no plot to begin with. They also had to chuck some transphobia in there out of nowhere just because why not I guess.
Angel: Nothing happens and nothing is explained and then an old lady dies and gives the Doctor his knowledge of time travel back, except he doesn't read it because he doesn't feel like it. Then next story he will go on to whine about being stuck on Earth and how he'd give anything to leave.
Jigsaw: "I know, I'll describe the same event from 4 people's perspectives, and give no context or plot!" - the author, shortly before submitting this to the editor, who must have approved it because they just wanted to go home for the day already. Also features a character named Jizz, proving the editor never read it.
Touch of the Nurazh: The Nurazh is a mind controlling creature the Master is using, it unsurprisingly turns against him. 3 defeats it by chucking it and himself off a building. This kills him, he regenerates, but then unregenerates for reasons never explained.
Come Friendly Bombs: 3 and Jo go back to an anti-nuke protest, and stay there for 8 excruciating pages of the 10 page story. 3 keeps telling her that even though he hates nukes and violence, he can't do anything to stop them being developed because Laws of Time. The story ends with him going back in time and helping the scientists fucking invent nukes. I have no idea what the author was thinking, but it completely ruined the story and made him an unbelievable hypocrite.
Lost and Founded: Literally no plot at all. They land on an abandoned beach, some insane guy who talks with really annoying spelling mistakes, making reading it almost impossible, is watching them, and they find his patterns in the sand. Then they go away and nothing is explained, and the guy says it's a Christmas present that he saw more people on his I guess deserted island.
/CarpenteButterfly/Baronet: 3 and Jo are taken to a secret something or other place in the near future. We find out that Jo apparently dies in a house fire in 2028, then they're implanted with some sort of chips by an alien, their memories are wiped, and they're put back in the TARDIS, and no explanation for anything is ever given.
The Bad Guy: There's a more interesting plot going on that could be a full story, but instead here are snippets focusing on how this alien loves Jo. Everything is boring and awful and I hate it a lot, give us a story based off the events around this and it would be infinitely better.
She Knew: 3 talks to a gay guy whose boyfriend just broke up with him in a bar in the 70s (or 80s) directly after the events of The Green Death, and tells him that he knows how he feels because he just lost someone too. Nothing really happens.
The Lampblack Wars: Literally what. Something about living ink and 2 planets got shrunken down to the size of an atom and they've been having a war in this lady's handbag? And then she drinks something and dies, killing them too? And then it's all over, the end. All these awful short trips never resolve anything.
Countdown to TV Action: Gary Russell (who else) attempts to capture the feel of the TV Action comics and succeeds perfectly, in that it's complete shit, has no plot, nobody is in character, and I hate it quite a lot.
Comics:
I actually read the TV Action Comics this time around, and oh man do I wish I hadn't. I won't dignify them with a good and bad comic section, because only 2 of them were levels even approaching tolerable. The art is awful, the plots are either nonexistent, nonsense, or drawn out, and nobody is ever in character. Though being out of character does give 3 lovely lines like "I have returned to destroy the thing you hold most dear."
I did read the first 4th Doctor TV Action comic recently, and it was actually legitimately good. Which is shocking, but it gives me some hope for the future of them until I hit the DWM ones, which I know are actually good.
Best TV Stories:
I'll be brief and just list them, everyone and their mother has watched these and reviewed them already.
Spearhead from Space, Inferno, Terror of the Autons, the Daemons, The Time Monster (that's an uncommon opinion I know, but I love it, though it could be a few parts shorter. I absolutely love the TARDIS set in it, another unpopular opinion), The 3 Doctors, Carnival of Monsters, The Green Death, The Time Warrior, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Planet of the Spiders
Worst TV Stories:
Ambassadors of Death, Colony in Space, Day of the Daleks, The Sea Devils, The Mutants, Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks
Final Thoughts:
Now, all this complaining is not to say I hate 3. As the Doctor, I love his character, even if he is sometimes rather inconsistent. But the stories surrounding him, the underuse of the exile for drama or really anything other than to explain the budget cut, all make me look at the era less fondly. I think Pertwee seems like one of the funniest actors to play the Doctor, and he reminds me of Capaldi in some ways. Being a fan of the show, the writers letting him add his own creations in (e.g. Capaldi with the "only children can hear you name" line in TUAT, Pertwee with things like the Whomobile, off the top of my head), and just seeming like he loved being the Doctor so much, even more than other actors.
My current ranking of all Doctors is:
12/8 > 5 > 11 > 6 > 7 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 9 > War > 4 > 13 > 10 (as you can see comparing it to my other posts, it doesn't change much)
I'll miss the UNIT family, the Brig, and 3 himself, but what I certainly won't miss is 3 seasons worth of almost constant earthbound stories, often with similar plots. This has been the fastest one so far, taking me just 2 months and 2 weeks to complete (I had to take a 2 week-long break at one point because I was going to liveblog Rags on the Discord server on a certain date, so I had to kept myself occupied by catching up on things like 1DAs and Early Adventures that came out after I finished the era already).
And now onwards to Tom Baker. My biggest problem with him was just how long he stayed, it killed my momentum the first 2 times I watched classic. So it'll either compound the problem, with 7 seasons + even more EU material because of the 4DAs, or it won't be so bad, with me not being in any real rush to finish it like I was the first time I watched classic.
I think I'll have to do 2 posts on his era, because I'm already at 36k out of 40k characters that Reddit lets me post at a time. I think I'll do it after Leela leaves, it seems a good midway point, and gives me a chance to listen to some of the 4DAs.
And that's about it, I think it'll take me about 3 or 4 months to reach that point, which is about normal for these posts. See you then I guess. AND REMEMBER, NEVER EVER EAT PEARS
Fun fact to end on: UNIT operatives are 10 times more likely to spontaneously combust than civilians. (Source: No Future, 1994)

