The word I’ve seen used prevalently when describing The Weeknd is hedonist, and when listening to his stellar debut mixtape, House of Balloons, it’s hard to deny the accuracy of that assessment. The Weeknd has been a rather mysterious figure since this tape hit the internet in March, doing no interviews and only taking to Twitter to hype his next project, Thursday set to hit sometime this summer. We don’t know much about him other than he’s from Toronto and friends with Drake, but I can’t help but assume there’s a massive void in this guy’s life. Disturbingly, on House of Balloons he fills that void with every substance imaginable. This tape is rife with pills, cocaine, and girls he seems to have no substantive feelings for. He doesn’t have much shame in it all either. I legitimately worry for him when I hear him reveling in his addictions and chasing every high imaginable. Guess I should have seen it coming when two minutes into this tape he’s telling us we, “wanna be high for this.” What’s most troubling is this dude is only 20 years old. Listening to this I thank god I wasn’t the deranged, coked out, hedonist The Weeknd is, when I was his age.
While I’ve never touched most of the drugs he mentions on this tape, I also can’t make music like he can. I’m still undecided whether or not I’d live his lifestyle in exchange for his song-making ability, but one thing I’m sure of is those things come hand in hand on House of Balloons. For his sake, you’d hope he could separate the two before the drugs derail his career, but for now the world he’s created is terrifying and alluring at once.
All of this is summed up perfectly when The Weeknd sings the hook to the title track.
This is a happy house
We're happy here
In a happy house
Oh this is fun
This is far from an assured declaration, instead it’s a hopeless plea. His voice sounds strained and paranoid, desperately trying to convince listeners (and himself) that he is content with this lifestyle. It’s no wonder before this particular track ends it garbles into the murderous Glass Table Girls, in which he gives his first true admission of rampant drug use, “I heard he do drugs now, you heard wrong I been on ‘em for a minute.” After his failed plea comes the indulgence, a troubling sign.
There’s also the issue of his relationship with woman. Unlike his pal Drake’s music there aren’t many tales of lost love on here. On The After Party he’s begging a girl for a chance to prove the “feeling I could give to you.” Everything is concerned with feelings and pleasure here. Whereas Drake will literally name his past woman and make you feel for his heartbreak, I don’t think The Weeknd has ever known a girl past the next morning. Closing track The Knowing seems to hint at a prolonged relationship, but when his counterpart cheats he’s apathetic to it all, pleased even, as it gives him the chance to sleep around some more. He doesn’t seem to have any investment in actual connections. His euphoria is rooted in the temporary.
It’s no wonder this tape is titled House of Balloons. Balloons are clear indication of celebration and parties, no lack of those here, yet they’re empty, filled with nothing but air before they inevitably pop. They cannot be sustained. Neither can The Weeknd if he continues to live like this, but what makes this all so tragic is his music can.
Mmm Word Download
House of Balloons - Sickest Thing Ever
Friday, June 3, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Atlantic Record's Slippery Slope of Creative Control
Much has been made of the drawn out grudge match between Lupe Fiasco and Atlantic Records that caused Lasers to sit on the shelves for year(s?) before it was given a release date. It’s a tough story to tell, and no one will ever know the entire reason as to why it took so long, but I’ve had my finger on the pulse of the album’s plight ever since Lupe began to promote it in March of 09 and feel I can vaguely piece together the puzzle that is the release of Lasers.
The albums first two official singles, The Show Goes On and Words I Never Said, provide a lot of insight on what probably had to happen in order for this album to see the light of day. For his first two albums Lupe mainly used in house producers to craft his albums’ sound, only reaching out to superproducer friends Kanye West and The Neptunes for two beats on his debut Food and Liquor, so it was certainly peculiar to see Lupe hopping on beats from the flavor of the week producers, Kane Beatz (Bottoms Up, Right Above It) and Alex Da Kid(Airplanes, Love the Way You Lie, I’m Coming Home) for his first two singles on Lasers. That is where Atlantic Records comes into the picture. None of this can be said for sure and is all speculation, because all of this stuff takes place behind the scenes, but it is of common belief that these beats were somewhat forced upon Lupe by his record label. It has been reported on here that Lupe passed on Airplanes and Nothing On You as singles because he wouldn’t have owned the majority of the publishing rights and royalties for those songs since the hooks were already written. Alrighty then, fast forward 7-8 months and Lupe has two singles out in which, I’d bet my dog, that he did not write the hooks. Does that make him somewhat hypocritical? Sure it does. What I think happened was Lupe hit a breaking point. Atlantic wasn’t going to release his album unless he rapped his verses over the beats and hooks that they had chose for him. Lupe turned the first draft of this album into Atlantic in January of last year, so it is not unreasonable to believe the verses for these first two singles once existed over beats of his choice. Atlantic didn’t like the commercial potential of their sound and the album sat around for a year as they chose what beats and hooks they wanted. Perhaps Lupe fought them for a while, but eventually realized an album with a few Atlantic Records imposed songs was better than no album.
