Underground Hip Hop 2

Continuing from my first post of underground hip hop, here are a few more non-commercial tracks that I would like to share. They may not be all underground artists but they aren’t commercial for sure. Hip hop isn’t dead, you just gotta dig deeper.

1. k-os – The Love Song

K-os is one of my favourite Canadian artists. This song a gem from the album Joyful Rebellion. What I love about this song is how real he is. He doesn’t make his music to sell it, he makes it because he loves to make music. Not to mention the beat is dirtier than your internet browser history.

2. The Left – The Melody

Let me say one thing. I could listen to this beat all day. The beat is the same beat used in the song Gunz Still Hot but I just love the chorus where the woman sings a few lines from A Song For You a true classic song by Donny Hathaway. If you haven’t checked out the album that this song is from (Gas Mask), you’ve been missing out. Go listen to it ASAP.

3. King Geedorah – I Wonder

Now what’s an underground hip hop post without MF DOOM, or in this case King Geedorah? This song is just as real as it gets. You can feel his emotion in the second and third verse, and his story telling is just crazy. One of the comments on the Youtube video pretty much sums it up.  “This song smacks you the F in the face. You should listen to the first 4 seconds, 5 times in a row, then let it flow. Dude comes in at 0:00 “That’s right, I got problems and personal issues…” My goodness gracious they drop bombs.” Also check out the song Next Levels by Geedorah.

4. Poor Righteous Teachers – Gods Earths and 85ers

I don’t understand how these guys aren’t more well known. This song is from 1996, but the lyrics can’t be matched. The beat can’t be matched. The originality can’t be matched. Enough of me praising this song, you take a listen and read the lyrics very carefully.

5. Cyne – Paradise

The title of this song is truly fitting. Listening to this track makes me feel like I’m in a hip hop paradise. Sorry Coldplay, but I’m crowning this the best song named Paradise. Cise Starr rips this song. His flow goes so well with the beat. If you like this song check out Feather by Nujabes (RIP) where Cise Starr spits over an insane beat produced by Nujabes. Also listen to First Person. That’s the song that got me into Cyne.

6. Cormega – The Saga Remix

Okay, Cormega may not be underground but I could not leave this song out. If you love hip hop, you have to have this song on your Ipod.  The song explains itself so all I’m going to write here are the lyrics.

“[Verse 1: Cormega]
“The Saga” begins
I’m a reflection of the drama within
The ghetto I live in, niggaz Moms on crack, Pops just disappeared
First time you get locked up – who really cares?
I see a little snotty nosed kid with his sneakers on backwards
Sleep on a mattress, when I go to make a sale
At times I wonder, are we goin’ straight to Hell?
Or does God realize we’re tryin’ to make it as well
My sleep is interrupted by food on the stove
Not gun shots, we’re immune to those
Some of my friend’s first bids is two to fours
Others are on the run with huge rewards
Mothers watch Son’s walk through the door
For the last time ’til they go view at the morgue
Life is deep, we all just tryin’ to eat
Rap’s a mental narcotic, I supply the streets

[Chorus: Cormega]
Look at my life; you see white coke and black roses
And tear shed for passed soldiers
We all walkin’ a path chosen
From the cradle ’til the casket’s lowered
I still got the black ski mask to throw on
But I can get richer off the tracks I flow on
I’d be lyin’ if I said I wasn’t hustlin’ no more

[Verse 2: Cormega]
Life ain’t fair, shorty pregnant with nowhere to live
sleepin’ in a crack-house, ’cause she don’t got no relatives
Her friends wanna drink brew and beef about whose sale it is
Now she’s gettin’ hungry, she could smell the marijuana
Seen the picture vividly, as if Picasso’s spirit entered me
Starin’ at the Heavens, secluded in a tinted Jeep
But sick of hearin’ eulogies
I realize my nigga Blue is – a reminder of my past like Greek ruins
Yet his seek keeps bloomin’
Unaffected by police intrusions
Or street illusions, we were consumed with
I’ve even grown away from people I grew wit
Who only seem concerned when they need me to do shit
My mood could switch easily from smooth to ruthless
We ain’t built the same, so mind games are useless
Times change, like the climate, I change
Check the forecast, I reign

[Chorus: Cormega]

[Verse 3: Cormega]
Live niggaz I rep for, deceased, I pour Moet for
Those incarcerated, my heart is wit y’all
I know at times it gets hard behind penitentiary bars
And once free you realize you’re mentally scarred
If not physically, if subjected to correctional facilities
Prepare for your future, to the best of your ability
Prosper, otherwise you’ve been conquered
Blowin’ up your mother phone, so she can send you a bop
Son, I sit inside my residence
And thank God I’m blessed with this
Poetical gift, evident in every ghetto
Like graffiti and crack sales
And cabs who won’t stop for Black Males
Undercovers givin’ younger Brothers bad stares
Fours clap, Dogs crap in the grass here
You love to hear ’cause “The Saga” began here
And MC’s are fictitious, yet there’s actual facts here
Like the Bible said, Jesus had napped hair.

Part 3 coming soon.