Good CD yo.
like really really good.
I'm gonna write here about the CD, but until then I'll hold off and just link to an expose I did about certain songs.
Niggas In Paris(sorta)
Murder to Excellence
Friday, November 18, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Murder to Excellence
Courtesy of Dan
Low fi guitar loop is cool
When the drums kick in and the backing vocals change around 30 seconds is genius. Drums drop when Kanye starts his verse which really sets it apart from Jay-Z's verse. The piano after the hook that replaces the backing vocals is really well done, then when they come back, they are the hook vocals, not the verse vocals. This works really well with the simple Oooooh that comes over the top.
Then the song really changes. It's really two songs together, Murder and Excellence. Murder is low-fi, gritty, muddy in the low end. Excellence is cleaner, much less low end. Vocal hook is cool, and totally different than the murder half.
Kanye says, "What's the life expectancy of black guys? The systems working effectively, that's why." I'm interpreting this two ways, one where he is saying the way things work give black guys short lifespans. The other is that he's saying, when a black person goes to court it is expected that they get a life sentence and that means the court system is working effectively. I really like that line.
From Curtis(after Dan's was written)-
"When the hook("whole lotta money in a black bag. black strap you know what thats for") is repeated at the end of the song, the line “black strap, you know what that’s for” segues into “Murder” (part of “Murder to Excellence”), which discusses black-on-black crime." -Rap Genius
This song perfectly exemplifies the form of the song matching the content. Murder (the first part of the song) has a gritty beat, with instrumentation and tones matching a more urban, harsh theme. The backing vocals create a driving force for each of the rappers, pushing them on, creating an aura of tension and giving the feeling of almost being hunted. This element is regarded as form, as it is the structure of the song; it frames the song and provides a skeleton that the content, or the lyrics, is laid over. The content of this section is about how black people murder each other, how black culture is self destructive, how murder is a manifestation of symptoms of a system that discriminates, oppresses and drives black people to murder each other. It's a mature approach to race relations, as it places blame on both black people ("It's time for us to stop redefine black power, 41 souls, murdered in 50 hours") and on the system (the same line Dan pointed out, "What's the life expectancy of black guys? The systems working effectively, that's why"). It challenges the community to move past violence and become more sophisticated ("If you put crabs in a barrel to insure your survival/You're gon' end up pulling down niggas that look just like you/What up, Blood? What up, cuz? It’s all black, I love us "), and as Rap Genius points out, "Jay uses the 50 Cent line “What up, Blood? What up, cuz?” to demonstrate that he is talking to all young black folks (“Blood” refers to the Bloods gang, and “cuz” is a common Crip salutation), and to remind them not to get caught up in gang violence, but rather to feel pride in their race. "
Excellence (the second half), has a cleaner, loftier rhythm. It's sounds sophisticated, and classy. The voices that made "Murder" ominous and threatening sounding shift and make it now sound high class. There are comparisons that can be made here between these vocals and gospel music. Gospel music could be considered one of the shining beacons of hope for the black community, as it has existed through hard times, through slavery and civil rights, and has remained a major part of the community through all its hard times. It has remained an unwavering force for good, and more importantly, a force for wanting to be better. There's a sense of hope in it, that they can push past this life full of hardships and misery and achieve a better one in heaven. The verses here talk about moving up in society, and how black people aren't really involved in high society (because of structurally imposed racism on black people dating all the way back to the middle passage). This song has a hope that blacks will rise up and join their equals in positions of power and influence. Hope that black people won't be stopped by police, for our society will have stopped demonizing black people to the massive extent that it does today. There's the clever line "Domino, Domino, only spot a few blacks the higher I go". If dominoes and black with white dots, the higher the number, the less black you will see. I'm not sure if this is what Jay-Z meant, but true art is something that gets us to ask questions, and whether or not the artist "meant" it does not matter as much as much as we think (for more on this, read Roland Barthes' "The Death of the Author"). It's an indictment and questioning of a system that oppresses black people. The Throne here seems to know that it's possible for African Americans to join them in places of power. It's realistic and it's tangible, albeit a tough road ahead.
