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Archive for July 2009
The Dead Weather is the new new band from critically acclaimed and loved songwriter Jack White. But don’t get confused when you hear it, because this music is by far the most experimental thing anyone has ever heard from him. The band is made up of Jack, Alison Mosshart of The Kills, Jean Lawrence of The Raconteurs, and Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age. When you first heard the single, “Hang You From The Heavens,” you were familiarized with it because it sounded like a very rough, dirty version of The White Stripes. That particular song isn’t very commercial, and certainly not a hit, but that is the closest thing this band has to a radio-friendly tune. The whole album is very odd. And by that, I mean that I love it. If Jack White was not in this band, no one would care or ever really hear of it. It’s as if Jack White wanted to prove his fame by putting out a band he was pretty sure no one would understand or even like, but knew it would get big simply because his name was attached.
The sound is dark and heavy, but very spaced out. Nothing gets cluttered as each song sound more eclectic and off-putting than the next. I may be going a bit overboard with this, but I’m pretty sure I’m giving this album a 5 out of 5, simply because of the punch to the face Jack gave all his commercial-friendly fans. Not to mention, the video they put out for “Treat Me Like Your Mother” is one of the most badass videos I have ever seen. Please, go check out this album, whether you like Jack White or hate him, I think you’d at least appreciate it. 5 out of 5. This is amazing. Watch the video for “Treat Me Like Your Mother” below.
Fresh off the fist of Chris Brown comes Rihanna with a new song with Jay-Z and Kanye. Ok, I know that was a very late joke, and a lot of you may be a little offended, but if that was written like three months ago, that shit would be funny. Anyway, a new song hit the inter-webs today and it’s off Jay-Z’s upcoming album. The song is pretty sweet, too. I’ve never been huge into Jay-Z, mostly because I feel he freestyle’s too much on record rather than actually writing lyrics that tell a story or have a deep meaning. But that is pretty much what he literally does. When in a studio, he never writes anything down, he listens to the beat, thinks up lyrics, and spits. That both helps prove my theory as well as signifying his talent. For example, remember the song “Diamonds” from Kanye West that had Jay-Z on it? Kanye raps the whole time about the diamond trade in Africa and how children in Africa die so rappers can have bling. Then Jay-Z comes on and talks about how cool he is. It can be really stressful sometimes. He’s one of the most legendary rappers in existence, but that doesn’t mean he can do no wrong.
This song is catchy, has a decent hook, and three of the biggest names in the hip-hop/R&B genre. Rihanna comes on with the hook, Jay-Z follows with two verses of how his bank account has millions and how he runs circles around people, and Kanye comes on with the third verse and saves the whole song. He starts off complaining once again about paparazzi and how hard it is being a celebrity (no surprise there), but how he saves the song is through his rhyme scheme and his lyrics. It proves once again how Kanye has surpassed everyone in the game as possibly the best rapper of his generation.
Overall, the song doesn’t really have a purpose to it, or even a solid meaning. It’s funny how a song like this can be strangely good with such few reasons. I’d personally give the song a 4 out of 5, but listen for yourself or download below to form your own opinion:
The Beastie Boys are probably my all-time favorite hip hop act. They are absolutely phenomenal and without them, we wouldn’t have people like Kanye or Common or nearly anyone big out there now. With their new track they paired up with Nas, one of the most respected rappers in the past two decades. Personally, I’ve never really been much into Nas, but I am well aware of his talent. The song is amazing, with a drum beat you’d expect from The Beastie Boys (which means its awesome). There isn’t much tone, there is a faint guitar in the background giving a little bit of a melody, but the entire song is primarily vocals and drums. Check it out below. I love it and so should you:
I literally don’t know a single person that uses P2P programs like Kazaa anymore. That shit was SO 2003. But supposedly people still use it because they like downloading viruses on their computers. They’re probably the same people that have sex in club bathrooms with people they don’t know without using condoms because they say that STD’s are “just a rumor” and refuse to believe that the things on their genitalia are just skin tags. Anyway, Kazaa is tired of being sued all the time so they are going the same route as Napster and Rhapsody. This is where people have a monthly fee and they are free to download as much music as they like. They seemed to have worked out a deal with all the major labels, but honestly, if I was a label, I’d tell them to fuck off. There’s already enough digital music outlets that Kazaa is entirely unnecessary. Nearly everyone who downloads from a digital music source uses iTunes anyway. I don’t think I know of anyone that uses Amazon or Rhapsody or Napster. It’s pretty pointless. Also, for Kazaa to call itself the “future of digital music” is just frustrating. If this was 1998, then yes, they would be the “future.” But this is 2009, and they are about a decade late. I honestly hope they fail miserably.