You all know it already. Graduation is here a little early, and though leaks can often prove deceiving, I'm going to delight in my interlude-less copy (Oink is a godsend) and do a little track-by-track liveblog of my thoughts on it so far. For what it's worth, I'm production-obsessed. It takes a lot of work to listen to lyrics, aside from those that jump out at me. So we'll see how this ends up. If it sucks...I won't do it again.
I also downloaded Curtis, but plan not on listening to it. Just wanted to steal from 50. We'll see if I decide if Graduation is worth a purchase very soon...
1.) "Good Morning" (Intro)
Starts out with a real sparse beat, building from bass and bongo-sounding snare to the usual Kanye-style soulful flair. The almost Frankie Valley-style vocal sample is nice and fits the song title nicely. Kanye launches into a nice school-related tirade real fast ("this is my dissertation, homie...welcome to Graduation"). Drops some nice lines - "I'm like the fly Malcolm X/Buy any jeans necessary" even though they stray into Pharrell-style "combining black icons with excess" territory. I'm into this song. The beat is great, and would do just as well for an outro as it would for the intro. Lyrically it's what we've expected from Kanye lately, that weird "look how far we've come, see all this money I've got but what does it mean?" style.
2.) "Champion"
Whoa...so funky. Straight up disco soul in the intro and hook. The beat itself is funky as hell and real bouncy. Great jazz organ sound. I'm into this already. The same grandiose shit Kanye is used to dropping lyrically on this one as well...."I used to fell invisible/Now they know they invisible" (if I fuck up lyrics just know I don't have a lyrics sheet in front of me, which kills me. Tough to focus on production and lyrics simultaneously). Not bad at all.
3.) "Stronger"
I hate this song, though it has grown on me a little bit. Lyrically, I honestly haven't paid attention to it much, it lost me the very first time I heard it after the "black Kate Moss" line which comes pretty much immediately. I was so scared about this record when I heard this as the single. I knew Kanye had been getting into French house a lot lately (great news to me, I've been into the shit for years), and I definitely felt like that could incorporate itself into an album pretty nicely...but this is not the way to do it. Just awful. Lyrically this song is boring "I'm the greatest" Kanye bullshit. But that's half the fun with him, isn't it? In reality, even single sorority girl I know still loves this song to death, which proves my theory that Kanye is every white girl's favorite rapper. Obviously didn't hurt his album possibilities outside of the internet world.
4.) "I Wonder"
Here we go...Kanye soul samples. Let's see where this goes. Syncopated beat, with smooth synths, with that vocal sample just fading away into the background of the beat. Real dreamy and smooth, despite the jumpy nature of the beat. So far, we're sticking with the same introspective life-evaluating tone that the entire album has had lyrically. "A psychic told me that in my lifetime/My name would light up the Chicago skyline." Not the weakest track on the album, but only because "Stronger" came up before it. Not bad, but not great.
5.) "Good Life (ft. T-Pain)"
I'm skeptical of this T-Pain thing, but just because I hate the guy. Thankfully, he's subdued here, and the vocoder shit actually fits in with the French-house styled synth line, which is just real warm and this laid over a pretty normal beat and a usual Kanye chipmunk sample in the background. I'm into this song, it's got a real chill summery vibe to it. Upbeat shit, just lyrically talking about how nice it is to be rich, though towards the end Kanye seems to question if it's really as good as it seems...but it's short lived.
6.) "Can't Tell Me Nothin"
I was already super-into this song, it saved my opinion of the record before it came out and post-"Stronger." The vocal sample is haunting over the crawling synth line, which is still laid on thick and the slow beat. I'm still a bit confused about the Jeezy in the chorus, he's not credited on the song...did he seriously just sample the "Yeahs," "Ha has," and all that other shit? Wouldn't put it past him. I still love the "You can live with anything if Magic made it" line. Lyrically, nothing different than the usual...I think the title says it all. Love it.
7.) "Barry Bonds (ft. Lil Wayne)"
This song has the internet goin' nuts a few days ago, but this is my first listen. Beat is hot as hell, funky and disjointed with a jazz organ and bass line...hook and chorus with orchestral stabs. Lyrically this is best song I've heard yet on this record, but I don't want to keep pausing the record to jot down my favorites. Kanye is full of himself, he loves it embraces. Wayne's verse is killer, though at this point everything he does just sounds like he's treating it as a throwaway. Yeah, I'm one of those white kids who loves Lil Wayne....oh well. Favorite track so far.
