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Kanye West's Most Embarrassing Moments

2009-09-14T23:47:29Z

Google the phrase "Kanye West is an *sshole" and you get over 81,000 returns. Compare that with, say, “Hitler is an *sshole" (about 58K) or “Kanye is a genius” (around 25K), and you should get a fairly accurate -- if not exactly scientific -- picture of how the public at large now feels about Mr. West. But, you know, this is as much our fault as his. After Katrina devastated Louisiana in 2005, we all applauded West’s “courage” and “honesty” when he publicly decried the government's handling of the crisis. But his outrage has devolved from criticizing a derelict President to going after noticeably softer targets, and though the entertainer claims to always be speaking from his heart, some wonder if the impulses don’t originate somewhere inside his massively bloated, Henny-soaked head. His “performance” at the 2009 VMAs, where he bum-rushed the stage and managed to steal the glory from both Beyonce and Taylor Swift, was just the latest in a long line of outbursts, tantrums and bizarre behavior. Here we present you with Kanye West’s most embarrassing moments. ]]>
His Award Show Complex
What is it about Kanye West and awards shows? Is it a sign of some insurmountable insecurity that he can’t let one go by without some kind of drama? Quickly, a run-down: in 2004, he walked out of the American Music Awards after he lost the Best New Artist category to Gretchen Wilson; in 2005, a week before that year’s Grammy nominations were even announced, Kanye used a charity show at Santa Monica High School in California as a platform to launch an attack on the Grammy selection committee, summing it up with, "If I don't win Album of the Year, I'm gonna really have a problem with that”; in 2006, at the MTV Euro Music Awards, Kanye bumrushed the stage when he lost Video of the Year to Justice, defending his “Touch the Sky” video by saying, “It cost a million dollars and Pamela Anderson was in it"; in 2007, a video leaked of West declaring that he would never return to MTV after they relegated his performance to a side stage. And, of course, all that was overshadowed this year when he stole the spotlight away from America’s sweetheart, Taylor Swift.
Further Listening:
Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak
Justice, A Cross the Universe

The Grammy Wardrobe (2006 Edition)
With every illness, there are early warning signs that, at the time, are dismissed as aberrations or eccentricities. But in retrospect, we should’ve seen West’s outfit at the 2006 Grammys as an early sign that he was quickly tunneling very far up his own a-hole.
Further Listening:
Kanye West's 50 Greatest Guest Verses

The OJ Incident
Hip-hop artists have a long history of championing worthy social causes, from the Sean Bell atrocity to the free Mumia campaigns to Katrina relief work. But during a taping of VH1's Storytellers concert series in early 2009, West championed Chris Brown and OJ Simpson. The remarks came after a long tirade against Radiohead (who, it turns out, had refused to kiss West’s ring while backstage at the Grammys) and found West asking, “Can't we give Chris a break?” He went on to comment, “O.J. Simpson, amazing. Is he not? What he did, when he did, what he did. Was he not amazing though?”
Further Listening:
Chris Brown, Exclusive

The Thing He Said About Hip-Hop
Remember back in the early half of this decade -- after Jay-Z’s The Blueprint came out in 2001 and effectively introduced West to the world, up through the 2004 release of West’s debut, College Dropout -- when all us hip-hop purists thought West was sent from the boom-bap gods to save mainstream rap? Well, it’s been a few years, and we’ve changed, and he’s changed, but we’re still listening to hip-hop, whereas in a 2008 interview with DJ Semtex, West said that he doesn’t listen to rap in his apartment because his place is too nice for that kind of music. SMH.
Further Listening:
Kanye West, College Dropout
Jay-Z, The 50 Greatest Songs by Jay-Z

The Apologies
One thing that we’ve learned about being a jerk is that you have to own it. Any trepidation or retraction tips the hat and ruins the cover. If you’re going off that cliff, press the pedal to the medal and don’t look back. Lenny Bruce knew it, and so did Hunter S. Thompson. Hell, even Biggie knew it. You never caught BK’s finest sputtering out apologies in ALL CAPS on the Internet. Sadly, maybe the worst thing about West’s tantrums is that they’re generally followed by these pathetic pleas for forgiveness. He apologized to Entertainment Weekly and the American Music Awards. He apologized to all the smelly hippies at Bonnaroo for going on too late (we didn’t know hippies had curfews), and he apologized to the city of Sacramento for identifying it as “Seattle” while he was on tour. And, perhaps most egregiously, he apologized to Jared Leto (whom he referred to as “Jaret Leto”) for fronting on him and his music. C’mon, Kanye, we all front on Jaret.
Further Listening:
30 Seconds to Mars, A Beautiful Life

