Posts by controversy:

A King Dies and A Follower Mourns

July 1st, 2009

The King of Pop was much more than a king to me. My mother likes to tell the story of me being less than a year old as she strolled me through the mall and how i would kick my feet to the beat of whatever song was coming from the closest retailer, so I think I’ve always been in love with music, but my first hero was one Michael Jackson. I can remember Halloween of 1984, when I was just two years old, I was at my grandmother’s house and the television was on and someone had put on MTV, I suppose it must’ve been, because I sat glued to the television, mesmerized at the Thriller video. I was two years old and I can remember the scene as though it were yesterday. Many of my very earliest memories in life include some reference to MJ. He was to me what Superman or Batman or Spiderman or any other number of heroes represent to young boys and girls. I would watch him, barely recognizing the fact that he must be human. I knew nothing of dancing, of athletics, of human feats, and I knew nothing of illusions or magic, but I somehow divined that what this man could do on a dancefloor was something that other humans couldn’t. I would watch him, swearing to myself that, one day, I would be just like him. I, a very, very young 3/4 caucasian, 1/4 asian boy with no knowledge of music or dancing or business or much of anything, knew that no matter what happened in life, I would be just like this god of a man that I would gawk at with every opportunity. I spent what must have amounted to days reviewing every dance move, learning as much as I could. When the Bad album came out, my mother (who owned it) must not have had the liner notes for more than a few days. I may not have understood more than 20% of the content, but I’m sure I memorized the entire booklet, down to the copyright information. I still remember most of the photos that were in it very well, as I would try and mimic his expressions and positions as best I could, quite often. I could moonwalk by the time I was three or four. My family would often congregate in the kitchen and play Earth, Wind, and Fire albums and the like, and I would always do my best impression of Michael Jackson. I’m sure it was awful, but every time, I would, without thinking, end up grabbing my crotch and my father would immediately yell at me to never do it again, but I just couldn’t help myself. It didn’t matter how much trouble I got in, if Michael Jackson was doing it, so was I. I’m a little surprised, looking back, that I never managed to construct or ask for a sequined white glove or a red leather jacket and that I never wore my black dress shoes with my white socks.

Over time, I grew to learn that other people were not quite so obssessed with Michael Jackson as I was. I remember in elementary school having to defend his honor as many of the other white kids would say that he was gay and other such things. I didn’t care how far he went in going from looking like a black man to a white woman, as far as I was concerned, Michael Jackson was the coolest human being to have ever walked the planet. When Dangerous came out, I was similarly obssessed. I quickly memorized every song and would sing them all, constantly. When there were accusations of child molestation, I defended. I still defend. I still don’t believe he did it. The more I’ve learned about his difficult childhood, the more I’ve sympathized with MJ. And as I’ve grown, I see that, regardless of status, wealth, fame, power, and the like, people are people, and we’re all basically the same and face many of the same struggles. I think he has been greatly misunderstood and badly exploited by various people and groups of people.

I am now a musician, myself, and while I may not owe a lot to Jackson, stylistically, he very much kept me interested in music, and without that, I might not be the musician I am today. I wouldn’t describe his music or career as one that changed the landscape of music, but it certainly was influential on plenty of people. When my childhood wasn’t what I needed it to be and my parents and others failed to be the type of guardians and guides I needed, there were times when music and the career of this man were very helpful to me. I grew to love the music of Stevie Wonder in high school and college. Then, it was Mos Def and Herbie Hancock and various others. Now, I listen for anything that sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard before, but I can still sing you every word of “Rock With You” or “The Way You Make Me Feel”. The Backstreet Boys or even Usher or Ginuwine were never musicians that I was very much interested in and any interest in any song of theirs would’ve come with some amount of shame, but even though Michael Jackson was merely the king of pop, I’m going to be looking for any posthumous work, and just like every album before that no one expected to be worthy of any note, I’ll surely memorize the entire thing and defend it for as long as I can. Michael Jackson was my first hero and most influential on me and, for the poor judgement he may have often shown, for the lack of mind-altering music he may have made, for having shown a nack for acting in a manner that caused so many to think him quite a freak, he will be sorely missed and I’m sad that we won’t be getting more of his otherwordly talent on display. R.I.P. King of Pop.

No Comments "

Hopefully Not the Last from ‘Kiss

May 27th, 2009

The Spin: Jadakiss – The Last Kiss
Released April 7, 2009
The Island Def Jam Music Group 2009
[rate 4]

If you’ve followed Jadakiss’ career at all, it’s easy to see that he’s consistently put out some of the most solid work in the genre since as far back as The Lox. Although every album has its fair share of what would be deemed commercial songs (and they’re just as good as anything else you would hear on the radio), he hasn’t managed to reach the type of mega-stardom as Lil Wayne or 50 Cent or even gained the type of mainstream notariety as someone like Mims or Chingy. I think plenty would argue that Jadakiss’ lyricism would have him fare well in a battle with any of these guys and the beats that pervade his albums are definitely good, if not equal to his rapping.


