Showing posts with label state of music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label state of music. Show all posts
December 10, 2009
That Shit's R. Kelly Good
Yes friends, it's true. R. Kelly has another inappropriate song that's so bad it's good. This one subtly titled Get You Pregnant. As in, "Girl, you make me wanna get you pregnant." I couldn't believe my ears. And then I listened to it. As stupid as the lyrics and title may be, it definitely got my head bobbing. How is it that R. Kelly songs are so bad, yet so good at the same time? They lead you to lose all faith in humanity, but also to the dance floor to get down—albeit faithlessly and shaking your head—at the very same time? That's R. Kelly for you. His honestly is amazing. That's one of the reasons I really believe it wasn't him in that video peeing on that girl. He would've written a song about it already. It would've been titled, "Yeah, I Peed on That Underage Girl". But he hasn't. And since all of his songs seem to be stream of consciousness, it's pretty obvious he didn't do it. This man probably writes songs just walking down the street. He sees a booty he likes, he writes a song called, "Damn, I Love Yo Booty". He sees a girl with panty lines, he writes another called, "Should've Worn Yo Thong". He sees a girl who looks like a jeep, he writes a song called—wait, he already did that. I think that song was the start of his stream of consciousness R&B. And I almost have to give him credit (almost). I mean, his mind is working on overtime with every single girl that walks passed. How can he ever NOT be writing a song? Every girl that he passes is a potential gold or platinum recording. I only wish I could keep that many award-winning songs straight in my head. In a nod to his obvious song-writing genius, MTV is adding a new category to their awards list: The R. Kelly Lifetime Achievement Award for Songfoolery. The winner of this category will be a songwriter who writes a song that makes people bob their heads, with a look of confused, what the hell was he thinking bewilderment on their face. A look that usually illicits the response, "Mmm, that shit's R. Kelly good."
August 26, 2009
They Keep Sayin' Whale, But My Name's Wale.
My friend put me on this guy Wale (pronounced Wah-Lay; don't say
Wall-ee, he's not a trash-compacting robot from the future). Check him out.
He grew up in Northwest D.C, and was was originally bred on the D.C.-indigenous funky, percussive hip-hop sub-genre called go-go. He blew up in 2006 when the track "Dig Dug (Shake It)" became popular in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The song became the most requested by a local artist in D.C. radio history, and was included on his first mixtape, Paint a Picture.
He has a Talib Kweli flow, a dash of Kanye's swag and bravado, and Wayne's metaphors and one-liners, without the non sequiturs. We'll call him a thinking man’s Weezy, minus the dope. His lyrics are smart, but not to the point where they get in the way. Mark Ronson describes him as, "A Cross Between Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco And Nas.
He describes himself as, "A little more Talib, less Jay-Z. A little less Nasir (Nas for those who don't know), more A-Z. A little more Consequence than Kanye, the underdog from the underground, Wale."
He's done five "official" mix tapes since 2006, three of which have received acclaim:100 Miles and Running (2007), Seinfeld-themed, The Mixtape About Nothing (2008) and Back to the Feature (2009). His Interscope Records debut album, Attention: Defecit, dropping October 20, is the exclamation point on four years of buzz-enducing mixtapes.
Aiming to break the monotony of hip-hop, you won't hear any two-step, lean back or snap on his album. One track, "Shades", featuring Chrisette Michelle, discusses inter-black racism, and ruminates on hip-hop's use of the n-word. The album also features songs about romantic dilemmas and maintaining his integrity amid the hype. On "The Bomb", Wale addresses whether his intellectual flow takes away from his street cred.
He spits: “I’m chastised. They say I’m not hood enough. Fuck it, I’m good – I just kill it with my rhetoric. A clip full of syllables, licking off shots like the last sip available. You cannot configure my particular curriculum. Ridiculous. You niggas don’t even deserve my syllabus.”
But he also likes to have some fun, so you won't need a dictionary or a textbook to enjoy the album. With production set to come from Mark Ronson, Cool & Dre, David Sitek, The Sleepwalkers, Sean C & LV of The Hitmen, and collabos from Bun B, Jazmine Sullivan, K'naan, and Marsha Ambrosius, the goal of Attention: Deficit is to be eclectic.
"I think it’s important to be a well-rounded individual, no matter what you do. And I apply that to the music I make — you have to let all of you show through. A part of me is very conscious, very politically aware and then there’s a side of me that thinks about girls 24/7, the side of me that likes to have fun." The album's first single is Chillin—which you may have heard—and features Lady Gaga.