And quite frankly that imposition is a terrifying prospect. Record companies should not have any input in the artist’s creative process. Louis perfectly articulated the importance of an organic/collaborative process and relationship between rappers and producers in his J. Cole post from last year. When Lupe was allowed that freedom he came up with classic, refreshing singles like Kick Push. Now the entire presentation and sound of The Show Goes On and Words I Never Said is formulaic and rote. It should be noted that I like both of these songs, especially The Show Goes On and I stand by my initial review. The only real redeeming qualities of Words I Never Said are Lupe’s verses, whether or not you agree with all of his somewhat controversial opinions, this song will undoubtedly shed light on issues the majority of it’s listeners know nothing about. The production however is still manufactured, and this slow piano with some huge drums Alex Da Kid sound will be dated in a few months, and that’s what record companies don’t seem to care about: creating lasting music that people can listen to for years to come. Go listen to He Say She Say, the music is so lush and most importantly timeless. Put the Words I Never Said verses over the Streets On Fire beat and its classic Lupe.
(Here’s the song if you care for a listen)
B.O.B. was another victim of Atlantics wrath. Here he was an exciting up and comer who crafted a brilliant song with huge commercial appeal, I’ll Be In The Sky, yet Atlantic gave that single no push and sat on their asses for years as they sapped all of B.O.B.’s creativity out of the project, and raped the album entirely. In the end Louis had to take B.O.B. off his favorite artists on Facebook and now hates his guts. Putting artists onto the hot sound of the moment for a top ten single comes at the cost of alienating their core fanbase. Sure the artist and record company profit off its success but the artistic product continues to decline and consolidate.
What irks me about this all is how abrupt this change occurred. Perhaps Atlantic Records is the only culprit. Kanye obviously still has 100% creative control over his music. Lupe and B.O.B. certainly aren’t as popular as Kanye, but as far as I know Lupe never had any problems with releasing the type of music he wanted to on his first two albums. The Cool was a commercial success with a top ten hit in Superstar that was written, produced, and performed entirely by FNF artists. Why all of a sudden does Atlantic feel the need to have it’s fingerprints all over Lasers? Maybe it’s somewhat of a payback for Lupe refusing to sign a 360 deal, which was another factor in the hold up of the album, or maybe it’s because they only care about singles these days. The iTunes digital music culture is based around people buying $.99 singles, another direct result of the internet decreasing our attention spans at an alarming rate, but quite frankly that’s a topic for a different day and medium. I think that is the main problem. Record Labels are so intent on having the biggest singles ever they feel the need to force their artists on to the beats and songs of their choice, the rest of the album they could give two fucks about. Unfortunately, in most cases, their intrusion on the process of creating singles negates any chance of the album being a complete, cohesive, classic product of art before it even sees the light of day.
The albums first two official singles, The Show Goes On and Words I Never Said, provide a lot of insight on what probably had to happen in order for this album to see the light of day. For his first two albums Lupe mainly used in house producers to craft his albums’ sound, only reaching out to superproducer friends Kanye West and The Neptunes for two beats on his debut Food and Liquor, so it was certainly peculiar to see Lupe hopping on beats from the flavor of the week producers, Kane Beatz (Bottoms Up, Right Above It) and Alex Da Kid(Airplanes, Love the Way You Lie, I’m Coming Home) for his first two singles on Lasers. That is where Atlantic Records comes into the picture. None of this can be said for sure and is all speculation, because all of this stuff takes place behind the scenes, but it is of common belief that these beats were somewhat forced upon Lupe by his record label. It has been reported on here that Lupe passed on Airplanes and Nothing On You as singles because he wouldn’t have owned the majority of the publishing rights and royalties for those songs since the hooks were already written. Alrighty then, fast forward 7-8 months and Lupe has two singles out in which, I’d bet my dog, that he did not write the hooks. Does that make him somewhat hypocritical? Sure it does. What I think happened was Lupe hit a breaking point. Atlantic wasn’t going to release his album unless he rapped his verses over the beats and hooks that they had chose for him. Lupe turned the first draft of this album into Atlantic in January of last year, so it is not unreasonable to believe the verses for these first two singles once existed over beats of his choice. Atlantic didn’t like the commercial potential of their sound and the album sat around for a year as they chose what beats and hooks they wanted. Perhaps Lupe fought them for a while, but eventually realized an album with a few Atlantic Records imposed songs was better than no album.
And quite frankly that imposition is a terrifying prospect. Record companies should not have any input in the artist’s creative process. Louis perfectly articulated the importance of an organic/collaborative process and relationship between rappers and producers in his J. Cole post from last year. When Lupe was allowed that freedom he came up with classic, refreshing singles like Kick Push. Now the entire presentation and sound of The Show Goes On and Words I Never Said is formulaic and rote. It should be noted that I like both of these songs, especially The Show Goes On and I stand by my initial review. The only real redeeming qualities of Words I Never Said are Lupe’s verses, whether or not you agree with all of his somewhat controversial opinions, this song will undoubtedly shed light on issues the majority of it’s listeners know nothing about. The production however is still manufactured, and this slow piano with some huge drums Alex Da Kid sound will be dated in a few months, and that’s what record companies don’t seem to care about: creating lasting music that people can listen to for years to come. Go listen to He Say She Say, the music is so lush and most importantly timeless. Put the Words I Never Said verses over the Streets On Fire beat and its classic Lupe.
