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Most Important Album of the Year Drops June 24th!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
News Drenched in Nouget and Caramel
Busta Rhymes has decided to fight four trials at once, two for assaults, and two for vehicular offenses, (drunk driving and driving with a suspended license). He recently rejected a plea deal that would have landed him only a year in prison for all four charges.
Well... say "hi" to Mystikal for me.
Master P is making another movie: "Black Supaman". It's about a guy from the ghetto (really, Master P making a movie about the ghetto?...), who smokes weed (...and weed too?!), and wears red tights. Almost as creative a concept as me doing this:
All this is coming after he talked about uplifting people and being part of solution in response to 50 Cent's jab on BET, (which I posted earlier, actually). If by uplifting you mean:
...then I suppose you got it, P.
Multi-platinum group Outkast have given some hints as to what their collective future holds.
Andre 3000 has gone on record saying that there WILL be a new Outkast record, (collective sigh of relief)... but it may have to wait at least two years (disappointed gasp)... but Big Boi and Andre are doing solo albums (collective sigh of relief)... but there's no word on when (disappointed gasp).
Between his seemingly endless amount of guest spots on other songs, (with Lloyd, Devin the Dude, Rich Boy, UGK, Q-Tip and Unk) Andre had this to say to MTV.com about his solo album: "Really, I gotta find out what I'm tryin' to say," he said. "It's almost like a picnic — you call your auntie and say, 'You bringin' some greens? Yeah? OK, I'm not gonna bring any greens.' I gotta find out what I gotta cook up. But to quote James Brown, 'Whatever it is, it's got to be funky.'"
Big Boi hasn't been keeping out of the spotlight either, with appearances with Diddy, Sleepy Brown, Bubba Sparxxx, Rich Boy, Gorilla Zoe, Lloyd and Fantasia, as well as making an album with DJ Ideal (Da Bottom, Vol. 7) as well as roles in the movies A.T.L. and Who's Your Caddy?. Apparently, in addition to that, he's working on an unnamed piece with Purp that will be performed, (this'll blow your mind...), ON STAGE in April '08.
His new album promises to be "something from every genre". He currently has around 35 beats laid down for it, and is writing/mixing vocals as we speak. It slated for late 2007, that is, unless "they keep pulling me back and forth with these movies".
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know T.I.'s new album dropped, T.I. Vs. T.I.P.. Despite claims that he'd have the "album of the year" it's only moved around 750,000 units.
Well... say "hi" to Mystikal for me.
---
Master P is making another movie: "Black Supaman". It's about a guy from the ghetto (really, Master P making a movie about the ghetto?...), who smokes weed (...and weed too?!), and wears red tights. Almost as creative a concept as me doing this:
All this is coming after he talked about uplifting people and being part of solution in response to 50 Cent's jab on BET, (which I posted earlier, actually). If by uplifting you mean:
...then I suppose you got it, P.
---
Multi-platinum group Outkast have given some hints as to what their collective future holds.
Andre 3000 has gone on record saying that there WILL be a new Outkast record, (collective sigh of relief)... but it may have to wait at least two years (disappointed gasp)... but Big Boi and Andre are doing solo albums (collective sigh of relief)... but there's no word on when (disappointed gasp).
Between his seemingly endless amount of guest spots on other songs, (with Lloyd, Devin the Dude, Rich Boy, UGK, Q-Tip and Unk) Andre had this to say to MTV.com about his solo album: "Really, I gotta find out what I'm tryin' to say," he said. "It's almost like a picnic — you call your auntie and say, 'You bringin' some greens? Yeah? OK, I'm not gonna bring any greens.' I gotta find out what I gotta cook up. But to quote James Brown, 'Whatever it is, it's got to be funky.'"
Big Boi hasn't been keeping out of the spotlight either, with appearances with Diddy, Sleepy Brown, Bubba Sparxxx, Rich Boy, Gorilla Zoe, Lloyd and Fantasia, as well as making an album with DJ Ideal (Da Bottom, Vol. 7) as well as roles in the movies A.T.L. and Who's Your Caddy?. Apparently, in addition to that, he's working on an unnamed piece with Purp that will be performed, (this'll blow your mind...), ON STAGE in April '08.
His new album promises to be "something from every genre". He currently has around 35 beats laid down for it, and is writing/mixing vocals as we speak. It slated for late 2007, that is, unless "they keep pulling me back and forth with these movies".
---
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know T.I.'s new album dropped, T.I. Vs. T.I.P.. Despite claims that he'd have the "album of the year" it's only moved around 750,000 units.
