Contrary to popular belief, “It’s a Love Thing” is a Pete Rock & CL Smooth throwback that first appeared on PR’s Soul Survivor 2. I know you don’t buy records, so I had to clarify that.

As far as American Me, Corey Penn’s Soul Food kitchen is still open for business. Of course, it’s nowhere near Mecca & The Soul Brother, but CL’s spit game is still as smooth as ever. I’ll have a review on it later. For now, listen to these three songs and let me know if it’s ‘yay’ or ‘nay’.

C L Smooth - American Me Track Listing
1. “American Me [Intro]” (Mike Loe)
2. “American Me” (Produced by Rsonist [Heatmakerz])
3. “I Can’t Help It” (Produced by Mike Loe)
4. “Call on Me” (Produced by Kaygee & Tramp for Divine Mill)
5. “Black Heart Radio [Interlude]” (Produced by Mike Loe)
6. “CL Smooth Unplugged” (Produced by Squarta)
7. “Warm Outside” (Produced by Rsonist [Heatmakerz])
8. “Terrorism [Interlude]” (Produced by DonJoe & Del)
9. “Gorilla Pimpin’” (Produced by Kaygee & Tramp Divine Mill)
10. “The Impossible” (Produced by Mike Loe)
11. “It’s A Love Thing (Produced by Pete Rock)”
12. “Smoke in the Air” (Produced by Mike Loe)
13. “Travel Sometime [Interlude]“
14. “The Stroll” (Produced by Rsonist [Heatmakerz])
15. “American Me [Outro]” (Produced by Mike Loe)
16. “All We Ever Know” (Produced by Mike Loe)
17. Heaven Is Watching You (Produced by Kaygee & Tramp Divine Mill)

Release Date: October 31, 2006
Label: Shaman Works Recordings

See Also…
-Top 10 Rap Releases for October 2006

Daz Dillinger has quietly dropped a CD laden with “some West Coast G’d Down South flavor” (his own words), and managed to sell 23,000 units so far. Don’t be No. 23,001, get it here for free on this west coast edition of the Weekly CD Contest.

Same rules as before.

1) What’s Daz’s real name?
2) Daz is Snoop Dogg’s cousin. True or False?
3) 2Pac’s “Got My Mind Made Up” was produced by Daz originally for _________.

Good Luck!

Visit The Rap Up Forums

In case you didn’t know, The Rap Up message board has been up and running for about four years now. That’s where I honed my craft prior to the whole blog thing. We don’t do Cd contests there, but you’re welcome to add to our collection of celeb mug shots and wack album covers.

JD, who recently turned 34, was seen celebrating his birthday at Hennessy Paradis in L.A. This showcase is nothing compared to Nas’ birthday party in terms of hip-hop celeb turnout.

While you were busy googling that fake Kingdom Come tracklisting, the album art & tracklisting for Hi-Teknology 2 stealthily invaded the ‘nets. I already love this album on paper.

Hi-Teknology 2: The Chip Tracklisting

1. “The Oracle (Intro)”
2. “The Chip”
3. “Keep It Moving” (feat. Dion, Q-Tip & Kurupt)
4. “I Think I Got a Beat” (feat. Lil’ Tone)
5. “Can We Go Back” (feat. Talib Kweli & Ayak)
6. “Josephine” (feat. The Willie Cottrell Band, Ghostface Killah & Pretty Ugly)
7. “March” (feat. Common)
8. “Where It Started At (NY)” (feat. Dion, Jadakiss, Papoose, Talib Kweli & Raekwon)
9. “1-800-Homicide” (feat. The Game & Dion)
10. “Money Don’t Make U Rich” (feat. Strong Arm Steady)
11. “Baby We Can Do It” (feat. Czar*Nok)
12. “Let it Go” (feat. Dion & Talib Kweli)
13. “People Going Down” (feat. The Willie Cottrell Band)
14. “So Tired” (feat. Dion, Bun B, Devin the Dude & Pretty Ugly)
15. “Music For Life” (feat. J Dilla, Nas, Common, Busta Rhymes & Marsha)
16. “How We Do It” (feat. Snoop Dogg, Talib Kweli & Slim Thug)
17. “Time is Now” (feat. Reflection Eternal)
18. “We Get Down” (feat. Mos Def, Raphael Saadiq & Bootsy Collins)

Release Date: October 17th

Good to see Slim back doing videos, but you already know how much I love the song. Seriously, how do you go from “Locked Up” and “Ghetto” to “Smack That”?

-Video: Young Buck - I Know You Want Me. All I can say is that it doesn’t deserve its own post.

-Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor on pace to shift 100,000 units next week. Better than I expected. If you’re one of those “hip-hop is dead” types, do yourself and the rest of us a favor: stop complaining and go cop this album as well as Game Theory.

-Mario Etheridge (man who shot proof) found guilty on two counts.

-Play and Dana Dane teach Hip-Hop Class

-Dave Mays and Benzino’s new publication, Hip-Hop Weekly, gets a street date. Those guys are some comedians.

-Jay-Z adds a MOBO to his awards tally. But, he didn’t show up for the obvious reasons.

-Hip-Hop Caucus to protest at the White House.

The Game - Strip Club (Let’s Ride) [CD Quality]

A solid single once you get past the uninspiring title.

-Game’s radio interview right before they premiered “Let’s Ride.”
-He runs through the list of producers and collaborators on The Doctor’s Advocate which doesn’t include Dr. Dre.

-Drops a subliminal diss to Black Eyed Peas, then turns around and says that the will.i.am-produced “Compton” is his favorite track on the album

-Interesting Allhiphop.com interview with Game. Apparently, he’s still beefing with his brother. This guy really needs to switch to vegetarian.

-Again, he dodges the Dre factor tactfully in that AHH interview. Last I checked on UMG’s site, The Doctor’s Advocate was labeled “Aftermath”…Interesting.

-Oprah for President?

-Weird Al Yankovic murders Chamillionaire (on his own sh*t, that is.)

-Another teenybopper violates rap.

-Eminem expands his hu$tle.

-Speaking of Em, his divorce proceedings will now go through a mediator. Huh?

-Uncle LL will co-develop, poduce and star in a new TV series.

-DMC of Run-DMC to be honored for helping abandoned children. Who said hip-hop was all about negativity and violence.

(PSssst: Posts will be sporadic for a while, owing to Blogger’s incessant hiccups + the death of my laptop’s hard drive last week. Unless, of course, ‘Pac returns from Cuba anytime soon.)