8.) "Drunk and Hot Girls (ft. Mos Def)"
Ugh. Just not into this one at all. Maybe it's the beat (though the little whistles after every line is creepy and awesome), but I'd bet it's definitely the weird sing-songy delivery is what's doing it. Mos Def starts out piano riff...and that's it. The "rah rah rah that's how the fuck you sound" line had me laughing pretty hard, but really this isn't all that good over all. Mos Def also backs up the choruses. I might have to listen to this a few times...it might grow on me.
9.) "Flashing Lights (ft. Dwele)"
This is more of a normal Kanye beat. Symphonies mixed with more house-styled thick synths, this is absolutely gorgeous. "Come home Mona Lisa/You know you can't roll without Caesar"...huh? Song isn't bad, but nothing about it really jumped out at me or grabbed my attention.
10.) "Everything I Am"
Nice little soulful number on this one. "Common passed on this beat so I turned it to a jam." Bit of a clunker with "Remember him from Blackstreet?/He was black as the street was," but he saves it with "I'll never be as laid back as this beat was." Claims he reps Chicago hard, which I have a bit of a problem with since I feel like he could do more than that. This beat is smooth as fuck though, think a smoother "My Block." Real introspective trip on this track lyrically, attacking people who don't like his rhyme style. I like that. Talks a lot about Chicago's murder rate and how it's terrible unless it's people rapping about violence, which is an interesting thing as Kanye isn't a totally socially-conscious dude most of the time. I guess rapping about clothes isn't so bad in comparison. I dig this one a lot, might be my favorite so far.
11.) "The Glory"
Starts with a piano and the usual chipmunk soul sample, then the beat kicks and it's just the usual bouncy Kanye shit. Nice symphonic sample. "After each and every show a couple dykes in the van"...huh? Love this sample. Takes a couple shots at Jeezy, Wayne, and Jay? On second thought, nah I think it's more an attack on rap culture in general. Maybe I'm wrong. More Chicago talk on this one, I dig it. Tons of clothes talk as is the norm for this record, which I'm fine with. Were those shots at BIG, Big L, etc? "Get money, stay glorious/I'm gonna stop killin these niggas right when the chorus hits" sounds like another pot shot at rap violence. I dig this one to.
12.) "Homecoming (ft. Chris Martin"
Here were go, the Chris Martin song. Stevie Wonder-esque piano sample. This hook really could've been anyone besides Chris Martin. For what it's worth, I loved "Beach Chair." So rolling and epic.
OK, I'm only going to half-ignore this song for the sake of bitching. On the pre-release version of College Dropout there was a bonus track called "Home," which is still my favorite Kanye beat ever. The lyrics are exactly the same as on this track, and it just not work half as well at all. If you haven't heard "Home" yet, check it out. The beat is one of the most uplifting things I've ever heard, and the lyrics ride it way better than this one.
Chris Martin, dropping Chicago love..."Baby do you remember when/Fireworks on Lake Michigan." I'm so bummed on this song because it's not "Home." Shit.
13.)Big Brother
The closer. "Stadium status" is said right off the bat. We'll see how huge this is when the beat kicks for real, but the synth line has potential. Huge sweeping lead on this. Great closer feel so far. Beat has kicked...I'm not sure about "stadium status" but this one is pretty big. I'm a little let down by that proclamation, but this is a great closer track. More introspection, looking at the past and how he got to where he is. You get the feeling that even though he's kind of an egotistical douche sometimes, Ye does it because he feels like he has the right to be because of where he came from and how hard he's worked to get there. Who was his mentor, Jay? "Have you ever walked in the shadow of a giant" with "Hola ho-vi-to" shortly after it. Looking back back at some tracks that he's been on, I'll admit that if I was more astute...nope, there it is. Song is about Jay. I'm into it. Great closer. Real uplifting. Shit, if Ye never releases another album again this is a great close-out on his career.
All in all...8/10. Real solid front-to-back, and if quality is anything to go by, I know he's going to outsell 50 in a heartbeat, sales ploy or not. I had my doubts about this record, but it's stellar.
