Green Light with Chris Long - Was your mom in a rap video? Filling out my Randy J Cruz 2000-2010 rap bracket.

Episode Date: March 21, 2020

Open - 0:38. ‘Lose Yourself’ Region - 5:14. ‘I just want to Love You’ Region - 26:23. ‘Lean Back’ Region - 40:19. ‘In the Club’ Region - 50:12. Championship Final - 1:07:06. Shout out to Randy J Cruz https://twitter.com/randyjcruz follow him and check the full bracket https://twitter.com/joel9one/status/1238534951773102080?s=12 tweet your filled out bracket back at @chalknetwork and @joel9one About Chalk Media: Following the unfiltered voice and vision of Chris Long, Chalk Media is the interactive online community for you, the intelligent and humorous sports fan. Driven by access, Chalk delivers a unique perspective that cuts through the canned talking points and provides a variety of content from your favorite sports and entertainment celebrities. Here at Chalk, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we are rooted in challenging the perception of professional athletes. We embrace the “real” with a unique combination of humor and intelligence. Chalk is a community with a voice beyond 240 characters that brings a perspective and vibe to a traditionally brash and boastful sports media space. Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more. Nothing is off-limits at Chalk - hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. 🌍🏀🏈SUBSCRIBE NOW ⚾🏒⛰️ http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you tell anybody if you find your mom in a music video from the early 2000s like dame dash pouring liquor on your mom? It's just it's just probably a topic you want to avoid. Yo green light faithful Chris Long here. Thanks for tuning in. I promised I would do some rankings. I would do some, you know, brackets as if I'm the only person. churning out like evergreen ranked type non-sports content right now in the midst of this pandemic I'm going to act like you know I'm the only one doing this yeah I'm going to rank some stuff I love

ranking stuff I'm going to do some brackets in lieu of March madness it's appropriate I would do brackets all year around a couple years ago when I discovered the whole bracket thing I took it a little overboard and I was doing it in like July and people were like hey dude it's kind of a two-month limit on the bracket thing so if you could chill the fuck out with that so I did I wait for March now it's absolutely necessary to do brackets I'm going to do ton of content to pass the time I'm good at this social distancing thing I am Christopher McCandless up in this bitch with the social distancing for those you don't get the reference into the wild and

it was a pretty good movie go check it out also Eddie Vedder does pretty does his thing on the Into the Wild soundtrack and I was supposed to go to

the Pearl Jam show in Baltimore March 28th I'm not going to do that number one even if it was on I wouldn't number two I think Pearl Jam is pretty smart they probably already canceled that show, I don't know. But yeah, just do the thing the scientists are asking us to do.

Just one time. We get one fucking shot at this. Can everybody just stay the fuck home for a couple days? People are out of like post-Malone concerts and shit. Come on, dude. We got one shot at this thing. Can you just sit on your fucking ass? Consider it a break from

the problem drinking lifestyle you have. Don't go to the bar for a couple weeks. You might come out looking healthier. Looking a little, you know, youthful, more youthful in the face, less dark circles, your liver will thank you,

and society will thank you. But anyways, I was on Twitter the other day as like, it seems like the entire nation is, but news flash actually like less than one percent of the people. people in the country are actually on Twitter so never overestimate that. But it felt like everybody's just hanging out. Like, what the fuck do we do now?

And so I see a bracket, a bracket surfaces. I go down in the rabbit hole a minute. This guy Randy J. Cruz of Cruise Control Pod up in New York posted a 2000s hip hop bracket. And that looked pretty good to me. That's the 2000 to 2010 era. Man, I really was into rap music back then. A lot more than I am even now.

So 2000 to 2010, that was like college, early in the pros, high school even. So for a 35-year-old dude, this is going to be memory lane. So Randy J. Cruz, shout out to him. This is his bracket. I'm kind of jacking the bracket. so I apologize, but I'm giving him credit. He knows I'm doing a pod. And I'm just going to take you through my picks,

and I hope to do more of these brackets. In fact, I'm kind of ambitious. I want to do an outcast bracket in a couple weeks. That would be daunting to say the least. Might invite a friend or two to do some of these. So after I do this one, if you like it, DM me or tweet at me and comments and brackets you want to see made up and done.

Yeah, so let's get it. down to business let's get down to business the way I'll do this is I'll go region by region and I will pick the winners all the way to the final four and then pick a champion there's no great way to do this follow along on Randy J. Cruz's Twitter at Randy J. Cruz Cruz Cruz control pod again so here we go region one aka the lose yourself region I'm gonna run through all the matchups quick in the seating and then I'm gonna pick the winners all the way to the final four we'll hold the final four games for the end the crescendo let's

start it off right now region one lose yourself region that's top left if you're following along on Randy J. Cruze's bracket here lose yourself is the one seed playing 116 seed then we've got what we do by freeway off Philadelphia freeway at the eight seed playing southern hospitality at nine that's obviously ludicrous big pimpen's five playing we fly high at 12 that's a dip set deal I get money at four that's a that's a 50 cent hit if you want to call it that playing swagger like us at 13 the TI song there from the the you know I want to say that was around like 2007 if I had to go back I don't remember when it was but

Country Grammar at 6 playing What's My Name at 11. What's My Name is DMX off and then there was X. Obviously, country grammar is Nelly. Then we've got Jesus Walks at 3 taking on Forever. That's a Cam song off Purple Haze. Jesus walks is obviously Kanye. I think Forever got badly underseated here. And that's going to be problematic.

Next episode is 7. That's off Chronic 2001. and we gonna make it is 10 that's jada kiss and styles p um at 10 there and miss jackson uh at two versus international players anthem at 15 fuck in a how is that a 15 see how is that a 15 okay well you can see how this might go but we'll start with uh with the 116 matchup okay lose yourself there's your number one i don't even know what the song 100 is don't need to know listen i know there's been a lot of m bashing lately it's it's not as cool to like emm anymore em and m at his best is one of the greatest um and m at his worst not so great this was m and m

and m towards his best uh it does weird me out that lose yourself is a bit of like a motion picture thing but it's a true story um so lose yourself essentially gets a buy it's going to beat up on this song 100, which I have no fucking clue what song that is. You know, lose yourself could win just off the strength of the Oscar people's faces this year, like the people at the Oscars when he's a surprise performed. I mean, so many gifts were birthed in that performance. And that was the night I figured out who Billy Eilish was. And I am still figuring out who Billy Eilish is.