The participle "to", when used here, indicates a movement from one place to another. This is what the song does. It moves from one aspect to another, and not only in terms of moving from one topic of discussion to another. The song carries the overall theme of hope, and in this same vein, The Throne hopes that African Americans can move from Murder to Excellence. In this way, by uniting form (rhythm, tone, the aesthetics of vocal parts) with content (the lyrics), Kanye and Jay Z have created a masterful piece of music. This unity is commonly found in good literature (most commonly in poetry).
Who ever said hip hop wasn't art?
Low fi guitar loop is cool
When the drums kick in and the backing vocals change around 30 seconds is genius. Drums drop when Kanye starts his verse which really sets it apart from Jay-Z's verse. The piano after the hook that replaces the backing vocals is really well done, then when they come back, they are the hook vocals, not the verse vocals. This works really well with the simple Oooooh that comes over the top.
Then the song really changes. It's really two songs together, Murder and Excellence. Murder is low-fi, gritty, muddy in the low end. Excellence is cleaner, much less low end. Vocal hook is cool, and totally different than the murder half.
Kanye says, "What's the life expectancy of black guys? The systems working effectively, that's why." I'm interpreting this two ways, one where he is saying the way things work give black guys short lifespans. The other is that he's saying, when a black person goes to court it is expected that they get a life sentence and that means the court system is working effectively. I really like that line.
From Curtis(after Dan's was written)-
"When the hook("whole lotta money in a black bag. black strap you know what thats for") is repeated at the end of the song, the line “black strap, you know what that’s for” segues into “Murder” (part of “Murder to Excellence”), which discusses black-on-black crime." -Rap Genius
This song perfectly exemplifies the form of the song matching the content. Murder (the first part of the song) has a gritty beat, with instrumentation and tones matching a more urban, harsh theme. The backing vocals create a driving force for each of the rappers, pushing them on, creating an aura of tension and giving the feeling of almost being hunted. This element is regarded as form, as it is the structure of the song; it frames the song and provides a skeleton that the content, or the lyrics, is laid over. The content of this section is about how black people murder each other, how black culture is self destructive, how murder is a manifestation of symptoms of a system that discriminates, oppresses and drives black people to murder each other. It's a mature approach to race relations, as it places blame on both black people ("It's time for us to stop redefine black power, 41 souls, murdered in 50 hours") and on the system (the same line Dan pointed out, "What's the life expectancy of black guys? The systems working effectively, that's why"). It challenges the community to move past violence and become more sophisticated ("If you put crabs in a barrel to insure your survival/You're gon' end up pulling down niggas that look just like you/What up, Blood? What up, cuz? It’s all black, I love us "), and as Rap Genius points out, "Jay uses the 50 Cent line “What up, Blood? What up, cuz?” to demonstrate that he is talking to all young black folks (“Blood” refers to the Bloods gang, and “cuz” is a common Crip salutation), and to remind them not to get caught up in gang violence, but rather to feel pride in their race. "
Excellence (the second half), has a cleaner, loftier rhythm. It's sounds sophisticated, and classy. The voices that made "Murder" ominous and threatening sounding shift and make it now sound high class. There are comparisons that can be made here between these vocals and gospel music. Gospel music could be considered one of the shining beacons of hope for the black community, as it has existed through hard times, through slavery and civil rights, and has remained a major part of the community through all its hard times. It has remained an unwavering force for good, and more importantly, a force for wanting to be better. There's a sense of hope in it, that they can push past this life full of hardships and misery and achieve a better one in heaven. The verses here talk about moving up in society, and how black people aren't really involved in high society (because of structurally imposed racism on black people dating all the way back to the middle passage). This song has a hope that blacks will rise up and join their equals in positions of power and influence. Hope that black people won't be stopped by police, for our society will have stopped demonizing black people to the massive extent that it does today. There's the clever line "Domino, Domino, only spot a few blacks the higher I go". If dominoes and black with white dots, the higher the number, the less black you will see. I'm not sure if this is what Jay-Z meant, but true art is something that gets us to ask questions, and whether or not the artist "meant" it does not matter as much as much as we think (for more on this, read Roland Barthes' "The Death of the Author"). It's an indictment and questioning of a system that oppresses black people. The Throne here seems to know that it's possible for African Americans to join them in places of power. It's realistic and it's tangible, albeit a tough road ahead.
