Amoeba Music Berkeley Hip-Hop Top Five: 10:17:08

1) Lil Wayne Tha Carter III (Cash Money/Universal)
2) Micheal Franti & Spearhead All Rebel Rockers (Anti)
3) Murs Murs for President (Warner)
4) People Under The Stairs Fun DMC (Gold Dust Media)
5) Jean Grae & 9th Wonder Jeanius (Blacksmith)

Joe the Plumber vs. Joe the Butcher? All this recent talk of Joe the Plumber, including on  David Letterman's great John "I screwed up" McCain interview last night, which was far more direct and revealing than the debate the previous night, got me thinking of another Joe-- late 80's/early 90's Philly hip-hop producer/remixer Joe "the Butcher" Nicolo. Joe produced such politically charged records as The Goats' "Typical American"/"Burn The Flag" record and the 1991 single/album track "Read My Lips" under the pseudonym A Thousand Points of Light, which heavily sampled and mocked then-president George H. Bush.

Joe the Butcher also produced and released the all original breaks album Butcher Beats And Breaks in 1988 on Atlantic Records (dig for it in the Amoeba crates where it shows up from time to time). Philly born producer/record executive Joe the Butcher became staff producer at Columbia Records in the 80's, doing work with the likes of the Rolling Stones and Billy Joel. But he made his real mark in hip-hop when he created the Columbia distributed Ruffhouse imprint, whose impressive roster included Cypress Hill, The Fugees, Kriss Kross, and the aforementioned (and totally slept on) hometown crew The Goats.

                                       Amoeba Music Hollywood Hip-Hop Top Five 10:11:08


1) Madlib The Beat Konducta WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip (Rapster/BBE)

2) The Streets everything is borrowed (Vice)

3) T.I. Paper Trail (Grand Hustle/Atlantic)

4) Murs Murs For President (Warner)

5) Bishop Lamont The Confessional (mixtape CD)

Thanks to Scott who works in hip-hop at the Hollywood Amoeba Music store for this week's chart, which has the great new album from LA beatmaster/producer Madlib The Beatkonducta on Rapster/BBE as its number one. WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip, also selling well at the other two Amoeba stores, is a hip-hop feast of cool beats with a ton of talented guests joining the gifted producer, including emcees Murs, Defari, Prince Po, Oh No, and Guilty Simpson (whose name is truly accurate this week with the latest OJ news). My personal favorite tracks are "Life" featuring Karriem RIggins (former Common/Kayne sideman), "I Want It Back" featuring Oh No with Madlib as The Professionals, "The Way That I Live" with ATL female vocalist Stacy Epps, and especially all of the Madlib solo/guest-less joints on this album including "The New Resident" and "Disco Dance." Madlib is such a talented producer that I even don't need to hear any emcees or singers on top of his beats.

                    
   
                                  Amoeba Music San Francisco Hip-Hop Top Five: 10:02:08

1) Murs Murs for President (Warner)

2) Madlib WLIB (bbe)

3) T.I. Paper Trail (Grand Hustle/Atlantic)

4) People Under The Stairs Fun DMC (Gold Dust Media)

5) J.Stalin Gas Nation (Town Thizzness)

Thanks to Luis at the San Francisco Amoeba Music for this week's Hip-Hop Top Five selling albums chart -- all of which are all really strong & recommended new releases, and all brand-new, having dropped this past Tuesday, September 30th. Featured in the number one (with a bullet) top slot is the highly anticipated new major label release from much-loved Living Legends emcee Murs. Murs For President on Warner Brothers has been selling like crazy at the Haight Street as well as at the other two Amoeba Music stores including, of course, Hollywood Amoeba where Murs did a free in-store performance on Tuesday, the same day the new album dropped. Check out photos from his live performance on our website right here!

                                        Ameoba Music Berkeley  Hip-Hop Top Five  09:19:08

1)  Michael Franti & Spearhead All Rebel Rockers   
     (Amer-I Can/Unity One/Anti)

2)  Diplo Top Ranking Santogold (Mad Decent)

3)  The Game LAX (Geffen/Interscope)

4) Young Jeezy The Recession (Def Jam)

5)  eLZhi The Preface (Fat Beats)

The number one selling album at the Berkeley store this week is from the Bay Area's very own veteran political musician Michael Franti and his group Spearhead. Recorded in Kingston, Jamaica and produced by Sly and Robbie, this brand new full length titled All Rebel Rockers is the anticipated follow-up to the acclaimed Yell Fire!, released two years ago on Anti. This new album may not possess that same sense of urgency as its predecessor and hence, takes a little longer to get into, but All Rebel Rockers is still a very good album. (Yell Fire! is a hard one to top because it was so powerful a release.) Naturally, with Sly & Robbie at the controls, it has more of a reggae feel than the other genres it incorporates (mainly hip-hop and soul). 

                                       JAMOEBLOG HIP-HOP TOP TEN: 08:27:08                                             

1) Homeboy Sandman "Opium" (Homeboy Sandman)

2) NaS feat Eban Thomas "You Can't Stop Me Now" (Def Jam)

3) Lee "Scratch" Perry  "$hine" (Narnack Records)

4) The High Decibels "Miss Cindy" (Rolling Jack)

5) Paris "Don't Stop the Movement" (Guerrila Funk)

6) Murs "Can It Be" (Warner)

7) Double Dee & Steinski "Lesson 3" (Illegal Art)

8) Foreign Legion "Come To The City" (Hunger Strike)

9) DJ Spinna "The Spirit of '94" (Colt 45)

10) The Bug "Freak Freak" (Ninja Tune)

The number one on this week's Jamoeblog Hip-Hop Top Ten (a subjective song-based chart) is from up-and-coming Queens, NY emcee talent Homeboy Sandman, whose totally unique flow and style is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise overcrowded sea of cookie cutter rappers. So far only available through his website, as well as at a few select East Coast record stores, Homeboy Sandman's self-released debut CD Actual Factual Pterodactyl offers up hip-hop like you've never heard before, with great songs such as the slow-mo flow of "Opium" or the funny uptempo rapid fire delivery of "Food Glorious Food" which draws its hook from the Oliver! soundtrack.