And that's no disrespect. That just goes to show you how little I pay attention to like pop culture. real pop culture and that's probably aging me as well I mean that that that guitar into the bass lines forever gonna be a leap for me and it was Eminem's first number one on the Billboard 100 the funny thing about this song is he I think he won an Oscar for this in 2003 I was reading and he skipped it right he claims he was asleep when his keyboard player and his producer calls him and like head accepted the award on his behalf.

He's like, yeah, I am like, you just won an Oscar for lose yourself. And he was sleeping. And I actually kind of believe that because Marshall Mathers seems to be a social distancing first ballot Hall of Famer. I'm pretty sure he's doing really well with this whole thing. Not a guy who likes to be seen in public. I remember people used to say I had a buddy that played for the Lions that said that M&M used to come to Detroit Lions games because obviously he's a big Detroit Lions fan.

sit in the stands in a mask so nobody would know who he was. Obviously, you remember that awkward moment in the booth. That was the other football moment with Musburger and Herb Street. But he's definitely like a reclusive dude. It's pretty interesting. I mean, if you want to see M out in public,

I'm sure he went to a bunch of source awards, but he's not going to be at a place like the Oscars. Interesting to see how he's handled fame. you've got lose yourself going on in the second round. No surprise there. In the 8-9 matchup, what we do, Philadelphia Freeway, Southern Hospitality, Ludacruth. So this is a classic to me. Philadelphia Freeway, although I go back and listen to it, sometimes it's not as good as I remember.

The good songs are still aging beautifully. This is the best. This is an iconic song to me. This is an underseated song at 8. Yeah, all my life off Philadelphia Freeway could have gone toe to toe with a lot of these songs. Don't Cross the line could have as well. You know, what we do at 8 is like a team nobody wants to see. They're like a hungry, like old Biggies team.

I'm talking like St. John's, Providence, something like that. You've got beans, you got Jay, you got Freeway. And they're playing like Bruce Pearl lead. Auburn team or something. I don't know if Auburn has the grit you know to upend what we do

and they're not going to. I mean this wasn't even a question for me. Beans is the star by the way. Best verse, great ad-libs. And that makes me wonder if Beans and Jay are cool anymore. I know Jay like squashed a lot of his beefs now in his older age

because I love Beanie Siegel. Okay. So freeway who was actually recently I think he was on he's having like kidney failure and he got a transplant so hope he's doing well I follow him on Instagram he had a good little run there good little run and uh love freeway big pimping five versus we fly high at 12 this is a tough one for me um because I mean no disrespect when I said big pimping is going to blow we fly high out um we fly high, that was the New York Giants anthem for a little bit on the D-line. And when I was in college, there was no cooler D-line to watch than the Giants D-Lyline.

I know that's sacrilege. I had no idea. I'd play for the Eagles at the end of my career. But, you know, I love the players. I love the O.C., Strayhan, Tuck. You know, you had Fred Robbins, you know, who eventually I ended up playing with in St. Louis Shooting fadeaways. It was cool.

It was, they just took the Jim Jones thing and they ran with it. And I was a huge, like, dipset fan in general in college. I had, like, the stiff, super stiff 4X t-shirt with all the dudes' faces on there. I don't know if that had Hellrell on there, but it had a number of dipset performers on the shirt there. And that was just something I was into at the time. I was really into dipset. But Big Pimpin is too iconic. Timberland, Virginia Native, production, Jay, definitely underseated at five.

And lots of kids, if you go back and look at the music video, and lots of kids stumbled upon that music video. Of course, back then, I don't know that YouTube was around, but if you had MTV on, this video came on, you were going to have some dreams that night maybe. And now some kids are having nightmares looking at the music video. Realizing that their mom might have been in the video like there's a number of ladies in this video and That goes for a lot of these early 2000s Hip-hop music videos and I'm wondering what that's like like do you tell anybody if you find your mom in a in a music video from the early 2000s like dame dash porn liquor

on your mom It's just it's just probably a topic you want to avoid The PIMC verse goes the hardest, okay? Like, by far. And, you know, in the video, he's got the cell phone that looks like he got just jacked off a Mercedes Dash from like 1996, one of those true car phones. And he just disconnected it. And he's just talking into it and waving it around with the music video. He's got, you know, that, you know, that early 2000s, loose clothing. Jay had a bucket hat on. You know, he's just talking. He's just, you know, he's. You know, he's got the yacht the dollars tucked into his linen pants uh bunby's a verse he was at he was at carnival and j z added a verse to that video because i guess the rumor is that he didn't want to feel like he got outwrapped by pimsy i still think pimps is the best verse on the uh on the song and evidently because this is a bit of a problematic problematic lyrical content here.

In 2010, there was an interview, I guess, that Jay admitted that when he looked back at some of the lyrics and he saw him on paper, he wasn't so proud of them. So I do want to show respect to We Fly High, but Big Pimping is rolling. On to the second round. Then we've got I Get Money at 4 and Swagger Like Us at 13. Listen, okay, I get money was on Curtis, cool sample, high energy track, not a lot of applications for this song.

This song is not a song you played before a lot that you're not doing aggressively. You know, and I also think it's overseeded. Swagger Like Us has a lot of features and a lot more diverse possibility for listening. I thought it worked pretty well. So that 13, that's going to be a relatively big upset, but I think I get money is overseated here. I don't think it's as much about Swagger like us being underseated. I think I get money is overseed at 4.

And that was on Curtis, right? Okay, so yeah. Swagger like us moves on to the second round. Now we've got Country Grammar at 6 versus What's My Name at 11. Country Grammar, obviously, a Big Nelly hit, kind of came on the scene with that. What's My Name was a DMX song off of and then there was X. And again, I got to give love to what's my name because DMX I had all the posters on my wall.

