6 posts tagged “hiphop”
Who is "Wuf Ticket"? I don't have the faintest clue...but this oldskool hip-hop diss track is completely Tha Shizznit, even if it does sound positively juvenile compared to some of the diss tracks dropped by more recent emcees. I mean, I don't think these guys would survive thirty seconds in a battle with Eminem or even Humpty Hump--but...so what? Nothing--and I do mean nothing--quite gets a child of the '80s laughing than rollin' up one some buster and shoutin' "YO' MAMA!"
Man, (MC) Hammer gets so much shit these days....Yes, he got Too Big and was humbled by commercial oversaturation. Yes, he wasn't the world's greatest lyricist. Yes...Hammer Pants. But you know what? Has hip-hop produced a performer as energetic, flashy, and just...massive as Hammer since? Hammer was like a sequin-clad Godzilla with a dance posse of cybernetic b-boys and bionic fly-girls; when he put on a show, he put on a SHOW.
But his appeal wasn't all just flashy theatrics. As a matter of fact, I had grown to really like Hammer's tracks long before I ever saw a music video for them. For a while in the late-'80s/early-'90s, my cable company took MTV off of the basic lineup that was all my mom could afford, so my only exposure to pop music at that time was the radio--but, fortunately, Bear, the scar-faced guy who drove the schoolbus I rode to and from school, liked to play WVAQ from Morgantown on the bus. That's where I first heard "U Can't Touch This" and "Pray." I remember thinking those songs were phenomenally tight: not particularly original or clever or inventive...but they had an exceptionally potent, energetic sound that seemed to be a cross between hip-hop like the Beastie Boys or Run-DMC and house music like Soul II Soul or Black Box. It had a big sound. And when I saw Hammer's videos and, later, his live performances, I was not surprised to see that this guy really understood the concept of the stage spectacular--something which could only be possible with the right music.
Too Legit To Quit is still my favorite Hammer album because it's so diverse. Lyrically, Hammer comes across as more of a consciousness rapper on this one, with many songs calling attention to urban problems and issues facing black families, and many of the songs are more personal and intimate--but, nonetheless, that title track is hip-hop music's equivalent of the rock stadium anthem. Just as "We Will Rock You" can get the crowd freakin' out at a Steelers game, "Too Legit to Quit" will get people pumping their arms and shouting along to the chorus. Hammer's early experience in the pulpit really shows on this song, as he sounds like a preacher leading a choir--and the sheer energy of this song is enough to light up an entire neighborhood!
Just in case you're unfamiliar with the visual element of the (MC) Hammer experience, here's the video to "Too Legit." Get ready to have your wigs blown back!
Let me drop some straight science on you folks: the shit you hear on the radio these days is not hip-hop. T.I.? Soulja Boy? Akon or Akorn or whatever the fuck his name is? Stereotypical Hustla of the Week feat. Some Other Stereotypical Hustla?
It’s Friday, and time for a new feature here on The New Pollution (and, hopefully, the music groups that I also post to): The Friday Fivehead—five quick reviews of albums so awesome they will knock your hairline back a few inches! Some of the music will, naturally, be brand new, hot-off-the-skillet fare, but you can expect me to throw in some forgotten, overlooked, or otherwise “old” jams as well, ’cause sometimes y’all just needs to be reminded just how damned awesome some older music is. Hey, maybe you missed it your first time through, or you’re a youngster who needs some educatin’. At any rate, enough of the preliminary jibba-jabba: let’s get shakin’ here, peeps.
(The) Buggles‘ first album The Age of Plastic came out in 1980. Twentyeight years ago. Almost three decades. And yet…even today, in 2008, this album still sounds remarkably futuristic. And it’s not because of the futuristic, science-fictional bent of the lyrics (most notable in songs like “The Plastic Age”, “I Love You Miss Robot”, and “Johnny On The Monorail”). Even though the music on The Age of Plastic features perfectly average late-20th-Century instruments like guitars, acoustic drums, and of course oldskool analog synths that you could hear featured prominently on many a rock, pop, post-punk, or even “easy listening” album in 1980, the songs’ arrangements by certifiable musical genius Trevor Horn (who seems to be able to turn any musical project he touches into gold [see Yes, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Seal, and, of course, The Art of Noise]) and occasional-collaborator Bruce Woolley give them a catchy, pop-inflected, but eerie and almost alienating strangeness that conjures images of gleaming skyscrapers, robot maids, flying cars, and silver spacesuits even while the songs have you bouncing and bopping around. This album is like an artifact from the post-Singularity future; it’s as if Trevor Horn wrote this album sometime in 2061, awash in amazing technology but wistful and nostalgic for the music of the 1980s…so in 2061 he wrote a retro-pop album that somehow made its way back in time to give us a glimpse of a transcendental future full of awesome rockamaroll!
