Yes, He's the Best Rapper in the Current Hip-Hop Era...

...but it's sort of like being one of the last emperors of ancient Rome. Generational bias to be sure, but I don't think anyone would argue that hip-hop will see a more fertile creative period than the late eighties to mid-nineties in its future.

Over a decade ago, back in my MTV-watching days, I remember seeing videos for a crew calling itself The Hot Boys. The group consisted of members Juvenile, B.G., Young Turk and Lil' Wayne. I laughed at what seemed like a bunch of backwater ostensible rap artists sporting the de rigueur thug aesthetic--wife beaters, shiny watches and baggy jeans. They had supplanted Master P's god-awful No Limit as the new face of the South. I figured they couldn't be much worse than "The Ice Cream Man" and his ilk. So on the strength of Juvenile's quirky hit song "Ha", I purchased his solo LP, "400 Degrees." I gave it a few spins. Then I proceeded to buy every release these guys put out.

Southern rap acts (with the exception of groups like Outkast) are often derided for the simplicity of their lyrics and song composition. I tend to attribute that to the fact that Southern hip-hop is sort of still in its adolescence. For years, the only notable things coming out of the South were the Geto Boys and Too Short (Luke and 2 Live Crew were always more affiliated with the booty bass scene, hip-hop's cheeky cousin). Now the South is coming into its own with the likes of artists like T.I. and Ludacris who can drop one-liners with the best of them. None of the Hot Boys would ever be mistaken for a cajun Rakim, but the group does have a notable musical legacy. This is thanks in large part to one man: Mannie Fresh, producer for the bulk of Cash Money's output in its nascent years. Fresh is one of the most under-appreciated producers in hip-hop history. Largely eschewing easily recognizable samples, Mannie Fresh crafted some of the most kinetic and idiosyncratic beats this side of Timbaland. Fresh gets frenetic with the primordial elements of rap: snares, high-hats and the thump of the 808 percolate at 120 bpm. You can hear his signature sound in the hit songs that defined and established the label: B.G.'s "Cash Money Is A Army", Juvenile's "Ha" and "Back that Azz Up", and Lil Wayne's "The Block is Hot" (BTW, the video for Juvenile's "Ha" is almost like a cultural artifact with its portraits of life in the wards of New Orleans in the late nineties; worth seeking out on YouTube). Granted many of the songs were lyrically execrable (especially those on any Big Tymers--a group comprised of Baby and Mannie Fresh--record), but the beats never disappointed.

So jump ahead ten years and Lil Wayne is the last Hot Boy standing (all the others having left the label, Cash Money Records, due to alleged financial improprieties by the co-founder of Cash Money Records, Bryan "Baby" Williams--infamous for his platinum dental work). I'd been aware of a growing groundswell of support championing 'Weezy Wee' (as he sometimes refers to himself) as the next greatest thing in hip-hop. Apparently he appeared on every third rap and r&b record released over the last few years. Prolific? Undoubtedly. Great? I was skeptical to say the least until I listened to a freestyle he did called "Dough is What I Got" on which he rapped over Jay-Z's first official un-retirement track, the oddly tepid "Show Me What You Got." The old guard (Jay-Z, Nas, Wu-Tang, etc.) had recently been lamenting in the press the perceived slow death of hip-hop in the last few years (ironically, the same death knell sounded in the late nineties during that generation's ascendancy). "Dough is What I Got" served as a rebuttal of sorts with Weezy launching a salvo directly at Jigga himself ("When it comes down to this recording/I must be Lebron James if he's Jordan"). After he threw down the gauntlet, the pressure for Lil Wayne to deliver a record on par with previous crown-claiming albums such as Paid in Full, Illmatic, Life After Death and Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life increased exponentially.

Is the Carter III the greatest thing since yogurt with fruit on the bottom? Well, not exactly. It's still serves as pretty solid testimony to his dominance over the current field of contestants.

What makes Lil Wayne so appealing? He's a singular personality in a genre full of clones, wannabes and interchangeable voices. It comes down to his charisma and inventiveness, his willingness to attempt things that might fail (e.g. his fondness for riff-heavy guitar-backed tracks). You get the sense that when he steps in the studio, he just follows whatever impulse enters his mind. This is simultaneously his greatest strength and weakness. Take a song like "A Milli"--simple driving beat, repetitive sampled hook; he takes it and runs roughshod over the track with an at times haphazard flow, creating something that feels both ephemeral and classic in the same breath. Then he'll follow that up with a fairly derivative track like "Got Money" that wears its pop aspirations on its sleeve (but again, he miraculously saves even that effort with a few playful lines, specifically his riff on Rhianna's ubiquitous "Umbrella" song). He carries the album the way Will Smith is able to carry a movie with a mediocre script (*cough*I Am Legend*cough*).

