Tag Archives: music

Admitting Defeat – You Win, T Swift

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I don’t like to lose. No one does. In fourth grade I threw Jimmy Overton’s ball into the woods after I lost in foursquare two minutes before the bell ended recess. I’ve grown a lot since fourth grade. I still hate losing, I’m just old enough to know that it’s unacceptable to act, well, like a child every time I don’t win.

Taylor Swift dropped a new single + video on the low earlier this week.

It sounds like bubblegum, cotton candy and caffeine, but most notably not like Swift. It’s not that it doesn’t sound like a Taylor Swift song, it’s that it also sounds like a Katy Perry song, and a Selena Gomez song, etc. She took her sound to interesting places with Red so I can understand her need to continue to change and progress, but this first single just isn’t the way to do it.

I’ve never liked country music, but something happens when you’re repeatedly exposed to things that play against your taste. You begin to look at things through a different lens and find yourself “liking” certain movies or songs or foods that you already don’t really like. Which is where statements like “that wasn’t bad for a chick flick” and “this is pretty good for a light beer” come from. Or in my case “this isn’t bad for a country song” or “that’s not bad for a pair of Reeboks”. When I was in college a girl I was interested in forced me to listen to “Picture to Burn”. It wasn’t bad for a country song. Neither was “Mary’s Song”. In fact, Taylor Swift wasn’t bad for a country album. I’m not too proud to admit that I actually liked, not country music lens “liked”, and got swept up in “Love Story” mania when Fearless came out.

I’m not entirely sure how it started, but I am now a full blown Taylor Swift hater. It’s not that I think she’s bad, I think she’s extremely talented. Between the ages of 11 and 14 not only did she beg her parents to take her to Nashville so she could shop her demo tapes and book solo shows in bars but she actually walked away from a deal because she wouldn’t have been able to record her own songs. She went on the release her first studio album when she was 16 and is still in charge of her own management company. I can remember when I was 14, and when I think about the presence of mind it must have taken to walk away from a deal because it wasn’t right for her, especially at that age, I can’t help but admire her. But outside of her songwriting and business acumen I just can’t like her; almost everything she does irritates me.

There’s something so off putting about watching arguably the biggest pop star in the world insist on playing the sympathy card while passive aggressively shading her ex boyfriends. While her fan base eats up the stale tropes she is constantly pushing, I can’t help but find her immature. Taylor Swift released “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” when she was 23, the same age that Adele released “Rolling in the Deep”. And the face she makes after she performs, “you like me! You really, really like me!” I can’t stand any of it.

But none of that matters. I hope that 1989 will be an album that pushes her sound to a adventurous place, but whether it does or not she still wins. Taylor always wins, and all we can do is just shake it off until the next Kanye album comes out.

Who Couldn’t Use a Custom Lupe Verse?

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Lupe

 

Last night Lupe Fiasco sent out some tweets, starting with:

Aspiring rappers collectively rejoiced, would it really be that simple?

https://twitter.com/Anonymuzkilla/status/502272467994296320

Turns out no, @Anonymuzkilla, it would not be.

$500 bought a song made for you, not with you unless you add two zeros.
It didn’t take long for the first customer.

43 minutes later, @AdamsGardens’ verse was done, with a new twist added.

For $1,000 you can watch Lupe record your verse for you.
Lupe took some time to elaborate, but he was right it was pretty simple.

Choose a beat, mood and subject, show up with $500, sign a usage contract and your verse is yours. But that only answers the what; what about the why? I have so many questions. Does Lupe need the money? Parisian sensibilities aren’t cheap. Does Lupe think $500 is a lot of money? If 500 people buy a verse he’ll be sitting on $250K, but he would still need to write 500 verses, which sounds like a lot of work. What about for the buyer? If Lupe charges $50K for a guest verse, would a fan be getting a customized verse for cheap? How much would Lupe want for a full track? Could someone buy three verses and a hook for $2K? Is $500 a lot or a little for a verse from not just a rapper, but a good rapper? I was a huge fan of Lupe’s first two albums Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor and Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, and even though I don’t check for his music the way I used to I still think he’s one of the most talented lyricists currently making music.

Come to think of it, what am I waiting for? What is any of us waiting for? There aren’t many situations that wouldn’t be made better by a custom Lupe verse. Bar Mitzah? Boom. You’re a man now son, Lupe says so. Important client meeting coming up? Nothing says customer appreciation like sixteen bars of Lupe over DJ Premier. Did you just win your fantasy league? Rub extra salt in the wound and let Lupe tell them to bow down.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to start saving up for song about pizza over “Hood Now”.

