-Little Brother ft. Truck North & Median “Revenge”
Like all of Leftback, “Revenge” is light on bullshit. Truck North is rapping right from the start (there’s no intro) and the subsequent verses up the urgency. It sounds like it’s being made as you’re listening. One of those songs that captures the energy of the room–or probably rooms–it was recorded in. There’s a wandering, determined intensity, like it could fall apart at any moment or lose its place, and that’s thrilling. Truck North’s introductory hood-apocalypse imagery, Pooh’s smiling anger, and then, Median and Phonte’s “by any means” themed, back-and-forth, all barely contained by a perfect, universal, haiku-like 90’s rap hook and some James Brown “Payback” yelps. Every piece of “Revenge” fits together and that’s rare in rap these days. It’s a group of rappers all excited by the beat Khrysis handed them and clearly doing their best to give it justice and also, trying to one-up each other’s rhymes.
-Young Jeezy “Stop Playin’ Wit’ Me”
Jeezy’s spoken word, kinda rapping got old two albums ago and my patience for “bangers” is dwindling, but Trap or Die 2 still destroys because he’s way more adventurous than he needs to be with beat selection. Let’s just list the disparate sounds on “Stop Playin’ Wit Me”: A fractured synth, some booming keys straight off a Dark Tranquility record, a too-fast chipmunk vocal, some very natural-sounding hand-claps, this weird e-mail alert-esque sound, stuttering 808s (of course), and a dying battery synth progression. What the hell is this beat? This is what I wish the A.D.D dance shit of Diplo and company should sound like. Maybe if Wesley P. stopped chasing web memes he could make a monster like this. Really though, how many rappers would just be intimidated by this beat? Jeezy’s casual style helps him here, as does the fact that he realizes the beat’s just a loop–a particularly murky, weird, A.D.D loop but a loop nonetheless. Weirdest shit since DJ Speedy’s “Hot Damn” for Gucci.
-ST 2 Lettaz “It’s Ova” (Drake Freestyle)
While Drake just lyrically tip-toes around Boi1Da’s instrumental, G-Side’s ST goes in and wraps his words around every pocket and change-up inside the beat. And this tossed-off freestyle’s also a manifesto, a point-by-point presentation on how these Huntsville guys do what they do: “This shit is a mission to put niggas in a position/Where they can make livings without riskin’ going to prison”. Rap as the ultimate hustle articulated in utopian terms. Even the spoken-word outro, a dedication to DeAndre, a dead friend, rhymes and is all metered-out and shit. It’s also deeply moving. Tom Breihan’s been pointing out that G-Side are working dudes–though apparently, no longer, and that’s great–and having known these guys as their fame’s grown, they’re appreciative of every accolade sent their way. It isn’t hard to out-rap Drake, but to out-confidence the dude, and to turn his increasingly loathsome, aw shucks I’m famous now routine (he went from a famous TV star to a famous rapper, and pretends he was a regular guy) into an actual rumination on quasi-fame is like, beautiful.
-G-Side ft. Geographer and Jhi Ali “Impossible”
G-Side’s that rarified rap group who can adjust their music this way and that (they essentially “experiment”), without losing themselves in the joy of having their ears and eyes opened to new things. Indeed, the group’s musical narrative comes from the active broadening of boundaries, but they’re skeptical too, coming at these collaborations side-eyed, so it always results in a Slow Motion Soundz product proper. Jhi-Ali–who has one of the best squeaks in rap this side of Boosie–sings a hook alongside the electronic, acid-tinged Geographer and well, the genius of the song is that it’s unclear where the Block Beataz sound ends and Geographer’s contributions begin. That’s a good thing. Clova’s truly expanding into a fascinating, chilled-out, expressive rapper, having fun with phrasing (“close enough to see the pores of success”) and ST’s this knowledge-dropper right now, trying to rap the world into a better place.
