November 17, 2009
24 Dead. 25 Dead.
Framling and I watched Notorious the other day - yeah I'll be catching up with movies for the rest of my life - and I still can't figure out what I was more blown away by: the fact that someone's life story can become such an intriguing piece of non-fiction or the death of Biggie at 24 and Tupac at 25. The fact that someone leads an incredible journey needn't necessarily translate into an amazing story but I'm yet to figure out whether drama follows superstardom or maybe we're all legends waiting to happen. Or we're still alive (and in no way am I being disrespectful here).
November 5, 2009
Freddie Gibbs – midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik
So taking a cue from the The New Yorker I hunted down Gibbs' latest offering, "midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik", and have found something as refreshing and insightful as what the article delivered. Well noted is the fact that this "mixtape" is pretty much a completed album, readily available for download, as apposed to new rhymes over other peoples' beats. The labels must hate it as much as the amount of sniffing they're doing though The New Yorker quotes: "Gibbs does not currently have a record deal, and he isn't looking for one."
November 5, 2009
“Hip Hop Is Dead”, just don’t tell Jay-Z
"The Blueprint 3" falls in line with other recent mass-market successes in hip-hop. Compare it to Kanye West's "Glow in the Dark" tour, or Kid Cudi's breakout hit "Day 'n' Nite," and you will notice that this is hip-hop by virtue of rapping more than sound. The tempos and sonics of disco's various children-techno, rave, whatever your particular neighborhood made of a four-on-the-floor thump-are slowly replacing hip-hop's blues-based swing. It doesn't matter if you're talking about the rudimentary digital sound of New Orleans bounce or the crusty samples of New York hip-hop: this music wants to swing and syncopate. On major commercial releases, this impulse is giving way to a European pulse, simpler and faster and more explicitly designed for clubs."
The New Yorker
The New Yorker