Less hip-hop next time, should be updating pretty consistently this week. I need to get better at this liveblog shit.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Chicago Hip-Hop...From A Distance
Anyone who knows me knows I read Tom Breihan's Status Ain't Hood blog for the Village Voice, and they also know that I do it in a somewhat masochistic sense, as most of the time I think the guy is kind of an archetypal horrible Pitchfork-type writer. Most of the time I skim his shit, but a couple days ago he put up a podcast post that really said some good things and got me thinking.
Tom mentions the Dude N Nem song "Watch My Feet" which, if you live in Chicago and have turned on any "urban" radio station (more so Power 92 than WGCI) over the last few months, you're definitely very familiar with already. Myself, I think the track is possibly my favorite hip-hop tune to come out all summer, which I can see catching some flak for but really couldn't possibly care less. Check it for yourself.
The song itself is absolutely great, a fun party song that's an interesting mix of modern hip-hop and the Chicago phenomena of Juke, which is in itself a mix of hip-hop, old school house, and a distinctly booty-bass type sound. "Watch My Feet" puts the two genres together perfectly - a slow, bouncy funk beat for the verses and the high-tempo madness for the hook and chorus. Really, it's an absolute shame that the song has started to catch when it did as it's undeniably a perfect summer song, with a great summer video as well (plus a pimp in an ice cream truck). Everything about this song just screams fun, and every rhythmically challenged white dudes like myself can groove to the bass line and at least jump up and down during the chorus. The video is a blast as well, just summer fun, a nice shout to Chicago, and some great comic-book style graphics (that "U Diiiiggggg" thing is fucking priceless).
Tom made a good point when he talked about the appeal of this song: it is, pure and simple, still following the trend of hip-hop chart hits lately being for the most part dance songs...you know, think "Lean Wit It Rock Wit It" (and then try your best to forget about it). What's nice about the dance songs lately is that it's no longer that lean-and-snap bullshit, but things that are actually aesthetically pleasing and difficult to do. Between the footwork in this song, and the dance from "Crank Dat Soulja Boy" (which is another one of my favorites, I don't care how mindless that shit is) it seems that a new trend is starting to pop up...and I'm into it.
It's interesting that Chicago seems to be one of the only cities in the nation without an easily identifiable hip-hop scene or sound, but this song might change things. Think about it: New York is distinct. Nine times out of ten you can pick out a New York artist. The West Coast had G-Funk. Miami had Miami Bass, and now Reggaeton (if you want to lump that in with hip-hop, which I will) and now artists like Pitbull who straddle the line. The south in itself has several sub-regional sounds: Atlanta, Houston and Memphis are all pretty famous on their own. Shit, even St. Louis has managed to put itself on the map somewhat definitively. Thanks to Timbaland, Missy and the Clipse, Virginia has been on the up in the last few years as well.
So where does that leave Chicago? This may be partly because I have lived out of the area for so long, but it really doesn't seem like Chicago has any sort of distinct sound to call its own, at least not nationwide. The only famous artists from Chicago nationally are Twista, Common, and Kanye West. Twista has always been a bit of a gimmick, Common is legendary but on the wane (though "The Corner" is still a fucking stormer), and Kanye produces for so many people you could hardly call his sound "local." Ideally, juke will be what fixes that. I know that the one thing I miss the most about home musically is Power 92's juke or old school house mixes, which have been a part of my late-night driving routine for about two years. As I've said before, the genre is just so undeniably FUN...hyper, bass-heavy, and all about partying. Hearing juke mixes of huge hip-hop tracks always brings a smile to my face. The slow acceptance nationwide of "Watch My Feet" and juke in general (it's been mentioned on 106&Park a couple times from what I understand) might finally be what gets Chicago hip-hop an identity.
But is that really the ideal? I don't really see this kind of stuff getting played on mainstream radio - at least not pure juke tracks. Perhaps tracks like "Watch My Feet" which can create a blend are the best. I still fucking love this song and would love to see that happen. Time will tell.
Check some juke for yourself...
The youtube comments mention it "really" starting in NYC, but those sort of debates are pointless and never lead anywhere.
Tom mentions the Dude N Nem song "Watch My Feet" which, if you live in Chicago and have turned on any "urban" radio station (more so Power 92 than WGCI) over the last few months, you're definitely very familiar with already. Myself, I think the track is possibly my favorite hip-hop tune to come out all summer, which I can see catching some flak for but really couldn't possibly care less. Check it for yourself.