Previous post for the 2nd Doctor here and the 1st Doctor here.
Continuity:
The most inconsistent thing of all is the 3rd Doctor's outlook on his exile. Sometimes he hates the Earth and wants nothing more to be rid of it forever, sometimes he loves it and wouldn't leave even if he could, depending on who's writing the episode that day. The exact nature of the exile seems to vary too. Sometimes his knowledge of the dematerialization codes has been erased, sometimes it's just that the TARDIS can't function even if he wants it to, and in a few cases (awful short trips, mostly) he has no knowledge of Gallifrey beyond that he's a Time Lord exiled for meddling.
There's also inconsistencies with Liz leaving, she keeps coming back so often. She had 3 different "final" ends, and then people decided "no, she came back again and had this adventure and it was her last and it's better because I wrote it so there." She sprang up a couple times after leaving for good, like in the Wages of Sin, where she joined Jo and 3. I think the upcoming 3DAs are also set during that time?
Other Thoughts:
I love the way 3's outfit progresses over his era, it's pretty great. He starts off wearing the one outfit constantly, eventually gets his red coat and purple lined cape (as shown in a short trip, which I like, rather than him just deciding to wear different colors one day), and switches between those at first, with different bowties/cravats, and occasionally his checkered cape. Eventually he gets a green jacket and brown cape, and retires the red one for good (even in all EU material, being shockingly consistent for once) except for when he wears it in one scene at the beginning of Planet of the Spiders. After Jo leaves he changes it up completely, with different color schemes of his frilled shirt/waistcoat/bowtie/jacket combo in a multitude of colors, and that mysterious thing he wore around his neck all S11. I love his outfit in S11, I wish he had it longer.
Best Part of the Era Overall:
I guess it'd be too vague to say "all the time post-exile," but it's true. As soon as the exile was gone, it felt like Doctor Who again, not the "UNIT stops the monster-of-the-week" show. At around season 9 UNIT stopped being a regular feature, with them spending more time away from Earth than on it, because I guess even the writers knew it was getting really stale. Even then, it still felt off, just because they had to come up with more ways of getting them off the planet than "the Time Lords have decided that you're allowed to interfere in things again I guess, idk" that they used so often, apparently forgetting the whole point of the exile. I know it's because the Time Lords are hypocrites who only want to protect themselves, but it still feels like a weak excuse, especially when it happens so often.
I think the best part was probably S11, there was just something so new about it, and such a different feel, that it made a perfect transition into S12 and the rest of the show. New companion, new outfit, new, highly improved, kinder characterization of 3, less infernal novels and TV Action comics to slog through, the only bad thing about it is the lack of EU material. Normally I don't complain about the lack of EU material for something, when it's done it's done, and I'm glad to move past it and make more progress. But in this case it was all so good, it just left me wanting more.
Worst Part of the Era Overall:
The exile, even if it is rather general. I really hate how underutilized it was, it was just sort of there and was occasionally mentioned. There were a few parts of some stories (Big Finish in particular) where 3 explains just how much it affects him, being stuck in one place and time, and you feel how awful it must be for him. Then you go to anything else, especially TV, and it's just like "oh yeah, the exile makes me pretty angry sometimes i guess, idk" and you're just left wondering why they do almost nothing with it.
Even the end of the exile it awful and anticlimactic, it feels plastered onto the end of the Three Doctors. "Oh by the way, here's the dematerialization circuit back." "Wow cool, I have my knowledge of time travel back too, thanks guys." cliffhanger sting, credits
It's not like they ran out of runtime, there's even a stupid joke about a side character after that, they just decided that this was good enough to end a 3 years-long plotline, which the Doctor had based this version's entire personality around as a reaction to it. "Do you think he should give even a little bit of a monologue, of how it makes him feel, being able to get back what he thinks of as an integral part of his identity?" "Nah lmao, that's good. But I have a good idea for an amazing joke after that scene, watch this."
Best Novels:
The Harvest of Time: 3 is up against little robot crab things, which are after the Master. He has to save him, things I don't want to spoil happen, the Master temporarily turns truly good, we find out that somehow his future selves being evil is what makes him evil or something (not particularly keen on that, nor do I understand why that is in the first place), and there are 400something future versions of the Master trapped on board a spaceship. I had a note in my huge spreadsheet calling it "the Day of the Master," but after recent Eight Doctor news that's kind of redundant. Definitely the best novel, at least a 9/10
Eye of the Giant: the first of 3's novels, and a good start. The plot isn't anything super exiting, but it is fun, and a later novel is a sequel to it, which is uncommon. It makes them feel interconnected, which is a pretty good thing, since the novels often feel like their own thing, devoid of much else around them.
Verdigris: My first time reading a story with Iris in it (I previously heard her in Find and Replace), somehow she and 3 know each other very well, despite not ever meeting 1 or 2 in any story that I know of. It's very fun and Magrs-weird, even if the resolution if kind of anticlimactic and stupid.
The Suns of Caresh: Shockingly one of, if not the best, books of the era, despite its absolutely atrocious cover. It's almost like a Moffat story, there's so much messing with time and paradoxes and Time Lords and fanwank. Another Time Lord even regenerates into Jon Pertwee, just for shits and giggles. However, the author decided to shit all over what was a great story, by adding 70 unnecessary pages describing how Jo and 3 get this alien girl back to her planet. Had it just been left to be resolved off-screen at the end, or just a trip in the TARDIS there, it would have been perfect. But then it's 70 pages of rather confusing things happening on a planet we don't really care about, and somehow we need to save it by going to this place and hitting buttons and moving this other planet away and fbvfvhjhfbvkljfbjkhbukuibsdbsdjhbgvhbdxfvbhujb. Anyway, 3 did his sums wrong and it turns out the planet just needed to go 100 feet to the left in space, problem solved (that's not actually what happens, I'm exaggerating for comedic effect. But not by much).
Dancing the Code: I don't really want to spoil much, but I think it's pretty good. Which is shocking for a VMA. These bug things have taken over this area in a desert, making weird, honey-filled clones of people and taking over the world, kind of standard stuff. It gets pretty edgy at times, with so much "oh and then terrorists came and BOMBED THE WHOLE VILLAGE, KILLING NOT JUST THE MEN, BUT THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN TOO, INSTANTLY" and stuff. Still really good, I recommend it.
Amorality Tale: Second or third best story I think, set during S11 so of course it's great. Sarah sees an old photo of 3 and some gangster guy in the 50s, they go back to the time poisonous smog killed thousands in the East End. Of course naturally it's part of an alien plot to take over the world/universe, and they have to stop them from taking over the earth. with the help of this gangster and his... gang. I recommend this one too, absolutely great.
Worst Novels:
Rags: Now, if you read my last post, you all knew this was coming. For those not aware, this is Mick Lewis' only other contribution to the Whoniverse, and I hate it with every bone in my body. It's better then Combat Rock, making it worse, if that makes sense. It has fewer blood and guts and sex and penis gourds, so you can tell the editor still had control over him at this point (Rags was written before Combat Rock). Which ends up making it worse, because there's absolutely no entertainment to be had from it. The only joy I could find in Combat Rock was laughing that someone could be that edgy and awful, this didn't even have that. Of course, there were still a lot of moments of edge, but not enough. The plot is garbage, nothing makes sense, Jo is mindcontrolled into becoming an edgelord and hating the Doctor, many many many attempted rapes, more suicide squad edgelord buddies because it's the only fucking thing Mick Lewis knows how to write.
There's an alien called the Ragman who lands on ancient Earth in a rock somehow except the rock is a prison except apparently maybe it isn't in the end and I don't give a fuck. Somehow people in medieval times killing each other on top of it allowed the Ragman to become (???) or maybe make or maybe summon a rock Golem and then it uses that to be edgy and awful.
Then in modern times (modern being the 70s or 80s of course), there's a punk band playing out of the back of a truck. Their music makes people violently kill each other because edge. Mick Lewis is particularly insistent on reminding us of the lead singer's spiked codpiece for some reason. These band people play a concert out of nowhere, vomit on people, make people kill each other, whatever, and then pack up in their truck and go off to the next place. This makes them get a following of fans, Jo included.
3 makes Jo follow them after seeing their first concert, and Jo is quickly taken into the newest Suicide Squad, which is sadly lacking Pan's influence of making everything intolerably awful. The characters are Jimmy, who wears a baseball hat with the confederate flag on it, and that's about all we know other than he's an edgy piece of shit. Then there's Sin, one of Mick Lewis' few female characters, so of course every 5 seconds we're treated to "and then her h u g e , p e n d u l o u s b r e a s t s got in her way and she thought to herself 'man, do I want to fuck Mick Lewis' self-insert, who is also my boyfriend in this story.'" I can't remember the boyfriend's name despite him being the main character of the suicide squad, let's just call him Not-Mick Lewis. He has no defining characteristics other than that, and does absolutley nothing, so I'll never have to refer to him again anyway.
There's another member of the DK crew who gets killed the night after being introduced. They're stopped for the night, he gets out of the RV and goes up a hill and suddenly it's filled with dead bodies in cages but it's not and it's really an illusion and also there are brainwashed cops behind him who kill him and then go home and kill their families for no reason and it has no effect on the plot and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Nobody notices his absence, and as the band plays on(...), they keep getting more and more followers, killing more and more people, and nobody cares. Which works out perfectly, because I don't either, I only wish they'd all die so the book is over. But oh no, there's still 150 more pages of this.
Eventually they reach a cemetery and do absolutely nothing for 100 pages. 3 sends Yates in to get Jo out, Jo doesn't want to come with him, he gets found out and gets called a pig and gets beat up.
We're introduced to Kane, who is the Pan of this book, in that he's fucking awful and has no redeeming qualities about him. He's an alcoholic who keeps being edgy while doing nothing of importance before eventually going into a church to piss on Jesus or something. He sees a casket of his dead great-grandmother or something, and it's revealed she was allegedly cursed, which I find highly likely, given that she had to live in Mick Lewis' writing.
3 also checks out a book from the library later about Kane's family history and finds out he is indeed cursed by something and oh my god i don't fucking care, how is there still half a book left.
Eventually he ends up back in the graveyard, he goes into the band's van, which is actually a portal to another dimension/bigger on the inside/I don't even know, it was nonsense even by Doctor Who standards.
There was a journalist lady there before him, and apparently she had a flashback of her father dying and now the memory is him being the Ragman for some reason and she's tortured and blah blah blah. Anyway, the truck is empty even though she's in it.
The truck is underway to the final concert, with 3 in the back, being mentally tortured because of course. Some Mick Lewis nonsense dreamscape for a couple pages, making it even more unintelligible than usual. Then 3 is tied to a stake, with all his past companions throwing stones at him and about to burn him. Also Zoe is naked for absolutely no reason other than Mick Lewis fucking loves making underage characters naked. Mick Lewis completely forgets how the third Doctor talked, instead writing his dialogue more like Pan at this point.
Stuff is still happening to 3, the Ragman cometh. He shows 3 a movie/his memories, and 3 sees things we already knew so what was even the point of this oh my god end me now. Eventually 3 escapes the Ragman, but not the truck. He sees the TARDIS, and figures the Time Lords have sent it to get him out of this. He opens it and finds it's not the actual TARDIS, and then, for absolutely no fucking reason, with no prompting, foreshadowing, or indication he's not in his right mind, decides that he's just a delusional person, the TARDIS and Daleks and Time Lords aren't real, he's been lying to himself all his life. Jo comes in to the TARDIS at this point, tells him to knock it off, except it's not Jo because she's still outside being an edgelord, so don't ask me what this fucking means. The police box telephone rings, 3 answers it, somehow this makes him have hope that it all was real again.
And while all this was happening, the band has been outside putting on their final concert. They're been maximum edgy, and maximum s p i k e d c o d p i e c e t h r u s t i n g because Mick Lewis loves that phrase. I feel I should also mention at this point that he constantly uses the phrase "and the band played on..." as a cliffhanger for things, using the ellipses every time.
The spiked codpiece-wearing lead singer has been t h r u s t i n g, vomiting maggots, vomiting in general, and spitting into the audience. The only lyrics we ever hear of their song is "scum, scum, scum of the earth" and "the scum shall inherit the earth" because Mick Lewis makes a music-based story and then never makes any actual fucking lyrics. At one point Jo and Sin kiss, which is the only progressive thing Mick Lewis has ever done, and the only reason that happened was because he did it to be edgy and revolutionary.
The singer takes the journalist girl out of the truck at this point, and summons Kane up on stage. Kane has been harassing the poor reporter the whole novel, and keeps telling her he'll make her fuck him one day. Anyway, now for the big edgy twist: Kane and her are distant cousins, and one of their common ancestors fucked the Ragman. Worth nothing that the Ragman is basically a sentient rotting corpse with worms for hair. That's what all the stuff about him being cursed was about. Apparently the Ragman's influence made him edgy, but Mick Lewis is a fucking imbecile who never resolves or asks why the reporter was unaffected.
The whole "mega-edgelord rapist turning out to be really really really into incest" thing is almost exactly reused in Combat Rock, proving Mick Lewis can only write two things (the other being suicide squads of course) .
Yates has been approaching the band this whole time, with the intention of blowing them up. But zombies have kept him from doing it and killed all his men and oh my god I'm so fucking tired of describing this novel at this point, I'm going to skip most of the minor points from now on.
3 comes out of the truck, tells them to knock it off, killing is bad, blah blah blah. They of course ignore him, the Ragman comes out of his rock and on stage. The band has apparently been possessed by him all along or something, and they're all filled with maggots and collapse.
Apparently he needed hatred to be able to break free of his rock prison, which is odd considering he's literally right fucking there, very clearly not in the goddamn prison rock. Whatever, Yates lobs a grenade at him and it does nothing. 3 tells it being edgy is stupid and bad, it says it doesn't care, Kane decides he hates it and despises the fact that he's related to it. He wrestles it into the rock somehow (it's literally just a rock, no hinges of door), and they're both pulled inside and trapped for eternity apparently.
Book over, and thank god for it. I now want to interrupt this bad novel section more than I already have, to inform you all about what I've learned about Mick Lewis.
So apparently, the reason I couldn't find anything about him before is that his real name is actually "Mickey Lewis," and he's actually still involved in Doctor Who. He's an actor for background characters, including a UNIT soldier in Zygon Inversion, a Dalek in Asylum of the Daleks, TUAT, and the special weapons Dalek in Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar. He's also played a Cyberman in WEaT/TDF, and, worst of all, the 3rd Doctor.
You know how they did that special effects shot of all 12 (at the time) Doctors at the end of DotD? They used body doubles, in the original outfits when possible, and then CGed the original actor's faces on. Well, apparently Mick Lewis was the 3rd Doctor's body double. I would like you to behold, the true face of evil. According to an interview with him in a youtube video in one forgotten, dark corner of the internet, he reveals he accidentally tore part or the outfit during filming the scene. He's so extraordinarily cursed that he can ruin invaluable things just by being near them.
The only trace of him online still remains this page, where you can pay him 15 pounds to sign one of his pictures, and probably send you an ancient black magic curse in the mail.
Now, I think I should probably get back to the whole point of this section, bad novels:
Speed of Flight: Set right after Dancing the Code, the quality whiplash couldn't be more severe. Apparently these alien things have a lifecycle where they're little flying baby monkey things at first, then they turn into literally just normal men (no women at this stage for some reason, just men), then they gain a ton of muscle and have to fight to the death. The winner evolves into a flying monkey thing again and I don't know what purpose it served or why it's 3 stages of life but okay. Anyway apparently at this point some of them become female at random. The flying monkeys are smarter than the men and they all hate each other. But none of this is really relevant other than that fact that even the Doctor thinks their lifecycle makes no sense, so he looks into it and they're all just a big genetic experiment, even the planet. The sun is fake and is actually the control area for it all. A man wants to use it to fly away from the dying world and people agree, but it all goes wrong and blah blah blah. At one point Yates dies, but don't worry, all dead things on the planet get turned into mud golem creatures called "Dead." Anyway, this is all undone at the end because 3 tells Yates that he just killed Jo and made her brain dead for life, shocking him out of the hivemind and also suddenly with no explanation, they put him back into his original body again.
Nightdreamers: A Telos Novella, being short is its only redeeming quality. The plot was non-existent, everything was confusing, and 3 continues to be completely out of character. The "plot" was that the TARDIS is drawn to this moon called "Ican'tbebotheredtoactuallyrememberthename Bright," which we learn 80 pages into the 97 page story, is actually a cocoon for the giant mind-eating worm inside it. There is also apparently a moon (?) called "Ican'tbebotheredtoactuallyrememberthename Dark" and there are only bad people there or something???????????????????? No idea, they just kind of showed up out of nowhere 80 pages in and then all got killed by the brain worm.
There's this princess (?) something or other who is being forced to marry this prince guy on Ican'tbebotheredtoactuallyrememberthename Bright, and she doesn't want to. She instead wants to marry her cousin (because of course, this is a Wilderness Era story) and is trying to escape the castle. Then unintelligible trash happens and we're introduced to 5 more characters. They are assumedly from a near by town or something, since they're talking about not supposed to be near the castle (remember this, this is important later). They're practicing for a play, for reasons unknown, and decide to do this right outside the castle. Anyway, they're being boring and rehearsing and confusing me, and then the TARDIS lands. They accuse 3 of being a "Nightdreamer" and decide to chuck him into the Nightdreamer King's cave, which will supposedly make all their dreams come true. They fly there because the planet has pockets of low gravity that constantly shift, because the brain worm is moving in it (which we also only learn 80 pages in). 3 is chucked into the cave and we're treated to a novelized equivalent of the shitty 5 minute mind fight with Omega in the Three Doctors. Meanwhile Jo wakes up in the TARDIS after she was attacked by the mind worm as they landed. She gets up and sees literally just Tingle from the Zelda series. Not-Tingle sings stupid rhymes the entire time and then she gets mad at him, and he fucks off in a puff of green dust. She meets the princess from before and then they hate each other and then they're perfectly friendly within 3 minutes.
3 is now in the castle because somehow he wandered in there through the cave, and meets this butler-but-he's-not-a-butler-and-is-actually-a-spy-but-he's-actually-tricking-3-the-entire-time-and-is-working-for-the-Dark-moon-things. Except then he wasn't and I have no idea why they implied he was when 3 wasn't there to see it. Spy man has a fragment of moon, which 3 takes to the TARDIS to analyze. Why he couldn't use literally any piece of rock off the ground I don't know. This is when we discover the moon is actually an egg a cocoon for the mind worm.
Then the mind worm attacks and we're told it'll kill everyone on the planet. 3 says he has to get everyone off, and goes back to the castle. then boring shit happens, until woo-hoo, the mind worm is defeated. But only because it decided it ate enough minds to evolve to the next stage. Apparently either the only people living on the planet were the people in the castle (but they weren't because the actor people weren't and clearly didn't come from there), or the author just decided the rest of the planet didn't matter. The castle is a space ship and has blasted off the planet at this point, which promptly explodes. They see the space-butterfly brain worm, and decide that it's so fucking cool looking, that it makes up for fucking genocide. This includes the Doctor, in a wildly out of character moment.
Then they leave and everyone lives happily ever after, except the people whose brains got fucking sucked out of their skulls to feed this thing. No biggie though, it looks, like, really cool man.
Catastrophea: Bootleg Combat Rock, down to the jungle setting and edgelords and attempted rape. Almost all the novels have attempted rape, there are more with than without for 3's era. Awful.
Deadly Reunion: So this book was cowritten, one half from Terrance Dicks, one half from somebody else. Neither of these have anything to do with each other. The first half is by Dicks, about this time the Brig went with one of the beings that was the basis for Greek mythology of the gods on. Basically it's the Brigadier in the Percy Jackson series for 120 pages. At the end he's mindwiped and it all means absolutely nothing. The second half is just average, but the first half being completely useless and without the Doctor drags it down so much.
Devil Goblins from Neptune: The first half of the book is useless. There's a traitor in UNIT pulling the Brig around on a wild goose chase, then he somehow escapes, goes to Nevada to solve the plot, and then the traitor is resolved off-screen. Also acid trips and edge and general awfulness.
Best Audios:
The Scorchies: Different and amazing. I love it and everything it does with the format.
Ghost in the Machine: another CC, uses the format really well too. There's a sentient audio recording on this disk, it slowly takes Jo over. Also Jo and 3 bodyswap at some point.
Rise of the New Humans: I love BF's Monk a lot. The story is interesting, the concept is interesting, and it's pulled off really well.
The Tyrants of Logic: A great Cyberman story, I loved 3 slowly becoming a Cyberman. And speaking of Cybermen stories:
The Blue Tooth: Really loved it, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did since it was from early on in the companion chronicles range. I expected them to take a while to find their footing, but I guess not.
The Paradise of Death: One of the few non-BF audios, and pretty good. It especially helps having Pertwee, Sladen, and Courtney together. But Jeremy is a little bitch and he can go rot in hell for all I care, he is the worst companion ever. I hate him so much. A later novel (Island of Death) succeeds in making him even worse, shockingly. Why writers kept bringing him back is beyond me, he should have stayed confined to these two audios.
Worst Audios:
The Prisoner of Peladon: There's really not much here. It's just so dreadfully average and boring, the only thing it has going for it is the return to Peladon, and we got that in Monster of Peladon.
A True Gentleman: Thematically fitting that it's placed with the TV Action comics in the timeline, because it's stupid, dull, and weird in a bad way. There's really nothing happening at all.
Lost in the Wakefield Triangle: These bug things in this guy's shed can grow his rhubarb super fast for him. The Doctor thinks they're evil at first, but it turns out they just accidentally killed a guy so it's fine. 3 lets them stay and the farmer guy gets more business.
The Walls of Confinement: 3 watches a tiger in a zoo, accidentally teleports a boy into the enclosure, oops. Then we get some disappointing monologue as 3 realizes "wow it's almost like my exile is me being in a cage away from my natural environment, this is so sad, can the Time Lords rescind the exile?"
The last 3 stories I listed were all early Short Trips stories, can you tell I don't like them very much?
Best Short Stories:
The Monster in the Woods: It's like a cross between Resolution, Dalek, and Into the Dalek. Really good, can't really say much more without spoiling it.
The Christmas Inversion: 3, Jo, and Yates show up during the events of the Christmas Invasion, confusing Jackie immensely. 10 takes some of 3's regen energy to wake up on the Sycorax space ship, which I like as an explanation a lot more than him having some tea. The whole story is pure fanwank yet also absolutely amazing.
Hidden Talent: The Master makes a talent show in the stupidest scheme ever just because he wants the Doctor's attention.
...And Eternity in an Hour: Time storms are ruining this planet, wreaking havoc on it and killing everyone. The people create an elder god to get rid of it, which expectedly backfires on them all.
Hide and Seek: A Dalek story, and surprisingly better than any of them on TV. There's not anything innovative about it, it's just nice, and 3 is characterized very well.
Morphology: Aliens come which remove people's ability to say any vowels other than O, leading to some very creative writing. The plot itself is kind of dumb, but the creativity turns it into a good story.
The Switching: The Doctor and Master switch bodies and just mess with each other's lives until they switch back. Amazing and a perfect summary of their relationship.
Separation Day: Very few stories get a 10/10 on my spreadsheet, this one did (though I am a little more lenient on short trips). It features messing about with time, great writing, and 3 giving some amazing speeches.
Worst Short Stories:
There are so many, it's hard to choose. But I'll try and keep it somewhat limited.
Still Lives: There's no resolution, but that's fine, because there's no plot to begin with. They also had to chuck some transphobia in there out of nowhere just because why not I guess.
Angel: Nothing happens and nothing is explained and then an old lady dies and gives the Doctor his knowledge of time travel back, except he doesn't read it because he doesn't feel like it. Then next story he will go on to whine about being stuck on Earth and how he'd give anything to leave.
Jigsaw: "I know, I'll describe the same event from 4 people's perspectives, and give no context or plot!" - the author, shortly before submitting this to the editor, who must have approved it because they just wanted to go home for the day already. Also features a character named Jizz, proving the editor never read it.
Touch of the Nurazh: The Nurazh is a mind controlling creature the Master is using, it unsurprisingly turns against him. 3 defeats it by chucking it and himself off a building. This kills him, he regenerates, but then unregenerates for reasons never explained.
Come Friendly Bombs: 3 and Jo go back to an anti-nuke protest, and stay there for 8 excruciating pages of the 10 page story. 3 keeps telling her that even though he hates nukes and violence, he can't do anything to stop them being developed because Laws of Time. The story ends with him going back in time and helping the scientists fucking invent nukes. I have no idea what the author was thinking, but it completely ruined the story and made him an unbelievable hypocrite.
Lost and Founded: Literally no plot at all. They land on an abandoned beach, some insane guy who talks with really annoying spelling mistakes, making reading it almost impossible, is watching them, and they find his patterns in the sand. Then they go away and nothing is explained, and the guy says it's a Christmas present that he saw more people on his I guess deserted island.
/CarpenteButterfly/Baronet: 3 and Jo are taken to a secret something or other place in the near future. We find out that Jo apparently dies in a house fire in 2028, then they're implanted with some sort of chips by an alien, their memories are wiped, and they're put back in the TARDIS, and no explanation for anything is ever given.
The Bad Guy: There's a more interesting plot going on that could be a full story, but instead here are snippets focusing on how this alien loves Jo. Everything is boring and awful and I hate it a lot, give us a story based off the events around this and it would be infinitely better.
She Knew: 3 talks to a gay guy whose boyfriend just broke up with him in a bar in the 70s (or 80s) directly after the events of The Green Death, and tells him that he knows how he feels because he just lost someone too. Nothing really happens.
The Lampblack Wars: Literally what. Something about living ink and 2 planets got shrunken down to the size of an atom and they've been having a war in this lady's handbag? And then she drinks something and dies, killing them too? And then it's all over, the end. All these awful short trips never resolve anything.
Countdown to TV Action: Gary Russell (who else) attempts to capture the feel of the TV Action comics and succeeds perfectly, in that it's complete shit, has no plot, nobody is in character, and I hate it quite a lot.
Comics:
I actually read the TV Action Comics this time around, and oh man do I wish I hadn't. I won't dignify them with a good and bad comic section, because only 2 of them were levels even approaching tolerable. The art is awful, the plots are either nonexistent, nonsense, or drawn out, and nobody is ever in character. Though being out of character does give 3 lovely lines like "I have returned to destroy the thing you hold most dear."
I did read the first 4th Doctor TV Action comic recently, and it was actually legitimately good. Which is shocking, but it gives me some hope for the future of them until I hit the DWM ones, which I know are actually good.
Best TV Stories:
I'll be brief and just list them, everyone and their mother has watched these and reviewed them already.
Spearhead from Space, Inferno, Terror of the Autons, the Daemons, The Time Monster (that's an uncommon opinion I know, but I love it, though it could be a few parts shorter. I absolutely love the TARDIS set in it, another unpopular opinion), The 3 Doctors, Carnival of Monsters, The Green Death, The Time Warrior, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Planet of the Spiders
Worst TV Stories:
Ambassadors of Death, Colony in Space, Day of the Daleks, The Sea Devils, The Mutants, Planet of the Daleks, Death to the Daleks
Final Thoughts:
Now, all this complaining is not to say I hate 3. As the Doctor, I love his character, even if he is sometimes rather inconsistent. But the stories surrounding him, the underuse of the exile for drama or really anything other than to explain the budget cut, all make me look at the era less fondly. I think Pertwee seems like one of the funniest actors to play the Doctor, and he reminds me of Capaldi in some ways. Being a fan of the show, the writers letting him add his own creations in (e.g. Capaldi with the "only children can hear you name" line in TUAT, Pertwee with things like the Whomobile, off the top of my head), and just seeming like he loved being the Doctor so much, even more than other actors.
My current ranking of all Doctors is:
12/8 > 5 > 11 > 6 > 7 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 9 > War > 4 > 13 > 10 (as you can see comparing it to my other posts, it doesn't change much)
I'll miss the UNIT family, the Brig, and 3 himself, but what I certainly won't miss is 3 seasons worth of almost constant earthbound stories, often with similar plots. This has been the fastest one so far, taking me just 2 months and 2 weeks to complete (I had to take a 2 week-long break at one point because I was going to liveblog Rags on the Discord server on a certain date, so I had to kept myself occupied by catching up on things like 1DAs and Early Adventures that came out after I finished the era already).
And now onwards to Tom Baker. My biggest problem with him was just how long he stayed, it killed my momentum the first 2 times I watched classic. So it'll either compound the problem, with 7 seasons + even more EU material because of the 4DAs, or it won't be so bad, with me not being in any real rush to finish it like I was the first time I watched classic.
I think I'll have to do 2 posts on his era, because I'm already at 36k out of 40k characters that Reddit lets me post at a time. I think I'll do it after Leela leaves, it seems a good midway point, and gives me a chance to listen to some of the 4DAs.
And that's about it, I think it'll take me about 3 or 4 months to reach that point, which is about normal for these posts. See you then I guess. AND REMEMBER, NEVER EVER EAT PEARS
Fun fact to end on: UNIT operatives are 10 times more likely to spontaneously combust than civilians. (Source: No Future, 1994)

要什么Hippa碟？来这里说吧！能找到的，刺猬就发！要East Coast？要Wild Wild West？要Dirty South？要Detroit 313？要Old Skool？还是Nu Skool？刺猬不知道大家要什么~，但是，大家要的，刺猬就发！资源是用来共享的，音乐无疆界。未特别注明的，资源均来自海海。Share！第一弹！黑眼豆豆！Behind the Front [1998]

从洛杉矶初出茅庐的黑眼豆豆合唱团，是一支深受灵魂乐、爵士乐与拉丁节奏与现场演唱精神所启发的放克/嘻哈队伍，由will.i.am、apl.de.ap、Taboo 三位团员所组成，在2000年发行了第二张获音乐评论网站All Music Guide四颗星喝采的专辑「Bridging The Gap」，他们跨越类型音乐，并多元採撷拉丁、印地安、亚洲民族旋律的音乐地球村创作态度深获音乐人肯定，第2张专辑「Bridging The Gap」就吸引了难民营合唱团(The Fugees)创作主将怀克里夫金(Wyclef Jean)与DJ Premiere携手掌舵制作大任，葛莱美奖最佳女歌手得主梅西葛蕾(Macy Gray)、嘻哈名团De La Soul、Mos Def、Jurassic 5、法国节奏蓝调/爵士女子乐团Les Nubian也来助阵，其中与梅西葛蕾合唱的"Request Line"攀登饶舌单曲榜亚军 Fallin' Up Clap Your Hands Joints & Jam The Way You Make Me Feel Movement Karma Be Free Say Goodbye Duet Communication What Is It Que Dices? A8 Love Won't Wait Head Bobs Positivityftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/hiphop/Black_Eyed_Peas/Black_Eyed_Peas_Behind_The_Front.rarBridging the Gap [2000]

在2000年发行了第二张获音乐评论网站All Music Guide四颗星喝采的专辑「Bridging The Gap」，他们跨越类型音乐，并多元採撷拉丁、印地安、亚洲民族旋律的音乐地球村创作态度深获音乐人肯定，第2张专辑「Bridging The Gap」就吸引了难民营合唱团(The Fugees)创作主将怀克里夫金(Wyclef Jean)与DJ Premiere携手掌舵制作大任，葛莱美奖最佳女歌手得主梅西葛蕾(Macy Gray)、嘻哈名团De La Soul、Mos Def、Jurassic 5、法国节奏蓝调/爵士女子乐团Les Nubian也来助阵，其中与梅西葛蕾合唱的"Request Line"攀登饶舌单曲榜亚军。 BEP Empire Weekends Get original Hot Cali To New York Lil' Lil' On My Own Release Bridging The Gaps Go Go Rap Song Bringing It Back Tell Your Mama Come Request + Lineftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/hiphop/Black_Eyed_Peas/Black_Eyed_Peas_Bridging_The_Gap.rarElephunk [2003]

Hands Up Labor Day (It's A Holiday) Let's Get Retarded Hey Mama Shut Up[推荐] Smells Like Funk Latin Girls Sexy Fly Away The Boogie That Be The Apl Song[推荐] Anxiety Where Is The Love[推荐]ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/hiphop/Black_Eyed_Peas/Black_Eyed_Peas_Elephunk.rarMonkey Business [2005]

Pump It [推荐] Don't Phunk With My Heart[推荐] My Style Don't Lie My Humps[推荐] Like That Dum Diddly Feel It Gone Going[推荐] They Don't Want Music Disco Club Bebot Ba Bump Audio Delite At Low Fidelity Unionftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/hiphop/Black_Eyed_Peas/Black_Eyed_Peas_Monkey_Business.rarChris Brown...

