September 16th, 2008
The less I know about Brightblack Morning Light the better. I once read an Arthur Magazine profile that painted them as the 21st Century equivalent of those zonked out, commune hippies in Easy Rider, who planted crops in the middle of a desert and entertained themselves with acid and horrific mime programming. After all, Brightblack Morning Light is really just Rachel Hughes and Nathaniel Shineywater (of the East Egg Shineywater’s) two freak folk types who nicknamed themselves Rabob and Nabob after presumably picking the names at random from Tobin’s spirit guide.
The music is a different story. Pristine atmosphere–trembling guitars, swamp gospel moans and muddy, molasses organs. The goal is to be submerged, as though you were going under, with blacked-out, brittle pins of light pressed against your eyes. The album as slow drift…pure planetarium nods to sketch out wishful mythologies in the constellations.
For music so narcotic, there’s little paranoia. It helps. Granted, I can’t decipher the lyrics to Brightblack’s hazy chants and I don’t want to. Because Motion to Rejoin, like their eponymous debut, is pure, dim bliss, stuff to seek out when you want your mind to go blank. Or when you need to drown out the blubbering gibberish of Cable News, propaganda clips and the rest of the crude and expensive noise. Well played, hippies. Well played.
Pre-Order Motion to Rejoin
MP3: Brightblack Morninglight- “Hologram Buffalo”
MP3: Brightblack Morninglight-”Oppressions Beach”
Video-Brightblack Morning Light-”Hologram Buffalo”
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September 15th, 2008
This is not good at all. Here’s hoping to a swift recovery, but any way you parse it, two strokes by the age of 40 usually means you aren’t long for this world.
I’ve never really articulated how great I think Nate Dogg is, but for my money’s worth (all $6.54), he’s my favorite R&B singer of the ’90s. Currently, R Kelly is winning this decade, mainly by default.
I once wrote an essay (humor me) tying the foulness of this decade to the lack of classic Nate Dogg singles. Needless to say, this development does not bode well for the future of this nation.
In the meantime’s, let’s have a look back at the old master.
Warren G & Nate Dogg-”Regulate”
Nate Dogg ft. Warren G-”Nobody Does It Better”
Nate Dogg-”I Got Love”
Ludacris ft. Nate Dogg-”Area Codes”
Mos Def, Pharoahe Monch & Nate Dogg-”Oh No”
Nate Dogg & Snoop Dogg-”Never Leave Me Alone”
E-40 ft. Nate Dogg-”Nah, Nah, Nah…”
2Pac, Nate Dogg, Outlawz and Suge’s fake Snoop, Top Dogg
Warren G, Snoop, Xzibit & Nate Dogg-”Game Don’t Wait”
Mista Grimm, Warren G & Nate Dogg-”Indo Smoke” (Video Embedded Not Available, But You Can Follow the URL)
Kurupt ft. Nate Dogg-”Behind the Walls”
Kurupt ft. Roscoe & Nate Dogg-”Girls All Pause”
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 6 Comments »
September 15th, 2008
Still a little stunned by this one. I suppose we can chalk this up as some minor triumph to the power of the media, at a time when the Fourth Estate isn’t exactly going through its finest moment.
I’m not in the habit of running press releases in full, but I’ll make the exception after the jump. If you’re too lazy to click through, basically, Anti/Epitaph signed rappers, Solillaquists of Sound recruited J-Live and Chali 2Na to cut a tribute record in honor of Dilla after reading my article in the LA Weekly and the subsequent follow-up interview with Dilla’s mom. The track is available for digital download at Insound for just $2. All proceeds will go to Ma Dukes, who has been sadly beset with failing health and mounting bills. If you love Dilla’s music and care about the well-being of his mother, who from all accounts is a wonderful woman, may I suggest supporting the cause. Of course, I’m wildly biased, but using my most incisive critical tools, I’d have to firmly attest that this is the most awesome song in the history of awesomedom.
Read the rest of this entry »
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September 13th, 2008
$5 says this guy’s either the lead singer of the Teddybears or the ghost of Paul Bryant.
Download:
MP3: My Morning Jacket-”The Bear”
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September 12th, 2008
While we’re on the topic of Hebrew rappers….
But really, Blood of Abraham, not all that bad, and certainly far better than a bunch of Valley Jewish kids had a right to be. Plus, getting put on by Eazy at Ruthless is infinitely cooler than having DJ Drama co-sign you. Or the “thinking man’s DJ Khaled” as he is also known.
If you don’t think Remedy is coming next in the series, you’re sorely mistaken. Just in time for shomer shabbos.
