Black Thought- Best MC Alive

Men At Work

Take a quick listen to the rap classic "Men At Work" by Kool G Rap. His verses without a hook are definitely a sign of the times. It's starting to become popular again with the mixtape era, but still is the exception and not the rule.

The Roots' Men At Work

Now watch Black Thought and the Roots absolutely kill Men At Work. Black Thought raps the whole song double time, without a hype man, without taking breaks, which seems to be the norm with performing rappers today.

Black Thought is the truth in a music world over-saturated by MCs who can put a few rhymes together over a throwaway beat and think they're the future of hip hop. If you want the see the craft of hip hop at its greatest, just peruse Black Thought's 20 year career with The Roots. The most under-appreciated rapper today.

I won't take many stands like this, but it's the truth. If you disagree, hit the comments.

Brooklyn Cypher

Mos Def and Eminem kill it too.

Fuck Lil Wayne.

-The Prof

Friday Update- Good Life & Water Don't Change

The Good Life
The Good Life by TheProfessor
Joe Walsh vs Fat Joe vs Kanye vs DJ Khaled

Things Done Changed/Water Get No Enemy
Things Done Changed/Water Get No Enemy by TheProfessor
Notorious BIG vs Fela Kuti

Today's lectures are an old classic and a new experiment. Fela Kuti is the innovator of Afrobeat and his sound is very unique. You should check him out in your spare time.

Have a good weekend.

-The Prof

Murder She Wrote

Today, I have for you a video mashup that I just put together featuring the incomparable Angela Lansbury.

Enjoy.

-The Prof

Por-N To Roll & Century Downloads Available

Masta Ace vs Moby
Por-N to Roll by TheProfessor

Class-
Today's lecture comes from a great suggestion by friend of the site Alex Grendi. Moby's "Porcelain" comes together with "Born 2 Roll" by Masta Ace to form a hip hop elevator music cocktail that I hope will soothe your primitive spirit, similar to what Ace of Base was able to do in the 90s.

In addition to today's lecture, I want to bring to light the fact that some of the songs have reached over 100 plays. In order to thank you for your committed listening, I'm making those songs available for download. Members of the Century Club include Time-illie Will Tell, Save The Bad Romance, We are One Together and Snow Thing. Thanks for all the plays.

Papa Touched the Sky and Bring Out the Pieces are also now available for download now.

Keep spreading the word and playing the music.

-The Prof

No Sex For Biggie

Notorious BIG vs The Rapture
No Sex For Biggie by TheProfessor

Class-
I've decided that I'll be updating only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sometimes I'll put two songs up and possibly an extra one on the weekend. I've got some stuff going on that makes putting up a song every day a little tough.

Have a good week

-The Prof

Sunday School- New Years Mix

New Boyz vs Amy Grant vs LL Cool J vs Stevie Wonder vs Janet Jackson
New Years by TheProfessor

Today's mix is a snippet from a set that I put together on New Year. It was taken from the original mix so the sound on it might not be as great as the other ones.

Enjoy your Sunday and study hard.

-The Prof

Miss American Dreams

Britney Spears vs Eurythmics vs Outkast
Miss American Dreams by TheProfessor

Class-
I did a 180 and decided to post today. I originally wanted to debut a new mix recorded live, but I didn't get a chance to get that put together. It will be coming some time in the near future.

It's been a busy week so I don't have a brand new one for you, but I got a chance to do some touch up on one of my old ones so hopefully you enjoy it.

And imagine she stayed like she was before? Such a shame.


-The Prof

Disco In Helsinki

50 Cent vs Architecture In Helsinki
Disco In Helsinki by TheProfessor

Keep spreading the word

-The Prof

1-800-OvrNt-Celeb

Twista & Kanye West vs Tommy Tutone
1-800-OvrNt-Celeb by TheProfessor

Sometimes a rapper raps so fast, he burns out like some kind of hip hop supernova. And sometimes a band from the 80s has one good song, and never does anything else ever again. Ladies and gentleman, Twista and Tommy Tutone.

