Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Bet That
I just found out about last night's coin toss and I wanted to check it out on youtube. In less than a day, someone already turned it into a viral video. Even though I can't see the coin itself, I get the point and it's kind of funny. What's funnier, is that I often find myself saying, "it all comes back to Seinfeld" and it's true. Even though it's not my favorite show, it all comes back to Seinfeld. Always.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Still Ain't Changed
Last Monday, we had our year-end CD Mix Club meeting. We hadn't met as a whole in several months so it was great getting everyone together. We dealt with the cramped space and freezing climate in my anteroom, and had a good time catching up, talking about music and exchanging CD's.
Here's the track list and blurbs for my "Best Of 2008" mix. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out even though I made last minute changes. I could have spent more time on the sequencing and specific song selection but it was a tough task narrowing things down in the first place. I'm thinking several exclusions might show up on a "Best Of 2008 Volume II" mix in the near future but for now, one volume will do. Feel free to click on the links. Some of these songs have pretty good videos too.
1. All City - SF Anthem
All City is San Francisco's own San Quinn, Big Rich and Boo Banga. Quinn is my favorite SF rapper and Big Rich is pretty good too. I don't really know anything about Boo Banga but I do know that he holds his own on this song. I also know that Traxamillion sampled Scott McKenzie's hippie anthem and turned it into a great Bay Area rap song. "I rep my city."
2. Lyrics Born - I Like It, I Love It
Even though Everywhere At Once wasn't as solid as his earlier work, LB is always good for at least one really funky, really fun track per album and this one definitely qualifies. "Girl you look so cute, men be gettin' at me just to get at you."
3. Charles Hamilton - Jeezy Hamilton
There's something about Charles Hamilton that keeps me coming back even though he isn't that good at rapping. He's like Lil Wayne in that his voice can go from being his best asset to his worst feature in the matter of a couple of songs. Although is back story is interesting and his moderate fame is somewhat deserved, his cockiness isn't justified. Even though some of his songs/lines/hooks are god-awful garbage, there's something about this Young Jeezy-sampling track that kept me coming back. Maybe it's the beat, maybe it's the Jeezy... "you tryin' to outrun a cheetah in a rat race/but even cheetahs need a CH, this cat's great."
4. Young Jeezy - Put On (feat. Kanye West)
In the year of "featuring Kanye West", this is one of the few "featuring Kanye West" songs that doesn't feel like a Kanye West song. Sure, Kanye provides a nice introspective change of pace but this is definitely Jeezy's track. "me, I'm in my space ship, that's right I work for NASA."
5. Wale - Hey... Mr. Carter
I like that Wale gives props to Jay and Wayne, seeing as he is using the beat from their song to maintain his buzz. Usually, I don't like it when rappers spend the time between verses explaining a so-called clever lyric from the previous verse. In this case, I don't mind a bit because Wale uses "wikipaedia" as a verb to teach fools about obscure ex-NFL players. He just loves rapping about football players... "the game is a store, I'm the male Winona Ryder."
6. T.I. - Like I Do (feat. The Dream)
This is one of the stronger Paper Trail leftover cuts. Sure, it's your typical rap song about the ladies but The Dream's smooth vocals and T.I.'s effortless, um... swagger, make this so much more. It probably wouldn't have fit on Paper Trail, but then again, it's much better than "Porn Star." "Bright lights, rollin' through the city..."
7. The Cool Kids - What Up Man
I still haven't heard a song by The Cool Kids that I didn't like and a lot of that has to do with the beats. This song is all about "talking" the beat. I think you know what I mean. "did you know I made this beat with my mouth and a bell?"
8. Santogold - Lights Out
I wrote about this song earlier. Twice in fact. "I keep just one step ahead/there's no place to run."
9. Annie - I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
Sometimes I wonder if I listen to Annie just because she has some indie/Internet cred but then I realize that she writes catchy songs backed my excellent pop production and she hasn't been force-fed down my throat by the media. She's also super cute (as opposed to trashy, like some other pop stars) but that shouldn't matter... "Who's wearing your trousers now?"