If you asked me, the 13 year old me, the 15 year old me, who my favorite rapper was, it was DMX. And with some of the lyrical content that I was consuming at that age, that kind of explains a lot. Flesh in my flesh, blood of my blood had some pretty questionable shit on there for a 13-year-old. to be listening to and by the way it's dark and hell is hot and I think flesh and my flesh blood and my blood came out in like a calendar year so there was a time when DMX was just the fucking man um but even me as a kid I knew that and then there was X was probably the beginning of the end okay it was like uh it was like 50s massacre uh you know massacre was still good it had some good moments of

Massacre is better than, and then there was X. I don't want to, like ski mask way he's cool and all that but you knew

the music was trending down and by the time DMX came out with the next album whatever it was I can't even remember the name

of it I was kind of over it and this had a scary ass music video I mean, holy shit where did they film that?

The most aggressive piano I've ever heard played at the beginning of this song. Aggressive

piano. And, okay, so I'm looking at. The album came out in 1999. I don't know how it makes the cut here. But country grammar is iconic for me because I spent eight years in St. Louis. I'm not going to pick against Nelly. This was actually a really fucking hot song.

And it's aged pretty well. If you play it now, I think people are still pretty into it. So, yeah, I'm going to give it to the sixth seed here. Country grammar moves on. edging what's my name maybe not edging it's tight and then country grammar pulls away

we've got Jesus walks at three versus Forever at 14 obviously forever to me as somebody who really liked a diff set cam and cam for a teenage white kid that's a hard that's lyrics that are hard to follow

along with I mean I think for anybody the cam lyrics are hard to follow along with and I don't think the verses are good enough to match the production here it's one of my favorite produce songs that he did period but Jesus walks is a classic I mean this was this was Kanye taking the world by storm at this point the verses were great the production's great and yeah I feel like I'm betraying the 20 year old me with that stiff 4x dipset t-shirt by picking Jesus walk

but I gotta push it through to the second round flip water like pulling springs shout out to cam but I got to push Jesus walks through next episode seven seed versus we gonna make it 10 seed and next episode doesn't deserve this they're gonna get run out of a gym by kiss and styles here because next episode probably aged the third best out of the three chronic 2001 songs that song this bracket We're going to make it as like a fucking classic to me. Again, this is like a USC team running into a chippy East Coast team that nobody wants to play. Okay?

Again, I don't know if it's St. John's Providence, one of these schools, but, and this is the old Big East I'm talking about. Although next episode, you know, Dre's got a terrific ad lib. Sub bitch. Fuck the frail shit, though. Fuck the frail shit. When I heard that, when you hear that. that you know it's about to go down and this thing's gonna win off the bat it's one of my favorite kiss songs my bathtub lifts up my walls do a 360 although I'm

yeah I don't I don't know what's up with the salmon pronunciation being Salman he does the Salman thing it's kind of a pet peeve of mine but he crushes it this song is ridiculous him and styles playing off each other that third verse is about as good as any kiss verse I don't want to exaggerate but it's pretty damn good and also a good samuel Jonathan Joseph songs called my music I have it on my Spotify as a result of love in this song and it gets some serious burn but I'm just realizing now holy shit where is we are the streets the locks album can i live recognize wild out that's a 2000 album i just looked it up 2000 where is it and why is it not here okay randy come on man yeah we're gonna

make it's going to win this one then finally to round out the bracket you've got miss jackson uh at and then you've got international players anthem at 15 and I'm sorry miss Jackson I really am I'm sorry that you played the most underseated team in this whole fucking tournament and in Randy Cruz's bracket I looked and miss Jackson beat international players anthem and moved on to the second round that's not happening in this bracket okay players anthem I think even if it's appreciated it's underappreciated it's grace to generation of weddings. I don't know if it played at my wedding. That night's a little bit hazy, but I know we did play, I Do by GZ to close out the night. That was terrific. And this is a

real life song for a lot of guys. It's different. You've got Outcast and UGK together. Are you fucking kidding me? Play it at any party. When you hear Keep Your Heart, Three Stacks, you know what's about to happen. And everyone knows what's about to happen. Pimp C's terrific. Again, pimps stealing the show. Top notch hose get the most, not the lesser. That's rounding out the, what are we calling this bracket? Lose Yourself bracket, okay?

To review, we've got lose yourself over 100. We've got what we do over Southern Hospitality. We've got big pimping over we fly high, no upsets yet, but then Swagger like us beats I get money at four as a 13 seat. Country Grammar. is going to edge out what's my name at 11 611 match up there and the 314 Jesus walks is going to beat up on forever but that that that was again an underseating situation for forever cam didn't deserve that purple haze doesn't deserve that next episode is 7 is going to lose in a slight upset to we going to make it again a seating issue and then finally a travesty

that it's a travesty for Miss Jackson as well. Those kids don't deserve this to have to play a 15-seat like International Players Anthem, but the 15th seed is going to roll, and I'm going to tell you it's got a good chance to come out of this bracket. So now, as we look at it, and I got my little sheet here,

I'm just going to run it right to the final four. You've got lose yourself at the top left, the one seed playing the eight-seat in what we do, and what we do is going to upset lose yourself. I know this was when I sent this bracket to my co-host making Gunner he didn't know

how I had filled it out. He said I just want to see lose yourself cruise to the championship game and I apologize and said it's going to fall to what we do in the second round. Sorry, the song is aged beautifully I actually think it's a better

song legitimately. I don't think it's a personal thing. Music is very subjective so I apologize in advance for anybody I pissed off with that now below that big pimping the five is gonna play swagger like us the 13 big pimping's gonna win that ball game below that country grammar is gonna play Jesus walks Jesus walks is gonna win that ball game below that we gonna make it is gonna play international players anthem and again I am sorry to end

in international players anthems bracket. Now again, working top to bottom, we're in the sweet 16 now in the lose yourself bracket. What we do is going to play Big Pimpin and they're going to upset another giant. What we do is moving to the elite eight edging out Big Pimpin. This is kind of a Seton Hall, Kentucky kind of ball game. I mean, it's grittiness meets flash and flare, and the grittiness is going to prevail here in an upset. So what we do is going to move on to the Elite 8. Below that, Jesus walks is playing international players anthem, and international players anthem is too strong.