-The Prof

Shake Down

Notorious BIG vs MIA
Shake Down by TheProfessor

Class-
Today's lesson is from my back catalog, it's one of my first mixes. Back when Paper Planes came out, I thought that it would serve the song well to put in some verses about shamelessly robbing everyone in sight.

Bear with me if more server problems come up. I'm looking to expand to different servers that might not have as many problems.

Keep studying and keep telling your friends. Also send out Facebook fan invitations if you feel so inclined.

-The Prof

Day N Nite Tripper--Brought to you by EB

Kid Cudi vs The Beatles
Day N Nite Tripper by TheProfessor

Class,
Today's lesson is brought to you with a nod to a friend of mine, Masco. He is the owner and operator of a design company called Elev8ted Basiks, at the moment specializing in selling great t-shirts. He designed my logo that appears on the site. Today is a good day to go over and check out his blog, his online store and become a fan on Facebook where you can receive updates on new products. The websites appear below.

And while we're talking about promotion, send The Academy to someone you know today. I've been expanding a lot within the last week, so keep that trend going by passing on this site to your friends and keep the play count going up.

I've been getting some requests for Cudi, so I had to oblige. If anyone has any requests, send them in to ThePr0fess0rsAcademy@gmail.com. All I need is one song to work with and I'll fill in the rest.

-The Prof

Elev8ted Basiks Blog

Elev8ted Basiks Store

January Downloads

All of January's songs are available for download. You can click January on the Post Archive to the right and download any song that was posted in there:

Sunday Playaz Anthem, Snow Thing, Can I Get In Your Eyes, Br-E-the and Stop, Lady Radio Gaga, Midnight Train, Two Words:Heart Beats, and Where the Party and Bullshit At?
-The Prof

Up Against The Bassment Wall

Peter, Bjorn and John vs The Cool Kids
Up Against The Bassment Wall by TheProfessor

If you haven't heard The Cool Kids, consider this an important part of your music education. They're based out of Chicago, have one album and a mixtape or two, and are fully worth checking out. Think Run DMC meets NERD.

Peter, Bjorn and John are also worth a listen if you haven't heard them.

Keep studying.

-The Prof

Dr. Lollipop

Lil Wayne vs Coldplay (prod. by Kanye West)
Dr. Lollipop by TheProfessor

Sorry about the technical difficulties lately. Hopefully everything gets straightened out soon.

Thanks for sticking with it.

-The Prof

Server Problems

Class-
I apologize, but once again the server is having problems and is down for the time being. Just check back in sporadically over the weekend to see if the problem gets fixed.

Sorry for the inconvenience

-The Prof

Girls Just Wanna Tik Tok

Cyndi Lauper vs Ke$ha
Girls Just Wanna Tik Tok by TheProfessor

http://soundcloud.com/theprof/girls-just-wanna-tik-tok

Class,
Hope you have a good weekend. I'm putting this up early, the player might not be available right now.

This one is for the younger Ms. Healy, my TA, whose birthday it is tomorrow. I figure she could listen to this before she goes out, if she was allowed to. But she's not. So enjoy her loss.

-The Prof

Franchise Friday

Dem Franchise Boys vs Guns N Roses vs Weezer
Franchise Friday by TheProfessor

Class-
Hopefully you'll have chance to get out and enjoy yourself a little now that the weather has died down, but don't forget your studies. Ideally, today's lesson will have the sufficient boom bap to get you going tonight.

Keep this and my other lectures knocking all weekend.

-The Prof

Down-gostea Din Jay

Jay Sean vs O-Zone
Down-gostea Din Jay by TheProfessor

Another snow day for people in the Philly area, but I expect you all to get your work done. Today's lecture is a tribute to the almost original viral video. And I bet you haven't thought about him for years.

Two more songs available for download, Lady Radio Gaga and Where the Party and Bullshit At?.

-The Prof

Hit Up The Diplomat's Son

2pac vs Vampire Weekend
Hit Up The Diplomat's Son by TheProfessor

2pac felt he was set up by Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy in an early 90s robbery and shooting. He then released "Hit Em Up" with the help of his homies, Vampire Weekend. Something like that.

