Penance for not recognizing early Do or Die initially: Do or Die’s 2005 album D.O.D. was slept on a lot, mostly because they released the underwhelming Kells-assisted single “Magic Chick” (actually, save this track for Kells’ double-time verse, worth hearing. Once.) For a group that’s kept it consistent since “Po Pimpin'” its too bad how little attention they get; folks forget they went platinum in the mid-90s! Mike Jones homage in “Still Tippin” and high-profile Chicago assists aside this flew under the radar in ’05 so what track would be better to discuss than “Church,” an atypical cut with nearly-as-underrated DJ Quik?

Do or Die feat. DJ Quik – Church

OK so actually “Right Here” or “Chain of Command” or “Wa Da Da Dang” (this one is HARD) which are more DO OR DIE gutter Chicago G tracks might make more sense, and really those are the best reasons for you to check the album out; dudes are definitely kill cuts on their own, with other Chi-town locals or (at most) with Twista, who was always like the 4th member anyway. Kanye and Kells should steer clear because you can’t just manufacture a hit like that when dudes are at their best aggressive and hungry and I don’t hate the smoove R&B tracks but I’m totally tired of them now. Why must those tracks fill up the last third of hardcore Chicago rap releases!? Twista, fix this in ’06 k? Check D.O.D. here.

And of course:

RIP Martin Luther King Jr.

Rob/Icarus alerted me to this quote from the letter from the Birmingham jail. Read:

“I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.”