4 Reasons @MsLaurynHill needs to Release a Sequel of The Miseducation by: @RamseySaidWHAT

What's the Movement main goal is to platform artists of all kinds in New Jersey and then outward. Occasionally we'll pull some opinions on the mainstream and outside of the area bringing you the dope music you may have never heard yet. This piece kind of gets to be a loophole. I mean Lauryn Hill is from New Jersey right? Right. I previously did write a piece on the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as a tribute and Throwback Thursday deal a few years back. I have mentioned this idea a couple of times and never put it to pen so this is it. Remember I said it first because I'm sure another music journalist/blogger/A&R or even artist themselves are going to take credit for this. You've seen it on WTM by Ramsey first. Here are four reasons a new Lauryn Hill album needs to happen.

The Re-Education of Lauryn Hill...nice ring to it right? Let's face it, The Miseducation is probably one of my generation's greatest complete projects of any genre. Whether you want to admit it or not it's not a big reach to say that. Still questioning my judgment, how about you question the recording academy and the five Grammy's they awarded her in 1999. The project is eight times platinum. Well in this country at least. These numbers are long before the streaming era my friend.

Pre-Y2K was probably the renaissance of neo-soul as a genre and Miseducation was right at the forefront of it. The way R&B has grown and the collection of subgenres that have been birthed from it, it'd be awesome to see how the production evolves. Lauryn Hill is a hell of a musician. Combined with synths and modern percussion I think she could really flourish in today's age. Let's be honest, the same hi-hat, kick, and snare combination is a little redundant. Maybe it's rude but really go back and listen to the percussion of Everything is Everything, Can't Take My Eyes off You, and Doo Wop (That Thing). Sounds the same. All Classics but repetitive.

Another reason she needs to drop a sequel is the monetary benefits. I could see it now. Imagine how Lauryn Hill would do on the charts. The Miseducation was timeless. The music branched across the world through many generations. This would do crazy numbers on billboard and all the streaming platforms. If her tax situation is how it suggests an album and tour would do wonders for her career and reputation of missing shows.

Unplugged is to Lauryn Hill as Blonde is to Frank Ocean. Both of these artists follow ups to classics seemed to be a collection of good songs but far from a great albums in comparison to their latter projects. They both are hermits when it comes to their time away from limelight and to focus on their craft.

"The challenge is aligning my energy with the time. I am at my best when I am open, rested, sensitive and liberated to express myself as truthfully as possible." Lauryn Hill

If this is as true as her letter expressed the time away from the industry limelight should have been more than enough to muster up another classic. No easy feat sure, but she's the only one who's capable and the people believe in her. The Re-Education needs to happen for real. The Miseducation explores a 24 year old Lauryn and her experience with love thusfar. She's 42 now, how has love changed and grown with age for her? I think we'd all love to hear. Does it still feel good when it hurts so bad in 2018? I talked about how the original rang across the generations but is there something she'd like to tell her 20 something year old self?  The project dropped when I was 8 years old. I didn't really analyze it until I was in high school. The world is much different now. My world is too. I'm 26 and the way I look at love is different than when I was 24 let alone in 1999 you know? Imagine her contrast at 42. My friend Taye says this generation needs a project like that, and Ms. Hill is the only one who could deliver.

"There's a difference between loving someone and being in love with somebody."

I hope the kids from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill found love.

— Nana Kwame (@NK_Adjei) March 13, 2018

It's not just her perspective we want to hear though. The skits and intro that featured the children in class talking about love. I'd love to hear them go back and grab those same kids and see how their perspectives changed. They aren't the same little girls and boys that said they weren't too young to be in love. Their grown up skits would be wonderful in the sequel (I came up with this first remember. I should patent this or A&R this thing). 

On Saturday, the Miseducation will be 20 years old. I've talked about how time and production could change the sound of this imaginary project. I wonder who she could collaborate with. D'Angelo and Mary J. Blige were wonderful on the original. I'd love to see a new version which would feature the likes of Andre 3000, Frank Ocean, Sabrina Claudio, Syd, John Legend, or even fellow Jersey songstress SZA. The ideas are endless. There's more pros than cons Ms. Hill. I don't want to sound like another angsty fan about missing out on a Afropunk set. We know how experimental her sounds are live. I think I speak for the entire world when I say we would love to hear it on wax. 

