http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsYL6MGqDss

When ex-Just Blaze proteges, Kidz in the Hall released their debut album, School Was My Hustle on the newly revived Rawkus Records, I didn’t listen to it for a variety of reasons. Chief among them was the “Ivy League Rap” label critics ascribed to the duo of Nawledge and Double-O. Still scarred from having heard Brown grad MC Paul Barman, I figured Ivy League Rappers were the last thing the world needed, besides something seemed corny about Kidz in the Hall’s insistence on trumpeting their Penn degrees and posing for their album cover in letterman’s jackets.* And by all accounts, their debut seemed stuck in the “conscious” neo-Native Tongues albatross that has flapped over indie rap since Rawkus’ first-go-around. To say nothing of the fact that one of the Kidz’ had the audacity to bestow himself with a rap name as openly condescending as Nawledge.

But that was two years ago, an eternity in rap time. In the interim, something people persist on calling “hipster rap” has come into vogue, an inane classification that Kidz in the Hall have roundly rejected (like the Supreme Court and prior restraint.) But no matter how vehemently they deny such labels, there’s a bit of truth to them, as the retro-aesthetic dominates the very funny and very good video for “Drivin’ Down the Block,” the jump-off single from The In Crowd, the Kidz’ new record slated to drop next week on Duckdown Records. **

(more…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl0kXbEa66I

The other day, I received a phone call from official Passion of the Weiss, Secretary of Shadowboxin’, Barry “Disco Vietnam” Schwartz. In between Barry’s lectures on why the dumb are mostly intrigued by the drum and why I need to stop haranguing U-God, he asked me if I’d heard the new Busta Rhymes song.

I answered no, as other than “Goldmine,” his pretty great 2006 collabo with Raekwon, I haven’t taken Busta seriously since he decided to re-invent himself as a Pablo Escobar-like coke dealer, one who had apparently forgot the fact that he anchored “Scenario.” But when I finally heard, “Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da’ Water on ‘Em),” it was fairly clear that this is the best Busta cut since the days when he used to don dresses and bake brownies with Martha Stewart. To paraphrase Barry, sometimes an artist, even one as presumably washed-up as Busta hears the right beat, gets inspired and the next thing we know, he’s produced something comparable to his past glories.

So as long as Busta doesn’t ultimately reveal that “Don’t Touch Me” is a bizarre, anti-gay manifesto, its got a reasonably good shot at ending up as one of my top singles of the year. MP3’s are below, complete with instrumental, which means that one of the MC’s reading this (I know you’re out there), should hit it with your best shot like Pat Benatar. I promise this will be the first and last Pat Benatar joke I ever make. Good day.

Download:
MP3: Busta Rhymes-”Don’t Touch Me (Throw Da Water On Em)”
MP3: Busta Rhymes-”Don’t Touch Me Instrumental”

After Tuesday night’s Atmosphere show, I’m convinced that it’s high-time we retired the label, “underground hip-hop.” Like “indie rock,” before it, the term has ceased to have any real meaning. When the phrase first started to gain currency in the mid-to-late 90s, it actually referred to something specific: the Rawkus/Rhymesayers/Def Jux/Quannum/Fondle ‘Em stuff that outwardly bucked the mainstream, big Willie posturing. But in 2008 there’s no mainstream to speak of. Rappers that move units: Kanye, 50, Wayne, are as pop as they are hip-hop.* And when a guy like Slug can sell out every date of his West Coast Tour, be named MTV Artist of the Week and debut at #5 on the charts, it’s a sign that the lines have grown hopelessly hazy. A dub or a sendspace link to Black and White in Dub to the first person who thinks of a clever genre catch-phrase that I can co-opt. Act now while supplies last.

As for the show, it was solid. Slug’s always been an impressive rapper and even though he’s arguably past his prime, he still can bring it on-stage. Moreover, I was stunned by how rabid his fan base has gotten. I saw them in October but this time felt more triumphant, a victory lap with both crowd and artist semi-stunned by the group’s recent trajectory. And yes, in case you were wondering, Ant still looks eerily like Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy.

*Don’t argue with me Wayne fanboys. Granted, I know that new cut with Bun B features dope rapping but still, this exists.

LA Times: Atmosphere Flying High

From When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold

MP3: Atmosphere-”Puppets”
MP3: Atmosphere-”Yesterday”

According to Portishead producer Geoff Barrow, the group’s latest jaunt was purely influenced by old hip-hop: “Public Enemy, Marley Marl, EPMD, Flying Lotus and Madlib. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Zilla Rocca decided to go in over III’s lead single, “Machine Gun.” The result is dazzling, a fast and furious stab over the beat’s cold industrial drums and Beth Gibbon’s ethereal banshee wail. Or as Rae so aptly put it on “It’s Yourz: “machine gun raps for all my n—z in the back.” Y’know the kind of stuff to listen to while rocking a fly jersey in the summertime, god.