The Blueprint for Jay-Z

2009-09-01T07:42:47Z

Jay-Z is a Goliath. Since the '90s, he has ruled hip-hop with a succession of hot singles, classic albums and sizzling guest appearances. The Blueprint 3 is the latest chapter and is available for streaming only on Rhapsody. But we're about more than just great exclusives from your favorite artists. Below, you'll find exclusive Jay-Z material as well as customized Jay-Z radio stations, professionally built playlists in high-def audio, and views, news and more tunes than you could play in a lifetime. Enjoy this on us, and be sure to sign up for the ultimate music experience on the web.

	Watch an exclusive video of Jay-Z discussing his admiration of Michael Jackson		PLAY: 50 Greatest Jay-Z tracks and more playlists
	Review: Our critics discuss whether The Blueprint III meets the Jay-Z standard		Radio: Listen to our wide range of Jay-Z Radio Stations
	DISCOVER: Go deep with Jay-Z's 10 Greatest Verses		LISTEN: The Blueprint 3 exclusively on Rhapsody

Jay-Z Radio

2009-09-01T07:42:00Z

One thing that we pride ourselves on at Rhapsody is the variety of radio channels we have. We have professionally programmed radio stations for nearly every genre and micro-genre you can imagine. They're constantly updated, and we're always adding more. We also have artist stations for everyone in the system. And we have custom radio stations that you build yourself based on your favorite artists. All these stations offer nonstop music, making them a perfect fit for throwing on while chilling at your crib, toiling away at the office or working out at the gym. Sign up for your trial Rhapsody account today (you know it's free, right?) to access the artist and custom radio stations. Meanwhile, here are some of the radio stations that we're offering for a free sampling. ]]> Hip-Hop Hits -- Listen to all of today's top hip-hop artists -- from Jay-Z and Kanye to Lil' Wayne and T.I.

In Da Club -- Love music with a little bounce? Check out this station.

Classic N.Y.C. Rap -- This station captures N.Y.C. in all of its mid- to late '90s gritty glory. In addition to classic, old-school Jay (think Reasonable Doubt time), we have Wu Tang, Mobb Deep, Nas and Big L, among many others.

Rhapsody Reviews: Jay-Z, The Blueprint 3

2009-09-01T07:26:05Z

At this point in his career, Jay-Z has zero problems. His president is black, his wife is Beyonce, and his bank account is bulging. He pals around with Natalie Portman and Chris Martin. He’s a philanthropist and former CEO. When he rapped in 2006 that he wasn’t “a businessman, I’m a business, man,” it was a viewed as a clever piece of braggadocio. Now, it seems a rather mundane detail -- a depressing fact of life about one of hip-hop’s most legendary lyricists. Like that of 2006’s comeback album, Kingdom Come, the theme of The Blueprint 3 seems to be, “I’m doing just fine, thank you.”]]> D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune),” was a bit of a red herring. The remainder of the album finds Jay trying to make peace with his surroundings and his peers. “A Star Is Born” is an entertaining overview of the past 20 years in hip-hop, but Jay-Z is taking great pains not to offend anyone. The author of "Takeover" suddenly has nothing but nice things to say about everyone, and, ultimately, the track is reminiscent of Nas’ “Last Real N**** Alive,” except without the insight or the tension.

“Empire State of Mind” doesn’t so much channel Nas’ “N.Y. State of Mind” as it does Sinatra’s “New York, New York.” It doesn’t revel in the city’s grime, trying to find the roses in the concrete, but instead reveals what it’s like to be rich and middle-aged in the richest city in the world. It’s as if the New York Tourist Bureau commissioned Jiggaman. He goes to the Yankees game, drinks mai tais courtside at a basketball game and fantasizes about tripping the referee. It isn’t a horrible song, per se -- the production is catchy in a generic sense, and Jay-Z retains his killer flow and his keen eye for detail -- but, as with a handful of tracks on the album (see also “Young Forever”), it sounds like it was written in collusion with Oprah Winfrey. And when Jay does attempt to channel the hustler persona, it largely backfires (see "Venus vs. Mars," where Jay-Z adopts the "shawty" slang to embarrassing effect, or "Real As It Gets," where Hov is outshone by Young Jeezy).

And while thematically Jay-Z is stuck in a very comfortable rut, he’s rarely been as stylistically restless. This is probably the biggest sonic departure since the large gap between the grimy N.Y.C. boom-bap of Reasonable Doubt and the mid-'90s flash rap of Vol. 1. This time, Jay-Z adopts a more rock-centric sound, think clanking guitars and washed out synths.

