the person that first played this track for me introduced it by saying something along the lines of "hey guys, hip hop and rap isn't all about 40s and blunts."
now, i'm not one to talk down 40s and blunts, but let me just say that the era of rapping solely about 40s and blunts wouldn't even come until the early 90s, a decade after Grandmaster Flash got his message out.
while most rap tracks rarely exceed 5min in length (notably, 2Pac's "California Love" goes for 6.5 min), "The Message" hits seven minutes and twelve seconds, an epic for the genre.
but the length is necessary.
the beat is so tight that everyone wants to rap over it: Ice Cube, Puff Daddy...
the lyrics are so fucking brutal that everyone wants to repeat them: Andre Nickatina, Snoop Dogg, Immortal Technique...
and the message?
the message is the Message: it's about how fucked up life is in the ghetto, it's about frustration, and you feel it:
don't
push
me
cause
i'm
close
to
the
edge
i'm
try
ing
not
to
lose
my
head
it's like a jungle sometimes. it makes me wonder how i keep from going under.
such a fucking badass.
Showing posts with label hip hop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hip hop. Show all posts
Friday, January 15, 2010
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Donuts - J Dilla (2006)
this is one of those albums designed to loop infinitely, and not just because the last song ends in sync with the beginning of the first song.
released on February 7, 2006, three days after its creator passed on, "Donuts" is a 31-track instrumental hip hop masterpiece, a journey through the dustiest yet most delicious funk, rap, jazz, and R&B vinyl sounds imaginable.
the longest track is 2:57, the shortest is 0:13, and most of the other pieces fall somewhere around 1-2min. they're more like doughnut holes than donuts, but then, holes are donuts too and, breaking apart the metaphor, these are all songs, not just brief, unprepared, hashed together thought experiments. they are J Dilla's babies, each one a little more than a peek into the man's record collection, each one a mini-factory of sound outputting clear visions of samples that J had clearly synthesized in his head for many, many years.
the most lengthy track on the record and song #2, "Workinonit," gets things started the right way. blasting off with J Dilla's signature siren call, we are launched into a bouncy room of stringed reverberation with slick drum beats pulling us through. suddenly ascending guitar solos make us forget that we're listening to a hip hop record, while a hermaphroditic voice pulls us in:
play me
play me
buy me
workinonit
workinonit
workinonit
workinonit
girls moan, the guitar solos keep recurring, then breakdown: the guitar sings heavenly, bells twinkle, and we are summoned into the next donut.
listen to "Time: The Donut of the Heart." maybe he's just playing back a Jackson 5 b-side, but i don't care. he's playing it for me and it's divine. he lets it slow down a little bit, just to make you realize how dependent you had become on that sweet melody, and then he lets it do its work at normal speed again.
try "Lightworks:" boop boop beep boop. "This is Bendix: The Tomorrow People." it sounds like he sampled and panned the hell out a commercial from the 50s or something. layering boops and beeps like something out of Kraftwerk,
who the hell is this J Dilla? James Dewitt Yancey founded Slum Village in the mid-90s, but he is most remembered today for his production skills, which, if you've ever listened to Common, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, or The Pharcyde, you've already experienced. he released some solo albums in the early 00s under the moniker Jay Dee and you'll find some great stuff there. in 2003, Jay collaborated with Madlib on an album called "Champion Sound," released under Jaylib. then in 2006, J Dilla gave us "Donuts," which would be so incredibly crafted out of perfectly chosen samples that it would make music lovers around the world pause and wonder, "who the hell is this J Dilla?"
some posthumous albums have made it out since the release of "Donuts," but (and i am by no means a Dilla expert) check this monster out first. if it does the same thing to you as it did to me , you'll think it nothing special until you realize you've just listened to it 15x in a row.
download or buy.
released on February 7, 2006, three days after its creator passed on, "Donuts" is a 31-track instrumental hip hop masterpiece, a journey through the dustiest yet most delicious funk, rap, jazz, and R&B vinyl sounds imaginable.
the longest track is 2:57, the shortest is 0:13, and most of the other pieces fall somewhere around 1-2min. they're more like doughnut holes than donuts, but then, holes are donuts too and, breaking apart the metaphor, these are all songs, not just brief, unprepared, hashed together thought experiments. they are J Dilla's babies, each one a little more than a peek into the man's record collection, each one a mini-factory of sound outputting clear visions of samples that J had clearly synthesized in his head for many, many years.
