Hopefully Not the Last from ‘Kiss

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.

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.

Controversy’s SXSW 2009 Experience

Every year, throngs (not to be confused with the subject of one infamous Sisqo megahit) of music appreciators converge in Austin, TX, the alleged Music Capital of the World. Every year, Austin, TX is made a little more uncomfortable by the ever-expanding group that visits. And yet, every year, some relatively unknown musical act puts on such a show that catapults them to a status that so greatly dwarfs their previous status that even more artists are inclined to sell whatever soul necessary to partake, multiple times over, if possible.

Okay, I’ll admit that my strategy for South by Southwest may seem flawed. I went to the hip-hop shows. Before any rotting vegetable is thrown, it should be understood that a number of popular hip-hop acts have come through in recent years and some of the aforementioned breakout stars etched their way into the limelight per SXSW. Add to that the fact that everyone comes to see the indie bands, making the hip-hop shows significantly less crowded and therefore much more enjoyable, and I stand by my strategy (which differed from years past, where I would just try and see bands that I was told were cool or look for really weird stuff. I only did a little of that this time.).

Wednesday night was, for all intents and purposes, not the peak of SXSW, but the show I went to shed some light on some acts that I had recently become interested in. U-N-I are an underground hip-hop group, at the moment. Unfortunately, I walked into the Wednesday night show as they were performing. I say it’s unfortunate because they were one of the best acts I heard all weekend. Their energy was really high. Their lyricism came through beautifully, thanks to this being one of the only acts that had enough sense to yell at the sound dude to turn their mics up over the music that normally covers everyone else up. They had a lot of style and confidence, engaged the audience, and seemed generally like they were excited to be there and like they were supposed to be there. The crowd was very responsive and the music was great. It was like eating dessert first!

In that same showcase, Blue Scholars performed very well, and Blu did a good job, despite a demeanor that seemed like he would’ve been just as happy being anywhere else. In fact, he seemed like his state was quite altered, which was certainly appreciated by some.

As I stated earlier, when doing SXSW, I do try and see some stuff I wouldn’t normally be exposed to. Thursday night was Japan Nite at Elysium, and Sparta Locals was a really good Japanese band there. I’m not sure if it would’ve been better if the lead singer and apparent spokesman for the group hadn’t been speaking broken English, but the band’s relatively exotic chord progressions, infectious energy on stage, and overall demeanor all contributed to a really enjoyable stage show.

Later on that night, we changed gears and went back to hip-hop, although some wouldn’t even classified some of what we listened to as such. At any rate, Lady Sovereign’s set went well. She seems to be one of those many artists that has a lot of talent but can’t seem to consistently find a broad audience. It’s unfortunate. After her came Asher Roth. His current big hit “I Love College” was a huge hit, but his charisma and fun stageshow seem to indicate some staying power, or at least, some staying power for right now. Finally, despite being hoarse, Kid Sister came out and performed. Her show featured a couple of dancers, a lot of dance music, and hoarse vocals. Needless to say, it left something to be desired, but it was still a good show, as long as you don’t mind letting loose a little and just having some fun dancing and being entertained (as opposed to being as mentally stimulated as you would at maybe a Mos Def show, etc.).

As hip-hop is fairly easy to define according to which region it comes from, on Friday night, we moved to the dirty south. I felt lucky to experience one of the pioneers of the dirty south movement and a trailblazer for all those small-vocabulary rappers from Atlanta. But truthfully, Big Boi’s a star in his own right, and a very good lyricist. It’s truly telling of Austin and SXSW, but this was actually one of the least crowded shows we went to. It was in the Austin Music Hall, so there was plenty more space, but it occurs to me that a few years earlier, I would assume this show would’ve been much more packed in. At any rate, Big Boi mixed in some Outkast and some of his solo work, deftly transitioning from party song to political number and back again. Despite him not looking like any superathlete, he brought a lot of energy and got a solid response from his audience.

