I know the majority of the quizzo crowd isn’t crazy about rap, so I could list just about any ten songs and many of you probably haven’t heard them. But here are ten that I really think showcase the true spirit of hip-hop, not the flashy pop music that hip hop has become as it has moved to the mainstream. I think that even people who don’t like hip hop will appreciate the poetry and feeling heard in these songs. These aren’t songs to listen to if you’re trying to dance at the club. These are songs to listen to if you enjoy urban poetry. Give ’em a try, and see what you think. If you like ’em, click “Like” below.

1. Ed OG Featuring Masta Ace-“Wishing” Masta Ace is the most underrated rapper in hip hop history. Period. The black Eminem. Similar flow, similar voice, and complete mastery of the English language. Here’s a song done a few years ago (when Bush was president) that takes Martin Luther King’s speech and updates it. Ed OG isn’t as strong of a rapper, but still delivers some nice lines in this one.
2. Scarface-“My Block” Best known from his days in the Geto Boys, Scarface has since had a moderately succesful solo career. Pretty much the only rapper other than the guys in Outkast that I like that’s from the Dirty South. Here’s a great homage to where he came from.
3. RZA-“Grits”. A heartbreaking but nostalgic look back on a childhood in the ghetto. Everybody knows RZA, but not a lot of people know this one.
4. RA the Rugged Man-“On the Block”. A great look back on the Golden Era of hip hop from the Soundbombing album. One of the great underground rappers of today. Like most great rappers today (Jay-Z, Nas, Common) in his 30s. When these guys quit rapping, it’s all over.
5. Das Efx-“Changes” Most people remember these guys as the “They Want EFX” guys. To me, they were much more than that. The best group in hip-hop when it was at it’s absolute apex. Lyrical geniuses, their dexterity with the English language was awe inspiring. This is a more recent song with a great Queen sample that I think you might dig about the changes in hip-hop over the years.
6. Brand Nubian-“Slow Down”. Speaking of great samples…A masterful use of Edie Brickell’s “What I Am”. Whereas rappers today are encouraging women to behave like whores, back in the day Brand Nubian encouraged them to “slow down”. And Grand Puba had one of the illest flows of all time. I loved his solo stuff too.
7. Big Daddy Kane-“Who Am I?”. If you only listen to one song on this list, listen to this one. I can’t overemphasize how much I love Big Daddy Kane. Great beats, great flow, and great lyrics. Here he talks about the trappings of fame, and how he was chasing fame at the expense of his soul. Also includes a verse from Malcolm X’s daughter. God damn, hip-hop used to be so awesome.
8. Public Enemy-“Harder Than You Think” Yeah, everybody has heard “Fight the Power” and “Bring the Noise”. But their more recent stuff has been great as well. That Public Enemy at the Troc I saw a couple of months ago was one of my favorite concerts of all time.
9. Sticky Fingaz-“Why?” Most people know Sticky Fingaz for his role in the group Onyx. But in 2000 he released a brilliant concept album, Blacktrash: The Autobiography of Kirk Jones. In this song, he manipulates his friend who is trying to make a better life for himself to be his accomplice in a jewelry store heist. Later in the album, there’s a song about the court proceedings following a murder in the jewelry store heist called “The State vs. Kirk Jones”, in which various rappers take different roles in the courtroom proceedings, including Redman as the Defense Lawyer. (Ok, so that makes 11, but you have to listen to these back to back to appreciate what Sticy was doing with this album.)
10. K-Solo-“Fugitive”. A wonderful song that reminds us why so many black teenagers are disillusioned with the police and the justice system. And now you’ve got people hailing Lil Wayne a genius for songs like “Mrs. Officer”. Please. Hip hop is dead. But when it was alive, it was beautiful.

The Locust Rendezvous is where we kick it off tonight. Great specials this week. $3 Leinenkugel Wheat Beer, $2 Lionshead bottles, and $2 Soco and Lime shots. Action starts at 6:15 p.m. On to Black Sheep at 8 p.m. Been an interesting month at Black Sheep, with two perfect scores. Is you team the next one to be immortalized with a perfect game?

Our wild card round will combine knowledge of a recent film with knowledge of 18th century Europe. Should be interesting. And yes, I am still accepting Halloween photos as bonus points on the facebook page. If your team wants to play in the funnest quizzo event of the winter, I highly suggest you take these bonus points where you can get ’em.

And mark your calendars: the week of November 15th is the one to bring along the new exchange student. It will be International Week. All questions will be about foreign lands, foreign people, and foreign objects.

There is only one quizmaster in this town worth voting for, and that’s the one offering not only the best questions in town but the best prizes. We start at O’Neals, where margaritas are $3.50, the first place prize is a $50 gift certificate, and the competition is wide slam open. Anybody could come away with a win at O’Neals tonight, as we have a new winner there literally every week.