What are your thoughts? Think I'm crazy? I might be, tell us in the comment section below.

Abolish the Femcee by @RamseySaidWHAT

Happy Women's History month! Awhile back, I scrolled through my twitter TL and saw a couple gems in my likes. Among the gems was a particular set of viral tweets by famous people. Let's just say it stirred my creative stew and this article was conceived.

In 5 Reasons Your Local Rapper's Album Flopped, I briefly talked about burning bridges while you still need people. It's true, there's no need to create enemies. There's one thing guaranteed to accompany success, hate. Since there's always going to be people rooting for your demise you don't need to add to the list, especially when the aforementioned hate is shortly on the way.

Okay, let's get to the meat of this article. Abolish the Femcee. The week of September 25th, 2017 was a special one in hip hop. It was the first time in years a rapper of the female gender topped the Billboard Charts.

Thank you!! This means sooo much coming from you!! ❤️ https://t.co/vPGwFiBAiQ

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) September 25, 2017

Cardi B's Bodak Yellow was on top. Whether that's your mug of earl grey tea or Hennessy in a red cup, the song was what it was: a banger (it still is). That was the first time since Lauryn Hill that this feat was accomplished by a lady. In that same week, Rapsody had also dropped her second full length, Laila's Wisdom. If Crown was excellent, the second album was magnificent. I remember sitting in a Barnes and Noble trying to pay attention to a new book sipping a tall maple pecan frappe. I imagine I startled the elderly couple staring at me because I kept grunting making ugly faces because of the sixteens dished by the Snow Hill native. It's safe to say I didn't get far into the novel I was reading because I was hooked on that project. I mean really, she's a superb emcee that doesn't need to sell sex (sidebar, she is one of the most humble artists I've ever met and she told me she liked my fedora once). I decided to see if the streets were talking about Rapsody too. Scrolling along I saw a tweet 9th Wonder reposted to his timeline.

Rapsody’s album is fire and we’ve all been sleep cuz we’ve been conditioned to pay attention to one female rapper at a time. That is all

— 🍒 (@ciarrarp) September 26, 2017

You know what all the aforementioned artists have in common? I'll give you a hint: it's not their ovaries, but they are all Grammy Nominated Musicians. That is the words that should come before their surname, not female rapper. The moral of this story is there is plenty of room at the table for everyone to eat. No crabs in a barrel metaphor here, let's do the right thing. Thus I hate the word femcee or female rapper. Sure I'm an equity feminist or whatever but we time and time again say "(insert rapper here) is just as good as all the men in the game." If the men are compared to other men and the need to establish their gender wasn't necessary why should we split the genders. That week I remember with the exception of crazy a** Azealia Banks, the ladies of hip hop really embraced Cardi B's success. From Nicki Minaj to Missy Elliot, they all shared genuine joy. Even Taylor Swift had a nice gesture (not that that really matters). As seclusive as he is J. Cole even logged some tweets of advice to the NY upstart. Long story short they all did it because we have to in this culture. We shun and segregate each other on a daily.

Imagine we lived in a less patriarchal society. One were the genre wasn't as deeply rooted in the fallacies as well. Let's face it rap has been degrading women from jump street and that was long before the Tip Drill video. I'll stop there because that's an entire 5 page chapter in my senior thesis. I'm sorry this seems like an essay from my Women's Studies classes. I probably should have left this to one of the female authors of WTM to write, but here's my male perspective: Over and over as men we have this narrative of, "We gotta do better." I'm sure the ladies are tired of hearing it. Let's stop talking about it. Let's just do it. Instead of conditioning ourselves to only support lady rappers one at a time listen to them all. Abolish the Femcee isn't to separate them but for acknowledgement. So from yesterday on, they aren't female rappers. They are just rappers, and in most cases, waaaaay better than your favorite (your fave could never, right?).