专辑介绍：Chris Brown's Run It with Juelz: is hot. He just got in the game and he's doin' things with the diplomats. He will set the vibe going with his next hit, "Yo" and he will be sure to impress. Remember this name: Chris Brown. He'll hit number 1 on the charts. I'll holla at dis sexy 16 year old from Va.This young artsist Chris Brown really top tthe charts with his first song "Run it". I was really impressed how people reacted so greatly to a newcomers reach toward the top of the charts. Me... I'm feeling the album and the single with juelz santana is very upbeat and it makes me wanna dance every time i hear it..This kid has the look and the moves.His video for his first single is off... 专辑曲目：01. Intro02. Run It! (Feat. Juelz Santana)03. Yo (Excuse Me Miss)04. Young Love05. Gimme That06. Ya Man Ain't Me07. Winner08. Ain't No Way (You Won't Love Me)09. What's My Name (Feat. Noah)10. Is This Love?11. Poppin཈. Just Fine13. Say Goodbye14. Run It! (Remix) (Feat. Bow Wow & Jermaine Dupri)15. Thank Youhttp://www.mediafire.com/?1gjzujynuyq第二弹！Tupac！西岸神的10张专辑，13张CD

歌手名称：2Pac专辑名称：《Loyal to the Game》发行时间：2004年12月14日1. Soldier Like Me (aka Return of the Soulja)2. Uppercut3. Out On Bail 4. Ghetto Gospel5. Black Cotton6. Loyal to the Game7. Thugs Get Lonely Too8. N.I.G.G.A. (Never Ignorant About Getting Goals Accomplished)9. Who Do You Love? 10. Crooked Nigga Too 11. Don't You Trust Me 12. Hennessey13. Thug 4 Life 14. Po Nigga Blues 15. Hennessey 16. Crooked Nigga Too 17. Loyal to the Game ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac_Loyal_to_the_Game.rar2Pac - 《Pac's Life》

专辑曲目：1. Untouchable (Swiss Beatz Remix)2. Pac's Life 3. DumpinƊ. Playa Cardz Right (Female)5. Whatz Next 6. Sleep 7. International 8. Don't Sleep 9. Soon As I Get Home10. Playa Cardz Right (Male) 11. Don't Stop Listen 12. Pac's Life (Remix) 13. Untouchable ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/200612/2Pac_Pac's.Life.rar

2pacalypsenow -- Released November 12, 1991 TrappedSoulja's StoryI Don't Give A F-ckViolentWords Of WisdomSomething WickedCrooked Ass NiggaIf My Homie CallsBrenda's Got A BabyTha' LunaticRebel Of The UndergroundPart Time Mutha 下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/cd_2Pacalypse_Now.rar

Strictly for My N.I.G.G.A.Z -- Released February 1, 1993Holla If Ya Hear MePac's Theme (Interlude)Point The FingaSomething 2 Die 4 (Interlude)Last WordzSouljah's RevengePeep GameStrugglin'Guess Who's BackRepresentin' 93Keep Ya Head UpStrictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.The Streetz R DeathrowI Get AroundPapa'z Song5 Deadly Venomz下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac-Strictly.4.my.N.I.G.G.A.Z.rar

Thug Life -- Released 1994Bury Me A G Don't Get It Twisted Shit Don't Stop Pour Out A Little Liquor Stay True How Long Will They Mourn Me? Under Pressure Street Fame Cradle To The Grave Str8 Ballin 下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac_Thug_Life.rar

(.2Pac.-.2.Pac.-.Tupac.-)1995.-.Me.Against.The.World.rar1.Intro 2.It Ain`t Easy 3.Can U Get Away 4.Old School 5.[内容被过滤，请注意论坛文明] The World 6.Death Around The Corner 7.Outlaw - (with Dramacydal) 8.If I Die 2Nite 9.Me Against The World - (with Dramacydal) 10.So Many Tears 11.Temptations 12.Young Niggaz 13.Heavy In The Game - (with Richie Rich) 14.Lord Knows 15.Dear Mama 下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac_Me_Against_The_World.rar

R U Still Down? (Remember Me) -- Released December 16 1997 Disc OneRedemptionOpen FireR U Still Down? (Remember Me)HellrazorThug StyleWhere Do We Go From Here (interlude)I Wonder If Heaven Got A GhettoNothing To LoseI'm Gettin' MoneyLife To Kick ItF*ck All Y'allLet Them Thangs GoDefinition Of A Thug NiggaDisc TwoReady 4 WhateverWhen I Get FreeHold On Be StrongI'm Losin ItFake Ass BitchesDo For LoveEnemies With MeNothin But Love16 On Death RowI Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto (hip-hop version)When I Get Free IIBlack Starry Night (interlude)Only Fear Of Death 下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac-R.U.Still.Down-1997.rar

Greatest Hits ---------- Released November 24, 1998 Disc 1Keep Ya Head Up2 Of Amerikaz Most WantedTemptationsGod Bless The DeadHail MaryMe Against The WorldHow Do U Want ItSo Many TearsUnconditional LoveTrappedLife Goes OnHit 'em UpDisc 2Troublesome 96'Brenda's Got A BabyI Ain't Mad At ChaI Get AroundChangesCalifornia Love (Original Version)Picture Me Rollin'How Long Will They Mourn MeToss It UpDear MamaAll About UTo Live & Die In L.A.Heartz Of Men下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac_Greatest_Hits.rar

Still I Rise -- Released December 21, 1999Letter to the PresidentStill I RiseSecretz of WarBaby Don't Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II)As the World TurnsBlack JesuzHomeboyzHell 4 a HustlerHigh SpeedThe Good Die YoungKilluminatiTear Drops and Closed CasketsTattoo TearsU Can Be TouchedY'all Don't Know Us下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac-Still.I.Rise-1999.rar

歌手名称：2Pac专辑名称：《All Eyez On Me》发行时间: 1996.2.13专辑曲目：Book One01. Ambitionz Az A Ridah02. All Bout U03. Skandalouz04. Got My Mind Made Up05. How Do U Want It06. 2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted07. No More Pain08. Heartz Of Men09. Life Goes On10. Only God Can Judge Me11. Tradin War Stories12. California Love (remix)13. I Ain't Mad At Cha14. What'z Ya Phone #Book Two15. Can't C Me16. Shorty Wanna Be A Thug17. Holla At Me18. Wonda Why They Call U Bytch19. When We Ride20. Thug Passion21. Picture Me Rollinདྷ. Check Out Time23. Ratha Be Ya Nigga24. All Eyez On Me25. Run Tha Streetz26. Ain't Hard 2 Find27. Heaven Ain't Hard 2 Findftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac-All.Eyez.On.Me.rarNo Way Out

专辑介绍： 吹牛老爹对于每一个对Hiphop音乐有过一些了解的人来说都不陌生。作为一个公司老板和制作人，Puff Daddy(现在改名为P.Diddy)在Hiphop界早就是大名鼎鼎，但是1997年发行的这张No Way Out向世人证明了Puff Daddy不仅仅是一个成功的商人和音乐制作人，更是一个成功的歌手. 这张于97年发行的No Way Out是Puff Daddy的首张专辑,Puff Daddy旗下唱片公司的签约歌手都在这张专辑中献声。其中根据Police经典名曲Every Breath You Take所改编的I'll Be Missing You是向Puff Daddy的良师益友---死去的Notorious B.I.G致敬的作品,这首歌几乎在全球同时拿下冠军宝座.另一首单曲Been Around The World也在稍后攻下美国榜冠军次席.这张专辑让全球乐迷见到Puff Daddy在制作之外的演唱方面的才华. 专辑曲目： 1.No Way Out (Intro) 2.Victory 3.Been Around The World 4.What You Gonna Do? 5.Don't Stop What You're Doing 6.Don't Stop What You're Doing 7.Do You Know? 8.Young G's9.I Love You Baby 10.It's All About The Benjamins (Remix) 11.Pain12.Is This The End?13.I Got The Power 14.Friend15.Senorita16.I'll Be Missing You17.Can't Nobody Hold Me Down ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Puff.Daddy-No.Way.Out.rar第三弹！Jay-Z！

Jay-Z-专辑曲目:01. Intro/A Million And One Questions/Rhyme No More 02. The City Is Mine 03. I Know What Girls Like 04. Imaginary Player 05. Streets Is Watching 06. Friend or Foe 98 07. Lucky Me 08. (Always Be My) Sunshine 09. Who You Wit II 10. Face Off 11. Real Niggaz 12. Rap Game/Crack Game 13. Where I'm From 14. You Must Love Me http://www.mediafire.com/?3zztvldaroy

专辑名称:Vol. 2, Hard Knock Life发行时间:1998年9月29日专辑曲目:01. Intro - Hand It Down 02. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) 03. If I Should Die 04. Ride or Die 05. Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99) 06. Money, Cash, Hoes 07. A Week Ago 08. Coming Of Age (Da Sequel) 09. Can I Get A... 10. Paper Chase 11. Reservoir Dogs 12. It's Like That 13. It's Alright 14. Money Ain't A Thang ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-Z/Jay-Z_Vol.2.Hard.Knock.Life.rar

专辑名称:Vol. 3... Life & Times Of S. Carter发行时间:1999年12月28日专辑曲目:01. Hova Song - (intro) 02. So Ghetto 03. Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up) - (featuring Beanie Sigel/Amil) 04. Dope Man 05. Things That U Do - (featuring Mariah Carey) 06. It's Hot (Some Like It Hot) 07. Snoopy Track - (featuring Juvenile) 08. S. Carter - (featuring Amil) 09. Pop 4 Roc - (featuring Beanie Sigel/Memphis Bleek/Amil) 10. Watch Me - (featuring Dr. Dre) 11. Big Pimpin' - (featuring UGK) 12. There's Been A Murder 13. Come And Get Me 14. Nymp 15. Hova Song - (outro) ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-Z/Jay-Z_Vol.3.Life.and.Times.of.S.Carter.rarJay-Z.-.

专辑曲目：1. H To The Izzo 2. Take Over 3. Girls, Girls, Girls 4. Jigga What 5. Big Pimpin 6. Ain't No Love 7. Can I Get A/Hard Knock Life/Ain't No... (Medley) 8. Can't Knock The Hustle (Medley) 9. Song Cry 10. Give It To Me 11. Jigga, Jigga http://www.mediafire.com/?5vbjimdnz3h

专辑介绍: 1996年，Jay-Z录制并发行了自己的第一张个人专辑，同时也是Roc-A-Fella唱片公司的第一张专辑《Reasonable Doubt》，这张发行自东西海岸说唱音乐争斗最残酷时期的帮匪说唱专辑非常令人惊奇，多首单曲成为排行榜主打，到了如今他也被公认是Jay-Z在上个世纪最杰出的专辑，同时也成为了帮匪说唱专辑的经典作品。《Reasonable Doubt》的初获成功也为Jay-Z的下一张专辑以及Roc-A-Fella唱片公司的发展开了一个好头。1997年，Jay-Z的第二张专辑《In My Lifetime, Vol. 1》发行，富有商业头脑的Jay-Z在这张专辑中为了吸引更多的听众以及扩大他的知名度和唱片公司的影响力，把专辑的音乐风格从偏激的帮匪说唱转变为了更加易于各方面听众接受的流行说唱，同时在专辑中邀请了包括吹牛老爹Sean "Puffy" Combs在内的多位大牌歌星助阵，而这些措施效果显着，不仅拥有多首单曲打榜，而且这张专辑的销量也迅速超过了《Reasonable Doubt》，杀进了Billboard 200排行榜的前三名，Jay-Z已经成为了一名一流的说唱歌星。 ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z-Reasonable_Doubt.rar

专辑名称:The Blueprint发行时间:2001年9月11日专辑曲目:01. Ruler's Back, The 02. Takeover 03. Izzo (H.O.V.A) 04. Girls, Girls, Girls 05. Jigga That N***a 06. U Don't Know 07. Hola Hovito 08. Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love) 09. Never Change 10. Song Cry 11. All I Need 12. Renegade - (featuring Eminem) 13. Blueprint (Momma Loves Me) ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z_The.Blueprint.rar

专辑名称:The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse发行时间:2002年11月12日专辑曲目:CD1:01. A Dream (featuring Faith Evans and Notorious B.I.G.) 02. Hovi Baby 03. The Watcher 2 (featuring Dr. Dre, Rakim & Truth Hurts) 04. ༿ Bonnie & Clyde (featuring Beyonce Knowles) 05. Excuse Me Miss 06. What They Gonna Do (featuring Sean Paul) 07. All Around the World (featuring LaToiya Williams) 08. Poppin' Tags (featuring Big Boi, Killer Mike & Twista) 09. F**k All Nite 10. The Bounce 11. I Did It My Way CD2:01. Diamonds Is Forever 02. Guns & Roses (featuring Lenny Kravitz) 03. U Don't Know (remix, featuring M.O.P.) 04. Meet the Parents Listen Listen Listen 05. Some How Some Way (featuring Beanie Sigel and Scarface) 06. Some People Hate 07. Blueprint 2 08. N***a Please (featuring Young Chris) 09. 2 Many Hoes 10. As One (featuring Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Young Guns, Peedi Crakk, Sparks & Rell) 11. A Ballad for the Fallen Soldier 12. Show You How (bonus track) 13. B****s & Sisters (bonus track) 14. What They Gonna Do Part II (bonus track) www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z\_The.Blueprint.2-The.Gif"/>t.And.The.Curse.rar

专辑名称:Blueprint 2.1发行时间:2003年8月8日专辑曲目:01. Dream, A - (featuring Faith Evans/The Notorious B.I.G.) 02. Hovi Baby 03. Watcher, The - (featuring Dr. Dre/Truth Hurts/Rakim) 04. ༿ Bonnie & Clyde - (featuring Beyonce Knowles) 05. Excuse Me Miss 06. All Around The World - (featuring LaToiya Williams) 07. Guns & Roses - (featuring Lenny Kravitz) 08. U Don't Know - (remix, featuring M.O.P.) 09. Meet The Parents 10. Some How Some Way - (featuring Beanie Sigel/Scarface) 11. Bounce, The - (featuring Kanye West) 12. What They Gonna Do Part II / Excuse Me Miss Again / Stop - (hidden, hidden, bonus track)ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z_The.Blueprint.2.1.rarJay-Z——《The Black Album》

[唱片点评] 说这张专辑是Jay-Z音乐生涯的最后一张个人专辑你信么？可是唱片宣传的时候确实是这么说的，但是不论怎样，这样的噱头让这张专辑在发行短短四天之后就卖出了46万3千张，成为了Jay-Z的第六张冠军专辑，这一销量甚至比他的经典专辑《The Blueprint》在2001年9月份的成绩还要高出一点，不过对于Jay-Z这样的说唱歌手来说，即便没有这样的宣传也照样会卖出这样的成绩出来。 假如这真是Jay-Z的最后一张专辑的话，那么对于歌迷来说也完全没有什么遗憾了，因为这的确是一张非常出色的专辑。在这张专辑中，Jay-Z没有邀请任何其他歌手与他合作，所以，从专辑的制作角度来讲，这张专辑比《The Blueprint》甚至还要能体现出Jay-Z的个人风格。虽然没有大牌歌星合唱，但是却拥有超豪华的制作阵容，单曲的几名制作人分别是Timbaland，Eminem，The Neptunes，Kanye West，Just Blaze这些声名显赫的金牌制作人。 音乐方面，整张专辑都营造出了告别的氛围，《December 4th》是Jay-Z献给他的母亲的歌曲，把这首深情的单曲作为专辑的第一支单曲，不免会让人有所联想，这可能的确是Jay-Z的告别专辑了，而更让人体会深刻的则是在《Moment of Clarity》中，Jay-Z居然回忆了他的父亲，并且在单曲最后还表示出了原谅已经去世的父亲的想法，这足以让人深陷到这张专辑的告别氛围中去，值得一提的是《Moment of Clarity》的制作人和混音是和Jay-Z有着相似经历的Eminem。整张专辑的最后一首歌名字是“My 1st Song(我的第一首歌)”，看到他就会让人莫名的产生出一中离别时的伤感。这张专辑也许不是Jay-Z最经典的专辑，但也绝对是前三位的，以这张专辑作为Jay-Z的谢幕大作也足以答谢歌迷了，不过可能绝大多数的歌迷都在等待Jay-Z的加演曲目。 [曲目介绍]1.Interlude2.December 4th3.What More Can I Say4.Encore5.Change Clothes6.Dirt Off Your Shoulder7.Threat8.Moment Of Clarity9.99 Problems10.Public Service Announcement (Interlude)11.Justify My Thug12.Lucifer13.Allure14.My 1st Song ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z_The.Black.Album.rar

中文名称：Kingdom Come (王者再臨)发行时间：2006年11月21日专辑歌手： Jay-Z (傑斯)地区：美国语言：英语简介：专辑简介：嘻哈教皇宣布要复出 新专辑【Kingdom Come/王者再临】 西洋乐坛大腕们纷纷表态，争相合作包括肯伊威斯特Kanye West、提姆巴兰Timbaland 菲董Pharrell Williams和德瑞博士Dr. Dre 甚至连Coldplay主唱Chris Martin也在专辑中跨刀，不可错过 ！专辑曲目：1. The Prelude2. Oh My God3. Kingdom Come4. Show Me What You Got5. Lost Ones (Ft. Chrissette Michelle)6. Do U Wanna Ride (Ft. John Legend) 7. 30 Something8. I Made It9. Anything (Ft. Usher & Pharrell)10. Hollywood (Ft. Beyonce)11. Trouble 12. Dig A Hole (Ft. Sterling Simms)13. Minority Report (Ft. Ne-Yo)14. Beach Chair (Ft. Chris Martin) ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z-Kingdom.Come.rar