The Carter III suffers from the same maladies as many contemporary rap albums: too much filler, too many guest stars, inconsistent production. Still it manages to overcome these faults on enough occasions to make it a worthwhile purchase (or if you prefer ala carte, I'd recommend between 8-10 of the albums 18 tracks). I don't know how long the reign of Wayne will be, but I'm not mad about it.

On a side note: I'm not sure what to make of Wayne's Zapp-like obsession with voice modulation. I swear at least a third of the tracks on his new album use Auto Tune.

Tracks worth a listen, or two:

• A Milli


• Dr. Carter - concept song about him literally saving hip-hop


• Phone Home -Wayne expands on his "I'm a Martian" conceit


• Tie My Hands - moving piece about the aftermath of Katrina


• Mrs. Officer - gives a new meaning to a classic NWA song


• Lollipop - infectious melody, showcases Wayne's eccentricity perfectly


• Lollipop Remix - ft. Kanye who's much less annoying on other people's albums

Spin it Back: Appreciating the Golden (Not-Really-That) Oldies

I've purchased maybe one full-fledged hip-hop album in the past five years I think, the thoroughly satisfying debut album, "Below the Heavens" from a duo named Blu and Exile. I guess I should count the last two Kanye albums, but those are just empty calories--the music equivalent of summer tent-pole movies. I don't know if I ever thought hip-hop would necessarily grow with me, but it pains me to find how much it's regressed and remained stagnant for the last I don't know decade and a half?

I'm not about to go off on a "$#!t was way tighter in my day!"-rant, but for the record it was. There's no subjectivity applicable here. It just was. Anyways, I recently picked up "Blowout Comb" the second and sadly last LP of new material from the Digable Planets. I owned the album when it first came out in '94 and gave it a few spins before burying it in my burgeoning record collection in favor of exploring the strange sounds of the newly emerged Wu-Tang Clan.

Unfortunately, the disc was also a casualty of a car break-in many years later (why take somebody's music of all things? Stereo, fine. Whatever you can find! But stealing music is like stealing memories--some things are just irreplaceable.) Now nearly fifteen years later through the magic of iTunes, I've been reunited with Butterfly, Doodlebug and Ladybug Mecca. I have to say, the album's aged really well. The heavily jazz-oriented production along with the trio's mellow deliveries meld into one fluid groove over the album's thirteen tracks. In retrospect this may have been one of the last great records of hip-hop's Golden Age (1987, period beginning with Eric B. and Rakim's "Paid in Full"-1995, period ending with Raekwon's "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx"). The hip-hop landscape was so diverse in that period. And the quality was uniform coast-to-coast. Random groups would just drop solid albums out of nowhere (Heltah Skeltah, Boogiemonsters, Goodie Mob, Lords of the Underground, Das EFX, Black Moon, Pharcyde...).

Uh, oh. Let me stop. I'm headed down Nostalgia Ave. Alright, so today's music isn't so bad. Timbaland gets crazy praise for his inventiveness and seemingly inexhaustible supply of infectious compositions. As much as I'm loathe to admit, Lil Wayne could very well be the best rapper around--and that's not meant to be a backhanded compliment. I'll admit that much. Now get off my lawn.