#FlashbackFriday: It Was Written (20th Anniversary) - @Nas; A Niles P. Joint

Comparing hip hop to movies is a time honored tradition.  I’ve done it before, I’m about to do it now, and I’ll more than likely do it later.  But since it's the 20th anniversary of It Was Written, the metaphor is certainly warranted.  To understand how Nas arrived here, think of him as a writer/director instead of an emcee.  After making an arthouse flick his first time out, he received universal acclaim but not necessarily the expected spoils financially, nor the awards.  So the second time around, he was tapped for a production with a bigger budget and wider release.  Make no mistake, Nas’ goal this time was to knock it out of the park and garner mass appeal & sales.  But selling out completely proved impossible, as old habits die hard and the album itself became triple-layered yet nonlinear.  

At its root, IWW is about progression from project dwelling poet to drug dealer chic.  The latter takes form in an increase in glossy production as Trackmasters had a hand in 8 of 14 beats on the album.  1996 was the heyday of Mafioso rap and Nas jumped in headfirst with wondrous results.  Street Dreams was his first blatantly commercial single.  An Annie Lennox interpolation in the hook conveyed the want for material things as a sign of wealth.  The video even inspired some ridicule for Nas’ pink suit, but the tone was set either way.  La Cosa Nostra vibes flowed on the posse cut Affirmative Action which was the birth of would-be supergroup The Firm, which then included Nas Escobar, AZ, Cormega, & Foxy Brown.  Boss talk over Mediterranean strings was the order of the day.  He even linked with Dr. Dre for the criminally underrated Nas Is Coming which happened at the time of much media hyperbole about East vs. West in hip hop.  

No matter how much he left Queensbridge in the physical, Queensbridge never fully left him.  This is how you get street tales from one of the best storytellers in hip hop.  Fellow QB dweller Havoc contributed his trademark menacing beatsmith skills on The Set Up along with hook vocals.  Nas puts you right in the action of the narrative, whether you want to be there or not.  Old friend L.E.S. once again hops behind the boards for Suspect, which is another edition in Nas’ library of hard boiled stories.  The hook warns potential snitches, which saw a recent rebirth in a recent era.  More Queensbridge brotherhood is abound in Live Nigga Rap as this time both halves of Mobb Deep arrive as reinforcements for a filthy track that’ll murder you with one of those mini bats they got at a Mets game.  It’s easily the rawest on the album, necessarily unpolished.  

Despite drug kingpin wishes and projects sensibilities, Nas still prevails with cerebral creativity.  On the Album Intro, he imagines a slave revolt over the string section from Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come.  Nothing is more ingenious than I Gave You Power, where Nas personifies a handgun.  No matter how many times I’ve heard it (a lot) it still captivates me like the first time.  Also, somehow I didn’t realize that DJ Premier produced it until the other day (SHAME!)  While it would be derided today by misguided Tumblr whiners accusing it of any transgression possible, Black Girl Lost actually has Nas looking out for young sisters that might be moving too fast down a bad path.  But the crown jewel of the album is If I Ruled The World.  Inspired by Kurtis Blow, Nas creates his own idea of a Black utopia on wax.  Of course this was made possible by a gorgeous hook & bridge by Fugees-era Lauryn Hill.  There couldn't be a more perfect ending.

More than likely, your first instinct will be to compare the sophomore album to the debut one.  Don’t.  They come from two entirely different places in Nas’ life and by playing the comparison game, you’ll undoubtedly miss a lot of the brilliance in It Was Written.  His first album was about life as it is.  This album was about ambition for better while realizing the perils of your past aren’t that far in your rearview.  Materialism might consume you for part of it but if you keep focused you can create your own reality.  This album has been praised by a number of hip hop luminaries as an influence.  This author even remembers shopping for Jordans at A&J’s in Neptune City while Take It In Blood played in the store.  The progression makes you want more for yourself, wherever you may be in life.  As an adult I can appreciate its scope more, especially when viewed singularly.  And 20 years later, hip hop is finally giving the props it deserves.

Editorial Review: Elephant Eyes - @Omen

Chi-town's Omen shakes up the game with his latest solo offering, Elephant Eyes. 

