Slept-On But Very Dope Hip Hop Songs From The Week Of 11/14/2011

Back to our regularly-scheduled programming, this week HipHopDX found itself at the crossroads Hip Hop is at. We have an Electro-Rap artist with a new remix, featuring a guest emcee accepted beyond the Hip Hop genre. We have some hardcore Hip Hop with a cause, tying in to movements domestic and abroad. We also have an incredible video, inspired by 42nd Street of yesteryear, complete with porn, cartoon characters and lots and lots of neon. We think all three of these are great, and they may have gone under your radar. 

Kid Sister featuring Danny Brown – “Gucci Rag Top (Remix)”

I have to be honest. When I first heard the original “Gucci Rag Top” featuring Kid Sister and Gucci Mane, I cringed. I’m sure there is someone who enjoys the music of “La Flare” – they’re probably less than the cross-section of people who just merely enjoy yelling out “Gucci!” The collaboration seemed too obvious (Gucci on a Gucci-inspired track, right we get it) and Kid Sister‘s high energy coupled with Gucci’s nose-running rhymes just sounded like a mess. Then the video for this remix with Danny Brown happened, and I must say, I’m impressed. Danny Brown had to grow on me; okay fine, his hair had to. But after we got that out of the way I became an instant fan, and having him on this track adds the right balance of male eccentricity that KS needed on this cut. The one thing I’ve always admired about the music of Kid Sister – she’s always having fun. There was a time when Hip Hop was actually a good time (if you can think that far back) and Kid Sis does her damnedest to do it again. Hopefully her upcoming EP Kiss and Tell will show more of that. – Kathy Iandoli

Listen to “Gucci Rag Top (Remix)” by Kid Sister featuring Danny Brown

Hasan Salaam – “1911”

New Jersey emcee Hasan Salaam has been on my radar since 2008, with his remarkable Children of God record. Co-signed by Lord Jamar and others, Hasan impresses me not only with dope lyrical Hip Hop, but by attaching so many of his moves to worthy causes. Recently, the emcee has been working with It Takes A Village in West Africa, and donating proceeds from his upcoming EP, Music Is My Weapon. That title absolutely resonates with the brash delivery on “1911,” as Hasan pushes verses with substance about just where we’re at. If you’re tired of the “swag” movement and align with Immortal Techniques, Brand Nubians, or even an R.A. The Rugged Man, Hasan Salaam is found in that lineage. With some crazy headlines as of late “1911,” is true theme music – Jake Paine

Listen to “1911” by Hasan Salaam

Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire – “Lou Ferigno’s Mad”

It’s hard to even know where to begin with Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire’s newest video. Like his rhymes it exists on multiple levels; brilliance making a covert attack – in the form of brilliant pop culture references and ephemera – from behind a pair of bouncing ass cheeks. Other rhymers may use the Tony Starks and Viktor Vaughns as muses but eXquire prefers the Michael Dudikoffs and yes, Lou Ferignos. And it’s not just Lou Ferigno getting mad, he’s joined by his alter-ego, The Hulk, in action figure form along with the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles thrown in for good measure. (Of course they’re battling for screen time with old VHS porn clips and hi-def party footage of well-fed strippers “jamming” with some Zakk Wylde impersonator). But the most impressive thing in three minutes of well, other impressive things, is how the last few measly patches of the “old” Times Square are transformed into an entire world of rhyme-friendly sleaze, vice and bodily-fluid-stained tile. And if all this hasn’t converted you to the genius that is Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire, add yourself to the sad list that is occupied solely by the dude at the video’s 2:14 minute mark. eXquire’s visuals and his entire Lost In Translation mixtape work because the winks and nudges are so hard to spot, if they’re even there at all… – Michael Sheehan

Last week’s Slept-On But Dope songs.