Okay? International players anthem is a loaded UNC team. As much as I hate to say that, just talent. bunch of first rounders okay um Jesus walks

not so much uh Jesus walks goes down to international players anthem and that's kind of sacrilege there I mean this is just a godless pick by me and I apologize let's see who goes to the final four out of what we do in international players anthem

it's going to be players anthem man I'm sorry that's going to represent represent the lose yourself bracket. We have a 15 seed coming out of that bracket. Now we've got to move on to the I Just Wanna Love You bracket. Okay, so in that matchup here, I just want to love you working from the top down. I just want to love you. It's going to play What Happened to That Boy.

That's a 116 matchup below that. We've got still Tipping. Of course, the Swisha House production there at 8, playing special delivery at 9. I don't even know what special delivery is. We've got Renegate at 5 underneath that, playing How We Do. 12, that's a game song, off the documentary, which is a classic. And then you've got a 4-13 matchup with the number 4. Forgot About Dre Powerhouse, playing the number 13, so fresh and so clean, which is underseeded.

I mean, it's unfortunate. You could make the same argument for Forgot About Dre at a four-seed there. So, yeah. Then you've got Get Your Freak on at number five, playing Get Low at 11. Not really that interested in that matchup. Just going to tell you neither of those songs is going to go far at all. Although I saw somebody mentioned in the mentions under this bracket that Get Low better go all the way. And I am sorry for that man.

Then we've got number three, can't tell me nothing, playing 14, Dipset Anthem. Oh boy playing number 10 Lollipop and then number two Stan playing one mic at 15 and one mic is again your 15s here are just criminally underrated a look ahead here in the bracket opposite In the in the region opposite this region in the bracket the next 15 seed we're gonna talk about is is Hustlin okay and that's that's the Rick Ross Port of Miami song. I think that's a bit underseated. The other 15 is best I ever had to look ahead here and that's the Drake song. That's about where it should be, if at all, in the round of 64. So starting from the top here and I just want to love you bracket, you've got the Jay-Z hit

versus the Birdman and Clips collab. Listen, I don't know who to push through here. I really don't. you know what they're gonna lose to they're gonna lose to tippin in the next round i'm just gonna go ahead and say that so it doesn't matter i'm gonna put what happened to that boy through uh although i mean and this is what makes this truly a solid song is that the clips overcomes baby here and you know it's it's off that album where baby looks like a half bird half baby on the cover uh weird as cover. Yeah, it's just, I just thought I just want to love you is not even the best song in the album. Stick to the script is probably my favorite song on the Dynasty album.

And the intro goes harder than I just want to love you. I mean, I know it's a different type song. This Can't Be Life. Yeah, I'm almost punishing. I just want to love you because there's much better songs on an album. And I'm from Virginia, and I'm going to push clips through as the 16th to upset of one. They're going to UMBC JZ here. And I can say that because since then, Virginia has won a national championship, so that joke plays.

And I don't see, by the way, I don't see a single, well, I see one single Lord willing track here later. But I don't see Gangster Lean anywhere on this bracket by the clips. So I think if Gangster Lean was in here, it might go Elite 8. And so with the song with Kiss on that album as well, with Jada Kiss. I always forget the name of that song. Then the 8-9, we've got Still Tipping, and it's going to cruise by a song that I, that doesn't matter what song it is. I mean, still tipping as an 8 that's underseated.

It's a runaway, Swisha House brought Houston rap to White Kids with this one, Suburban White Kids. I happen to like UGK and such before that, but this album definitely sent me down of a bit of a different rabbit hole. And that entire Mike Jones album, this was The Who is Mike Jones album? The album is really good. And it's actually, there's a few songs that have aged well. I mean, like, not the whole album. I know some people, some purists are going to shit on me for saying the album's age well. But scandalous has aged well, Flossin's age well.

I remember the song five years from now. I was like, you know, I was like in maybe high school or college age when, when the Mike Jones album dropped and I used to think man five years is a long time I wonder you know where I'm going to be in five years like what's it going to be like well I can tell you if I could talk to the younger self uh version of me for for a moment that in 15 years you're going to be doing podcasts talking about the Mike Jones album uh because you're in your house and there's a pandemic um that's where you'll be uh so yeah a good album a memorable album still tipping just the song was so strong.

The song was so fucking strong. And it was made to be played loud. Okay. And by the way, that last verse was supposed to go, that went to Paul Wall, was supposed to go to a chameleonair. I also had a chameleonar in college,

and it went off and one of my most, in a big lecture hall, one of the gut classes. You don't have a lot of gut classes, UVA, but this is a couple hundred people in this classroom with good, good, good, good,

good acoustics. And I think Roland was riding dirty, whatever the fuck you call that song. Yeah, it was on my old, like, LG phone, which sounded terrible, went off super loud, embarrassed this shit out of me. Yeah, the violin on this song goes super hard. Super hard.

And maybe the hardest violin I've heard. We could do a whole list on violin samples in a hip hop song. I don't even know if you count that as a sample, but this would be up there. Also, Mike Jones, we shouted Mike Jones out on the Rosilopod, and then Ryan went to a show and ended up backstage with him. And I think Mike Jones was kind of weirded out. Next, we've got Renegade at 5, versus how we do

it's a game track off documentary which is a classic one of the best albums of this era but renegade's too strong renegade is J and M especially M at a high level lyrically

although Nause famously positive that M murdered you on your own shit in that beef he had with Jay and how we do as good as it was kind of hurts my ears now

it's undeniably hard and it was amazing for a long time but the album is a classic but but I think there's better songs on the album and that brings back a lot of drinking memories the second year a lot of pre-game a lot of drinking Mad Dog 2020s the blue raspberry Mad Dog 2020s

with the chain on them that was my favorite flavor you know I was living in a house with two dudes that all went on to playing the league. Tom Sannie and Clint sent him. Clint, who now coaches at UVA. And we had a cool year, man. And we lived in Ivy Gardens,

which is kind of like a law school spot. And Clint had an all white room, like a 12-inch white TV, you know, like white accents and decor in the room. You know, he had white carpet on the ground, obviously, because we were in an apartment complex, but he really pimped that room out pretty good. And I always remember that little white TV.