We already know he's signed to J. Cole's Dreamville label and been featured on a lot of Cole's earlier work. After all this time, Elephant Eyes is his first studio album. The project covers a lot of themes we all could relate to. Young brother with Daddy issues journeys through a life headed for stardom. How does it effect him or the people around him? How's the love life? How does he fit in our generation? Is he going to be great or just another piece to a bigger star's puzzle? Let's get to it.

In my opinion, Elephant Eyes doesn't really kick into the swing of things until track four. Every track has a theme and is essential for the story, but it's really just built up to the climax where he really debuts his skills. Omen really spends his time in Elephant Eyes trying to find his place in this hip-hop world.

Motion Picture kicks things off. His own produced track paints Omen in a bar reflecting. It's safe to say that is the setting of the entire project. Love Drug breaks down the story of the millenial. We've become the "show and tell" generation as my mother says. There's no mystery to us because we has a sick addiction to social media. Omen isn't afraid to attack our abuse of attention. CJ Hamilton talks his sh*t off the hooks. He represents the vanity of the young boys and girls of today. His twitter name at the end of the song is sad but true. Hilarious nonetheless.

Same Jezebel. One verse. One bridge. One hook. Not much to love or hate here. A place holder that's too long to be an interlude. The self title comes next. They say elephants remember everything, so does Omen. He recalls a past love and explains why they didn't work and how she calls him elephant eyes, rough breakup too. There's a skit at the end of the song that leads into Father Figure. I broke down the song in my editor's picks a few weeks ago. Same plight of a lot of young brothers without their father in their lives. It's kind of reminiscent to J. Cole's Breakdown from the Sideline Story.

One of my favorite projects on the album is Sketches of Paranoia featuring Bas. A little bit before listening to the album I watching Omen, Bas, and Cozz on Hot 97's Ebro in the Morning. They talked about their perspective careers and how most of their production and features were in house. That explains why he chose to keep his labelmate on this song. Omen talks about trying to remain humble in his new found stardom, while battling his vices. Bas joins with a story about a man in jail and his relationship with his son.

A rap album isn't complete without a collaboration with an R&B singer. Sweat it Out enlists the talents of labelmate Ari Lennox. This slow jam samples the string section and chorus from Justin Timberlake's Set the Mood Interlude from FutureSex/LoveSounds. Her voice is so unique to me. It sounds different on every song but she really just sounds like her. Zuri said she heard an Erykah Badu influence on Backseat. I can hear hints of that in this song too. Omen's verses tell a tale of lusting for a girl that isn't his. It happens sometimes (but I wouldn't know anything about that).

The next track Foolish Pride takes us from calm, cool, collected Omen and his childhood transition to who he is today. Not exactly a troubled kid but a tested one. Anyone who's transferred to a new school knows the anxiety that follows. It's short but essentially it's a reprise of his verse on J. Cole's Enchanted on Friday Night Lights. The song is followed by a monologue from Rocky Balboa and an interaction with his son and living in his father's legacy. The skit is tailor-made for the next song Big Shadows. He's essentially just a young emcee who came up with J. Cole and doesn't want to be seen as his protege. Ironic because J. Cole is featured on the next song, Things Change. The Ron Gilmore production serves as another climatic point in Elephant Eyes. The duo transcribe their rise to fame and how it effects the women in their lives. I love this beat. It's so smooth, but still upbeat. This is great song to ride on the parkway, run on the treadmill, or mediate with. The project concludes with Zion. Like the sample from Lauryn Hill, Omen pays tribute to his love on this track. This man on the road isn't afraid to settle down. "Nothin' makes a man feel better than a women. Nothin' make a man feel better than a Queen with a crown that be down for whatever."

I really like Omen. His skills as an emcee and producer are really polished. He does a great job manipulating his voice with the melody of the music from his singing on the hooks even down to his outright rap verses. Although he's a name we are just now starting to hear on the grand scheme of things he's been around for a long time dating back to features on The Warm Up. As Dreamville grows I expect to see growth from Omen too. Elephant Eyes took a little bit to kick up but like wine all good things are worth the wait. Elephant Eyes gets 4 of 5 stars on the Ramsey Rating Scale. My favorite songs are Sketches of Paranoia, Sweat it Out, Zion, and Things Change. There are only about two skips but even they serve a purpose. The second part of the album holds the bulk of the meat in this sandwich. Listen to Elephant Eyes after the break.