(Here’s the song if you care for a listen)
B.O.B. was another victim of Atlantics wrath. Here he was an exciting up and comer who crafted a brilliant song with huge commercial appeal, I’ll Be In The Sky, yet Atlantic gave that single no push and sat on their asses for years as they sapped all of B.O.B.’s creativity out of the project, and raped the album entirely. In the end Louis had to take B.O.B. off his favorite artists on Facebook and now hates his guts. Putting artists onto the hot sound of the moment for a top ten single comes at the cost of alienating their core fanbase. Sure the artist and record company profit off its success but the artistic product continues to decline and consolidate.
What irks me about this all is how abrupt this change occurred. Perhaps Atlantic Records is the only culprit. Kanye obviously still has 100% creative control over his music. Lupe and B.O.B. certainly aren’t as popular as Kanye, but as far as I know Lupe never had any problems with releasing the type of music he wanted to on his first two albums. The Cool was a commercial success with a top ten hit in Superstar that was written, produced, and performed entirely by FNF artists. Why all of a sudden does Atlantic feel the need to have it’s fingerprints all over Lasers? Maybe it’s somewhat of a payback for Lupe refusing to sign a 360 deal, which was another factor in the hold up of the album, or maybe it’s because they only care about singles these days. The iTunes digital music culture is based around people buying $.99 singles, another direct result of the internet decreasing our attention spans at an alarming rate, but quite frankly that’s a topic for a different day and medium. I think that is the main problem. Record Labels are so intent on having the biggest singles ever they feel the need to force their artists on to the beats and songs of their choice, the rest of the album they could give two fucks about. Unfortunately, in most cases, their intrusion on the process of creating singles negates any chance of the album being a complete, cohesive, classic product of art before it even sees the light of day.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Friday, December 17, 2010
Song of the Year - The Resistance
Choosing The Resistance as my song of the year was a surprisingly easy decision. It’s play count has already totaled 168 on my iTunes. An astronomical amount considering it came out on June 15th in this bitch whasssuuuuppp. I tend to obsess over songs for days at a time and repeat them over and over, but The Resistance carried it’s momentum through the entire summer for me.
The entire freshmen class of ’09 has made the downside of newfound fame the most prevalent topic of discussion in their music. Cudi was apparently driven to coke addiction because of it, Wale’s More About Nothing is full of tales about losing friends (“lost a couple friends, cool, ni**a made a lot of fans”), and of course B.o.B. questioned “do you wanna be famous?” on his fucking fantastic adventures, but no one is better at articulating the negative effects that fame have had on their life than Drake. Songs like Fear, The Calm, and Say What's Real are intelligent breakdowns of how success and fame have jaded him. The Resistance is his magnum opus in this topic. What makes it so impressive is that he could easily come off as unappreciative or sick of his social status and gaudy bank accounts, but is able to stay cognizant of his revered lifestyle (“Am I wrong for making light of my situation?”). Although, he might need to work on his comprehension of the definition of irony.
What makes the song work so well is it's position within the album. Fireworks documents the effect his parent's divorce had on his childhood and view of relationships. Karaoke tells the story of losing his first loved one due to his fame ("the spotlight makes you nervous"), and the beginning of The Resistance acts as a sequel to Karaoke.
"Yesterday when we were getting high
You were invited, you woulda liked it
Uh uh nah, I know you all too well
We said that we can kiss the past goodbye
But your weren’t excited
There’s no way to fight it
You can stay shawty but here I go"
Once again targeting the same girl he speaks about in Karaoke he proclaims his desire to take her with him as he goes and sees the world, but due to a perceived change in him ("Alyssa told me that she missed the old me"), she declines. Drake sees this happening with all of his relationships. As he was blowing up he made the promise to not change, but his busy schedule prevents him from spending time with these people, proliferating the belief that he has become a different person. In turn Drake begins to fear the realization of his dreams ("what am I afraid of, this is supposed to be what dreams are made of"), which is an incredibly grounded and unselfish attitude.
The second verse is the most brutally honest of his career and this excerpt solidified The Resistance as my favorite Drake song.
"I heard they just moved my grandmother to a nursing home
And I be acting like don't know how to work a phone
But hit redial you'll see that I just called
Some chick I met at the mall
That I barely know at all
And plus this woman that I mess with unprotected
Texted saying she wished she woulda kept it"
His admission that he takes the time to call a random mall rat for a quick lay instead of his ailing grandmother gives justification to the people claiming hes changed. The story about his ex having an abortion is a snapshot into his rapidly evolving reality, but both of these instances are reasons why Drake's music is so arresting.
After the insecurity of The Resistance Drake begins Over with similar sentiments ("what am I doing?), but once those Boi-1da drums kick in, Drake has found his moment of verification. He finally realizes he is cut out for this lifestyle and hasn't become a new person entirely (" That's right I'm doing me"). It's the most triumphant fucking moment on any album since Cudi Zone, but without The Resistance it wouldn't be nearly as effective.