专辑名称：Greatest Hits专辑歌手：Jay-Z发行时间：2006年09月28日专辑风格：Hip-hop、Rap专辑介绍：Jay-Z自从1996年出道以来迅速的就成为了整个东海岸说唱的统帅级人物，他不仅是一位最顶尖的说唱歌手同时还是最出色的音乐制作人之一，在流行音乐界拥有很高的地位。除此以外，Jay-Z所经营的Roc-A-Fella唱片公司，在整个黑人音乐市场中也是商业成绩最突出的厂牌之一，对于整个说唱音乐的市场有着非常重要的影响力。Jay-Z的每一张专辑销量都超过白金，而在进入新世纪以后，随着音乐上不断的取得新成就，以及音乐影响力的增强，Jay-Z的触角也从说唱音乐本身渐渐移向其他音乐上，比如加大与东海岸以外的南方说唱和西海岸说唱之间的合作以及在R&B音乐的制作等方面，为推动说唱音乐以及整个流行音乐都做出了不小的贡献。 Jay-Z原名Shawn Carter，又名Sean Carter，于1970年12月4日出生在美国纽约的布鲁克林区，和在这里出生的其他说唱歌星一样，Shawn Carter的父亲在他很小的时候就离开了他和他的母亲Gloria Carter，这段艰苦的岁月是Shawn Carter印象最为深刻的。少年的Shawn Carter独自撑起了他和母亲的生活，不久他就成了街头一名普通的黑人说唱歌手，最初的时候他为自己取了一个源自爵士乐的名字“Jazzy”，不久之后简化为Jay-Z。当一名说唱歌手并不能挣足够的钱，为了生存，Jay-Z还必须和那里其他的年轻人一样从事一些并不光明的行为，不过更多的时候Jay-Z还是靠在一些小录音室自己录制一些磁带然后拿出去卖来赚钱糊口。在Jay-Z的说唱才华渐渐被附近的人所了解之后，Jay-Z开始在当地一些小的说唱组合和一些歌手那里打短工，在这里他有机会接触到说唱音乐的制作等工作，而这些唱片录制工业也激起了Jay-Z的野心，Jay-Z并没有像其他歌手一样和大的唱片公司签约，而是和两个朋友Damon Dash和Kareem "Biggs" Burke一起创办了Roc-A-Fella唱片公司，他把自己的唱片公司依附于Def Jam公司(当时还叫做Priority Records)的旗下，并且开始制作和发行音乐专辑。 这张是Jay-Z最近刚刚发行的Greatest Hits,专辑中收录了他的一些精典曲目专辑曲目：1. Can I Get A 2. Hard Knock Life 3. Wishing On A Star 4. Can't Knock The Hustle (Ft Mary J. Blige) 5. Ain't No Nigga (Ft Foxy Brown) 6. Ride or Die 7. Brooklyn's Finest (Ft Notorious Big) 8. Imaginary Player 9. Friend or Foe 10. Friend or Foe 98 11. More Money More Cash More Hoes 12. City Is Mine (Ft Blackstreet) 13. Reservoir Dogs (Ft Blackstreet) 14. I Know What Girls Like (Ft Puff Daddy & Lil' Kim) 15. 22 Twos 16. Money Ain't A Thang (Ft Jermaine Dupri) 17. Dead Presidents Ii 18. Regrets ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z_Greatest.Hits.rarBIGGIE

专辑名称：Ready To Die 发行时间：1994年09月13日专辑介绍：由于本体的死亡而产生的替身，依据运动的速度而展开攻击。因为没有本体，所以无法用消灭本体的办法来消灭替身，也可一所Notorious B.I.G.是不灭的，无论如何都没有办法将其杀死，它还会通过吞食能量的途径来长大。 是一个不寻常的巧合吧，The Notorious B.I.G.在1994年发行的第一张专辑名字就叫《Ready to Die》，像是暗示了Biggie三年后遭枪击身亡的悲剧。然而，《Ready to Die》着实是这位早逝英才震撼说唱乐界的超级武器，在将Biggie自己半辈子的帮派生活缩影在80年代Funk节奏中的《Ready to Die》里，毒品，谋杀样样都真实地穿插在Biggie比帮匪说唱更黑暗的音乐笔记里，The Notorious B.I.G.拥有将幽默感发挥在人生最黑暗一面上的功力，能以生命历练来左右创作的态度，实在难得。但是专辑中两首歌重混音后的Top 10单曲《Big Poppa》和《One More Chance》却区别于整体上深沉的专辑走向，带来了慵懒的Funk风情。专辑曲目：1.Intro 2.Things Done Changed 3.Gimme The Loot 4.Machine Gun Funk 5.Warning 6.Ready To Die 7.One More Chance 8.[内容被过滤，请注意论坛文明] Me(Interlude)9.Juicy 10.Everyday Stuggle 11.Me & My Bitch 12.Big Poppa 13.Respect 14.Friend Of Mine 15.Unbelievable 16.Suicidal Thoughtsftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/The_Notorious_B.I.G/The.Notorious.B.I.G_Ready.to.Die.rar

专辑歌手：The Notorious B.I.G专辑名称：Life After Death发行时间：1996年专辑风格：Gangsta Rap专辑介绍： 1996注定是值得铭记的一年。曾挑衅声称与Faith Evans有染的BIG的彼岸死敌2pac在9月遭枪击身亡，人们纷纷猜测Tupac的死是否与由来已久的东西海岸说唱帮派之间的斗争有关。“果不其然”，在1997年3月9日早上，the Notorious B.I.G.在参加过“灵魂列车奖”晚会之后回酒店的路上也遭到不明身份枪手的袭击，在被保镖送往医院的途中身亡，而此时距Tupac的死仅有半年。这次的枪杀事件再次震惊了整个美国音乐界。在the Notorious B.I.G.死后，他生前已经录制好的第二张专辑按原计划在3月底发行。这张名为《Life After Death》的双CD专辑似乎专门就是用来对抗生前死敌Tupac的双CD专辑《All Eyez on Me》的。不出所料，《Life After Death》在发行第一周已近70万张的销量登顶Billboard专辑榜，并连续四周蝉联冠军。首支单曲《Hypnotize》很快成为Pop单曲榜中的冠军单曲，而随着另一支单曲《Mo Money Mo Problems》的再度折桂，the Notorious B.I.G.成为首位在离世之后还能两夺单曲榜冠军的歌手。随后，另一支单曲《Sky's the Limit》也顺利破金。《Life After Death》在发行不到两年内销量就达到了1000万张。专辑曲目：Disc 101 - Life After Death Intro02 - Somebody's Gotta Die03 - Hypnotize04 - Kick In The Door05 - #! @ You Tonight (featuring R. Kelly)06 - Last Day (featuring The Lox)07 - I Love The Dough (featuring Jay-Z & Angela Winbush)08 - What's Beef09 - B.I.G. Interlude10 - Mo Money Mo Problems (featuring Mase & Puff Daddy)11 - Niggas Bleed12 - I Got A Story To TellDisc 201 - Notorious Thugs02 - Miss U03 - Another04 - Going Back To Cali05 - Ten Crack Commandments06 - Playa Hater07 - Nasty Boy08 - Sky's The Limit (featuring 112)09 - The World Is Filled...(featuring Too Short & Puff Daddy)10 - My Downfall (featuring DMC)11 - Long Kiss Goodnight12 - You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/The_Notorious_B.I.G/The.Notorious.B.I.G_Life.After.Death.rar

藝人名稱：The Notorious B.I.G. 專輯名稱：Born Again 發行公司：BMG樂評：歌手在去世後仍有唱片推出的事例在歐美歌壇並不鮮見，借助其生前的名望，唱片公司往往可以再大賺一筆。最近這方面的例子出在已死了近3年的B.I.G.身上，這位當年無論身材還是地位都屬於巨無霸級的人物的第3張專輯《Born Again》日前在Bad Boy Entertainment旗下推出，聲勢依然浩大。原名Christopher Wallace的B.I.G.是美國Hip-Hop界的一個傳奇，也是Gangster Rap的代表人物。他的一生簡直就是這種倍受爭議的音樂流派的精彩縮影。生長於紐約Brooklyn區的B.I.G.從小目睹了黑人貧民區的種種混亂景象，也深受同樣脫胎於街頭的Hip-Hop音樂的薰染。販賣毒品和唱Rap是他從窮街陋巷間自學來的生存本領，但這也為他的悲劇埋下了禍根。 在現在已大名鼎鼎的Puffy Daddy的賞識與幫助下，B.I.G.得以成為一名Rap巨星，1994年，他的首張專輯《Ready To Die》以其出色的音樂表現震動了紐約音樂圈，銷量逾八白金。B.I.G.的成名鞏固了以Puffy Daddy為首的東岸Rap流派的勢力，卻也加深了這一集團與西岸流派間的矛盾。95年開始愈演愈烈，逐漸受到美國全國上下注意的所謂Rap War最終以兩岸的兩位代表人物Tupac及B.I.G.的神秘遇刺而告終。B.I.G.死時年僅24歲。痛失好友的Puffy Daddy曾在他那首著名的“I'll Be Missing U”中寄託了深切的哀思，而這張由他再次操刀製作的《Born Again》仍可被視為Hip-hop界老大對B.I.G.的致敬。除了重新整理B.I.G.遺留下來的錄音素材外，Puffy Daddy還召集了諸多Rap/Hip-Hop/Soul明星如Snoop Dogg, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Black Rob等?這張唱片添磚加瓦，這些助陣者中，有的在B.I.G.身亡時還是無名小卒，可見他對黑人兄弟姐妹們的影響之深。《Born Again》仍舊保持了B.I.G.生前著稱的低沈Hip-Hop節奏底線與不同尋常、毫不造作的敏銳歌詞，也不乏很有水準的好歌如“Dead Wrong”，但畢竟這是一部遺腹之作，與B.I.G.唱對手戲的藝人們無緣與他在錄音室中面對面的合作，也就使得某些作品缺少真正的交流感，免不了有湊數之嫌。但如果你是B.I.G.的歌迷，這張唱片仍舊會讓你大呼過癮的。B.I.G.的光輝沒有人能遮掩得住，即使在他死後。想來也很有趣，B.I.G.共出過三張唱片：生前的《Ready To Die》及死後的《Life After Death》、《Born Again》，其主題均與生死有關，好像B.I.G.早已料定並參透了這一切。有傳聞說：B.I.G.其實根本沒死，他、不過是借死亡耍了個花招，開了個玩笑而已，現在他還躲在不知哪個角落裏做音樂，享受生活?！真相到底如何，恐怕沒人知曉，反正關於B.I.G.的所有事情都為Rap這一種族色彩極強音樂塗抹上了神秘的一筆。說不定，不久以後，我們又會在唱片店裏發現B.I.G.的第四、第五張專輯呢，不過，他可能已換了另一個奇怪的名字。 專輯曲目：1. Biggie 2. Big Booty Hoes 3. Born Again (Intro) 4. Can I Get Witcha 5. Come On 6. Dangerous Mc's 7. Dead Wrong (Remix) 8. Hope You Niggas Sleep 9. If I Should Die Before I Wake 10. I Really Want To Show You 11. Let Me Get Down 12. Ms. Wallace (Outro) 13. Niggas 14. Notorious B.I.G. 15. Rap Phenomenon 16. Tonight 17. Who Shot Ya 18. Would You Die For Meftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/The_Notorious_B.I.G/The.Notorious.B.I.G_Born.Again.rar

中文名称：Greatest Hits资源类型：MP3!发行时间：2007年03月06日专辑歌手：The Notorious B.I.G.地区：美国语言：英语专辑介绍：2007年03月09日，是Biggie逝世10周年。为了纪念Biggie，Bad Boy发行了Greatest Hits。这是Biggie第一张精选集，包含了各张专辑的主打歌，当然还有2首以前未收入的新歌。当然还有几首我特别喜欢的歌没有收入，真是太可惜了。What's Beef, Playa Hater...大家把最喜欢的BIG的一首或几首歌写下来好吗Christopher Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997)， 人们熟知的另一个名字是Biggie Smalls (after a stylish gangster in 1975's ''Let's Do it Again'')和Frank White (from ''King of New York'')，但最为人熟知的是The Notorious B.I.G. (Business Instead of Game and， since his death, Books Instead of Guns)。 出生于Bedstuy, Brooklyn, New York。流行音乐史上最著名的死人之一，可以说是大胖子（有对“可以说是”持质疑态度的，请参照同样已故Rapper Big Punisher）。生前只发表了一张专辑，死后成为不朽的传奇。大概因为形象问题，人缘远逊宿敌2Pac。（别看人家胖，他老婆可是非洲裔伊能静Faith Evans，还有一个黑芭比Lil’Kim终日缠他不放）尽管人生短短，Biggie在Rap领域有着令人惊叹的地位（"Rakim is Father，Biggie is Son"），死后更是释放出无尽的怨恨……不对，是影响力。P Diddy的精神向导，Bad Boy的不朽篇章，让我们伴随这令人陶醉的旋律，追逐浪花……(转自verycd）专辑曲目：01. Juicy02. Big Poppa 03. Hypnotize 04. One More Chance/Stay with Me 05. Get Money 06. Warning 07. Dead Wrong 08. Who Shot Ya 09. Ten Crack Commandments 10. Notorious Thugs 11. Notorious B.I.G. 12. Nasty Girl13. Unbelievable 14. Niggas Bleed 15. Running Your Mouth16. Want That Old Thing Back17. [内容被过滤，请注意论坛文明] You Tonightftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/The_Notorious_B.I.G/Greatest+Hits+(2007).rar

刺猬。

要什么Hippa碟？来这里说吧！能找到的，刺猬就发！要East Coast？要Wild Wild West？要Dirty South？要Detroit 313？要Old Skool？还是Nu Skool？刺猬不知道大家要什么~，但是，大家要的，刺猬就发！资源是用来共享的，音乐无疆界。未特别注明的，资源均来自海海。Share！第一弹！黑眼豆豆！Behind the Front [1998]

从洛杉矶初出茅庐的黑眼豆豆合唱团，是一支深受灵魂乐、爵士乐与拉丁节奏与现场演唱精神所启发的放克/嘻哈队伍，由will.i.am、apl.de.ap、Taboo 三位团员所组成，在2000年发行了第二张获音乐评论网站All Music Guide四颗星喝采的专辑「Bridging The Gap」，他们跨越类型音乐，并多元採撷拉丁、印地安、亚洲民族旋律的音乐地球村创作态度深获音乐人肯定，第2张专辑「Bridging The Gap」就吸引了难民营合唱团(The Fugees)创作主将怀克里夫金(Wyclef Jean)与DJ Premiere携手掌舵制作大任，葛莱美奖最佳女歌手得主梅西葛蕾(Macy Gray)、嘻哈名团De La Soul、Mos Def、Jurassic 5、法国节奏蓝调/爵士女子乐团Les Nubian也来助阵，其中与梅西葛蕾合唱的"Request Line"攀登饶舌单曲榜亚军 Fallin' Up Clap Your Hands Joints & Jam The Way You Make Me Feel Movement Karma Be Free Say Goodbye Duet Communication What Is It Que Dices? A8 Love Won't Wait Head Bobs Positivityftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/hiphop/Black_Eyed_Peas/Black_Eyed_Peas_Behind_The_Front.rarBridging the Gap [2000]

在2000年发行了第二张获音乐评论网站All Music Guide四颗星喝采的专辑「Bridging The Gap」，他们跨越类型音乐，并多元採撷拉丁、印地安、亚洲民族旋律的音乐地球村创作态度深获音乐人肯定，第2张专辑「Bridging The Gap」就吸引了难民营合唱团(The Fugees)创作主将怀克里夫金(Wyclef Jean)与DJ Premiere携手掌舵制作大任，葛莱美奖最佳女歌手得主梅西葛蕾(Macy Gray)、嘻哈名团De La Soul、Mos Def、Jurassic 5、法国节奏蓝调/爵士女子乐团Les Nubian也来助阵，其中与梅西葛蕾合唱的"Request Line"攀登饶舌单曲榜亚军。 BEP Empire Weekends Get original Hot Cali To New York Lil' Lil' On My Own Release Bridging The Gaps Go Go Rap Song Bringing It Back Tell Your Mama Come Request + Lineftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/hiphop/Black_Eyed_Peas/Black_Eyed_Peas_Bridging_The_Gap.rarElephunk [2003]

Hands Up Labor Day (It's A Holiday) Let's Get Retarded Hey Mama Shut Up[推荐] Smells Like Funk Latin Girls Sexy Fly Away The Boogie That Be The Apl Song[推荐] Anxiety Where Is The Love[推荐]ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/hiphop/Black_Eyed_Peas/Black_Eyed_Peas_Elephunk.rarMonkey Business [2005]

Pump It [推荐] Don't Phunk With My Heart[推荐] My Style Don't Lie My Humps[推荐] Like That Dum Diddly Feel It Gone Going[推荐] They Don't Want Music Disco Club Bebot Ba Bump Audio Delite At Low Fidelity Unionftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/hiphop/Black_Eyed_Peas/Black_Eyed_Peas_Monkey_Business.rarChris Brown...

专辑介绍：Chris Brown's Run It with Juelz: is hot. He just got in the game and he's doin' things with the diplomats. He will set the vibe going with his next hit, "Yo" and he will be sure to impress. Remember this name: Chris Brown. He'll hit number 1 on the charts. I'll holla at dis sexy 16 year old from Va.This young artsist Chris Brown really top tthe charts with his first song "Run it". I was really impressed how people reacted so greatly to a newcomers reach toward the top of the charts. Me... I'm feeling the album and the single with juelz santana is very upbeat and it makes me wanna dance every time i hear it..This kid has the look and the moves.His video for his first single is off... 专辑曲目：01. Intro02. Run It! (Feat. Juelz Santana)03. Yo (Excuse Me Miss)04. Young Love05. Gimme That06. Ya Man Ain't Me07. Winner08. Ain't No Way (You Won't Love Me)09. What's My Name (Feat. Noah)10. Is This Love?11. Poppin཈. Just Fine13. Say Goodbye14. Run It! (Remix) (Feat. Bow Wow & Jermaine Dupri)15. Thank Youhttp://www.mediafire.com/?1gjzujynuyq第二弹！Tupac！西岸神的10张专辑，13张CD

歌手名称：2Pac专辑名称：《Loyal to the Game》发行时间：2004年12月14日1. Soldier Like Me (aka Return of the Soulja)2. Uppercut3. Out On Bail 4. Ghetto Gospel5. Black Cotton6. Loyal to the Game7. Thugs Get Lonely Too8. N.I.G.G.A. (Never Ignorant About Getting Goals Accomplished)9. Who Do You Love? 10. Crooked Nigga Too 11. Don't You Trust Me 12. Hennessey13. Thug 4 Life 14. Po Nigga Blues 15. Hennessey 16. Crooked Nigga Too 17. Loyal to the Game ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac_Loyal_to_the_Game.rar2Pac - 《Pac's Life》

专辑曲目：1. Untouchable (Swiss Beatz Remix)2. Pac's Life 3. DumpinƊ. Playa Cardz Right (Female)5. Whatz Next 6. Sleep 7. International 8. Don't Sleep 9. Soon As I Get Home10. Playa Cardz Right (Male) 11. Don't Stop Listen 12. Pac's Life (Remix) 13. Untouchable ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/200612/2Pac_Pac's.Life.rar

2pacalypsenow -- Released November 12, 1991 TrappedSoulja's StoryI Don't Give A F-ckViolentWords Of WisdomSomething WickedCrooked Ass NiggaIf My Homie CallsBrenda's Got A BabyTha' LunaticRebel Of The UndergroundPart Time Mutha 下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/cd_2Pacalypse_Now.rar

Strictly for My N.I.G.G.A.Z -- Released February 1, 1993Holla If Ya Hear MePac's Theme (Interlude)Point The FingaSomething 2 Die 4 (Interlude)Last WordzSouljah's RevengePeep GameStrugglin'Guess Who's BackRepresentin' 93Keep Ya Head UpStrictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.The Streetz R DeathrowI Get AroundPapa'z Song5 Deadly Venomz下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac-Strictly.4.my.N.I.G.G.A.Z.rar

Thug Life -- Released 1994Bury Me A G Don't Get It Twisted Shit Don't Stop Pour Out A Little Liquor Stay True How Long Will They Mourn Me? Under Pressure Street Fame Cradle To The Grave Str8 Ballin 下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac_Thug_Life.rar

