MP3: "Exception" by Mane One

She likes to dance to a big band
Reciting all the lyrics to a Cool J jam
My 'around the way,' you got me goin' berserk
You can tell me why Picard is cooler than Captain Kirk
– Mane One

I wouldn't call my homie DJ Mane One's new song "Exception" nerd core, but it's straddlin' a pretty thin line. I mean, the tune is far from gangsta rap and not exactly backpack rap, but could qualify as a close cousin of the latter. And then again, like the name of the song itself, maybe this track is just an 'exception' to the usual rules of hip-hop cool. Thus, over a chopped-n-screwed Sam Cooke sample, Mane One waxes poetic over his idea of the perfect woman: an 'around the way girl' who can rap along to LL Cool J tunes, speed read Harry Potter novels and kick the ballistics on what makes Jean-Luc Picard the captain of all Enterprise captains. She disses Twilight, 'hearts' kung-fu flicks, sports Pro-Keds and can boogie with the best of the b-girls. Okay, homeboy's standards are so friggin' high that they could be considered hella unrealistic. But isn't that the stuff that every dream lover is made of?

Verdict: Mane One's kung fu does NOT suck.

Check out "Exception" by clicking here.