Don Turbolento is one of the best bands I’ve ever discovered via MySpace…a site which I just love to hate, even as it A) provides my music with a means of reaching more and more fans and B) exposes me everyday to more and more great music. DT is a two-man electro firestorm from Italy, so chances are, you probably won’t be seeing them live anytime soon if you live in the States and…well, one must go through less-than-scrupulous means to secure their debut self-titled album. But holy crap, do it! Minimal analog synths bounce along over skittering, scattering—but always danceable—live drums while Dario Bertolotti’s pure, unadulterated post-punk vocals stab through to set off neon bursts of New Wave dynamite under your ass. This is an album aimed at both electro and post-punk fans alike, and its aim is simple and almost religiously pure: to provide you with powerful synth-driven dance-punk that will keep your dancefloors sparkling and your computer speakers glittering. Their music is smooth, yet rough-edged and jittery; polished, yet abrasive at times and slightly rusty around the joins. This album is, in fact, the very definition of modern retro: an honest attempt to produce something that sounds like it should’ve come out in 1978…and goddamn does Don Turbolento do a superior job of doing so! Stuff the “retro is so over” attitude up your arses, hipsters, and just dance and be glad that there are bands like this producing such great dance music for you. Otherwise, what would you be doing? Listening to emo?
Does It Offend You, Yeah? is one of those simply ca-razy bands like Holy Fuck that just sound like a full-on electropunk freak-out. You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Into, their first album after a number of singles that only hinted at the depths of snarly power they could pump out, is chock full of great, high-energy jams that manage to marry the low-brow snottiness of classic ’70s punk with experimental electronic music in such a way the entire album sizzles with electricity and attitude. The band’s name is perfectly chosen. This is a seriously in-your-face musical effort that very well could offend electronic and punk purists. GOOD FOR ‘EM. Anyone who finds him- or herself so wrapped up in issues of genre purity needs punched in the teeth. Does It Offend You, Yeah? is so full of crossover craziness that they’re damnear impossible to define, but comparisons with The Automatics and Enon are probably spot on. DIOY,Y? is a thousand times more confrontational that anyone else, though; this record blasts out of your speakers like an army of Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers full of beer and looking for a good damn time that might destroy your livingroom.
Infadels debut album We Are Not the Infadels proves that yes, the Infadels really are all they’re cracked up to be. Equal parts britpop, dance-punk, and glam-rock, Infadels sounds a bit like a more British, more New Wave-oriented Scissor Sisters with a more electronic feel and an Oasis-like bad attitude. The lead song on the album, “Love Like Semtex,” sounds like classic Duran Duran mixed with The Soup Dragons and The Faint. If you like your dance music melodic, catchy, and complex but still extremely easy to bounce to, then We Are Not the Infadels is the album for you. If Don Tubolento and Does It Offend You, Yeah? are a little too hard-edged for you, but you still like that New Wavey guitars-and-synthesizers dance sound, then Infadels will definitely satisfy. The album is smoking hot and full of energy from track 1 through track 11, with only one mysterious lull (”1′20″) to give you a second to relax before we’re back to the rockamaroll. Highly recommended.
And finally, venerable ol’ Snoop Doggity Dogg, the ol’ D-O-Double-G Himself is back with his ninth—NINTH, people!—album Ego Trippin. So what can you expect? Songs about bitches? Check. Songs about makin’ money? Check. Songs about being a bad-ass? Chickity-check. Songs soaked in the influence of late ’70s and early ’80s synth-funk goodness clearly inspired by and derived from The Gap Band (Charlie Wilson appears all over the album, again, as usual) and Prince, etc.? CHIZZECK! A country song dedicated to Johnny Cash that’s all about smokin’ reefer? Ch…What?! You heard me. “My Medicine” is a 100% country song. And it comes right in the middle of standard hiphop monster jams as “Staxxx in My Jeans”, “Ridin’ In My Chevy”, “Deez Hollywood Nights”, and the sensual dancefloor-destroying lead single, “Sensual Seduction/Sexual Eruption” (depending on whether you have the “explicit” or “clean” versions)*. Nonetheless, this record represents a much softer side of Snoop than the straight-up gangsta attitude of The Blue Carpet Treatment. This is an album by a man who is maturing despite the fact that he’s still pumping out swaggering numberings to keep his fans happy. The final three tracks, the incredibly heartfelt tribute to his wife “Once Chance (Make It Good)”, the heartwrenching soul anthem “Why Did You Leave Me” (which literally sounds like an updated Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song), and the stirring Hood tribute “Can’t Say Goodbye” really show that Snoop could be making some very, very touching music if only he could permanently say goodbye to his gangsta side and all those who expect that from him and just write an album 100% from his real man’s heart. It would be something special to hear.