Now, I’m not in the best shape of my life, either, and I don’t really drink that much. Blame it on me no longer being single, but even though I’ve been working out a lot lately, the alcohol takes a toll on me. Suffice it to say that when I go out to stuff like this, I feel I should be drinking. If for no other reason, we’ll say that I feel that I should be doing my part to support the venues that host these shows. By Saturday night, we were fairly well exhausted. But that wouldn’t stop me from seeing one of my favorite hip-hop acts of all time, Dead effing Prez!!!

Unfortunately, Dead Prez seems to have moved from Brooklyn to Atlanta and their upcoming album reflects it in the beats. That being said, the whole rest of the show was a lot of southern hip-hop that just didn’t compare with what they were doing. I like Bun B okay, but not like the rest of Texas, which loves him. And before Bun B, whom was just before Dead Prez, it was local acts, again, with fairly limited vocabularies. All that being said, by the time Dead Prez was ready, the majority of Bun B fans had left. It was very very strange to see how Caucasian the audience was considering lines from Dead Prez like, “I’m down for runnin’ up on some crackers in their City Hall.” I’ll pause to allow some reflection on this irony. *Pausing* Okay, that having been said, I’m mostly a white guy who mostly agrees with Dead Prez, so I guess I just assumed I was more marginalized than I am. At any rate, Dead Prez came on and just seemed like stars from the first moment. I yelled nearly every word of nearly every song at them in unison. Their energy was high and they had a lot to say. It’s obvious that they’re genuinely concerned with the state of our country’s people, and they actually took a few moments out to talk about the incident in Oakland with the police shooting. The show was so great that I just wanted it to go on all night. It was easily the most exciting show, despite my apparent bias, even better than U-N-I and Asher Roth and that Japanese band, the Sparta Locals.

I figure I learned something from SXSW. Austin’s hip-hop scene is fairly nominal and a very mixed bag, and I think that some of the hip-hop shows probably suffered as a result of the lack of substantial buzz for hip-hop in Austin. It really made the shows a little less enjoyable, I have to admit, and I’d imagine the artists aren’t as geared up to perform for a half-empty venue as they are for a full one. That being the case, I might change my strategy next year. Then again, I might be performing next year, and I might just have a full venue, if I’m lucky. We’ll see. All in all, it was a fun time.

Five Albums That Changed My Life

A couple of my friends did this on Facebook, so I’m gonna put a twist and explain why they changed my life, and put them in chronologically, in terms of when they changed my life. Of course, I’m not claiming that these are my favorite albums, only that because of where I was in my life when I discovered (or re-discovered, in one case) them, they each had a profound effect on me.

1. Bad by Michael Jackson 1987 Michael Jackson was my first hero, and this was the first album that came out where I was old enough to be aware of its impact, and know all the lyrics (and dance moves).

2. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill 1998 This album was one of the earliest albums that I bought, mostly because I never had money before this time, and my parents wouldn’t let me get the music I wanted to get. This album was, and still is, in my opinion, genius. Lyrically and vocally, Lauryn Hill’s absence from anything more than intermittent recording still leaves a hole, such that at every rumor of her reemergence, I get excitedly hopeful.

3. Music of My Mind by Stevie Wonder 1976 Stevie Wonder broke the ice for so much great R&B music in the 1970′s. So much of his work sounds as fresh today as it did back then, and he continues to be a great influence in music. When I was in college, after hearing some of my parents’ old Stevie Wonder tracks, I became interested in hearing more of his stuff. This was the first album of his that I bought, and the beginning of his classic period.

4. Black on Both Sides by Mos Def 1999 This album was the first album that made me interested in hip-hop lyrics. If you’ve not heard it, Mos’ blend of witty lyricism, confident but extremely humanistic delivery, and populist message over diverse musical textures is an instant classic.

5. Electric Circus by Common 2002 I bought this album as soon as it came out, off the strength of Like Water For Chocolate and the recommendation of a good friend. While I liked the album back then, I didn’t appreciate all the musical genius that the album is until several years later. The album is chock full of amazingly creative musical styling from all the various Soulquarians that made neo-soul so great in its short popularity. Where Black on Both Sides may be my favorite album, lyrically, this album inspires me, musically. Note: This is possibly Common’s least-popular album of all time, but I think it’s really, really, really musically genius.

Anyone else wanna play? What were the five albums that changed your life and why?

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