-8Ball & MJG “Billy (Truth Be Told)”
Two of the most grizzled, weary rappers around, sympathetically capture the hard-headed confidence of youth and irresponsibility: “My baby needs pampers, the light bill due, I need to pay it now but I seen these shoes…” Lines like that from 8Ball counteract the “fuck everything” hook, while MJG kinda mythologizes it all–but also tosses in details like “Billy dropped out of school at eleven years old”–and it’s properly conflicted. They’re half-sympathizing and half-criticizing “the life”, letting the wounded confusion seep through. Listen to the hook and how each line is swagger-filled shit-talk that also further reveals Billy’s ignorance. By the end of the hook, Billy’s accidentally revealed how lost he is: “…ain’t gon’ stop cause I don’t know how.” “Billy (Truth Be Told)” picks apart the image of the hustler as all-knowing and above-it-all, highlighting the fact that ignorance and denial are just as important as savvy and carrying a strap, if one’s gonna get through the game.
-Drake “Find Your Love”
There’s a “CDQ” version out by now, but “Find Your Love” gains something from being a bit murky and digital, crackle sounding. Kanye’s beat here is like John Carpenter in a jam session with Fripp and Eno: The dumbest most direct rhythms overtop just gorgeous, baroque electronic whines. Plus, Drake’s hook totally locks-in on those background flutters and it’s the first time a sentiment’s come from Drake’s mouth and it’s seemed at all sincere. Dude even avoids his obnoxious bleating that people mishear as swagger for a regular, guy-with-an-alright-voice croon. Drake’s being directed by Kanye’s beat here and taking all the cues, so it ends up genuinely moving, almost painfully sincere (“I bet if i give all my lovin’, nothing’s gonna tear us apart”). Still, the song’s incomplete, which is totally fine to most ears because “sophisticated” pop/R & B is in its Hair Metal phrase right now so all that matters is the killer hook, but imagine any number of rappers cramming some touching relationship raps between Drake’s chorus…then you’d have a song.
-Cody ChesnuTT “Come Back Like Spring”
A “that pleasure, that pain” take on something as deceptively simple as the seasons changing, Cody ChesnuTT’s ode to Spring bounces between sincere, third-rate nature imagery and whimsical reminders of why Spring kinda blows: Bugs bite you, lawnmowers are annoying, allergies suck. It’s like that scene in Tess of the d’Urbervilles where Tess watches Angel play the harp in a garden and it’s all idyllic until Hardy reveals the garden to be all overgrown and teeming with bugs and decay? Or like that beginning of Blue Velvet, but less knowing? An ant bites him and interrupts his rhyme scheme. A jarring smack of a mosquito pops-up a few lines later. ChesnuTT’s a kind of suburban soulster, sending all of Marvin or Curtis’ sentiments to a decidedly more middle American realm. Think of the heady, existentially titled “Somebody’s Parent” from his er, masterpiece The Headphone Masterpiece, which is an apology to his wife and kids for “being a dick” because he hasn’t had a cigarette. “Come Back Like Spring” is similar. It’s also the quiet but welcome return of our weirdest and best singer-songwriter.
-Future Islands “Long Flight”
When I saw Future Islands two nights ago, lead singer Sam Herring said something like “This is a song about going on tour for four months and coming back and finding your life is ruined” and yeah, that’s exactly what it’s about. The Narrator frames his cheating girlfriend’s actions around the petty fact that she “just needed a hand”–a way of showing that he understands where the desire to cheat comes from, but at the same time criticizing it for being low-stakes and stupid. There’s a tinge of denial in the song, the way he gets his mean-ass digs in subtlety (how “found you in bed with another man” is crystal-clear and Herring’s vocal never are that clear, how he follows it up with a really kinda hilarious “Oh man…”, the aside about the home “that was our home”) is just odd, but it’s closer to a genuine reaction to betrayal than straight-up anger or depression. Most of the song is a slow, simmering chug, the same few lines repeated, but then “you hurt me so bad” gets grunted through gritted teeth and it’s like a signal to go-off, and the band explodes and Herring unleashes his weird, goblin wail and it all explodes for a moment, before fizzling out unresolved. Damn.
further reading/viewing:
-Review of Leftback by 1000TimesYes
-Dark Tranquility “Monochromatic Stains”
-Geographer on MySpace
-Fripp & Eno “Evensong”
-”Somebody’s Parent” by Cody ChesnuTT
-Excerpt from Thomas Hardy’s Tess Of The d’Urbervilles
-Opening of Blue Velvet
-Future Islands In Evening Air by Grayson Currin for Independent Weekly
-Dash Shaw
The first half of TOD2 kills, but his jazz/soul experimentation doesn’t work. After Takeover it gets real hit and miss.