Download:
MP3: Blood of Abraham-”Stabbed by the Steeple”
MP3: Blood of Abraham ft. Eazy-E and Will 1X-”Niggaz & Jewz (Some Say Kikes)”
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 2 Comments »
September 12th, 2008
Well played, Dallas.
More power (I guess) for Asher Roth’s ability to get girls in high heels to come out to his shows. Then again, so did Sisqo and like Sisqo, Asher Roth is not good. At all.
Hell, at least Sisqo helped to popularize the thong. What have you done for me, Asher Roth? Other than lifelessly mimic Eminem’s flow circa ‘99 and further entrench my belief that other than Edan, the Jewish people will never produce a great rapper.
Fuck this, I’m going to go back to watching Whoridas videos.
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September 12th, 2008
In what’s quickly shaping up to be late 90s unsung rap group week (sponsored by St. Ides Special Brew), it’s appropriate that I include the West Oakland duo, The WhoRidas. Particularly since, during our interview last night, Bishop Lamont and I bonded over our mutual love for “Talkin’ Bout Bank” and “Shot Callin’ and Big Ballin’.”
Arguably, the most hard-core act on Delicious Vinyl,” the pair of King Saan and Mr. Taylor came up in a crew called Hobo Junction, backed by Saan’s older brother Saafir, then one of the Bay’s brightest stars. After impressively battling their East Oakland quasi-rivals Hieroglyphics on the Wake Up Show, WhoRidas started to accrue enough fame to push 15,000 units of the “Shot Callin’ and Big Ballin’ single out of the back of their trunk. Scooped up by Delicious Vinyl, they released the severely overlooked Whoridin’ in August of 1997.
Both “Shot Callin” and subsequent single “Talkin’ Bout Bank,” fared reasonably well, but by the time their sophomore effort, High Times dropped in 1999, Delicious Vinyl had effectively stopped releasing records and The Whoridas were forced to travel the indie route with minimal promotion and scant sales. They released the even more obscure, Corner Store in 2002 and presumably broke up, though they currently maintain a mostly inactive Myspace page. But watching the “Talkin’ Bout Bank” video, you can see what made them stand-out: impressive rhyming ability, fluid interplay and the willingness to look incredibly goofy for the sake of being funny. Needless to say, the Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield wigs are a crowning touch. Also, few things are more fun to do than sing along with the lyric, “break yo’ self playa, fat lumps baby.”
* Indeed, The WhoRidas were almost certainly gullier than Masta Ace. But rumors of Tone Loc rolling with a pack of maniacal Hell’s Angels still persist.
Also see Davey D’s excellent review of Whoridin’
Download:
MP3: WhoRidas-”Talkin’ Bout Bank”
MP3: WhoRidas-”Shot Callin’ Big Ballin’”
MP3: WhoRidas-”Keep It Goin”
Video: “Shot Callin’ Big Ballin”
Video: “Keep It Goin”
Posted in Are You From the Lester Bangs School of Thought? | 6 Comments »
September 11th, 2008
Gettin’ Up” is fast turning into one of my favorite singles of the year. The video is similarly none too shabby, with Tip adopting the hipster Davey Crockett look (remember where you heard it first) and topping it off with a garish splash of Humpty Hump.
The release date for The Renaissance is currently November 4th. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. After all, it seems a bit much to ask for a major label to y’know actually release a rap album where the rapper isn’t posing shirtless on the cover? What a novelty.
And for the record, I call bullshit on the Abstract’s claim that he produced everything on the first three Tribe albums. If so, what were you paying Ali Shaheed Muhammed for? Official Q-Tip wallet holder? His sermons on how to avoid “bugging out?” Ballet lessons?
Download:
MP3: Q-Tip-”Gettin‘ Up”
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September 10th, 2008
Perusing the usual blog suspects, the consensus on “Love Lockdown” seems to be that it’s an awesomely bizarre failure of Edsel proportion. Douglas penned an entire post attacking rappers for their unhealthy reliance on auto-tune, (a trend I’m usually ready to condemn.) The rest largely seemed stuck on some, “b..b..but where’s the rapping?”
Honestly though, Kanye was never that good at rapping in the first place. What made him stand-out was his awesome sense of musicality and dedication to craft. Listening to “Love Lockdown,” his furthest foray into R&B yet, reminds me of an old John Lennon quote that I’m horifically paraphrasing:
“I’m a musician. That’s what I do. I don’t know how to play a tuba but if you gave one to me, I’d figure out how to make it work.”