Lyrics from Digable Planet's "La Femme Fetal" off their first LP Reachin'...
it was 8:49 on a beautiful 9th day of july
there was not a cloud to speak of so the orange sun hung
lonely in the sky
i was laying prone in my cabby home
listening to fine nappy jackie and his jazzcat's horn
sliding in a tape of bird on verve when suddenly rang my phone
hello butterfly , a voice said
slip on some duds comb out your fro and slide on down to my pad
the vibe here is very pleasant and i truly request your presence
a problem of great magnitude has arose
and as we speak it grows
damn, what could it be i thought
a juice i bought and rolled on down to her spot
seeing bros i know slapping fives i arrived and pressed G-5
and there was nikki
lookin some kind of sad with tears fallin from her eyes
she sat me down
and dug my frown and began to run it down
"you remember my boyfriend sid that fly kid who i love
well our love was often a verb and spontaneity has brought a third
but do to our youth and economic state we wish to terminate
about this we don't feel great , but baby that's how it is
but the feds have dissed me
they ignore and dismiss
and the pro-lifers harass me outside the clinic
and call me a murderer, now that's hate
so needless to say we're in a mental state of debate"
hey beautiful bird i said digging her somber mood
the fascists are some heavy dudes
they don't really give a damn about life
they just don't want a woman to
control her body or have the right to choose
but baby that ain't nothin'
they just want a male finger on the button
because if you say war they will send them to die by the score
aborting mission should be your volition
but if souter and thomas have their way
you'll be standing in line unable to get welfare while they'll be out
hunting and fishing
it has always been around it will always have a niche
but they'll make it a privilege not a right
accessible only to the rich
hey, pro-lifers should dig themselves
cause life doesn't stop after birth
and to a child born to the unprepared
it might even just get worse
the situation would surely change if they were to find themselves in it
supporters of the h-bomb and fire-bombing clinics
what type of shit is that? orwellian in fact
if roe v wade was overturned would not the desire remain intact
leaving young girls to risk their healths
and doctors to botch and watch as they kill themselves
now i hate to sound macabre
but hey, isn't it my job
to lay it on the masses and get them off their asses
to fight against these fascists
so whatever you decide make that move with pride
sid will be there
and so will i
an insect til i die
rhythms and sounds
spinning around
confrontations
across the nation
your block
my block
dreadlocks
what a shock
land of the free - but not me
not me
not me
not me
not me
not me
not me
not me
not me
not me

Needless to say, you should pick them up if you don't own either album. Later!

Braniac Dumb-Dumbs Bust the Scientifical

One of the world’s most critically revered music outfits decides to release their 7th LP in what can only be described as an irreverent interpretation of free market economics. The morning of October 10th I received an email informing me that I could now download In Rainbows, the unexpected (originally due out in ’08) new release from Radiohead. In a couple of months, I’ll receive the rest of my purchase including the vinyl, CD with bonus tracks, plus various sundries. All the hoopla surrounding how the band’s inspired distribution method would affect the music business writ large threatened to overshadow a much more pertinent question: Is the album any good? I’d say, well of course, it’s Radiohead, but of course that doesn’t suffice for the non-/casual fan. Well upon first listen, it’s clear the album won’t win any new converts. However, those of us who have watched (or rather listened to) the evolution of this band will find many subtle yet significant changes in how they seem to be making music. When a band has made seven full-length records (plus material for at least four more), some complacency is expected, perhaps unavoidable. In Rainbows is not the sound of a self-satisfied band.

I don’t think it’s possible for the three main creative drivers of the band: Yorke (frontman), Greenwood (lead guitarist) and Godrich (producer) to be complacent. I’ve always pictured Nigel Godrich (the band’s producer since OK Computer) as this not so much mad as intensely focused chemist constantly working to create something special with the elements of the band; always tinkering with the formula (on a molecular level) from one record to the next. I’ve felt like that since watching Meeting People is Easy which had footage of the guys in the studio. They seem like the type of people who’ll stay in the studio for days on end to get an interesting take on a song. Jonny Greenwood just seems to bring an inexhaustible reservoir of creative energy. And Thom Yorke? Well he’s my Dylan, my Lennon, my pre-Player’s Club Ice Cube. Together they’ve created some of the most compelling and innovative pop music of the last decade.

Looking back, Radiohead’s 4th album, Kid A was the equivalent of Tiger Woods rebuilding his swing from scratch. Observers wondered aloud why you would screw with perfection. When Radiohead released OK Computer in 1997, it was hailed as the most important recording since the Watergate tapes. Critics ranked it up there with Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s. Such praise can be deadly for young artists. As Yorke succinctly puts it in Meeting People is Easy:

“It’s like a supply and demand thing…this is what they want me to do, this is what they want to hear, so I can do more of this, this is great and they love me…[this] can be the demise of so many recording artists, because suddenly they start giving you cash as well, suddenly you’ve got money and you get used to this lifestyle. And you don’t want to take any risks, they’ve got you by the balls…you’ve got all this baggage you’re carrying around with you everywhere. You’ve got all these things that you’ve bought or you’re attached to…that’s how they get you.”

