Evan Nabavian » Passion of the Weiss

May
23

Evan Nabavian is mostly not lying. I might get pilloried by team Passion for writing this, but I think Drake kills it – absolutely kills it – when he makes music at the exact right point in his menstrual cycle. “No Lie” counts among the five Drake songs I like, the first four being “Best… Continue reading »

May
07

The Small Professor & “The Old Eleven”

Evan Nabavian learned to stop going to the club with Isaiah Thomas. The hard way. The most interesting rap production usually comes from the “other” pile. That’s the stuff that has yet to be associated with a movement, scene, region, decade, or pants size. Beats are more special when you can’t label them easily. The… Continue reading »

Apr
25

The Mental Warfare of Starlito

Evan Nabavian prefers Ibuprofen to Tylenol. Starlito is amazing. The perennially overlooked Nashville rapper has songs that make your soul itch, he can melt a Lex Luger beat better than anyone, and he made a mixtape referencing Step Brothers. And in all cases, he’s a virtuoso. Starlito always sounds like he just crawled out of… Continue reading »

Apr
19

Psychedelic Superheroes: Wu Block Get Bizarre

Evan Nabavian also enjoys the Green Lantern and Blue Dream. So far, Sheek Louch and Ghostface Killah’s collaborative album has materialized in the form of threadbare New York rap over throwaway beats. One would hope that none of these actually make the album and Wu-Block is produced entirely by the ’98 Hitmen or MF Doom.… Continue reading »

Apr
04

The Fantastic Plastic of Lee Bannon

Evan Nabavian is considering taking a job in plastics. A man claiming to be recording himself taking a dump with his iPod screams, “I got video chat on this muthafuckaaa! I got a million games on this muthafuckaaa!” right before the song abruptly switches to an antiquated infomercial about the Internet. The distorted clips and… Continue reading »

Mar
26

David Banner and Big K.R.I.T. are Believers

Evan Nabavian sampled Three Dog Night in his last job application. Awkwardly co-opted cheeseball hooks hit their crescendo when J.R. Writer sampled “Oh Ho Ho It’s Magic” and Juelz Santana had the neighbhorhood kids flip the Hess Truck theme into a crack jingle. Both hallmarks of the Dips’ legacy, for sure. The hook on David… Continue reading »

Mar
20

Neptunes Never Really Die

Evan Nabavian continues to search for whatever happened to that boy. The Neptunes sound died a quiet death some time after Hell Hath No Fury. Prominent or otherwise worthwhile Neptunes tracks have been scant ever since. Maybe T-Pain, Lex Luger, 40, Bangladesh, Hit-Boy, and David Guetta made them obsolete. Maybe Pharrell is having more fun… Continue reading »

Mar
08

We Bought a Jameszoo

Evan Nabavian declined Scarlett Johannson’s entreaties to star as the male romantic lead due to their complicated past. For first world heads, indigenous tunes are most comfortably viewed through the lens of sutured loops. Madlib is our hermeneutical guide through canopies of Indian grooves and Oh No our Ethiopian safari leader. Side-props to Hubert Daviz’… Continue reading »

Feb
27

DJ Headnodic – Funky Star Wars

Evan Nabavian was briefly the bassist for the Evil Genius Orchestra. Star Wars goes with everything. DJ Headnodic compiled 70s and 80s Star Wars covers into a 40 minute mix called Funky Star Wars which, if you ask me, should be somehow worked into the official Star Wars canon. This reminds me of my undeveloped… Continue reading »

Feb
01

Chain Swinging: Jackie Chain and Freddie Gibbs go VIP

Evan Nabavian is a very irrefutable person. Which is worse: the most ill-considered rap/rock crossover or the cheapest instance of rap co-opting electronic? I vote for the latter, because rappers keep getting away with it. And yet, here I am giving Jackie Chain a pass on a particularly flagrant fist-pumper. “Night is Young” is as… Continue reading »