So not only is the Unit kinda dead, but Fif's pushed back his album, having realised that young folks have outgrown him as well as his crew. It was inevitable, as the mainstream market's always looking for something fresh. He applied a "don't fix what ain't broke" mentality for a few years and had a lot of success with it, but now he's got so repetitive that listening to his new records gives you déjà vu:
Fully Loaded Clip. Here he disses every rapper he can think of in the hope somebody with thin skin responds and and gets him some buzz (see Piggy Bank).
Amusement Park. Magic Stick/Candy Shop style fare where he cleverly compares his sexual prowess to a fairground ride (as opposed to a stick or a lollipop). He could create a whole subgenre here, based solely on crude references to anything with a passing phallic symbolism...so many fruits and vegetables he could work with!
Straight to The Bank. Dr Dre club banger with infectious hook, a la In Da Club/Outta Control rmx. Unfortunately, Yayo's contribution to the chorus here is infectious like syphilis.
So far he's tried controversy, sex, money...none of them have grabbed people's attention and I can't see anything Curtis can do that will. He's destined to flop and after the numerous occasions he's dissed rappers for having wack sales, I look forward to dude eating humble-pie in September, October, Nevuary...whenever the album does drop. Dude might have to stick with the movies after that. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed some of his music, but one-trick ponies do tend to get boring, word to Ja.
"Awesome, the Christian in Christian Dior"...looks expensive in a good way, cool that Daft Punk are in it, but Hype spends waaaaaay too much time focusing on 'Ye's wack dancing (& ham-acting). Otherwise, me likey.
[edit: preach!]
This is my favourite one of the leaked tracks: "Misunderstood". Great Nina Simone sample, produced by Devo Springsteen who did the beat for Diamonds on Late Registration. More power to him.
"Nobody believe, until I believe me"-Common, The People
hip-hop ain't dead, it's just wearing mascara and a leotard (pt. 2)
0 comments Posted by Randy Watson as Bob Digitech at 15:36to the...not-so-grimy-&-kinda-wack...
...though not as wack as what happened to jazz. Comparing rap to soul would be difficult, as whether that story had a happy ending or not is largely dependent on where you stand on disco and cupcakin'...so I stick with rock'n'roll.
To my mind, rock's recovery from hair-metal needs to get mirrored by some of the urban music folk..but who'll drop the rap equivalent of Nevermind? Who'll play captain save-a-hip-hop?
...probably not him.Can't be certain who'll spark it, but with a few good, new, preferably New York (-sounding) producers and a few good, new artists who can pull off the miracle of being original and commercially successful (so the sheep bite rappers I actually like)...
...we'll be back like cooked crack...or the Smashing Pumpkins.
To conclude, I've failed to come up with any concrete solutions to the fight against lyrical wack juice, and to quote Kurt Cobain:
"We have no right to express an opinion until we know all of the answers."
However, it's been a lovely exercise in (cerebrally) interfering with myself and made me feel quite perky.
hip-hop ain't dead, it's just wearing mascara and a leotard (pt. 1)
0 comments Posted by Randy Watson as Bob Digitech at 12:32
Disclaimer: In all honesty, I haven't fully thought this post through and there may be myriad holes in my thesis...however - assuming you don't think about it too hard - it's a brilliant argument!
and it's kinda lacking in a message that gets you in the heart and the head as well as the hips:
Comparisons in the genres are easy to find, from the legends trying to stay relevant..
..but showing their age:
To the death of an icon..
..signalling the end-or beginning-of an era.
Some peeps still drop dope albums...
...and boy do they know it...
...but still, the music's not what it was and, having considered the scraping-the-barrel stage of it's development, in my next post I'll consider whether rock gives any clues as to how hip-hop might rebound. I mean it can't get much worse...right?
"All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff."-
Frank Zappa
I'm a huge fan of soul music and Souled on is 1 of my favourite sites. Dude regularly posts soul songs that've been sampled on hip-hop tracks and I thought I'd shark-bite and put up a few samples from joints I've been listening to:
Willie Hutch-"I Choose You"
(UGK-"Int'l Playas Anthem")
Edwin Birdsong-"Cola Bottle Baby"
(Daft Punk-"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger")
(Kanye-"Stronger")
Al Green-"Wish You Were Here"
(Consequence-"The good, the bad and the ugly")
“I did a whole concert in Atlanta with my fly open, and I had a black suit on and a white shirt. My white shirt was protruding from the fly.”-Al Green, keeping it all the way real.
With all due respect to God's Son, like Krs and Marley, I'd like to think [New York] hip-hop's just snoozing and thought I'd put up a selection of dudes from the Big Apple I think are putting out real ish. They probably won't sell, but then again who will?
Skyzoo-"Click" (prod by Primo)
Skyzoo (again)-"Good Lookin'"
Termanology-"Hardcore"
Saigon-"What a life"
Honourable mentions to Papoose, Joel Ortiz and Marco Polo(for sounding so Primoish-even though he's Canadian).
"You can't kill me"-Nas
THIS is cheesy and corny as hell..but am lovin' it! 3 singles deep I'm pretty sure Graduation won't disappoint, whether or not it tops his 1st 2 albums. I know Comm'll bring heat and if Fif' and T.I. maintain, maybe '07'll be a good year (by my shallow standards) for mainstream hip-hop.
Bone Crusher - Round
..."Let a choppa go PLOOOOOOWWW! to yo melon
Now the plasma is oozin outta yo cerebellum
AttenSHUNNNNN! Fuck nigga, now you swellin"-Bone Crusher (Never Scared)
..."It was all good just [4 years] ago"-Jay-Z (A week ago)
Just playing, Duke looks so happy it's hard to hate!