(.2Pac.-.2.Pac.-.Tupac.-)1995.-.Me.Against.The.World.rar1.Intro 2.It Ain`t Easy 3.Can U Get Away 4.Old School 5.[内容被过滤，请注意论坛文明] The World 6.Death Around The Corner 7.Outlaw - (with Dramacydal) 8.If I Die 2Nite 9.Me Against The World - (with Dramacydal) 10.So Many Tears 11.Temptations 12.Young Niggaz 13.Heavy In The Game - (with Richie Rich) 14.Lord Knows 15.Dear Mama 下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac_Me_Against_The_World.rar

R U Still Down? (Remember Me) -- Released December 16 1997 Disc OneRedemptionOpen FireR U Still Down? (Remember Me)HellrazorThug StyleWhere Do We Go From Here (interlude)I Wonder If Heaven Got A GhettoNothing To LoseI'm Gettin' MoneyLife To Kick ItF*ck All Y'allLet Them Thangs GoDefinition Of A Thug NiggaDisc TwoReady 4 WhateverWhen I Get FreeHold On Be StrongI'm Losin ItFake Ass BitchesDo For LoveEnemies With MeNothin But Love16 On Death RowI Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto (hip-hop version)When I Get Free IIBlack Starry Night (interlude)Only Fear Of Death 下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac-R.U.Still.Down-1997.rar

Greatest Hits ---------- Released November 24, 1998 Disc 1Keep Ya Head Up2 Of Amerikaz Most WantedTemptationsGod Bless The DeadHail MaryMe Against The WorldHow Do U Want ItSo Many TearsUnconditional LoveTrappedLife Goes OnHit 'em UpDisc 2Troublesome 96'Brenda's Got A BabyI Ain't Mad At ChaI Get AroundChangesCalifornia Love (Original Version)Picture Me Rollin'How Long Will They Mourn MeToss It UpDear MamaAll About UTo Live & Die In L.A.Heartz Of Men下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac_Greatest_Hits.rar

Still I Rise -- Released December 21, 1999Letter to the PresidentStill I RiseSecretz of WarBaby Don't Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II)As the World TurnsBlack JesuzHomeboyzHell 4 a HustlerHigh SpeedThe Good Die YoungKilluminatiTear Drops and Closed CasketsTattoo TearsU Can Be TouchedY'all Don't Know Us下载地址：ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac-Still.I.Rise-1999.rar

歌手名称：2Pac专辑名称：《All Eyez On Me》发行时间: 1996.2.13专辑曲目：Book One01. Ambitionz Az A Ridah02. All Bout U03. Skandalouz04. Got My Mind Made Up05. How Do U Want It06. 2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted07. No More Pain08. Heartz Of Men09. Life Goes On10. Only God Can Judge Me11. Tradin War Stories12. California Love (remix)13. I Ain't Mad At Cha14. What'z Ya Phone #Book Two15. Can't C Me16. Shorty Wanna Be A Thug17. Holla At Me18. Wonda Why They Call U Bytch19. When We Ride20. Thug Passion21. Picture Me Rollinདྷ. Check Out Time23. Ratha Be Ya Nigga24. All Eyez On Me25. Run Tha Streetz26. Ain't Hard 2 Find27. Heaven Ain't Hard 2 Findftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/2Pac/2Pac-All.Eyez.On.Me.rarNo Way Out

专辑介绍： 吹牛老爹对于每一个对Hiphop音乐有过一些了解的人来说都不陌生。作为一个公司老板和制作人，Puff Daddy(现在改名为P.Diddy)在Hiphop界早就是大名鼎鼎，但是1997年发行的这张No Way Out向世人证明了Puff Daddy不仅仅是一个成功的商人和音乐制作人，更是一个成功的歌手. 这张于97年发行的No Way Out是Puff Daddy的首张专辑,Puff Daddy旗下唱片公司的签约歌手都在这张专辑中献声。其中根据Police经典名曲Every Breath You Take所改编的I'll Be Missing You是向Puff Daddy的良师益友---死去的Notorious B.I.G致敬的作品,这首歌几乎在全球同时拿下冠军宝座.另一首单曲Been Around The World也在稍后攻下美国榜冠军次席.这张专辑让全球乐迷见到Puff Daddy在制作之外的演唱方面的才华. 专辑曲目： 1.No Way Out (Intro) 2.Victory 3.Been Around The World 4.What You Gonna Do? 5.Don't Stop What You're Doing 6.Don't Stop What You're Doing 7.Do You Know? 8.Young G's9.I Love You Baby 10.It's All About The Benjamins (Remix) 11.Pain12.Is This The End?13.I Got The Power 14.Friend15.Senorita16.I'll Be Missing You17.Can't Nobody Hold Me Down ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Puff.Daddy-No.Way.Out.rar第三弹！Jay-Z！

Jay-Z-专辑曲目:01. Intro/A Million And One Questions/Rhyme No More 02. The City Is Mine 03. I Know What Girls Like 04. Imaginary Player 05. Streets Is Watching 06. Friend or Foe 98 07. Lucky Me 08. (Always Be My) Sunshine 09. Who You Wit II 10. Face Off 11. Real Niggaz 12. Rap Game/Crack Game 13. Where I'm From 14. You Must Love Me http://www.mediafire.com/?3zztvldaroy

专辑名称:Vol. 2, Hard Knock Life发行时间:1998年9月29日专辑曲目:01. Intro - Hand It Down 02. Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) 03. If I Should Die 04. Ride or Die 05. Nigga What, Nigga Who (Originator 99) 06. Money, Cash, Hoes 07. A Week Ago 08. Coming Of Age (Da Sequel) 09. Can I Get A... 10. Paper Chase 11. Reservoir Dogs 12. It's Like That 13. It's Alright 14. Money Ain't A Thang ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-Z/Jay-Z_Vol.2.Hard.Knock.Life.rar

专辑名称:Vol. 3... Life & Times Of S. Carter发行时间:1999年12月28日专辑曲目:01. Hova Song - (intro) 02. So Ghetto 03. Do It Again (Put Ya Hands Up) - (featuring Beanie Sigel/Amil) 04. Dope Man 05. Things That U Do - (featuring Mariah Carey) 06. It's Hot (Some Like It Hot) 07. Snoopy Track - (featuring Juvenile) 08. S. Carter - (featuring Amil) 09. Pop 4 Roc - (featuring Beanie Sigel/Memphis Bleek/Amil) 10. Watch Me - (featuring Dr. Dre) 11. Big Pimpin' - (featuring UGK) 12. There's Been A Murder 13. Come And Get Me 14. Nymp 15. Hova Song - (outro) ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-Z/Jay-Z_Vol.3.Life.and.Times.of.S.Carter.rarJay-Z.-.

专辑曲目：1. H To The Izzo 2. Take Over 3. Girls, Girls, Girls 4. Jigga What 5. Big Pimpin 6. Ain't No Love 7. Can I Get A/Hard Knock Life/Ain't No... (Medley) 8. Can't Knock The Hustle (Medley) 9. Song Cry 10. Give It To Me 11. Jigga, Jigga http://www.mediafire.com/?5vbjimdnz3h

专辑介绍: 1996年，Jay-Z录制并发行了自己的第一张个人专辑，同时也是Roc-A-Fella唱片公司的第一张专辑《Reasonable Doubt》，这张发行自东西海岸说唱音乐争斗最残酷时期的帮匪说唱专辑非常令人惊奇，多首单曲成为排行榜主打，到了如今他也被公认是Jay-Z在上个世纪最杰出的专辑，同时也成为了帮匪说唱专辑的经典作品。《Reasonable Doubt》的初获成功也为Jay-Z的下一张专辑以及Roc-A-Fella唱片公司的发展开了一个好头。1997年，Jay-Z的第二张专辑《In My Lifetime, Vol. 1》发行，富有商业头脑的Jay-Z在这张专辑中为了吸引更多的听众以及扩大他的知名度和唱片公司的影响力，把专辑的音乐风格从偏激的帮匪说唱转变为了更加易于各方面听众接受的流行说唱，同时在专辑中邀请了包括吹牛老爹Sean "Puffy" Combs在内的多位大牌歌星助阵，而这些措施效果显着，不仅拥有多首单曲打榜，而且这张专辑的销量也迅速超过了《Reasonable Doubt》，杀进了Billboard 200排行榜的前三名，Jay-Z已经成为了一名一流的说唱歌星。 ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z-Reasonable_Doubt.rar

专辑名称:The Blueprint发行时间:2001年9月11日专辑曲目:01. Ruler's Back, The 02. Takeover 03. Izzo (H.O.V.A) 04. Girls, Girls, Girls 05. Jigga That N***a 06. U Don't Know 07. Hola Hovito 08. Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love) 09. Never Change 10. Song Cry 11. All I Need 12. Renegade - (featuring Eminem) 13. Blueprint (Momma Loves Me) ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z_The.Blueprint.rar

专辑名称:The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse发行时间:2002年11月12日专辑曲目:CD1:01. A Dream (featuring Faith Evans and Notorious B.I.G.) 02. Hovi Baby 03. The Watcher 2 (featuring Dr. Dre, Rakim & Truth Hurts) 04. ༿ Bonnie & Clyde (featuring Beyonce Knowles) 05. Excuse Me Miss 06. What They Gonna Do (featuring Sean Paul) 07. All Around the World (featuring LaToiya Williams) 08. Poppin' Tags (featuring Big Boi, Killer Mike & Twista) 09. F**k All Nite 10. The Bounce 11. I Did It My Way CD2:01. Diamonds Is Forever 02. Guns & Roses (featuring Lenny Kravitz) 03. U Don't Know (remix, featuring M.O.P.) 04. Meet the Parents Listen Listen Listen 05. Some How Some Way (featuring Beanie Sigel and Scarface) 06. Some People Hate 07. Blueprint 2 08. N***a Please (featuring Young Chris) 09. 2 Many Hoes 10. As One (featuring Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Young Guns, Peedi Crakk, Sparks & Rell) 11. A Ballad for the Fallen Soldier 12. Show You How (bonus track) 13. B****s & Sisters (bonus track) 14. What They Gonna Do Part II (bonus track) www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z\_The.Blueprint.2-The.Gif"/>t.And.The.Curse.rar

专辑名称:Blueprint 2.1发行时间:2003年8月8日专辑曲目:01. Dream, A - (featuring Faith Evans/The Notorious B.I.G.) 02. Hovi Baby 03. Watcher, The - (featuring Dr. Dre/Truth Hurts/Rakim) 04. ༿ Bonnie & Clyde - (featuring Beyonce Knowles) 05. Excuse Me Miss 06. All Around The World - (featuring LaToiya Williams) 07. Guns & Roses - (featuring Lenny Kravitz) 08. U Don't Know - (remix, featuring M.O.P.) 09. Meet The Parents 10. Some How Some Way - (featuring Beanie Sigel/Scarface) 11. Bounce, The - (featuring Kanye West) 12. What They Gonna Do Part II / Excuse Me Miss Again / Stop - (hidden, hidden, bonus track)ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z_The.Blueprint.2.1.rarJay-Z——《The Black Album》

[唱片点评] 说这张专辑是Jay-Z音乐生涯的最后一张个人专辑你信么？可是唱片宣传的时候确实是这么说的，但是不论怎样，这样的噱头让这张专辑在发行短短四天之后就卖出了46万3千张，成为了Jay-Z的第六张冠军专辑，这一销量甚至比他的经典专辑《The Blueprint》在2001年9月份的成绩还要高出一点，不过对于Jay-Z这样的说唱歌手来说，即便没有这样的宣传也照样会卖出这样的成绩出来。 假如这真是Jay-Z的最后一张专辑的话，那么对于歌迷来说也完全没有什么遗憾了，因为这的确是一张非常出色的专辑。在这张专辑中，Jay-Z没有邀请任何其他歌手与他合作，所以，从专辑的制作角度来讲，这张专辑比《The Blueprint》甚至还要能体现出Jay-Z的个人风格。虽然没有大牌歌星合唱，但是却拥有超豪华的制作阵容，单曲的几名制作人分别是Timbaland，Eminem，The Neptunes，Kanye West，Just Blaze这些声名显赫的金牌制作人。 音乐方面，整张专辑都营造出了告别的氛围，《December 4th》是Jay-Z献给他的母亲的歌曲，把这首深情的单曲作为专辑的第一支单曲，不免会让人有所联想，这可能的确是Jay-Z的告别专辑了，而更让人体会深刻的则是在《Moment of Clarity》中，Jay-Z居然回忆了他的父亲，并且在单曲最后还表示出了原谅已经去世的父亲的想法，这足以让人深陷到这张专辑的告别氛围中去，值得一提的是《Moment of Clarity》的制作人和混音是和Jay-Z有着相似经历的Eminem。整张专辑的最后一首歌名字是“My 1st Song(我的第一首歌)”，看到他就会让人莫名的产生出一中离别时的伤感。这张专辑也许不是Jay-Z最经典的专辑，但也绝对是前三位的，以这张专辑作为Jay-Z的谢幕大作也足以答谢歌迷了，不过可能绝大多数的歌迷都在等待Jay-Z的加演曲目。 [曲目介绍]1.Interlude2.December 4th3.What More Can I Say4.Encore5.Change Clothes6.Dirt Off Your Shoulder7.Threat8.Moment Of Clarity9.99 Problems10.Public Service Announcement (Interlude)11.Justify My Thug12.Lucifer13.Allure14.My 1st Song ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z_The.Black.Album.rar

中文名称：Kingdom Come (王者再臨)发行时间：2006年11月21日专辑歌手： Jay-Z (傑斯)地区：美国语言：英语简介：专辑简介：嘻哈教皇宣布要复出 新专辑【Kingdom Come/王者再临】 西洋乐坛大腕们纷纷表态，争相合作包括肯伊威斯特Kanye West、提姆巴兰Timbaland 菲董Pharrell Williams和德瑞博士Dr. Dre 甚至连Coldplay主唱Chris Martin也在专辑中跨刀，不可错过 ！专辑曲目：1. The Prelude2. Oh My God3. Kingdom Come4. Show Me What You Got5. Lost Ones (Ft. Chrissette Michelle)6. Do U Wanna Ride (Ft. John Legend) 7. 30 Something8. I Made It9. Anything (Ft. Usher & Pharrell)10. Hollywood (Ft. Beyonce)11. Trouble 12. Dig A Hole (Ft. Sterling Simms)13. Minority Report (Ft. Ne-Yo)14. Beach Chair (Ft. Chris Martin) ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z-Kingdom.Come.rar

专辑名称：Greatest Hits专辑歌手：Jay-Z发行时间：2006年09月28日专辑风格：Hip-hop、Rap专辑介绍：Jay-Z自从1996年出道以来迅速的就成为了整个东海岸说唱的统帅级人物，他不仅是一位最顶尖的说唱歌手同时还是最出色的音乐制作人之一，在流行音乐界拥有很高的地位。除此以外，Jay-Z所经营的Roc-A-Fella唱片公司，在整个黑人音乐市场中也是商业成绩最突出的厂牌之一，对于整个说唱音乐的市场有着非常重要的影响力。Jay-Z的每一张专辑销量都超过白金，而在进入新世纪以后，随着音乐上不断的取得新成就，以及音乐影响力的增强，Jay-Z的触角也从说唱音乐本身渐渐移向其他音乐上，比如加大与东海岸以外的南方说唱和西海岸说唱之间的合作以及在R&B音乐的制作等方面，为推动说唱音乐以及整个流行音乐都做出了不小的贡献。 Jay-Z原名Shawn Carter，又名Sean Carter，于1970年12月4日出生在美国纽约的布鲁克林区，和在这里出生的其他说唱歌星一样，Shawn Carter的父亲在他很小的时候就离开了他和他的母亲Gloria Carter，这段艰苦的岁月是Shawn Carter印象最为深刻的。少年的Shawn Carter独自撑起了他和母亲的生活，不久他就成了街头一名普通的黑人说唱歌手，最初的时候他为自己取了一个源自爵士乐的名字“Jazzy”，不久之后简化为Jay-Z。当一名说唱歌手并不能挣足够的钱，为了生存，Jay-Z还必须和那里其他的年轻人一样从事一些并不光明的行为，不过更多的时候Jay-Z还是靠在一些小录音室自己录制一些磁带然后拿出去卖来赚钱糊口。在Jay-Z的说唱才华渐渐被附近的人所了解之后，Jay-Z开始在当地一些小的说唱组合和一些歌手那里打短工，在这里他有机会接触到说唱音乐的制作等工作，而这些唱片录制工业也激起了Jay-Z的野心，Jay-Z并没有像其他歌手一样和大的唱片公司签约，而是和两个朋友Damon Dash和Kareem "Biggs" Burke一起创办了Roc-A-Fella唱片公司，他把自己的唱片公司依附于Def Jam公司(当时还叫做Priority Records)的旗下，并且开始制作和发行音乐专辑。 这张是Jay-Z最近刚刚发行的Greatest Hits,专辑中收录了他的一些精典曲目专辑曲目：1. Can I Get A 2. Hard Knock Life 3. Wishing On A Star 4. Can't Knock The Hustle (Ft Mary J. Blige) 5. Ain't No Nigga (Ft Foxy Brown) 6. Ride or Die 7. Brooklyn's Finest (Ft Notorious Big) 8. Imaginary Player 9. Friend or Foe 10. Friend or Foe 98 11. More Money More Cash More Hoes 12. City Is Mine (Ft Blackstreet) 13. Reservoir Dogs (Ft Blackstreet) 14. I Know What Girls Like (Ft Puff Daddy & Lil' Kim) 15. 22 Twos 16. Money Ain't A Thang (Ft Jermaine Dupri) 17. Dead Presidents Ii 18. Regrets ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/Jay-z/Jay-Z_Greatest.Hits.rarBIGGIE

专辑名称：Ready To Die 发行时间：1994年09月13日专辑介绍：由于本体的死亡而产生的替身，依据运动的速度而展开攻击。因为没有本体，所以无法用消灭本体的办法来消灭替身，也可一所Notorious B.I.G.是不灭的，无论如何都没有办法将其杀死，它还会通过吞食能量的途径来长大。 是一个不寻常的巧合吧，The Notorious B.I.G.在1994年发行的第一张专辑名字就叫《Ready to Die》，像是暗示了Biggie三年后遭枪击身亡的悲剧。然而，《Ready to Die》着实是这位早逝英才震撼说唱乐界的超级武器，在将Biggie自己半辈子的帮派生活缩影在80年代Funk节奏中的《Ready to Die》里，毒品，谋杀样样都真实地穿插在Biggie比帮匪说唱更黑暗的音乐笔记里，The Notorious B.I.G.拥有将幽默感发挥在人生最黑暗一面上的功力，能以生命历练来左右创作的态度，实在难得。但是专辑中两首歌重混音后的Top 10单曲《Big Poppa》和《One More Chance》却区别于整体上深沉的专辑走向，带来了慵懒的Funk风情。专辑曲目：1.Intro 2.Things Done Changed 3.Gimme The Loot 4.Machine Gun Funk 5.Warning 6.Ready To Die 7.One More Chance 8.[内容被过滤，请注意论坛文明] Me(Interlude)9.Juicy 10.Everyday Stuggle 11.Me & My Bitch 12.Big Poppa 13.Respect 14.Friend Of Mine 15.Unbelievable 16.Suicidal Thoughtsftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/The_Notorious_B.I.G/The.Notorious.B.I.G_Ready.to.Die.rar

