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(Today, The Ginger Kid gives his insights on T.I.'s Paper Trail. Yes, you two, T.I. technically counts as hip hop, and he shouldn't be ignored just because most purists don't care for him. (Soulja Boy, on the other hand, you can dismiss entirely if you wish.) His post is from the point of view of a fan who got into hip hop through an avenue which most folks travel these days: with the songs that are pervasive on the radio, which seep into your daily lives, acting as a gateway drug. Be sure to leave your comments for The Ginger Kid below.)
I wasn’t really sure how to start this review, so I decided to just get all nostalgic and tell a nice story.
I’ve been a huge fan of rap music since I first heard “Without Me,” the radio-friendly first single from Eminem's The Eminem Show. Upon hearing that song, I immediately decided I loved rap music and bought my first rap album, Curtis Jackson’s debut album Get Rich Or Die Tryin’, shortly after. I continued to listen to the bullshit on the radio for almost six years; I listened to all the popular rap songs on the radio and loved every minute of them. I’ll even admit that, at one point in time, The Carter III was on my iPod (I didn’t actually waste any of my money on it, though).
This past year was my junior year in high school. Throughout the year, the only really good rap music I listened to was all by my favorite rapper, Marshall Mathers. While looking for more of Eminem’s music, I came across a song with him and The Notorious B.I.G. titled “Dead Wrong”. When I listened to it, I realized two things: (1) Marshall’s verse sounded very similar to the first verse Royce Da 5’9” had on the unreleased version of “Renagade”, and (2) I really liked Biggie Smalls. So ,I went on iTunes and started to search and, holy shit, the closest I had come to music this good was The Marshall Mathers LP. I was blown away by the storytelling and I wanted more. I purchased both Ready to Die and Life After Death, and upon hearing those albums, I decided to stop listening to bullshit pop-rap. I I picked up Illmatic and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) as well as The Infamous and Reasonable Doubt (I got the majority of these albums from a friend of mine who introduced me to Max’s blog, which he was a huge fan of, hence all the east-coast favoritism).
Before this shift in my musical tastes, my second favorite rapper was Atlanta native Clifford Harris, also known as T.I. I first heard him on his King album, and then went on to purchase T.I. vs. T.I.P. When I heard he had been arrested for federal weapons charges, I was devastated at the thought that I might not hear a new T.I. song for 30-plus years. So, naturally, when I heard about Paper Trail I was pumped up to hear it. The title was inspired by the fact that, for the first time in his career, Clifford wrote his lyrics down on paper, instead of simply memorizing all of his lines. The album was written and recorded while T.I. was on house arrest in his Atlanta home. I bought it the day it came out, and I listened to it so many times that, even to this day, ten of the top twenty-five most listened to songs on my iPod are from Paper Trail. I memorized every single song on this album.
When I moved away from the pop-rap bullshit on the radio, I stopped listening to Paper Trail. So today, I’m going to write a review of the album while listening to it for the first time since I discovered “New York State of Mind” and “Shook Ones Pt. II”, and we’ll see if I still love this album.
Plus, I figured I’d send my review to Max since I thought he would probably never review this album anyway.
1. 56 BARS (INTRO)
Well, yeah, it’s an intro, but at least it isn't a skit: T.I. spits a three-minute verse. I thought I remembered this song, which only consists of cocky bullshit, being really good, but it isn't anything too special. However, I already understand what he's saying more than before: I knew who he was talking about when he compared himself to Andre 3000, Jay-Z, and Lupe Fiasco, but I never knew he compared himself to 2Pac, because he calls him Makaveli. Now that I have 2Pac’s whole discography, I finally understand.
2. I'M ILLY
Seeing as how T.I. was incarcerated when Lil’ Wayne’s “A Milli” came out, he never got to appear on one of the hundreds of remixes that came out. So he made his own version with a beat that was nowhere near as annoying as Lil’ Wayne’s was. This is the most listened to song on my iPod (I’ve listened to it about eighty-five times now). Needless to say, I fucking loved this song since when I first heard it on the radio the day before Paper Trail came out. Upon hearing it again, I found that it was pretty good for T.I., but overall this is just more pop-rap bullshit. T.I. compares himself to 2Pac again, which is a recurring theme throughout the album.
3. READY FOR WHATEVER
This shit is actually pretty good. In reference to his legal troubles, T.I. comes out and says that he knows he was wrong, but at the time, he didn’t think he had a choice. Considering that T.I. normally sticks with songs such as the previous two tracks, this track carries an unexpected emotional weight.
4. ON TOP OF THE WORLD (FEAT LUDACRIS & B.O.B.)
The overall concept was a good one: T.I. and Luda go back and forth between reminiscing about harder times and being two of the biggest rappers in the game. The only problem I had was that there was too much time spent bragging and not enough time reminiscing. But as Paper Trail be about how he’s turning his life around, I guess it still fits the overall theme. B.o.B.’s chorus was nothing special, but wasn’t exactly horrible, either. Overall, T.I. and Luda still have yet to make a track together where they reach their full potential.
