Incredible. Months later, Nigerian Gangster still being blogged! (AKA the "all things Nigerian Gangster" post)

I was watching the Top 100 songs of the 80's on VH-1 and got to thinking, even though there are a lot of 1-hit wonders on this countdown, these songs have managed to live on and become classics. Why are the songs classics when most of the groups have broken up years ago and some of the artists have even passed away? Simple. When music is timeless, people continue to pass it on and discover and rediscover it.

There have been 100's of blogs that have featured or written about my Nigerian Gangster project that dropped in February (google:Nigerian Gangster to see results) and its always amazing to see blogs still writing about the project months later.

The reason?

Timeless music will live on and always be discovered & rediscovered.

*link to weheartstuff blog Nigerian Gangster post*

*Link to Nigerian Gangster Spotlight on KanYe's blog (thanks Yeezy)*

*working link for Nigerian Gangster Download*

Recent review of Nigerian Gangster from Writer's Block Club Magazine





Mr. Starks of the World Famous Naija Blog interviews MikeLove about Nigerian Gangster

Mike Love's Universal Session-The Chicago Gangster Story

Originally realeased July 4th 2004, Universal Session is a Classic Chicago Mixtape & the 1st in the series. The initial idea was to do these mixtapes as the definitive Chicago artist spotlight ala Gangster Grillz, but as with anything in and of Chicago, outside forces will come in and fuck up even the greatest ideas and make you say, nevermind.

For the uninformed, this is basically a soundtrack to Chicago gang culture. Soundbytes from artists like Common, Lupe Fiasco (In '04 nigga, NO DJ was on Lupe before me) Psychodrama, Do Or Die, Bump J, Preast of Qualo and Malik Yusef pretty much give you an insight on what its like growing up in Chicago & joining a 'nation'. Its a really dope documentary style mixtape with a a lot of timeless music that still holds up 4+ years later

Universal Session Playlist

1. Universal Session Nation intro
2. Do what the track say (instructions)-Qualo
3. Joining a Nation interlude
4. Respect my gangsta-Bump J.
5. Infamous Syndicate is back! - Shawnna & Teefa
6. Nation Talk (deeper)-The Moes
7. Universal Law interlude
8. Revolution-Mikkey
9. Fire-Bump J, Payroll & Cap-1
10. Psyche of a gang member interlude feat. Malik Yusef
11. 2 words (nation remix)-Preast, Columbian Prince & Chicago Shawn
12. Lights, Cameras, Police Action interlude
13. Cross the gun line-Color 1
14. Two-Soul 360 feat. Boo (of Boo & Gotti)
15. Common interlude
16. Keep it poppin-Big Blast & Pistol Pete (act like it ent.)
17. Higher-D.O.D feat. Kanye West
18. Universal Session-Newsense of Psychodrama
19. Psychodrama interlude
20. Wipe a pimp down-Turtle Banks
21. Sometimes-Triple Darkness
22. Gang members are leaders interlude
23. What you be about-EC Illa
24. Chi-Town all day- White Chalk feat. Corona
25. Pirate Nation Radio skit
26. Q nation army (Mike Love remix)-Qualo
27. Hustla-King
28. Gentrification/Blame YT interlude
29. 1^st& 15^th is back-Lupe Fiasco
30. Come holla at chief-Payroll
31. The Future... outro

Mike Love's Universal Session starring Psychodrama

back in the day
way back, it seems
2006 seems like forever ago...
I used to do Chicago based mixtapes
meaning if you were from Chicago or really dug our music this is for you

Here's the 2nd and final of the Universal Session series

I like Nike, but wait a minute...

Been wanting to show off my collection of deadstock size 13's for a minute. Just a few pieces I got sittin' on ice (Some of these joints been on the shelf for more than 7 years) Mostly showin off my AF1 addiction (before Nike got on that wannabe Bape patent leather bullshit) and a few Reebok pieces.