*And may I take a moment to say that “Sensual Seduction” actually sounds better than “Sexual Eruption.” The suggestive, but not blatant lyrics, work better with the ’80s feel of the song. The more sexually-explicit lyrics actually sound anachronistic. It’s almost like expecting to be listening to a Levert song and hearing Gerald Levert say, “I got a bad bitch wit’ me every day of the week.” It’s jarring, almost!
So that’s it, folks. The first Friday Fivehead is in the can…even though I actually just published it at 1:25am on Saturday morning. Come on, yo—I was playing D&D all day and buying my girlfriend a birthday present! Nonetheless, I bet you know what I was listening to all day as I was doing that stuff!
See you next week with even more jams and, before that, a thorough appreciation of power-metal masterminds Dragonforce! Keep your heads ringing, people. Peace!
I listen to a surprising amount of hiphop--though I am extremely selective about the hiphop that I listen to, as virtually everything you can normally hear on MTV, BET, and pop radio is Absolute Shit. Seriously...when did hiphop trade in its sense of artistry and social relevance for bling, big-booty ho's, and boasting? If one is not aware of the vast amount of "underground" hiphop Out There still keeping alight the flame first lit by the Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Melle Mel, Run-DMC, and the other grandfathers of rap, it's very tempting to think that all hiphop has degenerated into a mass-marketed, overpolished parody of itself. The Game? Puff Daddy P-Diddy Diddy Ding-Dong-Diddilly-Doo, or whatever the hell he's calling himself these days? 50 Cent? That moronic dumbshit who did that "skeetskeetskeetskeetskeet" song? Sadly, it's easy to believe that these oversexed and overpaid jackasses are what passes for emcees these days--because if you listen to any pop-music outlets, they're all you'll hear. But there is good, solid hiphop Out There. A lot of it. Here's a little survey of some of the highlights I've come across lately.
Atmosphere's You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having is a great place to start, and one of the best oldskool hiphop efforts I've heard in ages. Atmosphere has actually been around for a while, I gather, and has been known for some time as one of the flagship artists on the fabulous underground hiphop label Rhymesayers...yet I only discovered them a few weeks ago. The beats, produced by Ant (Anthony Davis), are solid chunks of that oldskool funk--boomin' kicks and bass sounds, shuffled acoustic snares--very reminiscent of Terminator X's work with Public Enemy. Emcee Sean Daley(/Slug)'s rhymes are strong, creative, and very memorable, especially for their exceptionally positive--but unflinchingly realistic--message...again, very similar to Chuck D's most classic rhymes. It's very obvious that Atmosphere could be considered the second coming of PE, at least in terms of stylistics and general attitude. They have the same social consciousness, but are not as explicitly pro-African. Nonetheless, if you've been craving that thunderous, mega-funky Public Enemy sound and lyrics/samples that really stick with you and make you think about what's happening in the world today--and what you can do about it--then Atmosphere's latest is definitely the album for you. The opening track, "The Arrival" explodes with energy and that energy never flags as every track rolls up on you--but I'd say that "Watch Out" is by far the standout track here, with its speaker-crunching beats and its fuck-the-soldout-rap-mainstream lyrics. If this track doesn't have you pogoing like your knees are leaf-springs, then you probably lost your legs in a terrible factory accident.
If Atmosphere brings to mind Public Enemy so strongly, Spank Rock's YoYoYoYoYo brings to mind Sir Mix-A-Lot, 2 Live Crew, and...Kraftwerk? Yes. Spank Rock is the brainchild of MC Spank Rock (Naeem Juwan) and Alex Epton, a well-known Philly/Baltimore-area electronics wizard. Epton's skittery, blippity-bleepityy beats are as danceable as they are weird, and Mr. Spank's hyper, oversexed flow is sharp and perfectly enjoyable. Now, don't get to thinking that this album is nothing about rhymes about pussy--because it certainly isn't...but its standout tracks, "Backyard Betty", "Bump", and "Sweet Talk" all revolve around the undeniable power of Gettin' Booty. However, Spank Rock's songs are not merely more of the same cliched pussy-hound rhymes and weinie-wagging boasting you find in most mainstream hiphop: there's a snarky wit to the lyrics that make them very catchy...and they will stick in your heads. There's no way on earth you can hear "Bump" without memorizing the hook--"Honeyhoney, see me / behind my Gameboy I got game, girl, it comes easy / let go your shoulders / my popsickle is so sweet, see / slamback, that's boss, don't hesitate and you'll believe me / yeah, bitch, believe me"--because it's not just some ridiculous bolus of braggadocio: it's funny! This sounds like something Prince would be kicking out if he were obsessed with 8-bit video games (and the sounds they make: check out the pure Atari synthline on "Backyard Betty") and nerdy chicks. In fact, as the band members have noted on their label's website:
The resulting album sounds like “the rap version of Prince's 1999 album,” according to Juwan, or, more self-deprecatingly, from Epton, like “American kids ripping off European kids ripping off American hip hop."
