Evan Nabavian is pouring one out for Tone and Poke too. When Detroit saw a salvo of great rap around 2008, the names to know were Black Milk, Waajeed, House Shoes, Elzhi, Guilty Simpson, Royce da 5’9”, and Ta’Raach. But as with any great hip-hop scene, plenty more talent bubbled below the surface. In 2009, […]

Evan Nabavian slapped a cop once a la Zsa Zsa Gabor. If Petrarch were born 600 years later and had DJ Fresh beats, he would be E-40 on “Pussy Got Slap”, leading the charge on a posse cut where the central conceit is that the pussy has– well, yeah. For those less conversant with Bay […]

Evan Nabavian is back from the dead like he was on house arrest. Take all the hi-hats, synths, vocoders, 808s, theremins, and copies of MTV Music Generator and put them away for just a second. Now breathe. Wasn’t that nice? The irony here is that I just spent two weeks without electricity waiting to turn […]

Evan Nabavian is going to the Tony Awards Every summer, you tell yourself it’s going to be the Summer of George, but before you know it, it’s dark and cold outside at 7 and the leaves are doing that stupid shit where they change colors. And worst of all, no more bikini-clad, daiquiri-flavored summer jams. […]

Evan Nabavian is in the promised land. That may or may not be a party at Kanye’s estate. It’s about time we learned what else the “Niggas in Paris” guy has to offer and if he’s really the new Kanye, as the murmurs suggest. Comparisons between Hit-Boy and Kanye stem from the scrapbook style video […]

Evan Nabavian is a pioneer in trap-step. We make all manner of excuses, some more valid than others, for rappers without technical skill. French Montana’s ear for melody, Waka’s energy, and Jeezy’s Trapability® are all counterweights to the argument that a rapper, or to use a more lofty title, an MC, is one whose motherfucking […]

Evan Nabavian was a fan of the band, Veruca Salt. I’m a sucker for that cheesy swell of strings you hear on old movie soundtracks. You know, like when the camera opens on a vast landscape or when Aladdin finally frees the Genie. It’s an aural cue for cinematic spectacle. For a rap song to […]

Admittedly, Evan Nabavian has yelled “samples, baby” at the employees of Cosco. In 2007, I was immersed in a golden age revival characterized by swooning nostalgia and hyperbolic praise. It was a good time, but I started to realize how smug and obnoxious we all were when I was at a DJ Premier set and […]

Evan Nabavian is mostly not lying. I might get pilloried by team Passion for writing this, but I think Drake kills it – absolutely kills it – when he makes music at the exact right point in his menstrual cycle. “No Lie” counts among the five Drake songs I like, the first four being “Best […]

Evan Nabavian learned to stop going to the club with Isaiah Thomas. The hard way. The most interesting rap production usually comes from the “other” pile. That’s the stuff that has yet to be associated with a movement, scene, region, decade, or pants size. Beats are more special when you can’t label them easily. The […]