10. Girls Aloud - Miss You Bow Wow
Part two of my Euro-pop portion of the mix is a song by the British version of O-Town or Danity Kane. Aside from the reality show aspects, Girls Aloud fall under the same category as Annie. However, even though they aren't without a little manipulation and doctoring, they have much more impressive vocals than Annie does. "20 hours in the twilight zone, only lovers in the world that night."
11. Kardinal Offishall - Gimme Some (feat. The Dream)
Over past couple months, I've been going through a pretty strong "The Dream" phase and it was all sparked by this song. The deep dancehall-esque rapping of Kardi seem to fit nicely with the synthy beat and calming hook by The Dream. "They said I can't do, that's why I do it to death."
12. KiD CuDi - Embrace The Martian
Not since Nelly was relevant has rap-singing been as good as it has been this year. Kanye, Lil Wayne, T.I., Jay-Z and several other rappers are testing their chops. It's probably too early to tell but if he keeps making music this good, CuDi is destined to be on the same level as those artists. He's off to a good start anyhow. "All I ask of all y'all is to please, embrace the martian."
13. Kanye West - Street Lights
I fall into the group of Kanye fans that think 808s & Heartbreak is a good album. Sure, it's chock full of autotune and "woe is me, even though I'm filthy rich and monumentally famous" lyrics but it's really solid. I don't want to give it credit for being new or different, because it's niether of those things, but I can listen to it and enjoy it just as I could any good record. And by the way, the linked Dallas Penn unofficial video is far better than any official video Kanye has put out for an 808s song. "See I know my destination but I'm just not there."
14. Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
VW was probably my premier "find" as a result of the mix club. Sure, I would've probably stumbled upon them on my own (eventually) but Matthew put "A-Punk" on last year's "Best Of" mix, so kudos to him. I think "Oxford Comma" is better than "A-Punk", but I know it's debatable. "Why would you lie about something dumb like that?"
15. The Hold Steady - One For The Cutters
The Hold Steady have quickly become one of my favorite bands. Everything you hear and read about the superb musicianship and incredible storytelling is true, but it's Craig Finn's voice that often gets overlooked. He really is more narrating than singing but his rugged voice comes off as strained and experienced, which only adds to the overall brilliance of the band. This song is the cautionary tale of a party girl that is made all the more eerie by harpsichord keys that remind me of Dracula for some reason. "When one towny falls in the forest, does anyone notice?"
16. Tilly & The Wall - Alligator Skin
I like indie pop bands with female and male vocals, and Tilly And The Wall fit the profile. In addition, I like indie pop songs that are so catchy that I don't care what the song is actually about and this song is just that. Seriously, what is this song about? "Rubber-necking, oh yeah you know that's how it is."
17. Lykke Li - Let It Fall
Lykke Li is the indie "it" girl of 2008. I'm guessing we're a few months away from her gaining a following among rappers, and the whole wide world, like Feist did last year. Good for her. "Let It Fall" is not only one of my favorite LL songs but it might be my favorite happy-sounding sad song about crying. "So happy, so happy, I won't stop until my tears are all shed."
18. She & Him - Sweet Darlin'
Even though M. Ward is one of my favorite singer-songwriters and I really like Elf and Almost Famous, it took me a while to get around to acquiring She & Him's debut. I finally picked it up a month or so ago and I regretted not getting it sooner. "She" can carry an album surprisingly well and "Him" did a good job revealing influences and spanning genres without spazzing all over the place. It has hints of classic country, 60's rock, folk and as in this track, girl group pop. It's really good. "Now that I know what I want, see, i think it haunts me, I want you too much."
19. Shugo Tokumaru - Button
I don't remember how I got turned on to Shugo but he was one of my great discoveries of 2008. He makes entirely pleasant and enjoyable bits of pop by playing all the instruments and recording the songs in his Tokyo apartment. He even got school children to provide backing vocals. "Button" is one of many standouts off of EXIT. If you have a few minutes to kill, check out his youtube page. All of his videos are as fantastic as the "Button" video. "Sukoshi."
20. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Going Up The Country
Would you ever expect three British teenage siblings to make music that sounded like this? I don't know why they do it, but they do it well. This is the first single from their self-titled album. The rest of their songs sound similarly retro and do a bit of genre-hopping as well. And if you think their music sounds "old", it's because they record on actual 1940's and 1950's equipment without the use of digital format or computers. "I'm going where the water tastes like wine/I'll jump in the water and stay drunk all the time."
21. Calexico - The News About William
It's interesting and great how almost all Calexico songs feel like the desert. With "The News About William", they constructed this grim song with heartbreaking instrumentation and tragic lyrics, and when I hear it, I envision an endless, hopeless desert highway going nowhere. There's just something about it. (Sorry about the live video, but it was all I could find. The sound is actually decent though.) "The music box broken that once was his soul/its sad little song spinning out of control."
22. Mason Jennings - In Your City
I don't know what it is about Mason Jennings but I'm still not sick of his music. I've outgrown or grown tired of several acts similar to him over the past few years but I still think he's one of my favorites. "In Your City" is simply Mason and a piano, a welcome deviation from his usual guitar-based work. I love the parlor piano outro in this track, an effective way to end his album and this mix CD. (This time, sorry about the crappy live video.) "How you gonna say what's never been said? I'll tell you how it's done..."
So there's my mix. It took a while to get this post up so let me know if any links are bunk or if I made any typos, spellings errors or grammar blunders. I'll let you guys know if I get around to Volume II...
Here's the track list and blurbs for my "Best Of 2008" mix. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out even though I made last minute changes. I could have spent more time on the sequencing and specific song selection but it was a tough task narrowing things down in the first place. I'm thinking several exclusions might show up on a "Best Of 2008 Volume II" mix in the near future but for now, one volume will do. Feel free to click on the links. Some of these songs have pretty good videos too.
1. All City - SF Anthem
All City is San Francisco's own San Quinn, Big Rich and Boo Banga. Quinn is my favorite SF rapper and Big Rich is pretty good too. I don't really know anything about Boo Banga but I do know that he holds his own on this song. I also know that Traxamillion sampled Scott McKenzie's hippie anthem and turned it into a great Bay Area rap song. "I rep my city."
2. Lyrics Born - I Like It, I Love It
Even though Everywhere At Once wasn't as solid as his earlier work, LB is always good for at least one really funky, really fun track per album and this one definitely qualifies. "Girl you look so cute, men be gettin' at me just to get at you."
3. Charles Hamilton - Jeezy Hamilton
There's something about Charles Hamilton that keeps me coming back even though he isn't that good at rapping. He's like Lil Wayne in that his voice can go from being his best asset to his worst feature in the matter of a couple of songs. Although is back story is interesting and his moderate fame is somewhat deserved, his cockiness isn't justified. Even though some of his songs/lines/hooks are god-awful garbage, there's something about this Young Jeezy-sampling track that kept me coming back. Maybe it's the beat, maybe it's the Jeezy... "you tryin' to outrun a cheetah in a rat race/but even cheetahs need a CH, this cat's great."
4. Young Jeezy - Put On (feat. Kanye West)
In the year of "featuring Kanye West", this is one of the few "featuring Kanye West" songs that doesn't feel like a Kanye West song. Sure, Kanye provides a nice introspective change of pace but this is definitely Jeezy's track. "me, I'm in my space ship, that's right I work for NASA."
5. Wale - Hey... Mr. Carter
I like that Wale gives props to Jay and Wayne, seeing as he is using the beat from their song to maintain his buzz. Usually, I don't like it when rappers spend the time between verses explaining a so-called clever lyric from the previous verse. In this case, I don't mind a bit because Wale uses "wikipaedia" as a verb to teach fools about obscure ex-NFL players. He just loves rapping about football players... "the game is a store, I'm the male Winona Ryder."