专辑歌手：The Notorious B.I.G专辑名称：Life After Death发行时间：1996年专辑风格：Gangsta Rap专辑介绍： 1996注定是值得铭记的一年。曾挑衅声称与Faith Evans有染的BIG的彼岸死敌2pac在9月遭枪击身亡，人们纷纷猜测Tupac的死是否与由来已久的东西海岸说唱帮派之间的斗争有关。“果不其然”，在1997年3月9日早上，the Notorious B.I.G.在参加过“灵魂列车奖”晚会之后回酒店的路上也遭到不明身份枪手的袭击，在被保镖送往医院的途中身亡，而此时距Tupac的死仅有半年。这次的枪杀事件再次震惊了整个美国音乐界。在the Notorious B.I.G.死后，他生前已经录制好的第二张专辑按原计划在3月底发行。这张名为《Life After Death》的双CD专辑似乎专门就是用来对抗生前死敌Tupac的双CD专辑《All Eyez on Me》的。不出所料，《Life After Death》在发行第一周已近70万张的销量登顶Billboard专辑榜，并连续四周蝉联冠军。首支单曲《Hypnotize》很快成为Pop单曲榜中的冠军单曲，而随着另一支单曲《Mo Money Mo Problems》的再度折桂，the Notorious B.I.G.成为首位在离世之后还能两夺单曲榜冠军的歌手。随后，另一支单曲《Sky's the Limit》也顺利破金。《Life After Death》在发行不到两年内销量就达到了1000万张。专辑曲目：Disc 101 - Life After Death Intro02 - Somebody's Gotta Die03 - Hypnotize04 - Kick In The Door05 - #! @ You Tonight (featuring R. Kelly)06 - Last Day (featuring The Lox)07 - I Love The Dough (featuring Jay-Z & Angela Winbush)08 - What's Beef09 - B.I.G. Interlude10 - Mo Money Mo Problems (featuring Mase & Puff Daddy)11 - Niggas Bleed12 - I Got A Story To TellDisc 201 - Notorious Thugs02 - Miss U03 - Another04 - Going Back To Cali05 - Ten Crack Commandments06 - Playa Hater07 - Nasty Boy08 - Sky's The Limit (featuring 112)09 - The World Is Filled...(featuring Too Short & Puff Daddy)10 - My Downfall (featuring DMC)11 - Long Kiss Goodnight12 - You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)ftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/The_Notorious_B.I.G/The.Notorious.B.I.G_Life.After.Death.rar

藝人名稱：The Notorious B.I.G. 專輯名稱：Born Again 發行公司：BMG樂評：歌手在去世後仍有唱片推出的事例在歐美歌壇並不鮮見，借助其生前的名望，唱片公司往往可以再大賺一筆。最近這方面的例子出在已死了近3年的B.I.G.身上，這位當年無論身材還是地位都屬於巨無霸級的人物的第3張專輯《Born Again》日前在Bad Boy Entertainment旗下推出，聲勢依然浩大。原名Christopher Wallace的B.I.G.是美國Hip-Hop界的一個傳奇，也是Gangster Rap的代表人物。他的一生簡直就是這種倍受爭議的音樂流派的精彩縮影。生長於紐約Brooklyn區的B.I.G.從小目睹了黑人貧民區的種種混亂景象，也深受同樣脫胎於街頭的Hip-Hop音樂的薰染。販賣毒品和唱Rap是他從窮街陋巷間自學來的生存本領，但這也為他的悲劇埋下了禍根。 在現在已大名鼎鼎的Puffy Daddy的賞識與幫助下，B.I.G.得以成為一名Rap巨星，1994年，他的首張專輯《Ready To Die》以其出色的音樂表現震動了紐約音樂圈，銷量逾八白金。B.I.G.的成名鞏固了以Puffy Daddy為首的東岸Rap流派的勢力，卻也加深了這一集團與西岸流派間的矛盾。95年開始愈演愈烈，逐漸受到美國全國上下注意的所謂Rap War最終以兩岸的兩位代表人物Tupac及B.I.G.的神秘遇刺而告終。B.I.G.死時年僅24歲。痛失好友的Puffy Daddy曾在他那首著名的“I'll Be Missing U”中寄託了深切的哀思，而這張由他再次操刀製作的《Born Again》仍可被視為Hip-hop界老大對B.I.G.的致敬。除了重新整理B.I.G.遺留下來的錄音素材外，Puffy Daddy還召集了諸多Rap/Hip-Hop/Soul明星如Snoop Dogg, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, Black Rob等?這張唱片添磚加瓦，這些助陣者中，有的在B.I.G.身亡時還是無名小卒，可見他對黑人兄弟姐妹們的影響之深。《Born Again》仍舊保持了B.I.G.生前著稱的低沈Hip-Hop節奏底線與不同尋常、毫不造作的敏銳歌詞，也不乏很有水準的好歌如“Dead Wrong”，但畢竟這是一部遺腹之作，與B.I.G.唱對手戲的藝人們無緣與他在錄音室中面對面的合作，也就使得某些作品缺少真正的交流感，免不了有湊數之嫌。但如果你是B.I.G.的歌迷，這張唱片仍舊會讓你大呼過癮的。B.I.G.的光輝沒有人能遮掩得住，即使在他死後。想來也很有趣，B.I.G.共出過三張唱片：生前的《Ready To Die》及死後的《Life After Death》、《Born Again》，其主題均與生死有關，好像B.I.G.早已料定並參透了這一切。有傳聞說：B.I.G.其實根本沒死，他、不過是借死亡耍了個花招，開了個玩笑而已，現在他還躲在不知哪個角落裏做音樂，享受生活?！真相到底如何，恐怕沒人知曉，反正關於B.I.G.的所有事情都為Rap這一種族色彩極強音樂塗抹上了神秘的一筆。說不定，不久以後，我們又會在唱片店裏發現B.I.G.的第四、第五張專輯呢，不過，他可能已換了另一個奇怪的名字。 專輯曲目：1. Biggie 2. Big Booty Hoes 3. Born Again (Intro) 4. Can I Get Witcha 5. Come On 6. Dangerous Mc's 7. Dead Wrong (Remix) 8. Hope You Niggas Sleep 9. If I Should Die Before I Wake 10. I Really Want To Show You 11. Let Me Get Down 12. Ms. Wallace (Outro) 13. Niggas 14. Notorious B.I.G. 15. Rap Phenomenon 16. Tonight 17. Who Shot Ya 18. Would You Die For Meftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/The_Notorious_B.I.G/The.Notorious.B.I.G_Born.Again.rar

中文名称：Greatest Hits资源类型：MP3!发行时间：2007年03月06日专辑歌手：The Notorious B.I.G.地区：美国语言：英语专辑介绍：2007年03月09日，是Biggie逝世10周年。为了纪念Biggie，Bad Boy发行了Greatest Hits。这是Biggie第一张精选集，包含了各张专辑的主打歌，当然还有2首以前未收入的新歌。当然还有几首我特别喜欢的歌没有收入，真是太可惜了。What's Beef, Playa Hater...大家把最喜欢的BIG的一首或几首歌写下来好吗Christopher Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997)， 人们熟知的另一个名字是Biggie Smalls (after a stylish gangster in 1975's ''Let's Do it Again'')和Frank White (from ''King of New York'')，但最为人熟知的是The Notorious B.I.G. (Business Instead of Game and， since his death, Books Instead of Guns)。 出生于Bedstuy, Brooklyn, New York。流行音乐史上最著名的死人之一，可以说是大胖子（有对“可以说是”持质疑态度的，请参照同样已故Rapper Big Punisher）。生前只发表了一张专辑，死后成为不朽的传奇。大概因为形象问题，人缘远逊宿敌2Pac。（别看人家胖，他老婆可是非洲裔伊能静Faith Evans，还有一个黑芭比Lil’Kim终日缠他不放）尽管人生短短，Biggie在Rap领域有着令人惊叹的地位（"Rakim is Father，Biggie is Son"），死后更是释放出无尽的怨恨……不对，是影响力。P Diddy的精神向导，Bad Boy的不朽篇章，让我们伴随这令人陶醉的旋律，追逐浪花……(转自verycd）专辑曲目：01. Juicy02. Big Poppa 03. Hypnotize 04. One More Chance/Stay with Me 05. Get Money 06. Warning 07. Dead Wrong 08. Who Shot Ya 09. Ten Crack Commandments 10. Notorious Thugs 11. Notorious B.I.G. 12. Nasty Girl13. Unbelievable 14. Niggas Bleed 15. Running Your Mouth16. Want That Old Thing Back17. [内容被过滤，请注意论坛文明] You Tonightftp://hihicdup:cdup@www.hihicd.com/Hiphop/The_Notorious_B.I.G/Greatest+Hits+(2007).rar

刺猬。

Artist: JAY Z
Album: 4:44
Listen:
Apple Music
TIDAL
Background
Throughout all of Jay Z’s past albums, we've come to understand and love this character known for his drug dealing, no-strings-attached sex, and excessive wealth (Jay built his Roc-A-Fella dynasty, became CEO of Def Jam Recordings, and achieved so much more due to his ability to hustle). This character being Jay Z, Hov, Jigga, but not Shawn Carter. Although there have certainly been instances of him being personal in the past (selling drugs to his mother, shooting his brother, feeling responsible for his nephews death, and so on), the large majority of his music has been braggadocio. Magna Carta Holy Grail, his previous album (from 2013), spent almost an hour telling us about his love for riches. Whether that be his collection of Basquiat paintings, designer clothes, or liquor preferences, by the end… well we got the point. Although it did touch on serious topics here and there, it was far from what a 40 year old father would sound fitting discussing. The party-friendly, trap-influenced, attempt at mainstream pandering was about as interesting as watching paint dry. And not even a Basquiat at that.
Now fast forward to 2017. In the time span between 2013 and now, Solange (his sister-in-law), was caught hitting him in an elevator. Then his once close friend, Kanye West, ranted against him. And finally, his wife, Beyonce, made an entire album about him supposedly cheating on her. With controversy at a high surrounding Jay’s respectability, everyone was hungry to hear what he had to say. Curiosity began peaking when billboards and sign began appearing with nothing more that the the numbers “4:44”. It wasn’t much longer until more went up with a date (6.30.17) and a name, JAY Z. No one knew what to expect from a 2017 Jay album, but it’s safe to say he surpassed any and all that prefaced him.
Review
10 seconds into the appropriately titled first track, “Kill Jay Z”, we’re faced with these lines:

Kill Jay Z, they'll never love you
You'll never be enough, let's just keep it real, Jay Z
Fuck Jay Z, I mean, you shot your own brother

First thing off the bat, Jay is dismembering his persona and taking a more self-aware approach. Eric Carter did survive the bullet, and Jay was only a child when this instance took place, but we can see his past mistakes still haunts him to this day. It appears as though he’s still learning how to live with his regrets. What makes “Kill Jay Z” so transparent is that in the process of examining his mistakes and how needs to change, he attacks the ego that has helped him to achieve so much. It’s only fitting he opens up so much on the opening track. Soon after these lines he goes onto discuss how he must change for his children, his tears, pain, regret, and how the mentality he once needed for hustling is no longer necessary. He touches on his relationship with longtime friend and collaborator, Kanye West, and ultimately we can see they’re not in a good place. He ends the song on a few lines referencing how he ‘almost went Eric Benét’, Eric had continually cheated on Halle Berry, giving us a quick glimpse at a very prevalent regret Jay currently has that we will learn most about on the album's title track. Jay’s reflective lyrics flow incredibly well over the soulful (yet modern) No ID production. No ID handles all the production on the album, and each beat is fantastic and perfect for Jay’s crafting. His drums, sample flips, everything, No ID is a legend and absolutely kills it.
A smooth mix of piano and vocal sample (of the legendary Nina Simone) begin “The Story of O.J.”, before Jay comes in discussing the labels that have been attributed to black people in various places of society. The simply worded hook has so much to offer. It shows that people want to separate themselves from molds, but that despite this, due to experiences related to skin colour, there continues to be a common thread and underlying sense of unity. Jay takes 2 perspectives in order to urge people not to abandon recognition of their race, as being aware will help to bring change moreso. This negative viewpoint of his can be seen in this line (most importantly his reaction, listen to how he says it):

O.J. like, "I'm not black, I'm O.J." …okay

The first verse has Jay speaking to what could represent his younger south and many black youth today. He encourages drug dealers to stop before it’s too late and invest their earnings in wise and legitimate ways. The 2nd (and final) verse continues to further discuss how Jay has spent money wisely and also where he wishes he had. Ultimately, Jay wants to help those less-advantaged black youth to become successful like he has, and to live a full life. The goal is to paint himself as a healthy role model but also one that can admit his mistakes, to promote the best choices he can. And for such a race related song, the Simone sample is perfect. “The Story of O.J.” is a great song to show Jay’s growth in maturity, and the beat is especially fitting to this growth.
Jay’s first lines on “Smile” are continuing from where “The Story of O.J.” left off, further discussing his rags to riches and wealth. But it’s right after these first few lines Jay discusses a more personal insight towards his life, with these lines:

Mama had four kids, but she's a lesbian
Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian
Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate
Society shame and the pain was too much to take
Cried tears of joy when you fell in love

Jay is going beyond talking about the challenges gays face and allowing us to see how they have impacted his mother. Society would’ve condemned her for being attracted to the same sex. So, she tried for many years to change and act as if she were straight. This moment serves as another great example of Jay’s personal growth, as he used to use homophobic insults in songs such as “Takeover” and “N- What, N- Who (Originator 99)”. Jay goes on to discuss being loyal, his wealth, overcoming obstacles, Funkmaster Flex, and uses his pen-free abilities to craft great wordplay that Hov is known for. He’s showing happiness for his success, for his mom, and for life, which is only right for a song titled “Smile”. ID did a great job with the catchy Stevie Wonder flip and the song ends with a beautiful poem from Gloria, Jay’s mother. She spreads a positive message that encourages people to be happy with who they are, which is very appropriate based on all she had gone through. I believe it’s the 2nd time she has appeared on a Jay album (first being on The Black Album), and is a great way to close a great song.
“Caught In Their Eyes” has a more happy beat backing Jay. He uses his first verse to describe his struggles growing up and paints a portrait of those who oppose him. All while using some great wordplay. For instance:

I seen eyes wide as they're about to shoot
You can be a hairpin off and you can trigger your roots

On the surface level he’s describing the ways people lived and how they acted, and beyond that is another entendre about Questlove and the legendary Roots. Another line I really like is:

Y'all body language is all remedial
How could you see the difference between you and I?

The first meaning being the literal, that you can’t fathom how many leagues Hov is above you. But also it sounds like the literal letters ‘U’ and ‘I’. Then on top of that, the previous line ended on ‘remedial’, so you expect him to end the following line in the same scheme. This is no mistake, as ‘me and you’ could work easily in ‘you and I’’s place. His change of lyrics makes the words stand out more and is proper English, which could be a play on ‘language’ in ‘body language’. The whole first verse also has a theme of the human body throughout it, body language, hair, his cheek, and at least 3 references to eyes. It’s a short but very interesting and dense verse. Following it, Frank Ocean lends a small and curious hook, touching on the topic of Solipsism and determining what’s real. He claims he’s ready for Earth. Now I’m not certain of what the exact meaning of the hook is and I don’t want to take too big of stretches, but it’s possible it’s too show that the speaker of the song is more real (in a sense of loyalty and principles) than everyone. So much so that he feels as though everything else is literally fiction. Jay uses the 2nd verse to discuss how Londell McMillan (whom he names specifically) screwed over both Jay and Prince’s wished in regards to Prince’s music on streaming services. Despite Prince giving TIDAL (and only TIDAL) permission to use his music, McMillan sued Jay after Prince died in order to gain full control of Prince’s music. He describes the greed that exists in the record industry and ends the verse continuing on the theme of those who oppose him, referencing his ending friendship with Kanye. All of this sounds great over the groovy Nina Simone-sampled beat. I also really like the voice effects on Frank and Jay, it gives a really interesting texture to the song that makes the incredibly smooth beginning of the next track contrast beautifully.
“4:44”, the title track to the album, is in my opinion the most important song to the album. Honestly, I hesitated doing a review on this album because doing this song justice is no easy task. It’s grown to be one of my favourite Jay tracks and my song of the year. But nonetheless I will try!

Do I find it so hard
When I know in my heart
I'm letting you down every day
Letting you down every day
Why do I keep on running away?

No ID opens the song with an incredibly introspective piece of foreshadowing. From this 24 second intro, a red carpet is rolled out for Jay to give us opening lines that speak to us. And he does so with:

Look, I apologize, often womanize
Took for my child to be born, see through a woman's eyes

After years of tracks like Big Pimpin, Girls Girls Girls, Ain’t No N-, On To The Next One, 2 Many Hoes… well you get the idea, he opens up this track with lines that directly oppose and regret such a mindset (and lifestyle). 2017 is the year we saw Jay Z the feminist (at least on this song), and I for one love the growth. Jay not only regrets womanizing, but regrets how he treated his wife Beyonce (asking her not to embarrass him, for instance). He mentions begs Beyonce to pick up the phone and the vocal effect on his voice almost reminds me of a phone call, not sure if that was an intentional connection or not (but it certainly enhances my enjoyment regardless). He goes on to describe Beyonce maturing faster than him, dealing with multiple stillborns (when Jay performed this song live on SNL he actually didn’t say ‘stillborn’ because of the pain), treating her poorly in public, his terrible attempts at being a respectable husband (“I suck at love, I think I need a do-over”), and most notably, his unfaithfulness. As Jay and Beyonce grew apart and desolate from the stillborns, he went to find affection through cheating (I read this in a Genius annotation and haven't been able to verify the timeline so take with a grain of salt). This ripped them further apart, and in verse 3 he describes how a threesome resulted in him almost losing his family (also worth noting it lead to Beyonce’s album Lemonade). He goes a step further in his regret to consider how his children will react to these things (seeing the falsehoods in his father as a hero), once they inevitably do through others via the internet or write-ups (hopefully not this one!). As the song climaxes to this realization, the sample hits harder than ever with the words “I’m never gonna treat you like I should”. The roaring beat and verses make for a truly moving dynamic. Raw emotion is dripping in every aspect here. No I.D. brought out the most regretful and personal side of Shawn Carter. The soulful production, emotional vocals, and brutally honest lyrics makes this song not only one of Jay's best, but most wise. The moment it begins, it demands your attention. You don't have to worry about any fools skimming through this one, Jay.
“Family Feud” begins with Beyonce, which is perfect for the next song on the album. No ID sampled her vocals throughout the beat and her singing with Jay shows us there is always hope (especially after the previous song). Showing hope for relationships is a vital theme to the song, which we’ll see soon. Jay is back to a more confident approach in offering his wisdom. He spends his first verse talking about being successful, exploring religion, and sends a subliminal shot at Drake (“All this old talk left me confused / You'd rather be old rich me or new you?”). He also criticizes certain fans of old school hip hop for their judgements of new school hip hop fashion. Throughout the song wealth is discussed, but now strictly in braggadocio. He want’s to support fellow black peoples in their endeavours, in order to help revolt against black people being less-advantaged as a result of skin colour. This can be shown with:

I'll be damned if I drink some Belvedere while Puff got CÎROC

And throughout the song he says:

