So Fresh and So Green | Madam Toussaint on Going Green, Art, Hip Hop, and Politics

One of Hip Hop’s latest golden boys, no not Drake, Raekwon the Chef released a mixtape this month. Ok, so many he would be more like a golden man, but this guy has managed to beat back the ravages of “old age” and the ageism in rap that goes with it.

One of my favorite tracks off his Coke Up In Da Dollar Bill mixtape is “The Set Up” which features our leading man in the midst of a sexual encounter first interrupted by DJ Scream? then later on by 3 dudes with guns. Hey, it’s on a mixtape called Coke Up In Da Dollar Bill Mixtape from a track called “The Set Up”, what did you expect?

Anyway, Rae smoothed it out on that one. Take notes, it’s all about the consonants and don’t forget the vowels! So I got to thinking why do cats like Fabolous get so much burn when it’s time to “do something for the ladies” when we have a perfectly good Raekwon here? And he cooks!

I was asked once by my man my mellow Carlito Roc of the tckonbroadway.com what was the best pick up line I ever heard and my first thought was “Yo, what fabric is that?/ It’s only wool and rayon”. RIP Teddy Pendergrass who is sampled for this Ghostface joint. (more…)

If you couldn’t tell here at sofreshandsogreen.com we’re pretty fond of DJs. Here’s the latest from BK-One. You might remember him as Brother Ali’s DJ.

He teamed up with pproducer Benzilla and the result is the Brazilian influenced Hip Hop on BK-One’s new album Rádio Do Canibal.

The album features a slew of MCs like Slug from Atmosphere, Black Thought of the The Roots, Brother Ali, Raekwon, Murs, Phonte and more.

“American Nightmare” features Brother Ali and Scarface weaving dark tales of the realities of growing up in the inner city. Not as cliché as it sounds because Brother Ali takes you all the way back to the start of the American nightmare in childhood that’s true to life.

The hook sounds very 50 Cent/G-Unit though those cats probably wouldn’t touch a beat like this. Trust the beat alone is worth the listen below.

I’m actually feeling this song a lot right now, especially the first verse. OK, so maybe I did sleep on Brother Ali a little. Guess I won’t be doing that again.

rhymesayers.com/bkone

Disclaimer: The photo above is in no way intended to hold Ghostface responsible for overfishing all over the world…

The world’s fisheries were in danger of overfishing. In many areas in the world the fish populations cannot recover their numbers after they are harvested. Resulting in less fishes, less food, less money for people dependent on fish and or course changes to the ecosystem.

“Two years after a study warned that overfishing could cause a collapse in the world’s seafood stocks by 2048, an update says the tide is turning, at least in some areas” Associated Press reports.

For this story what else could I play? Ghostface talks about fish more than any rapper I know of, making this choice a no brainer for me. Here’s an obvious selection off of his first album Ironman. This song samples Otis Redding’s “Change is Gonna Come”. The first line of “Fish” is “We eat fish, tossed salads and make rap ballads“. I love it when he makes it plain…

A recent study found: “Of 10 areas of the world that were studied, significant overfishing continues in three, but steps have been taken to curb excesses in five others.” Michael Fogarty of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is confident overfishing can be reversed and cites “such steps as exclusion areas, changes in fishing gear, assignments of rights to harvest and incentives for fishers to take a long-term view.” (more…)