---
Friends of the site:
You want indie? You got it!
Opinions, news, and facts from a fellow
Saturday, July 7, 2007
I Knew I Hated Lil Wayne... But This Is A Lot!
Disclaimer: This entire article is about how much Lil Wayne actually sucks. Nearly everything below is evidence about how bad he is. If you don't have time to read it, (it is a lot), just scroll down and see how much I have against him and think about it next time you hear his out-of-tune guitar on "Leather So Soft".
I have to admit, I liked Lil Wayne… when I was twelve… on "Back That Azz Up" by Juvenile.
I had to be twelve and listen a verse that consisted of less lines than a Ramone's song to even like Lil Wayne a little bit.
Then I grew up.
Somehow, Lil Wayne still goes triple platinum (with Carter II) even though all the tracks have the same substance and depth as The Block Is Hot. Herein lies the problem: people listen to hip-hop, but no one remembers hip-hop.
No one in the rock world could get away with singing "Well I stand up next to a mountain/And I chopped it down with the edge of my hand" which is from Jimi Hendrix's song "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" which was from 1968. But, by the same token, City High stole the beat to "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre, (which was released in 2000) and used it on "What Would You Do" (released in 2001). No one seemed to notice.
But I digress… and return to my point that Lil Wayne is one of the worst rappers of all time!
For those of you that don't know, Lil Wayne
(a.k.a. Weezy a.k.a. Young Money a.k.a. Birdman Jr. a.k.a. Raw Tunes a.k.a. Fireman) is the self-proclaimed "greatest rapper of all time".
Truth is, he's probably delusional and delirious because he's surrounded by either people that treat him like he's second in the Special Olympics...
...or people dumber than him....
...I wouldn't doubt either.
Now, I know a lot of people LOOOOOOOOOVE Lil Wayne for reasons that escape me, (again, he did go triple platinum), so I'll present to you, the tale of the tape. I made it easily digestible for all you illiterate, Lil-Wayne-listenin' motherfuckers.
I thought to myself, what's important for a rapper to have? Well, let me be more specific, what's important for a dirty south, gangsta rapper to have? I broke it down into four categories.
First, he's gotta have street credibility. Arrest records, shootings, gang affiliations, we want it all. Street credibility shows that a rapper not only "talks the talk" but "walks the walk" as well.
Second, he's gotta have lyrics. To claim the throne of "the greatest rapper of all time" he needs to have varied subject matter, (whether relating to the gritty streets of New Orleans or not is Wayne's choice), a good sound with his words, and plenty of words at that, (so we don't get bored with him saying "turn me up in my headphones" or "I can't hear my snare" over and over).
Third, flow. Plain and simple. He's gotta be able to make it seamless when he wants to, and jarring when he wants to, but hold the same presence the entire time. A lot of this can stem from the words he chooses, but some of it is just emphasis and style. This and the next point are the hardest to factually dispute, as much of it is opinion, but we all know certain things about flow, like the fact that Snoop can make anything flow. Imagine him saying "don't eat that carrot, it has lateral root dieback disease"... see? Still flows nicely.
For our final point, we're going to look at beats. I know that Lil Wayne has very little to do with the creation of the beats, but he still has to choose these beats. As little as it has to do with actual rapping skill, a rapper still has to know what beat is right for what song. Imagine "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" by Busta Rhymes put with Chubby Checker's "The Twist"... horrifying.
Street Credibility
- He shot himself. I know, I know... on "Know What I'm Doin'" he said the words "'Till the day I got shot they found money in my pocket". But the fact is that he accidentally shot himself in the chest when he was twelve. Then he got a tattoo to commemorate it, (look for the "Bang Bang" on his chest). If, by the time you're twelve, you don't know that the barrel of a gun faces out chances are you're not a gangster, and never will be.
- "Snitch" The gun he shot himself with was an unregistered handgun which belonged to his step-father. Because of Lil Wayne's mouth, his step-father landed in jail for 6 months. This clearly contradicts what he said on the song "Snitch" from Tha Carter, ("ain't no snitches ridin' with us").
- Kissing men. As little of a problem as I have with homosexuality, I'm going to be blunt, the rap world is very homophobic... especially the gangsta rap world. And the shit with Lil Wayne and Birdman sharing an awkwardly romantic-looking kiss doesn't fly to well for his gangsta image.