Download:
MP3: Zilla Rocca-”Machine Gun Remix”
MP3: Portishead-”Machine Gun”

Video: Portishead-”Machine Gun”

You’ll have to forgive me this one. I know I’m late. Ian Cohen tossed a 7.8 to Crystal Castles’ in his Pitchfork review of their eponymous debut back in March and the blogosphere had been incessantly buzzing about the Toronto duo of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass for well over a year prior. But dance music has never been my forte and besides I’d always suspected there was a hint of hipster hype to Crystal Castles’ sudden rise to fame. I’d articulate concrete reasons for this, but I feel the picture above more than suffices. To say nothing of the unfortunate and hopelessly nebulous “blog-house” appellation that music journos coined to describe Crystal Castles, Justice, Simian Mobile Disco and the rest of the video-game inspired electro acts that have levitated to the top of the hype machine Most Blogged charts.

Granted, a significant portion of Crystal Castles, sounds like the mind of an ADD-addled, Atari-addicted 8-year old circa 1984, in those halcyon (or horrific) days before adderall was prescribed to every pre-teen averse to quiet time. “xxzxcuzx me” is as grating as its name, a two-minute conflagration of keyboard farts and hellish screams striving towards “existential horror” but landing closer to timorous caterwauling. As for “Love and Caring,” let’s just say that in ten years if they ever come out with one of those special edition deluxe re-packages of this record, I sincerely hope it comes with a bottle of Nuprin. (Ah. Nuprin. Little. Yellow. Better.)

But more often than not Crystal Castles succeed, creating something simultaneously dreamy but danceable, ethereal yet visceral, ideal for you and that weird friend of yours with a Jobu-like shrine to DJ Mehdi and Busy P in his room.* The record’s twin highlights “Crimewaves (Crystal Castles VS HEALTH”) and “Vanished” are some of the best songs of the year, not because they strike the main vein of whatever it is that could pass for the sound of our jittery zeitgeist (which they probably do), but because the way in which they sound infinite. They’re the kind of tunes ideal for late night driving, the pitch-black sky, the un-broken asphalt and the empty road, conjoining with the tribal thump of the drums and the anachronistic Atari assault at some vague vanishing point in the distance. Just don’t stop at the blog-house. **

*Is it safe to say at this point, that everyone in Ed Banger save for Justice sucks. And honestly, even Justice aren’t that good.
**Lodging at the Blog House costs $99.99 a night, including a hearty breakfast of Sparks and organic egg whites sprinkled with salt and mustache trimmings.

Download:
MP3: Crystal Castles-”Crimewave (Crystal Castles VS HEALTH)”
MP3: Crystal Castles-”Vanished”

Inspired by the Straight Bangin’ mixtape that kicks off with unsung gem, “Older Gods,” I’ve been listening to Wu-Tang Forever non-stop today. I feel like I say this every two years or so, but jeebus, this thing is so much better than I remember it being. Maybe it’s because I *get* it now but maybe it’s because the thing’s aged incredibly well.  I used to give Life After the Death the nod as the best rap double-album ever, but now I’m not so sure. I suppose it comes down to what you think is worse, “Fuckin’ You Tonight” or “Black Shampoo.”

Download:
MP3: Wu-Tang Clan-”Older Gods”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtr5-hOjJfs

• Markie appears to have had a Homer Simpsonian sense of delusion. Had he looked at himself in the mirror? The guy was 30 lbs. overweight, rapped like Corky from Life Goes On and appeared to have a poor orthodontist. Granted, he was a fantastic DJ and beat-boxer but just check the company he was rolling with. The Juice Crew? Of course, “he” was probably more than just a friend. “He” probably was Big Daddy Kane.

• If your justification for a women sleeping with you hinges on “she” having what “you” need, chances are she will be keeping other men on the side. Really, it all depends on whether or not Markie has what she needs. The question being, does she need powered wigs, Baby Grand pianos and an up and close relationship with a man named TJ Swan?

• If a girl makes you wait a year to have sex, she is either a) playing you, b) a regular visitor to Women For Romney. Org, c) 15 years old or d) all of the above.

But You Say He’s Just a Friend

• What does he expect from college-aged groupies named Blah Blah Blah * with 9/10 pants and very big bras? Trust? Fidelity? Chlamydia?