And that's what that album reminds me of. The game, documentary, classic, but renegade's too strong. I forgot about Dre. Chronic 2001. That's a four seed going up against So Fresh, So Clean. Outcast, 13. seed underseeded and it's going to be a victim of being underseated to two heavy weights here okay I'm wondering where Sleepy Brown is these days so fresh

and so clean is a great track but I forgot about Drago's too hard and especially with that that M verse that was the one verse that you knew was challenging but you also knew as a suburban white kid you could probably rap out loud and word for word. Yeah, that was a great verse. Where does it rank on the M verse list? Probably not that high because if there's any heads listening, they're probably like, yeah, man, this song's better, that song's better.

I mean, it's all subjective, but I thought M had a very good, very good verse there. Get Your Freak on is the 6 playing Get Low at 11. I love Missy. Have you seen her lately? She looks great. But Get Low was the, anthem at the state championship house party circa 2003. All dudes, 30 to 50 dudes in essentially my parents' basement, spacious basement, nice basement.

But a lot of dudes listening to get low, really loud with my parents upstairs. Imagine being my parents and just hearing, to the swat drop down my balls. Like where did we go wrong with these fucking kids? My parents were cool about during that party, so I appreciate it. Can't Tell Me Nothing, number three, facing Dipset Anthem and number 14. Okay, so Can't Tell Me Nothing was my MySpace song senior year. That reminds me that I had a MySpace, top six, that whole deal. I hope to God it is buried somewhere deep, like beneath the earth.

and I'm inviting people to look here, which is kind of fucked up. I may cut this, but maybe not. The hook kind of drags at times. Elite GZ adlubs. And Dipson Anthem, if that were replaced with Forever, which is a camsong, but still dipset proper, I think Forever would roll here. But Dipson Anthem at 14, somebody,

had to win. Jimmy can't tell me nothing as a three seed moving on. And then we got oh boy at a seven versus lollipop at 10. Oh boy cam and you well's great sample kind of catchy creative I guess Lollipop it was just a party song okay it was a great party song 2008 it was 2008 personified in a bottle of gray goose like that was that was Lollipop like this was this was a a table in St. Louis summer of 08 song. Ameristar Casino there was a casino right down the hill from the facility and outside of our city we used to hit a lot and you know the club scene in St. Louis not not that great but when you threw on lollipop you felt like you could be in Miami or

Vegas Stan that's the number two here facing off with one mic at 15 and I am sorry for one mic being Love the song. Great song. Not a lot of applications for either of these songs, but I can't really chill listening to one mic. I can chill listening to Stan. Plus Stan is an absolute classic. I know some people might give me heat, but Stan's going to go far here. One mic is probably a top five seed, and don't blame me, blame Randy J. Cruz, my guy. There's actually a pop culture name that's derived from the song. all these kids saying we stand on the internet they probably have no idea where it started you know the rain the lightning the splashing noise when the car goes in the water you know if i hear that that sound clip without the music i know exactly what car splashing into the water fictionally that is you know anytime if you if you quiz me on it

the production is cool Dido was perfect. And by the way, Dido is, I just looked this up, she's 48 years old. And just the way he changed his tone the entire time,

you could kind of, you could almost, almost identify with kind of what it was probably like to be somebody like Eminem who probably had a lot of social anxiety and dealing with fans. And there's another song that's going to come up here,

um, uh, of M's that kind of has that, same theme a little bit. So that's that's region two. Let's get into that's the I just want to love you region. That's the round of 64 games. So let's move on to the lean back bracket here. This is this is just disgusting. I'm actually nauseous looking at this but I'm gonna I can't believe lean back is a one seed. I know that was like big in New York. I know Randy he's up in New York. constituency up there might really like lean back okay i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna run through

all the seeds here in this uh in this corner of the bracket we've got lean back taken on past the kovassia at 16 we've got ether at eight taken on let's get it uh you've got gold digger at five taking on move bitch in the problematic matchup of the tournament and then you've got hated or love it a four going up against shake your ass the mystical hit and then you've got hot in here at eight taking on the 11 in day and night or at six taking on the 11 in day at night you've got three bombs over Baghdad Alcass versus the 14 and rubber bandman ti's kind of vintage hit cleaning out my closet at seven and then 10 you've got 21 questions that matchup's going to be interested They're both emotional songs in different ways.

Okay, drop it like it's hot, rounds it out at two, facing 15. Best I ever had, the one and two in this bracket to me are abhorrent. Terrible. We'll get down to the bottom of the bracket in a minute. I'd love to eliminate lean back, but it happens to be playing past the Cavosier. I don't need to spend any time on this matchup. Lean back wins, but nobody's watching this game. Pass this matchup.

On to the next round for Lean Back. Ether's going to play Let's Get It. Okay, sky's the limit. Big Jeezzy fan. This was another iconic album early in my college career, okay? But Ether is a response to take over, of course, Jay-Z's disc track. And Ether, by most people at the time, and still today I don't I haven't met too many people that would say Jay won that

won that little battle that little sequence ether is going down as one of the best disc records in the history of this records and I'm sure somebody would argue with that I'm sure somebody's gonna assert their hip-hop head authority over me but I rank it up there and I guess it started way back with reasonable doubt like Nas skipped a studio day and you know then There was some friendly jabs with like Nause samples. And then Nause wrote a song that kind of had some subliminals on there. It was written.

The song was the message. I think it was the first song on the album. And, you know, there was a reference to Lexuses with TVs and it being the minimum now. It was like the standard. But that standard has been passed. and Jay-Z, of course, wrapped a lot about Lexuses and TVs and Alexis, and he actually had Alexis with TVs in it. And evidently, Nas has since confirmed it was about him, but it wasn't a jab.

Initially, it was like, you know, that was my competition. I respected him, and I saw that, and I had to elevate my game. But eventually it turned into this Memphis bleak back and forth with Nas, where it got more obvious, and then Nas is on Stomatic talking about Rockefeller, and basically calling everybody out. And then of course they made up in 2005, which I had to look up. That feels like yesterday and it's been 15 years. Holy shit.