The song itself is absolutely great, a fun party song that's an interesting mix of modern hip-hop and the Chicago phenomena of Juke, which is in itself a mix of hip-hop, old school house, and a distinctly booty-bass type sound. "Watch My Feet" puts the two genres together perfectly - a slow, bouncy funk beat for the verses and the high-tempo madness for the hook and chorus. Really, it's an absolute shame that the song has started to catch when it did as it's undeniably a perfect summer song, with a great summer video as well (plus a pimp in an ice cream truck). Everything about this song just screams fun, and every rhythmically challenged white dudes like myself can groove to the bass line and at least jump up and down during the chorus. The video is a blast as well, just summer fun, a nice shout to Chicago, and some great comic-book style graphics (that "U Diiiiggggg" thing is fucking priceless).
Tom made a good point when he talked about the appeal of this song: it is, pure and simple, still following the trend of hip-hop chart hits lately being for the most part dance songs...you know, think "Lean Wit It Rock Wit It" (and then try your best to forget about it). What's nice about the dance songs lately is that it's no longer that lean-and-snap bullshit, but things that are actually aesthetically pleasing and difficult to do. Between the footwork in this song, and the dance from "Crank Dat Soulja Boy" (which is another one of my favorites, I don't care how mindless that shit is) it seems that a new trend is starting to pop up...and I'm into it.
It's interesting that Chicago seems to be one of the only cities in the nation without an easily identifiable hip-hop scene or sound, but this song might change things. Think about it: New York is distinct. Nine times out of ten you can pick out a New York artist. The West Coast had G-Funk. Miami had Miami Bass, and now Reggaeton (if you want to lump that in with hip-hop, which I will) and now artists like Pitbull who straddle the line. The south in itself has several sub-regional sounds: Atlanta, Houston and Memphis are all pretty famous on their own. Shit, even St. Louis has managed to put itself on the map somewhat definitively. Thanks to Timbaland, Missy and the Clipse, Virginia has been on the up in the last few years as well.
So where does that leave Chicago? This may be partly because I have lived out of the area for so long, but it really doesn't seem like Chicago has any sort of distinct sound to call its own, at least not nationwide. The only famous artists from Chicago nationally are Twista, Common, and Kanye West. Twista has always been a bit of a gimmick, Common is legendary but on the wane (though "The Corner" is still a fucking stormer), and Kanye produces for so many people you could hardly call his sound "local." Ideally, juke will be what fixes that. I know that the one thing I miss the most about home musically is Power 92's juke or old school house mixes, which have been a part of my late-night driving routine for about two years. As I've said before, the genre is just so undeniably FUN...hyper, bass-heavy, and all about partying. Hearing juke mixes of huge hip-hop tracks always brings a smile to my face. The slow acceptance nationwide of "Watch My Feet" and juke in general (it's been mentioned on 106&Park a couple times from what I understand) might finally be what gets Chicago hip-hop an identity.
But is that really the ideal? I don't really see this kind of stuff getting played on mainstream radio - at least not pure juke tracks. Perhaps tracks like "Watch My Feet" which can create a blend are the best. I still fucking love this song and would love to see that happen. Time will tell.
Check some juke for yourself...
The youtube comments mention it "really" starting in NYC, but those sort of debates are pointless and never lead anywhere.
Monday, August 27, 2007
An Introduction
Hi there.
Like it says in the description, I'm new at this whole thing as far as publishing what I think about music on the internet. It takes a lot for me to think that my opinions matter enough that I need to publish them, or push them on people I don't know, or whatever. Ideally in that sense, I guess, it's my hope that this blog goes only as far as friends or acquaintances...it's way easier to argue or take criticism from those people than it is from total strangers.
Or this thing could blow up eventually. That'd be nice too.
So where am I going with this thing? To be honest, I have no idea. I'm modest enough to admit that I already get most of my news about music from other blogs - Idolator, Nah Right, Status Ain't Hood (begrudgingly) and a few others. Hopefully I can still set myself apart from the pack a little bit. At the very least, I'll just talk about things I like, things I hate, and review the dozens of music DVDs I get thanks to my Netflix subscription. And I promise to never, ever, call anything I write a "rant." I fucking hate that, to me it screams "Mountain Dew-swilling theater kids making broad generalizations about the government."
