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[ 12 Comments ]Posted on September 2, 2010 by admin in Music
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010Snoop Dogg’s campizzle with Norton Antivizzle is entertaining but probably won’t sell much software.
 You’d have a knowing smirk too, if all you had to do for this kind of exposure was give away two concert tickets. |
Whoever wins the new Norton Antivirus/Snoop Dogg anti-cybercrime rap contest over at HackIsWack.com is destined to be at least as famous as M. E. Hart. Oh. Sorry. You probably didn’t know he was the “rapper” in the 1994 Don’t Copy That Floppy campaign (video below). You know, the one you don’t remember. This marketing campaign by Norton is so full of fail in so many ways that I don’t know where to start. First, I’ll acknowledge that yes, I’m talking about Norton Antivirus, which is part of their goal. In fact, here. Go buy some
Understanding Rap Music
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on August 22, 2010 by admin in Music
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010You can learn about a lot of things by researching them on the web. Rap music isn’t one of them. But GoogleRaps is here to help.
 Google Rap Maps. Is there anything Google can’t do? |
When someone asks me, “do you like rap music?”, I’m never quite sure what to say. Do I try to clarify their question by saying “You mean those audio recordings of rhyming rhythmic monologues about killing, misogyny, drug deals, narcissism, sexual organs, racism, and egoistic persecution complexes?” To which the answer would be “Um…no.” Unfortunately, that’s what a lot of people think of when they think of rap, so if you say “Sure, I like rap” then you risk being pigeonholed as someone who hates women and thinks shooting people is a noble way to resolve a dispute. And if you’re white, you’ll be subject to the additional assumption that not only do you approve of these behaviors, but you do so by co-opting the values of an oppressed subculture. My actual answer to the original question is probably something like “Yeah, I like rap music. GOOD rap music”, going on to explain what a useless term “rap” is. Using information from the internet does nothing to clarify the issues at hand. Wikipedia has a dry description of rapping that suggests that “rap” may be etymologically derived from “repartee” and then goes on to talk about things like the early influence of The Memphis Jug Band, but the term “rap” redirects to “hip hop”. Which in my opinion muddles the definition beyond belief, since the page itself defines rap as being merely one of the four “key stylistic elements” of hip hop. Yeah. Whatever. There are also a lot of sites that attempt (and mostly fail) at meta-ironic humor based on “whitefying” the meaning of rap lyrics, like SnacksAndShit.com or Underground Hip Hop For Dummies . One example: Lyrics from Krizz Kaliko’s Get Cha Life Right - ” I ain’t trying to be Bill Gates, I’m trying to be the nigga Bill Gates hates.” Translation - “Here’s one goal which is impossible and another goal which is not that hard and wildly unambitious”. There’s a much more elaborate form of this in a special Intellectualize Rap forum on SomethingAwful.com, but the problem here is that if you had a deep enough knowledge of the songs being referenced, you probably wouldn’t find any of the Demotivator-style images funny. For the best laugh, you could try linkbait-tripe-posing-as-actual-content like EzineArticles.com’s Understanding Rap Music, which informs you straightaway - in self-unaware deadpan hilarity - that “Many rap songs are fast-paced. It can be tough to tell exactly what is being said“. Thank you, underpaid content-farm hack Val McQueen, for the insight. And then there’s the “Yahoo Answers” of rap lyrics, UnderstandRap.com, which takes easily-decipherable lyric snippets and deciphers them for you. Probably the only resource we found that was both informative and funny was Rapgenius’ ne feature The Rap Map, which offers extensively annotated Google Maps of rap. With a little tongue in cheek. Know of any good resources for useful or amusing rap facts? Read the rest of this entry »
Best Coast’s Crazy For You & Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on August 13, 2010 by admin in Music
Friday, August 13th, 2010Help us out with a late summer playlist. So far all we’ve got is some Best Coast and some Surfer Blood.