5. LIVE YOUR LIFE (FEAT RIHANNA)
It’s extremely radio-friendly, but at least T.I. has a positive message, and he’s pretty solid lyrically. Rihanna’s chorus is fucking awesome, too. That shit pumps me up, as does Just Blaze’s beat. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say this song is actually better than I remembered it to be.
6. WHATEVER YOU LIKE
Technically the second single, but the first one (which happens to be the next track) was released to keep the diehard fans happy. This was the first single released with the intention of trying to sell Paper Trail and, well, it wouldn’t be a T.I. album unless he had at least one song for the ladies. He sings (yes, sings) it with the help of the Auto-Tune. This was never supposed to be a super lyrical song: it’s supposed to get girls to go crazy so that they’ll buy the album, and it’s supposed to get guys to buy the album because if they play this song, girls will go crazy. So with that purpose in mind, T.I. succeeds.
7. NO MATTER WHAT
First of all, I forgot how much I loved Danja’s beat. That shit is fucking crazy, especially during the chorus. Once again, an emotional T.I. song is not something we’re really used to hearing, but I think it suits the beat perfectly. He also takes a few shots at fellow Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo of D4L, for those of you who are interested in that sort of thing.
8. MY LIFE YOUR ENTERTAINMENT (FEAT USHER)
I love Usher’s chorus more than Rihanna’s chorus from “Live Your Life.” In this song he talks about, well, the title really says it all. Basically, he's comparing himself to 2Pac again.
9. PORN STAR
Another track for the ladies. This one is definitely a filler track, though. T.I. convinces a girl that he just met to go home with him, have sex with him, and give him head. For the guys who want to use this song to pick up girls, I would suggest you shut it off after the second verse.
10. SWING YA RAG (FEAT SWIZZ BEATZ)
This song never did much for me, and it still doesn’t.
11. WHAT UP, WHAT'S HAAPNIN'
Another T.I. dis track to Shawty Lo. I know it’s stupid, and a lot of people probably find it annoying, but I always liked the chorus. It reminds me that the best way to get revenge is by living a happy life. That’s kind of what T.I. does in the chorus. Then in the verses he fucking destroys Shawty Lo. T.I. has always said that he wouldn’t say Shawty Lo’s name because that will make him popular, which is why T.I. thinks he started the beef in the first place, so I love it when he says “I ain’t mention yo name / That’s what all this ‘bout?” Lyrically T.I.’s solid, but Drumma Boy’s beat makes this a great song to play in your car, especially when there’s another car nearby that you can taunt.
12. EVERY CHANCE I GET
Seeing as how T.I. doesn’t say anything really worth listening to on this song, I’m going to borrow one of Max’s favorite words to describe it: Meh.
13. SWAGGA LIKE US (T.I. & JAY-Z FEAT KANYE WEST & LIL' WAYNE)
Dammit! I thought I finally emptied my iPod of Lil’ Wayne and his bullshit. He just keeps popping up. This is credited to both T.I. and Jay-Z because, originally, this was also going to appear on The Blueprint 3. I'm sure everyone’s heard this by now, but if you haven’t, it’s all about how these guys are the four biggest rappers in the game, and it samples a line fromM.I.A.'s “Paper Planes” for the title. Anyway, I didn’t care for anyone’s verse but T.I.’s. Overall, though, none of them really talk about anything.
14. SLIDE SHOW (FEAT JOHN LEGEND)
I fucking love this song. This song is what “On Top Of The World” should have been. T.I. reminisces about the past and, at the same time, gives advice to up and coming artists and people in general (specifically, kids with dope boy ambitions) that if you just be patient and don’t always do dumb shit, you can get somewhere in life. John Legend’s chorus is awesome, and the beat by Elvis “Blac Elvis” Williams goes perfectly with the overall feel of the song. The only thing I felt it was missing was a third verse from T.I, but this shit is still pretty good.
15. YOU AIN'T MISSIN' NOTHING
T.I.’s tribute to all his friends in prison. Not the kind of beat you would really expect from Drumma Boy, but I liked it. T.I.’s lyrics are once again solid, and he continues to send positive messages to people, telling everyone who’s locked up to have a plan for how they can turn their life around once released. Then he starts to rhyme about real friends of his who are in prison and the conversations he had with them,and the song ends with shout-outs to, like, forty-five people in prison (I might have exaggerated that number a little bit).