Lyrics
- One thing that is necessary to keep an audience entertained is varied subject matter. Now, whether you rap under a blanket subject, (like politics, life on the streets, etc.), there are still a multitude of things that can be said underneath each category. Since Lil Wayne's biggest topic seems to be life on the streets, it seems to be necessary to dissect what he talks about regarding the streets.
I decided to do an experiment, and since every one needs a control I decided I would compare his lyrics to another rapper's. I was going to use Sage Francis, (my personal favorite rapper)...
...but I figured that would be cruel to Sage and Wayne. So, I present to you: "Macho Man" Randy Savage!
- "Rhyming scorecard"
I had so much fun with scoring the epic "Macho Man" Randy Savage versus Lil Wayne bout, that I felt I should make a Rhyming Scorecard.
Here's how it works: since rap is based a lot around rhyme scheme, I decided to figure out how well Wayne's rhymes were. I broke it down into three sections: rhymes within a line, multi-syllabic rhyming, and same-word rhymes.
Rhymes within a line are simply that. If I have a line like, "Agony in her body" (to take a Sage Francis title) that would be one point, because it's a rhyme within the same line.
For multi-syllabic rhyming, I made it a little easier for Lil Wayne to get points. For someone like Rakim, I would have made it so that there would have need to have been two or more words with two or more syllables that rhyme. For example, "tyrannosaurus", "chorus", and "Taurus" all have two syllables that rhyme, the "r" sound and the "us" sound. For Lil Wayne, though, I made it so that if he rhymed any word with a word that happened to have more than one syllable, he'd get a point.
Same word rhyming is BAD! Every time this occurred, I took away a point. For Lil Wayne, I made it easier. If he did it at the end of a rhyme, I counted it. Other than that, no harm, no foul.
To make it even EASIER for him, I counted a multi-syllabic rhyme that happened in the middle of the line twice. So, two points for that shit.
Anyway, out of all seventeen songs, he had forty-one inner-line rhymes, eighty-nine words that rhymed with a multi-syllabic word, and ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX times where he rhymed the same word. This gave him a total score of...
... -46.
Negative forty-six on his rhyme style. In fact, he rhymed the same word more than "Macho Man" Randy Savage said his own name... every 24 seconds on average.
All in all, we may not get bored with him saying "turn me up in my headphones" over and over again, because he doesn't seem to say enough words.
Possibly the most disturbing thing is that Lil Wayne doesn't even rhyme different words with themselves, (like doing "unpredictable" with itself, than "abracadabra" with itself). He tends to have favorite words to rhyme over and over with itself. There were four words that he did that with over ten times, ("up", "boy", "them" and "back")!
Flow
Lil Wayne flows like a miscarriage: long, drawn-out, and messy.
For instance "Weezy Baby" has probably the messiest flow out of any Lil Wayne song, (and that's saying a lot). One particular instance is where he tries to flow fast, but comes out with a nonsensical phrase that putters across the finish line like a Ford Pinto at the Indie 500.
Hell, let's study Lil Wayne's "fast" flow. "Oh, Nancy the flow's plastic, automatic" are the lyrics... just F.Y.I., they're fucking meaningless. He's got a two second flow consisting of six words. Three words per second... oh boy.
This is where I'll break out the Sage Francis, I suppose.
On the song "Escape Artist" Sage pulls out an impressive flow for the chorus which goes, "In an effort to make 'em all see what I found in my life I decided to give 'em a look/None of them gave it a glimpse, so I guess that I'm sitting in the middle of an unread book/Letters are falling apart but the sentences stand on their own/The wording is permanent/Never been missed/I've just been mis-/worded and mis-/interpreted, it's funny how serving a sentence of solitary confinement/results in a death sentence of my writing assignment/I'm just wondering where my time went/It pulled a disappearing act/and every single assistant I ever had got sawed in half//".
Not only does he pull it all out in 12 seconds it's 110 words! Leaving him at a hefty 9 words per second. What's more is that he starts and stops on beat, unlike Wayne, the shit makes sense, unlike Wayne, and he has some impressive rhyming style in it, unlike Wayne.
Hell, I'll use a relatively slow Mos Def song too: "Sunshine".
Oh, take the beats out, pretend he's just humming... notice one thing... IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME FLOW! He's like a 2-speed bike. First gear = bad, second gear = simple.
Beats
Listen to the beat from "Shine" and tell me that's not a joke. What'd they take it from Yoshi's Island?
I think that the beats are the high point of any Lil Wayne album, and usually they're only good for a few measures or so, then they get boring... or Wayne's vocals simply ruin them.