Miley Can’t Stop… Winning

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If you didn’t watch on Sunday night, you couldn’t have missed the tweets. And by now you’ve probably watched it at least three times. Miley delivered the most entertaining performance of the night, clashing cultures and stealing “Blurred Lines”. And it felt like most of the internet collectively hated it for different reasons.

The most frequent complaints I saw on Facebook, Twitter and real life were nothing more than criticisms about her presentation that you’d think were lobbed by grade school students at the new girl on her first day:

“look at her hair!”

“what is she wearing??”

“eww what’s wrong with her tongue she looks like a giraffe!”


It wasn’t a “good” performance, but it was entertaining and it was funny, and funny in the way it was supposed to be. I mean, Hannah Montana can’t stop singing about partying on Molly while twerking with teddy bears! (no one else thought that was funny?) At the end of the day, Miley won the VMAs. No she wasn’t given the opening or the closing slot, and she wasn’t given some made up award like the “Video Vanguard”, but for the last five days its been the ONLY thing from the VMAs that anyone has talked about, and these days that’s the currency pop artists trade in.

There are real concerns over Miley’s appropriation/misappropriation of black culture in her performance, most clearly written out here (h/t to the Girls in Hoodies Emily Yoshida, Molly Lambert and Tess Lynch). Whether the performance was offensive or not is up to the viewer, and I have to admit that I felt a little uncomfortable re-watching it after reading Tressie’s article when viewing it through that lens. I didn’t personally see her performance that way, but more importantly I don’t think Miley did either. That goes ditto for her crew:

Trinidad James co signed as well:

A lot of people claimed that Miley was too “slutty”; dancing on stage in a nude colored bikini while pretending the giant foam finger on her hand was a penis, and rubbing said penis on Robin Thicke’s crotch, which she then twerked on before kissing his neck, all with Thicke too frozen to do much of anything. But through their “shock and horror” they weren’t able to see the beauty, and dare I say genius of taking “Blurred Lines” and flipping the entire concept around on Thicke. Don’t follow? Watch Thicke’s video for “Blurred Lines” then re-watch the VMAs performance:

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/942064/we-cant-stop-blurred-lines-give-it-2-u-medley.jhtml#id=1712596 (sorry can’t embed the MTV video on WordPress)

If you shamed Miley and felt bad for Thicke on Sunday. you my friends, would be hypocrites.

Some people think Miley doesn’t belong in the rap game. That’s bullshit. Because she’s white? Because she’s a she? Because she’s a the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus and goddaughter of Dolly Parton and grew up as Hannah Montana? None of that matters. Hip-hop doesn’t “belong” to anyone. I genuinely believe that this is who Miley is, a talented singer who likes to have fun and loves trap music and she’s not stepping in anyone’s space. Pop/rap/EDM is big enough for Miley and everyone else, but because of how hip-hop came to be a lot of people hold it very dearly and think that Miley weakens or dilutes the genre, but that’s simply not true. It actually adds longevity to rap and is a testament when you can have Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, J. Cole, Macklemore, Future and Miley Cyrus sharing a common bond. Rap isn’t going anywhere folks, and Miley Cyrus is only picking up the pace, whether you like it or not. If you liked “We Can’t Stop” there’s “23”.

I kind of hated it at first but have to admit that it’s growing on me. Mike Will Made It’s beat is infectious like Mike Will Made It’s beats are, and I think I like Miley better as a rapper than I like Wiz Khalifa. And if you hated “We Can’t Stop” there’s “Wrecking Ball”.

Surprisingly soulful and intimate compared to everything we’ve heard recently, “Wrecking Ball” will  be a smash hit.

And if you’re not convinced that Miley keeps winning there’s this. Are we sure Charlie Sheen didn’t father Miley? Is she somehow related to MJ? She’s already got the tongue wag down. I’m taking the “Black Skinhead” remix with a grain of salt because of who’s reporting it, but it wouldn’t shock me. Kanye would use Miley more as an instrument to convey his message and feelings rather than Miley conveying her own, just as he did with the few featured artists he had on Yeezus. If this happens I think I’ll go crazy and start twerking in a bikini in a Kings of Leon cover band.

Face it, Miley wins.

