Blogarhythms

The other day a guy on regional news claimed that temperatures in the northeast over this past weekend and the first few days of the week were going to be under the influence of “the hottest airmass of the year.” Seeing how Summer has only just recently gotten under way unofficially and is still more than a week away from its official start this particular meteorologist’s prognostication seemed like a bunch of proverbial hot air to me.

Well, that was what I thought, until I spent my Shabbat alternately sitting in front of one of my windows trying to cool off without plugging my air conditioner in (& running up my electric bill) and sitting on the bench on the corner trying to catch a breeze. To take my mind of the heat, humidity and sweat I threw myself into my music library because if the warm weather reminded me of anything it was that during my younger years Summer meant one thing; dope Hip-Hop tapes dropping almost every week.

I dedicated most of Saturday to listening to Raekwon’s Summer of ‘95 classic Only Built 4 Cuban Linx here at the crib. But when I headed out on the block with my earbuds in I decided not to live in the past and give something a little more recent a go instead. As soon as my Rod Lavers hit the hot concrete I found Washington DC-based Rap wunderkind Wale’s not-quite-two-week-old Seinfeld-themed mixtape The Mixtape About Nothing on my freshly-loaded Zune and eased my way to the bench overlooking the busy intersection at the end of my street.

That’s exactly where I stayed until the humidity rose to unbearable heights, the Sun was blotted out by dark clouds and raindrops drove me back inside (where I finally turned the air conditioner on). But during my time on the corner I listened to the mixtape from beginning to end. And while I can’t deny how much Hip-Hop has changed since the Summers of my youth (when rappers still put out records, not downloadable promotional mixtapes), The Mixtape About Nothing reminded me that there are always new emcees stepping up to the plate that remind me how much I love the artform.

I’m usually resistant to “hot” emcees, media darlings and rappers branded as “the next big thing. ” This is mainly due to the changes Hip-Hop has gone through that have resulted in the fragmenting of it’s listenership thus making it difficult to sort out the ringtone-rappers, YouTube dance-craze wannabes, Top-40 thugs, elitist true-school fundamentalists & would-be backpacker messiahs, and discern real talent from hype. And though Wale was never exempt from my scrutiny, he’s proven himself in my eyes ears and stands out as the unique sort of dude who should by rights make listeners from every point across the Hip-Hop spectrum happy.

He can make commercial joints, club joints, conscious joints, raw rhyming joints, street joints, introspective joints and every other type of song a well-rounded emcee (or good songwriter in general) should be able to make. And if Hip-Hop still had the sense of community, the unity (regional rivalries aside), and the diverse media presence it seemed to have when I was young enough to argue with friends over our favorite emcees on my front stoop everybody who calls themselves a Hip-Hop head (from the internets to the local mixtape spot) would know his name and be mentioning it in the same breath as the word “favorite.”

It might be billed as a mixtape — and there are freestyles, recycled beats and bits of songs (like “Rising Up” with The Roots and “Chicago Falcon” with The Budos Band) that have been released elsewhere — but The Mixtape About Nothing might as well be an album. And as such, it’s one of the most well-balanced (he makes songs but stays flipping clever couplets and punchlines), well-thought out (the Seinfeld concept is not only genius, but it’s executed — from Wale’s lyrics, to the song-titles, to the abundance of samples from the show that pepper the album — perfectly) Hip-Hop albums I’ve heard in a long time.

“The Kramer” is an engaging but painfully honest (both emotionally and intellectually) song about the politics of a certain racial slur. His indictments of the recording industry, so-called artists, and the perception of artists in the eyes of the media & the public on tracks like “The Perfect Plan,” “The Vacation From Ourselves,” “The Artistic Integrity,” “The Skit (Untz Untz),” “Starz” and “The Hype” are so on-point and delivered with such passion and wit that potentially cliché subject-matter seems fresh and suddenly feels immediate & relevant falling from the mouth of the talented newcomer. The tracks about the fairer sex like “The Grown Up” and “The Manipulation” are all at once sensitive, crass, truthful and humorous. And the bangin’, percussion-driven production makes Go-Go beats seem like the New Millennium’s answer to Boom-Bap.

Seriously, if I still spent my Summer afternoon’s congregated with friends around somebody’s boom-box or booming-system-having whip with the doors open like I did when Hip-Hop’s “back in the days” were my “now-a-days” Wale’s mixtape would only be leaving the tapedeck so one of the homies could dub it. And while that communal experience may be long-gone in this segmented, segregated, secluded, digital age, at least the internet, and Wale’s generosity, make it possible to get that free dub (in handy downloadable form) from the man himself with his blessings.

So stop looking for an audio sample and just go to Wale’s blog and download it already!