Marcus
9 May 10 at 5:40 pm
yea, marcus is on to something. the first half of TOD2 is just dense beat after dense beat. and then there’s all this space in the tracks after the song with Cannon, and without any adlibs, the songs fall flat.
bding7
9 May 10 at 11:55 pm
Marcus is definitely on-point there. Though only in the context of Jeezy could those beats be “jazz/soul” though it’s in there. I think it’s also the open space as Bding said. Don Cannon will probably never make something better than “Go Crazy” and that’s because he’s basically looping soul shit in a really basic way. There are 30 producers in every city doing this, right?
Brandon
10 May 10 at 12:51 am
In terms of beats, “Circulate” > “Go Crazy”
I wasn’t feeling “Find Your Love” at first, but it’s a Drake song and once I got to the sixth or seventh spin, I literally couldn’t stop myself from singing “I better find your lovin’ / I better find your heart.” He’s yet to put out a song that I can’t find at least two or three redeeming qualities, just in the purest. more basic sense of “Man, this sounds great.” That doesn’t give him a pass for his lamer tendencies (there are plenty to point out, especially the “normal guy” thing you point out), but I can’t help what sounds good right?
Final note: Really glad you picked out “Long Flight.” I love the whole album, but I keep coming back to “Long Flight,” probably because of the details and the straight forward dialogue. A really beautiful (if not soul-depleting) song.
wes
10 May 10 at 5:38 pm
Wes-
“Circulate” is probably a better beat, but it’s not as good of a song in my opinion. Especially the “Go Crazy” remix, with Fat Joe and Jay-Z, I still hear that song played on the radio and at clubs and shit.
“When you gonna come around on Drake?”
I really like this song for whatever reason and it’s the first Drake song that for me, works on a level deeper than “this sounds cool on the radio” or whatever. I think Drake, even on this song I like very much though, as you suggested, can kinda coast and it’s frustrating.
Total music crit/nerd shit here, but I guess for me, “what sounds good” isn’t enough. I know that’s dopey, but there’s a sense of “good enough” in his work and it bugs me.
Yes, “Long Flight” is really just too much. Plus, how perverse is it as the second song on the album? Have you gotten the chance to them live? Go to whatever bullshit, D.I.Y place they’re playing in Baltimore when you get the chance.
Brandon
10 May 10 at 5:53 pm
I’m one of the few that prefers Mr. 17.5
Marcus
10 May 10 at 8:04 pm
“Mr 17.5″ is a classic but kinda adds to your initial point about Jeezy’s soul/funk attempts. Great songs but totally out of place, especially on “The Inspiration”, his most evil, electronic album.
Brandon
10 May 10 at 8:17 pm
Well with Mr 17.5 and even Go Crazy and Circulate, you kinda feel like “ok this is the soul song and I can fuck with this.” On TOD2, damn near the whole the 2nd half is kind of souly/jazzy and none of it really works like go crazy or mr 175. I kinda like Time though
Marcus
10 May 10 at 10:46 pm
Marcus-
Well-said. It will sound like I’m calling you out, but it’s funny to me that these are soul/jazzy to your ears because I don’t hear that at all. I do agree they’re boring and total mixtape boner-kills though.
Also, if you look at just the song titles, you kinda know these songs’ll suck: “Grape”, “Talking”, huh? This was an old joke with my friends back when “Iron Flag” came out…”just look at these stupid song titles, no way this will be good!”
Brandon
11 May 10 at 4:51 am
new g-side is maassivveee. that sort of analog-sounding synth that fades in sounds great. singing is a little hyper-autotuned though
greg
11 May 10 at 9:46 pm
Jhi-Ali does not need autotune at all.