6. T.I. - Like I Do (feat. The Dream)
This is one of the stronger Paper Trail leftover cuts. Sure, it's your typical rap song about the ladies but The Dream's smooth vocals and T.I.'s effortless, um... swagger, make this so much more. It probably wouldn't have fit on Paper Trail, but then again, it's much better than "Porn Star." "Bright lights, rollin' through the city..."
7. The Cool Kids - What Up Man
I still haven't heard a song by The Cool Kids that I didn't like and a lot of that has to do with the beats. This song is all about "talking" the beat. I think you know what I mean. "did you know I made this beat with my mouth and a bell?"
8. Santogold - Lights Out
I wrote about this song earlier. Twice in fact. "I keep just one step ahead/there's no place to run."
9. Annie - I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me
Sometimes I wonder if I listen to Annie just because she has some indie/Internet cred but then I realize that she writes catchy songs backed my excellent pop production and she hasn't been force-fed down my throat by the media. She's also super cute (as opposed to trashy, like some other pop stars) but that shouldn't matter... "Who's wearing your trousers now?"
10. Girls Aloud - Miss You Bow Wow
Part two of my Euro-pop portion of the mix is a song by the British version of O-Town or Danity Kane. Aside from the reality show aspects, Girls Aloud fall under the same category as Annie. However, even though they aren't without a little manipulation and doctoring, they have much more impressive vocals than Annie does. "20 hours in the twilight zone, only lovers in the world that night."
11. Kardinal Offishall - Gimme Some (feat. The Dream)
Over past couple months, I've been going through a pretty strong "The Dream" phase and it was all sparked by this song. The deep dancehall-esque rapping of Kardi seem to fit nicely with the synthy beat and calming hook by The Dream. "They said I can't do, that's why I do it to death."
12. KiD CuDi - Embrace The Martian
Not since Nelly was relevant has rap-singing been as good as it has been this year. Kanye, Lil Wayne, T.I., Jay-Z and several other rappers are testing their chops. It's probably too early to tell but if he keeps making music this good, CuDi is destined to be on the same level as those artists. He's off to a good start anyhow. "All I ask of all y'all is to please, embrace the martian."
13. Kanye West - Street Lights
I fall into the group of Kanye fans that think 808s & Heartbreak is a good album. Sure, it's chock full of autotune and "woe is me, even though I'm filthy rich and monumentally famous" lyrics but it's really solid. I don't want to give it credit for being new or different, because it's niether of those things, but I can listen to it and enjoy it just as I could any good record. And by the way, the linked Dallas Penn unofficial video is far better than any official video Kanye has put out for an 808s song. "See I know my destination but I'm just not there."
14. Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
VW was probably my premier "find" as a result of the mix club. Sure, I would've probably stumbled upon them on my own (eventually) but Matthew put "A-Punk" on last year's "Best Of" mix, so kudos to him. I think "Oxford Comma" is better than "A-Punk", but I know it's debatable. "Why would you lie about something dumb like that?"
15. The Hold Steady - One For The Cutters
The Hold Steady have quickly become one of my favorite bands. Everything you hear and read about the superb musicianship and incredible storytelling is true, but it's Craig Finn's voice that often gets overlooked. He really is more narrating than singing but his rugged voice comes off as strained and experienced, which only adds to the overall brilliance of the band. This song is the cautionary tale of a party girl that is made all the more eerie by harpsichord keys that remind me of Dracula for some reason. "When one towny falls in the forest, does anyone notice?"
16. Tilly & The Wall - Alligator Skin
I like indie pop bands with female and male vocals, and Tilly And The Wall fit the profile. In addition, I like indie pop songs that are so catchy that I don't care what the song is actually about and this song is just that. Seriously, what is this song about? "Rubber-necking, oh yeah you know that's how it is."