Conclusion
Lil Wayne sucks. Still sucks. In fact, he sucks more than I initially thought. Here's a final look at Lil Wayne for you people... I think his facial expressions show his originality.
This mouth-breather motherfucker is a hip-hop production line defect. I have a perfect home for him.
And that concludes our lesson, boys and girls.
This is Lil Wayne, for those of you who don't know.
I have to admit, I liked Lil Wayne… when I was twelve… on "Back That Azz Up" by Juvenile.
I had to be twelve and listen a verse that consisted of less lines than a Ramone's song to even like Lil Wayne a little bit.
Then I grew up.
Somehow, Lil Wayne still goes triple platinum (with Carter II) even though all the tracks have the same substance and depth as The Block Is Hot. Herein lies the problem: people listen to hip-hop, but no one remembers hip-hop.
No one in the rock world could get away with singing "Well I stand up next to a mountain/And I chopped it down with the edge of my hand" which is from Jimi Hendrix's song "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" which was from 1968. But, by the same token, City High stole the beat to "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre, (which was released in 2000) and used it on "What Would You Do" (released in 2001). No one seemed to notice.
But I digress… and return to my point that Lil Wayne is one of the worst rappers of all time!
For those of you that don't know, Lil Wayne
(a.k.a. Weezy a.k.a. Young Money a.k.a. Birdman Jr. a.k.a. Raw Tunes a.k.a. Fireman) is the self-proclaimed "greatest rapper of all time".
Truth is, he's probably delusional and delirious because he's surrounded by either people that treat him like he's second in the Special Olympics...
"It's okay, Wayne. The Birdman's here, with my pimped out Gucci suit. I still think you're the greatest rapper ever."
...or people dumber than him....
...I wouldn't doubt either.
Now, I know a lot of people LOOOOOOOOOVE Lil Wayne for reasons that escape me, (again, he did go triple platinum), so I'll present to you, the tale of the tape. I made it easily digestible for all you illiterate, Lil-Wayne-listenin' motherfuckers.
I thought to myself, what's important for a rapper to have? Well, let me be more specific, what's important for a dirty south, gangsta rapper to have? I broke it down into four categories.
First, he's gotta have street credibility. Arrest records, shootings, gang affiliations, we want it all. Street credibility shows that a rapper not only "talks the talk" but "walks the walk" as well.
Second, he's gotta have lyrics. To claim the throne of "the greatest rapper of all time" he needs to have varied subject matter, (whether relating to the gritty streets of New Orleans or not is Wayne's choice), a good sound with his words, and plenty of words at that, (so we don't get bored with him saying "turn me up in my headphones" or "I can't hear my snare" over and over).
Third, flow. Plain and simple. He's gotta be able to make it seamless when he wants to, and jarring when he wants to, but hold the same presence the entire time. A lot of this can stem from the words he chooses, but some of it is just emphasis and style. This and the next point are the hardest to factually dispute, as much of it is opinion, but we all know certain things about flow, like the fact that Snoop can make anything flow. Imagine him saying "don't eat that carrot, it has lateral root dieback disease"... see? Still flows nicely.
For our final point, we're going to look at beats. I know that Lil Wayne has very little to do with the creation of the beats, but he still has to choose these beats. As little as it has to do with actual rapping skill, a rapper still has to know what beat is right for what song. Imagine "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" by Busta Rhymes put with Chubby Checker's "The Twist"... horrifying.
Street Credibility
- He shot himself. I know, I know... on "Know What I'm Doin'" he said the words "'Till the day I got shot they found money in my pocket". But the fact is that he accidentally shot himself in the chest when he was twelve. Then he got a tattoo to commemorate it, (look for the "Bang Bang" on his chest). If, by the time you're twelve, you don't know that the barrel of a gun faces out chances are you're not a gangster, and never will be.
- "Snitch" The gun he shot himself with was an unregistered handgun which belonged to his step-father. Because of Lil Wayne's mouth, his step-father landed in jail for 6 months. This clearly contradicts what he said on the song "Snitch" from Tha Carter, ("ain't no snitches ridin' with us").
- Kissing men. As little of a problem as I have with homosexuality, I'm going to be blunt, the rap world is very homophobic... especially the gangsta rap world. And the shit with Lil Wayne and Birdman sharing an awkwardly romantic-looking kiss doesn't fly to well for his gangsta image.
I think the funniest part of this picture is the disgusted-looking fellow in the background.
