Monday, December 1, 2008

All you hear is tick and pow.



First of all, I didn't know you could chop and screw videos. I also think it's a bit of a bad idea. Anyway, last week, on my way to work, I realized that my Air Force 2s, having had them for close to three years, were just too old to cut it anymore. The rain will help you realize something like that. So, taking Monique's advice from a couple weeks ago, I went looking for the shoe store Bodega. Man, what a place. A coworker of mine has also shopped there and recommended it, but what no one told me was that the owners of the store liked to make shopping a huge experience. To get to the actual shoes, you had to pass through an automatic door that looks like it is covered with grocery items. I felt like I was entering the batcave or something. Once you pass the door, though, it's a real upscale place in the vein of Ubiq in Philly. I got some nice shoes, Clae Mcqueens if you are curious. Anyway, it was an interesting experience to see all those hipsters, and I even found Underground Hip Hop, though I didn't look around it at all. Let's get down to business, shall we?

G-Side- Speed of Sound

Regardless of what Tray has to say about the lyrics not really matching the beat, with a song like this, it works just fine for me. I should really check out their new album, since it seems like all rap blog trolls have been waiting a while for it. Also, B.o.B. should really try and hook up with the Block Beataz if he wants to keep up his space rap persona. At this point, they're certain to be cheaper than whoever Grand Hustle employs.

B.o.B. feat. T.I.- I'm Dat Nigga

Speak of the devil, he came off pretty well with this one. When does T.I. plan to serve his sentence? If it were to simply loom over him and he started making great songs with up and coming artists, I would not be upset at all. Of course, it is a shame that it took the fear of prison to light a fire under his ass. I also checked my Google search: T.I. does not pop up. Work on that, Clifford.

Pharoahe Monch & Shabaam Sahdeeq- WWIII

Yea, Shabaam got destroyed. There's really nothing more to say, it was a federal crime for sure.

Busta Rhymes- So Hardcore

All this recent talk of post-lyricism and "Arab Money" takes me back to a time when Busta was my favorite rapper, which was about eleven or twelve years ago. He just seemed to be having more fun than anyone, regardless of whether he was making sense. And most of the time, he wasn't. This is the lone Jay Dee contribution from When Disaster Strikes and in my mind, it's a doozie. I apologize about the skit at the end.

13 comments:

Jordan said...

For better video manipulation, check out baltimore club remixes, like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYP_MgWF8hw

The shit talking at the end of that T.I./B.o.B. song entertained me way more than the verses. The pause before tip says "take a chuckle, ha ha ha ha" is probably ma favorite moment in the song. Also have we ever heard Curtis sped up before? He's sampled so much, but I feel it's almost always slowed down. It's kinda weird sounding, his falsetto is almost squeaky when only slightly sped up.

bding7 said...

that video was pretty great.

i really enjoyed the middle of the song where T.I. claims he is the hottest "on the universe." yea, the sample feels like it doesn't match the rest of the beat. if it were played at normal speed or a little slower, i wouldn't think of it as awkward.

and when did i miss that B.o.B. was signed to Grand Hustle? i was under the impression that he was with Jim Jonsin's Rebel Rock or whatever.

Jordan said...

Back when 8ball and MJG signed with Grand Hustle, Breihan did a post on how they were taking over or some shit like that and mentioned B.o.B, so it was at least since before Breihan quit the voice. A lot of these guys do put out albums with a couple labels under one corporate umbrella though, so that may be happening here.

bding7 said...

that reminds me:is M.O.P.ever going to put out another proper album again? given, signing to roc-a-fella is a terrible business decision for anyone not named memphis bleek, but the have to come back sometime, right?

i really hope these guys get a chance to put out a solid album, and t.i. has enough respect for them that i think it's possible.

BreadCity said...

DOUG!! That show was great. Skeeter was clearly the man.

That WWIII track brings back memories, too! I remember I had the Rawkus 12", and the B-side was Eminem.

bding7 said...

yea, 'Doug' is probably one of the greatest cartoons ever. the music alone was killer. mr. dink was great, too. i wanted to get the full episode where he mulls getting new shoes, linking it to going to Bodega, but that's the best i could do.

it's a shame 'WWIII' is ten years old and monch only has two solo albums since then. he made everyone he collaborated with look so bad.

Jamøn Serrano said...

I don't know what to think of this blog, but y'all gotta peep the new Black Milk LP "Tronic". Not enough Detroit love here.

Asher said...

Whoa, weird, people linking to me and shit. Man I don't know, it's a lovely beat but they are such average rappers and they're rapping about their moms. Like at least some of these orgasmic squishy-soft techno beats Diplo gave them make sense given the content. Like the remix of Rollin, it works because the whole song is about taking "skittles."

bding7 said...

Alexander-

i think i would like 'tronic' to be a sort of compilation album, where he gets rappers who like his stuff over the beats, and he sneaks in for a verse or so. though, i really like 'give the drummer sum.' giving detroit rappers some shine along with some of the other guys he's been working with would not be a bad look at all, and would help make the case of any sort of 'movement' taking place there.

tray-

yea, they are average rappers, but in terms of that song, i am fine with that. if i were traveling through space, what else would there be to think about besides the people that you left behind? i'm reaching, of course.

it's only fair that i link to you after leaving a sizable chunk of comments.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry Jesus, I want to make intelligent comments about all the single reviews you gave, but I'm still reeling from that chopped & screwed Doug episode. woooow duuuude.

I liked the g side album too.k eep in mind, i came to it with no absolute expectations. i hadnt heard a single track from them prior to this. and i was expecting to hear some marginally intersting marginal rap act.

In a perfect world, I'd have to agree with tray - I'd hope the artists take the space age tracks they were blessed with and just take the lyrics to the next level. maybe even dive into space-coated street talk. ala cannibal ox. but i'll take this for now.

bding7 said...

would everyone be pleased if these guys took the same approach devin took on 'zeldar,' or do we need to hear 'da art of storytellin' pt. 2?'

Anonymous said...

lol zeldar. well i'll take zeldar over whatever lyrical approach these guys took on this album, but an album full of zeldars would be hard to pull off without sounding extra campy.

& Da Art of Story Telling Part 2 - thats a mean tease of a hypothesis, Shuttlesworth

My ideal, which is admittedly ridiculous, would be like taking the CanOx approach - where you blend in the spacey production with sci fi themed street talk. A lot of the Cold Vein (Iron Galazy most notably) seemed to associate New York with space - NY as this cold, barren waste land, and dealt with poverty & depression as this apocalyptic, end of days dread. That coupled with EL-P's production was a really cool combo for me.

But that might be a bit too much to ask from artists. Zeldar 9from the planet beldar) it is!

Jordan said...

Ideally for me, they'd imitate 8ball and MJG much better. Like On Top Of The World is full of this space age futuristic production, (which ironically has dated a bit worse than some other shit) but the best songs are these high drama completely terrestrial tracks. If their writing was more direct and specific, if they could incorporate more details and drama and humor then the whole thing could really work. 'Cause the thing is, the moments that work best on this album are when they do get specifically emo.

But then in general I think it's kinda silly when people think the solution to mediocre rapping is changing the subject matter/theme.