16. DEAD AND GONE (FEAT JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE)
This song got quite a lot of deserved radio play, in my opinion. T.I.’s lyrics on this song are great, and Justin Timberlake comes through with a great chorus. This is like “Slide Show” in that T.I. reminisces about mistakes he’s made. However, T.I. states that T.I.P. (his drug dealing alter-ego; T.I.P. was also his rap name, before he was forced to drop the “P” since that handle was too similar too Q-Tip’s) is officially dead and from this point on, he won’t be doing all the dumb shit he used to do.
The deluxe edition of Paper Trail (available on iTunes) included two bonus tracks.
17. COLLECT CALL
All I can say is that the lyrics on here were solid.
18. I KNOW YOU MISS ME
This one wasn't as good lyrically, as it was more of a radio-friendly song. It doesn't qualify as speed rap, but T.I. does spit faster than he usually does.
FINAL THOUGHTS: T.I.'s Paper Trail was a pretty good album from a guy who is not an amazing lyricist, but a decent rapper who will probably never make anything that can really be considered classic. There are some filler tracks, but if you ignore those, T.I. actually has something to say on the remainder. He’s not a phenomenal lyricist, but he brings his A-game on this album. Although there are a number of tracks on here where T.I. brags his ass off, he has grown as an artist and as a person. In the past, he was called the Jay-Z of the south, and he wore a T-shirt with the album cover for Reasonable Doubt in a music video because he was rapping about selling drugs and the shit he used to do, just like Jay-Z tends to do, but on Paper Trail he keeps comparing himself to 2Pac, and his many emotional tracks do manage to make him come across as more similar to Pac than Hova. Another consistent trait was the fact that when T.I. had an R&B artist sing the chorus, they all did excellent work. Rihanna, Usher, John Legend, and Justin Timberlake all had great hooks on the tracks they appeared on. Now while T.I. could be considered a pop-rap artist, I have always thought of him as the best pop-rap artist. You look at Young Jeezy, Lil’ Wayne, & 50 Cent, and all they rap about is drugs, sex, and money. While T.I. isn’t necessarily a higher caliber of rapper than those three examples, I always saw him as one of the better ones because he can rap about other shit, too.
BUY OR BURN?: I’m going to recommend a buy, but only because of T.I.’s growth as an artist. If you can’t appreciate the fact that he is an alright rapper and this is his best work, than look away now. However, if you can recognize that the guy is working harder than he ever has on these songs and it is paying off in the musical quality, than this might be for you.
BEST TRACKS: “Slide Show”; “Dead And Gone”; “No Matter What”; “Ready For Whatever”; “Live Your Life”
-The Ginger Kid
(Questions? Comments? Concerns? Be sure to leave your comments below. If you have something to say about T.I.'s Paper Trail, now's the time to speak your mind, because who knows when this will pop up again.)
(For today's Reader Review, PeterStarkz, who has contributed reviews in the past and also has his own blog that you can check out, provides a short and sweet critique on Q-Tip's newly Grammy-nominated The Renaissance. You'll probably breeze through this one in about five minutes, so be sure to leave your thoughts below.)
I picked up Q-Tip's debut album, Amplified, back in 2006 (I know that's really late to be listening to that album, but I'm only 17, which means i was only in the first or second grade when that album originally came out, and I didn't even know who the hell Q-Tip was.) After giving that CD away to a friend, I made a promise to myself to only listen to Q-Tip within the context of A Tribe Called Quest, believing that Tip was unable of carrying an entire album by himself. So I was completely uninterested when The Renaissance, his second solo album (his second released solo album, anyway), dropped. But after watching the video for the first single, "Gettin' Up", and being forced to hear this album from a friend, I found myself pleasantly surprised by what I heard, and I picked it up for myself the very next day.
Here are my thoughts on The Renaissance.
1. JOHNNY IS DEAD
No rap album intros to be found here, just Tip rapping about random stuff. The beat isn't as great as those on the rest of the album, but it's decent enough. I liked the hook and the way the instrumental switches up during it, though.
2. WON'T TRADE
Over some decent production, Q-Tip rhymes about not trading in his morals and beliefs in exchange for fame and money. My favorite part is when he says “The physical ability with mental capability / Legitimately faces me outside of your vicinity / And I ain't really seeing me vacating this community”. Love it!
3. GETTIN' UP
The first single, which is waaay better than "Vibrant Thang" ever was. This is easily the best produced song on here. I love this song, and the video was also pretty creative.
4. OFFICIAL
My second favorite song on the album, I like the beat on this one, too.
5. YOU
I love this song, it has a nice vibe to it, and it gives me a peaceful feeling. (Odd, considering it's all about Kamaal breaking up with his girl.) I don't really mind hearing Q-Tip sing in the background, as he can actually hold a melody, unlike some of these other rappers out there (*cough* Lil' Wayne *cough*).
6. WE FIGHT / WE LOVE (FEAT RAPHAEL SAADIQ)
It seems like Q-Tip is really back into the whole love movement that he started back on Tribe's last album, as this is the fourth song in a row about it. Raphael Saadiq's hook is decent enough, I suppose.