“The Last Kiss” finds itself again without a huge hit, but has managed to garner plenty of praise and respectable sales. But also like most of his albums, it’s sort of a mixed bag and lacks continuity. There are a couple of Neptunes beats that stick out, there are beats that sound just five minutes too dated, and then there are southern-style club bangers in the middle of it. Content-wise, Kiss is equally sporadic.

In “Who’s Real,” we hear Swizz Beats’ familiar voice and horn arrangements. For whatever reason, Swizz Beats has certainly mastered his particular brand of simple drum patterns and synth arrangements (which he’s claimed to accomplish in fifteen minutes or less), although he does add in samples, from time to time. His lyrics definitely have not received the same amount of attention for good reason. However, Swizz Beats, in collaboration with other artists, provides a recipe for very effective rap tunes. Thankfully, Jadakiss does a good job of complimenting the track. OJ Da Juiceman provides fairly weak guest lyrics.



Image courtesy of musicforecast.blogspot.com

Anyone who’s heard a Jadakiss album knows that he’s fairly obsessed with guns. “Smoking Gun” serves as a manifestation of that, but with a sort of twist. This song is a sort of Bonnie & Clyde tale, but more socially conscious and more vengeful. Yeah, actually, it’s more like one of those highly entertaining albeit cheesy revenge flicks from the seventies. At any rate, the content of the song is really interesting and the beat’s pretty nice. I don’t want to give away more than that because it’s such a cool song. Instead, I’d encourage anyone to check it out.



“Respect My Conglomerate” is a Busta Rhymes song that is included on the Itunes version of Kiss’ album. The female vocals sound like they’re sampled, but they’re not. The hook is really cool. The beat’s fairly poppy and simplistic, but effective. Busta Rhymes delivers as always and Jada doesn’t disappoint, either. “Grind Hard” and “Something Else” serve as Jadakiss’ attempt to get in good with the south, even including a verse from Young Jeezy on the latter. “Grind Hard” features a hook by Mary J. Blige and is appropriately catchy.



If I had to describe Jadakiss’ career to someone, I’d say something like, “Jadakiss is a five-star lyricist who consistently makes four-star albums.” It’s hard to not feel like if he just had an album with two or three really big hits that he could be on the same eschelon as someone like Jay-z or Nas.
I think it’s unfortunate that this isn’t the case, but I certainly keep hoping for it, and considering that he’s one of the only good hip-hop artists still doing big things in New York, his time may be yet to come. Predictably, I give this album four out of five stars.

No Comments "

Mother Effing DOOM

April 22nd, 2009

The Spin: Doom – Born Like This
Released March 24, 2009
2009 Lex Records
[rate 4.5]

There’s often talk about the rappers that producers want to work with and vice versa. Three Six Mafia once had an album titled MOST KNOWN UNKNOWN. It seems that MF Doom has become that guy. MF Doom has worked with many of hip-hop’s most recognized producers and contributed verses to many hip-hop projects. His work on DANGERDOOM eventually assisted DJ Dangermouse in winning a grammy, while MADVILLAIN remains one of the most popular albums to date among the underground hip-hop scene. For BORN THIS WAY, Doom shows his production meddle, having produced most of the tracks on the album.



Lyrically, the album, as in all MF Doom’s work, is chock full of internal rhyme and silly, often crude, but clever one-liners. Content-wise, Doom’s always all over the map. His persona entails him speaking from the position of a villain, and as it is hip-hop, certainly a boisterously confident one.



Image courtesy of www.nerdwithswag.com

Those familiar with the work of J Dilla (and if you’re not familiar, you should do yourself a favor and get familiar) will certainly appreciate the collaboration of these two well-regarded artists on “Gazillion Ear” and “Lightworks.” It’s safe to say that MF Doom’s style of production requires some crate-digging on his part, and the Dilla tracks that he utilizes certainly fit very well with his other tracks. Tracks from G-Unit production’s Jake One also stand out. Besides those, MF Doom’s tracks often provide a somewhat whimsical quality, derived from the samples he chooses, often relatively obscure.



Image courtesy of www.photobucket.com

Doom employs vocals from everyone from Wu-Tang’s Ghostface Killah, as Tony Starks, and Raekwon (on a track that more or less is simply rapped over the oft-sampled ESG’s “UFO”), to Rhymesayers’ brethren Slug, to classic hip-hop veterans Prince Paul and Posdnous. It seems quite an honor to be asked to guest on an MF Doom album, and the artists certainly don’t slack, when given the opportunity.



Image courtesy of www.metro.co.uk

Standout tracks from the album include “Gazillion Ear,” “Rap Ambush,” and “That’s That.” While Doom is certainly a deft producer, many of his beats lack the impact of those of Dangermouse’s or Madlib’s or Dilla’s or Jake One’s. With all the money he’s certainly made from various projects and the success that employing these producers would certainly garner him, I do wish he’d use them more. However, it is a very good album and one of the best to this point this year. While I’m hoping for more Madvillain and the like, I give this album four and a half stars.

…Incidentally, Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame remixed “Gazillion Ear.” It’s pretty cool.

No Comments "