Sometimes I feel bad about skipping (several) Thursdays on this column, but I’ve come to realize that I never meant to write this up religiously every week, for the same reason that I don’t write about every brand new record or leak already cluttering up blogland. This isn’t Julia & Julia with curse words, I’m gonna write about some stuff I feel like talmbout when I feel like talmboutit, not a dutiful batch of pithy remarks and Sendspaces you can set your watch to. So, without further ado… links and stuff after the jump!

Juvenile “Bitch Instructions” [mp3]
Ikea raps! Psyche, just another off Juvenile’s (surprisingly) sing-song, badly recorded new album. The man needs Mannie in his life.

cARTer & Chase N Cashe “Bayou Classic” [mp3]
Relatedly: a couple extra hi-hat rolls and this could have been a Mind Of Mannie Fresh outtake, aka THE SHIT. Whoo!

G Ca$$o f. Ty$, Rich Boy and YG “Slide’N” [mp3]
Quiet storm 808 business from YG’s Pushaz Ink crew and Rich Boy, who sounds right at home. PS “Toot It And Boot It” finally has a video, set at a high school graduation for some reason.

Usher f Bun B “Get In My Car” [mp3]
Speaking of conceptual videos, some Cadillac-ed out Mad Men shit for this would murder. One day I will make my Gucci / OJ / Waka Bird Men tape, if only to use flip the Don Draper silhouette art (and maybe the theme song too, which began it’s life as an Aceyalone track for all you who don’t believe in the unceasing randomness of the universe).

Bei Maejor “Gamez” [mp3]
“Super Brooklyn” this ain’t, and the “playin on my joystick” lines are pretty tired. But the “we should BEWT ZERRWM with each other” power up sound call-and-response with Miss Keri Baby really works. The pop punk Weezer synths here (would Pulsars be too obscure a reference?) are really doing it for me with their Hot Topic charms, too. I have a soft spot for the Wayne / Nicki “Knockout” in that lane off Rebirth as well. Shocking!

Busta Rhymes f Cam’Ron “You Ain’t Fuckin With Me” [mp3]
Busta Rhymes f. Cam’ron, Ghostface and DMX “Stop The Party (Remix)” [mp3]
“Slightly tweaked boom bap” is my favorite modern-day Busta style, so much more enjoyable than hearing him rap too fast on Khaled remixes. But I am in the minority here, as this song seems to have flown under the radar (even with Cam in the midst of his best summer in years – a Killasance, if you will) right alongside the non-event “Stop The Party” remix from a few weeks back. The little Ennio Morricone intro beats are cool, but they should have gone with the Matt Goias version.

Gucci Mane & Swizz Beats “It’s Gucci Time” [mp3]
Swizzy sure likes that Justice album, dont he?

Curren$y Pilot Talk LP
Whole album is solid and enjoyable, with guest features that feel natural rather than tacked on – Mos Def even pops up to sing the Karate Kid song – but I don’t think there’s anything I haven’t already said about Curren$y’s music to add here. “It’s good!” “He’s stoned and chilling out and rapping about both those things!” I do wonder what an actual teenager (as opposed to a suspended adolescent typing blurbs about rap mp3s) is going to think about this, or more importantly, what they’ll end up getting into – or making! – some years later. There’s a definite generational shift at play, more so with guys like Curren$y, Wiz, etc than the freshmen classes from even a year or two before them, and I’m interested in the makeup of the young listener who is really fucking with this. But maybe that’s looking too deep into a record with a city of pot on the cover.