Spending a good portion of the weekend out of doors with my earbuds in (so as to deflect the “how long you been growing that hair” and “is that your real hair” inquisitions) and my iPod on shuffle meant I got to listen to a lot of good music while enjoying the temperate weather and the wonders of the urban landscape.
Whether by coincidence or design my warm-weather listening was dominated by music of the Hip-Hop persuasion. And while that wouldn’t have been unusual at all during the Springs and Summers of my youth, the last few years have found my listening habits becoming much more balanced. But what can I say, a stack of strong singles, a pile of outstanding albums, and yeah, a bit of nostalgia on my part, has the Rap genre at the top of my portable playlist at the moment.
The main albums holding my park-bench listening sessions down are the previously featured To Serve With Love from Saint Louis native Black Spade, L.A. character-rapper Kail’s True Hollywood Squares and The Piece Talks from Blu and Ta’Raach’s supergroup C.R.A.C. (a.k.a. Crass Knuckles). I have a feeling that there’s gonna be plenty more dope Hip-Hop records coming down the pipeline this Summer (maybe I’m hoping for an early-nineties-style reconnaissance?) but these are the records that already have the season jumping off right. I already told you to go get ‘em. Have you?
Speaking of early-nineties renaissances, what got into Busta Rhymes on that “Don’t Touch Me (Throw the Water On ‘Em)” shit? Sure it’s more late-nineties club-banger-era Busta than it is early-nineties “rawr-rawr” lyrical monster Busta (I’m not expecting a “Spontaneous” sequel at this point) but it’s exciting to hear him spitting like that, doing it over a beat like that and not having any of the lyrics be about coke. And that’s not even taking the video into account. I’d like to expect an entire album like this from dude, but I won’t get my hopes up.
On the club-banger flipside, Canadian Electro duo MSTRKRFT finally did something (like work with Santogold) that I’ve been wishing they’d do for a minute; teamed up with a rapper for a shocker of a single. That the rapper in question is N.O.R.E. is both mind-boggling and totally comforting at the same time. What could N.O.R.E. have in common with Jesse F. and Al-P? I dunno. But it makes total sense that one of the kids who ushered in the Neptunes era of Electro-Rap revivalism would make a crazy amped-up club track like “Bounce.”
More dancey psuedo-Electro unexpectedly pops up on the new remix of Brooklyn Indie-Rap crew Junk Science’s “Hey!” from Scott Thorough and his Boys and Girls Club cronie Mike McGuire. Yeah, Definitive Jux-approved rapping, beats that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Ciara single and Emo-guy crooning mix surprisingly well. Whodathunkit? Oh yeah, you can download it for free too, which is always a bonus!
Another multiple Blogarythms featuree, Chris Renne, formerly of The Yes Yes Y’alls, comes through with the remixery via his Jailbeat Productions who put new vocals from Signifire and John Blake over Vampire Weekend’s “Blake’s Got a New Face.” It’s called “The Blakes Have Got New Faces” and it reminds me of the sort of thing D.C.’s Wale might do.
Jailbeat Productions “The Blakes Have Got New Faces” feat. Signifire and John Blake
The other day I had to explain to a friend what an “808″ was while hanging out on the very same park-bench I did most of my outdoor listening this weekend. Had I given my answer in the form of a question a-la Jeopardy I could have simply said “what is the reason I like the remix of that new Kidz in the Hall single so much” and left it at that. Of course, that would’ve left out the Masta Ace Inc.-sampled hook and the guest verses from Pusha T, Bun B and those Cool Kids. But it really is all about that 808.
There’s no 808 kick, but the low-slung, bass-heavy beat (think: Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”) on Cleveland, Ohio-native Kid Cudi’s new single “Day ‘N’ Nite” is a big part of it’s appeal for me. The spacey synths, his sensitive pot-head lyrics, a catchy sing-song chorus and a big electronic bassline have helped keep it on my radio playlist and in my headphones alike for a hot minute though.
Kid Cudi “Day ‘N’ Nite”
Not Rap per-se, although one of the chicks in the group does drop a little rhyme on the bridge, is internet-savvy girl-group (and recent ColliPark signees) Vistoso Bosses‘ “Delirious.” Thankfully it’s not a remake of the Prince song of the same name (I might have had to kill somebody for trying that one) but an uptempo Electro-Pop jam along the lines of old-school mainstay Lisa Lisa, the “Rhythm & Quad” of Ghost Town DJ’s and their hit “My Boo,” or that “Promise Ring” song by that Tiffany Evans girl I wanted to see blow up last Summer.
Finally, I have to do something I haven’t felt the need to do since 1994-1997, tip my hat to Sean “Diddy” Combs. His Hitmen put it down on that “Don’t Touch Me” beat, and he was smart enough to see that Janelle Monáe needs some muscle behind her. Homegirls’ contributions to Big Boi’s (whose “Royal Flush” is also eating up a lot of my listening time) Got Purp? Vol. 2 made an impression on me. And backing Outkast on that Idlewild joint was something to be proud of. But her Metropolis Suite shenanigans are something else entirely. And she really deserves to get out in front of folks the same way Erykah Badu, Gnarls Barkley and Santogold have.
Speaking of which, the non-Rap portion of my shuffle-set included music from Santogold and Gnarls Barkley’s new records, in addition to tracks from Sweden’s Lykke Li, Cali-by-way-of-Sweden’s Rubies and Animal Collective’s new Water Curses EP. ‘Cause even when the Hip-Hop is exceptional one can’t survive on rappitty-rap alone.
17 Comments
drew
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Just wanted to say I’m a BIG fan Blogarhythms! You’ve opened me up to a GANG of artists I might have never discovered had it not been for your blog. Reading your column every day also inspired me to start my own music blog. Check it out at http://stay-puft.blogspot.com and let me know what you think. PEACE.
–drew.
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