the most lengthy track on the record and song #2, "Workinonit," gets things started the right way. blasting off with J Dilla's signature siren call, we are launched into a bouncy room of stringed reverberation with slick drum beats pulling us through. suddenly ascending guitar solos make us forget that we're listening to a hip hop record, while a hermaphroditic voice pulls us in:
play me
play me
buy me
workinonit
workinonit
workinonit
workinonit
girls moan, the guitar solos keep recurring, then breakdown: the guitar sings heavenly, bells twinkle, and we are summoned into the next donut.
listen to "Time: The Donut of the Heart." maybe he's just playing back a Jackson 5 b-side, but i don't care. he's playing it for me and it's divine. he lets it slow down a little bit, just to make you realize how dependent you had become on that sweet melody, and then he lets it do its work at normal speed again.
try "Lightworks:" boop boop beep boop. "This is Bendix: The Tomorrow People." it sounds like he sampled and panned the hell out a commercial from the 50s or something. layering boops and beeps like something out of Kraftwerk,
who the hell is this J Dilla? James Dewitt Yancey founded Slum Village in the mid-90s, but he is most remembered today for his production skills, which, if you've ever listened to Common, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, or The Pharcyde, you've already experienced. he released some solo albums in the early 00s under the moniker Jay Dee and you'll find some great stuff there. in 2003, Jay collaborated with Madlib on an album called "Champion Sound," released under Jaylib. then in 2006, J Dilla gave us "Donuts," which would be so incredibly crafted out of perfectly chosen samples that it would make music lovers around the world pause and wonder, "who the hell is this J Dilla?"
some posthumous albums have made it out since the release of "Donuts," but (and i am by no means a Dilla expert) check this monster out first. if it does the same thing to you as it did to me , you'll think it nothing special until you realize you've just listened to it 15x in a row.
download or buy.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
It Was a Good Day - Ice Cube (1992)
last night, after watching an epic triple feature with Mark (Kill Bill, Vol. 1 -- The Holy Mountain -- Kill Bill, Vol. 2), i was driving home exceedingly high around 5am. earlier in the day, i had taken my ipod out of the car because it was dead and had also somehow managed to remove all the music from my iphone. so i was left to choose between Adam's 2008 summer mix and the radio. i had been listening to the mix earlier in the day, so i switched over to the radio, trying to pick up whatever i could. what could i pick up?
that's right. WILD NINETY FOUR NINE, THE BAY AREA'S PARTY STATION. anyway, whatever they were playing pleased me enough for the short car ride home, so i left it. when that song ended, though, "It Was a Good Day" came on. and it kicked my ass to the curb. i know i've heard this song a couple times back in the day, but it must've floated out of my memory at some point. well, it came back and it came back so good.
rapping over a 1977 slow jam called "Footsteps in the Dark" by The Isley Brothers, Ice Cube only needs 4 minutes and 20 seconds to make you feel as good as he does. except he doesn't make the same mistake of interrupting the jam to coo high-pitched love lines... he just lets it play right on through until the end of the song.
and by the end of the song, your ears will be begging for the beat to be brought back.
in the meantime, Ice Cube lets you know how he feels: pretty goddamn good. for solid reasons too: mama made a good breakfast, cops didn't give a shit that he ran a red light, he fucked a girl he's had an eye on since high school, he's stoned, he's drunk (didn't puke though), and, to top it all off:
"today i didn't even have to use my AK.
i gotta say it was a good day."
who the fuck rhymes "AK" with "good day?" a man who feels good, that's who. take me there, man.
watch.
that's right. WILD NINETY FOUR NINE, THE BAY AREA'S PARTY STATION. anyway, whatever they were playing pleased me enough for the short car ride home, so i left it. when that song ended, though, "It Was a Good Day" came on. and it kicked my ass to the curb. i know i've heard this song a couple times back in the day, but it must've floated out of my memory at some point. well, it came back and it came back so good.
rapping over a 1977 slow jam called "Footsteps in the Dark" by The Isley Brothers, Ice Cube only needs 4 minutes and 20 seconds to make you feel as good as he does. except he doesn't make the same mistake of interrupting the jam to coo high-pitched love lines... he just lets it play right on through until the end of the song.
and by the end of the song, your ears will be begging for the beat to be brought back.
in the meantime, Ice Cube lets you know how he feels: pretty goddamn good. for solid reasons too: mama made a good breakfast, cops didn't give a shit that he ran a red light, he fucked a girl he's had an eye on since high school, he's stoned, he's drunk (didn't puke though), and, to top it all off:
"today i didn't even have to use my AK.