Although I hate most of them, I must acknowledge that reality shows are a great way to market yourself, especially when you're as quirky-yet-gangsta as the Three 6 Mafia. I loved "Most Known Unknowns" and their reality show has made me even more of a fan.The extent to which "Adventures in Hollyhood" is actual reality is up for debate and, like Noz, I find some aspects of it disappointing, but their humour and honesty is endearing and definitely won me over. So much so that I've been bumping their back catalogue the last few days; a few highlights for me:
Sippin' on some syrup (ft UGK) This was my intro to the group and the video sparked a sippin'-from-baby-bottles trend at my boarding school...of course I was too cool for that.
Ridin Spinners (ft Li'l Flip) "They don't stop!" In a word, infectious. With this blowing up just as Crunk and Dancehall were, it was all rims, grills, plane-signalling and 2-stepping in '03...feeling a little nostalgic like the old man I am.
And something new, like they never left: Like Money
This is more like it...but is this T.I. or T.I.P.?
0 comments Posted by Randy Watson as Bob Digitech at 12:05It is Clifford Harris feat Wyclef (looking very Isaac Hayes), I'm sure "You Know What It Is"
Transcript of a funny conversation about the distinction between T.I. and T.I.P., courtesy of Narrowcast:
Al: http://nahright.com/news/2007/05/21/june-xxl-covers/
TIP WEARS A HAT
TI DOES NOT
Senor Pants: TI makes pop records like why you wanna and TIP makes pop records like what you know
Al: lol
Al: TI scowls and wears an expensive watch, TIP scowls and wears an expensive watch
Al: it should've been "T.I. tilts his hat to the left, T.I.P. tilts his hat to the right"
Senor Pants: TI dances like an idiot in young dro videos and TIP dances like an idiot in TI videos
Al: lol
Senor Pants: lolol
Al: T.I.P. makes songs like "Big Shit Poppin'," T.I. makes radio edits like "Big Things Poppin'"
Senor Pants: i hope 50 cent reiterates his remarks about studying "split personality albums" and how they don't sell
Senor Pants: hahaha
Al: 50 Cent is shirtless and covered in baby oil, Curtis is just shirtless.
Rambo 4 Trailer
Got to hand it to my namesake for pulling off a Rocky and a Rambo picture in the space of a year at his age. He apparently got caught with a bunch of steroids while filming the Rambo picture, though. I can imagine the 'roid-rage might have got the better of him while working on the action scenes...pretty graphic stuff!
"I don't think you understand. I didn't come to rescue Rambo from you. I came here to rescue you from him."-Troutman (First Blood Part 1)
On a completely unrelated note...Weezy-"Did it before" (Prod. by K.West)
Don't show 'em, don't tell 'em, just do it...
0 comments Posted by Randy Watson as Bob Digitech at 13:59
Dude's 2 and 0 on the Graduation singles:
Can't Tell Me Nothing took a while to grow on me, but I admire dude for stepping out of his comfort zone and still killing it. Lyrical storm akin to Diamonds on the last record...shame about the video, though!
Stronger is a lot like Golddigger in that it's just irresistable as a dance record and is destined to get muchos overplayed...I'll probably still like it, though! Heard Daft Punk will feature in the video and I'm looking forward to it.
"I'm still the nigga that you love to hate-but can't because you love what I make"-KanYe West
UGK ft Outkast: "International Players' Anthem"
0 comments Posted by Randy Watson as Bob Digitech at 15:22
I've longed for years to stumble across my purpose in life and dedicate myself to it. If it's not coming to me, I might aswell create it, by way of an entity separate from self that will exist purely to achieve the goals set by the movement. Sounds like a crock of shit, but bare with and I think these plans are going to achieve successful fruition through shear force of will.
I can't be specific at the moment as things are still being thought through at this stage, but I'm quite excited by the prospect. To quote Ra's al Ghul, "If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely."
More Than Music-Dipset
"Alone"-Ja Rule ft Irv, Ashanti, 7 and Harry-O (who!?)
The Inc. was one of my favourite guilty pleasures circa-3:36/Pain is Love...matter of fact, I'd say that of most generic gangsta-rap with great beats and catchy hooks (I see you Curtis!), so I'm glad to hear this throwback to "Down 4 u" style smoothness.
The song's littered with Imus-level mysoginy, but after clever and extensive analysis, I've concluded that it's necessary to the track's core existence as a cryptic work of social commentary re the paradox best expressed by Eve and X on "why do good girls like bad guys?".
why is this the case?
why the masochism?
well, to put it in layman's terms: Pain is Love...genius, bravissimo!
I don't believe that anymore than you do, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. the crux of the matter is whether Jeffrey's set to come back like Jordan, wearing the 4-5. It's a certified banga to my educated ear, but it's all down to whether the laffy taffy generation can appreciate it's subtlety. I hope they do.
The end of Uni signals an end to my school boy era and the requirement on my part to take on the mantle of responsible manhood with mouths to feed. Game needs to be stepped up and I'm both daunted and excited by the seemingly limitless possibilities. Time is on my side-for now-but I don't want to sit around and waste it. No more free meals, so no standing still.
Push-Pharaohe Monch
Just finished what-potential resits permitting-should be my last exam evar! Done with the School of Social Sciences and on to Postgrad at the School of Hardknocks. Gives me more time to post and to go find a J-O-B.
stronger-kanye (a.k.a. golddigger '07!)
southside-common ft. kanye (more G.O.O.D. music)
return of the hustle-fabolous ft. swizzy (just blaze is incredible!)
keeping me going.
Think I'll leave this one short and sweet and catch up on some sleep.