The entire freshmen class of ’09 has made the downside of newfound fame the most prevalent topic of discussion in their music. Cudi was apparently driven to coke addiction because of it, Wale’s More About Nothing is full of tales about losing friends (“lost a couple friends, cool, ni**a made a lot of fans”), and of course B.o.B. questioned “do you wanna be famous?” on his fucking fantastic adventures, but no one is better at articulating the negative effects that fame have had on their life than Drake. Songs like Fear, The Calm, and Say What's Real are intelligent breakdowns of how success and fame have jaded him. The Resistance is his magnum opus in this topic. What makes it so impressive is that he could easily come off as unappreciative or sick of his social status and gaudy bank accounts, but is able to stay cognizant of his revered lifestyle (“Am I wrong for making light of my situation?”). Although, he might need to work on his comprehension of the definition of irony.
What makes the song work so well is it's position within the album. Fireworks documents the effect his parent's divorce had on his childhood and view of relationships. Karaoke tells the story of losing his first loved one due to his fame ("the spotlight makes you nervous"), and the beginning of The Resistance acts as a sequel to Karaoke.
"Yesterday when we were getting high
You were invited, you woulda liked it
Uh uh nah, I know you all too well
We said that we can kiss the past goodbye
But your weren’t excited
There’s no way to fight it
You can stay shawty but here I go"
Once again targeting the same girl he speaks about in Karaoke he proclaims his desire to take her with him as he goes and sees the world, but due to a perceived change in him ("Alyssa told me that she missed the old me"), she declines. Drake sees this happening with all of his relationships. As he was blowing up he made the promise to not change, but his busy schedule prevents him from spending time with these people, proliferating the belief that he has become a different person. In turn Drake begins to fear the realization of his dreams ("what am I afraid of, this is supposed to be what dreams are made of"), which is an incredibly grounded and unselfish attitude.
The second verse is the most brutally honest of his career and this excerpt solidified The Resistance as my favorite Drake song.
"I heard they just moved my grandmother to a nursing home
And I be acting like don't know how to work a phone
But hit redial you'll see that I just called
Some chick I met at the mall
That I barely know at all
And plus this woman that I mess with unprotected
Texted saying she wished she woulda kept it"
His admission that he takes the time to call a random mall rat for a quick lay instead of his ailing grandmother gives justification to the people claiming hes changed. The story about his ex having an abortion is a snapshot into his rapidly evolving reality, but both of these instances are reasons why Drake's music is so arresting.
After the insecurity of The Resistance Drake begins Over with similar sentiments ("what am I doing?), but once those Boi-1da drums kick in, Drake has found his moment of verification. He finally realizes he is cut out for this lifestyle and hasn't become a new person entirely (" That's right I'm doing me"). It's the most triumphant fucking moment on any album since Cudi Zone, but without The Resistance it wouldn't be nearly as effective.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Songs of the Year - #2 Christian Dior Denim Flow
My first song of the year post was filled with interpreting and decoding Go To Sleep's lyrics and message, CDDF doesn't require such analysis. It's all the better that way. This song is a banger of all bangers that will rattle your trunk into oblivion. It was the masterpiece of the G.O.O.D. Friday series, which is saying a whole hell of a lot considering the diverse excellence of those songs. I really wish Metacricket's mojo was active when Kanye was releasing that weekly fire. It was like constant blogging material all of at least Sick status, acting as a well deserved (not really) reward of listening pleasure, after a long week of of mowing greens, from Mr. West as I'd head up to USM to sleep on Scotty's couch. G.O.O.D. Fridays reinvigorated hip hop. At the time we all thought these were merely MBDTF throwaways, that wasn't exactly the case, but you will not hear me speak ill of G.O.O.D. Fridays, and CDDF was the best of them all.
(Holy fuck. How badly does YouTube butcher the quality of songs? Everyone sounds like they inhaled 10 gallons of helium before the recording, if this is your first listen please don't judge off of this version and mmm word download the CDQ immediately.)
The greatness of this song comes with the hook. Kanye's decision to have both John Legend and Kid Cudi sing the hook adds to the songs griminess. Their voices come together and make it sound like the fucking apocalypse. The voice effect on Kanye's verse works perfectly in the mood of the song as he spits a laundry list of models he'd like to sexually parlay with, and includes a hilarious cunnilingus reference ("I'm tryna eat out so what we going to dinner for?"). After Pusha's verse the beat slows down to a crawl enabling Ryan Leslie, Lloyd Banks, and especially Cudi to rap over it. Cudi's verse might not even rhyme, but I say its the best on the song. He has smoked a lot of blunts in his lifetime and his voice reflects that. His smoked out flow and voice meshes seamlessly with the impending doom violins. I don't really know what else to say, other than this song is fucking awesome.
(Holy fuck. How badly does YouTube butcher the quality of songs? Everyone sounds like they inhaled 10 gallons of helium before the recording, if this is your first listen please don't judge off of this version and mmm word download the CDQ immediately.)
The greatness of this song comes with the hook. Kanye's decision to have both John Legend and Kid Cudi sing the hook adds to the songs griminess. Their voices come together and make it sound like the fucking apocalypse. The voice effect on Kanye's verse works perfectly in the mood of the song as he spits a laundry list of models he'd like to sexually parlay with, and includes a hilarious cunnilingus reference ("I'm tryna eat out so what we going to dinner for?"). After Pusha's verse the beat slows down to a crawl enabling Ryan Leslie, Lloyd Banks, and especially Cudi to rap over it. Cudi's verse might not even rhyme, but I say its the best on the song. He has smoked a lot of blunts in his lifetime and his voice reflects that. His smoked out flow and voice meshes seamlessly with the impending doom violins. I don't really know what else to say, other than this song is fucking awesome.