Unbelievable. So Ether's going to roll. Not roll because I love Let's Get It. I mean, that's, you know, Jverse on the, I guess it was on the remix, but, you know, the whole thing, the production, that took me back to a place. in time but I kind of gosh I'm second thinking that I'm second thought I'm giving this a second thought ether's gonna move on though gold digger at three facing move bitch at 12 and again the problematic matchup of the tournament I don't really

love either of these songs you know move bitch I can't stop thinking about ludicrous the gigantic dome in the music video I think that was this music video and then you know the yay song kind of ruined and he's a It's absolutely, you know, I can't deny that it's a great production, but it kind of ruined the Ray Charles song for me. Even though I'd much rather hear the Ray Charles song that it's sample. But so Gold Digger is going to move on. It's going to be tight. I'm not that interested in the game.

Peter Love It off the documentary of 4 facing Shake Your Ass at 13. Neither is going too far. Okay. but they're totally different songs okay. Hate or love it is a terrific song. Don't get me wrong. But again, like on the documentary, you could have put dreams in here,

you could have put We Ain't in here, where I'm from, you know, the self-titled track documentary. It's unbelievable. So the album's terrific. I just don't know. The documentary's got what it takes to go deep in this tournament,

although it's going to beat, shake your ass here. And then you've got hot in here at 6 versus day and night. I think it's got to be the Kit Cuddy song, right? Hot in here is the Nelly song. You know, again, I'm going to give the nod to St. Louis. I'm not incredibly passionate about this matchup here. Next, you've got bombs over Baghdad, the three-seed facing rubber bandman at 14. This is the layup line matchup. I just think about how many times I heard these two songs on pre-game basketball albums, turn of the century. Yeah, bombs over Baghdad, man.

It's destined to make a little bit of a run here. It's not my favorite outcast song, but it's iconic. And then we've got cleaning out my closet at seven, facing 21 questions at 10. You know, again, they're both, the one's emo, one's romantic, okay? I'm going to air on the side romance. All right, I'm a romantic guy, 21 questions. And then also, cleaning out my closet,

you could have had until I collapse on here. You could have had a soldier on here. You could have the same for the moment, all off the M&M show, but you chose cleaning out my closet at 7. I don't know, man, 21 questions. That was circa getting my new Bronco. You know, I was about, you know, 18 years old.

It's like prom time, 21 questions. Terrific song, okay? I know it's a little bit mushy, but it's a nice song. All right, it's a nice song. It's coming out of the round of 64. Punch the ticket to the round of 32 there. Number two, drop it like it's hot. Versus number 15, best I ever had.

This is just vomit for me. This is Duke, Virginia Tech. I don't care who wins. Just get it to fuck off my bracket. next round. I can already tell you that 21 questions is going to beat it. So running back through the lean back bracket, which is just rough. It's a rough bracket here. I've got lean back in the round of 32 facing ether. Ether is going to roll. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Not fucking close.

Gold Digger is going to play Hate it or love it in the second round and Hate her to love it comes out of that matchup Hater to love it punches its ticket to the Sweet 16 Below that you have you have hot in here facing bombs over Baghdad Bombs over Baghdad's gonna roll and then you've got 21 questions facing I guess you'll have drop it like it's hot I'll put that I know I didn't say who won but there's no winners when drop it like it's hot plays best I ever had and that's probably because drop it like it's hot has been

overplayed just jammed into my ear drum for the better part of two decades so yeah I got 21 questions edging out drop it like it's hot in an upset the sweet 16 matchups are ether playing hated or love it now ether's gonna roll again ether's got a shot to go all the way here you have bombs over Baghdad playing 21 questions, bombs over Baghdad's going to roll there. And then you've got Ether and Bombs Over Baghdad. And I don't think it matters who ends up in the Final Four because there is a monster down in the bracket below it

that's probably going to go to the championship game. I'm going to push Ether through because I just know there's a bunch of Outcast songs. I like better. I don't know that I like Ether better than Bombs Over. Lever Baghdad. You know what my love for Outcast? It's almost enough. I'm gonna push Ether through to the final four Just an iconic disc record so unique There aren't really other disc records in here

Besides takeover which we'll get to in a second So you've got ether in your final four to recap. We've got three of the final four teams down here We've got international players anthem which just edged out forgot about Dre a moment ago to a wait the winner of the other side of the bracket in the championship game. You've got Ether waiting on the Final 4 team from the in the club bracket. Bottom right here if you're following along our Randy J. Cruz's bracket, 2000s hip-hop. You've got number one in the club facing number 16 pump it up. That's Joe Budden. And that's, you couldn't have picked a worst Joe Budden entry. I know that that was his big hit, but I think you could have done better if you were going to put Joe in there. And then you

You got takeover, which proceeded ether at eight, facing off a through the wire at nine, public service announcement at five, that's a tough one. That is a tough one. If public service announcement were in the bracket above it or the, I Just Want to Love You bracket, it's probably going to the final four. I don't know if it is in this bracket, and I'll tell you why in a moment, that's facing off with number 12, the Go Crazy remix. I love that fucking song, okay?

this is the matchup of the entire bracket to me this is this is as good as it gets in the round of 64 then you've got number four the way I am taking on number 13 the fab song breathe you've got number six party up facing the 11 seed work it number three you've got a millie number 14 you've got flip side that matchups I'll just give you a hint a millie has got too much swine That song's going far. Then you've got still Dre at 7, which is massively underseated. Facing 10, what you know, which is of course the TI song, bottom right here all the way at

the bottom. You have number two in grinding, facing off with hustling, which is Rick Ross. Every day I'm hustling. I don't take days off. I hustle every day. So that's your in the club bracket, starting from the top here. You know, and I said, pump it up at 16. It's not going to last long because there's just better Joe Budden songs.

Move music too is a classic to me, okay? I love that mixtape. And there's a bunch of better songs on that mixtape than Joe's big hit. But that's kind of how it goes. Some of these hits are a little played out. And the club's kind of played out, okay? but it's a really good song it's been played so much my opinion's been solidly a little bit it really took everything by storm that was kind of a 50s coming out party and um my biggest beef with this song

although it's gonna win there's gonna be no unbc going on here is that it kind of aged the beat aged like you know like the fashion of that era like it felt really good to wear lrg back then the fits you know um not so good anymore uh i saw in the club uh you know and i thought yeah this this song's got a shot to go to the elite eight but it is so kind of turn of the century in the production and just hip hop sounds way different now to me at least uh again that was 50s coming out party it's not only a really good catchy song uh but it's playing pump it up so So again that beat is like a loose pair of jerbodes. It just kind of is what it is.

