September 4th, 2008
It’s not my policy to run reviews here that have appeared elsewhere, but due to space constraints my LA Times review of Young Jeezy’s “The Recession” got severely truncated. These are just the vagaries of the business but unfortunately, the published version tilts more polemic than actual review.
Yes, the original draft is venomous, slightly strident and still probably 200 words too short. But it’s sincere and maybe a necessary counterweight to the patently absurd, forced intellectualization that critics project onto Jeezy. If you don’t believe me, please see the Rolling Stone (now with video!) and Washington Post reviews, with the latter reconditely remarking that “The Recession” is a few tracks too bloated to be this generation’s “What’s Going On?.” Personally, I see it as more our “Revolver,” but hey what do I know?
Review After Jump
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Posted in LA Times | 18 Comments »
August 28th, 2008
Last Friday, my feature on The Arabian Prince, a seminal and slept-on figure in hip-hop history, ran in the LA Times. If you’d like to read it, it can be found here. I think it does an adequate job of summarizing who Arabian is and why he’s important enough for Peanut Butter Wolf and Stones to release an anthology of his ’80s material. However, as my interview with Arabian ran well over an hour, a lot of material got left on the cutting room floor. So below the jump, here’s the full transcript of the interview, touching on the history of Los Angeles hip-hop, NWA and Arabian’s unfettered love for Spongebob Squarepants.
Download:
MP3: Arabian Prince-”Strange Life”
MP3: Arabian Prince-”Let’s Hit the Beach”
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Posted in Interviews, LA Times | 10 Comments »
August 27th, 2008
A lot of you Internet lurkers seem to hate The Game, but per the gist of my Times review that ran yesterday, he raps well, picks good beats, gets great guest appearances, and makes albums that are competent homages to the West Coast gangster rap that I grew up loving. Granted, I probably could’ve used 250 words to drone on, but thus is life. Besides, I co-sign pretty much the entirety of Zeus’ review.
The moral of the story is that The Game is not better than your favorite rapper but he’s better than you think. Also, there is a high probability that at some point in the next 14 months, The Game will break into Dr. Dre’s house and boil his pet rabbit.
LA Times: The Game-L.A.X. Review
Download:
MP3: The Game ft. Raekwon-”Bulletproof Diaries”
MP3: The Game ft. Lil Wayne-”My Life”
Posted in LA Times | 6 Comments »
August 10th, 2008
I really can’t say enough good things about Rock the Bells. The line-up was great, the accommodations generous and comfortable, the crowd knowledgeable and passionate. Plus, everyone involved gets extra-props for ensuring that no one gave the Black Eyed Peas any love during their “Hey, Don’t You Guys Remember That We Weren’t Always the Worst Rap Group on the Planet” nostalgia trip, made extra-ironic by the Peas performing their Behind the Front material, i.e. songs devoted to the notion that they would “never sell out” and always “keep it real.”
As I discuss in the Times article, Pharcyde, Tribe and Rae and Ghost were easily the day’s sonic highlights. However, Rock the Bells 2008 will be forever ingrained in my memory for the site of David “Bud Bundy” Faustino, owning the VIP room, rocking a fedora and a Dipset shirt. See photo here. Sadly, the 100 degree heat left me near heat-stroke, which meant that I stayed away from alcohol and thus was in no condition to inquire whether he would be willing to rap the first 16 bars of “Reppin’ Time,” for me. Perhaps next year. In the meantime, I suppose it’s just Byrd gang 4 life.
LA Times: Rock the Bells Review
Download:
MP3: A Tribe Called Quest-”Same Ol’ Thing”
MP3: Pharcyde-”Pork”
MP3: Ghostface ft. Raekwon & Fat Joe-”Clientele”
Posted in LA Times | 7 Comments »
July 14th, 2008
So there’s this.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-nas12-2008jul12,0,6432984.story
Before the Nas Stanley Kowalski’s start bellowing “Stella (matic)” in the comments section allow me to make a few brief points:
1. I do believe Nas is sincere. Unfortunately, he’s a victim of the imperial bloat of his own mind. When enough people tell you you’re a genius you start to believe it. Not every poet is a prophet and vice-versa. Unfortunately, Nas isn’t aware that the two terms are mutually exclusive. He’s rap’s Ezra Pound. Not the good Pound. The ranting, controversy-stirring fascist of the end. Or did you find “hip-hop is dead?” an example of extraordinary liberalism?