Like a fine wine, Jay-Z has mellowed as he has matured. And if you’re a connoisseur of fine wine, you might imagine that The Blueprint 3 is a great hip-hop album. But if you gravitate toward Patron and pints, I suggest you check out his catalog material.

Jay-Z Twitter Contest

2009-09-01T07:07:11Z

H. Armstrong Roberts

We try to keep up with the times here at ye olde Rhapsody, so during our 10 day premiere of Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 (which you can also download exclusively at Rhapsody beginning Sept. 9), we will be having a "Twitter contest." The rules for entry are simple -- let us show you how:

Listen to a Jay-Z song on Rhapsody.com.

Use our new “tweet” feature and tweet the song you’re listening to with a short review of the song.

You MUST use the hashtag #RhapWin in your tweet and there must be a URL linking back to Rhapsody.com or your entry will not count. Ex: “I love 'Big Pimpin' because it describes my everyday life growing up in Beavercreek, OH. #RhapWin http://bit.lyRhap32.”

Enter as often as you like. We’ll also be having random pop quizzes throughout the promotion giving away special Jay-Z prizes.

During our 3 day exclusive retail promotion we will be giving away free albums to random lucky winners.

By entering this contest you agree that you are over 18 years old and live in the United States.

Jay-Z's 10 Greatest Verses

2009-09-01T07:00:25Z

It goes without saying that Jay-Z is one of the most accomplished rappers in the history of hip-hop. Whether he's the greatest rapper alive remains a topic of debate, but few rappers have been able to marry voice, lyrics and rhythm as adeptly as Brooklyn's finest. His career spans multiple eras and styles: from early '90s fast rap to mid-'90s N.Y.C. ghetto noir to late '90s party rap to the more confessional, grown-man raps of this decade. And, of course, we have it all, in high-quality audio, on Rhapsody, where you can listen to any song, anytime with no restrictions (click here for your free trial membership).

We decided to compile a list of his most memorable verses. Check out our picks, peep the playlist at the bottom and be sure to check out The Blueprint 3.

]]> 10. "Interlude," second verse (The Black Album)
This is Jay in full introspective mode, with him declaring, "I'm like Che Guevara with bling on, I'm complex" before confessing "I never claimed to have wings on." Throughout this verse, Jay-Z seems almost repentant as he raps, "I ain't invent the game/ I just rolled the dice, trying to get some change." But, this being Jay-Z, self-examination inevitably results in self-affirmation and a refutation of Rakim's maxim that "it's not where you're from, it's where you're at": "Check out my swag' yo, I walk like a ballplayer/ No matter where you go, you are what you are player/ And you can try to change but that's just the top layer/ Man, you was who you was 'fore you got here/ Only God can judge me, so I'm gone/ Either love me, or leave me alone."

9. "Dead Presidents II," first verse (Reasonable Doubt)
Jay-Z has always had a preternatural grasp of vocal rhythm and wordplay, but on this key track from his eponymous debut, Jay is able to marry metaphor, wordplay and flow. He not only borrowed Nas' lyrics from "One Love" for the hook, but he also took Nas' casual flow and knack for off-rhymes, pairing "leathers" with "et ceteras" and "ambiance" (pronounced om-bi-ance) with "confidants." He also manages to thread in a fairly compelling micro-narrative about sitting with a dying street soldier in the hospital: "I saw his life slippin ... still in all we livin', just dream about the get back/ That made him smile though his eyes said, 'Pray for me.'" He ends the verse with the classic boast, "I'm still spendin' money from eighty-eight."

8. "There's Been a Murder," third verse (Vol. 3 ... Life and Times of S. Carter)
Vol. 3 contained some of Jay-Z's strongest productions, from the mind-blowing space funk of "Snoopy Track" to Premier's thumping street anthem "So Ghetto." Unfortunately, "There's Been a Murder" isn't one of these bangers. The production is tepid, the hook easily forgettable. But this isn't a "best productions" list, and, lyrically, "Been a Murder" is on point. Jay-Z develops a character (Shawn Carter) and builds a fairly compelling narrative that spans the track's three verses. Jay has always been great at alternately portraying himself as a bad-ass and as emotionally vulnerable (it's the old adage: only I can defeat me), and when he raps, "Lord help me, all I ever wanted to be was wealthy or/ Somebody to tell me that they felt me," it's one of those small, revealing moments that make Jay-Z's lyrics so great.