Yep. That's exactly what it is! So if you like the Eurobotic flavor of Kraftwerk's music, the boomin' booty-bass sound of classic Miami hiphop, and the creative lyrics of artists like Gym Class Heroes (see below), you simply must grab YoYoYoYoYo. Your music collection is WEAK unless you've got this beat-heavy beast propping it up.
And finally...Gym Class Heroes' new album, As Cruel As School Children, is almost frighteningly good. A quick look at the track listing could lead one astray--as I was led astray for a while--into thinking that the album is some disposable pop confection aimed at teenage audiences. I mean, c'mon, "New Friend Request"? Is that a song about MySpace?! It sho' is. And "Clothes Off!"? "Scandalous Scholastics"? Is this some kind of teenage rap album? No. Not even close. Well...perhaps a rap album for college kids? OK, closer--but still you're not there. Gym Class Heroes is what you get when you take indie-rock, classic Prince, and poetry-slam hip-hop, and mix it up with youthful (yet still mature) energy and subject matter to produce an album that both young folks and bitter ol' freaks like me can bop along with. Emcee Travis's lyrics are warm, humane, humorous, and almost beat-like in their ubercool delivery--especially on the completely freestyle, musicless "Sloppy Love Jingle" tracks, on which Travis is not so much rapping as reading a poem of young lust and nervousness at the bar. "New Friend Request" is about MySpace, but it's not some ridiculous piece of teenybopper froth: the entire song uses MySpace elements as an extended metaphor for romance. "Witty" doesn't even begin to describe it. "Clothes Off!" is pure '80s funk a la Prince, and will easily set any dancefloor aflame be it at a 21-and-under club or any over-21 indie-rock night. And "Scandalous Scholastics"? DIZZAMN. This little ditty about every 15-year-old's dream of making it with the hot new teacher is scorchingly wicked, sexy as anything LL Cool J ever put out, and completely rockin'. Young men: I beseech thee to use this track to thy advantage when attempting to bust a move on your school's very own Mary Kay LeTourneau. And to all the "goth chicks / all hot chicks / indie-rock chicks and hip-hop chicks / thin chicks / round chicks / black, white, yellow and brown chicks" called out on "Clothes Off!"...you don't really have to take your clothes off (though, hey, I sure as hell ain't stoppin' you!), but you must report to the dance floor immediately. I mean, any song that contains a nod to The Time is wicked awesome in my book.
BUT WAIT. Gym Class Heroes isn't just a very talented, and very amicable emcee. Gym Class Heroes is an entire band. Travis McCoy on vocals, Matt McGinley on drums, Disashi Lumumba-Kasongo on guitars (and that has got to be the most awesome name I've ever seen) and Eric Roberts on bass. These four guys together (with some expert production by S*A*M and some anonymous synths) are tight, and produce music that is heavily-influenced by current indie-rock and classic '70s funk. I generally hate any and all bands featured on the Warp Tour, which is why I avoided Gym Class Heroes--thinking them just another useless pop-punk or emo/screamo band--yet when I finally listened to their music I was completely won over by the earnest and creative rhymes and the superfunky music. Not one song on this album really sounds like any of the others. Homogenous production and sounds destroys most contemporary rap/hip-hop albums for me: every single track features the same kickdrum sounds, the same digital claps, the same zee-zeet-ZEET! synthlines, and the same complete and utter lack of funkiness. But the Gym Class Heroes deliver the real deal, people.
If you want to hear legitimate artists "keeping it real" rather than some overpaid and overhyped bigmouth flappin' his gums about pussy and scrilla, then start with the Gym Class Heroes, move on to Spank Rock, and finish off your journey with some Atmosphere. Be prepared to boogie, yes, but be prepared to think as well. And dream. And feel the power that is unique to hiphop at its best.
