April 30th, 2009
Photo borrowed from LA Weekly, because it’s too good not to re-run.
Only a handful of rap groups can be bandied about as G.O.A.T: Wu-Tang, Outkast, EPMD, Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Run-DMC, UGK, The Geto Boys, and De La Soul. If you need an introduction to Posdnuos, Dave/Trugoy the Dove, and Maseo, you obviously haven’t listened to their seminal first four albums.
Since the release of their last full-length, 2004’s The Grind Date, the trio has largely kept quite, save for receiving a VH1 Hip-Hop Honors Award, playing last year’s Rock the Bells, and turning the Gorillaz’ “Feel Good Inc,” into a Grammy-winning, radio-conquering smash. This week, the Plug Ones announced their return, with Are You In?, an iTunes-only, Nike Run Mix, that finds them following in the footsteps of Aesop Rock, LCD Soundsystem, and A-Trak.
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Posted in Interviews | 13 Comments »
April 29th, 2009
Between Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, Blackout 2, Born Like This, and UGK 4 Life, there is a strong probability that the year’s four best rap albums will be made by rappers with the median age of 37. Geritol rap is running ‘09. Now is the time to purchase stock in GlaxoSmithKline.
Download:
MP3: Method Man & Redman ft. Raekwon and Ghostface-”4 Minutes to Lockdown”
MP3: Raekwon ft. Ghostface & Method Man-”New Wu”
Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments »
April 29th, 2009
All Reasonable Doubt samples in one zip: here. All posts rolled into one: here. Dan Love runs this fiefdom: here.
‘Ain’t No Nigga’
The Whole Darn Family – ‘Seven Minutes Of Funk’
From Has Arrived (Soul International, 1976)
Unavailable.
Four Tops – ‘Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I Got)’
From Keeper Of The Castle (ABC, 1972)
The relationship between Jay-Z and Big Jaz extends well beyond this contribution on Reasonable Doubt. The mentor to a young Sean Carter in the late ‘80s, Jaz released the classic, “The Originators” in 1989, providing Jay with his first taste of the spotlight seven years prior to seeing a full-length release.
Featuring Foxy Brown and earning prominent product placement on the surprisingly solid, Nutty Professor SDTK, “Ain’t No Nigga’ was the most commercially successful single from RD, charting at 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales. Thanks to a shared sample source from The Whole Darn Family’s “Seven Minutes of Funk,” comparisons with EPMD’s ‘It’s My Thing’ are obvious. Incorporating two distinct two-bar sequences from the source material, Big Jaz’s manipulations are limited, but given the song’s stripped down aesthetic, too much fiddling would have destroyed the addictively funky groove. With an interpolation of the Four Tops’ “Ain’t No Woman (Like The One I Got)” inspiring the hook, “Ain’t No Nigga,” attests to the clean and simple aesthetic that threads much of Reasonable Doubt.
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Posted in Beat Deconstruction, Dan Love | 10 Comments »
April 28th, 2009
Of course, it just isn’t going to work out. How can you take a girl seriously who carries a teacup chihuahua in her purse? In terms of white boys with ultra-Semitic names who re-appropriate black music, I’m riding with Mayer Hawthorne all day. This still doesn’t mean that I want Hashem Goldberg to be the next reggae superstar. Ah fuck.
Download:
MP3: Mayer Hawthorne-”Just Ain’t Gonna’ Work Out”
MP3: Mayer Hawthorne-”Maybe So, Maybe No”
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 1 Comment »
April 28th, 2009
Would that I had 2,000 words to wax rhapsodic about the extra-terrestrial stage presence and bizarro genius of Crystal Antlers percussionist, Sexual Chocolate.
Sundry facts about Sexual Chocolate that did not make the finished piece:
1. His first band was named Kiddie Porn.
2. His all-time favorite album is Babes in Toyland’s, Fontanelle.
3. His hobby is Karoake, specifically songs by Prince and The Cure. One of his life’s aspirations to form a Cure cover band called, If Robert Smith was a Black Man. They would wear white face and sing The Cure’s greatest hits.
4. His drink is Steel Reserve and anything free.
5. After getting fired from his previous band, Geisha Girl, Chocolate was left bandless. As such, he started a new band called Black Geisha, with Crystal Antlers frontman, Jonny Bell and a few other friends. They played four songs that Chocolate had written for Geisha Girl and two Joy Division covers. All the songs were entitled, “Don’t Fuck With Chocolate.”
6. His three favorite places in the world are Cork, Ireland, Coppenhagen, and Amsterdam–even though he got a a battle wound in the latter city. Said battle wound occurred when he fell on the train tracks and rolled around. Chocolate enjoys hash.
7. Chocolate found the hospitality wonderful in Ireland. Moreover, he was impressed by the fact that “girls in Ireland have really nice butts.” He maintains that “more black folks need to go there. It’s like a Sir Mix-a-Lot video.”
LA Weekly: People 2009: The Re-Percussionist–Sexual Chocolate
Download:
MP3: Crystal Antlers-”Andrew”
MP3: Crystal Antlers-”A Thousand Eyes”
Posted in LA Weekly | No Comments »
April 28th, 2009
If you’re kind enough to link, parts II and III will be added to the original post as soon as they’re published. Thanks.
“Feelin’ It” feat. Mecca
Ahmad Jamal – ‘Pastures’
From Jamal Plays Jamal (20th Century, 1974)
Think of “Feelin’ It” as an analogue to “Dead Presidents,” with both Ski-laced gems incorporating brooding piano samples into a classic hip hop production aesthetic. Originally cropping up on a Camp Lo demo, when Jay and Dame Dash heard the beat they were understandably enamored, and demanded that “Feelin’ It” find its way onto Reasonable Doubt.
