Cannabis Freedom

The Memphis Flyer is giving away free tickets to see Widespread Panic in Memphis. There are 5 drawings over the next five weeks. You have to turn off any ad blocking software you have running in order to see the link. Good luck.

Here's Memphis own Frayser Boy, from the Academy Award winning group Three 6 Mafia, from his latest album Da Key with Hood Thang.


Al Kapone, featuring Three 6 Mafia and Young AJ with We on Deck from True Underdog album to be released later this year.


I was going to feature a pretty hot rapper out of Texas, I even had a cool post title already picked out, but Universal Music Group seems to have disallowed embedding their YouTube videos. Sucks to be them because it prevents me from promoting their goods. Hey, UMG, you're hurting artists punishing your customers and their fans!

I've discontinued the use of "Funky Friday" for the cannabis related alliteration "Four 20 Friday". Like always, I'll usually post it in time for 4:20 on Friday afternoon and tag it "music" so you can search later. Formerly I tried to post my music recommendations at 4:20, but that really doesn't give you any time to queue up the track and roll one. As a courtesy to the artist and my readers, I'm featuring I've now added a Amazon store link to buy the album containing my featured track, when available.

As promised, here's a fresh track out of the M-Town: Whatever I Want to Do, from MJG's independent "mixtape" Pimp Tight. Here MJG, takes liberty with one of the more eclectic hits of the 80's and/or 90's, Susanne Vega's Tom's Diner.

After checking out the history of Tom's Diner, a.k.a. Monk's from Seinfeld, I realized MJG's version is just another iteration of the life of this song. I think artists that stifle derivatives of their work with the intention of protecting their intellectual property are probably doing themselves a disservice and decreasing their mainstream longevity.

I think Andy Warhol was extremely optimistic when he predicted that in the future people would only be famous for 15 minutes. This is evident by the 10 minute limit placed on Youtube videos. But of course the longevity of moments of fame can be exponentially increased in duration and significance through derivative works.

And now for something completely different... but relevant to the conversation, I give you Weezer's Pork and Beans:

Our first track is Young Jeezy's first single from his upcoming album "I Am Trap." Frankly the first few minutes of this song left me unimpressed. When the bridge hit at the 3:18 mark I was stunned. Rarely is today's popular hip hop so introspective and intellectually honest. Young Jeezy pours out his heart and examines the meaninglessness of fame and fortune.

Ecclesiastes 2

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.

Young Jeezy - Put On


Rapper T.I. gives us another perspective of life as a rapper in his new track, "No Matter What." He was recently convicted and sentenced to a year in jail for weapons charges. Of course, he wasn't using the guns in a commission of a crime, rather he faced the disenfranchisement of self-defense rights because of a prior control substance conviction.

Even though his infractions have been non-violent and consensual T.I. has been singled out and harassed for the last decade by local and federal authorities. Regardless of the persecution he's faced T.I. reminds us that he's strong and he's a survivor.

T.I. - No Matter What

Next week, I'll try and return to Memphis for some hometown hip-hop. You can send your suggestions to ganjablue@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from some up-and-coming artists.

MemphisRap.com has Frayser's own Kia Shine's new single The New Style featuring samples from the Beastie Boys. His newest album is called K.U.S.H. or Krispy Underrated Southern Hustler. Kush is some fancy weed, but they know weed in Frayser.


Rocko's (ATL) latest is Tomorrow. I like the life message, its one of my faves right now.

Ok, so it's not Memphis, but it's still Dirty South, and funny as hell.
Shawty Putt with Lil' John - Dat Baby


Da Volunteers, straight from Orange Mound with PIMP, cuz "Pimpin' be my pedigree." No not really.

I'm a big fan of Hip-Hop, specifically, southern rap. I'll try to post a couple of songs, one obscure, one not so obscure from the genre every Friday.

Topping the Hot 107.1 playlist this week is Three 6 Mafia's latest, featuring T. Pain and Project Pat, "Lollipop."




The next artist is hardly obscure to fans of the Memphis Rap scene, however his Wikipedia entry accuses him of not being "notable." I disagree. Playa Fly's Nobody Needs Nobody, featuring Gansta Blac and Bill Chill (RIP), has to be one of the defining anthems of Dirty South rap. Don't let his stony eyes fool you, he's a lyrical maestro.

Warning: Lyrics NSFW

Shawn Mullins has released "The Ballad of Kathryn Johnston" on MP3 via Amazon.com. Kathryn Johnston is the 92 year old great grandmother who was gunned down by police in a botched drug raid. At fault were the police who knowingly used the fraudulent report of an anonymous informant to secure a search warrant against Ms. Johnston's Atlanta home. Read more here. I had a minute to transcribe the lyrics.

"The Ballad of Kathryn Johnston, Shawn Mullins"

Ole Miss Johnston,
Lived all alone,
On the sorry side of town.

Broke down cars and burglar bars,
On the windows and doors,
In case danger comes around.

Sitting in her yellow kitchen,
Listening to bad news
On the AM radio.

Used to be Louis Armstrong
And Martin Luther King.
Where did every body go?

Out the window
Where her garden was,
It's not safe to go outside.

Ole Miss Johnston
In the eye of the storm,
It was the safest place to hide.

[Unintelligible] Life's a gamble,
for the broken and the weak,
Dealing with the bangers and the drugs.

The winos weave and amble,
And wander on down the street,
Steering clear of all the thugs.

Now my city hangs her head in shame.
Can't tell the truth from all the lies.

Everything changed forever
And everything stayed the same
On the night Miss Johnston died.

When will things change for people like Miss Johnston, Cory Maye, Tarika Wilson, and Ryan Fredrick?

You can buy the MP3 for $1 on Amazon. (Hey tightwad! It's only a buck! Buy it already!)

Hat tip: The Agitator