The Breakdown: Iyaz, “Replay”

Yeah, I thought this song was Sean Kingston, too. It must have been the poorly-written lyrics and baffling metaphors in an odd choice for a pop song.

Lil Wayne, “Run This Town” Freestyle

Surprise: Wayne still has a bit of his talent.

Clipse feat. Cam’ron and Pharrell, “Popular Demand (Popeyes)”

Too late tonight for the proper review. But trust that it’s hot, especially Malice’s thoughtful closer and the perfect chorus from Skateboard P.

Lyrics when you hop.

The Breakdown: 3Oh!3 and Katy Perry, “Starstrukk”

Man, this is like the complete opposite of a MENSA meeting.

Till the Casket Drops In Pusha’s Hand, A Tracklist Divined In Mine

Pusha has a copy of Til The Casket Drops. I found the video at Gotty’s.

I also took the liberty of analyzing the video and working with this Wikipedia list to come up with what looks like the TTCD tracklist. So.

Re: Verse: Nas on “Too Many Rappers”

I present to you the bizarro “D.O.A.”

This is not a radio song, with “verses” chopped down to eight bars and passed around, Roots-like relentless drumming flooding the space such that it’s fairly difficult to listen to it.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not good. And Nasir’s first verse is a masterwork.

Re: Verse: Travis McCoy on “I Know Your Name”

As always, the lyrics first. The verse starts about 40 seconds in.

Quick Hits: September 23rd, 2009

This mashup of the best parts of Kanye’s “American Boy” verses (the British magazine-referencing part, mostly) with the music for “You Belong to Me” is fantastic. I expect nothing less from Cookin’ Soul.

Off the NBA Live 10 soundtrack, “Mind Blowin’” sounds a little like “Get It Shawty” to me, at least with the handclaps. That’s a good thing; 6th Sense has been doing great work lately. (Via 2dopeboyz.)

That great work by 6th includes “Air Born”:

I promise a fuller post on this when I have the time, but, for now, wow. Strenuously smooth beat, two fitting MCs, excellent video treatment, and the flip, “Fake n—as and bitches who wanna Papelbon/Pitch they way into my life in the eighth or ninth inning.” That’s just a smart sports reference.

Kanye vs. Taylor

More on this, well, eventually? Kanye did apologize. (A direct, Twitpic’d link.)

Also, Marsha Ambrosius sort of kills this.

Drake, “Fear”

(Via OnSMASH.)

This is the best song Drake’s ever done.