The Kanye Minute:

I'm mad late, but fuck it, I just made this blog last week. And since this record has been talked about to death, I'm going to try and bypass anything weighty, which would just suck in comparison to the other analysis's anyway.

Essentially, its much more interesting to dissect hip-hop albums than a lot of other genres or sub-genres, since with those you're limited to rockist virtues of sound, theory, production, whatever lyrics are deemed "good", and its role or importance. Now, I absolutely hate the "rockist" perspective of music, especially the name, and I tend to gravitate towards the pop school of reviewing and criticism, since its not limiting, despite tending to favor hooks and marketability over quality and treading a line into musical gossip. Lucky for other people who detest Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Maximum Rock n Roll, Revolver and Spin magazine for the evils they represent, hip-hop and electronica provide alternative avenues and interpretations of records.

The hip-hop avenue is sort of a like a weird hybrid of the perspectives, minus the ignorant obsessions with somehow equating live instrumentations as being more important than good songs, and plus 80's/90's hip-hop tenets (or elements, if you're KRS-One), the various aspects of turntablism and sampling/sound collage, and an urge to be famous and rich without being viewed as a sellout. It tends to both allow more freedom for interpretation and analysis, yet at once be confining to the purposely alienating and clandestine nature of loving rap. Only metal and rap have those qualities to the cultures and fanbases, which might explain why merging the two more often than not is a horrible idea.

(Hopefully later when I have more time, on I can expound on this idea, but for now a lot is implied.)

This is the default when dealing with rap albums. Figuring out what lines and inflections were ripped from earlier songs, and from what era (80's for Mos Def, 00's for Kanye), possible subliminals, meanings, intents, allusions, disses, interpolations, etc. Its odd for me to do this for every hip-hop record I've ever listened to since a)Lyrics are completely secondary to the music for me and b)This sort of complete dissection of music only gets done for albums with some sort of importance. I've never sat down with a Kings Of Leon record and really gave two thoughts to whatever Caleb Followill was howling about, but I have spent a good year and a half trying to figure out if the first two verses in "Nutmeg" means anything. (It doesn't.)

So I could've cared less about the frothy whorehouse of promotion that was Kanye vs. 50. For one, I completely dismiss the ideas of "hip-hop vs rap" or "real hip-hop". Anyone who has read or seen interviews with 80's cats, especially Rakim, knows they were into the same shit as the guys who made records the last 15 years, its just they didn't think of it, or just couldn't at the time since rap was so much on the same outrageous entertainer trip as everyone else in the 80's. Example: Rakim LOVES G-Unit. People's beacon of Golden Era greatness fiends for generic pop rap. He probably got a tear from those songs with Joe. Rakim and all the other guys who fell off or are on a smaller scale of late love head and slutty women and liquor and weed just as much as everyone else. People forget how grimy the 80's were in cities and that those dudes are arguably tougher than anyone rapping now. They all lived through and saw some hard shit, as evidenced by my favorite part of Fade to Black, when Q-Tip and Jay are reminiscing about the crack game in the 80's and how it was awful then in the streets but things are not that bad now, yet there's a lot more records about it.

All hip-hop is mainstream unless it sells beneath gold status, and even then its pretty damn popular, so the debate is moot and transgressive to me. Its idealistic to separate records based on how similar it is to Native Tongues. That shit is ALTERNATIVE, in the purist sense of the word. That sound wasn't a norm, no matter how relatively popular it got. 50 Cent is more hip-hop than Common. Shit, Tony Yayo is more hip-hop than Common. Therefore, I could give a shit about some supposed meaning behind the battle. Lupe Fiasco will never sell, Little Brother aren't any good, Common sucks, the Roots fell off, Mos Def fell off and is dangerously close to becoming Wyclef Jean, and Talib Kweli can only muster the ability to be decent, at his best. Kanye's win just mean 50 Cent will become more interesting in the coming weeks, that's all. And that's all I want from 50, anyway, to entertain me. It's all I want from Wayne, too, and all that you were supposed to take from ODB (rip).

Also, Kanye was going to win in the annals of critics and fans regardless. Everyone is aware at this point that his records will be good, so the sales battle is more of a Vegas-style distraction.

But on the topic of the record itself, I have to say, this is one of those times where I wrote a record off too soon. I was underwhelmed by the first two singles, so much so that I didn't download the record until the other week when "The Good Life" premiered and I was convinced. Now I absolutely love "Stronger", and I realized that the album, after three listens, grew on me a lot. "Good Morning" starts the album as it should, as both a declaration and song, where there's something so confident in ending every verse with a "Good Morning." Its declarative and reminds me of the "You already know what it is" looks youtube rappers give, except more weary and serious. The thing about Graduation is it feels a lot like College Dropout, which is a plus, since all the flaws in Late Registration discussed on No Trivia I agreed with. That celebratory unabashed Morehouse university sound that permeates most of Kanye's stuff is there (College hip-hop should be a genre), along with the odd adoption on 12 of the tracks of the big synths that got popularized in the last year and a half on the Rich Boy record and by Timbaland.