17. Lykke Li - Let It Fall
Lykke Li is the indie "it" girl of 2008. I'm guessing we're a few months away from her gaining a following among rappers, and the whole wide world, like Feist did last year. Good for her. "Let It Fall" is not only one of my favorite LL songs but it might be my favorite happy-sounding sad song about crying. "So happy, so happy, I won't stop until my tears are all shed."
18. She & Him - Sweet Darlin'
Even though M. Ward is one of my favorite singer-songwriters and I really like Elf and Almost Famous, it took me a while to get around to acquiring She & Him's debut. I finally picked it up a month or so ago and I regretted not getting it sooner. "She" can carry an album surprisingly well and "Him" did a good job revealing influences and spanning genres without spazzing all over the place. It has hints of classic country, 60's rock, folk and as in this track, girl group pop. It's really good. "Now that I know what I want, see, i think it haunts me, I want you too much."
19. Shugo Tokumaru - Button
I don't remember how I got turned on to Shugo but he was one of my great discoveries of 2008. He makes entirely pleasant and enjoyable bits of pop by playing all the instruments and recording the songs in his Tokyo apartment. He even got school children to provide backing vocals. "Button" is one of many standouts off of EXIT. If you have a few minutes to kill, check out his youtube page. All of his videos are as fantastic as the "Button" video. "Sukoshi."
20. Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Going Up The Country
Would you ever expect three British teenage siblings to make music that sounded like this? I don't know why they do it, but they do it well. This is the first single from their self-titled album. The rest of their songs sound similarly retro and do a bit of genre-hopping as well. And if you think their music sounds "old", it's because they record on actual 1940's and 1950's equipment without the use of digital format or computers. "I'm going where the water tastes like wine/I'll jump in the water and stay drunk all the time."
21. Calexico - The News About William
It's interesting and great how almost all Calexico songs feel like the desert. With "The News About William", they constructed this grim song with heartbreaking instrumentation and tragic lyrics, and when I hear it, I envision an endless, hopeless desert highway going nowhere. There's just something about it. (Sorry about the live video, but it was all I could find. The sound is actually decent though.) "The music box broken that once was his soul/its sad little song spinning out of control."
22. Mason Jennings - In Your City
I don't know what it is about Mason Jennings but I'm still not sick of his music. I've outgrown or grown tired of several acts similar to him over the past few years but I still think he's one of my favorites. "In Your City" is simply Mason and a piano, a welcome deviation from his usual guitar-based work. I love the parlor piano outro in this track, an effective way to end his album and this mix CD. (This time, sorry about the crappy live video.) "How you gonna say what's never been said? I'll tell you how it's done..."
So there's my mix. It took a while to get this post up so let me know if any links are bunk or if I made any typos, spellings errors or grammar blunders. I'll let you guys know if I get around to Volume II...
Thursday, December 18, 2008
This Is It
I was catching up on Kanye's blog this morning and I noticed this really cool video. Apparently, it was made for the 25th anniversary of 4th Estate but I don't know if it's supposed to advertise or honor or just entertain the company. It's really pretty awesome though.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Slash Ya
This morning I got a random email from some studio or something that said the trailer for the Wolverine movie got released online, so here it is. I think it looks decent but it could very well suck. I guess it could just as easily end up being great; it's hard to tell from the trailer. Either way, this trailer release is awesome for two reasons. First off, just this weekend I was asking a friend about the movie because I recently finished Origin, so the timing was perfect. Secondly, after finishing the book I re-watched the first X-Men movie. That reminded me of how I wanted the writers to introduce Gambit into the X-Men series and it looks like they did. Cool.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Next Year
With 2008 winding down, the usual things have been going down. On the music front, "best of" lists are starting to trickle in and I've been using those to check back on releases I missed out on the first time around. I won't link them all but Pitchfork, Paste, Popmatters, Stereogum and amazon have all started rolling in their end-of-the-year content. It's always great seeing the similarities and differences between the editor and customer lists at amazon.com but I really enjoy seeing where my favorites fall on those lists.
