March 29th, 2009
Few things irk me more than the glut of critics self-righteously spitting at all things indie rap, while championing OJ Da Juice Man as the savior–as though there weren’t reams of photo negatives of them rocking backwards fitteds and Jansports. Conversely, nothing seems more trite than dudes championing “that real hip-hop,” while sneering at anyone with a recording budget bigger than one month’s rent.
It’s hard for me to critique the Paid Dues Festival. I’ve got boundless respect for both Murs and Guerilla Union: their contributions to hip-hop, their tireless work at preserving the culture, and the music/shows they’ve been a part of. Both Murs, Brother Ali, et. al, love and appreciate their fiercely loyal fan-bases, something clearly evident during the marathon autograph-signing sessions they put in following their sets.
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March 16th, 2009
Contemporary KY-R&B isn’t typically my cup of Chamomile. But last week, the Times had me on double Dream duty, penning a preview for his Kanye West-aided, Myspace-sponsored show, and writing a review of said show. Suffice to say, I find The-Dream somewhere between Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon,” and The Cranberries single, “Dreams.”
But in an R&B market starved for compelling voices (especially commercially bankable ones), Terius Nash is the best of the new jacks, blessed with a preternatural knack for melody and innate pop gifts. Love Vs. Money might be over-long and solipsistic, but in a singles-driven genre, “Rockin’ That Shit” and Kanye-collabo, “Walking On the Moon” are two of the most iTunes friendly things I’ve heard all year. My money’s on the latter to emerge as this year’s “American Boy.”
Yet there’s something disconcertingly faceless about The-Dream, with his discography finding him mostly vacillating between hero worship of Prince, R. Kelly, and Timbo. That said, the iconography is vivid and faithful. Truthfully, I tend to prefer the classic Stax/Motown model, (see last year’s Raphael Saadiq album, anything on Daptone or Now-Again), or singers struck with a streak of off-kilter gonzo humor like T. Pain and late-model R. Kelly.
Ultimately, compared to his competition–cornballers like Akon and J. Holiday–The-Dream seems like a revelation. Still, I’m just biding my time for the Jodeci comeback. More photos below the jump, courtesy of Myspace.
Download:
MP3: The-Dream ft. Fabolous, Ludacris, Juelz Santana & Rick Ross-”Rockin’ That Shit Remix”
MP3: The-Dream ft. Kanye West-”Walking On the Moon”
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March 10th, 2009
In advance of the Good Life Reunion show this evening, I spoke with Myka 9 of legendary Good Life linchpin, Freestyle Fellowship. It wasn’t one of the best interviews I’ve ever done–Myka blew me off after 15 minutes to go eat lunch, and never called back. However, the dude gets a free pass, considering in his prime, he was one of the most fierce MC’s to ever emerge from this weird wormhole.
Tonight’s lineup is staggering: Myka, Busdriver, Cut Chemist, Chali 2na, Abstract Rude, Volume 10, Rifleman Ellay Khule, Busdriver, many more. Really, only Aceyalone, Self Jupiter, and P.E.A.C.E. are missing–substantial absences sure, but maybe they’ll roll through at the last minute. Elementary primer below–highly recommended to any Good Life neophytes and Kombucha afficianados.
LA Times–Still All Good: Myka 9 Talks the Glory Days of the Good Life and “1969″
Download:
MP3: Freestyle Fellowship-”Hot Potato”
MP3: Freestyle Fellowship-”Bullies of the Block”
MP3: Freestyle Fellowship-”7th Seal”
MP3: Aceyalone-”Mic Check”
MP3: Busdriver-”Sun Showers”
MP3: Volume 10-”Pistol Grip Pump”
MP3: Rifleman-”Room With a View”
MP3: Omid-”Beneath the Surface”
MP3: Self Jupiter-”Pro’s and Cons”
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March 8th, 2009
Bishop Lamont on his beef with The Game:
“I’m not trying to hate on the Game. At the end of the day, his mom and my mom are close friends. They go on vacation with T-Pain’s mom and Lil Wayne’s mom. It’s an issue of disrespect. He knows what it’s about. I’m not on some Wrestlemania-type stuff; he talked about me and I dished it back.”
Anyone who wants to collaborate on an SNL sketch about a Carnival Cruise vacation featuring rappers and their moms (and Manute Bol), please inquire within.