7. MANWOMANBOOGIE (FEAT AMANDA DIVA)
Ridiculous title aside, this is actually a nice upbeat song, one which helps the album from becoming a snoozer. I'm indifferent to Amanda Diva's hook, though. (As was I.)
8. MOVE
“Move” was the second single. Its video was kind of low budget, but it's still a good song that would probably sound even better live. It's followed by “Renaissance Rap”, which is a much better track overall.
9. DANCE ON GLASS
Starts off with a brief acapella verse from Q-Tip. The hook is annoying as fuck, but otherwise, this was a decent song.
10. LIFE IS BETTER (FEAT NORAH JONES)
This song has a good vibe, and I feel that, in small doses, Norah Jones is a good singer. Tip takes his sweet ass time to actually rap, as he first appears halfway though the song. But he names all his favorite rappers in a fairly creative verse, though, so I guess that was a good trade-off.
11. BELIEVE (FEAT D'ANGELO)
Everyone's favorite drug addict manages to come up with a good hook. The beat is pretty creative too. However, this track is just Tip waxing philosophically about religion and what it means to actually believe. You have been warned.
12. SHAKA
Easily the most Tribe-like track on the album, and that's why I liked it. Yeah, I'm biased.
FINAL THOUGHTS: The Renaissance is easily the album that all Q-Tip fans have been waiting for. For the most part, the production is top notch, and while it may not be on the same level as any of A Tribe Called Quest's classic records, it's probably the closest we are ever going to get.
BUY OR BURN? Buy this shit!
BEST TRACKS: “Gettin' Up”; “Official”; “Shaka”; “Move/Renaissance Rap”
-PeterStarkz
(Questions? Comments? Concerns? Be sure to leave them below. And when you get a chance, here's a link to my original Gut Reaction post, and another link to my shameless attempt to sell The Renaissance for Q-Tip's marketing team.)
(Today, A.R. Marks returns to bring us another review, this time for N.W.A. affiliate The D.O.C.'s No One Can Do It Better, an album that has been hovering near the top of my stacks for quite some time now, even though I constantly find other things to listen to instead. Well, at least somebody got to it. Enjoy!)
Hearing The D.O.C. rhyme on records made in the mid-to-late 1980's is akin to discovering the missing link connecting all of Dr. Dre's protégés together in one sonic package. Before he severely damaged his vocal chords in a car accident, Texas transplant Tracy Curry. was the legendary producer's go-to guy for edgy, mesmerizing, adrenaline-pumping music. His somewhat obscure status as N.W.A.'s in-house writer-slash-lyrical pinch-hitter only serves to illuminate the shine he did manage to get. Sure, he rarely appeared on the N.W.A. records and was never considered an actual member, but he was as integral as anybody else in the crew, and much more so than the group's DJ, Yella. Together with Ice Cube, he crafted lyrics that made even Eazy-E sound good behind the mic. When Cube left the group, D.O.C. stepped up his game, contributing verses for Eazy and Dre (MC Ren crafted his own rhymes). Even after he lost his ability to truly rap himself, he was instrumental in the founding of Death Row, where he convinced Dre to record The Chronic, and continued to write for Dre while coaching a young Snoop Dogg in lyrical style.
But the most telling thing about his importance to Dre's style of music was that he became the second artist from the camp, right after label head Eazy-E and ahead of even Ice Cube, to get a Dr. Dre-produced solo album. No One Can Do It Better might as well be considered an official N.W.A. spinoff; its experimentation was a key stepping stone in the expansion of Dre's sound between the first and second N.W.A. albums (it actually featured the first leanings by Dre toward his Chronic-style G-Funk) and it was the first album that Dre fully produced alone, without the help of DJ Yella, Scott Storch, Mel-Man or Mark Batson.
1. IT'S FUNKY ENOUGH
The lead single. It's not the greatest song, but it's definitely better than a rap album intro. D.O.C. does a decent job playing around with a strongly-metered flow, but his endless boasts are ultimately a novelty. Certainly not the best track on the album, but it's only upward from here.
2. MIND BLOWIN'
From the second the hard piano hits in the song's intro, you wonder why it wasn't the first one on the album. It quickly evolves into a funky piano backdrop, using the low notes to create a nice hardcore effect while D.O.C. speeds up his flow and twists up his wordplay into something much more effective than the previous track.
3. LEND ME AN EAR
Drumming up a very east coast-ish sample of continuous funk synth whine, backed by subtle but integral samples to drive the beat along, with plentiful switch-ups that color the music nicely. D.O.C.'s highly-impressive flow and delivery continue, while he raps engagingly (and convincingly) about his own prowess on the mic.