-The Prof

Lights, Tarzan, Action

Mr. Cheeks vs Baltimora
Lights, Tarzan, Action by TheProfessor

Today's lecture comes from an Italian disco group named Baltimora, known mostly for their 80s hit "Tarzan Boy". An Alex Grendi special.

Midnight Train To Atlanta also available for download at this time. Just press the button on the music player.

-The Prof

I Want The Whistle

Too $hort vs Jackson 5
I Want The Whistle by TheProfessor

Class,
300 plays last week and over 500 plays since the site started. Keep studying hard.

Today's lecture comes from the Bay Area, which I have a soft spot for. Too $hort, a forefather of hyphy music, brings it on his track "Blow The Whistle". So listen, go dumb, thizz out, or any other hyphy phrases you want.

-The Prof

Sunday School--Time-illie Will Tell

Bob Marley vs Lil Wayne
Time-illie Will Tell by TheProfessor

Requested by Alex Fairman, that rat prick. I figure with the two feet of snow around here, everyone can use a little warm weather music.

Also, I don't know whether it was a glitch in the server that I use or what, but in the last 24 hours, my plays for the week shot over 250. So thanks everybody. Tell everyone who you think would be into the music and we'll have even more next week.

-The Prof

Recitation- 2/6/10

Class,
I'm happy to say that we reached 150 plays for the week about the same time as the snow started falling. And once again, another Saturday is spent snowed in with nothing to do except listen to music.

Word has been getting around about this site and it is equally exciting and humbling. If you like what's going on here, tell anyone who you think would be into it and tell them to pass it on. We've already expanded so much in the two weeks this has been operating thanks to you, so keep up the good work.

Today's Study Hall is hopefully one that'll keep you entertained while you're trapped inside while you're either sleeping, drinking or a combination of both.

I've also decided to make a track available for download per week, starting with the oldest ones. So this coming week you'll be able to download Two Words: Heart Beats if you want. You can reach it by going to the Blog Archive on the right and press the download button on the player.

Study hard.

-The Prof

Study Hall-- Save The Bad Romance

Lady Gaga vs Eagle-Eye Cherry
Save The Bad Romance by TheProfessor

-The Prof

P.S. This is what Eagle-Eye Cherry looks like.

We Are One Together

Crosby, Stills, NaS and Young
We Are One Together by TheProfessor

CSNY's "Helplessly Hoping" with "One Love" by Nas caught a lot of people's attention when they first heard it. Shout out to Steve Schalefer who was asking when I would put it up. Today, Schlaef. Today.

Everybody keep warm with the impending blizzard.

-The Prof

Reconciliation

Britney vs Justin
Reconciliation by TheProfessor

Haven't put one up for the girls lately. JT released "My Love" on his 2006 FutureSex/LoveSounds album. Britney Spears came out two years later with "Break The Ice" which is structured on the same chord progression and is the same basic tempo of "My Love". Didn't have to do much to put these songs together, but I had fun creating the conversations built from spoken word parts of these and other Britney/Justin songs.

-The Prof

Yoshimi Throws D's On The Pink Robots -- Happy Birthday Marc

The Flaming Lips vs Rich Boy
Yoshimi Throws D's On The Pink Robots by TheProfessor

I've heard some complaints of technical difficulties from yesterday, so I apologize. Soundcloud, the server that I use to put these songs up, went down for a little bit. Hopefully it continues to run smoothly from here on out.

Now to today's song, which is dedicated to my adopted brother Marc Langston. Today is his birthday and hopefully it's one to remember. Here's some Flaming Lips to commemorate the occasion.

Some of you have been in to office hours to put in requests. I'm working on them so keep an eye out.
Thanks for the feedback everybody.

-The Prof

Bring Out The Pieces

T.I. vs Average White Band
Bring Out The Pieces by TheProfessor

"Bring Em Out" and "Pick Up The Pieces".

Thanks for the comments.

-The Prof

Papa Touched The Sky

Kanye vs The Temptations
Papa Touched The Sky by TheProfessor

Hopefully we can get the week off to a good start with this one. Remember that as posts disappear off the main page, you can still get to them from the list on the right. Keep listening.

-The Prof