i gotta say it was a good day."
who the fuck rhymes "AK" with "good day?" a man who feels good, that's who. take me there, man.
watch.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Carmina Burana - Carl Orff (1937)
if you think the obsession in music with "fucking bitches" started with gangsta rap, then please take a seat.
that's a page from a 12th century text called Carmina Burana, or "Songs from Benediktbeurn," written entirely in Medieval Latin. created by a couple clergy students, the manuscripts concerns itself with themes of the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of Spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and, of course, lust. if the drawing above doesn't demonstrate how loopy in love with decadence and sex were the minds of these kids, then give me a moment.
give me 800 years.
in 1937 Germany, the Frankfurt Opera premiered a piece composed by Carl Orff called Carmina Burana, a "scenic cantata" that used various parts of the original medieval text as its libretto. Orff's full Latin title was Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis, or "Songs of Beurn: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images."
i don't know about the premiere, but the first time time i saw a performance of Carmina Burana, all the magic images were in my head. the melodies are so catchy, it hurts. the instrumentation is glittery, the rhythms are like running through a meadow. angels and demons fly out of the soloists' throats. most importantly, this is without a doubt one of the most epic collections of music ever created. and it's raunchy, too.
the best example i'll give are the lyrics from the "Tempus est iocundum." i won't say it explicitly, but the chorus appears to be quite the ejection of excitement...
then the next song, "Dulcissime," which consists of two lines of lyrics:
wow. absolute orgasm. and it's not just the words. from the rapid, haphazard choral excitement of the piece right before, this is just one female vocalist moaning for 34 seconds.
you already know the most famous piece from this work, "O Fortuna." it's that incredibly epic song reminiscent of horses charging, planets crashing, slow-motion, and unstoppable glory in all its forms. check out these lyrics though:
these are the words that Orff's masterpiece starts AND ends with. essentially, even though much of the cantata has lyrics about love and drinking and growing and youthfulness and growing old and everything else you can think of, the composer realizes and makes you realize that all that is simply life. and it can be summed up with a fearful, epic, monolithic, tumbling, black, monstrous ode to Fortune and her fateful wheel that spins us around. and so, in an effort to replicate life, Orff ends Carmina Burana the way it starts.
birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death.
"Life ain't nothin' but bitches and money." -- Ice Cube, from "Gangsta Gangsta" on N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton.
download or watch.
that's a page from a 12th century text called Carmina Burana, or "Songs from Benediktbeurn," written entirely in Medieval Latin. created by a couple clergy students, the manuscripts concerns itself with themes of the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of Spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and, of course, lust. if the drawing above doesn't demonstrate how loopy in love with decadence and sex were the minds of these kids, then give me a moment.
give me 800 years.
in 1937 Germany, the Frankfurt Opera premiered a piece composed by Carl Orff called Carmina Burana, a "scenic cantata" that used various parts of the original medieval text as its libretto. Orff's full Latin title was Carmina Burana: Cantiones profanae cantoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis, or "Songs of Beurn: Secular songs for singers and choruses to be sung together with instruments and magic images."
i don't know about the premiere, but the first time time i saw a performance of Carmina Burana, all the magic images were in my head. the melodies are so catchy, it hurts. the instrumentation is glittery, the rhythms are like running through a meadow. angels and demons fly out of the soloists' throats. most importantly, this is without a doubt one of the most epic collections of music ever created. and it's raunchy, too.
the best example i'll give are the lyrics from the "Tempus est iocundum." i won't say it explicitly, but the chorus appears to be quite the ejection of excitement...