I figured a nice way to start would be with a post that shows what's up with my tastes, and decided that a nice little recap of who I would consider my "favorite" artists would be a good call. Anyone who's had a conversation about "favorite" bands or artists with people, or even just tried to figure it out for their own sake, knows that the concept of a "favorite" is one that is pretty much completely inconsistent. When I was 13, I was almost positive that not only was 311 the greatest band in the history of recorded music, but that they were always going to hold that spot at the top of my personal lists. How things change.
So, to make it easy, I'm going to just post a handful of acts that I'm really incredibly into at the moment, and try to sway it at least marginally towards stuff I've been into for longer than a year or so.
Mobb Deep
Starting with hip-hop, this group in particular is the easiest for me because I've talked at length about them - specifically Hell On Earth - literally dozens of times. And to be totally blunt, aside from a few choice tracks off the Free Agents mixtape, and a couple listens through the relative abortion that is Amerikaz Most Wanted, Hell On Earth is the only Mobb record I've ever picked up (which I know is a crime, poser status for not hearing The Infamous, whatever).
Basically, in my opinion, Hell On Earth is the consummate hip-hop record. The production is lean, cold, and stark, using pretty much exclusively the jazz-flavored instrumentation and samples that drove NY artists in the 90s. This alone gives the record an intense vibe from start to finish. It doesn't hurt that the rhymes are absolutely sick, either. Forgive me for getting all Pitchfork here, but Hell On Earth has always seemed to have this weird sense of reality to it - it's not a guns, bling, bitches album alone. Lines like "crime pays but for how long/til you reach your downfall," and "my first priority's to reach 21 breathin" really kind of lend the album this tinge of vulnerability. Yeah, these guys are living the stereotypical "rap life," but it seems like it isn't because they want to - it's because they have to. It's also worth mentioning that "Shook Ones pt. 1" is easily my favorite hip-hop song ever by a mile.
I've done much better jobs explaining this before, but you can blame getting up for a snack and losing my train of thought for that.
Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth
Sepultura
I toyed with not posting about this band in this entry, and instead making a separate one about them at a later date, but they really belong on this list. This band changed the face of metal and hardcore - whether or not they did it for the better is largely up to personal taste, but to listen to either Chaos A.D. or Roots and not hear the seeds of modern metalcore is absolutely impossible.
It's always been incredible to me that an already mind-blowing thrash metal band from South America could so seamlessly evolve into this beast that straddled the line between NYC metal/hardcore heavyweights like Machine Head and what would eventually become nu-metal (Soulfly, anyone?).
I'm not sure what else to say about this band. Obviously, the thrash records are stellar but that genre already has such a dearth of excellent bands that to me the harder, more hardcore-inspired albums are the two that really stand out. A lot of the bands that call themselves "metalcore" today could do themselves a massive favor by putting on tracks like "Propaganda" or "Territory."
Sepultura - Refuse/Resist
Joy Division
Especially with the 80s revival that has been going on for the past few years, it might seem like this is some obvious hipster-type choice, but until I had actually visited Manchester I was never really into JD, New Order, The Smiths, or anything else from that era. It might speak to my own bad habits of self-loathing, flirting with suicide and a general love for the morose that drew me in so close to this band and The Smiths initially, but I still remember listening to "Atmosphere" (still my favorite JD track) as I gazed out the window of a train heading from Manchester to Bolton. Though the money has clearly been pumped into the city to turn it into a cosmopolitan metropolis rather than the factory town that it was previously, almost every city in England still has that lingering sense of bleakness, of a layer of dirt and dust that will just never come off (and I mean that in the most endearing way possible).
Just as much as Oi! or punk was the sound of the decade previous, the 80s brought about newer, more damaging realizations and lifestyle changes. Punk had changed nothing, and growing suburbanization led to a whole new kind of disenchantment in England.
Nothing I'm saying here hasn't been said before, but I can say this - Joy Division has changed my entire outlook on music, and I can count on one hand the amount of musical epiphany moments I've had that were as beautiful as listening to this band cruising through the industrial northwest.
Joy Division - Atmosphere
Naked Raygun
My musical tastes are more than a little varied, and that led to a lot of headaches trying to decide what bands to include in this initial entry (I'm already sort of regretting installing Sepultura instead of one of a few others, but the fact that I've been listening to them for almost 10 years got them a spot). This band was one I was sure I was going to include, however, and I knew from the get-go I'd save them, the best, for last.