But it was fucking hot at the time. It's still a really good song. I'm just not crazy about the beat. Takeover at 8 against through the wire at 9. Takeover was like a win when I saw it on the paper. I love Takeover. But how am I going to push it through when Ether beat out Takeover? Although I think takeover from like a production standpoint without the lyrics and taking the beef out of it

Takeover is one of my favorites on this whole on this whole sheet, but I can't push it through I got to push through through the wire. It's so iconic It's kind of it was kind of like Kanye's version of in the club I mean it was just coming out party You know recorded right after he got in that car accident and you know I guess it was like Beverly Hills or LA or somewhere you had to shock a con single which is kind of confusing because the song is through the fire and yeah the takeover as awesome as it is and i might actually rather listen to it right now today you know that album yielded songs like heart of the city song cry never change all off blueprint

and those songs could be on here too so i'm pushing through the wire uh through Below that you've got public service announcement versus go crazy. Okay, so go crazy is a classic for me, brings you back to college, puts me right in that chair at my buddy's apartment freshman year drinking 40s, hurricanes to be specific. Back in the day when you could actually drink, you know, a few 40s, wake up, feel nothing the next day, back in the day when you like to taste the 40s. back in the day when you could drink 40s all week and still have abs. Yeah, that was, that's a favorite for me.

And against almost any other, against almost any other song in the round of 64, it's got a shop. And out against public service announcement, it's a classic. When that organ goes off, holy shit. Like when I was kind of unsure at first, you know, I hadn't played public service announcement in a while, I queued it up

and I wasn't even thinking about it my neck hurt from bobbing my head like in the crazy part about it is it almost didn't make the black album it was like the last song

and Jay was done and Just Blaze who was doing the production his friend brings in a record like after everything's done and Jay's out of the studio evidently the story there's a YouTube video

you can go look at it but he says Jay was on to doing like interviews and sessions with the press and just blaze kind of like barged in or hit him up and was like hey you got to listen to this record it's unbelievable and Jay heard what he heard and would go out talk to the press because he had all those engagement he couldn't cancel his day then he would run back in the studio take a break

right four bars go back out talk to the press come back and other four four bars three weeks later as just blaze put it everybody knows the words at msg so crazy song crazy background story as it seems to always be with j z so i got public service announcement going through to the suite 16 relatively easily against a tough opponent and then at four you've got the way i am versus breathe at 13 and the way i am is like quintessentially marshal mathers lp which was a really good album. My favorite album he does is probably some shady LP, which wouldn't make the cut because it's not from this decade, but this is a really good song, although some other songs aged pretty well on this album as well, in Amityville, Criminal, some of the less heralded songs.

This one was kind of the hit, and it was also a really dark hit. Can you imagine something this dark being a hit now? Like, it's just different. Great album. Songs awesome. And this is like kind of a little bit of a, I'm putting this on my social distancing soundtrack. It's definitely not an approachable song. It's like, yeah, you just leave Eminem alone.

So the way I am is moving on to the Sweet 16 over Bree. Party up at six against Work It at 11. I want to give Missy Allie to win here. It won't matter. Nobody's going to beat the team that the winner of this matchup is going to face the next round. And that is Amili. Amili is number three. Spoiler alert, it's going to wipe the fucking floor with Flipside at 14.

This Amili team, as I said, it's got some swag. And Flipside's one of the most random entries on here. Carter 3 has aged really well. Carter 3, I like it now more than when I heard it the first time. But as I said earlier, nothing from the Carter on this thing, nothing from Carter 2 on this thing. And that's ridiculous. But it's probably even more ridiculous that there's nothing from the Carter. Throw the whole list away, actually.

And then the sample's cool, which interestingly is from, I left my wallet in El Segando. And I didn't know that until about a year ago. I don't know how I didn't put that together. But yeah, Millie wins easy. Then at 7 you have Still Dre and that song's facing off with what you know. That's the TI song at 10. I hate this for what you know because it's a really catchy song and it brings me back. And a lot of younger people, I talk to my buddy Dr. Fax, Nate Collins, who's about probably 30 years old now.

Like if you're five years younger than me, this song might win the tournament. But Still Dre is a fucking banger. Banger and this beat is this beat reminds me of like a late night low rider meetup in a parking lot that I would love to join but I'm I'd probably avoid it because it looks intimidating it's an intimidating low rider meetup I mean this beat is hard the little beeping noise I know some some some some you beatmakers can tell me what that is i mean it sounds so cool uh in the song i don't know if you isolated it if i'd ever think it would play um j z writing the song cheapens it a little bit for me

but this is absurd i mean the strings it was like snoop and dray were just like back like they never left in the music video is like a fucking movie the m& m&m appearance is weird in the music video but I watched the music video recently. And there's a Shannon Sharp jersey in there, like 240. I don't know if I'm sure Shannon saw that at some point. I mean, how about that? Like somebody wearing your jersey in an iconic video like that. On topic, Snoop was doing something on B-A-B-T one time,

and somebody sent me a picture who was wearing my Rams jersey, 91. That was one of my crowning achievements there. So since I'm mentioning the jersey thing with Snoop, do want to I do want to mention Jada Kiss is one of my favorite rappers so recently long story short as short as it could be one of like a mic'd up video I was in with Malcolm Jenkins went kind of viral and it's this joke I play on everybody when they're mic up mic up and and as soon as they find I find out they are I walk up to them or back when I played I walked up to him and I tap them on the shoulder I'd be like hey man that rash you said you had like right by

by your junk like is that cleared up obviously nobody has a rash that's the joke and you'd see him just sit there and kind of squirm like what do i say like what is he talking about and uh and that thing kind of went viral this was no pun intended that thing went viral uh this was before the double doyink game and it got kind of like shared along instagram and one of these hip-hop sites shared it and when i got tagged in i looked at what i was getting tagged in and below you could see where people like stuff and I saw that the real kiss liked it so I guess Jada presumably thought that was funny so that was kind of a proud moment for me in the in the hip-hop scene there so where was I was at a yeah I was at still dray

who's who's gonna wipe the floor with what you know and poor little what you know did not ask for for still dray to be seated at seven that's under seating and still dray's gonna roll And then at the bottom you've got grinding at two, facing hustling at 15. Okay, so grinding is a bad draw for hustling because hustling's a good song, okay. But I don't think I'm afraid that Port of Miami hasn't aged as well in general. It's still, it's amazing to me actually how Rick Ross has changed his production. And I think he's as good as anybody at picking beats.