Of the pair, “Feelin’ It” employs more overt simplicity, jacking an unadorned loop from Ahmad Jamal’s, ‘”Pastures,” for Jay to wax philosophic about Cristal keeping him wet like “Baywatch.” Though the piano is the sample’s chief instrumental component, both the rattling percussion and Jamil Nasser’s bass find their way into Ski’s slope, providing a crucial additional layer of texture. His trademark punchy drums and filtered bass groove finish off the fourth and final single. Though it only achieved moderate success on the Billboard Hot 100, “Feelin’ It” stands as firm evidence for Ski’s inclusion on any list of era-defining, mid-90s, NYC producers.
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Posted in Dan Love | 1 Comment »
April 27th, 2009
Whether labeled “Speedboat rap” or “yacht music,” Rick Ross is not deep. No one believes he is–save for Ross himself–a man who lives in an oblivious nether-galaxy heretofore reserved for Mike Tyson, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rod Blagojevich, Killa Cam, and Jim Jones–the real Jim Jones.
Even if we agree on this pathology, the “RICK ROSS IS GOOD NOW!” meme currently blighting the blogosphere remains patently ridiculous. It’s astonishing how easily a display of simple A-B-C rap facility has people rushing to Thesaurus.com, searching for superlatives. Yeah, ultimately, I agree with Sach’s assessment of Deeper than Rap. I gave it three stars at the Times, the same rating I gave to the FloRida album that I never linked to, because why would you want to read a FloRida review?
Both are well-constructured and rigorously competent corporate rap albums that lack soul, spontaneity, wit, and essentially everything that I like about music. Besides, smart money says that rappers don’t suddenly vastly alter rhyme schemes and styles at 33 years old, on their third major label effort. Cue the “Ride or Die” snippet of Jay: “for the right price, I can even make your shit tighter.” In the end, I’m fine with the coke fantasy fabrications, the hulking bombast, even the beard. OK, especially the beard. But if you’re going to re-make The Adventures of Baron Von Munchausen as a rap album, at least do Terry Gilliam right–don’t give us some Michael Bay bombs and banality shit. BAWSE!
LA Times: Rick Ross–Deeper Than Rap Review
Download:
MP3: Rick Ross-”Mafia Music”
MP3: Rick Ross ft. Kanye West, T-Pain, Lil Wayne-”Maybach Music 2″
Posted in LA Times | 10 Comments »
April 27th, 2009
Dan Love, the man behind Oh Word’s epic de-construction of Illmatic, returns with a sequel worthy of hoverboards and Gray’s Sports Alamanac. A tip of the tilted brim to Hip-Hop is Read, for aiding and abetting the sample collection. For a full Zip of samples, click here.
Despite a plethora of highly acclaimed and commercially successful albums over a nearly two-decade career, there’s little doubt that for fans of that New York boom-bap, Jay-Z’s solo debut, Reasonable Doubt, remains his creative zenith. With his newly constructed Mafioso persona devastatingly realised throughout, Jay-Z’s lyrical prowess requires little elaboration–but what about the beats? With a stellar line-up including DJ Premier, Ski, Clark Kent, and others, the music warrants as much attention as Jigga’s rhymes, and yet continues to lurk in the hefty shadow of his lyrical genius.
To rectify this imbalance, here lies a detailed analysis of all fourteen cuts found on Reasonable Doubt, with an explicit focus on sample sources and production techniques. For the diggers out there, all necessary information is included to find the known original breaks, so prepare to get those fingers dusty. My advice? Throw on your copy of the LP, kick back, and appreciate some of the finest slabs of mid-‘90s production ever committed to wax. Like you needed an excuse…
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Posted in Dan Love | 13 Comments »
April 24th, 2009
Jonathan Bradley: Real Name. No Gimmicks.
Hip-hop has a lot in common with the Republican Party. Both are largely racially homogeneous, fond of guns and suspicious of gays. Also, both are strongest in the South, obsessed with the Reagan era, concerned about a decline in their popularity, and have recently mourned the death of a man named Tony Snow.
Shit, maybe hip-hop is the Republican Party. Bobby Jindal and Lil’ Boosie would attend the same parties, right? Anyway, the most important point of comparison between the GOP and hip-hop is that both are ostensibly broad churches. In that case, call Asher Roth rap’s Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee Chairman, who conservatives hoped would be their Barack Obama, but instead turned out to be some guy who promised his public relations strategy, aimed at, no kidding, “urban-suburban hip-hop settings” would be “off the hook.”
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Posted in The Bradley Effect | 19 Comments »
April 23rd, 2009
Sach O would rather be listening to Smif N Wessun or Scarface. Come back next week for much better records.
Two big-budget major label rap albums are dropping this week. One is by a slightly geeky frat boy whose hit single is an ode to keggers, and whose attempt at a “lyrical track” (ahem) involves the words “Go Kart”. The other is by a portly Haitian guy who’s been beefing with 50 Cent, and whose album revolves exclusively around cocaine and the objects/women that are available if one successfully distributes cocaine.
One of these records is funny, can you guess which one?
You’d be forgiven for assuming Asher Roth’s, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, would be good for a chuckle. Everything from the album cover, to the novelty single, to the 4:20 release date, promises light-hearted fun and good times. Full disclosure: I’d heard exactly 2 Roth songs prior to his album leak, so I’m out of the loop in terms of the blogosphere’s love/hate relationship with the guy, and nothing on Asleep in the Bread Aisle has managed to convince me to pick a side. Rather, all it’s done is left me wondering how Frat Rap’s wunderkind could be so…dull.
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