Over at the Times, I talk with Bishop about the ongoing Detox and Reformation delays, his Cube and Snoop-targeted No Country For Old Men collaboration with Crooked I, and whether he can bench-press more than Timbaland. Is it safe to assume Magoo gets paid to be his spotter?
LA Times: Bishop Lamont Is Holding His Breath for Detox and The Reformation
Download:
MP3: Bishop Lamont ft. Stat Quo, Busta Rhymes, and Warren G-”Bring It Back”
MP3: Bishop Lamont ft. Kobe-”If You Don’t Know the Code”
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March 2nd, 2009
Like many long-time Busta Rhymes fans, it was disheartening to watch his once-promising tenure at Aftermath dissipate into a miasma of acrimony, artistic failure, and ridiculous coke and crime boasts. As one person aptly put it: “How can Busta be bragging about all the weight he’s moved? Dude was on “Scenario.”
Thing is, after having releasing a steady string of good-to-great music for the last 18 years, Busta earned the right to a creative dry spell. He’s a legend, and things made more sense when he explained that the coke and crime shift was a reflection of the criminal charges he was facing, the loss of Israel Ramirez, the struggles with Interscope, and general dissatisfaction with the state of his life.
The man also gets points for being one of my favorite interviews ever. Had he not been cut off abruptly due to a meeting he was already an hour late for, our talk was well on its way to entering Barbara Walters-confessional territory. Unfortunately, I didn’t even get the chance to ask about the best way to get “Arab Money” during a recession. Back to Trader Joe’s Chicken Lo Mein bowls, I suppose. As always, interview B-sides after the jump.
LA Times: A Reinvigorated Busta Rhymes Skirts Controversy, Talks New Album
Download:
MP3: Busta Rhymes-”Don’t Touch Me (Throw ‘Da Water on Em”)
MP3: Busta Rhymes & Billy Danze-”Undescribable”
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February 24th, 2009
The first hour of Mochilla’s “A Suite for Ma Dukes,” was solid if not soporific. But when the surprise guests started rolling out, events rapidly turned memorable. Pos and Talib Kweli performing “Stakes is High.” Bilal, AmpFiddler, and the guy in Sa-Ra who doesn’t wear leopard, singing the hook on “Runnin,” backed by an orchestra that had just segued seamlessly from the song’s sample source: Stan Getz and Luis Bonfa’s “Saudade Vem Correndo.”Common coming out…in a tuxedo to give a polite two-minute address about the divinity of J Dilla’s beats.
Lonnie takes an “L” for this one. Was he too worried about being tardy to the Oscar after-parties that he couldn’t kick a few bars over “Nag Champa?” Was the Pivster waiting in the limo? The dude’s become the kind of guy who uses the word “hob-nob,” unironically. Erykah “On and On”Badu was rumored to be making an appearance, but she skates off on the “Just Had a Baby” card. Unless, she spent last night twittering.
The full review is at the Times. See also, Oliver Wang and Randall Roberts’s color commentary, at Soul-Sides and the LA Weekly, respectively.
LA Times: Live-A Suite For Ma Dukes @ Luckman Fine Arts Complex
Download:
MP3: De La Soul-”Stakes is High”
MP3: Pharcyde-”Runnin”
MP3: Stan Getz & Luis Bonfa-”Saudade Vem Correndo”
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February 2nd, 2009
Sick and in no mood for pleasantries or feigned witticisms, as a grotesque and sudden illness precluded me from leaving the house to watch the Super Bowl and seeing Mulatu Atsatke and Cut Chemist. Needless to say, I’d be on the warpath could I stand on sturdy legs.
In the meantime, I caught Wale’s set Thursday night, with Blu as the opener. Both were great, but the highlight was arguably Warren G coming out to perform “Regulate.” The review is short (450 words) and I’d hoped to expand on my thoughts in this post, but clarity isn’t exactly my strong suit right now–if it ever was. Posting may be light over the next few days, or confined to whiny posts involving ancient blues songs and Warren Zevon. The usual convalescent cavalcade.