You know how hearing a simple pop song can instantly transport you to another time and place, and evoke all the feelings associated with it? Today I was sitting at an outdoor cafe in the sweltering humid 90 degree weather where I live, and was suddenly teleported to the crisp and tragically moody monochromatic autumn reality that hearing California Dreamin’ inflicts upon me. Which reminded me that probably the only thing I like about living in a part of the US that has seasons (dear God please help me get out of here before winter!) is the brief periods of moodiness that are inevitable first when you realize summer is ending, then later when everything starts literally dying, and then not too long after that when the deadly cold and passionless midwestern dread sets in. And to be clear, these “brief periods” I’m referring to last about three days, and then I otherwise really should be on medication. So I decided I need a late summer playlist to help ease the pain of the impending gloom. One of the first picks was easy. Best Coast’s Crazy for You from last month is a perfect beach pop backdrop for August with its mix of upbeat pop and moody, sixties-tinged, reverb-drenched teen ennui. It for some reason made me think of relistening to Surfer Blood’s Astro Coast, which made no sonic sense to me back in January when I first heard it, but suddenly does on a sweltering summer day. With all the guitars, reverb, and harmonies, both bands have a weird sort of Strokes meets Animal Collective meets Beach House kind of thing going on. Clips below. Any suggestions to keep a playlist going? Read the rest of this entry »
Lady Sovereign May Be Short, But Not On Sass & Raw Talent
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on August 2, 2010 by admin in Featured, Music
Monday, August 2nd, 2010Never mind all the “British teenage lesbian rapper picked up by Def Jam” spin, and ignore her non-existent PR skills. Just have some fun with her tightly-produced Garage Grime.
Even though she’s been releasing material since 2004, you may have overlooked UK MC Lady Sovereign. That would be easy, she’s only 5′1″, a fact that she apparently has no discomfort with; her label is an EMI subsidiary called Midget Records. And while we’re at it, let’s get all the white British teenage lesbian rapper crap out of the way first thing. And don’t worry about her opinions on life either. Lady Sov probably needs a publicist or should let herself remain mysterious. She doesn’t work so well in an interview setting, so do yourself a favor and don’t bother watching or reading any interviews. Just listen to the music. She sort of proved her chops in 2005 anyway, when Jay-Z asked her for one on-the-spot freestyle before offering her a contract with Def Jam. Her 2006 release Public Warning was mostly synth and Eminem-style speed rap driven, but was punctuated with the occasional treated guitar or MIA-like whoops. 2009’s Jigsaw showed some maturing in her presentation; she almost kind of sings here and there, and comes across a little less like some punk out to prove herself. There’s still plenty of naivete, but that’s part of what makes it work. Lady Sovereign fills in a strange space between Die Antwoord, Robyn, MIA, Lily Allen, and Eminem, and if she manages to keep it together - she’s apparently a bit of a party monster - could turn out to be someone to keep an eye on. Vids below. Read the rest of this entry »
The 80’s You Remember Never Existed
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on July 27, 2010 by admin in Featured, Music
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010When you think “80’s Music” you probably think of bands like Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, New Order, or the Pixies. Think again.
 Luckily, your selective memory has protected you from things like this |
In a vintage fern bar somewhere in some small Florida beach town, there’s a forty-something couple in matching white polyester pants and Hawaiian shirts, bombed on Slippery Nipples and dancing to Olivia Newton John’s “Let’s Get Physical”. These two people are probably the only people alive who remember and enjoy the “real” music of the 80’s. I love it when people start reminiscing about all the great music of that decade, and proceed to name bands like Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, New Order, the Pet Shop Boys, or the Pixies. Because that simply was not, in reality, the music of the 80’s. Although it may have been in some people’s reality, particularly those people whose reality was shaped by dark dance floors and copious quantities of alcohol and other drugs. But in the real reality, things were much different. A fact that is overlooked even in the erudite commentary of a piece like Justin Erik Halldór Smith’s Against Eighties Music, which features a picture of The Cure’s Robert Smith and references Stereo MCs