Crib Notes

While Sarah Palin was preparing for her guest appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” rapper Lil Wayne took the liberty to throw a lyrical diss at the Republican VP candidate and McCain while rapping onstage at the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta.

It was certainly a pro-Obama night at the Atlanta Civic Center, where the third annual show was taped. Even during a performance meant to honor women in hip-hop (which required calling ’80s and ’90s rappers Salt N Pepa and DJ Spinderella, the Lady of Rage, MC Lyte and Yo-Yo out of semi-retirement) a classic tune like Salt N Pepa’s sexually implicit “Push It” became a rallying cry to Barack the vote.

“In 2008, we’re pushing for change in America, and we’re pushing for Barack Obama,” said Cheryl “Salt” Wray.

The partisan show of support was no surprise, but still sorta ironic considering the BET network’s founder and former CEO Bob Johnson vehemently opposed Barack Obama’s candidacy during the Democratic primaries when he was a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter.

You can read more about how hip-hop and politics mixed at the BET HHA in this AJC story.

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On Sunday, in recognition of BET Hip-Hop Awards weekend, Ryan Cameron and DJ Hershey will count down the “Dirty 30″ — Atlanta’s top rap songs of all time — starting at noon on V-103 (WVEE-FM).

So we decided to make our own list to take you back.

Back to the days of MC Shy D and DJ Toomp. Back to the days of Atlanta’s first FM radio rap show “The Fresh Party” (aired every Friday night on V-103 in the mid-’80s). Back to the days of Arnell Starr’s “American Rap Makers” video show on Channel 69.

The compiled list is strictly old-school, meaning nothing released after 1999 is included. Other criteria: All songs were either regional or national radio singles and/or videos that got heavy rotation.

We linked to YouTube videos or streaming mp3s where possible. Let us know what you think we missed.

30) “Jump,” Kris Kross
29) “Cocaine (America Has a Problem)” Kilo
28) “Raheem the Dream,” Raheem
27) “The HItman,” Sammy Sam the Hitman
26) “Can’t Stop No Playa,” Da Organization
25) “Bankhead Bounce,” Diamond feat. D-Roc
24) “Shake It,” MC Shy D
23) “True Players,” A-Town Players
22) “Funkdafied,” Da Brat
21) “Nasty Dancer,” Kilo
20) “Shorty Swing My Way,” KP & Envyi
19) “Watch for the Hook,” Cool Breeze feat. Dungeon Family
18) “Fly Away,” Goodie MOB
17) “Show Me Love,” Kilo
16) “Soul Food,” Goodie MOB
15) “People Everyday,” Arrested Development
14) “Rosa Parks,” OutKast
13) “Tennessee,” Arrested Development
12) “Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik,” OutKast
11) “They Don’t Dance No Mo’,” Goodie MOB
10) “Scrub Da Ground” Splack Pack
9) “Gotta Be Tough,” MC Shy D
8) “Roll It Up,” Success N Effect
7) “Cell Therapy,” Goodie MOB
6) “Player’s Ball,” OutKast
5) “Who You Wit,” Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys
4) “Get Up, Git Out,” OutKast feat. Goodie MOB
3) “Straight From the Dec,” Ghetto Mafia
2) “The Dirty South,” Goodie MOB feat. Cool Breeze, Big Boi
1) “Elevators (Me & You),” OutKast

Honorable mentions: “Iesha,” Another Bad Creation; “Baby Baby,” Kilo; “Van Full of Pakistans,” Y’all So Stupid, “Holiday,” Witchdoctor

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Nowadays, the phrase “Atlanta hip-hop” tends to cause mass cringing — especially in the midst of the BET Hip-Hop Awards (happening this weekend). So here’s a cool diversion to remind everyone that Atlanta hip-hop is more than a double-sided snap/trap rap coin.

Check out Proton’s new video for “Fade Away,” produced by Artemus Jenkins (cool name, huh?), above. The song features Proton rapping over Santogold’s “Starstruck.”

