1) Freestyle Fellowship The Promise (Decon)

2) Idle Warship (Talib Kweli & Res) Habits of the Heart (Element 9/Blacksmith Records)

3) M.E.D. Classic (Stones Throw)

4) Wale Ambition (Warner Bros.)

5) Statik Selektah Population Control (Duck Down)

6) Dessa Castor the Twin (Doomtree)

Special thanks to Luis F. Soria (aka Lou) at the Amoeba San Francisco store for this week's top six chart which sadly will be Lou's final contribution to this Amoeblog and to Amoeba Music too since he has just announced that he is moving on from Amoeba for good to focus all his time and energies on the other worthwhile projects he has going in his life. Like so many of his co-workers at the Haight Street store, who counted on Lou for not just music knowledge, but genuine friendship and support when things troubled them (he's one of that rare breed that actually give a damn about his fellow humans), I always enjoyed dealing with Lou. Whenever we spoke we would talk at length and in great detail about something we both love, hip-hop music. And it is that genuine love and passion for hip-hop by Lou, who is also a DJ, that will be missed the most. If it were not for Lou the hip-hop isles at Amoeba on Haight Street would not have showcased so many amazing (often well under the radar) hip-hop releases. And of all the regions represented none got more love from Lou than San Francisco and the Bay Area. Responsible for getting in so many homegrown hip-hop acts into Amoeba Lou will be missed not just by his co-workers at Amoeba Music on Haight but by the Bay Area hip-hop community at large. Good luck in all you do Lou and thank-you for being you! And please stop by Amoeba Music from time.

 
1) Evidence Cats & Dogs (Rhymesayers Ent.)

2) Murs Love & Rockets Vol. 1: The Transformation (DD172)

3) People Under The Stairs Highlighter (Piecelock 70)

4) Exile 4 Trk Mind (Soulspazam/Fat Beats)

5) Freestyle Fellowship The Promise (Decon)

Thanks to Ray Ricky Rivera at the Hollywood Amoeba store for this week's hip-hop top five chart which, you will notice upon closer examination, features exclusively acts from the SoCal store's surrounding area. As Rivera has told me in the past LA area customers have traditionally been highly supportive of their homegrown hip-hop talent. This week those talents include the LA producer/emcee Evidence who first came to fame as part of Dilated Peoples and who recently connected with the respected Mid West Rhymesayers Entertainment label who have released his highly recommended new  Cats & Dogs album.  LA's Murs, the Living Legends star who for a time lived in the Bay Area, is getting positive feedback all over for his latest release - a collab with Ski Beatz, Love & Rockets Vol. 1: The Transformation including down in New Orleans where, just before the album's October 11th release date, he did a unique promo for the new release on DD172 as seen in video clip below.

1) Freestyle Fellowship The Promise (Decon)

2) Phonte Charity Starts at Home (Hbd Label Group)

3) Lil Wayne Tha Carter IV (Cash Money/Universal)

4) Superstar Quamallah & Deqawn Talkin' All That Jazz (Cotter Records/Brick Records )

5) J-Live S.P.T.A. (Triple Threat Productions)

Thanks again to E-Lit at the Amoeba Music Berkeley for the latest Top 5 Hip-Hop chart and run down of new hip-hop releases in the Telegraph Avenue Amoeba store.  These include the recommended number one album of the week; Freestyle Fellowship The Promise (on Brooklyn's high caliber Decon Records, the new one from Little Brother's
Phonte Charity Starts at Home on the Hbd Label Group, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV which will likely be charting through end of the year, and Superstar Quamallah & Deqawn's Talkin' All That Jazz on Cotter Records/Brick Records (this is a real good release that i just got through checking out). Also recommended is J-Live S.P.T.A. on Triple Threat Productions. Long one of my favorite, albeit long running underrated hip-hop talents, J-Live has been tirelessly putting it down for a decade and a half.  And as his label name (Triple Threat) and new album cover and title imply he is a triple gifted artist - an MC, DJ, and producer - and he is amazing at all three - as proven on the new S.P.I.T. which stands for Said Person of That Abilility.

X- "Because I Do"



Freestyle Fellowship- "Inner City Boundaries"



The Minutemen- "This Ain't No Picnic"

People tell me I have good taste in music. I have to disagree with them. It’s not that I’m humble, because I’m not, it’s that I’m a natural-born skeptic and my cynicism gets the best of me, especially with music. Most people can like a band, song or album instantly. I have to scrutinize it until I see everything that is wrong with music before I see what is right. This is especially true when I see an artist perform live without knowing anything about them. Without having the knowledge of an artist’s music beforehand, I’ve denounced many artists that later on I've found myself loving. Here are a few of my worst blunders, in no order.

Latryx @ The House Of Blues (1996)

I went to check out DJ Shadow, who was opening for Jeru The Damaja & De La Soul. When the curtains opened, Lateef The Truth Speaker & Lyrics Born, otherwise known as Latrx, came out, rapping simultaneously with two different rhymes. I thought, “What is this weak shit?’ The truth was I just wanted Shadow to do his Endtroducing jams and I wasn’t in the mood to hear anything new. I remember some kid in the audience scolding the L.A. crowd after their lackadaisical response to the group’s performance. “Yo kids, ya’ll sleeping on them!” A year later I couldn’t put the Latyx CD down, as well as the Blackalicous e.p. I guess I was sleeping.


Bikini Kill @ Jabberjaw (1992)

L.A. was the home of The Runaways, The Go-Go’s, The Bangles, L7 and Hole. Frightwig, The Mudwimin, and Tribe 8, and Spitboy from The Bay area played in Los Angeles years before the arrival of the Riot Girl movement. So what was the big deal about Bikini Kill? Most people at the show were there to antagonize them for their outspokenness. We also had to suffer through one of the worst opening bands in the history of music, a short-lived band called Pussy Willow, who droned and wailed for more than an hour. The show was just a back and forth with the audience, who tried hard to break the spirit of the group. The show ended with the band exhausted and in tears. It was like seeing the Sex Pistols in Texas on their first tour. Since I really didn’t know their music at the time, I lost out on Bikini Kill's barrage of Black Flag licks with Exene meets Poly Styrene vocals. To top it off, the band wrote best punk songs to come out of the 90’s...in retrospect, of course.

Helios Creed @ Raji’s (1990)