Lyrics
- One thing that is necessary to keep an audience entertained is varied subject matter. Now, whether you rap under a blanket subject, (like politics, life on the streets, etc.), there are still a multitude of things that can be said underneath each category. Since Lil Wayne's biggest topic seems to be life on the streets, it seems to be necessary to dissect what he talks about regarding the streets.
I decided to do an experiment, and since every one needs a control I decided I would compare his lyrics to another rapper's. I was going to use Sage Francis, (my personal favorite rapper)...
"My pedestal was too tall to climb off/In fact, that's the reason for the high horse"
...but I figured that would be cruel to Sage and Wayne. So, I present to you: "Macho Man" Randy Savage!
Yes, he made a rap album.
So I present to you…
 |  | |
Lil Wayne | Versus | Randy Savage |
Number of songs selected: 17 | Number of songs selected: 9 | |
Total number of topics: 5 | Total number of topics: 6 | |
Percent of songs most-used topic mentioned: A tie for 76.5% | Percent of songs most-used topic mentioned: Three way tie for 33% | |
Mentioned own name: 55 times (every 1:17) | Mentioned own name: 47 times (every 0:33) |
Winner: "Macho Man" Randy Savage!
- "Rhyming scorecard"
I had so much fun with scoring the epic "Macho Man" Randy Savage versus Lil Wayne bout, that I felt I should make a Rhyming Scorecard.
Here's how it works: since rap is based a lot around rhyme scheme, I decided to figure out how well Wayne's rhymes were. I broke it down into three sections: rhymes within a line, multi-syllabic rhyming, and same-word rhymes.
Rhymes within a line are simply that. If I have a line like, "Agony in her body" (to take a Sage Francis title) that would be one point, because it's a rhyme within the same line.
For multi-syllabic rhyming, I made it a little easier for Lil Wayne to get points. For someone like Rakim, I would have made it so that there would have need to have been two or more words with two or more syllables that rhyme. For example, "tyrannosaurus", "chorus", and "Taurus" all have two syllables that rhyme, the "r" sound and the "us" sound. For Lil Wayne, though, I made it so that if he rhymed any word with a word that happened to have more than one syllable, he'd get a point.
Same word rhyming is BAD! Every time this occurred, I took away a point. For Lil Wayne, I made it easier. If he did it at the end of a rhyme, I counted it. Other than that, no harm, no foul.
To make it even EASIER for him, I counted a multi-syllabic rhyme that happened in the middle of the line twice. So, two points for that shit.
Anyway, out of all seventeen songs, he had forty-one inner-line rhymes, eighty-nine words that rhymed with a multi-syllabic word, and ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX times where he rhymed the same word. This gave him a total score of...
... -46.
Negative forty-six on his rhyme style. In fact, he rhymed the same word more than "Macho Man" Randy Savage said his own name... every 24 seconds on average.
All in all, we may not get bored with him saying "turn me up in my headphones" over and over again, because he doesn't seem to say enough words.
Dave "Fisticuffs" Chappelle: The Only Rapper Who Can Say "turn my headphones up" and be entertaining.
Possibly the most disturbing thing is that Lil Wayne doesn't even rhyme different words with themselves, (like doing "unpredictable" with itself, than "abracadabra" with itself). He tends to have favorite words to rhyme over and over with itself. There were four words that he did that with over ten times, ("up", "boy", "them" and "back")!
Flow
Lil Wayne flows like a miscarriage: long, drawn-out, and messy.
For instance "Weezy Baby" has probably the messiest flow out of any Lil Wayne song, (and that's saying a lot). One particular instance is where he tries to flow fast, but comes out with a nonsensical phrase that putters across the finish line like a Ford Pinto at the Indie 500.
Hell, let's study Lil Wayne's "fast" flow. "Oh, Nancy the flow's plastic, automatic" are the lyrics... just F.Y.I., they're fucking meaningless. He's got a two second flow consisting of six words. Three words per second... oh boy.
This is where I'll break out the Sage Francis, I suppose.
On the song "Escape Artist" Sage pulls out an impressive flow for the chorus which goes, "In an effort to make 'em all see what I found in my life I decided to give 'em a look/None of them gave it a glimpse, so I guess that I'm sitting in the middle of an unread book/Letters are falling apart but the sentences stand on their own/The wording is permanent/Never been missed/I've just been mis-/worded and mis-/interpreted, it's funny how serving a sentence of solitary confinement/results in a death sentence of my writing assignment/I'm just wondering where my time went/It pulled a disappearing act/and every single assistant I ever had got sawed in half//".