Listen: Her - @JordxnBryant (Prod by @MeloZed)

Jordxn Bryant, I'm sure he gets too many basketball jokes thrown his way.

Top of the year and it's no jokes as he drops a new track titled Her. Melo-Zed flipped samples of Lauryn Hill and the hip-hop classic I Used to Love H.E.R. by Common. The Baltimore emcee spits and sings to his lover over a funky beat. The core hip-hop fan is going to love this one as much as I do. Feel this. Her after the break.

#TBT Editorial: The Miseducation of @mslaurynhill by @RamseySaidWHAT

A lot of people give flack to Frank Ocean and his absence from the music scene. Question: why didn't Lauryn Hill get the same treatment?

The classic Miseducation of Lauryn Hill dropped in 1998 won five Grammy's and her unplugged album didn't drop for four years after that. Since then we didn't get new Lauryn material until last year. Let that sink in. Regardless, this is (in my opinion) the greatest Hip-Hop or R&B album ever. I can't believe I've never written about it. Let's take a trip in time to elementary school days and into the mind of Ms Lauryn Hill.

The story begins in class with a skit where Lauryn Hill ins't present in class. It fades into Lost Ones. L Boogie has always been multifaceted and she shows her emcee skills on a boom bap beat. "You might win some but you just lost one," Coos through your earphones. Along with some rapping she still laid down some smooth vocals in the chorus and hook. Class continues without her presence. Today's lesson: Love. The students (probably from some school in Orange, NJ) and their teacher have the exchange and track three begins. Ex-Factor must be every woman's breakup or reconciliation theme song. At least that's word to my high school sweetheart and her bestfriend Chante. At the time I don't think I really understood the lyrics. No matter how many times I googled the word "Reciprocity," I couldn't tell you the meaning until I lost at a later date. The harmonies are sick and blend lovely at the end of the song. Lauryn's vocal range is unrivaled from tenor to soprano. Then we cue a sicker electric guitar solo. The song is a certified R&B classic. To Zion follows up. The song is a beautiful ode to her son of the title's name. It's funny how life changes when you have children (so I hear). Priority is now on how to make the next generation better than the last. This song holds true to my heart and those who have children of their own. The class discussion skits take the opinion of a few children and their depiction of what love really is.

The lead single, Doo Wop (That Thing) is next. Without a doubt this is my favorite on this album and of all her music. I think I might be the only one I know that knows all the words. That includes that dreaded second verse where everyone around me got quiet and stared during her set at AfroPunk. Bars on Bars, and with quality content. Ladies and Gents, watch out! Some only have one intention. The song instrumental turns into a ballad and chorale. While it plays the skits continue with a question. "Are we too young to be in love?" I think at any age we could still ask that question.


Superstar, Final Hour, and When it Hurts So Bad take us to a deeper part of the mind of Lauryn. The mood of the album is glum.

"What you want might make you cry, what you need might pass you by if you don't catch it."

At the end of the song finally a young man weighs in on being confused and lead on when it comes to love. I Used to Love Him proceeds afterwards with an assist from Mary J. Blige. Let me remind you this is 1998 and it features the queen of R&B herself. The leading vocal divas at the time collaborated with a New York/New Jersey connection and created something special. I actually thought the song was going to be a metaphorical response to Common's I Used to Love H.E.R. Still, beautiful music. Things lighten up with Forgive Them Father and Every Ghetto, Every City. Perhaps the messages kept their sincerity but musically it was fun to listen and sing along to.

Can I tell a story within a story? It's my senior year of high school and I was attempting to form an acapella group within our high school band. Yes, I know vocalists within instrumentalists; some of us can blow, I'm serious. Let's just say that failed, horribly. What I do remember is on the side Chante (as mentioned earlier) and my homie Ebony used to emulate Lauryn and D'Angelo's harmony on Nothing Even Matters. Honestly I think they did it better but that's opinionated. Regardless this was an amazing track and wait, it gets better. The last single comes up next. Everything is Everything is on everyone's Lauryn Hill playlist (this whole album tbh) and for good reason. Rapping verses and singing chorus throughout was killing the radio, then and now. I think the rappers today need to revisit this and listen to Lauryn's message (shameless plug: I wrote about it in my editorial tomorrow).