Songs of the Year - #3 Go To Sleep (WHAT NOW LOUIS?!)
Seeing as how the Crick has been dormant for months again I've decided to pick up the keyboard and start writing again. With Louis taking 15 classes this semester in order to graduate on time and Scotty void of a laptop I'm afraid all six of you will have to put up with my personal thoughts and opinions. With my recent move to the mile high city and no job I've been doing all kinds of introspection and could spill my deepest thoughts and inner demons to you all, but instead I'll probably just stick to talking about rap music. Considering the year is coming to a close I thought of this ingenious idea to rank the best songs that have been released within the past 12 months. Coming in at #3 is Lupe Fiasco's best offering in a long while: Go To Sleep.
Louis does not like this song, which is fine, ya dink ya donk you don't like a song. But a song riddled with such impressive wordplay and lyricism deserves to be praised and I am here to do just that. Go To Sleep is loosely based on Lupe's struggles to release meaningful and important music. He is at odds with the landscape of mainstream rap. Sick of it's perpetual mindlessness he wants to awake the listeners from the constant drivel they are subjected to. Unfortunately for him he is one step ahead of us, "baking eggs and pancakes eating that at midnight," and ends each impressive verse claiming he wont make a noise. A surrender of sorts allowing us to submerge ourselves back into the bullshit music we love so much.
What makes the song work is the fact that all three verses are rife with double entendres and slick wordplay that remind us why Lupe is one of the greatest wordsmiths rap has ever seen. The first verse contains this bit of fuego:
"But they can’t see me, I took out their eyes/I's
Replaced them with some mes, so all they see is hes
But I will never run, not even if they cry
See, I can never fall, not even down their cheek
But I will always ball/bawl, let’s see who the first to blink"
The extended theme of eyes and tears carries itself through these several bars, and may not be known to the listener after only one listen.
"Fill this bitch up with fans, you still wont blow my candle out"
"Won’t drill no door hole, I won’t make a peep, so you can go to sleep"
I'm sure you all have already caught the double meanings in those lines, and if not it's nothing Rap Genius can't explain. This is the type of lyricism that redeems the listener after repeated listens, and therefore lengthens replay value yet somewhere along the lines these writing methods have come to be considered corny or pretentious amongst some rap fans, the very ones Lupe is trying to awake. Yes, Lupe does try to hard at times to be complex, this is not one of those times. Those bars came off effortlessly within the context and flow of the song.
The third verse takes a bit of a somber turn. It contains a reference to Lupe's drug dealing past. While Lupe was never as overt as Jay-Z or 50 Cent were when it came to talking about dealing his music contains many discreet admissions of at one time being involved in the drug trade ("I'm nuts with the cain/cane, planters planters," "You see what I'm saying and I push keys/kis wonderfully"). I don't think Lupe enjoys talking about this subject in his raps anymore but he once again uses wordplay to disguise his confession.
"Close down all the opium, but I had to O-P-EN
They said they need a hero in/heroin it, so I'm back to dope again"
Many Lupe fans have been hoping for a return to his crazy lyrical ways of his early career, in other words asking for a hero. Lupe harks back to his old days ("time is all behind me, this make me feel old again") of drug references and uses heroin as a vehicle to convey the message that he is back to being a "dope" emcee. I'm not sure if he ever really fell off, but Go To Sleep is a welcome return to form.
All of this takes place over a ridiculous 1500 or Nothing beat that builds and builds in the third verse coalescing with Lupe's words to create an epic crescendo of sound and message.
Louis does not like this song, which is fine, ya dink ya donk you don't like a song. But a song riddled with such impressive wordplay and lyricism deserves to be praised and I am here to do just that. Go To Sleep is loosely based on Lupe's struggles to release meaningful and important music. He is at odds with the landscape of mainstream rap. Sick of it's perpetual mindlessness he wants to awake the listeners from the constant drivel they are subjected to. Unfortunately for him he is one step ahead of us, "baking eggs and pancakes eating that at midnight," and ends each impressive verse claiming he wont make a noise. A surrender of sorts allowing us to submerge ourselves back into the bullshit music we love so much.
What makes the song work is the fact that all three verses are rife with double entendres and slick wordplay that remind us why Lupe is one of the greatest wordsmiths rap has ever seen. The first verse contains this bit of fuego:
"But they can’t see me, I took out their eyes/I's
Replaced them with some mes, so all they see is hes
But I will never run, not even if they cry
See, I can never fall, not even down their cheek
But I will always ball/bawl, let’s see who the first to blink"
The extended theme of eyes and tears carries itself through these several bars, and may not be known to the listener after only one listen.
"Fill this bitch up with fans, you still wont blow my candle out"
"Won’t drill no door hole, I won’t make a peep, so you can go to sleep"
I'm sure you all have already caught the double meanings in those lines, and if not it's nothing Rap Genius can't explain. This is the type of lyricism that redeems the listener after repeated listens, and therefore lengthens replay value yet somewhere along the lines these writing methods have come to be considered corny or pretentious amongst some rap fans, the very ones Lupe is trying to awake. Yes, Lupe does try to hard at times to be complex, this is not one of those times. Those bars came off effortlessly within the context and flow of the song.