Not only does he pull it all out in 12 seconds it's 110 words! Leaving him at a hefty 9 words per second. What's more is that he starts and stops on beat, unlike Wayne, the shit makes sense, unlike Wayne, and he has some impressive rhyming style in it, unlike Wayne.
Hell, I'll use a relatively slow Mos Def song too: "Sunshine".
I am a fighter and a lover/I'm the freaky baby daddy, I'm a bad motherfucker
Even Mos Def's average flow in this song comes to WPM count of 3.4. It's not even a fast song! So frankly, I'm not impressed with Lil Wayne's attempt at speed.
Lil Wayne is not faster than a speeding bullet... or a Ninja Turtle apparently.
Oh, take the beats out, pretend he's just humming... notice one thing... IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME FLOW! He's like a 2-speed bike. First gear = bad, second gear = simple.
Beats
Listen to the beat from "Shine" and tell me that's not a joke. What'd they take it from Yoshi's Island?
I think that the beats are the high point of any Lil Wayne album, and usually they're only good for a few measures or so, then they get boring... or Wayne's vocals simply ruin them.
Conclusion
Lil Wayne sucks. Still sucks. In fact, he sucks more than I initially thought. Here's a final look at Lil Wayne for you people... I think his facial expressions show his originality.
 |  |
This mouth-breather motherfucker is a hip-hop production line defect. I have a perfect home for him.
There's even a pistol on the island, Wayne. Maybe you can learn what the barrel points!
And that concludes our lesson, boys and girls.
"It's okay, Wayne. He's just a hater. You're stuntin' like your daddy, aren't ya, son?"
"Yay! Stuntin' like my daddy! Stuntin like my daddy!"
Friends of my site:
You want indie? You got it!
Opinions, news, and facts from a fellow
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
The Game Retiring?
This happened almost a month ago, but... I started this about a week ago. So, sue me.
The Game blew onto the scene in '02 with You Know What It Is, Vol. 1 and hasn't really stopped. Seventeen albums in, with ten mixtapes, four underground releases, and one remix album, he announced his retirement as of his next, still untitled album dropping in late '07 or early '08.
As much as I like The Game, I hope if he retires, he stays fucking retired, (unlike Jay-Z, Mater P, Eminem, and others). I hate these "I'm gone..."
"...wait, I'm back..."
"...fuck this shit, I'm gone..."
"...this one more album..." type of nonsense.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Pharoahe Monch - "Desire" Review
Sound:
The album starts with a heavy gospel feel, but unlike many rap albums, it changes as it runs its course.
All the beats are head-nodders, especially "Push" and "Body Baby". The latter actually kind of has a drum beat that could be suited for a dancy, indie type of song, but has a clear swing leaning. The song probably has the best showcase of Pharoahe's vocal versatility out of the entire album.
The single "Body Baby"
Not all the songs have carefree, feel-good beats though. "What It Is" has a simple, ominous beat with Pharoahe's trademark halted, jarring flow similar to something you'd hear from Royce Da 5'9".
Many of the beats are simply innovative; especially the beat to "Trilogy". As simple as it is, it sounds like cinematic, ambient, crunk music, (if you can possibly imagine such a thing).
In the UK, "Agent Orange" was released as a bonus track. This beat is quite unconventional with an idiosyncratic stylophone-sounding instrument reminiscent of "Icky Thump" by the White Stripes, (without the crazy time signature). On the other side of the Atlantic, (the U.S. for you non-geography buffs), there is "Book of Judges", first released with Mark Ecko's game Getting Up. A hugely enjoyable funky guitar riff backs up Monch's indescribably unique flow.
The single "Push"
Lyrics:
The lyrics on this album encompass everything from politics to bullshittin'. Monch will fly from subject to subject and stay fresh with every line, for example, in "When The Gun Draws" (which is my favorite track on the album) the song floats seamlessly from a story to social commentary to political analysis.
The single "When The Gun Draws"
"Hold On" has a completely different style of lyricism, almost sounding like Saul Williams at moments, (but the flow staying all Monch). Likewise, on many other points on the album, you can hear clear influences in lyrics and delivery style (which may be a strength or weakness), such as "Welcome To The Terrordome" which is an obvious homage to Public Enemy and Chuck D, and the song follows suit.
"Trilogy" seems like a not-shitty "Trapped in the Closet" by R. Kelly, maybe it's the fact the beat changes along with the evolving story, maybe it's that the story does evolve, maybe it's the fact that "Trapped in the Closet" was a lot like the movie "Closer" in the sense that it was all assholes treating other assholes like shit and "Trilogy" isn't. Either way, Pharoahe can pull off a 9+ minute rap song without a hitch, which is an extraordinary feat.