I was 14 years old and had just started to get into punk the traditional modern way, through occasionally buying a Punk Planet and picking up every $5 label sampler that I could scrounge up. It wasn't for a few months after my initial exposure to the genre that my aunt gave me one of the most valuable music-related gifts I've ever received: a cassette tape with Never Mind the Bollocks on one side and Naked Raygun's Throb Throb on the other. Obviously, having heard of the Sex Pistols before, I wore out the A-side pretty fast, but it was when I flipped the tape and heard the raw, tinny guitar riff of "Rat Patrol" (my copy is missing "Libido," which is probably for the best) that I was truly blown away. This, to me, is what punk was supposed to be: fast, political (but actually saying something), still true to some sort of rock roots, and fucking snotty.
The guys have dropped some absolute stinkers ("Hips Swingin" springs to mind) but, largely, they manage to play some of the most genuine punk rock I've ever heard. Shout-along choruses ("Metastasis"), straight-ahead rock, ("I Don't Know"), drinking anthems ("Wonder Beer"), and the surprisingly genuine heartbreakers ("Entrapment," "Treason")...this band truly covered all the bases, all the while setting up what would eventually become the Chicago punk rock sound.
There isn't a single band ever to come out of Chicago that has ever inspired so much local pride in me as Naked Raygun, and seeing them at Riot Fest last November was absolute gold.
Naked Raygun - Vanilla Blue
...that's it for my hello, from now on I'm going to try to keep thing more relevant to what's going on currently with the occasional nostalgia trip, show review, and DVD commentary.
Come back tomorrow for a look at what's up with Chicago hip-hop from an outsider's perspective, and every day after that for whatever I feel like. Tell your friends.
Like it says in the description, I'm new at this whole thing as far as publishing what I think about music on the internet. It takes a lot for me to think that my opinions matter enough that I need to publish them, or push them on people I don't know, or whatever. Ideally in that sense, I guess, it's my hope that this blog goes only as far as friends or acquaintances...it's way easier to argue or take criticism from those people than it is from total strangers.
Or this thing could blow up eventually. That'd be nice too.
So where am I going with this thing? To be honest, I have no idea. I'm modest enough to admit that I already get most of my news about music from other blogs - Idolator, Nah Right, Status Ain't Hood (begrudgingly) and a few others. Hopefully I can still set myself apart from the pack a little bit. At the very least, I'll just talk about things I like, things I hate, and review the dozens of music DVDs I get thanks to my Netflix subscription. And I promise to never, ever, call anything I write a "rant." I fucking hate that, to me it screams "Mountain Dew-swilling theater kids making broad generalizations about the government."
I figured a nice way to start would be with a post that shows what's up with my tastes, and decided that a nice little recap of who I would consider my "favorite" artists would be a good call. Anyone who's had a conversation about "favorite" bands or artists with people, or even just tried to figure it out for their own sake, knows that the concept of a "favorite" is one that is pretty much completely inconsistent. When I was 13, I was almost positive that not only was 311 the greatest band in the history of recorded music, but that they were always going to hold that spot at the top of my personal lists. How things change.
So, to make it easy, I'm going to just post a handful of acts that I'm really incredibly into at the moment, and try to sway it at least marginally towards stuff I've been into for longer than a year or so.
Mobb Deep
Starting with hip-hop, this group in particular is the easiest for me because I've talked at length about them - specifically Hell On Earth - literally dozens of times. And to be totally blunt, aside from a few choice tracks off the Free Agents mixtape, and a couple listens through the relative abortion that is Amerikaz Most Wanted, Hell On Earth is the only Mobb record I've ever picked up (which I know is a crime, poser status for not hearing The Infamous, whatever).
Basically, in my opinion, Hell On Earth is the consummate hip-hop record. The production is lean, cold, and stark, using pretty much exclusively the jazz-flavored instrumentation and samples that drove NY artists in the 90s. This alone gives the record an intense vibe from start to finish. It doesn't hurt that the rhymes are absolutely sick, either. Forgive me for getting all Pitchfork here, but Hell On Earth has always seemed to have this weird sense of reality to it - it's not a guns, bling, bitches album alone. Lines like "crime pays but for how long/til you reach your downfall," and "my first priority's to reach 21 breathin" really kind of lend the album this tinge of vulnerability. Yeah, these guys are living the stereotypical "rap life," but it seems like it isn't because they want to - it's because they have to. It's also worth mentioning that "Shook Ones pt. 1" is easily my favorite hip-hop song ever by a mile.