The third verse takes a bit of a somber turn. It contains a reference to Lupe's drug dealing past. While Lupe was never as overt as Jay-Z or 50 Cent were when it came to talking about dealing his music contains many discreet admissions of at one time being involved in the drug trade ("I'm nuts with the cain/cane, planters planters," "You see what I'm saying and I push keys/kis wonderfully"). I don't think Lupe enjoys talking about this subject in his raps anymore but he once again uses wordplay to disguise his confession.
"Close down all the opium, but I had to O-P-EN
They said they need a hero in/heroin it, so I'm back to dope again"
Many Lupe fans have been hoping for a return to his crazy lyrical ways of his early career, in other words asking for a hero. Lupe harks back to his old days ("time is all behind me, this make me feel old again") of drug references and uses heroin as a vehicle to convey the message that he is back to being a "dope" emcee. I'm not sure if he ever really fell off, but Go To Sleep is a welcome return to form.
All of this takes place over a ridiculous 1500 or Nothing beat that builds and builds in the third verse coalescing with Lupe's words to create an epic crescendo of sound and message.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
New Lupe Off Lasers - The Show Goes On
Alright, look this probably isn't the song Lupe had hoped to release as the lead single for Lasers. One of the sticking points for his long delayed third album was that he wasn't giving Atlantic radio friendly songs. He has certainly given into their demand with this, but that doesn't mean this song is weak by any standard. Does it have blatant billboard aspirations? Yes. Is it basically Love The Way You Lie to Right Above It's Airplanes? Yes. But the thing is this song is still more credible than 95% of the shit you hear on radio. It's a straighforward, feel good, anthem that will perform well on the charts and serve it's purpose of creating buzz for Lasers. If that's what it takes to get a release date these days then so be it.
The Show Goes On - Sooo Sick
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
New Home Brew - October Love
Here's the newest joint from Russell Farm Records, "October Love," produced by yours truly and featuring Chagrina and J-Mac the Spitter. Enjoy.
Boner.
Boner.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
New Kanye - Lost In The World
I don't know about you guys but after several listens I tend to think this song is not "good". The intro to this is near embarrassing. It sounds like a bunch of dudes trying to sing with peanut butter stuck to the roof of their mouths. If I wanted to listening to convoluted voices singing barely audible words I'd listen to Imogen Heap. Sure the drums are kinda cool, but isn't Kanye's next album supposed to be a return to "strictly hard beats and rhymes?" Power was a promising start but this and Runaway lead me to believe we are in store for a mere 808's redux. What makes this even more discouraging is that nearly(Runaway Love Remx?! C'mon Kanye) every song released in the Good Friday series is better than this, and those songs will presumably be left off the album, Lost In The World will not be. Oh well, at least this song has ENORMOUS potential.
Lost In The World - Pretty Shitty
Update - Pretty much every YouTube vid of this song is dead. Fret not here the mmm word download.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sammy Adams Boston Stand Up Sammy Matty Trump SAM ADAMS Boston BOSTON'S BOY Sammy!
Seriously though, Sam Adams's new mixtape, Party Records, is hot crack. I've been bumping it non-stop. Here are a few of my favorite selections:
I shall begin with the very good "No Speak Americano," which samples a song that sampled another song so it's kind of like The Bible with shit begetting other shit or some shit like that. God isn't real, otherwise this wouldn't have happened. Evenways, I love to bump this joint:
Pretty fun to hear in your ears right? Here's another banger that I quite enjoyed, where SAMMY BOSTON STAND UP SAMMY ADAMS MATTY TRUMP BOSTON I'M FROM BOSTON BOSTON SAMMY flips the very awesome and super catchy mega-smash ground-breaking-music-video-having song "I Need a Dollar," and turns it into a certified bang-sesh:
People will hate on SAAAAAAAMY ADAMS BOSTON STAND UP BOSTON I'M FROM BOSTON YEAH BOSTON WHADDAYA SAY BOSTON'S BOY WES WELKER RULES because he's white and you know like sometimes the things that he says in song-poems aren't the most insightful or cool but with gems like "I'm a mile high smokin' nuggets in a Bronco" (Get it? GET IT!?!?!?!?) you can't deny that he does at least have some talent. The bottom line is that I enjoy these songs in the same way that I enjoyed the Boston's Boy EP, and I am not ashamed of liking them because sometimes people just like stuff.
So for anyone who wants to give it a whirl, here's your mmm word download.
Party Records - Sick
I shall begin with the very good "No Speak Americano," which samples a song that sampled another song so it's kind of like The Bible with shit begetting other shit or some shit like that. God isn't real, otherwise this wouldn't have happened. Evenways, I love to bump this joint:
Pretty fun to hear in your ears right? Here's another banger that I quite enjoyed, where SAMMY BOSTON STAND UP SAMMY ADAMS MATTY TRUMP BOSTON I'M FROM BOSTON BOSTON SAMMY flips the very awesome and super catchy mega-smash ground-breaking-music-video-having song "I Need a Dollar," and turns it into a certified bang-sesh:
People will hate on SAAAAAAAMY ADAMS BOSTON STAND UP BOSTON I'M FROM BOSTON YEAH BOSTON WHADDAYA SAY BOSTON'S BOY WES WELKER RULES because he's white and you know like sometimes the things that he says in song-poems aren't the most insightful or cool but with gems like "I'm a mile high smokin' nuggets in a Bronco" (Get it? GET IT!?!?!?!?) you can't deny that he does at least have some talent. The bottom line is that I enjoy these songs in the same way that I enjoyed the Boston's Boy EP, and I am not ashamed of liking them because sometimes people just like stuff.