Yo, I'mma rock niggaz this summer..."Ghostface"

AF1 Supreme '07

B-More Careful

Calvin Natts'

Stats'

Stats, B-More, Natts

LA I & II's !!!!

No ring in '08, but classic joints

Chi-Town I (I killed niggaz at the Source Awards in Miami wit these)

Chi-Town I's again (2000, the year of the brawl btw)

Lebron special edition

'Bron @ 19

Delta Force Mids '07

DF Mids again

Chi-Town II Mids

Humbolt Park IV's

That's a wooden box, son!

25th anniv.
Marshmallos in a wooden joint...

Limited Edition J-Hud & Beyonce's One Night Only (from Dreamgirls, get it?)

Sheed I's

RBK DJ joints

OOOOOH, The G-Unit Humbolt Park Jumpoffs!

G-Unit California & Division joints (so fresh)

S. Carter I's. I gotta get Hov to sign these one day...

The Cedric Bensons...

2 Classic Mike Love Show Mixtapes from '04

Nigerian Gangster is the project that helped to make the name Mike Love a global brand, but it made a lot of heads say,

"Who is this guy Mike Love?"

Here's a couple of mixtapes I did in 2004 that really blew up the Mike Love Show mixtape series. It's also good history lesson on what I been on from then till now.

John Monop.

I pulled it out and was listening to this joint this week and I really understand why It got the spotlight on MTV's Mixtape Mondays. It's the best produced, sequenced, and has the best selection of the entire Mike Love Show series. A bunch of dope remixes, some exclusives (at least in '04 they were), and the hottest underground joints coming out of Chicago in 2004. No need to hype this one. If you want to hear what Chicago was on before the "hipster hop" explosion of '08...

Tracklisting

Eddie from the Barbershop- Cedric The Entertainer
Mike Love's Workout Plan -Kanye West
John Monopoly's mission intro
So Chicago - Alexander Monday Feat. Qualo
The Food -Common Feat Kanye West
John Monopoly on Kanye West Mike Love
The Future of Chicago- Bump J. & Yung King
The Champ is here- Green Lantern Feat. Jadakiss
Theifs Theme -Nas
All falls Down Video Shoot
Got it Twisted - Mobb Deep
Freek-A-Leek - Petey Pablo Feat. Twista
Oh My God - Tony Sunshine
Welcome Back- Mase
Introduction to Crack- Mikkey
Goons Where We At- Goon Squad feat. Bump J
Leave - Jrunk Unkles
Johnny On Street Relations
Serrous-Diszwone
Look at the Grillz- 8Ball&MJG Feat. Twista
Band of Brothers- Il Vikings
Jo Capone (interlude)
Sweet Lies - Usher
Hot 2 Nite - New Edition
Dont Say Nuthin'- The Roots
U Gonna Love Me- Da Backwudz
I'm Rick James Bitch- Ill/Wolf
Live from Happy's House feat. Abnar Farrakhan
U know the time - Steady Serve
M.O.V.E.M.E.N.T - Alexander Monday Feat. Qualo
John Monopoly Outro

Download it!


The very next Mixtape I dropped was the Kanye joint. The mixtape dropped in '04 but the interview part was recorded in '03. At the time Kanye was still struggling for respect (and a release date for college dropout) at Roc-A-Fella records. Twista's Slow Jams hadnt dropped yet and he had to fight for everything. Listening to this mixtape, It's amazing to see how far he's come in 4 years.
I remember listening to this with 'Ye, Common, John Legend and the whole Hustle fam in his trailer at the All Falls Down video shoot. College Dropout was coming out that upcoming Tuesday but we popped in this cd cuz we'd never done a mixtape together & Kanye wanted to hear how it turned out. He just kept starting Nuthin's Gonna Stop Me over & over.

Nothing like going back to the good old days.