Some of wrapping up the year in music relates to the mix club. I'm struggling through completing my own 2008 mix cd (like I did last year) and a lot of that has to do with differentiating between songs that are consider my favorites and songs that might make for a better, more wide-ranging cd. Basically, how do I play to my tastes while keeping things interesting? And I won't lie, it's always nice dropping something somewhat obscure in there to turn people on to new things. Right now, I've got about 70 tracks I need to whittle down to around 18 or 19, and that could be a long road...
But this has temporarily gotten my mind off of 2008 and caused me to get really excited about 2009:
News of this album have been popping up here and there but I never took much notice until I heard about a track with Kanye, Santogold and Lykke Li. Nahright just posted it, which reminded me to do some N.A.S.A. research. The acronym stands for North America/South America, as the project sees primarily US rappers/singers/musicians do their thing over Brazilian-based beats. Basically, it's like DJ Zegon and Squeak E. Clean got together and made an album specifically for me, on paper anyway. As you can see in the video, somehow they managed to gather a who's who of some of my favorite rappers and indie singers and the beats they threw down sound really fresh. Now, compilation albums and DJ/producer albums aren't usually that great but I have high hopes for this one based on the talent and scope of the project.
Check out an old poston Ricky Kim's Evil Monito for more info, including a tracklist. N.A.S.A. has a myspace page too, but I haven't actually looked at it yet.
Some of wrapping up the year in music relates to the mix club. I'm struggling through completing my own 2008 mix cd (like I did last year) and a lot of that has to do with differentiating between songs that are consider my favorites and songs that might make for a better, more wide-ranging cd. Basically, how do I play to my tastes while keeping things interesting? And I won't lie, it's always nice dropping something somewhat obscure in there to turn people on to new things. Right now, I've got about 70 tracks I need to whittle down to around 18 or 19, and that could be a long road...
But this has temporarily gotten my mind off of 2008 and caused me to get really excited about 2009:
News of this album have been popping up here and there but I never took much notice until I heard about a track with Kanye, Santogold and Lykke Li. Nahright just posted it, which reminded me to do some N.A.S.A. research. The acronym stands for North America/South America, as the project sees primarily US rappers/singers/musicians do their thing over Brazilian-based beats. Basically, it's like DJ Zegon and Squeak E. Clean got together and made an album specifically for me, on paper anyway. As you can see in the video, somehow they managed to gather a who's who of some of my favorite rappers and indie singers and the beats they threw down sound really fresh. Now, compilation albums and DJ/producer albums aren't usually that great but I have high hopes for this one based on the talent and scope of the project.
Check out an old poston Ricky Kim's Evil Monito for more info, including a tracklist. N.A.S.A. has a myspace page too, but I haven't actually looked at it yet.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Put Me On Blast
Like a lot of folks, sometimes I think Jordan could be more philanthropic. Well, part of me anyway. I mean, he can do whatever he wants with his time and money. Who am I to judge? On the other hand, he does have a lot of money... And influence... Anyway,I won't get into now because I'm too lazy to put any thoughts together. Just watch the video. Jordan looks uncomfortable after Sir Charles "puts him on blast", as the kids say.
By the way, Barkley is awesome. (MJ is too but Charles is in another league.) In addition to countless hilarious and insightful quotes, this excerpt from his book, which I haven't read in its entirety, stood out and proved Barkley is more than just a guy who runs his mouth:
"... I'm not overly concerned about people disagreeing with me. I'm concerned with the response in that I want to get people talking, get the discussion started. I'm going to say what's on my mind. Dan Patrick of ESPN, who I like very much, introduced me once as 'Charles Barkley, who makes you think, makes you mad, but sometimes doesn't think before he talks.' And I said, 'Hey, wait a minute. I know exactly what I'm saying. I may say something some people consider controversial or outrageous, but I've thought about it before I said it.' I always know what I'm saying, and I'm always prepared for the reaction."
You may not agree with everything he says but you have to respect someone who makes controversial (and sometimes ridiculous) statements and is willing to stand behind them.