The participle "to", when used here, indicates a movement from one place to another. This is what the song does. It moves from one aspect to another, and not only in terms of moving from one topic of discussion to another. The song carries the overall theme of hope, and in this same vein, The Throne hopes that African Americans can move from Murder to Excellence. In this way, by uniting form (rhythm, tone, the aesthetics of vocal parts) with content (the lyrics), Kanye and Jay Z have created a masterful piece of music. This unity is commonly found in good literature (most commonly in poetry).
Who ever said hip hop wasn't art?
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Best woe is me song
Desolate
Has the most tyler. And jc.
And the right amount of electronica
And the least amount of metalcore
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Downtown Battle Mountain 2
When it was announced that Jonny Craig would be coming back to DGD, I wasn't sure what to expect. Teaming back up after all that time apart? Downtown Battle Mountain was one of my favorite CDs of all time and that had been 4 years ago. They had some high expectations to live up to, especially after Self Titled and Happiness were so good. As soon as I got my hands on DBM2, I played it. I was nervous. But then the first song "Spooks" came on. And my fears were immediately laid to rest. The arpeggio guitar intro followed by Jonny's "Foo--ool your word means shit"came out of the gate and told us that they were back. They were going to take no prisoners and just go for it. If there was ever a question about whether or not they would be able to follow up DBM, it was answered within the first 5 seconds of the CD.
This CD blows my mind. Every song, amazing. Even the songs I didn't like, I love now.
Highlight of this CD is obviously Jonny Craig. He is so good. There is a part in every song where I will listen to the song just to hear Jonny. Beginning of Spooks. "Riiiise abboove!" in Pounce Bounce. "And I swear this won't end soon" in Robot with Human Hair. Beginning of Thug City. "give it up" in Need Money. All of Elder Goose. "Feel the cracks of my skin, feel the souls of my feet now go" from Heat Seeking Ghost of Sex. "I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you" in Blue Dream. "I won't let it break my self esteem" in Privilously Poncheezied. "My words are cheap, my thoughts are deep, cutting right through your soul" in Swan Soup. Everything in Purple Reign. He has swag, soul, sadness and passion in every note he sings. He is not a technical musician, but he knows melody like no one else that I can think of.
And that's not to say he's the only good part. Matt Mingus is incredible on the kit. He's been good forever. I especially love his use of double bass. His whole style is really tight and controlled, providing the perfect backing, but also being very talented once examined. Will Swan on the guitar is amazing, providing so many varied types of riffs, perfectly executed.
It sits on this weird boundary of art that's suppose to make sense but the thing itself actually does not make a whole lot of sense. Jon Mess has said in the past that lots of his lyrics are dreams he's had, and Jonny Craig's lyrics are mostly about sleeping with girls; none of them really fit that cohesively together. However, they fit melodically. They interrupt each other enough to not let the other get boring. The two bonus tracks, while decent, are not on the same level as the cd. The reason: only one singer on each of them. So, were stuck. If they can't write a piece of music that makes sense, and have it work, what do you do? You feel the music. There's a soul in there that comes out like it does in post rock. There are no words in postrock, yet it is emotionally impacting. It doesn't matter what mess is yelling about and its almost irrelevent what jonny is singing (unless you are obsessed with girls. Then its spot on swag).
Monday, May 9, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Calling it Now
I'm gonna love Woe, Is Me.
Generic metalcore to the max.
But this dude can sing, and the instrumentals are decent. They highlight the singing, and I'm a sucker for good singing. Probably cause I can't sing.
Generic metalcore to the max.
But this dude can sing, and the instrumentals are decent. They highlight the singing, and I'm a sucker for good singing. Probably cause I can't sing.
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