'Cause Times Have Changed and Life is Strange

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Can't get this out of my head today.



Wu-Tang Clan, "Can It Be All So Simple"

from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), 1993

The 41st Chamber

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Happy birthday Raekwon the Chef


Raekwon "Knowledge God"
from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... (Loud, 1995)

It Must Be Bobby

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The Bobby Didge cocktail by Adam Schuman – from the Tipsy Diaries, Frank Bruni's new column on drinks and drinking culture which appears every Friday in the New York Times. Click here to check it out and see a slideshow of other unique cocktails including the Algerian Typist, the Beggarman Thief, and the Penelope Cruiser.

“Bobby Didge”
1½ ounces Yamazaki 12-year-old Scotch
1 ounce Lillet Blanc
½ ounce sesame simple syrup
3 dashes house orange bitters
Orange twist.
Crack two pieces of ice in a pint glass. Add three more pieces of ice. Combine all ingredients over ice and stir for 15 to 20 seconds, adding ice until well chilled. Strain into a bell coupe. Garnish with a long orange peel.

[hat tip to Maxbillions / photo Evan Sung/NYT]

While we're at it:


RZA aka Bobby Digital "It Must Be Bobby"

Image of the Day

. This week has been pure insanity.

Top Chef

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Raekwon the chef is back with his fourth album and he serves us up something marvelous. This album takes me back to the days when I used to memorize lyrics for entire albums, taking my walkman or CD player everywhere I went. It makes me nostalgic for late nights in New York watching The Bridge, Ralph McDaniels' video and hip-hop culture show on NYC TV, which was the last time I saw Raekwon. He was back from a trip to Africa, just having played a show in Sierra Leone, wearing a dashiki and dropping jems about Blood Diamonds, among other things. And it makes me realize that after 14 years and some inconsistent releases in between, it's possible for artists to find their voice again. This album is a return to form for Raekwon, referencing back to his classic, first album of the same name. Remember Incarcerated Scarfaces? Remember Ice Cream?! With production by top-tier pro-tools pros RZA, Dr. Dre, J Dilla, Pete Rock, Marley Marl(!), Erick Sermon(!!), Alchemist and Allah Mathematics among others, there is some real strong musical material here.

Raekwon says that he was lucky enough to hook up with Dilla before he passed away, and together they made some of the more killer tracks on this album. Old School legend Marley Marl flips the JJ Band sample that Lord Finesse flipped (and OC killed) many years ago. Dre does his best East Coast style. And for the last song on the album, Lou Diamonds interpolates "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to take us home. Lyrically, Rae, the ever-present Ghostface, and extended family like Beanie Siegel spend most of their time building narratives about pushing drugs, comparing themsleves to lobster, calamari and rigatone' and generally spitting something nasty, all while extending the beauty of metaphor and language.

22 tracks of super solid gold.

Now go out and buy the album.