4. COMM. BLUES (FEAT MICHEL'LE)
A bluesy interlude that features Dre's then-squeeze Michel'le on vocals, with a drunken homeboys-assisted commentary that would shape many of the skits from Dre's early work. It's not bad, but it doesn't really recall authentic blues, and the drunken guy act wears thin.
5. LET THE BASS GO
Another slow-tempo track, this one is very similar to the sound from Straight Outta Compton, a more hypnotic, continuous groove. D.O.C.'s flow is also more fluid and thus more engaging than on “It's Funky Enough,” creating an infinitely more impressive effect.
6. BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY
D.O.C. prudently crafts his only song concerning ladies on the entire album over a heavy-metal-influenced backdrop that sounds a lot like early Rick Rubin production (Dre was supposedly very impressed with the production on Licensed to Ill, furthering my conviction that Rick Rubin is actually the most influential producer in hip-hop, as well as heavy metal and modern rock, and therefore the most influential producer of our time). Far from a repetitive ripoff, the heavier guitars swipe the classic loop from Funkadelic's “Cosmic Slop,” with higher guitar solos layered over for the bridge, hard-hitting drums that sound perfect, and D.O.C.'s mood-perfect tale of a controlling gold digger.
7. THE D.O.C. & THE DOCTOR
The song that D.O.C. proclaims (on a short skit before the song) to be his favorite on the album (despite Dre's first pick being track 2, apparently). Sonically, this song is proficient, but nothing as enthralling as what we've heard on the record so far; the drums are nice, but there's a complete lack of melody except for a brief guitar sample over the chorus, which seems weak next to the guitar work from the previous track. For his part, D.O.C.'s lyrics are nice, but his flow seems too fast-paced and irregular for such a precise tempo.
8. NO ONE CAN DO IT BETTER
The title track of the album. An early precursor to Dre's “Dre Day”-era G-Funk; it's hard not to see the likeness, but the beat (albeit pleasant, with a nice bassline) is never really built upon, but is instead repeated over and over, with some slightly-ineffective scratching low in the mix. The expert DJ cuts and perfectly-timed samples and switch-ups from the best parts of the first album are largely absent, but D.O.C.'s lyrics are good enough and hype enough to rescue this song from mediocrity and put it back on the side of above-average.
9. WHIRLWIND PYRAMID
One of the album's best tracks and a highly-entertaining song, “Whirlwind Pyramid” is probably D.O.C.'s second-most impressive performance on the album; his speed-flow is perfect, his delivery is confident and clear, and his wordplay is amazing over Dre's high-energy funk.
10. COMM. 2 (FEAT MC REN)
Another commercial skit, which features MC Ren bigging up D.O.C.
11. THE FORMULA (FEAT DR. DRE)
I feel “The Formula” is one of Dre's high-points beatwise, and this is my personal favorite beat on the record. Its slow, “Lil' Ghetto Boy”/“Let Me Ride”-esque groove interprets Marvin Gaye's “Inner City Blues” perfectly, creating one of the smoothest beats Dr. Dre has ever done while D.O.C. tears the hell out of the song.
12. PORTRAIT OF A MASTERPIECE
A sped-up sample (some kind of jazz) creates a bit of an experimental, spaced-out and sped-up track that doesn't quite come off as hardcore as it could—but that's forgivable, because this is without doubt the D.O.C.'s most impressive lyrical performance on the album. His perfect, super-high-speed-but-precisely-timed flow brings you into the quick refrain and spacey jazz samples of the beat, and it becomes clear that this song (with its break, toward the end, for the star rapper to allegedly catch his breath) inspired Ghostface Killah's performance on “Beat the Clock,” from The Pretty Toney Album.
13. THE GRAND FINALÉ (FEAT ICE CUBE, EAZY-E, DR. DRE, & MC REN)
This classic posse cut is the least the members of N.W.A. could do for D.O.C. after writing a good amount of material for their first record without even being christened a full-on member. Unfortunately, unlike their other collaboration, Dre doesn't rhyme on here, instead opting to call in the members one by one for their verses—and, of course, providing a suitably Compton-esque hardcore funk backdrop for them to destroy.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Lyrically, The D.O.C. could be (and has been) considered the west coast Rakim; No One Can Do It Better does a good deal to cement that claim, in a wholly good way. There may be one or two missteps, and the subject matter gets repetitive, but the album almost always impressive and never not entertaining to listen to. All in all, Dre does a fine job at catching up with Eric B. at his own game of genre experimentation, turntablism and fine grooves; while No One Can Do It Better owes much to their work, Dre moves on to create a more cohesive hip-hop atmosphere than Eric could conjure up himself. The D.O.C. runs rampant over the shifting moods and tempos of the music, weaving tales and tongue-twisters in a way that would have given Rakim or Big Daddy Kane a strong run for their money in the day. Listening closely, one can hear elements of Ice Cube's hardcore delivery and confidence, Eminem's edgy rebelliousness, Snoop Dogg's ear for melody and timing, Lady of Rage's emphasis and wordplay, Busta Rhymes' varied but adept flows and over-the-top persona, and even The Game's bravado, all elements that would inform the basics of Dre's ear for lyricists for the rest of the producer's career.
