Max Bell is excited for Paid Dues. If you haven’t heard Awolnation’s “Sail” yet, then you either haven’t turned on your radio or your TV since June of 2011. Or, like me, you’ve done your damndest to ignore it. The song is everywhere. Like here, here, here, and here. It’s a well-articulated and well-funded (they’re on Red… Continue reading »
If there was one record from 2012 that combined the drug-addled sociopolitical paranoia of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the wandering and ever-questioning quest for self-discovery burned and soaked into the pages (not the recent film-adaptation) of Kerouac’s On the Road, and the maddening inquiry into the darkness of the human… Continue reading »
Dec
13
Slava P is the blog game, Aleksandr Petrovsky See Ab-Soul rap over a flipped” Last of a Dying Breed” beat and use polysyllabic words to say nothing at all. See Ab-Soul use elementary lyrical-miracles to maintain his rank as the second-least charismatic rapper on TDE with “Only 1.” See Ab’s Soul. I’m not saying that… Continue reading »
Tosten Burks is weird. It’s about time drill rap got weird. Just when you thought the Chicago bubble was getting boring, here’s an artist indulging in the sound of the moment and equally bored with it. Hence, the banging, queasy paranoia that is Jaye’s “Gods.” Daniel Worthy’s high hats are less sure of themselves, skittering… Continue reading »
Jimmy Ness for Prime Minister of Ur, 2012. Ab-Soul stunts with the ancient gods and turns his on Mesopotamian swag. Each TDE member is releasing a new song this week and he follows Jay Rock’s “YOLA” with raps about aliens, pyramids, and conspiracies. If you’re not part of the hip-hop star-gazer society or you don’t… Continue reading »
“Look inside my parking garage/ and see a collage/ of every person I’ve despised/ since the moment I’ve turned 5.” That might be the best opener of any song all year. Bandanna P worthy. Soul’s line about Derek Fisher is also worth the price of a Staples Center ticket. Video’s cool, but Black Hippy are… Continue reading »
Jonah Bromwich isn’t paranoid. They really are out to get you. Ab-Soul isn’t a paranoid. Paranoids are unsure, constantly waiting for the chance to react to their suspicions. By contrast, Ab-Soul stays recruiting, sure that if he can unite all the gangs in the world, they may stand a chance against the military. That’s the… Continue reading »
May
16
TDE have listened to enough Pac to know that rhymes alone can be the blueprint for money-making. The “Black Lip Bastard (Black Hippy Remix)” is a week old and I feel compelled to ensure that everyone has heard it. Even though I know you’re reading this on the Internet, so you’ve already heard it. But… Continue reading »
Jimmy Ness feels your pain. Ab Soul takes a break from rapping about pills and dirty Sprite to channel the spirit of OG Nate Dogg. The Black Hippy grooves while ringing a booty call, tries his best to look like Wish Bone and wears sunglasses in the dark. With help from TDE affiliate JaVonte, Soulo… Continue reading »
Apr
17
I am down by law with any rapper who describes himself as po’ like “Edgar Allan,” “floating like root beer and ice cream,” and christens songs after the pineal gland, which according to Descartes was the “principal seat of the soul.”
Excellent Adventures
Bogus Journeys
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Listening
Jeff Weiss
Sach O
Douglas Martin
Aaron Matthews
Doc Zeus
Max Bell
Evan Nabavian
Tosten Burks
Matt Shea
Slava P
Jimmy Ness
Jonah Bromwich
Adam Wray
Reading
Jeff Weiss
Sach O
Douglas Martin
Max Bell
Aaron Matthews
Slava P
Jonah Bromwich
Doc Zeus
Adam Wray
Alex Piveysky
Evan Nabavian
Watching
Jeff Weiss
Sach O
Douglas Martin
Max Bell
Aaron Matthews
Evan Nabavian
Jonah Bromwich
Slava P
Doc Zeus
Matt Shea
Adam Wray
Alex Piveysky
Inner Sanctum
Miscellaneous Apostles
Local Natives
Understanding Media
The Sporting Life
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
Miscellaneous