| Tempus es iocundum, | This is the joyful time, |
| o virgines, | O maidens, |
| modo congaudete | rejoice with them, |
| vos iuvenes. | young men! |
| (Baritone) | |
| Oh, oh, oh, | Oh! Oh! Oh! |
| totus floreo, | I am bursting out all over! |
| iam amore virginali | I am burning all over with first love! |
| totus ardeo, novus, novus amor est, quo pereo. | New, new love is what I am dying of! |
| (Women) | |
| Mea me confortat | I am heartened |
| promissio, | by my promise, |
| mea me deportat | I am downcast by my refusal |
| (Soprano and boys) | |
| Oh, oh, oh | Oh! Oh! Oh! |
| totus floreo | I am bursting out all over! |
| iam amore virginali | I am burning all over with first love! |
| totus ardeo, novus, novus amor est, quo pereo. | New, new love is what I am dying of! |
| (Men) | |
| Tempore brumali | In the winter |
| vir patiens, | man is patient, |
| animo vernali | the breath of spring |
| lasciviens. | makes him lust. |
| (Baritone) | |
| Oh, oh, oh, | Oh! Oh! Oh! |
| totus floreo, | I am bursting out all over! |
| iam amore virginali | I am burning all over with first love! |
| totus ardeo, novus, novus amor est, quo pereo. | New, new love is what I am dying of! |
| (Women) | |
| Mea mecum ludit | My virginity |
| virginitas, | makes me frisky, |
| mea me detrudit | my simplicity |
| simplicitas. | holds me back. |
| (Soprano and Boys) | |
| Oh, oh, oh, | Oh! Oh! Oh! |
| totus floreo, | I am bursting out all over! |
| iam amore virginali | I am burning all over with first love! |
| totus ardeo, novus, novus amor est, quo pereo. | New, new love is what I am dying of! |
| (Chorus) | |
| Veni, domicella, | Come, my mistress, |
| cum gaudio, | with joy, |
| veni, veni, pulchra, | come, come, my pretty, |
| iam pereo. | I am dying! |
| (Baritone, Boys and Chorus) | |
| Oh, oh, oh, | Oh! Oh! Oh! |
| totus floreo, | I am bursting out all over! |
| iam amore virginali | I am burning all over with first love! |
| totus ardeo, novus, novus amor est, quo pereo. | New, new love is what I am dying of! |
then the next song, "Dulcissime," which consists of two lines of lyrics:
| Dulcissime, | Sweetest one! Ah! |
| totam tibi subdo me! | I give myself to you totally! |
wow. absolute orgasm. and it's not just the words. from the rapid, haphazard choral excitement of the piece right before, this is just one female vocalist moaning for 34 seconds.
you already know the most famous piece from this work, "O Fortuna." it's that incredibly epic song reminiscent of horses charging, planets crashing, slow-motion, and unstoppable glory in all its forms. check out these lyrics though:
| O Fortuna | O Fortune, |
| velut luna | like the moon |
| statu variabilis, | you are changeable, |
| semper crescis | ever waxing |
| aut decrescis; | and waning; |
| vita detestabilis | hateful life |
| nunc obdurat | first oppresses |
| et tunc curat | and then soothes |
| ludo mentis aciem, | as fancy takes it; |
| egestatem, | poverty |
| potestatem | and power |
| dissolvit ut glaciem. | it melts them like ice. |
| Sors immanis | Fate - monstrous |
| et inanis, | and empty, |
| rota tu volubilis, | you whirling wheel, |
| status malus, | you are malevolent, |
| vana salus | well-being is vain |
| semper dissolubilis, | and always fades to nothing, |
| obumbrata | shadowed |
| et velata | and veiled |
| michi quoque niteris; | you plague me too; |
| nunc per ludum | now through the game |
| dorsum nudum | I bring my bare back |
| fero tui sceleris. | to your villainy. |
| Sors salutis | Fate is against me |
| et virtutis | in health |
| michi nunc contraria, | and virtue, |
| est affectus | driven on |
| et defectus | and weighted down, |
| semper in angaria. | always enslaved. |
| Hac in hora | So at this hour |
| sine mora | without delay |
| corde pulsum tangite; | pluck the vibrating strings; |
| quod per sortem | since Fate |
| sternit fortem, | strikes down the strong man, |
| mecum omnes plangite! | everyone weep with me! |
these are the words that Orff's masterpiece starts AND ends with. essentially, even though much of the cantata has lyrics about love and drinking and growing and youthfulness and growing old and everything else you can think of, the composer realizes and makes you realize that all that is simply life. and it can be summed up with a fearful, epic, monolithic, tumbling, black, monstrous ode to Fortune and her fateful wheel that spins us around. and so, in an effort to replicate life, Orff ends Carmina Burana the way it starts.
birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death birth youth bloom love sex death.
"Life ain't nothin' but bitches and money." -- Ice Cube, from "Gangsta Gangsta" on N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton.
download or watch.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Gangsta Gangsta - N.W.A. (1988)
"We don't Just Say No, we too busy saying YEAH." -- Ice Cube
If Ice Cube's not a role model, I don't know who the hell is.
If Ice Cube's not a role model, I don't know who the hell is.
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