Final Score: 9/10
In other news, new DMX slated for late '07/early '08, titled The Resurrection of Hip-Hop. The title is a direct response to Nas' Hip-Hop is Dead and X says that he will work with "only the real artists". 
Also, Lil' Wayne's album The Carter 3 was leaked. Personally, if you heard one song of Wayne's, you've heard 'em all, (unless Carter 3 somehow wasn't about his car, shoes, bitches, or money), but if you care, listen to his ignorant, clearly fucked up, banter here:
The one and only Andre 3000 is set to release a solo album based on his cartoon Class of 3000 airing on Cartoon Network. It is slated to be released July 3rd.
Paris Hilton has been officially knighted, (pardon the pun), "gangster" by floundering record label impresario Suge Knight who stated that Paris "did more time than some of these though ass rappers". In semi-related news, Paris Hilton told Larry King that she had never done drugs. I had to put that one in there 'cause I thought it was cute.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Hip-Hop Defending Hip-Hop
Lately, billboards have been popping up around Chicago stating "Stop Listening to This Trash!" while naming off big names like 50 Cent, Lil' Wayne, and Chicago native, Twista.
The billboards, as well as Reverend Michael Pfleger of the St. Sabina Church, who put them up, state that rap is degenerate music that promotes violence, drug use, and misogyny. Well, golly, we sure haven't heard that before! But, I know one of these artists will have something new to say that's never been heard before, (as they're artists and all)...
...but, in typical rap fashion, Twista spouted the same tired sentiment, commenting that "We're just rapping about what's going on in the streets of our cities of today". Now, I know we've heard this before... many times. And when hip-hop had storytellers like Slick Rick and 2pac, I would have agreed with Twista, but it's a far cry to call hip-hop the "CNN of the streets" nowadays (to steal a line from Chuck D).
Twista also added something new, making your humble narrator assume that, if someone should be reporting anything...anywhere, it ain't him. Quote: "After Columbine and Virginia Tech, why didn't rock music get accused as much?"
Now that you've had a chance to breathe that one in for a little while, let's take a look at it, shall we?
Really, how un-fucking-observant do you have to be to not have heard the words "Marilyn Manson", "Rammstein", or "rock music" after Columbine? As for V. Tech, well, it seems that our culture will stop paying attention to what you're listening to, playing, or watching when you turn twenty. Also, as a musician, why would you attack music? This is especially true if you're a controversial musician. Twista's street-reporting comes under further scrutiny as one considers that we're not talking about a specific crime here, (like the V. Tech Massacre or the Columbine High Shootings), we're talking about a genre of music that is thought to have caused a generation of violence.
So, reporter of the street? With that observational skill and logic, probably not.
Here's 50's attempt to defend hip-hop in the wake of the Don Imus controversy:
Within eleven seconds, 50 uses the "Bush in '04" strategy of "we're at war". Cunning use of redirection there, Curtis. Like his fellow "CNN of the street" correspondent, Twista, 50 turns on the FOX News logic and puts his foot in his mouth, (with no one there to call him on it, I might add), when he, again, redirects your attention to "the actual films that are released with similar content that has image and sound". Oh, you mean like "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" a film starring you, that is kind of about your life, and kind of about your music? Oh, before you retort there, 50, I'd like to add mention the names of three films you may have heard of: "Passion of the Christ", "A Clockwork Orange", and "Natural Born Killers". What do they have in common? Oh, yeah, they were protested for those uses of "image and sound".
Let's take another breather before we go on…
Okay, done. 50 then digs further into his own illogical muck when he pushes through this line "I personally believe… that it's easier to attack a individual [sic] than it is to go after a corporation". Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've very rarely heard (other than rappers or fans of rap) anyone point out one rapper and go "he's promoting drug use, violence, misogyny, homophobia, racism, etc., etc…. but the rest of hip-hop is okay". Most people that are protesting rap use the blanket term of "rap" which is much bigger than a corporation. Many corporations are involved in rap… as I'm sure you're very aware, Curtis.
Before he's done not answering the question about hip-hop, he gets an uproarious applause from people who probably thought "This Is Why I'm Hot" was clever.
I'm not going to elaborate further on 50's joke of a defense, but just watch the video and think about the songs "Magic Stick" and "In Da Club" as he prattles on about "harsh realities".