On to the City Tap House at 10:15 p.m. Two weeks, two different winners. Expect a new winner this week, as the questions tonight are going to be quite interesting. And the prize there is insane. A free two hour Happy Hour for you and ten friends! Off the chain, folks. Spread the word to your peeps in West Philly. Also, $3 Sly Foxes and $10 buys you a personal pizza and a can of beer. A tough deal to beat.

Also, we’re taking the physical challenge to a whole new level tonight. The scoreboard is getting tense, and so now so will the bonus points. Hope to see you tonight!

Here’s the JGTAI Scoreboard after 6 weeks. The top 3 teams looked to be pretty locked in, but after that it’s wide open. Keep in mind, teams in blue will be eligible for the $100 bonus drawing. Teams in yellow or blue would be guaranteed slots if the season ended today. Teams in green are on the bubble. They could get in if a couple of teams ahead of them drop out or if there is an extra table or two. Which means that teams in the green would be well served to try to score a few points in the next two weeks. There is an extremely easy opportunity to earn points right now. Just post a pic of you in your Halloween outfit. Up to three members can post a photo for a point each and the best outfit will earn their team another 3 points. With 9 teams within 3 points of that last slot either way, 3 points could wind up being huge. Remember, winner walks with $300, and everybody gets to enjoy the sweet soulful sounds of Anthony Riley. The Summer Invitational was a ton of fun, and I don’t expect this to be any different.

Scoreboard will be up Monday. Two weeks left to go in the JGTAI, and I will start handing out invites next week to teams who have qualified. Teams who have not qualified, here is a golden opportunity! I am giving bonus points for you posting photos of yourself in your Halloween costumes. Best Halloween outfit posted on the wall earns you a bonus 3 points!

In sports, here’s my latest podcast with Lee Russakoff…is Instant Replay hurting the NFL? This is a pretty funny one. In the “In case you missed it category”, I highly recommend the poem about Ryan Howard’s last at bat.

And finally, in the “Most interesting thing I’ve read lately on the 3 blogs I semi-regularly check” category, here is a highly entertaining piece from Joey Sweeney at Philebrity about his time spent working in the porn industry. Sort of.

I’ve been watching Boardwalk Empire for the past few weeks, and I gotta say it’s the best show I’ve seen in a while. (Even better than the Jersey Shore). Started a little slow, but has quickly picked up, and the scene this past week with Al Capone bringing Jimmy those steaks was terrific. If you haven’t been watching, I highly recommend it. You can watch it On Demand if you get HBO. Anyways, I spent some of the day looking at some photos, reading some stories, and looking at some video of AC in the 1920s, and thought I’d share.

• Here’s a bunch of old AC photos put together as a montage by the AC Visitors Bureau. You’ll notice plenty of the landmarks from the show.

• Recently Philly Mob guru George Anastasia has gone out to Atlantic City to do a couple of shorts about Nucky Johnson. Here’s one of them.

• Meanwhile, though it’s not from exactly the same time, you’ll see many of the landmarks from the show in this family video taken in 1932.

• A short but informative piece in the AC Weekly about all of the entertainment that went on in AC in the 1920s.   Among the nightclubs that existed back then were the Paradise Club on Illinois Avenue, which was billed as the oldest nightclub in America and the first to host “breakfast shows.” The talent was largely black (and the audience largely white), and many of the artists who performed would take their place among the greatest in history like Count Basie, Ethel Waters, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne and Duke Ellington. The Paradise later merged with A.C.’s famed Club Harlem, which was created in 1935. Babette’s was a club established in the early 1920s by singer/entertainer Blanche Babette, and featured such stars of that era as Velma and Buddy Ebsen, Rudy Vallee, the Three Stooges and Milton Berle.

• A great gallery of 1920s AC photos from the NY Daily News.

The first two nights contained a perfect score, a bad call by the referee (me, at O’Neals) and a hot streak continue at the Vous. More wild action tonight at the Ugly American at 8 p.m. A great chance to get your team in the mix, and eat yourself some one dollar corn dogs. Also $2 Lagers and $3 Kenzos. Then on to the Bards at 10:15 p.m. Tonight’s questions will be very loosely based on Halloween. Expect more plays on Halloween words than anything. However, I did hear a complaint the other night that there weren’t enough serial killer questions. I will do my best to correct that tonight.

That’s right folks, gonna be great to see all of your shining faces again this week after a week off at Locust Rendezvous and Black Sheep. And what better way to reacquaint ourselves with each other than through questions about ghouls, ghosts, and horror films? Gonna be a lot of fun, and everyone gets Halloween candy! We kick it off at the Rendezvous at 6:15 p.m. Then we move to the Black Sheep at 8 p.m. Play the Spooktacular tonight…if you dare. Brawhahahaha!