Ok, it’s time to tell you guys the truth… You guys wanna know what’s REALLY going on?? Miley was a diversion put on by the white house to distract America from Syria. It’s true – Michelle taught Miley how to twerk and Obama taught Robin Thicke how to stand and not be able to dance good. Hey, why’s the front door open? If they found out I leaked this th

Sean Fennessy on Taylor Swift

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Taylor Swift is what happens when you spoil your children. Next time you’re dragging your child through a drugstore and they start begging for a toy … and a candy bar … and a coconut water, don’t give in. Let them cry. Let them scream. Let them embarrass you. If you don’t, your child may one day grow up to be a tall, witchy blonde person who dresses like a mad hatter and acts angry about being the biggest pop star in the known universe because guys don’t like kissing her.

YES

Frank Isola Reminds Us All To Stay In Our Lanes

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Monday night was the much anticipated first “”Clash of the Boroughs”, which the Brooklyn Nets won in overtime 96-89.So many great story lines emerged from this game. The Knicks lost but still run New York. The Nets still haven’t figured out a cheer. OMG JERRY STACKHOUSE. Jay-Z loves camo pants.

But there was one particular story I wanted to focus on; Frank Isola being a dumb ass.

The halftime performer for this historic night was none other than Richard Walters aka Slick Rick the Ruler aka MC Ricky D. I wasn’t there, but I knew this thanks to my Twitter, which was also how I knew that he sloppily made it through “Hey Young World”, “Mona Lisa” and “Children’s Story” before getting booed off stage.

A lot of people came to his defense that night, not for his performance, but thanks to Knicks beat writer Frank Isola talking about what he knows not:

Now, I’m positive Frank didn’t think he’d cause a bit of a mini firestorm what that tweet, but the internet can be an unpredictable lady. Hundreds of people responded, even getting the attention of one Trill OG:

But I’m sure that doesn’t matter because Frank Isola probably doesn’t know who Bun B is either. Smart people would have just stopped there. Frank doesn’t stop there, check out his Slick Rick timeline for the rest of the night:

Look, the performance wasn’t good by any means, take a look for yourself. I can’t say it was really his fault, because the beats for all three tracks he did were going way too fast. No he didn’t stop and try to have them fix the problem with the player because he was a halftime performer not hosting a concert. But I get it. People come to games to be entertained. They boo when their teams play bad, and they boo when entertainers don’t perform well. And I don’t expect people to know Rick’s music well enough to know the beat was off. But a poor grade on your paper doesn’t mean you’re a bad student. A poor game from Carmelo doesn’t mean he’s a bad player. A bad performance by Slick Rick doesn’t mean he’s a bad performer. And a dumb tweet from Frank Isola doesn’t mean he’s dumb. But it wasn’t just a dumb tweet. It was his continued outpouring of ignorance that makes leads me to believe he’s an idiot. It was a comment on Twitter. It’s not a big deal. Just drop it. Or apologize and move on. Or learn how to use Google so things like this don’t happen. But no, people on Twitter called you a hip-hop ignorant cracker and told you to kill yourself (a summation of replies to Frank’s tweets, not my own words) so naturally you felt a little defensive.

Dude, sometimes you’ve just got to take the loss. Name dropping “your guy” Rick Ross Mr. Ross won’t make anyone believe you remotely know anything about hip-hop, apparently not even “your guy”.

The Worst Hype Williams Music Video Ever

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For those that don’t know, Hype Williams is one of the most accomplished music video directors, making videos for some of the biggest names in music over the last two decades, from TLC, to Kanye West, to No Doubt and Jessica Simpson. He directed videos for Biggie, Tupac AND Aaliyah. Needles to say he’s a living legend, and he’s also a personal idol, because nothing would make me happier than being a professional music video director, let alone being the music video director. But even the greatest have their moments.

Which brings us to the just premiered I Wish You Would / Cold.

Damn Hype… 😦 x 100

I’m sorry you all had to watch that.

He’s still the best though. I know you might not believe me, but I can prove it.

Hype. You the best. But please don’t put Kanye, Khaled, Rozay and Kim in the sewer like that again.

Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange: He Saw Orange The Summer He Fell In Love. Does It Matter That It Was With A Man?

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You know the story. Channel Orange, the highly anticipated debut album from Frank Ocean was due in stores July 17th, so the 24 year old had been busy traveling the globe and putting on listening parties. At one of these listening parties a journalist noticed the use of “him” instead of what he assumed should be a “her”. After failed attempts to get Frank to clarify his lyrical choices, rumors started swirling that he was gay. Frank ended that discussion and sparked new ones by taking to his tumblr page to announce that he fell in love the summer he was 19, with another man.

Initially I thought nothing of his verse on “Oldie”,

I’m high and I’m bye, wait I mean I’m straight

Got it. Frank’s been riding around, smoked a gram of that haze and is now gone; “bye”.

The lyrics have an entirely new meaning now.