LA Times: Live Review–Wale & Blu @ Key Club
Download:
MP3: Wale & Southeast Slim-”Flat Line”
MP3: Wale-”Warrior Freestyle”
MP3: Blu-”Change Ya World”
MP3: Blu-”Vanity”
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January 16th, 2009
I don’t begrudge John Legend his popularity. I wished I liked the guy more. He seems nice enough, wears argyle, went to Penn. It’s not that he isn’t talented. He’s a nimble piano player and wields a powerful singing voice. That said, there may not be a more cloying performer out there. The guy’s sappier than a Hallmark card. At one point, he sang a track called, “P.D.A. (We Don’t Care),” featuring the hook, “Let’s Go to the Park.” Which wouldn’t have been so bad were it not for the matching jumbo screen images of people holding hands on swing sets. Vanilla latte soul at its most soporific. “Green Light,” remains great. “John Legend” remains the worst misnomer since Stoner’s Pot Palace.
Opener Estelle was similarly professional. A slick and well-produced diva-in-training with a few choice cuts, none of which match up to “American Boy.” She’s a solid cipher for expensive beats and a paucity of ideas. As far as Estelle’s go, I still prefer Getty.
LA Times: John Legend, Vanilla & Sugar
Download:
MP3: John Legend ft. Andre 3000-”Green Light”
MP3: Estelle ft. Kanye West-”American Boy”
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January 12th, 2009
Yes, I know, another “link-to post.” All apologies. Credit a mild case of post-New Year’s indolence and the cold reality that you don’t need Jay Jenkins to inform you that it’s the recession and everybody’s broke. So if blog resources are diverted to earn Grants and Jackson’s, and thus avoid complete indigence–well, I hope you’ll understand. And while I’m being contrite, let me apologize for the headline. I didn’t do it*, nobody saw me do it, you can’t prove anything.
Rather than let the story molder in the Times’ backpages, the topic is worth discussing here–specifically, homophobia in hip-hop. In the article, I profile the gay hip-hop community that’s cropped up in recent years, a group of rappers who have saddled themselves with the unfortunate moniker, “homo-hop.” It also considers whether or not the genre is ready to handle an openly gay rapper. Granted, I’ve half-jokingly speculated in the past about the myriad potentially closeted rappers, but there’s a yawning gulf between Wayne kissing Baby in filial embrace and a rapper actually coming out.
Even Queen Latifah, who’s widely alleged to be gay, has never officially confirmed the rumors. By contrast, openly gay artists like Michael Stipe, Bob Mould, Stephen Merritt, and Hercules & Love Affair have flourished in rock. While self-righteous “no no homo” tirades aren’t necessary (does anyone even say that anymore?), it’d be nice to see a decline in the virulence of hip-hop homophobia. Understandably, the gay rappers profiled might not be up your alley, but if you’re open-minded, Captain Magik’s, “Dilemma” is worth checking out. Easy snickers aside, its a poignant and unstintingly honest song that could go a long way towards mending misconceptions that people might have about homosexuality. Though I confess that every time I hear the name Captain Magik, I will always think of this.
* I really didn’t do it, but cut the editors some slack; writing good headlines is harder than it looks.
LA Times: Get Hip; This is Life, Y’All
Stream:
Captain Magik Myspace
Last Offence Myspace
Deadlee Myspace
Posted in LA Times | 6 Comments »
December 23rd, 2008
Photo by Ringo Chiu/LA Times
Numbers 40 through 31 of the Year-End Top 50, will be up sometime around 2:00 p.m. PST. In the meantime, allow me to steer you in the direction of my review of Lil Wayne’s sold-out, Sunday night show, at the Gibson Amphitheatre. He was fine–certainly not as good as his adoring fans would have you believe, but certainly better than the pitiable lot of rappers left that are capable of going gold (Outkast notwithstanding). More importantly, he performed sans lip gloss holder, which one can only view as progress.
Shockingly, T-Pain stole the show, with a circus-themed act that featured fire-breathing women, dancers on stilts, midgets in Dead Presidents white-face and a stripping Britney Spears midget. The culmination came when the pygmy warriors starting freaking the Britney mini-me–or as Angelenos used to call it back in 2007, just another night at L.A.X. (no Jayceon Taylor). At one point during Pain’s rendition of “Buy U a Drank,” I turned to my friend and mumbled, “I take back all the bad things I ever said about this man.” Sort of.
LA Times: Lil Wayne-Live at the Gibson Amphitheatre
Download:
MP3: Lil Wayne-”Go DJ”
MP3: T-Pain-”Buy U A Drank”
Posted in LA Times | 4 Comments »