BUY OR BURN: For the love of obscure but underrated, ultimately era-defining hip-hop music, buy this shit!
BEST TRACKS: "Mind Blowin'," "Lend Me an Ear," "Beautiful But Deadly," "Whirlwind Pyramid," "The Formula," "Portrait of a Masterpiece," "The Grand Finale"
-A.R. Marks
(Be sure to leave your comments below. If you feel that HHID is missing a review of your favorite album, or if there is a project you bought that sounds awful and you want to steer people away from it, you can contribute your own Reader Review by e-mailing me at the address posted on the top right of the page.)
(Today's Reader Review is brought to you by Archibald, who, in the past, delivered an opposing opinion on Common's Universal Mind Control and expressed his appreciation for Lil' Wayne's The Carter III, an act which earned him more than a little bit of scorn in the HHID community. Today, he attempts to atone by reviewing Aesop Rock's None Shall Pass, proving that not everyone who listens to mainstream albums is blind to the underground scene. You should also visit his blog, Ruckus Brought, when you get a chance. As always, your comments are appreciated.)
Okay, so I think we got off to a bad start, friends. During one of the earlier rounds of Reader Reviews, I wrote some positive things about Lil Wayne’s The Carter III and said some negative things about the readers who ripped me and/or Lil Wayne a new asshole. So, um, sorry about that. Let’s re-meet each other, ok?
Hi, I’m Archibald (not my real name), and I’m an alcoholic (not true) and one time, I shot 50 Cent nine times (actually true). Now that that’s all out of the way, let’s all talk about our feelings, specifically those feelings with relation to Aesop Rock’s None Shall Pass.
Aesop Rock is a rapper out of the Definitive Jux camp, formerly known as Def Jux before Def Jam Records threatened to sic their legal team on label head El-P’s ass for copyright infringement. Aes, born Ian Bavitz, toiled dutifully away in New York’s underground scene before signing to Def Jux and releasing 2001’s Labor Days, an album ostensibly about how he hated his menial job but also about a lot of other stuff, to (relatively) great fanfare. Produced almost entirely by Blockhead, its greatest achievement is without a doubt “Daylight,” whose couplet, “Life’s not a bitch / life is a beautiful woman” can probably be found in the 'Favorite Quotations' section of the Facebook page of your favorite bro who’s got “like, a conscience and shit, man.”
Anyhoo, Ian parlayed his success into a follow-up album, Bazooka Tooth, this time with production handled primarily by himself. This album was also very good, and included a track called “The Greatest Pac-Man Victory in History” where he raps for a good minute only using words that start with the letters L, S, and D, simply because he can. This album wasn’t as well-received as Labor Days, so Aesop went back to the drawing board, got married, moved to San Francisco, and released an EP and an entry into Nike’s Original Run series (which, for those of you who don’t know, is this thing where Nike gets you to make like forty minutes of continuous music that’s supposed to work as a soundtrack for your exercise session). He then made his triumphant return to the land of full-length album releases with 2007’s None Shall Pass, this time produced by Aes and Blockhead, with assists from fellow Jukies El-P and Rob Sonic.
So, was it any good? Strap on your backpack and let’s find out, kids!
1. KEEP OFF THE LAWN
And we’re off! But, naturally, we couldn't start without a musical intro in which some dude sings and a dog barks. Then the drums kick in ,and Ian raps and displays his basic oeuvre for all to see – dense lines, multi-syllabic rhymes (copious/opiates/phobias/procreate/groceries/grossly, anyone?), and just general out-there-ness.
2. NONE SHALL PASS
Love this song; when Aes tells someone they can “be my little Snake River Canyon today,” it’s far creepier and much more lecherous-sounding than such a line has any right to be. I remember seeing this music video on MTVU when the album came out and being confused as to (1) how Def Jux managed to get one of their rappers on MTVU, and also (2) who came up with the money for the surely expensive-as-fuck animated video. Anyway, this is probably the most accessible song to non-fans of the Def Jux aesthetic that you’re going to find on this album.
3. CATACOMB KIDS
Starts out with half a drum-less verse, then Rock’s instrumental goes into full gear and we get a nice mid-tempo jam. This is something that you could actually bump in your ride, assuming that you’re addicted to prescription medication. The point is, Aesop is three for three right now. Oh yeah, and the hook’s pretty cool, too.