The duo’s new mixtape, Red & Purple Vol. 1, is something of a novelty-themed project — every song features female guest artists, or Proton remixes of songs released by Atlanta’s including Slick & Rose, Muffy, Janelle Monae and such out-of-towners as Jessica Tonder, Amanda Diva and M.I.A.

Download Red & Purple Vol. 1 here.

Tonight’s monthly Broke $ Boujee party serves as the official mixtape release with performances from Proton, Gripplyaz, Brittany Bosco and Young Bishop. Ian Ford hosts. The Five Spot, 1123 Euclid Ave. 404-223-1100. www.fivespot-atl.com.

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Atlanta’s industry-heavy scene meets its left-of-center hip-hop movement Wednesday at Uptown for the pre-BET Awards celebration for nominee, Bangladesh.

The producer put pure alkaline in rapper Lil Wayne’s battery pack this summer with the #1 hit “A Milli.” It’s only part of the reason why we bestowed him with Best local beatmaker honors in CL’s recent 2008 Best of Atlanta issue.

The other reason — his ability to play both sides of the fence and collaborate with emerging, electro-pop tarts like Muffy, who’s scheduled to perform at the party.

The dress code says it all: “Be electric.”

Free. 10 p.m.-3 a.m. Wed., Oct. 15. Uptown Lounge, 201 Courtland St. 404-524-3151. www.uptownrestaurantandlounge.com.

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Comedian Jamie Foxx got away with murder last night at the MTV VMAs when he cracked on T.I., who was seated in the crowd.

It marked the Atlanta rapper’s first televised award show appearance since his conspicuous absence from last year’s BET Hip-Hop Awards, taped hours after he was arrested on federal gun charges on October 13, 2007 in Atlanta.

“Got that bail money,” Foxx said, acknowledging T.I.’s presence before he announced the nominees for the Best Female Video award. “Just kidding. Don’t shoot me.”

T.I. flashed a smile back at Foxx, who was featured on “Live in the Sky” from T.I.’s multi-platinum selling 2006 album, King.

Apparently, Clifford Harris left his thugged-out (alter?)-ego, T.I.P. at home. He went on to perform two songs from his upcoming album, Paper Trail, including the cake daddy anthem “Whatever You Like” and “Live Your Life,” featuring Rihanna.

And was it just me or was Rihanna on some Pat Benatar shit last night?

Pat Benatar, “Love is a Battlefield”

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The second annual BET Hip-Hop Awards festivities haven’t even started yet, and I’m already so over it. Perhaps that sounds a bit blase coming from the music editor. But like any major award show, the weekend surrounding the BET Hip-Hop Awards (hosted in Atlanta) has little to do with music. The corporate-sponsored events; the celebrities, wanksters and wannabes in attendance; the goo-gobs of groupie action — it all adds up to more of a headache than it’s worth.

Blame it on the old man in me, but sometimes it’s a bit disheartening to see how “Hollywood” hip-hop has become. Bah humbug.

So imagine my surprise/relief upon hearing about the Asian Hip-Hop Summit, scheduled to coincide with the weekend’s celebfest. The summit had been going on for five years in L.A. before breaking out in ‘07 to San Francisco, Seattle, NY and now Atlanta. The ATL summit includes two shows — one on Saturday at Dem Saigon Cafe & Bar ($5. 8 p.m. Oct. 13. 4300 Buford Highway), and a second on Tuesday at Lenny’s ($5. 8 p.m. Oct. 16. 486 Decatur St.).

There’s a long lineup of acts from Atlanta and elsewhere on the bill, including Jackie Chain (a Southern-styled rapper with a pimplike persona), Bruce Leroy (a neo-soul band fronted by an Asian rapper), R&B songstress Joy Tolentino and the self-produced Kato (pictured in the above photo from his MySpace page).

As the names might suggest, these are Asian-American acts — which means most of them rap/sing in English without even the hint of an accent. I had a few other questions MySpace couldn’t answer so I hit up the organizer, Kublai Khan, myself via e-mail.

Mainly, I was curious about how deep the Asian-American hip-hop scene is in Atlanta. I also wanted to know if Khan had attempted to reach out to BET since both events are jumping off at the same time.

You can read his full response below the jump. (more…)

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