2. As Tal Rosenberg saliently points out: “Nas forgets that what made him great when he was younger wasn’t “hunger,” it was that he was deft at being on the outside looking in rather than from on top polemicizing to people who couldn’t care less. Nas is about observation, not contemplation. The latter breeds the former instead of the other way around.”
3. With the exception of “Fried Chicken” and “Queens Get the Money,” these beats are fucking awful.
4. Wale’s “The Kramer,” has more complexity and nuance in just one song than does the entirety of Untitled. Hell, I’d probably even argue the same for “Get Cha’ Issue” off II Trill.
5. I’m sure someone is going to chime in with the standard, “aww…stupid white boy, what do you know about racism or the African-American experience” card. And yes, I understand that few white people outside of maybe John Howard Griffin or Brother Ali can truly ever understand what it’s like to deal with racism on a daily basis.
But Nas’ critique feels stale to me, the sort of divisive old-guard radicalism that ultimately helped tear the country asunder, whether done by Black Panthers or by the ultra-right wing wack jobs that hijacked the government for the last eight years. Thankfully, it’s a different time and America’s on the precipice of hopefully electing its first black President, one whose ideology is predicated upon uniting people across divides and ending exclusionary politics. Of course, this will never redress hundreds of years of racial ills, but at the very least, it’s a damn good reason to be optimistic. Nas seems reactionary, stuck in the past, kicking, screaming, refusing to move on.
I won’t get into the problematic glorification of Farrakhan either. Because even though the man has been quoted saying, that “false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood that is seeding the American people and the people of the world and bringing you down in morals…The wicked Jews that promote lesbianism and homosexuality,” I’d probably be willing to let it slide if the record sounded good. Hell, Erykah Badu gives a similar nod to Farrakhan on New Amerykah and her album remains a lock for my top-10. Besides, I still blame the Jews for Gene Simmons.
Ok. You can hate me now.
LA Times-Nas Review Untitled
Download:
MP3: Nas-”Queens Get The Money”
MP3: Nas ft. Busta Rhymes-”Fried Chicken”
Posted in LA Times | 47 Comments »
July 12th, 2008
While The Strokes presumably endure their beards and exotic religion phase, Albert Hammond Jr. has cranked out two solo albums in as many years. While they won’t make many year-end lists, both are well-crafted and eminently listenable records. This recent Pitchfork review pretty much nails it.
When I spoke to Albert he seemed like a reasonably nice fellow. down to earth, and really appreciative of the fact that the non-singing rhythm guitarist from The Strokes could have a viable solo career. I’m posting two of the best songs from his most recent album, Como Te Llama? The latter is called “Victory at Monterrey.” I presume it deals with a squabble with some unruly sea lions.
LA Times: Albert Hammond Jr.-Solo Albert Hammond Jr. is a Stroke of Good Fortune
Download:
MP3: Albert Hammond Jr.-”GFC”
MP3: Albert Hammond Jr.-”Victory at Monterey”
Posted in LA Times | No Comments »
July 10th, 2008
There really isn’t much more to add than what I said in the piece. One of the world’s premier geniuses playing at one of the world’s premier venues. If you couldn’t find at least some sort of minor transcendence, you clearly weren’t looking hard enough. As I said, in the first draft, had they re-tried the Scopes evolution case in 2008, the creationist argument would best be bolstered by a trip to see Stevie Wonder sing at the Hollywood Bowl on a perfect summer night. All the classics were accounted for. “Superstition,” “Signed, Sealed & Delivered,” “Livin’ in the City,” etc. You can imagine.
Unrelated fun fact of the day: Stevie Wonder’s real name is Stevland Hardaway Judkins.