I've done much better jobs explaining this before, but you can blame getting up for a snack and losing my train of thought for that.
Mobb Deep - Hell On Earth
Sepultura
I toyed with not posting about this band in this entry, and instead making a separate one about them at a later date, but they really belong on this list. This band changed the face of metal and hardcore - whether or not they did it for the better is largely up to personal taste, but to listen to either Chaos A.D. or Roots and not hear the seeds of modern metalcore is absolutely impossible.
It's always been incredible to me that an already mind-blowing thrash metal band from South America could so seamlessly evolve into this beast that straddled the line between NYC metal/hardcore heavyweights like Machine Head and what would eventually become nu-metal (Soulfly, anyone?).
I'm not sure what else to say about this band. Obviously, the thrash records are stellar but that genre already has such a dearth of excellent bands that to me the harder, more hardcore-inspired albums are the two that really stand out. A lot of the bands that call themselves "metalcore" today could do themselves a massive favor by putting on tracks like "Propaganda" or "Territory."
Sepultura - Refuse/Resist
Joy Division
Especially with the 80s revival that has been going on for the past few years, it might seem like this is some obvious hipster-type choice, but until I had actually visited Manchester I was never really into JD, New Order, The Smiths, or anything else from that era. It might speak to my own bad habits of self-loathing, flirting with suicide and a general love for the morose that drew me in so close to this band and The Smiths initially, but I still remember listening to "Atmosphere" (still my favorite JD track) as I gazed out the window of a train heading from Manchester to Bolton. Though the money has clearly been pumped into the city to turn it into a cosmopolitan metropolis rather than the factory town that it was previously, almost every city in England still has that lingering sense of bleakness, of a layer of dirt and dust that will just never come off (and I mean that in the most endearing way possible).
Just as much as Oi! or punk was the sound of the decade previous, the 80s brought about newer, more damaging realizations and lifestyle changes. Punk had changed nothing, and growing suburbanization led to a whole new kind of disenchantment in England.
Nothing I'm saying here hasn't been said before, but I can say this - Joy Division has changed my entire outlook on music, and I can count on one hand the amount of musical epiphany moments I've had that were as beautiful as listening to this band cruising through the industrial northwest.
Joy Division - Atmosphere
Naked Raygun
My musical tastes are more than a little varied, and that led to a lot of headaches trying to decide what bands to include in this initial entry (I'm already sort of regretting installing Sepultura instead of one of a few others, but the fact that I've been listening to them for almost 10 years got them a spot). This band was one I was sure I was going to include, however, and I knew from the get-go I'd save them, the best, for last.
I was 14 years old and had just started to get into punk the traditional modern way, through occasionally buying a Punk Planet and picking up every $5 label sampler that I could scrounge up. It wasn't for a few months after my initial exposure to the genre that my aunt gave me one of the most valuable music-related gifts I've ever received: a cassette tape with Never Mind the Bollocks on one side and Naked Raygun's Throb Throb on the other. Obviously, having heard of the Sex Pistols before, I wore out the A-side pretty fast, but it was when I flipped the tape and heard the raw, tinny guitar riff of "Rat Patrol" (my copy is missing "Libido," which is probably for the best) that I was truly blown away. This, to me, is what punk was supposed to be: fast, political (but actually saying something), still true to some sort of rock roots, and fucking snotty.
The guys have dropped some absolute stinkers ("Hips Swingin" springs to mind) but, largely, they manage to play some of the most genuine punk rock I've ever heard. Shout-along choruses ("Metastasis"), straight-ahead rock, ("I Don't Know"), drinking anthems ("Wonder Beer"), and the surprisingly genuine heartbreakers ("Entrapment," "Treason")...this band truly covered all the bases, all the while setting up what would eventually become the Chicago punk rock sound.
There isn't a single band ever to come out of Chicago that has ever inspired so much local pride in me as Naked Raygun, and seeing them at Riot Fest last November was absolute gold.
Naked Raygun - Vanilla Blue
...that's it for my hello, from now on I'm going to try to keep thing more relevant to what's going on currently with the occasional nostalgia trip, show review, and DVD commentary.
Come back tomorrow for a look at what's up with Chicago hip-hop from an outsider's perspective, and every day after that for whatever I feel like. Tell your friends.
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