Tosten Burks » Passion of the Weiss

Feb
10

What’s the Word: Exile & Fashawn Keep Rising

Tosten Burks is about to fall asleep on the steps. The latest flourish from Exile and Fashawn shows the difference between hip-hop that promotes fun and hip-hop that simply just is. The two trade bars on top of giggling guitar stutters and the hoots and hollers of a cartoon peanut gallery, chaptered by an off-pitch… Continue reading »

Jan
25

T. Shirt Is Angry

Tosten Burks #*&^ @*&+ing *#^~ mother ~#*% #^$* >&=* It takes time to get past the gimmicks of Queens rapper T.Shirt. The name might mock typical rapper-name nonsense, but that doesn’t make it any less dumb. Dubbing a video like this an “essay” doesn’t make it not blatant blog-bait provocativeness. Underneath the antics though, there… Continue reading »

Jan
12

Six Miles High with Hodgy Beats, Mellowhype, & Juicy J

Tosten Burks has his seatbelt safely fastened. As the New Year settles in, a new weed anthem surfaces. To whom else would we entrust the responsibility other than the venerable Juicy J? In the midst of a mid-30s career resurgence – the fountain of youth is apparently in Lex Luger’s basement – Juicy jumps on… Continue reading »

Dec
05

The Pharcyde’s SlimKid3, Now in His Older Days

Tosten Burks prefers No Shave Novembeard to Movember. There’s a slim line between a revival and revivalism. Take a mid-90’s MC and the producer for Jurassic 5 – a group that made a career on old-school homage – and it’s easy to be skeptical that the collaboration between SlimKid3 (of The Pharcyde) and DJ Nu-Mark… Continue reading »

Nov
21

Bishop Lamont, Grown Up

Tosten Burks wonders if Slim the Mobster wears slim-fitting suits. There is something bitterly ironic about the fact that Bishop Lamont reemerged from the post-Dre doldrums the same week that his replacement, the to-this-point relatively faceless, cliché low-register thug growler that is Slim the Mobster, debuted his first mixtape to the world. Bishop used to… Continue reading »

Nov
11

The Dreamer, The Believer, but most importantly, The Rapper

Tosten Burks is to hip hop what Bo the Dog is to politics. Finally, Common has stopped being a symbol, stopped being a Gap-wearing motivational poster, and started being a rapper again. The revival started with “Ghetto Dreams.” Unfortunately for Common, that song also started the revival of 2011-poet-laureate Nas, who has overshadowed better men… Continue reading »

Oct
27

Detroit Has a Posse

Tosten Burks is exempt from taking Detroit 101 because he passed the AP Detroit exam in high school. This is hip-hop that makes people shout out “this is hip-hop.” A posse cut whose participants actually sound like they’re all members of the same posse. Internal rhyme after internal rhyme of cocksure, gun-cock rhythm turns of… Continue reading »

Oct
05

ADd+ & Insomnia

Tosten Burks also occasionally appears in 140 characters. And just like that, Dallas’s best young rappers take another step towards making people care again about Dallas rap. Snagging Black Milk for the beat is a statement of legitimacy, a claim that even though ADd+ have less than 2,000 followers on Twitter, you still better be… Continue reading »

Sep
23

A Defense of Childish Gambino

Tosten Burks has never worn a skinny red zip up sweatshirt, but he is a fan of a nice cardigan. Donald Glover is a comedian. Childish Gambino is a rapper. Glover has paved a dichotomy for himself in the entertainment industry, dividing his music career from his comic career. If there truly exists a chasm… Continue reading »

Sep
14

The Reckless Machine: Odd Future’s Expansion Team

Tosten Burks only used the word “swag” once in the writing of this article. Everyone knows the story by now: faux-rebellious suburban skate punks drop staggering amounts of staggeringly crude haunted house rap onto message boards and quickly skyrocket to the top of the Internet on the backs of indignant teens and intellectual Caucasians. It’s… Continue reading »