LA Times: Live-Stevie Wonder at the Hollywood Bowl
Download:
MP3: Stevie Wonder-”Master Blaster (Jammin’)”
MP3: Stevie Wonder-”Livin’ For the City”
MP3: Stevie Wonder-”Don’t You Worry About a Thing”
MP3: Stevie Wonder-”I Wish”
Posted in LA Times | 1 Comment »
June 27th, 2008
It was surreal enough to get 21st row seats to the BET Awards, complete with a prime view of both the stage and the talent coming to and from their seats. But watching the Reverend Al absolutely murder it in rehearsals in front of just 100 people was downright unforgettable. Needless to say, this post needs 5,000 words, several long walks, three bottles of water, two cups of coffee and enough marijuana to feed a Marin County family of four. But there’s no time for that, so we’ll all just have to make due and sulk. In bullet point form.
- With James Brown in the grave, Al Green is probably the greatest soul singer alive. Watching that man sing is like watching the Pope shuffle potential pedophile priests: smooth, efficient and just a little too easy (like this joke). When everyone broke into a group-sing-along during “Let’s Stay Together,” I got more chills than I have at any point this year. The only possible exception being the time my waitress at an Ethiopian restaurant accidentally spilled beer on my lap.
- Young Jeezy was spotted with what Raekwon might have called an F.C.A. (fly colored Asian.) While her figure certainly seemed proportional to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s anatomical charts for rap guy’s girlfriends, I had always thought that Jeezy liked white girls.
- I kind of miss the beef element that Rap Awards Shows used to have. Not that I want to see anyone get hurt or anything, but watching Yeezy, Weezy, Jeezy and T-Peezy (?) put flowers in each other’s hair made me grow nostalgic for the days when Suge Knight would make fun of Puffy for dancing in videos in shiny suits and Ghost would brag about bringing 200 “untitleds” with swords.
T-Wayne nee T-Pain: Subtly Letting the World Know What Else He And Wayne Did in California
Photo via BET
- If there is love in “this club,” I’m reasonably certain that I don’t want to know about it.
- Does Nelly think that just because he comes out shirtless and buff that somehow it will make people forget that he’s still Nelly in the year 2008?
- I Interviewed Nas’ for about two minutes. He spoke in cliches and is shorter than you’d expect. I got to interview Big Boi for about two minutes as well. We talked briefly about the show and Sir Lucious Leadfoot. He made sure that I knew that Lucious doesn’t have an “s” in it, because he’s not soft. When I gushed stannishly (no T-Wayne) how much I liked “Royal Flush,” he told me it was going to have 15 other tracks equally good. While I doubt that’s going to happen, I do think that Big Boi has it in him to make a truly great solo album. Rule #1, leave the Purple Ribbon Crew other than Killer Mike at home.
- If it is at all possible, I highly advise you to find a clip of DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Flo Rida and T-Pain’s set. It involved a circus motif, pink unicorns and T-Pain dressed up in a suit with silver sparkles, making him look like a cross between a Happy Hardcore Candy Raver and the Wizard of Oz. There were also dancing video ho’s on stilts and midgets breathing fire. Which means that someone at some point, found the performance medley a bit too lacking and felt that the situation demanded fire-eating midgets. There is an SNL skit in here waiting to be written.
DJ Khaled: The Brian Scalabrine of Hip-Hop
- Is it too much to ask Rick Ross to wear a shirt once in a while. I don’t know if dude has watched one Dove soap commercial too many and somehow arrived at the conclusion that moobs are sexy. You never saw Biggie shirtless. The Fat Boys never conformed to industry pressures to appear topless on camera. Hell, when Heavy D finally “found love” at least the overweight lover had the decency to wait until after the video to take his shirt off.
- It’s beyond me why someone as beautiful as Rihanna continues to rock the Grace Jones look. Hey, I get it, we all like “My Jamaican Guy” but there was a reason why Grace Jones looked like that: cocaine. Lots of it.
- A particularly surprising and awesome part of the show came when Alicia Keys’ snoozer of a set morphed into a girl band tribute from the 90s featuring SWV, En Vogue and TLC. Jade must be pissed. Sadly, Steve Sanders wasn’t on the nominating committee.