I, personally, am glad. Hip-hop has gotten stagnant. Artists are trying to sell ringtones, not records. The rest are trying to sell drugs (or lying about selling them). I think Wale and Kanye are the link back to the old school. Yeah, Kanye whines a lot, and has a big ego, eh, eh, eh (no homo), but he's doing something different. You can hate on Kanye and 808s and Heartbreak, but nobody else in hip-hop was doing what he did on that album. Yeah, people were doing one or two tracks, but Kanye did a whole album. And it was on some real deal emotional stuff. To me, the monotony in hip-hop is disgusting, so this will be a welcomed change. Go to datpiff.com, or wherever you get your mixtapes, and pick up these. Make sure to grab that album when it comes out in October.
Wall-ee, he's not a trash-compacting robot from the future). Check him out.
He grew up in Northwest D.C, and was was originally bred on the D.C.-indigenous funky, percussive hip-hop sub-genre called go-go. He blew up in 2006 when the track "Dig Dug (Shake It)" became popular in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The song became the most requested by a local artist in D.C. radio history, and was included on his first mixtape, Paint a Picture.
He has a Talib Kweli flow, a dash of Kanye's swag and bravado, and Wayne's metaphors and one-liners, without the non sequiturs. We'll call him a thinking man’s Weezy, minus the dope. His lyrics are smart, but not to the point where they get in the way. Mark Ronson describes him as, "A Cross Between Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco And Nas.
He describes himself as, "A little more Talib, less Jay-Z. A little less Nasir (Nas for those who don't know), more A-Z. A little more Consequence than Kanye, the underdog from the underground, Wale."
He's done five "official" mix tapes since 2006, three of which have received acclaim:100 Miles and Running (2007), Seinfeld-themed, The Mixtape About Nothing (2008) and Back to the Feature (2009). His Interscope Records debut album, Attention: Defecit, dropping October 20, is the exclamation point on four years of buzz-enducing mixtapes.
Aiming to break the monotony of hip-hop, you won't hear any two-step, lean back or snap on his album. One track, "Shades", featuring Chrisette Michelle, discusses inter-black racism, and ruminates on hip-hop's use of the n-word. The album also features songs about romantic dilemmas and maintaining his integrity amid the hype. On "The Bomb", Wale addresses whether his intellectual flow takes away from his street cred.
He spits: “I’m chastised. They say I’m not hood enough. Fuck it, I’m good – I just kill it with my rhetoric. A clip full of syllables, licking off shots like the last sip available. You cannot configure my particular curriculum. Ridiculous. You niggas don’t even deserve my syllabus.”
But he also likes to have some fun, so you won't need a dictionary or a textbook to enjoy the album. With production set to come from Mark Ronson, Cool & Dre, David Sitek, The Sleepwalkers, Sean C & LV of The Hitmen, and collabos from Bun B, Jazmine Sullivan, K'naan, and Marsha Ambrosius, the goal of Attention: Deficit is to be eclectic.
"I think it’s important to be a well-rounded individual, no matter what you do. And I apply that to the music I make — you have to let all of you show through. A part of me is very conscious, very politically aware and then there’s a side of me that thinks about girls 24/7, the side of me that likes to have fun." The album's first single is Chillin—which you may have heard—and features Lady Gaga.
I, personally, am glad. Hip-hop has gotten stagnant. Artists are trying to sell ringtones, not records. The rest are trying to sell drugs (or lying about selling them). I think Wale and Kanye are the link back to the old school. Yeah, Kanye whines a lot, and has a big ego, eh, eh, eh (no homo), but he's doing something different. You can hate on Kanye and 808s and Heartbreak, but nobody else in hip-hop was doing what he did on that album. Yeah, people were doing one or two tracks, but Kanye did a whole album. And it was on some real deal emotional stuff. To me, the monotony in hip-hop is disgusting, so this will be a welcomed change. Go to datpiff.com, or wherever you get your mixtapes, and pick up these. Make sure to grab that album when it comes out in October.
August 23, 2008
If you leave me I'll cut all my toes off
You know what else I'm tired of in music. I'm sure you're not, but I'm going to tell you anyway. I'm tired of ridiculous analogies--especially in love songs. If you leave me my head will blow up. If you leave me I'll lose my sight. You know what I'm talking about. The worst are the analogies about being able to breathe. I'm sure Toni Braxton didn't start these analogies (they've been floating around forever), but she has the first one that I really remember.