So Radiohead goes into the studio and conceives a record that shows almost no trace of OK Computer’s DNA. Some interpreted this as an In Utero-style kiss-off to critics and newly acquired fans alike, but that’s not what it seemed like to me. I felt it was a group of artists saying, you know what, we just want to make music that’s interesting and honest; music beholden only to ourselves. Contrast this to Coldplay who after the success of Parachutes basically decided that they wanted to become the most popular band in the world. Hope it works out for them. No really.

Radiohead’s sound as I said earlier is constantly evolving. This evolution begins and ends with Yorke’s voice. As a friend of mine once noted, it’s as if Thom Yorke isn’t even trying to sing anymore. And indeed, he really doesn’t. He doesn’t so much sing as deploy his voice into the soundscapes the band creates. Granted there are still songs where he does just sing the hell out of a song (see: “How to Disappear Completely”), but often he uses his voice (along with deft digital manipulation) as an exceptionally versatile instrument (see: “Everything in It’s Right Place”). On the new album, that evolution continues with songs like Reckoner. The lyrics are difficult to make out, but Yorke’s voice drives this collage of sound that’s just downright beautiful. Radiohead began as a rather conventional guitar-band that began experimenting with organic and synthetic sounds, weaving them into a surprisingly cohesive tapestry. Others have attempted this shift. R.E.M. tried it out and I thought it fit well (see: “Up”; also produced by Godrich coincidentally), but they abandoned it. U2 got all experimental for one album (see: “Pop” which I dug a whole lot), but then decided to go back to what they did best. Radiohead continued on down the rabbit hole. Their follow-up to Kid A, Amnesiac went even deeper. Many of their songs are about alienation; lovers disconnected physically, emotionally or both; people pursuing each other, fleeing each other, seeking each other out in some surreal landscape; individuals trapped in perpetual discomfit. You know the usual. Radiohead’s songs are at turns claustrophobic and ethereal like being trapped inside the genie’s lamp.

The song I keep coming back to on In Rainbows is “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”:

In the deepest ocean
Bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
I’d be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me on a phantom
I follow to the end of the Earth
Fall off
Yeah everybody leaves
If they get the chance
And here’s my chance
I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes

I swear in like half their songs Yorke’s being devoured by something: wolves, worms, rabbits, you name it. It sounds somber on paper, but the contrast of the lyrics to the driving beat turn it into a deceptively optimistic song. I’m also partial to "Nude", a song that has gestated for well over a decade and appeared in numerous incarnations in their live show. It’s a melancholy song (surprise!) about what happens when expectations come to fruition (“Now that you’ve found it/It’s gone/Now that you feel it/You don’t/You’ve gone off the rails”). The opener, "15 Step" didn’t grab me at first, but a few more spins and I’m nodding my head especially to the nimble bass line that kicks in at the two-thirds mark of the song. I’ve listened to the whole thing all the way through about a half-dozen times now.

This is the work of a band in full command of their talents. It doesn’t try too hard to be different from its predecessors, but it has its own voice. It will take another good week to properly digest the whole thing. It's a shame I'll have to wait until next year to see them perform this material. Now if only the band could figure out a way to circumvent Ticketmaster the way they have the big music labels. I guess it gives them something to shoot for.

"Hey, U R A Q T!" M.I.A. is Back - Music Pick of the Week

If you're not familiar with Arular, then you should go pick up a copy or download it. It's the debut album of a talented young artist named M.I.A. who hails from the U.K. Her sound is a spectacular mash-up of hip-hop, dancehall, baile funk, Miami bass, and whatever other stuff that makes you just dance involuntarily. I was quite enamored with her whole style for a good portion of '05 and '06.



I'm glad her sophomore debut wasn't some 'neutered-for-U.S.-audiences' shiny coaster of an album like Lady Sovereign's. For LP #2, it seems M.I.A. spent quite a bit of time traveling the world from the dark continent to down under. The song, "Boyz"(above video), sounds like a plugged-in tribal celebration. The rest of the album is full of the same eclectic ingenuity that made me dig the first one so much. Listening to an album like this is an oasis in the desert.

The older I get, the harder it is to find new music. Though I gotta admit, I'm kinda feeling like Crankin' Dat Soulja Boy:



"Then Supaman that 'o..." Wow.

P.S. - Though I can't vouch for the entire album, Int'l Players Anthem - U.G.K. feat. Outkast is the best rap song of the year. Hands-down, dunny.