• By bragging about his other female friends, Agnes and Agatha, Biz inadvertently lets his woman know that she has nothing to worry about. He’s just transparently trying to make her jealous and it isn’t working. Agnes? Agatha? Who’s he trying to pick up, senior citizens and British detective novelists?

• Moreover, what does he expect when he offers Blah Blah Blah a necklace with the words “baby” engraved on it. Baby? That’s the best Biz can do? Then again, this is the man who kicked off his debut with the song “Pickin’ Boogers.” “Baby” may in fact be a triumph.

• Surprise visits? Never a good move. It tells Blah, Blah, Blah that you’re clingy, needy and paranoid. Ultimately, it makes your competition (i.e. the shirtless guy with the high-top fade and stem-less wine glasses) more attractive and the next thing you know you’re standing at the bus stop spinning your yarn to a bunch of dudes who don’t care and lamely trying to call out skeezers with the same old pick-up lines. Sell yourself Markie. Have TJ Swan serenade them. Ask them their astrological sign. Explain to them why you have what they need.

* From an illustrious German lineage of “Blah Blah Blah’s”
Download:
MP3: Biz Markie-”Just a Friend”
MP3: Biz Markie-”Make the Music With Your Mouth”
MP3: Biz Markie-”Nobody Beats the Biz”

Consider this the perfunctory Iron Man post, something seemingly standard for all 20-somethings with a blog, a modicum of testosterone and an appreciation for whip-smart dialogue paired with visual effects most appropriately described as “super-awesome. ” I’ve never been a comic book guy per se (despite having a trunkful of ultra-rare Radioactive Man issues), but Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard and the film’s four credited screenwriters deserve a great deal of credit for turning in what I and many others consider the best super hero movie in years. If Ghost hadn’t been sliced out of the finished project, I’d consider it an almost flawless film.

Last Thursday, with Stark anticipation at a fever pitch, I had the chance to go to the listening party for Ironman star Terrence Howard’s musical debut. Anyone who has seen Hustle and Flow knows that he’s got some talent, but albums by actors typically constitute 17.4 percent of the bargain buy bins at any given record store (save for that 30 Odd Foot of Grunts record…oh Russell Crowe will you ever lose?). Shockingly, Howard’s album was pretty decent. Not the sort of thing I’d cop myself, but were I 54 years old, and a connoisseur of both Venti Mocha Latte’s and Pinot Noir’s, this would be the sort of thing I might ride for. Hell, maybe even Downey Jr. can dust off The Futurist and the two of them can rock the summer festival circuit. Or not.

LA Times: Terrence Howard-Iron Man’s Music Man

Download:
MP3: Black Sabbath-”Iron Man”
MP3: Ghostface Killah-”Iron Maiden”

It’s reductive to say that if you like Deadringer and Entroducing, you’ll probably like Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. Then again, that’s just the sort of thing you’re going to get when you explicitly invite the comparison in your album title, not to mention referencing Shadow and RJD2 in your bio. I don’t know much about Metaform, other than the cryptic and cloying one-sheet sent to me, where he calls himself, “a multi-instrumentalist, vinyl villain…whose anonymity, coupled with the divine knack for gleening [sic] the essence of countless genres has positioned him as an act to be reckoned with, as well as enhanced the mystery of his identity. ” By my count, there are 17 things wrong with that statement, but I’ll let them slide because the guy’s produced a great record.

The music hews to the template Shadow established over a decade ago. Dusty samples, cinematic dialogue stitched in (”The telephone” mines Weird Science for excellent results), crackling hip-hop drums and that gauzy stoned haze ideal for users of tangerine haze. When They Reminisce Over You called it “the most complete hip-hop instrumental album [he’s] ever heard.” I’m not willing to go that far, but certainly along with Dilla’s Donuts and Blockhead’s Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book, this is one of the best hip-hop instrumental albums in recent memory. Now if only Metaform can get someone to spell-check his bio he’ll be just fine.

Buy Metaform-Standing On the Shoulders of Giants 

Download:
MP3: Metaform-”Crush” (especially recommended for fans of Rappin’ 4-Tay’s “Playaz Club”)

MP3: Metaform-”I Feel Good”

For Week 2 of Feed the Beast (see week one here) , Nico the Beast has murked the instrumentals for “They Know” and “Paul Revere.” According to Zilla, Nico hated the minimalist 808 claps of “Paul Revere,” but you’d never know from the finished product, and its impressive tongue-twisting lyricism. But the stand-out is “They Know,” particularly the Beast’s side-splitting Lil Wayne impression/diss at the end. Every time someone downloads it, somewhere another blogger dies.

Download:

MP3: Nico the Beast-”Paul Revere Freestyle”
MP3: Nico the Beast-”They Know Freestyle”