LA Times-Green Day at the Shrine
MP3: Al Green-”Let’s Stay Together”
MP3: Al Green-”Love and Happiness”
MP3: Grace Jones-”My Jamaican Guy”
Posted in LA Times | 9 Comments »
June 18th, 2008
Photo via Stefano Paltera/LA Times
I don’t even know where to begin. I mean I braced myself for the weirdness, but Monday night’s Lil Wayne concert at the House of Blues may have been the most surreal show I’ve ever been to. Among the bizarre things witnessed:
- Wayne repeatedly applying lip gloss taken from his professional lip gloss girl standing behind him (see pictures of the lip gloss girl and more at Play.) There are several things that I never want to know. One of them is why Lil Wayne needs to pay someone 40,000 k a year (rough estimate) to keep his lips moist.
- Suge Knight sitting at Lil Wayne’s private table on the upstairs balcony with a young and very attractive girl grinding into his lap. Me, resisting the urge to recommend that Suge hang Lil Wayne out of a window to procure his publishing. Hey, everyone’s got to eat.
- A guest appearance from Baby, with father and son displaying a salient and palpable homo-erotic current. At times, watching Weezy Fitzgerald Baby and Birdman dance together felt like a combination of Footloose and Deliverance.
- Wayne repeatedly sipping from a white styrofoam cup on stage, presumably infuriating Al Gore for his lack of eco-friendliness. No word on whether or not the liquid in said cup was pinker than the Easter Rabbit.
- The worst guitar solo ever performed. Like making Bill S. Preston Esq. look like Eddie Van Halen bad
- A performance of “Pussy Monster,” with Wayne’s clown-red pants practically down to his knees and him writhing on the floorboards, phantom-fucking the air. In other news, it can be safely relayed that the phrase “Pussy Monster,” is not allowed to be used in a family newspaper, even if said phrase is referring to a song title. This is probably a good thing.
- Wayne walking off the stage wearing a white robe with the words “Best Rapper Alive” sown onto the back, lip-synching to the sweet strains of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” Presumably, because “I’m Every Woman,” would’ve just been totally over the top.
LA Times: Lil Wayne Live at the House of Blues
Download:
MP3: Lil Wayne: “La La La”
MP3: Lil Wayne-”I Feel Like Dying”
MP3: Lil Wayne-”Off the Docks”
Posted in LA Times | 17 Comments »
June 15th, 2008
Photo Via Ken Hively/LA Times
On his New Yorker blog last month, Sasha Frere-Jones wrote that Erykah Badu’s live show “gave everyone in the house serious bragging rights. Dylan in 1965, Metallica in 1985, Bad Brains in 1981—it was one of those points on the arc. If you want to know who is at her peak, who is both of her moment and channeling so many forces that her work spills out over the edges of history and stops time, that’s Erykah Badu in 2008.”
Now even Dr. Nick Riviera would diagnosis such behavior as exhibiting signs of serious Baduizm, but truth be told, after last Thursday’s Badu/Roots show at the Greek, I too was struck by the sudden urge to rock plaid and gulp gallons of green tea. Granted, I’m not ready to yet put the show in such rarefied air, but suffice to say, Ms. Erykah “On and On” Badu put on the best performance I’ve seen this year. And this is coming from someone who wasn’t even a big fan prior to New Amerykah.
Openers, The Roots looked sharper than they have in years with Thought kicking “75 Bars” with such fury that it should be required viewing for all aspiring MC’s. Guitarist Capt. Kirk Douglas locked into some Eddie Hazel, interplanetary freak-outs (no Jean-Luc Picard) that pushed wigs back.*Still, the legendary couldn’t hold an incense stick to low down Loretta Brown. The review is in the Times. If Badu comes to your town, trust, the live show is well worth the risk of being forced to wear a Newsies hat for the next half decade.
*Though it can be safely reported that Badu’s wig continued to hold nicely.
LA Times-”Erykah Badu’s ‘Vortex Tour’”
Download:
MP3: Erykah Badu-”The Healer”
MP3: Erykah Badu-”Soldier”
MP3: The Roots ft. Mos Def & Styles P-”Rising Down”
MP3: The Roots-”75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)”
Posted in LA Times | 6 Comments »