But at least we know there’s no problems about it in the Odd Future crew, especially since Frank will now be the second non-heterosexual in the group next the only female in the group, Syd. The fact that Frank raps about it on the posse track finale’ to The OF Tape Vol. 2 is all we need to know of the undying support they have for one another, but tweets that say so are nice too:

https://twitter.com/fucktyler/status/220409244153937921 https://twitter.com/fucktyler/status/220409501487079424

The support has been flowing in ever since from the likes of Russell Simmons, DJ A-Trak, to the Queen Bey herself:

So, does it matter? It shouldn’t. Frank decided to release the album early, and I’m only on my second listen through the album but its incredible. It has very few featured artists, which leave us with a lot of Frank, and Frank is good. So good. I’ve been a fan since I heard “Novacane” off his Nostalgia/Ultra mixtape, so I’m used to the wordplay, clever yet simple. But there’s so much emotion that pours through his music. His voice, vision and talent are undeniable – Frank Ocean makes beautiful music, and nothing else should matter.

But does it matter? Maybe. On a week when both Anderson Cooper and Megan Rapinoe (breaking my heart in the process) also came out, Frank’s made theirs look so insignificant (I mean absolutely no disrespect, butttttt…). Anderson Cooper is an ivy league educated journalist with not one, but two television shows (CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360 and his newer daytime show Anderson Cooper). He’s well established, well liked and his success would have continued regardless of his sexuality. Megan Rapinoe is a women’s soccer player, and I adore her. While I’m sure she will inspire other gay athletes, both men and women, to be comfortable in their own skin, unfortunately most of America only cares about her every four years.

Frank will be remembered as the first hip-hop/R&B artist to ever come out as gay/bi, doing it at the beginning of his career to boot. This is a breakthrough Frank isn’t an established artist. He’s gained popularity through a mixtape and music he’s made with OF, but has most of his notoriety from the two songs he was featured on on Watch The Throne. He put himself at risk; he came out as an artist in the most homophobic genre of the most homophobic industry in one of the most homophobic countries in the world. He’s lucky he’s so talented. Seriously. There are people that will stop listening because he isn’t straight. Anyone who thinks people are mature enough to look past his sexuality are sorely mistaken, and quick search on Twitter will tell you that there are some very closed minded people consuming modern music (yes, they are likely the same idiots that keep referring to Jay-Z “Gay-Z” after he expressed his support for same sex marriages). But it won’t compromise his success. What may matter is what people expect from him. I think that many may expect an activist when he is not one. He’s just a man who makes music about his life, and our lives.

I sat there and told my friend how I felt. I wept as the words left my mouth. I grieved for them, knowing I could never take them back for myself. He patted me on my back. He said kind things. He did his best, but he wouldn’t admit the same.

Frank’s story isn’t a special one. He was young, and he fell for someone he shared a summer romance with, and when he built up the courage to admit it, it wasn’t given back. Frank’s story is everyone’s story. Those who can’t see that need to question what matters.

NYC Cab Jam Session

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His name: Jagdesh Singh

His date of birth: 9/12//1978

I just landed at LaGuardia an hour ago and was so pumped up from the cab ride I had to write this. The cab line was long but worth the wait. He stood about 5’9, with a turban, a beard and a belly so jolly St. Nick would tip his hat. As I do most times I ride in cabs, I sat in the back with one ear bud in in case he says something while I’m reading emails/checking facebook/tweeting. But tonight I heard something that made me look up: I faintly heard the same song I was listening to on my iPod playing through Jagdesh’s stereo.

It wasn’t just that a cab driver liked the same music I like, it was that it was so unexpected. I’m the furthest thing from a racist, but just like everyone else I reach conclusions about people based on their age, appearance and whether or not they’re an organ donor. Needless to say I was more than pleasantly surprised when I said, “Yo, you can turn up the  radio if you want.”

“Are you sure sir? You don’t mind?”

“Not at all.”

Not only did he blast his music he rapped his heart out with his Sikh accent and I had nothing but respect.

Tracklist from the ride home:
Kanye West ft. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz – Mercy
Drake ft. Lil Wayne – Miss Me
Tyga – Rack City

“Hey by the way, what radio station is this?”

“No radio station, it was my iPod sir.”

Swag. 

A Passover Story, Starring Drake and Lil’ Wayne

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http://vimeo.com/39912287

I’ll be honest, before I moved to New York my knowledge of the Jewish religion basically consisted of what I learned from Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil. As a more cultured man, I’d like to wish all my Jewish friends a happy Passover!!!

❤

Chet, Drake & Weezy