4. BRING BACK PLUTO
Well, they can’t all be fire, or else somebody’s Pro Tools would have started smoldering when the album was being mastered. This instrumental is bluesy and could probably be used as incidental music in some spy movie when the hero is sneaking around a compound. The problem is the lyrical conceit of Pluto no longer being considered a planet, which Aesop runs with and spins into a metaphor for oh, I don’t know...something. Though I love the man’s music, one of the turn-offs to his – and a lot of the rest of the Def Jux roster – catalogue is the fact that it can take several spins for these songs to start making sense.
5. FUMES
God, Blockhead can produce the fucking shit out of some rap music. Where does he get these samples? Are they even samples, or does he have a room somewhere with like a million different exotic instruments that he coaxes this shit from? Oh yeah, Aesop appears on this song, too.
6. GETAWAY CAR (FEAT BREEZE BREWIN AND CAGE)
Actually, scratch what I said about “None Shall Pass” being the most accessible cut on this album, because with the scratched vocals on here, this shit almost sounds like Primo could have produced it if he’d traded in his soul records for music that came from the future. Breeze sounds pretty good, and Cage kicks his patented “Guess what, I used to be in a mental institution” verse (as opposed to his “I was abused as a child” verse or his “vaguely political/emo” verse) and manages to plug his new EP and album, both of which came out this year, but Ian’s verse literally punches everybody else’s shit in the face. In. The. Face.
7. 39 THIEVES
I wonder when “Socialism” is going to pop up as an entry on the website Stuff White People Like, because as a white person, I can safely say that lots of us fucking love socialism even though it doesn’t, like, work. Anyway, since Aes is also a white person, he throws some jabs at capitalism in there (“money is a tool to make the workers feel excluded”), and is lyrically all over the place, and not in a particularly good way. Have you noticed how these Aesop-produced tracks have a lot of guitar on them? That’s because his wife is a professional guitarist. I wonder if she got paid for playing on his album, or if Aes was more like, “Hey honey, I’ll do the dishes tonight if you’ll lay some guitar down on this track.” I hope it was the second one.
8. THE HARBOR IS YOURS
Aesop rights the ship on this one, by rapping, appropriately enough, about pirates. And you know what? That sounds stupid on paper, but Aesop, channeling the first half of his moniker and going it into storyteller mode, manages to sell it, even when he ad-libs “y'arr!”, because he tells his tale as if he’s relating something that he just witnessed ten minutes ago, even though he’s rapping about scurvy and buried treasure and shit.
9. CITRONELLA
This one sometimes manages to lose my attention for whatever reason. It’s not that it’s a particularly bad song (in fact, it's quite good), but at this point you start to get a word overload because Aesop Rock is on that shit where the rapper tries to jam as many words as he possibly can into the song. Anyway, this song contains a Boogie Down Productions vocal sample in the chorus, which probably led to the following exchange between Aesop Rock and El-P:
EL-P: Uh, you just spent like a third of your album budget on a sample of KRS-One saying, “Kill Television.” You’re going to have to produce the rest of these tracks yourself because you’re out of money.
AESOP ROCK: Um, okay. Well, my wife plays guitar?
FIN
10. GUNS FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY (FEAT EL-P)
One of Aesop Rock’s biggest traits is his fascination with weapons; he had an EP entitled Fast Cars, Danger and Knives, and he one time made a song called “Babies with Guns.” However, he's not on the same level as, say, a Curtis Jackson, whose entire schtick is based around the idea that he’ll shoot you just for giggles and then make sweet, passionate love to your special ladyfriend (when he beefed with fellow ass-clown Rick Ross, he made Internet videos where he took Officer Ricky’s ex-girlfriend shopping for coats and then hinted he was going to fuck her off camera; this was followed by another video that saw Curtis donning a wig and threatening to cut a motherfucker up). In other news, El-P’s beat and verse confirm that he’s still on another planet, musically. Take that as you will.
11. FIVE FINGERS
A song about shoplifting, and it’s – surprise! – good. And, again with the guitar, which Aes finagled from his wife through the administration of a foot massage and an agreement to walk the dog later on that day.
12. NO CITY
Is that electric piano tucked into the beat? Then electric violin? Blockhead, you slay me. Ever heard his instrumental album Music by Cavelight? Shit is stellar. Makes me wish I could get my hands on an instrumental version of this album. Not to say that the lyrics aren’t good too, but sometimes lyrics complicate things.
13. DARK HEART NEWS (FEAT ROB SONIC)
I actually saw Aesop Rock live at Bonnaroo (not the world’s most hip hop of festivals, I know) a few years back, and Rob Sonic served as his hype-man and kicked a couple freestyles too. He kind of came off as a junior-varsity version of Aes, and in this back-and-forth with the host, he doesn’t present any evidence to the contrary. Liked Mr. Sonic’s instrumental, though. Speaking of people who go by the name Sonic, did you see that video of Charles Hamilton getting punched in the face? That shit was fucking funny. (Sorry for the dated reference: obviously, I've had my hands on this Reader Review for a while, but I left that in because I, too, thought it was fucking funny.)