The point? Maybe Twista, (who has been at number one a few times), 50 Cent (whose albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre have both hit number one), and the like are the reason that Nas said "Hip-Hop is dead". Maybe they're why people that like music with substance don't stick around long enough to hear the Saul Williams', the Sage Francis', the Immortal Techniques, or the Dead Prezs, because they don't even take the time to hear the "skin" of the music.
It's the MIMS', the Lil' Waynes, the Rich Boys, the Shop Boyz's, the Crime Mobs and so on that talk about how shitty the industry is, then brag about the #1 spot in the industry. To take a line from Immortal Technique and twist it a little, if you go platinum, it has nothing to do with how good of a rapper you are, it may just mean that a million people are stupid as fuck.
The billboards, as well as Reverend Michael Pfleger of the St. Sabina Church, who put them up, state that rap is degenerate music that promotes violence, drug use, and misogyny. Well, golly, we sure haven't heard that before! But, I know one of these artists will have something new to say that's never been heard before, (as they're artists and all)...
...but, in typical rap fashion, Twista spouted the same tired sentiment, commenting that "We're just rapping about what's going on in the streets of our cities of today". Now, I know we've heard this before... many times. And when hip-hop had storytellers like Slick Rick and 2pac, I would have agreed with Twista, but it's a far cry to call hip-hop the "CNN of the streets" nowadays (to steal a line from Chuck D).
Twista also added something new, making your humble narrator assume that, if someone should be reporting anything...anywhere, it ain't him. Quote: "After Columbine and Virginia Tech, why didn't rock music get accused as much?"
Now that you've had a chance to breathe that one in for a little while, let's take a look at it, shall we?
Really, how un-fucking-observant do you have to be to not have heard the words "Marilyn Manson", "Rammstein", or "rock music" after Columbine? As for V. Tech, well, it seems that our culture will stop paying attention to what you're listening to, playing, or watching when you turn twenty. Also, as a musician, why would you attack music? This is especially true if you're a controversial musician. Twista's street-reporting comes under further scrutiny as one considers that we're not talking about a specific crime here, (like the V. Tech Massacre or the Columbine High Shootings), we're talking about a genre of music that is thought to have caused a generation of violence.
So, reporter of the street? With that observational skill and logic, probably not.
Here's 50's attempt to defend hip-hop in the wake of the Don Imus controversy:
Within eleven seconds, 50 uses the "Bush in '04" strategy of "we're at war". Cunning use of redirection there, Curtis. Like his fellow "CNN of the street" correspondent, Twista, 50 turns on the FOX News logic and puts his foot in his mouth, (with no one there to call him on it, I might add), when he, again, redirects your attention to "the actual films that are released with similar content that has image and sound". Oh, you mean like "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" a film starring you, that is kind of about your life, and kind of about your music? Oh, before you retort there, 50, I'd like to add mention the names of three films you may have heard of: "Passion of the Christ", "A Clockwork Orange", and "Natural Born Killers". What do they have in common? Oh, yeah, they were protested for those uses of "image and sound".
Let's take another breather before we go on…
Okay, done. 50 then digs further into his own illogical muck when he pushes through this line "I personally believe… that it's easier to attack a individual [sic] than it is to go after a corporation". Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I've very rarely heard (other than rappers or fans of rap) anyone point out one rapper and go "he's promoting drug use, violence, misogyny, homophobia, racism, etc., etc…. but the rest of hip-hop is okay". Most people that are protesting rap use the blanket term of "rap" which is much bigger than a corporation. Many corporations are involved in rap… as I'm sure you're very aware, Curtis.
Before he's done not answering the question about hip-hop, he gets an uproarious applause from people who probably thought "This Is Why I'm Hot" was clever.
I'm not going to elaborate further on 50's joke of a defense, but just watch the video and think about the songs "Magic Stick" and "In Da Club" as he prattles on about "harsh realities".
The point? Maybe Twista, (who has been at number one a few times), 50 Cent (whose albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre have both hit number one), and the like are the reason that Nas said "Hip-Hop is dead". Maybe they're why people that like music with substance don't stick around long enough to hear the Saul Williams', the Sage Francis', the Immortal Techniques, or the Dead Prezs, because they don't even take the time to hear the "skin" of the music.
It's the MIMS', the Lil' Waynes, the Rich Boys, the Shop Boyz's, the Crime Mobs and so on that talk about how shitty the industry is, then brag about the #1 spot in the industry. To take a line from Immortal Technique and twist it a little, if you go platinum, it has nothing to do with how good of a rapper you are, it may just mean that a million people are stupid as fuck.
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