Day 40: Shade 45

According to Sirius: Completely uncensored hip-hop radio created by Eminem and SIRIUS. No filters, no commercial restrictions. On-air hosts and mixers say whatever they want. Shade 45...the hype is real.

My Experience: Listened to this on the way to work on Thursday, but didn't get back from a concert (gotta love The Format) until about 2:00am or so, and didn't have time to do this review, so (per my rules) had to live with the channel for another day.

This was a little heavier than I'm used to...even for hip-hop. If Hip-Hop Nation is more of the mainstream Top 40 stuff, this is the equivalent of hard rock, in my mind. And because I rock out to a mean Eminem at karaoke, I was a little disappointed that I heard no Slim Shady during my time with this channel. Also...got a little tired of hearing about ten minutes straight of listener "shout outs" on the drive to work.

A Time and a Place for Everything: I guess this would be cruising down 8 Mile back in Detroit. Although I don't hail from that side of Michigan, I have plenty of folks who do, so could blast this when visiting.

Sample Playlist:

• The Pharcyde, Drop
• 2Pac f. G-Unit, Loyal to the Game
• Young Buc, U Ain't Goin' Nowhere
• Lil' Wayne, Haters (La, La, La)
• Gang Starr, Check the Technique
• T.I. f. Wyclef, You Know What It Is

Verdict: I'm not hating on this music...it's just not my style. I tend to look for music to energize me or calm me down...this music doesn't do either of those.