Classified - They Call This Hip Hop ft. Royce Da 5'9" & Bobby Ray (B.o.B)

Nova Scotian emcee Classified may be new to the Booth, but he sure knows how to introduce himself; on They Call This Hip-Hop, he spends half his verse listing off the classic LPs that helped make him the rapper he is today—The Blueprint, Illmatic, Doggystyle, both of Dre‘s albums…—and follows that hella fide pedigree up with one of the most on-point lines I’ve heard in a long time: “[Hip-hop] never taught me to shoot a gun or go and buy drugs/ it taught me how to keep it real and don’t be scared of who I was.”  Being flanked by a pair of Booth favorites doesn’t hurt either: Royce Da 5’9” is as aggressive as you’d expect on his opening verse, and B.o.B—sorry, Bobby Ray‘s distinctive flow on the back end is the perfect thing to add a little contrast to the cut.  Classified’s own synth-brass boardwork drives the point home with infectious fanfare.  If this record’s Self Explanatory appeal has you hooked, remember to pick up a copy of the emcee’s latest LP, set to drop April 7th off Half Life Records/ Sony Music.