Also, in speaking about Trap or Die 2, this is the first album/mixtape I have heard by Young Jeezy, so I could be arriving at the party 5 years late, but I really like it. It is too long and starts to drap on, but overall I really enjoy it and love “Bonus Song”/”Trap or Die 2″ with Bun B.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH
11 May 10 at 10:28 pm
Jhi-Ali just kinda always sounds auto-tuned. It’s really on some weird, trip-hop compression shit, think Esthero or something, hardly auto-tune.
Brandon
13 May 10 at 7:04 pm
“Revenge” is easily my favorite song on Leftback. I feel like I should like this album more than I do. There’s alot of good songs and the project reminds me of Getback, which I thought was the best Little Brother album. For some reason I haven’t felt the need to listen to this at all since it came out.
hl
16 May 10 at 3:03 pm
Gee I don’t know, I thought Mr. 17.5 worked perfectly well in the context of that album, given ‘Dreamin,’ ‘Streets On Lock,’ ‘What You Talkin Bout,’ as well as the title track. The whole second half is a bit more soulful, while evil and electronic probably aptly describes the first half, or at least the first four songs. Then the singles, I Luv It, Go Getta, and 3 A.M. (which wasn’t, bizarrely, actually a single), serve as a sort of bridge from the evil electronic shit to the soulish half. It’s a pretty well-conceived album, the more I think about it, and rather underrated. (As is the mixtape he dropped a couple months prior, I Am The Street Dream.)
On G-Side, I’ve never gotten them, so much so that I threw Spaceships and Rockets out my car window the other day, but I do agree that Clova is evolving into something more interesting and “chilled-out and expressive,” at least on the basis of this track. The other guy I still find just way too blue-collar, sincere, unassuming, etc.
Tray
17 May 10 at 5:20 am
Inspiration is a really good album. It’d be a perfect album if it ended with “Dreamin”.
And yeah, I really hate when rappers are sincere, unassuming, and working-class too. ?!
Brandon
17 May 10 at 6:43 pm
Drake, but to out-confidence the dude, and to turn his increasingly loathsome, aw shucks I’m famous now routine (he went from a famous TV star to a famous rapper, and pretends he was a regular guy)
^^^^
Cmon now, Drake was NEVER a famous TV star…yes he was on a TV show that had/has a good run…but because of all the characters on that show…he was nothing more than that black kid on Degrassi…and then it was that wheelchair kid on Degrassi…Im sure most people didnt realize it was him when So Far Gone dropped until it was pointed out to them on some level…
and I’ve never heard dude try to pawn him self off as “regular guy who hates the fame”..more like “guy who always wanted the fame..but then got the fame and it wasnt all he thought it would be”….more of a “faked it til I made it, but all that glitters aint gold” type of narrative.
But you’re not the first blogger I’ve seen casting alot of things onto what persona Drake tries to portray, that arent there..its actually a weird phenomenon.
Detroit P
18 May 10 at 4:55 am
Detroit-
In Canada especially, Drake was quite famous, so whether he was famous here or not, doesn’t matter, because he indeed experienced fame. When did I say he hated fame? You quoted me above dude and I said nothing of the sort…
Brandon
18 May 10 at 5:28 am
“aw shucks, I’m famous”….its not exactly hate…but its somewhere in the ballpark…please excuse my hyperbole (or inform me if I’ve just interpreted that completely wrong)…..and are we calling D list celebrities famous now?…if so then cool, I agree with you then.
Detroit P
18 May 10 at 10:25 pm
Detroit P-
This seems like a case of “this is the internet so no one admits when they’re wrong” but “aw shucks I’m famous” isn’t even close to hate so yeah, you’re wrong. What I meant is that Drake’s narrative, which is swiped from Kanye by the way is, “I never anticipated being this famous” or something when indeed, Drake has known fame for a long time.
One more time–Drake wasn’t a D-List celeb in his own country so he was used to fame. Indeed, making it in America might be bigger and mean more, but he’s dealt with fame, with people knowing who he is before, and so it’s really insincere.
Brandon
19 May 10 at 7:35 am
Ok your right…Im wrong.(no sarcasm)
Detroit P
20 May 10 at 9:26 pm
I will however, agree with you on the Drake is a superstar because his uncle is Larry Graham misinfo spreading around the internets, if that’s also getting in your crawl.
Brandon
23 May 10 at 6:43 pm