7. "Flip Flop Rock" (Speakerboxxx)
After Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z really changed as an emcee. He became less of a lyricist and more of a rapper. That's not to say that there weren't some amazing flows on R.D., or that there weren't incredible lyrics. But Jay-Z had evolved from street-corner hustler to international rap sensation, and he became thematically more accessible and stylistically focused on paring back syllables per line and having the most pliable delivery possible. It enabled him to change the game with his collaborations with Timbaland, broadening the type of beat an emcee could rap over. "Flip Flop Rock" is lyrically slight, but it really shows off just how flexible Jigga's flow is, and for that, it deserves a mention.

6. "Takeover," third verse (The Blueprint)
It’s the eternal question for hip-hop fans: who won, Nas or Jay-Z? It’s been argued and analyzed on message boards and street corners, in dormitories and penthouses. If people spent as much time on their personal hygiene, my morning subway commute wouldn't be so painful. But, still, there's a reason why people fixate on it so much: it was, bar none, the best hip-hop beef in history, and this is either the best or second-best dis song ever recorded.

5. "Renegade," first verse (The Blueprint)
This is what every hip-hop fan dreams of: two legendary emcees at the top of their game, going back and forth, verse for verse. The beat is muted, minor-chord goth and is unobtrusive but not spectacular -- the lyrical firepower on here is spectacular. Though this is on Jay-Z's album, thematically both Jay-Z and Em's verses adhere closer to the latter's focus. Jay examines his role in pop culture, declaring that "I penetrate pop culture, bring 'em a lot closer to the block where they pop toasters." He takes on his biological father for the first time, declaring him a clown. And after spending years cultivating the image of hip-hop's preeminent baller, Jay-Z chides his fans and critics in the first line for thinking that "I only talk about jewels (bling bling)," asking, "Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?"

4."This Can't Be Life," first verse (The Dynasty)
Jay-Z has always been a cipher for his influences and inspirations: it's why there's so many of Big's rhymes sprinkled in his own raps, and, according to him, why he retired following the Black Album (there just wasn't enough good rap out there for him to channel). So when you throw Hova on a track with heavyweights such as Beanie Sigel and Scarface, you know magic is going to happen. Over a weepy beat, Jay-Z confides that he was "born in sewage" and offers that, at any given time, "Shawn could lose it." And the bleakness continues, with crying mothers, stillborn babies and crooked cops. At one point, Jay-Z scratches his head and wonders if "Imma be a failure."

3. "'95 Freestyle," fourth verse (Harlem's Greatest)
Yeah, it's not an obvious pick. In fact, other than die-hard Jay-Z and Big L fans, few people have ever heard the track, but this is a classic. This is pre-Reasonable Doubt time, when Jay was still on the come-up and still hungry. Back then, Jay-Z was known as a freestyle emcee, and this battle track really shows off his chops. Pitted against Big L, one of finest to ever rock the mic, Jay holds his own. Though Big L's verses are wittier and his flow feels a little more compact, Jay (arguably) wins because though L is essentially rearranging pre-written rhymes on the spot (itself a difficult enough task), Jay's verses are completely improvised. Check the last verse, when words begin to fail Jay and he trails off, and he begins scat singing. It provides a link between hip-hop and jazz, and also informs Jay-Z's strategy throughout his career of never writing down his rhymes before entering the booth.

2. "22 Two's," first verse (Reasonable Doubt)
For this list, it's tempting to pick the top 10 tracks from Reasonable Doubt and call it a day, but that would be kind of boring. "22 Two's" serves little purpose other than displaying what a bad-ass Jay-Z is on the mic, and for most hip-hop fans, that is more than enough. The concept here is that in one verse Jay-Z uses 22 words that contain "two" (to, two, too and, in a twist, to-gether). This was a holdover from a time in Jay-Z's carer when meaning was secondary to sound, but the various boasts ("rock too many rhymes, cocked too many nines") point to subsequent styles when Jay-Z would refine the art of braggadocio.

1. "Can I Live" (Reasonable Doubt)
Really, there are about a half-dozen songs on this list that could've easily occupied the top spot (and it's all subjective, of course), but "Can I Live" is an incredible, artist-defining song. Its opening line is classic ("I'm watchin' every n*gga watchin' me closely") and foretells the track's themes of paranoia and surveillance. Jay-Z also does a great trick with his flow, where he has the rhyme in the middle of the line, then pauses, and provides what amounts to an addendum: "My pain wish it was quick to see, from sellin' 'caine/ 'Til brains was fried to a fricassee, can't lie/ At the time it never bothered me, at the bar/ Gettin’ my thug on properly, my squad and me." It's a beautiful and incredibly evocative song, and it set the tone for not only Reasonable Doubt, but really the rest of Jay's career.

