Kevin Gates "Roaming Around"

I keep hearing about Kevin Gates. I heard he is a bonafide star in the South and that it is only a matter of time before he blows. I heard a story about how he showed up three hours late to a lunch interview but paid for the interviewers meal to make up for it. I heard he can attract close to 1,000 people to a show, without the backing of a major label. Now, for the first time, I have heard what all the fuss is about. Check out "Roaming Around" below.

Jacques Green and How to Dress Well "On Your Side" Video

Jacques Green teamed up with my man How to Dress Well to make a track called "On Your Side". Check out the tune (AND INTERACTIVE VIDEO!!!!1!!?!!) here.

Moving, Daughn Gibson and My Re-kindled Love of Radio

I have been in the process of moving from Boston to Chicago and haven't been posting as a result. I will say that the cross-country move has found me listening to the radio more in the last few days than the last few years combined. Be it old-timey country, evangelical rants, new hip-hop (Power 92.3 in Chicago is going to be a new favorite) or some 90's hits, the radio has been on for the entire 20 hour drive.

When I can, I have been taking peeks at news outlets. A week or so ago I heard a new Daughn Gibson track. Also, I heard rumors that Chance the Rapper is going to sign with TDE.

For now, here is that Daughn Gibson track. I will be back in the habit of daily posting once all of this mayhem settles down.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young "Almost Cut My Hair"

I feel
like I owe it
to someone

Kanye Kills it on SNL

I will never forget watching Kanye West debut two new songs last night on Saturday Night Live. It is one of my favorite musical experiences of my life. Watch "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves" below.

Wikipedia, Outkast and Andre 3000

While it is true that Wikipedia wormholes are a procrastinator's best friend, they often yield fascinating results. Today's example: Outkast won Album of the Year for Spearkboxxx/Love Below at the 2004 Grammy Awards.  They did not simply win rap album of the year (which they also won that year, as well as in 2003 for Stankonia) but Album of the Year--this is the first rap album to have won this award and is quite an accomplishment. Remembering this, and also realizing my relative deficinency in Outkast knowledge, I decided to dedicate the next few days (weeks? months?) to listening to their discogrophy.

Outkast, like Public Enemy, is a group I only know from their greatest hits, despite knowing that they are one of the pre-eminent rap groups of all time. In my mind, Outkast are in the top 5 rap groups ever assembled--and this is only based on some cursory listens to their first three albums, the radio cuts from Stankonia and listening to Speakerboxxx in my dad's car (my dad is a big fan of Big Boi).  Outkast also ranks as the best rap artists that do not belong in my collection--for whatever reason, I have never purchased an album. It is embarrassing, especially because I know I will love their records. I am a huge fan of what I have heard, Big Boi continues to release good material and Andre 3000 continues to impress with every feature verse.

**Sidebar: Is Andre 3000 the best featured rapper of all time? Honestly, name another rapper who has been so consistently dazzling on every track her appears on, regardless of context. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Case in point: This T.I. track, which features (maybe) the best rap verse of all time. Seriously.***



With this in mind, I am setting out to listen to every Outkast track ever released.

Now, if you excuse me, I have to continue my Wiki-wormhole. I am reading some riveting facts about the Soviet War.

John Grant "GMF"

On "GMF", John Grant refeclets on a broken relationship with wit, heartache and verisimilitude.
Take for example the chorus:

"I am the greatest motherfucker that you're ever gonna meet
from the top of my head down to the tips of my toes on my feet
so go ahead and love while its still a crime
don't forget you could be laughin' 65% more of the time"

What separates this track from, say, a Taylor Swift break-up track, is that Grant laments on wasting his own time and addresses his own perceived shortcomings as much as he does his former partner.
When I heard "I should have practiced my scales/ I shouldn't be attracted to males", it struck an immediate chord. Each time a relationship ends I look back thinking, "Fuck--I really could have spent the time I wasted with my ex doing far more constructive things than sex and dinner dates." Take note, T Swift.

"GMF" is a refreshing take on the catharsis of a post-break up track. I'm sorry you had to go through this bad time, JG, but then again, I'm so glad you did.

