We love the end of the year. The best CDs and movies come out, and everyone is in that giving spirit. Team Sure Shot satiated our hip-hop appetite by giving ourselves the new Nas and Ghostface joints.
BRIAN HARKIN/Special Contributor
Big Tuck
And we've decided to give you some PodQast goodness in the form of music and chalk talk with Waajeed of the Platinum Pied Pipers. Dude blessed the Zubar with a DJ set last weekend, and now we bless you with what he's up to. Download it hurr: QuickDFW.com/podqast.
Now tell your kids to stay the hell off my lawn!
If you're looking for a person to hang on to all your Curtis Mayfield records for you, Skin just may be that guy. Reach out to him and find out if it's a good match – skin@quickdfw.com.
Looking for that perfect gift idea for the rap head in your circle?
Take the Sure Shot's lead and make a '06 DFW mix tape. These were our favorite cuts of the year and great place for you to start.
Twisted Black, "I'm A Fool Wit It": Twisted had one of those rollercoaster years. He signed a major deal with TVT. Now he awaits sentencing on some legal matters that didn't go his way. All drama aside, "Fool" was one of the undeniably great songs of the year. Head-noddin' beats, intoxicating flute line and a cool, casual flow. Feel free to roll with the Tum Tum-laced remix, too.
Strange Fruit Project, "Special": It would have been easy to pick "Get Live" with Miss Badu's memorable chorus, but this was team Sure Shot's favorite cut from The Healing. Myone, Myth and S1 sound great ridin' this soulful gem produced by 9th Wonder. Soul singer Thesis makes the chorus stick in you head. This is BBQ soundtrack music right hurr.
Dawg Wonder, "Swing Low": Louisiana transplant Dawg Wonder made his presence known in the Dub this year with his work on the Dirty Dialect Click mix tapes, as well as his own solo joints. This Picnic-produced 808 gem stood out. Is that Paul Robeson on the chorus? Whatever, this joint carries you home.
Tum Tum, "Caprice Muzik": Classic minimal greatness. All flavor, no filler. Tum Tum brings some levity to his street-savvy Dirty South Rydaz. This cut is making its way onto the national scene, thanks to a big-time video. Big Tuck is paving the way for the DSR assault, but this was the franchise cut.
Boondox, "Takin' It Back": Headkrack and the boys went Blues Brothers on that ass and got the band back together. The Boondox were a fixture on the scene in the '90s, and the flavor on this cut is why. Peanuts piano loops on Barry White drums? C'mon, man, it can't be stopped. This reminds us of the first Pharcyde record. Classic material!
Big Tuck with Erykah Badu, "Ain't No Mistaken": Call it bluesy 808 soul. Badu always sounds buttery, and Big Tuck succeeds in making the well-worn topic of street struggles sound fresh. If Tuck is going to put Dallas on the proverbial map, this cut will be the one he hung his hat on.
Money Waters, "[Expletive]": Let's just say the name of this song rhymes with "Truckery". Money Wha Wha brings political urgency on this one, at least as urgent as someone laidback as Money can sound. This almost has an Ice Cube-era N.W.A feel to it. Heater!
PPT, "Clay At Your Own Risk": This embodies everything that is great about PPT. It's just burstin' at the seams with flavor. And it absolutely kills live. It's a loose cover of the old Planet Patrol joint, but this reworking actually has more of a "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" vibe to us. Maybe it's the bell percussion.
Coffee Nods, "Paycheck": It's the joint everyone can relate to. Rerog's production has that classic jazzy hip-hop vibe that makes us get all teary-eyed. "Feel It" is the CD's club banger, but this tune is the gem.
Verbal Seed, "Take Advantage": Damn, another cut with a chorus from Thesis? (Her joint on Money's CD almost made it, too). Not that these Waco transplants need her to make their joints pop, but this cut about makin' it happen is as good as it gets.
