Fly Shit...

It is November 11th and the impending political apocalypse has not set off with the anticipated rapidity (though fo sho Jan. 20th has not arrived yet). Thank God.

Therefore its as good a time as any to turn attentions to those musical matters that matter for getting through oft tiring and troublesome days. I've never been to Memphis, yet I bring the city wit me everywhere i go through the one and only Playa Fly. A former member of the incomparable Three Six Mafia, Fly left their fold in the mid 90s and proceeded to carve a niche so strange yet funky i've yet to meet a rap friendly fellow who don't feel it. Fly's rhymes teeter from pensive observations on the nature of spirituality and purpose to shooting 'sap suckas' and snorting coke in just a few bars. His production similar swings wildly between off-key, ominous bangers that seem to only sprout in the Ten and plucky guitared, off-key harmonized junts equally indigenous. If it all sounds confusing, that's cause it only makes sense through the miracle of flow. As far as I can find, this right here is the only proper music video he's ever made. The song is not particularly one of his best, and is actually much longer than the clip's play length. Yet in typical Fly fashion, the video is unique, erratic, hypnotic and utterly enigmatic all at once.





Of course, much mo to come on the King of Funkytown.

These Are The Times...

 This election eve beckons a potentially terrifying time for the unprecedented. Stay alert across the diaspora.

 

The Real Art of Noise

 By now it's no secret that Slow Motion Soundz is the aural antecedent to unoriginality in modern rappery. Yet I realize that barring thefader and soundcircuit, most of the digital underground is still unawares of what they're missing. So allow me to further intimate you to the Block Beataz production team. For parallels sake, Mali Boi & CP are DJ Paul & Juicy J in RZA's Basement after a few liters of lean. For practicality's sake, just listen.

To kick this feature off proper like, I present two of their undisputed personal classics: Naturalz I and II. If you've been to 134 Cross or a passenger in my car, you've surely heard them at least once. Ice cold ig'nance over Crown Royal smooth knock. While you certainly can't go wrong with any "Moments In Love" sample, the flip is what makes each so thorough. Yet the jury is still out on which one hits harder. I'm more prone to say that they're like choosing  favorite child - feasible, yet ultimately undesirable and unfair. But feel free to drop a verdict.

B.O.S.S. & X.O. - "Naturalz" (2005)

Inbetween step-child: "Natualz (remix)" (2006)

B.O.S.S. & X.O. - "Naturalz II"(2006)

It Ain't No Thang...

 Most rap songs advocate some form of extreme response to life's travails. Be it mind-numbing materialism or nerve-busting violence, many emcees across all times and regions seem to advocate some form of indulgence/intensification as the bets way to navigate the day to day. Hustle harder, bust more guns, pop bigger bottles, drop more knowledge. Even aesthetically, it often seems hip-hop is the mantra of never enough, as bass is cranked beyond while more bells and whistles are whisked into mid and treble mixdowns. That's precisely what makes Young Bleed's "Give & Take" so refreshing. Nothing about is particularly spectacular nor particularly excessive. Rather Bleed's calm drawl brings the most keeping it real realism of all: that in-between space in which life's unavoidable joys and sorrows collide and the true tests of wisdom, experience, and characters are revealed through personal choices. 

 You win some, and you lose some

  and then you spend some on em when you choose em

  See it's a cold world, and it's a cold game

  But if you learn to give and take, it ain't no thang

I caught this video once on Rap City and have been trying to find it ever since. I was still a youngin and didn't quite remember exactly what the jawn was about, but I knew it made me smile. And now I see why.

Also, this clip definitely sets a clear precedent for how today's hood videos should capture a community. Just like Juvenile's "Ha", it gives a distinct feeling of what the respective area is like in ways that greatly contextualize and enhance the music. Southern Louisiana definitely got that aesthetic on lock, which makes sense as it remains one of the most unique places on the planet (word to the fam).

Orientation Ruminations

Thoughts on XXL's The 10 Freshmen: Hip Hop's Class Of '09 Attacks 

Delivery certainly has become an afterthought or impediment for this upcoming crop. It seems that in the transition from Big Daddy Kane barrage to Jay-Z conversationalism, too many rappers are trying to sound smooth at the expense of actually spitting. I never thought this would be an actual point of contention (Lil Waynetitus certainly didn't help).

 A lot of these songs just sound soft. Synths have a time and place, and it is certainly not fluttering behind an autotune sung chorus. Them tight jeans and backpacks are catching up to the knock. Creativity shall not compromise the low end theory.

 Braggadocio sounds tired. As a proud adult, I'm not particularly interested in how fly, flashy, or phenomenal another grown man I've never met is.

I'm half caucasoid, from PA, and graduated from college, and I still relate to Chingo Bling more than Asher Roth. Somebody flush that kid down the development deal toilet.

 I appreciate the transition away from punchlines ad nauseum ala early 2000's. However as not everyone can truly write cleverly, the weaknesses of flow, delivery, cadence, etc. become infinitely more transparent without the zingers.

One of the most wonderful aspects of rap is that you can literally rhyme about anything. Therefore, why anyone would want to rhyme about the saaaame things time and time again is mind boggling and actually quite offensive, considering that the money and time used to make the thousandth song about how you smoke better than errybody else could have fed hungry children or rehabbed a burned out crib. Selfish fuckers.

Someone has yet to truly merc "Swagger Like Us". Emcees please remedy, or somebody offer compelling counter evidence ASAP. And Cory Gunz, please leave autotune alone. You sound like a tween with emphysema. And in no way, shape, or form are you a freshman. At all.

Maybe its my latent Wesleyan traits, but spitting actual verses over MIA hipster mash-up beats

yields more freshness than a little bit.

B.O.B's. croonspitting is growing on me. Charles Hamilton in persona, lyrics, and topics is most definitely not.

So overall, i'm glad I graduated before '09 cause it don't seem there's too much to be schooled on by this crop, 'scusng Wale, Cudi, and maybe B.O.B. on a good day. And last time I checked 3/10 ain't no passing grade under any circumstances.