Now, on that, I've always noticed that since the bread-and-butter of producers and industry songwriters is being able to have quick turn-overs and adapt to new trends. Most people don't acknowledge this, but in composition of songs and melodies, there are clear differences in both halves in ever decade since the 20's. You'll never hear 60's rock basslines or melodies today, both because they're out of vogue and that it'd just come off as simulacrum and not be that good or authentic sounding. This is why since 2002 hip-hop based R&B became a real genre, the incestuous nature of everyone copying a new sound for profit in pop. Same thing with the synths in hip-hop of late. I think its cool, though I'm more surprised that so few people thought to make it such a strong melodic force on records. Now, I'm actually worried its going to get played out too quickly and ruined, since both hipster electronica and rap are relying heavily on the buzz synths since it gives such quick gratification. The very thing happened with soul samples; it became too easy and less and less special. Though I understand this, I'm still shocked that Timbaland has essentially been repackaging done-to-death electronica staples into pop. I love it, because I can finally listen to the radio again, and I can be jarred at by the trance and electro goodness of "Ice Box" and "SexyBack" at a time when fucking DAUGHTRY goes platinum.

On Graduation, its an interesting hybrid of that College Dropout feeling and these synths that either awash melody lines like T.I. (which, by the way, got away with ripping off "Hey Joe" without anyone noticing somehow) or Rich Boy, or serve as Purple-Rain era horn stabs. Sometimes I feel that its way too easy, especially "Stronger", since though it works and thats what matters, the descending synth lines based on the Daft Punk vocal line are too obvious. I could've produced "Stronger"."I Wonder" reminds me of Pharell, because most relaxed Neptunes productions have the exact same ascending melody, whether in the instrumentation or Pharell's voice, especially on the first N.E.R.D. record and these tend to be the Neptunes songs I like most or aged most gracefully. "Drunk and Hot Girls" grew on me quickly, more for Mos' bridge which is gorgeous, and the only track I didn't like was "Homecoming", simply because Chris Martin's voice was totally wrong for the track and that the track just sounded like a Be B-side, anyway.

There was a thread on allhiphop.com where someone basically brought up the rarity of a hip-hop artists (I'd argue ALL artists, but especially rare in rap) making three great albums, lest in a row. Among a small list that includes Ghostface, Boogie Down Productions and a few more, Kanye did that, and it seems like he does it easily. Lyrically, I haven't found much to get into past College Dropout, which was full of great lines that were a bit more sparse on Late Registration and almost absent on here for me, save for "Good Morning", "I Wonder", "Big Brother", and "Everything I Am". Everything else feels like Queens of the Stone Age-style place-holding for great music, which is fine with me but for a rap album, can be a bit of a let down. But the fact that "Flashing Lights" completely wrecks me (Kanye seems to have a tendency to cast hook singers with soulful yet bored voices, which works well when he does it) and that I dig 12 tracks means I'll probably get the record. Oh, and the best line I've heard on any record this year for its ability to pack in so much meaning without being preachy:

"Just last year Chicago had over 600 caskets/Man killing some wack shit/Oh I forgot...except when niggas is rappin'"

Welcome To The Good Life

So, as of an hour ago, I'm 20. Personally, I've been sort of dreading the shit out of this, and now, after the buffer period of 17-19, I fear crazy pressure and that there's a clock for me to get something accomplished. I'm on a good path as of entering college. My friends throughout High School turned out to be flaky and two-faced and took my ex's side in our breakup two years ago and stopped talking to me, which hurt a lot but turned out to be a blessing. So I had more than enough motivation, and no option, really, but to do my own thing and take the spirit and inspiration being a college freshman gave me. So, that whole year was pretty eventful and exciting. A few parties, new people, a bit of maturity, some embarrassing experiences, depression, substances, a one night stand, etc. The whole cliche.