Kanye Unveils New Songs, New Rant

Kanye West took the stage a few days ago and played some new songs off his upcoming album. More importantly, Ye laid out a classic Kanye rant--impassioned, childish and full of contradictions. Quote West (via Miss Info):

I ain’t no muthafuckin celebrity … there’s one thing about me, I’m a terrible, terrible, terrible celebrity. I don’t know if you really know there’s one thing about me, but I’m the worst kind of — the worst kind of celebrity. All I do is make real music. All I do is sit in the studio and make real shit. And that’s it. And that’s muthafuckin' it. That’s muthafuckin' it!
So I don’t want no people runnin’ up on me with cameras, trying to like sell pictures and shit to magazines, asking me dumb-ass questions, throwin’ me off my focus and shit. Harassin’ you all muthafuckin' day. I ain’t no muthafuckin' celebrity.
It’s so funny. Somebody asked me, "When you do SNL, are you going to do a skit about the paparazzi and shit. And like humanize yourself?" I ain’t here to apologize to no muthafuckas, man. It ain’t about me humanizing myself. At one point did I become un-human where I had to turn myself back. Or maybe I was demonized, or maybe I was treated inhumane and not human in that type of situation. I ain’t no muthafuckin celebrity. I ain’t runnin’ for office. I ain’t kissin’ nobody’s muthafuckin' babies. I drop your baby and you muthafuckin' sue me and shit. I’m trying to make some music that inspires people to be the best that they can be. And I don’t want nobody else to ask anything of me! Don’t ask nothing else of me.
Muthafuckas chasin' you down, about to make you crash and shit. And all they want is for a n---- to laugh and shit. Hell nah, I ain’t doin no muthafuckin' SNL skits. This is my goddamn life. This ain’t no muthafuckin' joke.

I'm looking forward to seeing him on Saturday Night Live this week.

Ryan Hemsworth - Perfectly

Ryan Hemsworth doing what he does best:

Lana Del Rey

Having seen the new video for Lana Del Rey's contribution to The Great Gatsby soundtrack, I was reminded that I once wrote a review for LDR's first album (and that I used to actually write reviews) that doubled as a rant against overreaction on the internets. I found it and posted it below, along with Lana's video. Apologies to Lil B and Paul Wall...dunno why I was so mean back then.* In addition, sorry to my English teacher, my grammar is pretty poor in this write-up and I'm too lazy to fix it. Also, my copy/paste is weird about importing from GoogleDocs. LOLZ, rightguys?

Reviewing Lana Del Rey’s album is sort of like disecting Tim Tebow’s play; it is nearly impossible to take an unbiased approach. If this were a murder trial, LDR’s jury pool would have to be made up solely of the 1,514 scientists currently inhabiting Anarctica; everyone else on planet earth has seen SNL, has read the internets, or has had a roommate who posted a cover of “Video Games” to Youtube which garnered 1,000 hits.  These truths are indisputable, and the tastemakers who adjudicate talent and mete out praise would be the first to second my opinion.
The moment that one partakes in the hype machine, thus acting as a cog in its wheel, is the moment  they are prone to do crazy things. The examples are ample: Pitchfork, one of Del Rey’s most fervent supporters, gave the album a tepid 5.5. (By comparison, they gave Lil B’s newest mixtape a 6.3. No disrespect to Lil’ B but...actually, lots of disrespect to Lil’ B. Dude is garbage). The AV Club rated the album a D+ after running an article relating to her seemingly every day. Juliette Lewis (known for her fantastic live performances and angelic voi--wait, what?) likened Del Rey’s SNL perfromance to that of a 12 year old and said she was unworthy of taking the stage. Even Lovable Brian Williams joined in on the act, dropping his metaphorical trousers to dump on Ms. Del Rey by tweeting that her SNL performance was “the worst in SNL history”.  My advice to the reviewing world: CHILL THE FUCK OUT. Like the car dealer said to the aging bachelor, “Now, you are just overcompensating”.

    Overcompensation is a virulent presence in our current insta-media world and it seems to be here to stay. Like naps after bong hits, backlash after hype seems to be a necessary evil. To further understand what might lead a reviewer (read: anyone with a twitter) to make hyperbolic overstatements, let’s take a look at how one becomes an indie-buzz-darling:

1. Artist X creates song (s) 2. blog hears/loves song  3.blog runs piece on Artist X telling the world why they love Artist X and why the world should too 4. Reader agrees with blog, says so in comments section and social media 5. Blog tracks every performance, new track, and bowel movement of Artist X 6. Readers begin backlash due to overexposure and to ensure the continuation of the mantra “haters gonna hate”  7. Readers begin backlash to the backlash and spawn a war of words, where Artist X has now become the Best Thing Ever or the Worst Thing Ever 8. Artist releases album 9. Blog writes overly-critical review of album because it doesn’t fulfill ridiculous standards created in the hyperbolic battle that has been raging amongst readers since step 7, and to ensure the continuation of the mantra “we are unbiased 3rd parties”. God Bless you, Al Gore.

