May 11th, 2009
Too young and initially obsessed with hip-hop to have seen The Dead when they were still Grateful, my communion with the skull and roses is primarily a personal one. The first Damuscus Moment tape: a battered bootleg temporarily loaned by an ex-girlfriend, but hoarded as break-up spoils–dubbed off a radio station in Provo, Utah. Studded with Dylan covers and a broken-down but beatific Jerry–vocals sounding like a man who’d just spent a decade in a desert, guitars glowing and gliding like a shooting star. A type of diseased soul music, simultaneously spiritually nourishing and entrancingly vacant.
This was in my early 20s, right at the moment that Andrew Gaerig once described as, “when [you] become secure enough with [your] music tastes to start buying albums that the kids [you] hated in high school enjoyed.” I never hated hippies–I just didn’t get the appeal beyond the shallow triumph of cheap drugs and a pre-packaged lifestyle. Just because you liked The Dead didn’t mean you had to like Phish and Dave Matthews, and that metal-mouthed kid with dreads who sold oregano to 8th graders and really liked whippets…
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May 8th, 2009
There are three albums I’d theoretically want to write a 33 1/3 about: Fela Kuti’s Expensive Shit/He Miss Road, Ghostface’s Supreme Clientele, and Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus. 500 words clearly doesn’t cut it, but it’ll have to suffice.
LA Times: Company Flow-Funcrusher Plus Reissue
Download:
MP3: Company Flow-”Juvenile Technique”
MP3: Company Flow-”Simian Drugs”
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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″
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April 22nd, 2009
Next week, we’ll tackle more pressing questions like keeping Atlantis off the map, making Steve Gutenberg a star, and keeping the metric system down. But for the duration of this one, consider Passion of the Weiss, official anti-stone mason headquarters.
On Thursday and Friday, Sach and Jonathan Bradley will battle the bulge of Roth publicist e-mails that bloat my inbox. After all, only hours ago, Roth’s fleet flackses informed me that Asleep debuted at number one on iTunes, with “major retailers underestimating Asher Roth’s grass roots support from blogs and magazines in the hip-hop and indie community and are scrambling to get more copies in-stores!” I’m not surprised. The marketing muscle thrown behind our new rap philosopher-king is astonishing, as Dart artfully explains here.
My review at the Times is too short for true justice, but thankfully Ian Cohen went in “Winter Warz”-style at Pitchfork, gravity-bonging it with an appropriate, 2.4. How is anyone supposed to respect a rapper who lets the waddling late-period Larry Holmes that is Busta Bus, look like the Easton Assassin of ‘82, who floored original Great White Hype, Gerry Cooney? Has an “event album” ever been as un-eventful as this one? Is it safe to conclude that Steve Rifkind is the Reverend Fred Sultan?
LA Times: Asher Roth–Asleep in the Bread Aisle Review
Download:
MP3: Asher Roth ft. Busta Rhymes-”Lion’s Roar”
MP3: Ghostface Killah-”Who’s the Champion”
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April 16th, 2009
Not much to add that the title doesn’t explain. All in all, a fair quarter for rap albums: two great ones (UGK 4 Life, Born Like This), one great mixtape (Superbad), and a half dozen solid to very good efforts. For better or worse, contemporary hip-hop is about keeping up. Product is increasingly disposable. It’s hard to care. I get it. But if you dig, it’s out there, the onus is just on you (I do what I can, but time + outside interests are a motherfucker.)
Yes, I wish that the names Rick Ross and Asher Roth conjured jello-eating, high-waisted, Floridean retirees, rather than the two biggest names you’re supposed to like. And yes, I often spend days like yesterday–flashing back to ‘93 Yo! MTV Raps and the video for Da Youngstaz’s ‘”Crewz Pop.” But I’m going to Coachella today, and for once, not in any mood to complain–now off to cop a Hadley’s Date Shake.
LA Times: The Quarterly Report–The Best Rap Albums of the First Quarter of 2009
Download:
MP3: DOOM-”That’s That”
MP3: UGK-”Swishas and Erb”
ZIP: Boosie-Superbad: The Return of Mr. Wipe Down (Left-Click)
MP3: Camp Lo-”Gotcha”
MP3: Exile-”The Sound is God”
MP3: Finale-”One Man Show” (prod. by Black Milk)
MP3: Blu-”Amnesia”
MP3: Del-”Get It Right Now”
ZIP: Tiron-Ketchup (Left-Click)
MP3: Harmonic 313 ft. Elzhi & Phat Kat-”Battlestar”
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April 10th, 2009
We’ve already discussed Kode9, so I’ll spare the windy intro. An interview with the Hyperdub baron is up at Pop and Hiss. A few extra answers are below the jump. His show tonight with Flying Lotus might be my most anticipated of the year thus far. Between Black Moth Super Rainbow and Flying Lotus, I fully anticipate the Golden Cricket Trapeze All-Stars to be my next favorite group. Of course, this would violate the rule that any band with “All-Star,” in its name is invariably bad, but I’m willing to make an exception.
LA Times: Cracking the Kode: Kode9 on the future of dubstep, Hyperdub, Flying Lotus and new Burial
Download:
MP3: Flying Lotus Vs. Kode9–”Live on Rinsefm Nov. 20, 2007″ (Left-Click)
MP3: Kode9-”Babylon”
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April 3rd, 2009
As you may have read, UGK 4 Life, has drawn largely rave reviews. This is to be expected for a sentimental favorite like the Underground Kingz, but the praise is warranted. Neck-and-neck with the Doom for my favorite rap release of the year, UGK’s last album manages to be the rare swan song essential for the music alone. Old man rap for the win.
LA Times: The Posthumous Triumph of UGK 4 Life
Amazon: UGK-UGK 4 Life
Download:
MP3: UGK ft. Sleepy Brown-”Swishas and Erb”
MP3: UGK ft. Ron Isley-”The Pimp and the Bun”
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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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