The plan, from then to now, was to, like George Costanza, do the exact opposite of what I had done until then. I was frustrated by my inaction in life, so I've tried to do as much as possible, taking opportunities and chances and doing a bunch of shit that 17 year old me wouldn't bother with. Its worked out great, but besides some shitty nu-metal band with two late 20's broke man-children with no musical talent, I haven't gotten as much done with guitar as I would've like. I would've hope to have been in and out of 20 bands by now, rather than two. I've waited too long to develop any other talents that would be of worth to me immediately, so its really riding on guitar or me finding some connections and maybe getting some dumb writing gigs. Plus, I just figured out my major this summer, but I'm a junior and will end up probably taking an extra year considering I'm only taking one class this semester because I need a break. Also, I've pretty much felt alone for the last two years. 20, with only one job on my resume, that I had got out of nepotism from my friend, so I continue to feel extra discouraged at my inability to perform during job interviews or get hired based off my resume alone. Its a continuation of something I noticed at 17...nothing feels impossible anymore, but nothing really feels instinctual anymore. its all a toss-up, everything I do.

Of course, this is just how I feel at the moment. The panic I've felt all year has more to do, maybe, with my aging than it actually has to do with me. My personal life is the healthiest its been in years, though I feel heavily isolated from everyone that isn't in my small circle of friends. My only two worries are money and getting in shape and not being malnourished and bereft of a few key nutrients I gave up when I quit milk and red meat/pork. That and a weird compulsion to meet as many new people as possible right now.

I know to not trust how I feel about this, though. Throughout my teens, I missed being a child, and now I miss being a teenager. When I'm in my late 20's, I may miss college. Its also false, its all glamours and mirrors of my mind tricking my into some false nostalgia and distorting my memories from how shitty or great things really were. It just swirls into some feeling-less blob.

I felt some rambling was in order while I was in the mood or time frame, since I probably will feel fine tomorrow. I'm glad for what I have, really. And I look forward to whatever comes.

Except a stabbing. Fuck that shit.

Cuz I Don't Give A Shat

There are a few seldom occasions where something I completely maligned or avoided turned out, after I dropped my bias, to be pretty great. Sometimes, its just because I don't think it'll be that good or is that important so I don't bother (ex: Muddy Waters, Mecca and The Soul Brother, Ready To Die, A Bizarre Ride II Da Pharcyde, Both Sides of the Brain, The Mouse and The Mask, All Wu-Tang albums, Nigga Please, Ridin Dirty, etc), other times, I just have an overwhelming hate of what it represents, such as me falling back on shitting on the Arcade Fire after giving their full-lengths a download and finding they mouthfucked the same spot in my brain that makes me really like Lifted... by Bright Eyes. But until that moment last month or so, I lumped them in with all the boring, redundant manchild-like kindergarten-ready indie rock being posited as "amazing" and "important" by the ZOG-run blog conspiracy.

Having signed off of all things indie "rock" after 2005, I have yet to find a reason to check up on the new ways that bands like Spoon and Voxtrot can bore me to to tears with 5oth generation retreads of the same goddamn jangly guitar sound or 70's pop rock rip-offs with post-punk disco drums added for 00's authenticity. Ga Ga Ga Ga is the shittiest record I've heard in a while (besides the mountain of disappointing released by bands I like, but more on that later) and its overwhelming acclaim only bolstered my alienation with the bland-ass hipster side of indie as opposed to the crazy rainbow hued, discordant and weird side I love so much (like Deerhoof, Lightning Bolt, Dan Deacon, M.I.A., PFFR, Devendra Banhart, etc.).

Anyway, in a weird postponed case, I fell in love with Three Six Mafia's Da Unbreakables sometime in early August. Having spent a lot of time in eight grade (2000-1) hanging out in my annoying homophobic/religious friend James' house watching RapCity on BET and just being really typical 13/14 year-olds. At the time, I remember a lot of southern hip-hop getting rotation on the show, which luckily prepared me for the inevitable rise of the south between 2003 and now. I actually have real fond memories of bullshitting in his house, playing Dreamcast, watching "Jackass" for the first time and him being a racist fuck (always regurgitating "white people are dumb and crazy" stereotypes) , and him playing my the infamous "Suge shot me" misnomer from Makaveli that was supposed to convince me that Pac was prophetic and still alive or some dumb shit.

Kids.

During all those after-school chill sessions, I got exposed to probably more rap videos than I had ever seen on MTV in my entire life. On the surprisingly heavy rotation of southern videos was the entire Slip-n-Slide crew (Trick Daddy, Trina, etc.), Ludacris, Iconz's "Get Crunked Up" (I found that clip on youtube not too long ago and fell into a quarter-life crisis nostalgia pit), Lil Jon's "Bia Bia", Project Pat's "Chicken Head" and oddly enough Three Six Mafia's "Sippin On Some Sizzurp". Now at this point, I thought James was cool for knowing a lot more rap than me. He used to throw around references and name drop Young Zee, and all this shit I wasn't aware of, but it seemed impressive. He was this weird balance to my obsessive diving into pretty much mostly "white" music at the time that led me through the history of rock and then in high school to punk and metal and indie rock and etc. But all the time, James would recite the hooks to all of these songs and I quickly got into them, too, and if I recall correctly a lot of other kids in my junior high seemed at least aware, if not into those singles.