So for anyone who wants to give it a whirl, here's your mmm word download.
Party Records - Sick
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Jay-Z Breaks Yankee Stadium
(Why the hell did this guy leave?!?! Least he did the damn thing.)
Say what you want about dude, but Jay-Z has motherfucking presence. Like could you imagine anyone else being the first artist to perform in Yankee Stadium? No, this is where he belongs, he was meant to be there standing on stage breathing in the epic-ness of it all. No one else could capitalize and thrive in this moment like he did. You're lying to yourself if you didn't get chills when the Run This Town beat dropped.
This was part of a concert series where Eminem and Jay-Z headlined two concerts each in their respective hometowns, Detroit and NYC. An encore performance is set for tonight, which gives us about five hours. Who's in? I'm driving.
Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium - Sickest Thing Ever
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Lasers Is Fucked
Lupe Fiasco recently did an interview with complex.com and in it he has some very interesting and ultimately disappointing things to say about the future of his was-to-be third album, Lasers. Two weeks ago Lupe personally released a song, Go To Sleep, and stated it was for the album Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album. It was certainly perplexing to see Lupe release a song for his supposed fourth album, when his third album wasn't even in stores yet. This interview sheds a lot of light on that issue, you can read it in it's entirety here, I will try and present the relevant quotes in this post. Basically, it might be time for us Lupe fans to start coming to terms with the fact that Lasers may never see the light of day.
Complex: You mentioned Japanese Cartoon being your Plan B, let’s talk about Plan A. A second ago, you said “If Lasers never comes out.” Will it not come out?
Lupe Fiasco: It could. The situation with me and my record company has gotten to the point where it’s just like…we’re really at our final straws. People could say it’s me, that “Lupe doesn’t want to make popular music” or “The label has got to have records that they can sell and Lupe is not giving them the records they want to sell” and XYZ.
Complex: You keep referring to it as Lasers, but on the Internet now people are saying the record could be called Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album. Is that not a real title?
Lupe Fiasco: When I said that I was going to do an album called The Great American Rap Album, I did it. Lasers is one project on its own. It’s its own project, sitting being done, waiting to be released. Lasers is its own project, it is its own sound, its own mood. Food and Liquor II is completely different. It’s like Lasers, that’s one album that got disrupted in the business process. It’s a great album, but that album may not come out. But here’s Food and Liquor II.
Sigggghhhh, needless to say this entire situation frustrates the hell out of me. It's hard to say who's to blame but I can't help but feel Atlantic is mostly responsible. It shouldn't be this hard for an artist who, with his last album, was certified Gold in a record industry climate not exactly conducive to selling albums, to get a release date. My only theory as to why Atlantic is holding out on Lupe is because he passed on Airplanes and Nothing On You. Bobby Ray's smash hits were actually intended to be Lupe songs. Lupe didn't want them because he wouldn't have owned a major percentage of their publishing and maybe because they were pre-packaged pop songs written for 15 year old white girls. Should he be punished for that decision? Probably not, but in today's music industry where labels are looking for a couple of Billboard blockbusters instead of a cohesive 15 song album with a unifying concept, Lupe and Lasers were shelved because B.O.B. got Haley Williams to sing a hook on a song.
With that said, Lupe probably shouldn't have began hyping this album in March of 0(FUCKING!)9. We now know that he probably jumped the gun on it a little bit and gave fans some false hope, but come on Atlantic throw us a fucking bone here.
The one bright spot in all of this is that Go To Sleep, the one song he has released off Food and Liquor II, is fucking flames, and something you should all listen to.
Only another two years guys!
Lasers Being Potentially Shelved - Worst Thing of All-Time
Go To Sleep - Sooo Sick
Complex: You mentioned Japanese Cartoon being your Plan B, let’s talk about Plan A. A second ago, you said “If Lasers never comes out.” Will it not come out?
Lupe Fiasco: It could. The situation with me and my record company has gotten to the point where it’s just like…we’re really at our final straws. People could say it’s me, that “Lupe doesn’t want to make popular music” or “The label has got to have records that they can sell and Lupe is not giving them the records they want to sell” and XYZ.
Complex: You keep referring to it as Lasers, but on the Internet now people are saying the record could be called Food and Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album. Is that not a real title?
Lupe Fiasco: When I said that I was going to do an album called The Great American Rap Album, I did it. Lasers is one project on its own. It’s its own project, sitting being done, waiting to be released. Lasers is its own project, it is its own sound, its own mood. Food and Liquor II is completely different. It’s like Lasers, that’s one album that got disrupted in the business process. It’s a great album, but that album may not come out. But here’s Food and Liquor II.
