Well, my team knocked off the powerful Group W last week, proving that it can indeed be done. This week a wild card round that I won’t offer any help in but you might: Harry Potter. QUiz starts at the Westbury at 10:30 p.m. As always, great drink specials, JohnniE behind the bar, and the 2nd best questions in town (ahem). Hope to see you there.

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.