If I never feel you in my arms again
If I never feel your tender kiss again
If I never hear I love you now and then
Will I never make love to you once again
Please understand if love ends
Then I promise you, I promise you
That, that I shall never breathe again
Is she serious? If so, he must give one hell of a hug. If you're that guy, what do you say to that? You can't really break up with a girl who's going to die if you leave her. What a guilt trip. Who wants to have that on their shoulders? That's a lot of pressure. She even promised, so she must be telling the truth. We all know how women feel about breaking promises.
And what about this one by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown called No Air?
But How,
Do you expect me,
To live alone with just me?
'Cause my world revolves around you,
It's so hard for me to breathe.
(Chorus)
Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air.
Can't live, can't breathe with no air.
That's how I feel when I know you ain't there.
There's No Air No Air.
Got me out here in the water so deep.
Tell me how you gon' be without me.
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe.
It's No Air No Air.
I'll tell you how you're supposed to breathe with no air--gills. And unless you're some kind of fish-man, I'm going to guess you don't have a pair. I've been in love before. I've even been broken up with before. I don't know what it feels like to suffocate, but I'll tell you this, that's not how I felt. You know what I felt like? I felt like I did before I met her, but just a little bit more sad. I never once felt like I was going to die. They're equating each other with air, but can you leave something that's always around?
Then there's this one by J. Holliday called Suffocate.
Chorus
Cause I can't breathe when you talk to me,
can't breathe when your touching me.
Suffocate when you're away from me.
So much love you take from me
I'm going out of my mind
He doesn't sound like a guy that should be in love. He sounds like a guy who should be scared. He can't breathe when she talks to him. He can't breathe when she's touching him. She doesn't sound like a good girlfriend. She sounds like the grim reaper. I'd be going out of my mind if death was sleeping in my bed too.
It even crosses music genres. Take, How Do I Breathe? Two songs with different lyrics and different artists--one country and one R&B. One by a teenage caucasian girl, and the other by a teenage african-american guy. Apparently suffocating has no race or gender biases.
I know that these are just analogies and aren't to be taken literally. I'm just saying that the whole breathing analogy is getting a little trite. I think I'm going to come out with an album with less used, but honest lyrics. The album will include tracks with titles like, "When you left, it sucked but I'll live", "We broke up, but my new girlfriend is hotter" and "Finally I'm rid of you".
If I never feel you in my arms again
If I never feel your tender kiss again
If I never hear I love you now and then
Will I never make love to you once again
Please understand if love ends
Then I promise you, I promise you
That, that I shall never breathe again
Is she serious? If so, he must give one hell of a hug. If you're that guy, what do you say to that? You can't really break up with a girl who's going to die if you leave her. What a guilt trip. Who wants to have that on their shoulders? That's a lot of pressure. She even promised, so she must be telling the truth. We all know how women feel about breaking promises.
And what about this one by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown called No Air?
But How,
Do you expect me,
To live alone with just me?
'Cause my world revolves around you,
It's so hard for me to breathe.
(Chorus)
Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air.
Can't live, can't breathe with no air.
That's how I feel when I know you ain't there.
There's No Air No Air.
Got me out here in the water so deep.
Tell me how you gon' be without me.
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe.
It's No Air No Air.
I'll tell you how you're supposed to breathe with no air--gills. And unless you're some kind of fish-man, I'm going to guess you don't have a pair. I've been in love before. I've even been broken up with before. I don't know what it feels like to suffocate, but I'll tell you this, that's not how I felt. You know what I felt like? I felt like I did before I met her, but just a little bit more sad. I never once felt like I was going to die. They're equating each other with air, but can you leave something that's always around?
Then there's this one by J. Holliday called Suffocate.
Chorus
Cause I can't breathe when you talk to me,
can't breathe when your touching me.
Suffocate when you're away from me.
So much love you take from me
I'm going out of my mind
He doesn't sound like a guy that should be in love. He sounds like a guy who should be scared. He can't breathe when she talks to him. He can't breathe when she's touching him. She doesn't sound like a good girlfriend. She sounds like the grim reaper. I'd be going out of my mind if death was sleeping in my bed too.
It even crosses music genres. Take, How Do I Breathe? Two songs with different lyrics and different artists--one country and one R&B. One by a teenage caucasian girl, and the other by a teenage african-american guy. Apparently suffocating has no race or gender biases.
I know that these are just analogies and aren't to be taken literally. I'm just saying that the whole breathing analogy is getting a little trite. I think I'm going to come out with an album with less used, but honest lyrics. The album will include tracks with titles like, "When you left, it sucked but I'll live", "We broke up, but my new girlfriend is hotter" and "Finally I'm rid of you".
