via Freshnessmag

​Bun B
Good Units (Complex + Foot Locker's Sneakerpedia Launch Party)
Tuesday, May 17

Better than: Waiting outside in the rain (at least for the shoes' sake).

Last night at Good Units, there were more cameras aimed at the floor than at the stage--which might have been fitting given that the evening served as the launch party for Sneakerpedia, Foot Locker's new wiki for footwear fetishists, but which was still strange, given that the evening had been billed as a Bun B concert.

Here's what did make last night like a rap show: Bun B was onstage, and he was rapping. Slowly pacing the stage, Bun was energetic in his lethargy: he tore through his UGK-and-since catalogue, punching each syllable with fist and tongue. He hit most of the recent major points: "Draped Up" and "Get Throwed"; his guest verses on Yelawolf's "Good to Go" and Big KRIT's "Country Shit." The guy to my right--dressed in cargo shorts and Asics--was usually mouthing the wrong words until he discovered the best thing about Southern rappers, which is that if you don't know the chorus the first time around, you can learn it by the second line.

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​Posse cuts are like friendlier versions of the WWE's Royal Rumble -- a platform designed to showcase all of the stars in the game, both up-and-coming and certified. Think back to the Main Source's 1991 "Live At The Barbecue," featuring Akinyele, Joe Fatal, and the debut of a rapper named Nas, or Big Pun's "Banned From TV" remix, featuring the murderer's row of N.O.R.E., Nature, Cam'ron, Jadakiss, and Styles P. More recently, there's been 2008's "Swagger Like Us"--T.I., Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and M.I.A.--or last year's "Forever," featuring Drake, Kanye West, Eminem, and Lil Wayne.

This year in particular, the posse cut seems to be in vogue. Kanye West has been the most visible artist to use the posse cut approach recently, stacking the majority of his G.O.O.D. Friday freebies with numerous MCs and singers. West also recently announced "All Of The Lights", the third single from his upcoming album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, will feature 11 artists (including Elton John!). But it's not just West calling all MCs to the booth. For whatever reason, great rappers have been teaming up a lot lately, and the result has been a hip-hop fan's wet dream. Every week, there's either some new remix or original song with numerous MCs trying to lay down the verse fans will talk about long after the song is playing. Here are ten of 2010's best posse cuts so far, complete with a verdict on who won each one:

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If this doesn't say it all, don't know what does

Wyclef's Yele charity has recently drawn a firestorm of criticism, but he's not the only musical figure trying to mobilize folks and funds on behalf of Haiti. There's also an impressive number of benefit concerts and music events happening in the city over the next few weeks, plus a series of ongoing efforts from the likes of Lady Gaga to Clipse to Blink-182. Our exhaustive round-up of the ways artists are attempting to involve their fans, and the general public, in the relief effort, be it downloading a new song (or a great cover of an old one), buying a custom T-shirt, or sending that ever-so-simple text message. Did we miss something? Kindly leave it in the comments.

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Probably. But since swine flu officially murdered Cinco De Mayo, the soddenly drunken, potentially bandito-inspired holiday we all now can't celebrate, we have nothing better to do. Plus, the Streets just released a whole zombie flick/song about this deadly plague--see above. So why not? Mike Skinner's newest track is called "He's Behind You, He's Got Swine Flu," which is pretty much self-explanatory, although he almost certainly plagiarized that line from Cam'ron, whose "Let's Talk About It" remains pretty much the gold standard for swine flu references in 2009:

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Rap's 36-posts-or-so-per-mp3-blog-a-day regimen hasn't had nearly the same obliterative effect on the music itself as it has in, say, indie rock: If anything, it makes tracks by veterans like Red and Meth seem like major events, when in reality both of those guys have spent the better part of two decades tossing songs like this off in their sleep. But lacking something to prove is its own asset: listen to how assured everyone on "City Lights" sounds. Redman, Method Man, and Bun B are three of the most effortlessly conversational MCs in all of rap, and they take their time with this one. Redman's references--Jada Pinkett Smith, "chinky eyes," R. Kelly's sex trial--are, as ever, charmingly dated, and Method Man, evidentially, just heard Diplomatic Immunity for the first time in while (or ever?): "I dropped in '95, now I'm on 95 / South in the Dirty, been riding dirty since Dirty died." Old dogs, new tricks, etc.

On the heels of the really solid interview that Tom Breihan conducted with Bun B this morning comes some satisfyingly on-point financial/spiritual advice from the Houston rapper: "Take a look at yourself and what you've been doing and how you've been living and see if that's who you really need to be right now"--word to Jim Cramer. "The day is getting reading to come back when you're going to have your neighbor knocking on your door for a cup of sugar, or some milk. And if I was you, I'd give it to 'em." [Nah Right]