The Five Folks You Meet On A Road Trip

Not too long ago, I came across mademan.com, a Web site that caters to my interests of wit and pretty girls. A couple of my favorite posts include the seven lies told in romantic comedies and the nine mistakes you make with your lady friend. (Ed. note: Only nine? Really? I'm sure I've made more) Anyway, their most recent linkage involves their version of an ultimate road trip playlist.

Upon further review of the track listing, I felt as if something was missing. Oh yeah, that something is called variety. See, when you go on a road trip, you encounter a variety of musical tastebuds, each wanting to be represented and satisfied.

Trust me, I've been there before. When I was Daily Egyptian sports editor, I had as many as four passengers in my ride on trips to cover games. With Carbondale being the epicenter, we've gone as far west as Springfield, Mo., as far east as New York City, as far south as Memphis, Tenn., and as far north as Evanston, Ill. So it goes without saying that as the driver in each of those (and many other ) road trips, I had to have a good mix of music in order to keep everyone happy.

For the next few days, you will meet each of these road trip partners and the playlist that accompanies them. Until then, I'll leave you with what the L.A. Times music blog called the song of the summer by an artist who will get a blog of his own tomorrow.

Drizzy!

Watch dance videos and dance lessons at DanceJam.com

New Music Monday: It's Faboloso!

Time to refresh your iTunes, folks. It's New Music Monday!

Here are some of the newest tunes to catch my ear and catch-on to the rotation.

1. Salute by Fabolous feat. Lil' Wayne
2. The Winner by Drake
3. She's A Genius by JET
   
4. Get It by Cam'ron feat. Mase
5. Lookin' 4 Ya by Andre 3000
6. The Fabolous Life by Fabolous feat. Ryan Leslie
7. Watch Your Shorty by Fabolus feat. Nas & Ne-Yo
8. American Gangsta by Twista
9. Warning by The Clipse feat. Rock City
10. Pretty Girls by Wale

Lotsa F-A-B-O-L-O-U-S because he's got a new album dropping soon and will feature guest spots by Jay-Z, Nas, Ne-Yo and probably more. I can't wait. As a rapper, Fabolous reminds me a lot of Rasheed Wallace. Like Wallace, Loso has lots of skills that could tear other emcee's apart without blinking twice. On the other hand, Fab drops some tame lines on guest spots at times, which is eerily reminiscent of when 'Sheed decides he isn't motivated.

Here's hoping for a motivated Fabolous and a killer album.

And for those of you who aren't hip-hop heads, an alternative pick in JET's She's A Genius off their upcoming album.

Busta + Big Tigger = Niiiiiice

I'm still waiting for Busta Rhymes' next big-time album. He coulda been one of the all-time greats if not for label issues or the paradigm shift in the hip-hop community from New York to the South.

As for Big Tig, he's better than about 75 percent of the rap game. If you're like me and go back to the days when BET played music videos and Tigger had a hit show in Rap City Tha Bassment, he outshined almost every rapper he stepped in the booth with.

Maybe he should get his own album.

Just a thought.

Another thought. The girl at the 2:33 mark. Yeah, she got me sprung!

A reason to watch the BET Awards

Technically, you don't even have to watch the awards to check out the premier of Jay-Z's D.O.A. (Death Of Autotune) video.

Here's a preview via HipHopGame.com