Tony Yayo, "Back Against The Wall"

God, snow days suck. Fun for the kids. For the parents of kids, who suddenly have to take care of those kids because the New York City public school system suddenly gets all Florida every time a few flakes, or a few inches worth of flakes, or maybe a foot of them, fall, not so much. Like today, I’m trying to watch rap videos. Like this one, from Tony Yayo, for “Back Against the Wall,” the third surprisingly strong song from his new internet-only album, The Gunpowder Guru. I say “surprisingly” because Tony Yayo is a member of 50 Cent’s G-Unit, and that crew has not been making a lot of good music over the past, umm, four years. Seems Yayo is better off working outside the big-budget auspices of Interscope Records, which used to put out all G-Unit material. Instead, going straight through 50’s website, Thisis50.com, he’s been reveling in the kind of grimy, ultraviolent horribleness that’s illustrated well by clips from the old Eric Bana gangster flick Chopper. Anyway, my kid’s in the other room now, watching Wall-E. So enjoy.