Surely Finish Last
Against CuDi's wishes I'm posting the video for the Crookers remix of "Day 'n' Night". I have to say that the video is kind of cool but I much prefer the original version of the song over this clubby, techno-y track. The slow rolling beat and laid back delivery are what makes the song great and the electro synths of the remix don't seem to match quite right.
Click the link to see CuDi rant about the video. While I understand his frustration, two things stick out. One, it's like he's doing his best Kanye impression by airing out issues he has with the industry, temper tantrum-style on a blog. I suppose that makes sense, seeing as Kanye is his boss and he collaborated on 808's but people compare the two artists enough as it is. And two, CuDi it's unfortunate that chooses to emulate Kanye blog commenters with his writing style. All those "dat's" and "cuz's" are somewhat forgivable but ALL CAPS? No.
Don't get me wrong though. CuDi was one of my favorite discoveries this year and I do feel mildly bad about posting the video. Not that I have many readers but I just think the more exposure for him, the better.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
I Don't Believe That Anybody Feels The Way I Do
I guess it all starts now, the week after Thanksgiving. End of the year lists. Yes! Pitchfork posted up their music videos list. As usual, I liked a lot of the videos they chose (Feist, Santogold, The Mountain Goats, VW and of course my favorite of this year, The BPA) and I noticed a few omissions (My Morning Jacket, Common, The Cool Kids. And I would have chosen different Kanye and Gnarls videos). Also, it would have been cool to have a small blurb accompanying each selection, like this:
Jay-Z: "Wonderwall" (live at Glastonbury)
Who could have predicted that it would take the best rapper alive to remind us that "Wonderwall" is a great song? Here Hova sings incredibly off-key (and pretends to play the guitar) but the crowd keeps the energy going by doing most of the singing for him. This might be the best worst-sung "eff you, hate on me now" cover performed by a rapper at Glastonbury in the history of the universe. Take that Noel Gallagher!
Jay-Z: "Wonderwall" (live at Glastonbury)
Who could have predicted that it would take the best rapper alive to remind us that "Wonderwall" is a great song? Here Hova sings incredibly off-key (and pretends to play the guitar) but the crowd keeps the energy going by doing most of the singing for him. This might be the best worst-sung "eff you, hate on me now" cover performed by a rapper at Glastonbury in the history of the universe. Take that Noel Gallagher!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Homeboy
Videogum loves Damon Weaver and I'm starting to see why. I thought his interview with Biden was good and his non-interview with McCain was kind of awesome (staged maybe?) but this one takes the cake.
Well, maybe the first two videos were better but this one was good too. Not only did Mr. Weaver prove he's more articulate than his reading teacher, he held his own with Dwyane Wade and reduced Shawn Marion to an "um uh..." guy. Can this kid make it beyond Internet stardom?
Well, maybe the first two videos were better but this one was good too. Not only did Mr. Weaver prove he's more articulate than his reading teacher, he held his own with Dwyane Wade and reduced Shawn Marion to an "um uh..." guy. Can this kid make it beyond Internet stardom?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
I Made It Happen
I'm late on this because I'm late on blogs, late on websites, late on email, late on the things I do on the computer. Wale was late too, seeing as "Nike Boots" came out like a year ago. Anyway, it's a dope video for a dope song, and I think "flyer than the rest of 'em" is one of my top ten "I'm cooler than you are lines."
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sell Out With Me
I know several of my friends, and others, will scream "sell out!" but I disagree. I still don't think selling out actually exists and besides, this video is kind of funny in its own ridiculous way. Wayne Coyne (and his heroic guitar) is in on the absurdity and he thinks it's ridiculous too.
While you're here, check out what I found on Nahright. It could be that Santogold and M.I.A. wanted to make the most hip hop sample-friendly music ever but I think it's more that after dropping S.L.U., Kanye and Jay don't want the comparisons between Santogold and M.I.A. to ever stop. Ever.
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