14. COFFEE (FEAT JOHN DARNIELLE)
When John Darnielle isn’t singing codas for progressive hip hop albums (wait, he’s got another job?) he’s fronting the indie-rock band The Mountain Goats, who are pretty great if you’re into that sort of thing, which I happen to be. Anyway, this could have turned out as a disaster, because hip hop and indie-rock are generally not meant to go together, but this works out pretty well.
If you stick around for a couple minutes, the unlisted bonus track “Pigs” starts to play.
PIGS
This sounds like it was cut in one take, if the studio chatter is to be believed. I can understand why the powers that be decided to tuck this one in at the end, because it’s (1) actually about pigs (and probably capitalism, depending on whether Aesop Rock read Animal Farm or not), and (2) more or less a country-blues song with a hip-hop stomp and some rapping on it. And there’s resonator guitar providing the melody and a kazoo solo to end this beast. A fucking kazoo! If this song were a girl and we were both in middle school, I’d ask my friend to ask her friend to ask her if she and I could be boyfriend and girlfriend. Which is to say, I like it.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Many of the tracks on None Shall Pass are great, some are just good, and none of them are worse than just okay, although “Bring Back Pluto” is pretty corny in places. What separates Aesop Rock from many of his Def Jux brethren is that beneath his nigh-impenetrable web of words, there lies a soul. Oh yeah, and he sometimes writes songs about pirates.
BUY OR BURN? Like a stockbroker in 1927, I’ll say this: Buy buy buy! You’ve got to realize that pretty much anything out of Def Jux is going to be like the King Crimson of this rap shit, and if you are okay with that, then pick this up. Plus, Def Jux is independently owned and operated, so if you buy this through your local independent record store, you can rest assured that none of your hard-earned cash is going to the demon corporations. Aesop Rock will send you a hand-signed pack of American Spirits as a token of his gratification.
BEST TRACKS: “None Shall Pass”; “Catacomb Kids”; “Getaway Car”; “The Harbor is Yours”; “Five Fingers”; “Coffee”; “Pigs”
-Archibald
(Be sure to leave your questions, comments, and suggestions below. Do you want to see more Reader Reviews exploring indie territory, or would you rather read alternate takes on more mainstream projects? Let me know.)
When Marshall Mathers announced that he was scrapping his original version of Relapse 2 in favor of all new material, I was hopeful, because, as has been documented in the past, I wasn't all that impressed with his Relapse. There were a handful of good songs, but the majority of it sounded more like a regression than an actual relapse, and I still don't like "Beautiful", regardless of how well-written it may actually be.
When Shady/Aftermath/Interscope announced that they would use Eminem's original Relapse 2 tracks on a re-release of the original album entitled Relapse: Refill, due out just in time to annoy your family during the holidays, I wasn't surprised in the least, as record labels tend to do this kind of shit all the time. Then I found out that the re-release features Drake's "Forever", a semi-popular track featuring cameos from Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, and...Eminem. Pretty sure that song wasn't recorded for Relapse 2, folks.
Anyway, when Shady Records forwarded this song to me, I figured I should do it one better, since a lot of the comments on the original post were about how my opinion was way off base and how Relapse is the album of the year. Some of you may have mysteriously located this new project online already, but for those of you who haven't, there will be a gift waiting at the finish line. It's the spirit of Christmas in me.
The single Shady/Aftermath is pushing. "Drop The Bomb On 'Em", is produced by Dr. Dre, whose instrumental sounds at once generic and pulsating: it kind of reminded me of his work on Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair" in its blandness. It will certainly fit in onto radio playlists, if deejays care that much about Marshall now ("Crack A Bottle", "We Made You", and "Beautiful" all failed to win regular rotation on the stations around my way). For his part, Eminem raps circles around the beat, as if Andre told him that he wouldn't provide any more musical backing for him if he continued to throw them in the garbage disposal (*cough* most of Encore *cough*).
While the clearing of Marshall's head has definitely worked wonders for his lyrical skill (he does, admittedly, sound talented again, and can twist words as well as he used to in the early days), a lot of this song rings hollow: "Drop The Bomb On 'Em" is Slim Shady talking random shit with no sense of cohesion or excitement, albeit in a semi-interesting fashion. It wouldn't have fit on the actual album; hell, it isn't clear that it would have fit on any Eminem album. It's obvious that this is a throwaway track for a reason. Oh, and the hook is also pretty terrible.
But that's just what I think. Thanks to the good folks at Shady, here is your opportunity to leave me your opinion on the song itself. If you're an Eminem stan, you're welcome, and if you haven't followed the man's career, I'll post something else in a couple of hours, I promise.
Enjoy!
-Max
DOWNLOAD: Eminem - Drop The Bomb On 'Em (Produced by Dr. Dre) (CDQ/Dirty)