The album wraps up with three songs and three more moods. The title track is probably my favorite song to sing home alone in the mirror and I'm not embarrassed to say it. The song takes us back into her world and she flexes what her voice can do. Her crooning goes to another level throughout. She plays with chords and runs from tenor to soprano range effortlessly. Her ad-libs are so creative and the way her brain, ears, and mouth work together make this an amazing song. In addition, I love the vinyl cracking sound in the beginning and end of the song, it gives it a really cool old aesthetic. The next song is a remake to Can't Take My Eyes Off of You. She gives the song some flavor with beat-boxing and hip-hop percussion. At this moment is when I realized she uses the same kick/snare combination in a lot of her songs like Everything is Everything and Doo Wop. I always thought that was funny. The album closes out with another favorite of mine, Tell Him. 1 Chorinthians 13:4 in the Holy Bible: Love is patient, kind, does not envy or isn't boastful. That is the message of the last track. Now we know what love is and isn't she still takes the time out to tell her lover she loves him regardless. Something I try to listen to after an argument with my partners. Deep stuff.

All in all, the Miseducation was a plethora of hits that took us deep into Lauryn's world. On that journey, we learned what we found there wasn't so different than lessons we learned on our own road through adolescence. Although I was only seven, I understood the severity that was the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Sure at the time I was like "Hey that's ole girl from Sister Act 2." As a music blogger I'm embarrassed that I never wrote about this classic because that's exactly what it is, a classic. This wasn't exactly supposed to be a review but if I had to ever give a perfect rating with no skips this is the one. Five of Five on the Ramsey Rating Scale. Take it back with me and listen to the Miseducation below after the break.

Kendrick Lamar Preview - @Best_ofda_Worst

"Lord God, I come to you a sinner and I humbly repent for my sins……"

Kendrick Lamar by "Rolling Stone"

These were the first words spoken on Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid MAAD City. With favorites such as Money Trees and MAAD City people claimed that it is with this album that has invigorated hip-hop with comparisons to great works such as Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation. Classic after classic song, all being tied together through skits in between, the album felt like more of an audiobook rather than visual story, where the listener was in attendance in that van with Kendrick and the homies. It can be said that no one expected such a great work from Kendrick at first. Regardless it was greatly loved by fans, critics, and general hip-hop heads alike. Believe it or not that was a little more than two years ago.  Present day we have not heard much from Kendrick other a few singles and a features. What has been released has caused some waves with his message of self love on I, his intoxicating feature on Flying Lotus’ Never Catch Me and of course his inflammatory verse, that shook up the whole genre of rap on Big Sean’s Control. Fans and listeners have been waiting for Kendrick’s next album with little patience and high anxiety. The question is, what can be expected?

Previously with GKMC, His EP, mixtapes and singles, they kind of alluded to the fact that Kendrick would be telling the story of his life and then we heard it on his album. With this new album we haven’t heard much from Kendrick lyrically, but from going from his interviews he has told us that this album will be more “raw” than what it has ever been before. Rumors has it that it has some elements of section .80 and Good Kid MAAD City, as well as beats produce by Dr. Dre and Pharell this album could potentially outstanding production wise.  As far as songs go you definitely will hear “I” but I fell like the single will sound better on the album than it does as a single as did Swimming Pools. Both are commercial records but Swimming Pools had a new feel to it once it was heard on the album compared to as a standalone track. Within the album it was part of the story and included a part two that wasn't heard on the single. I also feel like there might some trippy tracks on the album as well such as his performance on the Colbert Report which you can peep below.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,The Colbert Report on Facebook,Video Archive

With a song like that I can see how I could fit on the album. All in all this album will be greatly produced with lyrics to match of course there will be those who compare it to the first and say GKMC was better but I feel like this new album will be more focused on sending a message than just be a story on Kendrick.  

Listen: Black Rage - @MsLaurynHill

Much like J. Cole's release, L Boogie had to drop something regarding the Ferguson (American) madness.

Just listen to Lauryn Hill spit real (Hey that rhymed). Black Rage ladies and Gents.