Nobody wins when the family feuds

In this case, family is referring to fellow black people. He advises unity and support will help communities, and bring more equality to society. In his Rap Radar interview, he mentions how as you go up in the world of success, there are less and less blacks. He uses his wealth as a goal for others to reach and encourages they do so through helping one and other. The song is both critical of older and newer generations with lines like:

Al Sharpton in the mirror takin' selfies
How is him or Pill Cosby s'posed to help me?
Old n***** never accepted me

And

New n***** is the reason I stopped drinkin' Dos Equis

This attempts to display the different mentalities. He continually mentions that 2 billions is better than 1, representing new and old generations (and his marriage as well). The message is this: put aside your differences and work as a team, because nobody wins when the family feuds.
For the past 24 minutes and 1 seconds, we have seen “Kill Jay Z” in place, essentially abandoning the persona that lead to his success. But there is a change of pace during the duration of “Bam” that makes it so exciting. The first words from Jay (and a reference to “Public Service Announcement”, from TBA) tell you exactly what I mean:

Fuck all this pretty Shawn Carter shit nigga, HOV

The aggressive nature of the line and Damian Marley’s chorus set the song up for Jay to come through to set records straight, and that he does. Dehaven was a drug dealer Jay worked with back in his hustling pre-music days. On social media, Dehaven has routinely claimed Jay never really did much hustling and was a mere runner. Hov spends part of his first verse shooting this down, claiming if he was only a runner he wouldn’t had’ve became the success he is now (as his music and clothing ventures cost a lot to begin). He goes onto explains that his nice side, Shawn, used to be in ‘flight mode’, as he was completely in the Jay Z mindset. This was the side of him that got him to be so wealthy (and continues to push him). Verse 2 is only 12 bars long, but is coated with references and entendres. He uses Rae Sremmurd, Bobby Shmurda, Nat Turner, Kanye, Black Sheep, and even the fact that he skips leg day, all to brag to us in the most clever ways. The mention of Rae and Bobby also could tie back to “Family Feud”, as it’s touching on the theme of newschool rappers. The hard hitting street reggae provide Jay with the perfect backdrop for him to use his ego for good and let people know he’s not fabricated.
The title of “Moonlight” is a reference to the film by the same name. It famously was confused with La La Land at the most recent Academy Awards, which Jay references in the hook of “Moonlight”. What makes the film Moonlight noteworthy is that it is the first film to win a Grammy for Best Picture that features an all black class, as well as the first LGBT movie to do the same. Moonlight is special because it excels without being like every other popular movie. The song “Moonlight” is asking rappers to apply this same principle to their artistry, as many popular rap acts aren’t experimenting or pushing the boundaries creativity-wise. Jay isn’t impressed:

Y'all got the same fuckin' flows
I don't know who is who

Jay pokes fun at the skrrt adlib (used by popular trap acts), how artists use the internet to snitch on themselves (for image), and how many of them not only make the same music, but share the same image. It particularly annoys Jay at the ego many of these artists share:

Stop walkin' around like y'all made Thriller, huh?

Jay also references how many rappers are signing to their first label offers, and specifically mentions how Lauryn Hill struggled with labels. This is a fitting choice of reference as the song samples Fu-Gee-La. Which gives the chorus’s use of La La Land 3 meanings:reference to film, reference to sample, and reference to artists being ignorant about their quality of music. Jay’s career proves you can make yourself successful without a label’s early on help, whilst innovating and making non formulaic music. This song alone pushes boundaries, in topics for sure, but instrumentally the beat is constantly changing and adjusting (which can be said for 4:44’s production as a whole, in fact). Even his flow is unique, in how he sways his words without ever sticking to one rhythm. He also lived the criminal life many artists use for their image. This gives his words on these topics more respect than otherwise. The song ends criticizing labels for their treatment of artists, mentioning specific CEO’s, in hopes this will sway young artists. Chance, Nas, Lupe, and tons more in the rap industry alone have contributed to this argument all the same. Time will tell if their message and “Moonlight”’s will have an influence or not. Hopefully a healthy change will be made.
Marcy Me is a song made to reflect on his past by tracing out homages to his influences and heroes. Before I break down his lyrics, I gotta say Jay’s flow is as good as it ever has been and the piano/drums/vocal-sample/etc work so well with it. This sample is so obscure on some Madlib type style too (“Todo o mundo e ninguém” By Quarteto 1111, from 1970, if anyone’s curious). Onto the rest of the song! The title alone pays respect to the legendary Marvin Gaye and his track Mercy Me. Then the intro is a Biggie quotation that ends before bragging about sex, which is appropriate for the album and it’s apologetic tones. From there, we see mentions of Jam Master Jay (of Run-DMC, RIP), Dennis Rodman, Michael Jordan, Tichina Arnold (an actress on Martin), Denzel Washington, Slick Rick, and Lisa Bonet. And that’s just within the 1st verse. What’s significant about the nostalgia-riddled details is that each of them helped give a young Shawn hope in Marcy, Brooklyn. He describes marcy with:

I'm from Marcy Houses, where the boys die by the thousand These role models let him keep his head up despite his environment, and because he had hope, he was able to be ambitious, ultimately leading to the development of the Jay Z character that this album has previously explored. We learned earlier that he created Hov as a means to succeed, and we now learn that Hov was able to exist in the first place largely due to the success of other black people. Inspiration was a key factor to his success. Verse 2 has Jay reflecting on his rags to riches story, touching on topics such as cocaine, murderers, areas of Marcy, and rappers that have passed (“rappers turned murals”) or influenced him. Jay sounds confident and relaxed simultaneously. Verse 2 is the definition of ‘cool, calm, and collected’. To end the song, The-Dream (who is way too underrated, just saying) sings a slower outro about remaining true to oneself. It’s a beautiful way to end such a well-constructed strong.

“Legacy” begins with a voice recording of his daughter asking what a will is. Jay uses this to explore how his wealth will benefit his kids and so on, and to explore how family history has impacted his life as well. The word ‘legacy’ refers to the wealth left in a will, as well as the aftermath of a predecessor (which can be from a will but not necessarily). The song explores both sides of the coin. The opening verse is more directed as an answer to his daughter’s initial question, talking about how TIDAL, Roc Nation, Ace of Spades, D’USSE, and such business ventures will go onto support his kids and relatives extensively. This side of the song already feels like a personal discussion just between Jay and his kids about what will follow after he dies. He ends verse 1 on his goal of creating generational wealth and even talks about how blacks are discriminated against in the tech industry. Verse 2 goes into even more personal territory about how Jay’s grandfather molested his aunt (of his father’s side). He claims he may one day forgive him for these actions, but that this negative situation had a silver lining for Jay. His grandfather was a pastor, and due to this, Jay wrote off Christianity (by assuming his grand father’s actions were reflective of the religion he promoted). As a result, he explored other religions. This allowed him a diverse understanding of various sets of beliefs, influencing him to be the critical thinking and understanding person he is today. “Legacy” shows how our actions can influence many generations, and through the most personal ways possible. For such heavy messages, Jay brings hope. Hope is communicated so well through the background horns and James Fauntleroy background singing too. It’s a brilliant closer to the album (if you exclude the bonus tracks). Fun fun fact about Legacy: This song samples Donny Hathaway’s 1971 song “Someday We’ll All Be Free, which was recorded by Jimmy Douglas. Fast forward decades and Douglas mixed all of 4:44.
In order to see the reviews of the bonus tracks you must sign up with TIDAL
Just kidding! Who needs exclusivity?
“Adnis” is named after Adnis Reeves, Jay’s father (who passed away in ‘03). Adnis abandoned Jay when he was just a child (around 11 or 12). Reeves had spent less and less time at home, in hopes of finding his brother’s killer. Eventually he picked up drug addictions and left home entirely, never contacting Jay. They did meet up eventually, in 2002, and from that meeting he forgave Adnis for abandoning him. This allowed him to drop anger that he held onto for so many years and in place he was able to overcome love/trust issues. “Adnis” is ‘an open letter to [Jay’s] dad that [he] never wrote’. In a very slow flow over a very relaxed beat, Carter discusses how Reeves caused him lots of anger growing up. He mentions how he wrote about wanting to fight him, as a means of expressing that anger. He also recognized himself in stories of his father, and gave thought to how his grandfather’s malicious (previously discussed in “Legacy”) actions may have impacted Adnis. He mentions how before Adnis’ brother died, he was a good person and that he taught Jay valuable lessons. Including loving his step siblings no different than non-step siblings. It’s clear from the first verse that Adnis was a good father and a role model to Jay during some of his earliest formative years. Verse 2 mentions how despite being the youngest in his family, and despite his father’s leave, he eventually became the leader of his family. He mentions how his father reacted poorly to his uncle’s death, because according to their beliefs, his uncle was in a better place. Life was out of Adnis’ hands, instead there were bottles and needles. Despite his father becoming a terrible role model, Jay takes pride in him being a caring parent and husband. It’s a sweet note to end on after the previous more harder to swallow sorrows. Jay doesn’t shy away from talking about emotional subjects, I have no doubt this song was hard to make for him. And then to release such an open and personal song, exposing your thoughts and feelings to the public, couldn’t have been so easy. But I’m grateful he did, because “Adnis” is one of the best this year.
Blue’s Freestyle / We Family opens up with Jay’s daughter Blue spitting some straight bars about how she’s never seen a ceiling, seeking those who are innocent, and most interestingly about how everything is shakalaka. I can’t disagree with her there! It’s a cute little opener to a more light hearted sounding song. The beat has some hawaiian influence and Jay never goes to in depth, as each verse is only about 6 lines long (although there are 4 of them). In the short amount of time he does however cover a lot of ground, referencing illuminati claims, his thankfulness for his wife, celebration of heritage, black unity, drug dealing, his worldwide fans, Donald Trump (and his concerns about him), and his excessive travelling. Quite possibly the most amount of topics covered in one song when compared to any other one on the album. And in between each verse is a small hook claiming he’s part of a family. All of these topics, although seemingly unrelated, connect back to the construct of family. His illuminati controversy is because he has heritage (from family members) that roots back to the use of voodoo, he claims tauntingly. His wife is part of his family, and her heritage has played a role in shaping their kids and thus his family. Worldwide fans and black unity are alike in that they are united for a common goal that Jay is involved in, making them family. Drug dealing played a role in his success and as a result him meeting Beyonce, etc. Donald Trump concerns Jay because he cares for his fellow Americans, they’re a form of family as well. What makes this song great is the spider web Jay creates, connecting so many topics so quickly into a light sounding coherent song. And the intro is really all to perfect as an opener for it. Now we just gotta wait on Blue’s mixtape.
MaNyafaCedGod (which I’m sure Jay titled like a cap sensitive password in order to aggravate bloggers, anyone else think of that Spongebob meme?) is possibly the most underrated track on the album. It’s got a great beat change, soothing James Blake singing, and really dense honest lyrics. The first beat is real smooth with James on the keys. The first verse talks about Beyonce and Jay Z’s tour together and how it served as a means of healing for them. Among forms of coping, such as drinking, smoking, vacay, and sex. He touches on themes mentioned earlier in the album, such as the ‘what if’ thoughts of losing his kids and wife over stupid decisions he made. During the tour together Jay mentions how after he performed “Song Cry”, she’d perform “Resentment” and that this order of songs was a very real reflection of the emotions they were experiencing. Fauntleroy ends the 1st half of the song with a very poetic piece about changing out of the fear of loneliness, most likely to reflect Jay’s mindset during the aftermath of his cheating. Then the 2nd half begins with a more menacing anxious beat and Jay gives us the final verse on the album (if you’re counting bonus tracks, that is). He begins by mentioning how him and Bey would have to put on an act to look happy for media even though they were not, but that this served as an opportunity to force themselves to look for the good in life. From here, Jay continues in a more prideful and strong commentary in regards to his marriage. He says that they get each other, and will always have one and other through all. He compares their relationship to kintsukuroi, a Japanese method of fixing broken pottery by using gold as a bind, resulting in a more beautiful piece. In a similar sense, his marriage is better than ever despite the obstacles it faced. He believes that all these challenges have happened because of forces that are beyond his control, and that people must do their best to handle every situation. He gives us the advice his mother gave him, and that is to never go to bed mad at a loved one. Rather talk out the issues and get peace of mind, sound advice from a guy who’s been through so much.
And that is the final song on the project. To conclude, 4:44 is a brilliant album that dives deep into Jay’s most heart-wrenching thoughts and with them comes mature responses. No ID (with some help from James Fauntleroy and occasional sample recommendations from Hov) brings this out in Jay with soul sampling beats that come off nostalgic yet unique, like an updated version of The Blueprint. The verses,the beats, the vocals, the mixing, everything, is done in a way that translates into a feeling of being personal. It’s personal, it’s mature, it’s revealing, it’s emotional, it’s soothing, it’s therapeutic. It extensively covers so much ground in so little time. 4:44 is not only my favourite album of 2017, but one of Jay’s best albums yet.
Favorite Lyrics

I'm surprised you ain't auction off the casket

Caught In Their Eyes

Y'all on the 'Gram holdin' money to your ear
There's a disconnect, we don't call that money over here

The Story of OJ

Mama had four kids, but she's a lesbian
Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian
Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate
Society shame and the pain was too much to take
Cried tears of joy when you fell in love
Don't matter to me if it's a him or her

Smile

I seen the innocence leave your eyes
I still mourn this death and
I apologize for all the stillborns cause I wasn't present
Your body wouldn't accept it

4:44
Talking Points
Do you think Jay made the right call ending the album at Legacy?
Do you think Jay made the right decision not to have any radio singles for the album?
Where does this album compare among the rest of his discography?
Where does he go from here?
How do you feel about the mixing on some of Jay’s vocals?
Do you agree with Jay’s social commentary on songs like Family Feud and Story of OJ?
Thoughts on Jay's flows? Marcy Me is very different from some other songs because the other ones doesn't showcase flow as much
And favourite lyrics/songs/moments etc
(Edit - James Blake not Fauntleroy correction made)

Artist: JAY Z
Album: 4:44
Listen:
Apple Music
TIDAL
Background
Throughout all of Jay Z’s past albums, we've come to understand and love this character known for his drug dealing, no-strings-attached sex, and excessive wealth (Jay built his Roc-A-Fella dynasty, became CEO of Def Jam Recordings, and achieved so much more due to his ability to hustle). This character being Jay Z, Hov, Jigga, but not Shawn Carter. Although there have certainly been instances of him being personal in the past (selling drugs to his mother, shooting his brother, feeling responsible for his nephews death, and so on), the large majority of his music has been braggadocio. Magna Carta Holy Grail, his previous album (from 2013), spent almost an hour telling us about his love for riches. Whether that be his collection of Basquiat paintings, designer clothes, or liquor preferences, by the end… well we got the point. Although it did touch on serious topics here and there, it was far from what a 40 year old father would sound fitting discussing. The party-friendly, trap-influenced, attempt at mainstream pandering was about as interesting as watching paint dry. And not even a Basquiat at that.
Now fast forward to 2017. In the time span between 2013 and now, Solange (his sister-in-law), was caught hitting him in an elevator. Then his once close friend, Kanye West, ranted against him. And finally, his wife, Beyonce, made an entire album about him supposedly cheating on her. With controversy at a high surrounding Jay’s respectability, everyone was hungry to hear what he had to say. Curiosity began peaking when billboards and sign began appearing with nothing more that the the numbers “4:44”. It wasn’t much longer until more went up with a date (6.30.17) and a name, JAY Z. No one knew what to expect from a 2017 Jay album, but it’s safe to say he surpassed any and all that prefaced him.
Review
10 seconds into the appropriately titled first track, “Kill Jay Z”, we’re faced with these lines:

Kill Jay Z, they'll never love you
You'll never be enough, let's just keep it real, Jay Z
Fuck Jay Z, I mean, you shot your own brother

First thing off the bat, Jay is dismembering his persona and taking a more self-aware approach. Eric Carter did survive the bullet, and Jay was only a child when this instance took place, but we can see his past mistakes still haunts him to this day. It appears as though he’s still learning how to live with his regrets. What makes “Kill Jay Z” so transparent is that in the process of examining his mistakes and how needs to change, he attacks the ego that has helped him to achieve so much. It’s only fitting he opens up so much on the opening track. Soon after these lines he goes onto discuss how he must change for his children, his tears, pain, regret, and how the mentality he once needed for hustling is no longer necessary. He touches on his relationship with longtime friend and collaborator, Kanye West, and ultimately we can see they’re not in a good place. He ends the song on a few lines referencing how he ‘almost went Eric Benét’, Eric had continually cheated on Halle Berry, giving us a quick glimpse at a very prevalent regret Jay currently has that we will learn most about on the album's title track. Jay’s reflective lyrics flow incredibly well over the soulful (yet modern) No ID production. No ID handles all the production on the album, and each beat is fantastic and perfect for Jay’s crafting. His drums, sample flips, everything, No ID is a legend and absolutely kills it.
A smooth mix of piano and vocal sample (of the legendary Nina Simone) begin “The Story of O.J.”, before Jay comes in discussing the labels that have been attributed to black people in various places of society. The simply worded hook has so much to offer. It shows that people want to separate themselves from molds, but that despite this, due to experiences related to skin colour, there continues to be a common thread and underlying sense of unity. Jay takes 2 perspectives in order to urge people not to abandon recognition of their race, as being aware will help to bring change moreso. This negative viewpoint of his can be seen in this line (most importantly his reaction, listen to how he says it):

O.J. like, "I'm not black, I'm O.J." …okay

The first verse has Jay speaking to what could represent his younger south and many black youth today. He encourages drug dealers to stop before it’s too late and invest their earnings in wise and legitimate ways. The 2nd (and final) verse continues to further discuss how Jay has spent money wisely and also where he wishes he had. Ultimately, Jay wants to help those less-advantaged black youth to become successful like he has, and to live a full life. The goal is to paint himself as a healthy role model but also one that can admit his mistakes, to promote the best choices he can. And for such a race related song, the Simone sample is perfect. “The Story of O.J.” is a great song to show Jay’s growth in maturity, and the beat is especially fitting to this growth.
Jay’s first lines on “Smile” are continuing from where “The Story of O.J.” left off, further discussing his rags to riches and wealth. But it’s right after these first few lines Jay discusses a more personal insight towards his life, with these lines:

Mama had four kids, but she's a lesbian
Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian
Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate
Society shame and the pain was too much to take
Cried tears of joy when you fell in love

Jay is going beyond talking about the challenges gays face and allowing us to see how they have impacted his mother. Society would’ve condemned her for being attracted to the same sex. So, she tried for many years to change and act as if she were straight. This moment serves as another great example of Jay’s personal growth, as he used to use homophobic insults in songs such as “Takeover” and “N- What, N- Who (Originator 99)”. Jay goes on to discuss being loyal, his wealth, overcoming obstacles, Funkmaster Flex, and uses his pen-free abilities to craft great wordplay that Hov is known for. He’s showing happiness for his success, for his mom, and for life, which is only right for a song titled “Smile”. ID did a great job with the catchy Stevie Wonder flip and the song ends with a beautiful poem from Gloria, Jay’s mother. She spreads a positive message that encourages people to be happy with who they are, which is very appropriate based on all she had gone through. I believe it’s the 2nd time she has appeared on a Jay album (first being on The Black Album), and is a great way to close a great song.
“Caught In Their Eyes” has a more happy beat backing Jay. He uses his first verse to describe his struggles growing up and paints a portrait of those who oppose him. All while using some great wordplay. For instance:

I seen eyes wide as they're about to shoot
You can be a hairpin off and you can trigger your roots

On the surface level he’s describing the ways people lived and how they acted, and beyond that is another entendre about Questlove and the legendary Roots. Another line I really like is:

Y'all body language is all remedial
How could you see the difference between you and I?