    When Paul Wall rapped the great lyric “ I got the internet goin’ nuts” in 2007, there is no way that he thought this is what goin’ nuts would become in 2012. I mean, how could he--I doubt the man has ever had a single coherent thought in his life. But syrup-sipping, diamond-grill studded Houston jewelers aside, no one could have forseen that this is where “journalism” was headed. IT IS THE WORST THING EVER!

    Tastemakers- that is to say blogs that give exposure to burgeoning indie artists--set trends. They fill the role once done by zines or music publications and hire writers who are at least adequate and mostly good.  A great review from Pitchfork can launch your career (just ask Japandroids) and I have no problem with this.(My beef lay not with you, Pitchfork, so please do not rate my writing a 1.0 like you did Childish Gambino’s album, which will surely become a first-ballot Overcompensation Hall of Fame inductee.)  My problem doesn’t lie with these websites, necessarily. The problem comes from those who comment on these sites and then cite the site (he sighted a cite?) to justify their point. It is an echo chamber of fuckery.

The elimination of a few key barriers of entry (eg a space to get your opinion heard, the need to have good taste, and the ability to write) has created a world where everyone is a critic. And by critic, I mean asshole.

Having had enough time to give the album multiple listens and detach myself (as much as I ever will) from the fervent back-and-forth, I say that the album is a B+. It would benefit from culling a few tracks but otherwise it is a sound piece of work. The production is stellar, as Del Rey spares no expense, getting top shelf work from the likes of  the man behind Kanye West’s Runaway. Del Rey presents to the world a concept album about what it means to be a heart-broken, high-society woman in 2012--a sort of bizzaro 808’s and Heartbreaks. At times, Del Rey seems obsessive about her lost beau, willing to do anything to ensure a different outcome to the story of her broken romance. Other times, she seems to think that trying to change her life is hopeless and forlorn--that she is destined to be forever alone.  At its best it is stirring, at it’s worst it is vanilla. Never is it terrible.

In conclusion, I would like to describe Lana Del Rey’s album by paraphrasing the late Al Davis’ defense of Jamarcus Russell: “It’s a good album! Get Over it!” Here’s hoping Lana Del Rey’s career doesn’t end like Russell’s.

*By "back then" I mean a year or so ago...but that is like, what, 12 years in internet time right?

Phaseone - If I Tell U

Phaseone is a master of mood whose genius will be respected more upon reflection by our posterity than it is by the present populus. For whatever reason, despite having immense talent and a sound that has been mimiced and tampered with to great success, Phaseone hasn't yet gotten his proper recognition.

Luckily, being criminally underrated hasn't corrupted the producer's spirit. His new LP, If I Tell U, stands as a testament to his  true imagination in a world replete with jejune clones.

A beer in the hand to ya, Phaseone

Jay-z "100$ Bill"

Forgot to post this one the other day. Beat is so tuff.

The-Dream ft. Jay-z "High Art"

Another day, another Jay-z feature.

Shots Fired Podcast

Featuring one of my favorite underground MC's, Nocando, Shots Fired is a hip-hop podcast actually worth listening to. Co-hosted by Jeff Weiss, it provides interesting insights into all things hip-hop. It is like talking to my friends, if my friends were as obsessive as I am.

Check out the podcast here.

Just for good measure, a Nocando video.

Chief Keef to Brick Squad, Makes song with Gucci Mane "Darker"

The Twittersphere is saying that Chief Keef is going to be the newest member of Brick Squad. Brrrr!

Behold: The first of many collabs between Gucci Mane and Chief Keef where the duo throw morality and annunciation to the wind. The track is called "Darker"

Daniel Sierra's Masters' Thesis

Daniel Sierra shows us what it looks like to be a string that makes music. (via NPR)

MC Phaze "May the 4th"

MC Phaze spits some Star Wars bars for May 4 (Star Wars Day).
Dude kills it.

The Idler "Blessed Iscariot"

Not by fate that these stars align
Oh, Man see it crumble
One big empire turns to dust

Chance the Rapper "NaNa"

This is one of my favorite tracks from Chance's latest. Mostly 'cuz Action Bronson kills it with that Rick Pitino line and the Arnold ad-lib (GET TO THE CHOPPPAAA!!)

Kool & Kass

While I was salivating over the Chance the Rapper mixtape yesterday (which is dope), I missed the drop of the Kool & Kass tape.

It's Kool A.D. being Kool A.D. and Kass being Kass (presumably...I've never heard of dude before).

Here is the video for the single "Pleasance". Kool A.D. wrecks the last verse.

Give a fuck if you out here, me too
Everybody out here, what that even mean dude?




Here is the bandcamp to download the full thing.

Track 3 "Language Arts" has a line something like...

Best believe me
Ever since I heard chess was ouija
 the rest was easy.

Shit is cold.