Getting a girl shot on a date is not romantic.
I heard the dumbest song I've ever heard in my entire life. It's by Sean Kingston, the pseudo-Jamaican, pre-pubescent rapper/singer who was featured in the Natasha Bedingfield song. Here is a sample of the lyrics.
We can go to the tropics
Sip pina coladas
Shorty I could take you there
Or we can go to the slums
Where killas get hung
Shorty I could take you there
Baby girl I know it's rough but come with me
We can take a trip to the hood
It's no problem girl it's my city
I could take you there
Little kid wit guns only 15
Roam in the streets up to no good
When gun shots just watch us, run quickly
I could show you where
As long you're with me
Baby you'll be alright
I'm known in the ghetto
Girl just stay by my side
Or we can leave the slums go to paradise
Baby it's up to you,
It's whatever you like
I'm not the most romantic guy in the world, but what the hell kind of date is that? Is he trying to convince her to go out with him, or scare her away? Where do you pick up a girl who would enjoy going on a date to the ghetto? He's probably scouring the female pen looking for girls up for parole. There's no visit like a conjugal visit.
It's also funny because the date starts off at a resort or something. They're sipping pina colladas, laughing, giggling and having a good time. Next thing you know, they're dodging bullets. The girl signed up for a date, not a section 8 aerobics class taught by 15 year-olds with automatic weapons. When I'm on a date, I don't want to run from anything but the rain. I'm not trying to get all hot and sweaty and forever be dubbed the sweaty-date guy.
The most ridiculous part of the song is that he poses the whole scenario as a question. He's asking her if she wants to go to a resort and drink umbrella drinks, or to the hood and get shot at. What the hell kind of question is that? It's not like asking if she wants Olive Garden or Chilli's. It's not like proposing the movies or the arcade. It's more like choosing between living or dying. Isn't that question a little too deep for a first date? Would you rather spend the day jumping in the pool, or jumping fences? Wait, before you answer, keep this in mind; if we really get lucky we might end up in the hospital, or maybe even a jail cell. Baby it's up to you. It's whatever you like.
Retarded.
The sad part is, people write songs because of things that go on in their lives. The question that's begging to be asked here is if he's actually proposed this scenario to a girl. What's even more depressing is somebody is in their car right now bobbing their head to this song. There is somebody out there who says, "ooh, this is my jam" when it comes on in the club.
We can go to the tropics
Sip pina coladas
Shorty I could take you there
Or we can go to the slums
Where killas get hung
Shorty I could take you there
Baby girl I know it's rough but come with me
We can take a trip to the hood
It's no problem girl it's my city
I could take you there
Little kid wit guns only 15
Roam in the streets up to no good
When gun shots just watch us, run quickly
I could show you where
As long you're with me
Baby you'll be alright
I'm known in the ghetto
Girl just stay by my side
Or we can leave the slums go to paradise
Baby it's up to you,
It's whatever you like
I'm not the most romantic guy in the world, but what the hell kind of date is that? Is he trying to convince her to go out with him, or scare her away? Where do you pick up a girl who would enjoy going on a date to the ghetto? He's probably scouring the female pen looking for girls up for parole. There's no visit like a conjugal visit.
It's also funny because the date starts off at a resort or something. They're sipping pina colladas, laughing, giggling and having a good time. Next thing you know, they're dodging bullets. The girl signed up for a date, not a section 8 aerobics class taught by 15 year-olds with automatic weapons. When I'm on a date, I don't want to run from anything but the rain. I'm not trying to get all hot and sweaty and forever be dubbed the sweaty-date guy.
The most ridiculous part of the song is that he poses the whole scenario as a question. He's asking her if she wants to go to a resort and drink umbrella drinks, or to the hood and get shot at. What the hell kind of question is that? It's not like asking if she wants Olive Garden or Chilli's. It's not like proposing the movies or the arcade. It's more like choosing between living or dying. Isn't that question a little too deep for a first date? Would you rather spend the day jumping in the pool, or jumping fences? Wait, before you answer, keep this in mind; if we really get lucky we might end up in the hospital, or maybe even a jail cell. Baby it's up to you. It's whatever you like.
Retarded.
The sad part is, people write songs because of things that go on in their lives. The question that's begging to be asked here is if he's actually proposed this scenario to a girl. What's even more depressing is somebody is in their car right now bobbing their head to this song. There is somebody out there who says, "ooh, this is my jam" when it comes on in the club.
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