The first meaning being the literal, that you can’t fathom how many leagues Hov is above you. But also it sounds like the literal letters ‘U’ and ‘I’. Then on top of that, the previous line ended on ‘remedial’, so you expect him to end the following line in the same scheme. This is no mistake, as ‘me and you’ could work easily in ‘you and I’’s place. His change of lyrics makes the words stand out more and is proper English, which could be a play on ‘language’ in ‘body language’. The whole first verse also has a theme of the human body throughout it, body language, hair, his cheek, and at least 3 references to eyes. It’s a short but very interesting and dense verse. Following it, Frank Ocean lends a small and curious hook, touching on the topic of Solipsism and determining what’s real. He claims he’s ready for Earth. Now I’m not certain of what the exact meaning of the hook is and I don’t want to take too big of stretches, but it’s possible it’s too show that the speaker of the song is more real (in a sense of loyalty and principles) than everyone. So much so that he feels as though everything else is literally fiction. Jay uses the 2nd verse to discuss how Londell McMillan (whom he names specifically) screwed over both Jay and Prince’s wished in regards to Prince’s music on streaming services. Despite Prince giving TIDAL (and only TIDAL) permission to use his music, McMillan sued Jay after Prince died in order to gain full control of Prince’s music. He describes the greed that exists in the record industry and ends the verse continuing on the theme of those who oppose him, referencing his ending friendship with Kanye. All of this sounds great over the groovy Nina Simone-sampled beat. I also really like the voice effects on Frank and Jay, it gives a really interesting texture to the song that makes the incredibly smooth beginning of the next track contrast beautifully.
“4:44”, the title track to the album, is in my opinion the most important song to the album. Honestly, I hesitated doing a review on this album because doing this song justice is no easy task. It’s grown to be one of my favourite Jay tracks and my song of the year. But nonetheless I will try!

Do I find it so hard
When I know in my heart
I'm letting you down every day
Letting you down every day
Why do I keep on running away?

No ID opens the song with an incredibly introspective piece of foreshadowing. From this 24 second intro, a red carpet is rolled out for Jay to give us opening lines that speak to us. And he does so with:

Look, I apologize, often womanize
Took for my child to be born, see through a woman's eyes

After years of tracks like Big Pimpin, Girls Girls Girls, Ain’t No N-, On To The Next One, 2 Many Hoes… well you get the idea, he opens up this track with lines that directly oppose and regret such a mindset (and lifestyle). 2017 is the year we saw Jay Z the feminist (at least on this song), and I for one love the growth. Jay not only regrets womanizing, but regrets how he treated his wife Beyonce (asking her not to embarrass him, for instance). He mentions begs Beyonce to pick up the phone and the vocal effect on his voice almost reminds me of a phone call, not sure if that was an intentional connection or not (but it certainly enhances my enjoyment regardless). He goes on to describe Beyonce maturing faster than him, dealing with multiple stillborns (when Jay performed this song live on SNL he actually didn’t say ‘stillborn’ because of the pain), treating her poorly in public, his terrible attempts at being a respectable husband (“I suck at love, I think I need a do-over”), and most notably, his unfaithfulness. As Jay and Beyonce grew apart and desolate from the stillborns, he went to find affection through cheating (I read this in a Genius annotation and haven't been able to verify the timeline so take with a grain of salt). This ripped them further apart, and in verse 3 he describes how a threesome resulted in him almost losing his family (also worth noting it lead to Beyonce’s album Lemonade). He goes a step further in his regret to consider how his children will react to these things (seeing the falsehoods in his father as a hero), once they inevitably do through others via the internet or write-ups (hopefully not this one!). As the song climaxes to this realization, the sample hits harder than ever with the words “I’m never gonna treat you like I should”. The roaring beat and verses make for a truly moving dynamic. Raw emotion is dripping in every aspect here. No I.D. brought out the most regretful and personal side of Shawn Carter. The soulful production, emotional vocals, and brutally honest lyrics makes this song not only one of Jay's best, but most wise. The moment it begins, it demands your attention. You don't have to worry about any fools skimming through this one, Jay.
“Family Feud” begins with Beyonce, which is perfect for the next song on the album. No ID sampled her vocals throughout the beat and her singing with Jay shows us there is always hope (especially after the previous song). Showing hope for relationships is a vital theme to the song, which we’ll see soon. Jay is back to a more confident approach in offering his wisdom. He spends his first verse talking about being successful, exploring religion, and sends a subliminal shot at Drake (“All this old talk left me confused / You'd rather be old rich me or new you?”). He also criticizes certain fans of old school hip hop for their judgements of new school hip hop fashion. Throughout the song wealth is discussed, but now strictly in braggadocio. He want’s to support fellow black peoples in their endeavours, in order to help revolt against black people being less-advantaged as a result of skin colour. This can be shown with:

I'll be damned if I drink some Belvedere while Puff got CÎROC

And throughout the song he says:

Nobody wins when the family feuds

In this case, family is referring to fellow black people. He advises unity and support will help communities, and bring more equality to society. In his Rap Radar interview, he mentions how as you go up in the world of success, there are less and less blacks. He uses his wealth as a goal for others to reach and encourages they do so through helping one and other. The song is both critical of older and newer generations with lines like:

Al Sharpton in the mirror takin' selfies
How is him or Pill Cosby s'posed to help me?
Old n***** never accepted me

And

New n***** is the reason I stopped drinkin' Dos Equis

This attempts to display the different mentalities. He continually mentions that 2 billions is better than 1, representing new and old generations (and his marriage as well). The message is this: put aside your differences and work as a team, because nobody wins when the family feuds.
For the past 24 minutes and 1 seconds, we have seen “Kill Jay Z” in place, essentially abandoning the persona that lead to his success. But there is a change of pace during the duration of “Bam” that makes it so exciting. The first words from Jay (and a reference to “Public Service Announcement”, from TBA) tell you exactly what I mean:

Fuck all this pretty Shawn Carter shit nigga, HOV

The aggressive nature of the line and Damian Marley’s chorus set the song up for Jay to come through to set records straight, and that he does. Dehaven was a drug dealer Jay worked with back in his hustling pre-music days. On social media, Dehaven has routinely claimed Jay never really did much hustling and was a mere runner. Hov spends part of his first verse shooting this down, claiming if he was only a runner he wouldn’t had’ve became the success he is now (as his music and clothing ventures cost a lot to begin). He goes onto explains that his nice side, Shawn, used to be in ‘flight mode’, as he was completely in the Jay Z mindset. This was the side of him that got him to be so wealthy (and continues to push him). Verse 2 is only 12 bars long, but is coated with references and entendres. He uses Rae Sremmurd, Bobby Shmurda, Nat Turner, Kanye, Black Sheep, and even the fact that he skips leg day, all to brag to us in the most clever ways. The mention of Rae and Bobby also could tie back to “Family Feud”, as it’s touching on the theme of newschool rappers. The hard hitting street reggae provide Jay with the perfect backdrop for him to use his ego for good and let people know he’s not fabricated.
The title of “Moonlight” is a reference to the film by the same name. It famously was confused with La La Land at the most recent Academy Awards, which Jay references in the hook of “Moonlight”. What makes the film Moonlight noteworthy is that it is the first film to win a Grammy for Best Picture that features an all black class, as well as the first LGBT movie to do the same. Moonlight is special because it excels without being like every other popular movie. The song “Moonlight” is asking rappers to apply this same principle to their artistry, as many popular rap acts aren’t experimenting or pushing the boundaries creativity-wise. Jay isn’t impressed:

Y'all got the same fuckin' flows
I don't know who is who

Jay pokes fun at the skrrt adlib (used by popular trap acts), how artists use the internet to snitch on themselves (for image), and how many of them not only make the same music, but share the same image. It particularly annoys Jay at the ego many of these artists share:

Stop walkin' around like y'all made Thriller, huh?

Jay also references how many rappers are signing to their first label offers, and specifically mentions how Lauryn Hill struggled with labels. This is a fitting choice of reference as the song samples Fu-Gee-La. Which gives the chorus’s use of La La Land 3 meanings:reference to film, reference to sample, and reference to artists being ignorant about their quality of music. Jay’s career proves you can make yourself successful without a label’s early on help, whilst innovating and making non formulaic music. This song alone pushes boundaries, in topics for sure, but instrumentally the beat is constantly changing and adjusting (which can be said for 4:44’s production as a whole, in fact). Even his flow is unique, in how he sways his words without ever sticking to one rhythm. He also lived the criminal life many artists use for their image. This gives his words on these topics more respect than otherwise. The song ends criticizing labels for their treatment of artists, mentioning specific CEO’s, in hopes this will sway young artists. Chance, Nas, Lupe, and tons more in the rap industry alone have contributed to this argument all the same. Time will tell if their message and “Moonlight”’s will have an influence or not. Hopefully a healthy change will be made.
Marcy Me is a song made to reflect on his past by tracing out homages to his influences and heroes. Before I break down his lyrics, I gotta say Jay’s flow is as good as it ever has been and the piano/drums/vocal-sample/etc work so well with it. This sample is so obscure on some Madlib type style too (“Todo o mundo e ninguém” By Quarteto 1111, from 1970, if anyone’s curious). Onto the rest of the song! The title alone pays respect to the legendary Marvin Gaye and his track Mercy Me. Then the intro is a Biggie quotation that ends before bragging about sex, which is appropriate for the album and it’s apologetic tones. From there, we see mentions of Jam Master Jay (of Run-DMC, RIP), Dennis Rodman, Michael Jordan, Tichina Arnold (an actress on Martin), Denzel Washington, Slick Rick, and Lisa Bonet. And that’s just within the 1st verse. What’s significant about the nostalgia-riddled details is that each of them helped give a young Shawn hope in Marcy, Brooklyn. He describes marcy with:

I'm from Marcy Houses, where the boys die by the thousand These role models let him keep his head up despite his environment, and because he had hope, he was able to be ambitious, ultimately leading to the development of the Jay Z character that this album has previously explored. We learned earlier that he created Hov as a means to succeed, and we now learn that Hov was able to exist in the first place largely due to the success of other black people. Inspiration was a key factor to his success. Verse 2 has Jay reflecting on his rags to riches story, touching on topics such as cocaine, murderers, areas of Marcy, and rappers that have passed (“rappers turned murals”) or influenced him. Jay sounds confident and relaxed simultaneously. Verse 2 is the definition of ‘cool, calm, and collected’. To end the song, The-Dream (who is way too underrated, just saying) sings a slower outro about remaining true to oneself. It’s a beautiful way to end such a well-constructed strong.

“Legacy” begins with a voice recording of his daughter asking what a will is. Jay uses this to explore how his wealth will benefit his kids and so on, and to explore how family history has impacted his life as well. The word ‘legacy’ refers to the wealth left in a will, as well as the aftermath of a predecessor (which can be from a will but not necessarily). The song explores both sides of the coin. The opening verse is more directed as an answer to his daughter’s initial question, talking about how TIDAL, Roc Nation, Ace of Spades, D’USSE, and such business ventures will go onto support his kids and relatives extensively. This side of the song already feels like a personal discussion just between Jay and his kids about what will follow after he dies. He ends verse 1 on his goal of creating generational wealth and even talks about how blacks are discriminated against in the tech industry. Verse 2 goes into even more personal territory about how Jay’s grandfather molested his aunt (of his father’s side). He claims he may one day forgive him for these actions, but that this negative situation had a silver lining for Jay. His grandfather was a pastor, and due to this, Jay wrote off Christianity (by assuming his grand father’s actions were reflective of the religion he promoted). As a result, he explored other religions. This allowed him a diverse understanding of various sets of beliefs, influencing him to be the critical thinking and understanding person he is today. “Legacy” shows how our actions can influence many generations, and through the most personal ways possible. For such heavy messages, Jay brings hope. Hope is communicated so well through the background horns and James Fauntleroy background singing too. It’s a brilliant closer to the album (if you exclude the bonus tracks). Fun fun fact about Legacy: This song samples Donny Hathaway’s 1971 song “Someday We’ll All Be Free, which was recorded by Jimmy Douglas. Fast forward decades and Douglas mixed all of 4:44.
In order to see the reviews of the bonus tracks you must sign up with TIDAL
Just kidding! Who needs exclusivity?
“Adnis” is named after Adnis Reeves, Jay’s father (who passed away in ‘03). Adnis abandoned Jay when he was just a child (around 11 or 12). Reeves had spent less and less time at home, in hopes of finding his brother’s killer. Eventually he picked up drug addictions and left home entirely, never contacting Jay. They did meet up eventually, in 2002, and from that meeting he forgave Adnis for abandoning him. This allowed him to drop anger that he held onto for so many years and in place he was able to overcome love/trust issues. “Adnis” is ‘an open letter to [Jay’s] dad that [he] never wrote’. In a very slow flow over a very relaxed beat, Carter discusses how Reeves caused him lots of anger growing up. He mentions how he wrote about wanting to fight him, as a means of expressing that anger. He also recognized himself in stories of his father, and gave thought to how his grandfather’s malicious (previously discussed in “Legacy”) actions may have impacted Adnis. He mentions how before Adnis’ brother died, he was a good person and that he taught Jay valuable lessons. Including loving his step siblings no different than non-step siblings. It’s clear from the first verse that Adnis was a good father and a role model to Jay during some of his earliest formative years. Verse 2 mentions how despite being the youngest in his family, and despite his father’s leave, he eventually became the leader of his family. He mentions how his father reacted poorly to his uncle’s death, because according to their beliefs, his uncle was in a better place. Life was out of Adnis’ hands, instead there were bottles and needles. Despite his father becoming a terrible role model, Jay takes pride in him being a caring parent and husband. It’s a sweet note to end on after the previous more harder to swallow sorrows. Jay doesn’t shy away from talking about emotional subjects, I have no doubt this song was hard to make for him. And then to release such an open and personal song, exposing your thoughts and feelings to the public, couldn’t have been so easy. But I’m grateful he did, because “Adnis” is one of the best this year.
Blue’s Freestyle / We Family opens up with Jay’s daughter Blue spitting some straight bars about how she’s never seen a ceiling, seeking those who are innocent, and most interestingly about how everything is shakalaka. I can’t disagree with her there! It’s a cute little opener to a more light hearted sounding song. The beat has some hawaiian influence and Jay never goes to in depth, as each verse is only about 6 lines long (although there are 4 of them). In the short amount of time he does however cover a lot of ground, referencing illuminati claims, his thankfulness for his wife, celebration of heritage, black unity, drug dealing, his worldwide fans, Donald Trump (and his concerns about him), and his excessive travelling. Quite possibly the most amount of topics covered in one song when compared to any other one on the album. And in between each verse is a small hook claiming he’s part of a family. All of these topics, although seemingly unrelated, connect back to the construct of family. His illuminati controversy is because he has heritage (from family members) that roots back to the use of voodoo, he claims tauntingly. His wife is part of his family, and her heritage has played a role in shaping their kids and thus his family. Worldwide fans and black unity are alike in that they are united for a common goal that Jay is involved in, making them family. Drug dealing played a role in his success and as a result him meeting Beyonce, etc. Donald Trump concerns Jay because he cares for his fellow Americans, they’re a form of family as well. What makes this song great is the spider web Jay creates, connecting so many topics so quickly into a light sounding coherent song. And the intro is really all to perfect as an opener for it. Now we just gotta wait on Blue’s mixtape.
MaNyafaCedGod (which I’m sure Jay titled like a cap sensitive password in order to aggravate bloggers, anyone else think of that Spongebob meme?) is possibly the most underrated track on the album. It’s got a great beat change, soothing James Blake singing, and really dense honest lyrics. The first beat is real smooth with James on the keys. The first verse talks about Beyonce and Jay Z’s tour together and how it served as a means of healing for them. Among forms of coping, such as drinking, smoking, vacay, and sex. He touches on themes mentioned earlier in the album, such as the ‘what if’ thoughts of losing his kids and wife over stupid decisions he made. During the tour together Jay mentions how after he performed “Song Cry”, she’d perform “Resentment” and that this order of songs was a very real reflection of the emotions they were experiencing. Fauntleroy ends the 1st half of the song with a very poetic piece about changing out of the fear of loneliness, most likely to reflect Jay’s mindset during the aftermath of his cheating. Then the 2nd half begins with a more menacing anxious beat and Jay gives us the final verse on the album (if you’re counting bonus tracks, that is). He begins by mentioning how him and Bey would have to put on an act to look happy for media even though they were not, but that this served as an opportunity to force themselves to look for the good in life. From here, Jay continues in a more prideful and strong commentary in regards to his marriage. He says that they get each other, and will always have one and other through all. He compares their relationship to kintsukuroi, a Japanese method of fixing broken pottery by using gold as a bind, resulting in a more beautiful piece. In a similar sense, his marriage is better than ever despite the obstacles it faced. He believes that all these challenges have happened because of forces that are beyond his control, and that people must do their best to handle every situation. He gives us the advice his mother gave him, and that is to never go to bed mad at a loved one. Rather talk out the issues and get peace of mind, sound advice from a guy who’s been through so much.
And that is the final song on the project. To conclude, 4:44 is a brilliant album that dives deep into Jay’s most heart-wrenching thoughts and with them comes mature responses. No ID (with some help from James Fauntleroy and occasional sample recommendations from Hov) brings this out in Jay with soul sampling beats that come off nostalgic yet unique, like an updated version of The Blueprint. The verses,the beats, the vocals, the mixing, everything, is done in a way that translates into a feeling of being personal. It’s personal, it’s mature, it’s revealing, it’s emotional, it’s soothing, it’s therapeutic. It extensively covers so much ground in so little time. 4:44 is not only my favourite album of 2017, but one of Jay’s best albums yet.
Favorite Lyrics

I'm surprised you ain't auction off the casket

Caught In Their Eyes

Y'all on the 'Gram holdin' money to your ear
There's a disconnect, we don't call that money over here

The Story of OJ

Mama had four kids, but she's a lesbian
Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian
Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate
Society shame and the pain was too much to take
Cried tears of joy when you fell in love
Don't matter to me if it's a him or her

Smile

I seen the innocence leave your eyes
I still mourn this death and
I apologize for all the stillborns cause I wasn't present
Your body wouldn't accept it

4:44
Talking Points
Do you think Jay made the right call ending the album at Legacy?
Do you think Jay made the right decision not to have any radio singles for the album?
Where does this album compare among the rest of his discography?
Where does he go from here?
How do you feel about the mixing on some of Jay’s vocals?
Do you agree with Jay’s social commentary on songs like Family Feud and Story of OJ?
Thoughts on Jay's flows? Marcy Me is very different from some other songs because the other ones doesn't showcase flow as much
And favourite lyrics/songs/moments etc
(Edit - James Blake not Fauntleroy correction made)