Sigggghhhh, needless to say this entire situation frustrates the hell out of me. It's hard to say who's to blame but I can't help but feel Atlantic is mostly responsible. It shouldn't be this hard for an artist who, with his last album, was certified Gold in a record industry climate not exactly conducive to selling albums, to get a release date. My only theory as to why Atlantic is holding out on Lupe is because he passed on Airplanes and Nothing On You. Bobby Ray's smash hits were actually intended to be Lupe songs. Lupe didn't want them because he wouldn't have owned a major percentage of their publishing and maybe because they were pre-packaged pop songs written for 15 year old white girls. Should he be punished for that decision? Probably not, but in today's music industry where labels are looking for a couple of Billboard blockbusters instead of a cohesive 15 song album with a unifying concept, Lupe and Lasers were shelved because B.O.B. got Haley Williams to sing a hook on a song.
With that said, Lupe probably shouldn't have began hyping this album in March of 0(FUCKING!)9. We now know that he probably jumped the gun on it a little bit and gave fans some false hope, but come on Atlantic throw us a fucking bone here.
The one bright spot in all of this is that Go To Sleep, the one song he has released off Food and Liquor II, is fucking flames, and something you should all listen to.
Only another two years guys!
Lasers Being Potentially Shelved - Worst Thing of All-Time
Go To Sleep - Sooo Sick
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
How Does This Not Happen Every Game?!?!
So in the span of two at bats in the riveting Giants vs. D-Backs game tonight two little kids were hit with a bat and a ball.
Two children have been taken to the hospital after being struck by a bat and a ball at Monday's game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants.
A 13-year-old boy seated near Arizona's dugout just beyond the start of the protective netting, was hit on the right side of the head in the fourth inning after San Francisco's Buster Posey lost the bat swinging at a pitch.
In the next at-bat, the Giants' Pablo Sandoval sent a foul ball into the upper deck, where it struck a 2-year-old girl on the forehead.
The only thing surprising about this story is that it DOESN'T HAPPEN IN EVERY BASEBALL GAME EVER. Does anyone else think this way? Every time I watch a baseball game and see a ball ripped down the third baseline and into the stands I think well that probably only killed about 4 people, but some dude with a beer in one hand somehow ends up snagging the thing coming at him at ten trillion miles an hour. Sure he may spill some of his beverage on his girlfriend or some shit, but I mean no one's perfect. This story comes only a few days after this happened.
First of all, do you think that guy was screaming like that after every single ball that was hit? I mean it's fucking BP dude pretty much every ball is gonna make it into the stands, if some dinkbox gets hit in the domepiece it ain't on you. Nevertheless, maybe these instances are just the baseball gods catching up on all the years that fans miraculously survived rock hard baseballs hurling towards their brains at light speed, but what the fuck do I know?
P.S. - Were fucking back bitchesssssssssssss, but probably not really. I might not post again for another two years. I just hope this kick starts Louis into posting again so I have more stuff to read online as I search for jobs and daydream about what city I want to move to that particular day.
Two children have been taken to the hospital after being struck by a bat and a ball at Monday's game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants.
A 13-year-old boy seated near Arizona's dugout just beyond the start of the protective netting, was hit on the right side of the head in the fourth inning after San Francisco's Buster Posey lost the bat swinging at a pitch.
In the next at-bat, the Giants' Pablo Sandoval sent a foul ball into the upper deck, where it struck a 2-year-old girl on the forehead.
The only thing surprising about this story is that it DOESN'T HAPPEN IN EVERY BASEBALL GAME EVER. Does anyone else think this way? Every time I watch a baseball game and see a ball ripped down the third baseline and into the stands I think well that probably only killed about 4 people, but some dude with a beer in one hand somehow ends up snagging the thing coming at him at ten trillion miles an hour. Sure he may spill some of his beverage on his girlfriend or some shit, but I mean no one's perfect. This story comes only a few days after this happened.
First of all, do you think that guy was screaming like that after every single ball that was hit? I mean it's fucking BP dude pretty much every ball is gonna make it into the stands, if some dinkbox gets hit in the domepiece it ain't on you. Nevertheless, maybe these instances are just the baseball gods catching up on all the years that fans miraculously survived rock hard baseballs hurling towards their brains at light speed, but what the fuck do I know?
P.S. - Were fucking back bitchesssssssssssss, but probably not really. I might not post again for another two years. I just hope this kick starts Louis into posting again so I have more stuff to read online as I search for jobs and daydream about what city I want to move to that particular day.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Who Dat Video
HEY! I've seen this before.
Nevertheless dope vid. At this point in their careers who would you rather watch move their hands around Drake or J. Cole? I'm torn.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Revofev
Cudi's first single from his upcoming album "Man on the Moon: The Legend of Mr. Rager." The title is short for revolution of evolution if you haven't figured that out yet. This song has been bouncing around with live snippets etc., so it's good to finally have the studio version. And with only 2 or 3 more months until he drops MOTM 2, I am really excited to start hearing new singles and internet leaks. Anywho, enjoy Revofev. I literally just downloaded it and listened for the first time so I can't fairly place a 'crick rating on it. PLAIN PAT WHAT UP?!?
Mmm word download.
Revofev - TBD
Mmm word download.
Revofev - TBD
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