I think he's one of my favorite rappers as far as, like, his ear. and what he pairs his lyrics with on every album lately. As a matter of fact, as I'm looking at it, and by the way, I still love the song Blow on that album. I think that's aged pretty well. Push it was pretty good back then, and it was on a really dope highlight tape we had in college. We played like NC State,

and shout out to Luke Goldstein. He used to make all the highlight videos, but he made this whole highlight video with Push it in the background, and a bunch of like African animals and the Serengeti like cheetahs chasing down wilder beasts and shit and like intersposed or

interspersed you know it's always one syllable off with me interspersed he interspersed footage of us you know tackling quarterbacks and running backs with push it and that was pretty

cool but I am afraid the album has an age that well but lately Rick Ross but on a tear and as I look back here deeper than rap man I can do a whole pot on deeper than rap Teflon Don rather you than me I can rank Rick Ross songs Deeper Than Raps 2009 how is there nothing from deeper deeper than rap in this bracket mafia music like I know it sounds like a different

genre almost than a lot of this kind of is there New York bias in this thing Randy Mafia music sounds different than a lot of this music It just shows you how much Things change in a decade with the music Also off that album Rich Off Cocaine and Valley of Death

Could have easily been on this list And made deep runs I got to meet Rick Ross At the Eagles Super Bowl party after we won Got a picture with me, the trophy Rick Ross and Bo Allen. It's a pretty sick picture. Anyways, grinding, Virginia guy. I'm going to push

him through to the second round, the round of 32. Grindin's just, it's just made to be played loud, and it's really fucking effective at what it's supposed to do. Looking at it here, we've got in the club who survived against Joe Budden's pump it up, against through the wire. I'm going to put through the wire through to the sweet 16. Public service announcement facing the way I am. Public service announcements headed to the sweet 16. We've got Workit Missy Elliott versus a millie. A millie's going to pull away pretty easy here into the sweet 16. Still Dre is facing grinding. As much as I hate to say, this is a Virginia guy. Still Dre is going through as a seven seed to the sweet 16.

Through the wire versus public service announcement, public service announcement rolls. And then below that, a millie and still dray and maybe the matchup of the entire bracket. I've got Still Dre in overtime. Still Dre is just such a fucking banger. And it's just good enough, as I said earlier, to edge public service announcement to enter the final four. Okay. Now, if public service announcement, as I said, was in any bracket not belonging to Still Dre or International Players Anthem, it's easily in the final four. So now what we've gotten in the championship game to review is International Players Anthem, who's going to play the winner of Ether and Still Dre.

And Still Dre is going to roll here. Still Dre, it's Dre and Snoop at their finest. It feels like they never left and that was just a little 15, 16 year old me could barely handle that music. I'm going to put still Drain the championship against international players anthem. It's almost a tie. Tie goes to the song that's going to put me in a good mood. You know, since I'm holed up in the middle of the pandemic, I don't need any ominous as production. I need something uplifting.

International Players Anthem gets the win. over still dray international players anthem is your champion shout out to randy j Cruz he's the one who put that together you can find him on on Twitter at Randy J. Cruz also he's on the cruise control pod it's a pot I haven't listened to but I'm jacking his bracket so I got to shout my guy out but pop over to his Twitter page and show him some love there was a lot missing and you know of course I'm very appreciative of Randy putting this together but As brackets go, there's always going to be one or two misfires, and I think there's more than one misfire here, okay?

I don't see anything from late registration, okay? You could touch the sky here. People love diamonds. Not as ended diamonds, but you can make a case for that, making the field of 64. College dropout could have easily added spaceship, two words, last call. There's no ghost face on here, all right? You know, nutmeg. guy also supreme clientele that was 2000 so yeah I mean commons not on here you know what's the song with the Michael McDonald sample Michael McDonald was a white guy by the way took me many years to realize that the light the light that's the song then there was B which was a hit kind of mid-2000

That was when I was like in college. Okay, that's not on this list. There's no Carter to and more importantly, I don't think there's a single single song from the Carter and the Carter is Wayne's best album and that's for another pod. I could rank the songs on on the Carter. That would be contentious, I'm sure. I'm sure there's some people who don't recognize it as the best album. I'm sure a lot of kids nowadays probably only know go DJ. That was freshman year of school and that was a terrific album. That summer, the Carter, Boys in the Hood was big, if you remember that little mini supergroup. I'm trying to think of some of the other albums, but the Carter was definitely the one in the UVA weight room.

Circa 2004, summer of 2004. Yeah, so no Carter, no minstrel show, obviously no little brother because it doesn't seem like that type of bracket. here but I do want to shout out little brother. It's one of my favorite groups who actually just came out with a project recently. It was great. I was glad to see that. Nothing off American gangster, although Jay's represented pretty heavily here. And then Annie Up came out in 2000, okay? That's obviously MOP. So a lot missing, but we're going to work with what we got here. I'm going to be doing a ton of rankings, brackets, going to have some guests. going to talk about sports when it's applicable.

Hopefully things level out and things get back to normal soon. But another tease here for you is me and Rosillo did a pod this week. Check it out if you haven't. It's a little dated now with coronavirus and the cancellations. But it was good to get back in the booth, so to speak, with Rye. I mean, he's in L.A. I'm out here in Virginia, but we're still going to make some more content. We're going to do a home-and-home.

We decided kind of on the spot. We're like, oh, this feels good, you know? You can come on my pod one week. I'll come on your pod the next week and we'll make some content. So that's all folks. We'll keep it rolling. Y'all take care.