hip hop is dead

mixed by dj sab / hot tracks

Hip Hop Is Dead was the first single off of Nas' 2006 album Hip Hop Is Dead. It was produced by and featured founding member of The Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am. It peaked at #48 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart,[1] as well as #41 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The lyrics deal with the death of hip hop as Nas explains in the third verse:

To start the second verse, Nas says, "the bigger the cap, the bigger the peelin'," referencing the introduction of "Steady Mobbin'" by Ice Cube. Other references include "David Stern with his NBA fashion issues."

original samples...

"Hip Hop Is Dead" contains samples of "Apache" as performed by the Incredible Bongo Band, an instrumental song written by Jerry Lordan and originally performed by The Shadows. It also contains a sample of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" as performed by the Incredible Bongo Band, written by Doug Ingle and originally performed by Iron Butterfly. Nas previously used this same interpolation on his 2004 single "Thief's Theme".

censorship...

On the album, both original and edited, the lyrics have been altered to remove profanities and gun references. The un-edited version can be found on file-sharing websites and various mixtapes. The main part of the song that is constantly changed is the hook. The different versions of the hook are:

• The hook featured on the single:

"If hip hop should die before I wake / I'll put an extended clip inside of my AK / Roll to every station, murder the DJ / Roll to every station, murder the DJ"

• The hook featured on the album:

"If hip hop should die before I wake / I'll put an extended clip and body 'em all day! / Roll to every station, wreck the DJ! / Roll to every station, wreck the DJ!"

This text is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hip Hop Is Dead".

hip hop is dead

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