Fast forward a couple of years, and a commercial comes on TV for Three Six Mafia's Da Unbreakables album. I distinctly remember looking at the cover and scoffing at the obvious reference to the M. Night Shymalan movie (around 10th grade, so I was heavy into punk and goth shit and had goth friends and basically checked on anything MTV2 ever played) and just going about my life, anticipating the "last" Jay-Z album. I guess I figured Jay was more high-concept than "Put Cha D. In Her Mouth". It's also weird that I was so hype about Southern rap, to the point that I wouldn't shut up about David Banner, Lil' Flip and T.I., but I made the distinction to write off Three Six as being shitty without bothering to check the music past my memories of "Sippin On Some Sizzurp". Imagine my surprise two years later when "Stay Fly" comes out as a this beautiful, amazing single, becomes huge and then they proceed to WIN A FUCKING OSCAR.

And still, probably in some bullshit punk rock/indie rock "I found them first, now they're not cool" way, I avoided them for another year and a half, despite my closest friend Christian constantly extolling the virtues of their production and them becoming darlings of both MTV and bloggers/mediawhore review sites. In one of many bored late night jags on iTunes where I bravely check out shit I'm too apathetic to pirate or even bother giving an effort too, I got interested in Mystic Stylez. While on my Dora the Explorer shit, I checked out Da Unbreakables, since iTunes really only has three full-length releases by Three Six Mafia, to be surprised at how good the production was, even better than the clips of Mystic Stylez that had me interested in the first place. I think "Bin Laden" and "Ridin' Spinners" sold me on the trip to mininova.org.

I prefer to listen to music either late night in the dark or in my bathroom, so I can chill and really soak in a whole record with obstruction. I remember after downloading it, having an "Ohhhhhhhhhhh shit!" moment when the sample from Portishead's "Wandering Star" kicked in at that eerie low volume before the second round of samples hit. I enjoyed the track, but still didn't think the record would be that good, until "Testin' My Gangsta" came on and made me a Three Six stan for the moment.

I don't exactly wish to gush about their production, but what I've always loved about southern hip-hop is how its keeps the lo-fi sound and simplicity of late 80's 808-rap (both east and west coast, more the latter), no matter how elaborate or fleshed-out the beats actually get. It's a lot like why I love RZA, the constant juxtaposing of tiny weird-as-fuck fragments of obscure shit to make fucked up sounding beats that are at once beautiful and scary...I've always hated clean, pristine overproduced shit (one reason, besides shitty songs, that I hate The Colour and the Shape and Roc La Familia) and prefer blowed out snares and cheap-sounding 80's kick drums to big Dr. Dre beats. Ghostface seems to get this too, as evidence by the emphasis on Fishscale of sounding like a boombox cassette circa '88 Staten Island, bereft of overwhelming bass and full of grit. Any producer willing to pull a whammy bar-esque key-transposing on a whole sample or synth line is awesome in my book.

Throughout the record, I kept having "Ohhhhhhhhh shit!" moments, which is what I live for, really. More than good songs, I love hearing something new or hearing something done really well, like the horn break in "Dancing Machine" by The Jackson 5. I probably inherited that from my three year tenure in the high school jazz band where the bass player and teacher would play videos by virtuoso musicians or Stevie Wonder and holler when some crazy shit happened that was sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious. I found the record being a rare thing; ear candy where I could enjoy it without even giving a thought to themes or anything remotely lyrical, a lot like when I listen to M.I.A.

My personal belief is that lyrics are just devices to distract from the repetitious nature of pop music, and should, at worst, not distract from the quality of the music and at best be catchy and meaningful (the Queens of the Stone Age rule). This gets a lot trickier with hip-hop, but Southern rap nimbly bypasses this somehow, avoiding the cloying obsession with attempting to be complex that's found in east coast rap. Its, simply, perfect party music, and like Arular and Kala, I can listen to it over and over and still get the same sugary high from it. The WTF!? moment of having Josey Scott from Saliva rapping on the record (arguably better than Paul, J, or Lil' Wyte) is just icing on a diabetes cupcake.

I guess the lesson from this is to always check out a record first before scoffing at something. Who knows, maybe Papoose and Saigon will make classic albums and I'm wrong in my assessment that NY rap sucks.

Or not. Fuck NY.

"I guess you're trying so hard to be like your favorite rapper
That you're even trying to die like you're favorite rapper"- DJ Paul