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I bought Licensed to Ill seven times.  Seven.  The follow up, Paul's Boutique, was only purchases three times.  I highly recommend reading Dan LeRoy's 33 1/3 series on that album.  It was a game changer.  The reason that you have to pay for samples now (Paul's Boutique contained "somewhere between 200-300 samples").  It's amazing to see how these cats have endured - without selling out (ever hear a Beasties song on a car commercial?) or relying on gimmicks (I'm looking at you, Matisyahu).  Their only angle was that they were brats.   And in fact, they were the brattiest brats that ever bratted.   Their new album, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is due out on May 3rd.  

But first.....it's Throwback Thursday.

R.A.  is a rapper's rapper.  True skill and grit.  The son of Staff Sgt. John A. Thorburn (who died last year) - he wrote a touching tribute to his father who was a Vietnam Veteran exposed to Agent Orange. R.A.'s family was significantly affected by the potent chemical. His brother Maxx was born handicapped and blind, eventually dying at the age of 10. R.A's sister, Dee Ann, was born without the ability to walk or speak. She died in 2007 at the age of 27.  Real shit right here.

Our local Hip-Hop/R&B station, HOT 105.5, plays absolute garbage.  All the boring, ridiculous ringtone top 40 crap.  Music for pea-brains and 9 year olds.  The ONLY time I tune into that station is between noon and 1pm for DJ Mondo's throwback mix.  If I'm out and about during those hours I'll flip over, listening for tunes that I've forgotten about.  Yesterday I hopped in the car just as the throwback mix was ending so the first tune I heard (unfortunately) was "Motivation" by Kelly Rowland featuring Lil Wayne.  Ugh.  Here's the first verse:

Oh lover, don’t you dare slow down
Go longer, you can last more rounds
Push harder, your almost there now
So go lover, make my mother proud

"Make my MOTHER proud"???   Yikes.

Tonight, the Butler Bulldogs return to the NCAA Championship game for the second year in a row.  Last year they fell to Duke after Gordon Hayward's half-court heave came off the rim.  Hayward left early for the NBA (now with the Utah Jazz) and most folks thought that Butler would be a non-factor this year.  Instead, they blew past powerhouses like Pitt, Wisconsin & Florida before taking out fellow Cinderella VCU in the Final Four.  Below is my tribute to last year's (near) buzzer beater.  Keep an eye on the kid running through the bottom of the screen.

It's Shad.  He's funny, he's good, he's Canadian.  You may recognize this tune from my Head Nods Vol. 1 mix.  Here's the video, where he riffs on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  Dig.