Tracklisting

I Anit A Pimp (Remix) Qualo Featuring Twista
Kanye West Intro
Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Kanye West T
What More Can I Say (Freestyle) Qualo feat. Yung King
Jesus Walks (mike love remix)-Kanye West
Kanye West On Chicago Love
Goon Squad-Bump J & Sly Polaroid
Rubberband Man- TI
Swing On' Em-Arrogant
Quick To Back Down-Qualo
Kanye West On Strengths And Weakness
So Sexy-Twista & R.Kelly
Fist Full Of Dollars-Crucial Conflict
Crown Me-Cam, Juelz, TI
Go Gettas 99 freestyle from WGCI Chicago
The Way That You Do-Carl Thomas & Kanye West
Do What I Gotta Do-John Legend Featuring Kanye West (unrelesed)
Family Business-Kanye West
Fight With The Best-Kanye & Rhymefest ('99)
Kanye's Biggest Project in '04
Milkshake Freeestyle- Kanye West & Common
Baby I Love You-JLo
M.I.K.E L.O.V.E-Royale Featuring Qualo Crystal
Roc interlude
Kanye West 01 Freestyle
Love It- Daily Plannet Featuring Rita J
The Saga Continues-Redman
High School Chicks-1st string
Kanye on Remixes
Yeah-Usher
Kanye vs.MikeLove
Thru The Wire-Mims
Kanye fave mixtapes
Realest Killaz-Qualo
Kanye West outro

Download it here

Since R. Kelly's Free, here's Free R. Kelly

*These are 4 actual texts I recieved on friday afternoon*

My baby FREE!

R. Kelly acquitted

He's not guilty :)

R. Kelly got acquitted. LOL. Oh wow. Too much reasonable doubt I guess. What a trip.

Gotta love black folks! No need for me to turn on the tv or radio, I get instant nigganet updates for my wireless service!

I figured in celebration (?) of the news, I'd post the very 1st mixtapes of the Mike Love Show series. Ladies and Gentlemen, from 2002 I present to you...

Free R. Kelly


Volume I

Volume II

Nigerian Gangster *Download*

Download Nigerian Gangster @ 320k *HERE*

Nigerian Gangster Instrumentals

It's June and you can tell summer has finally arrived in the Chi cuz women finally can wear their shoes with the toes out. You can also tell its summertime cuz you can hear the music beatin up the block (I personally had the windows down rockin that Carter 3 advance Saturday)

Here's some more beats for the whip on a hot summer day... I'm feeling in a generous summery mood so lets go ahead and by popular demand, release...

Nigerian Gangster Instrumentals, all 15 cuts. *link*

Wayne-Tre'

The Carter 3=dead
Weezy F. Baby=dead

This nigga killed the game so hard with The Carter 3 that I'm just callin' the album Tre. I can't even call dude Weezy no more cuz this dude is a man now so I'm callin' him Wayne. I dont know who finally got in this cat's ear, but he did it! The album is a classic full of Kanye-esque stadium status joints and the only thing I'm worried about is that its so mature that he might scare off his base (the kids)

But fuck 'em, if u ask me critical acclaim & the rap album of the year (so far) is 1000x bigger than being every high school & college kids' favorite rapper. He can now take his rightful place amongst today's greats. Hov, Em, 30o0, 'Ye and now Wayne

I played this song 4x back-to-back in the ride on the 1st listen to the cd. my favorite joint...Dr. Carter

VIP status with the GTA IV XBOX 360

Free Shit. Thee single greatest part of my job! It's great to be mentioned in the same breath with other VIP's like Reggie Bush, Dave Chappelle, and Just Blaze, but I need to know is that the same Mean Green who had an album on No Limit back in the 90's?
OH SHIT SON, I'M IN THE COMPANY OF GREATNESS!!!!

To quote Craig Mack...

It's been three years since you last hear
But now I reappear your heart pumps fear.

Maybe not fear, but It has been 3 years TO THE DAY! This blog was literally floating untouched & unread (by anyone other than myself) in cyberspace when I rediscovered it. Now, with the miracle of modern technology (read:template updates) I'm back in '08 with some of my classic mixtapes, podcasts, remixes, beats, and all things MikeLove. I promise if it's nothing else it will be Cold As Hell!