That’s not to compare Kanye to John Lennon (other than their bloated egos). However, Kanye can’t really sing, sounds pretty stupid on auto-tune (I didn’t even know it was possible to be off-beat on the stupid thing), and still, somehow made this interesting. I hear a lot of Rockwell and Cameo in “Love Lockdown,” partially for the way in which its funk is leadened by a moody paranoia, partially because I think Kanye is halfway to wearing codpieces.
Do I think this is Kanye’s best single ever? No. But it’s good and more importantly, it’s wildly original and takes a massive risk. In a genre filled by hackneyed imitators, Kanye’s continually trying to innovate and clearly doesn’t give a flying fuck what any of us think. And even if there’s no rapping involved, that’s pretty hip-hop.
Download:
MP3: Kanye West-”Love Lockdown”
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September 10th, 2008
Prior to Lee Perry and the technicolor Lucky Charms Coat taking over that Mormon bastion, the El Rey theater, I watched Pacewon and his DJ/producer/token white boy, Mr. Green deliver a capable, simple set of beats and rhymes. It was fine, but the entire time I couldn’t help but wish I was watching an Outsidaz show. For those of you who didn’t spend the 90s poring over overpriced copies of the Source and engaging in Mixed Up Files Of Basil. T Frankweiler-esque escapades at Fat Beats, Pace Won used to be a crucial member of Newark clique, The Outsidaz, one of the better, lesser known groups of the late 90s.
Best known for their debut on The Fugees’ “Cowboys” and a one-time affiliation with Eminem, the crew released a couple of great 12″ inches, and managed to cultivate a modest underground buzz before the ham-handed hackery of Ruffhouse/Columbia (catalogued by Noz ) delayed their first LP, The Bricks, until 2000. Beyond the record’s non-existent promotion, it didn’t help that the pop averse, grimey Brick City rappers fit into nether the Rawkus-model backpack nor the Escalades and rims raps already entrenched at the top of the Billboards.
The Outsidaz’ career seems dogged by “What Ifs?” What if they’d formed a few years earlier, during an era when their hardcore, pre-crossover raps would’ve meshed well. Or what if Eminem hadn’t ditched them (and Royce) in favor of putting out the largely talentless, D-12? Or what if Rah Digga, one of the more skilled female MCs ever, hadn’t been plucked away by Busta for the Flipmode Squad, thereby reducing their ranks and depth.
The Outsidaz: $5 Bucks If You Can Guess Which One Is Pony Boy
After The Bricks bricked, the crew dissolved, with Young Zee signing a deal with rap graveyard Aftermath/Shady Records and predictably never being heard from again, save for an appearance on the 8 Mile Soundtrak, where the label trotted him out like an exhausted prisoner of war for a propaganda shoot. Pacewon’s solo attempts didn’t fare much better, with few albums no one checked for and a beef track aimed at Eminem that seemed futile against Shady’s overwhelming popularity at the time.*
Currently working the comeback trail behind his Mr. Green collabo, The Only Color that Matters is Green, I happened to like a good portion of pair’s new material. Pacewon can still rap and while the performance wasn’t close to mind-blowing, the ex-Outsida(z?) maintains the charisma and magnetism to work a crowd, even one that didn’t have the faintest idea who he was. Despite the cheers Pace elicited, there was something a little sad to it. Not through the performance itself (which was good), but in it’s context. Of course, it didn’t help matters much either when Pace admitted mid-set that “I’m get older….I’m getting better…but I’m getting older.”
Rap generally shoves it’s elders off on ice floes. Hell, not even the greatest of the Golden Agers remains commercially relevant. So in a way, it’s nice to know that Pace is hanging in there and continuing to make music despite the slim odds that he’ll ever make it back to the show. It’s an uncomfortable reality, but most rappers just aren’t interesting enough to be solo artists.** In reality, the wise move is to call up Young Zee and Rah Digga, and try to get the band back together. Perhaps they’ll find BSkills playing Latin lounge music at the Ramada. I mean if if Camp Lo could get re-signed after hibernating for a decade and Kardinal Offishal can top the charts, there’s always a shot.
*At least, Pacewon can take solace in the fact that in 2008, the only people who continue to like Eminem obviously haven’t heard him rap during the G-Unit era.
** For further solace, Pace should understand that plenty of great rappers have never been able to hack it solo either. See Sermon, Erick.
Download:
MP3: Outsidaz-”Rain or Shine”
MP3: Outsidaz-”The Rah Rah”
MP3: Outsidaz ft. Eminem-”Macosa”
MP3: Outsidaz ft. Eminem-”Rush Ya’ Clique”
MP3: Outsidaz ft. Eminem-”Hard Act To Follow”
MP3: Outsidaz ft. Method Man & Redman-”Why You Be”
Posted in Beards, Blazers, & Glasses, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