I got a MikeLove Mixtape... (2005 Year in Review)

The year started out with me doing a collabo with my man G-Spot from Cleveland (by way of Chicago) called Midwest Invasion. Joints on there from Shawnna, Royce 5'9, Majic Massey and the usual gang of idjits (Qualo, Bump J, Kanye, Twista nem, etc)

This is a joint that didn't get a lot of circulation in the Chi from The Movement cuz we wanted more input on the cover, but it most definitely got a good look in Justo's (RIP) column in The Source...so basically we had to stfu!

G-Spot & his peoples will be in charge of all future Midwest Invasion graphics!

Be on the lookout for Midwest Invasion II in January '06
*Midwest Invasion...click here to download*




Lord knows I was overdue for a new solo mixtape (I hadnt dropped a new joint since Universal Session in the summer of '04) and here it is...Beats & Bussdowns Vol.1! It's an interesting blend of southern shit, gangsta Chicago shit, and a coupla shits I just wanted to put on a mixtape like the Common & Kanye freestyle from January on WGCI and that crazy-assed version of Straight Outta Compton by Nina Gordon. Those tracks definitely don't fit the bass-heavy aesthetic of the cd but fuck it, sometimes you just wanna put shit on a mixtape JUST CUZ! The interesting thing about the CD is it's packaged with a porn dvd. Now, i've personally never been a porn fan, but since this mixtape series was the brainchild of my manager Shala (who also doubles as 1/4th of the band Qualo) I decided to go along with it
*Download Hardcore Beats & Bussdowns*






My favorite joint of '05 has to be Nike Battlegrounds. Alotta blood, sweat & tears went into making this joint cuz we had to get clearances for all the artists in like a 4 week span. Then after it was done I had to go back and exx out alla the curse words cuz it was a bit harsh for the suits @ Nike. Then on toppa that I watch MTV only to see Chicago lose the game to NYC! I want that 60 minutes of my life back!

Anyway, it some hot Chicago joints on this one though. Moorocco Stone, Psychodrama on there, Juice, TWO joints from Bump J, Qualo, and Preast G SNAPS with a solo joint called Say My Name Bitch. Plus u got joints from Que Billah (unsigned hype) and Lupe Fiasco (signed hype)

Shouts to Charles @ Nike, Shah-lah (thas what his mama call him) Hef & T-Scar for makin it happen

*psst* Dont tell nobody, but we snuck & put the dirty version of the Nike joint out. Once again, Shala is killin it with the graphics (Mom, it looks like a movie poster!) PLUS to make the shit even more raw, Preast G kills NYC! Did u hear me? This is the banned version! Preast G snapped so hard on the rotten apple that I heard them peoples was gon' be waiting the next time the nigga flew into JFK!
Holla @ Stone in the screets for this one. QX56 approved!
*Download Nike Battlegrounds/Movement Law IV*





You don't want me to do your mixtape. Ok, you do but it's gonna be a minnit.

Some months actually.

Naw, naw...it's gon' be the shit, trust me. But it's just gon' be a minnit till I finish it.

Ask Profound
Ask Malik Yusef
Ask Twista

See... WhuHahHappened was I feel like an artist with these mixtapes and sometimes artists needs to be properly motivated to do a project.

*an example of proper motivation*

YOU SELLIN!!! N*GGAZ LIVE OFF THESE MIXTAPES AND THEY'LL BE HOMELESS WAITIN FOR YO ASS!!! WE NEED TO GET THIS MONEY, MAN... ASAP!!!

Properly motivated, I must say that Lif, Mayze & Twis did they thang and it's a hot one. I'm a tad partial to my chopped & screwed version of the Mobstaz song S**k My D**k. Plus, can I really be mad when I turn on Sirius Satellite Radio's Shade 45 and hear they swiped Lavish off my mixtape, cut out all the 'MikeLove cold as hell(s)' and played it in rotation?

I think not... *Download Mobbtown*