Dancing Like It's 1999

2009-08-23T21:20:41Z

Ah, 1999, we hardly knew ye: we were so caught up in preparing for the looming millennial ball drop that we dropped the ball on savoring the waning days of a thousand-year stretch that began with the founding of Norway and ended, as usual, with Dick Clark holding court in Times Square, as I'm pretty sure he'd done every year since around the time of the Norman Conquest. (The big difference at 1999's New Year's Eve parties was that people seemed to be listening to a lot more Prince, for whatever reason.)

Blame the Y2K bug for our inattention. But at least we danced. Oh, how we danced. Basement Jaxx, Underworld, the Chemical Brothers, Moby and other relics of the rave era were enjoying proper pop credibility. Dr. Dre was "Still D.R.E.," while Britney was, well, still Britney, but without the "b*tch." Le Tigre proved that riot grrrls were down with the disco. And the underground was teeming with activity, from U.K. garage to minimal techno. Relive it all with our five-hour playlist of the best dance tracks that 1999 had to offer. Don't you deserve a break from the "oughts"? Thought so. Check a sampling below, and get the whole thing here at Playlist Central.

Q&A: 3OH!3

2009-07-31T06:33:39Z

From left: Nathaniel Motte, Sean Foreman

Colorado krunk superstars 3OH!3 have been on a collision course for success since an unforgettable performance on the Denver stop of 2007’s Vans Warped Tour inked them a spot playing every date of the tour in 2008. The same year, they signed to Photo Finish Records and released their debut album, Want. In the past two months, they’ve headlined the entire Warped Tour, and most recently, their debut single, "Don’t Trust Me," has gone platinum, becoming the No. 1 single in the U.S. Behind the aggression of heavy bass drops and Lil’ John-influenced beats, 3OH!3 bring humor to the rap game with line after line of infectious, tongue-in-cheek rhymes that have people hooked from coast to coast. The band took a break from the chaos that is Warped Tour and sat down with Rhapsody to discuss rumors about touring with Barack Obama and what it is like to have a No. 1 single. ]]> So Warped Tour has been going on for about a month. How has it been going so far?
Nathaniel Motte: It’s been great. Big crowds, main stage, fun time. The shows get bigger and bigger, and there’s so many kids. It's great. Warped Tour is a very communal, fun tour to be on.

How many times have you guys been on Warped?
Sean Foreman: This is our second full summer on it. We did one date on the 2007 one.

I feel like Warped Tour is the sort of tour that bands love to play, but at the same time hate so much because of the sweltering heat, lack of shade and no air conditioning. How do you guys feel about it?
Foreman: It is a brutal tour in the sense that the weather is so hot and you never know what time you are going to play, so you always have to leave early. And if you are a smaller band, you have to do it in a van, which I can’t even imagine how hard that is. Other than that, the perks of it are definitely unlike any other tour, too. The camaraderie you build with the other bands -- it’s such a summer vibe. It's like a summer camp for bands.
Motte: It's such a springboard for bands, too. So many bands have come up through the Warped Tour. For us it was everything. It was our first tour last year; it really helped us out and it still is obviously helping us out.

I think you are one of the first acts to bring the genre you’ve created to the punk scene. Can you comment on how you’ve sort of rebranded a niche for yourselves, where people come to Warped to see hip-hop- and pop-influenced bands like yourselves instead of punk bands like NOFX and Bad Religion?
Motte: It's crazy. I don't know how conscious it is. I think we just try to make music that sounds cool to us and definitely do what's comfortable and do what sounds good and feels good and is fun -- but seriously, it’s crazy to think that. It's very flattering.

Was it ever a thought to start a band with instruments and a drummer and stuff, or have you always been into making beats and doing hop-hop songs?
Motte: We both play instruments, and we actually just recently recorded a live session for iTunes.
Foreman: Our show here has a band, so we play with live music and stuff.
Motte: We're trying to meld the organic and the computerized.

So did you guys get started by doing remixes and mashups, or did you jump right into writing originals?
Motte: We jumped right into doing our own stuff. We didn't really start as DJs, so it was just kind of getting together and making fun music.

So the past few months have been pretty good to you. You guys exploded onto the scene and now have the No. 1 single in the country.
Motte: It's pretty crazy, especially since that song has been out for more than a year. It’s been a long, pretty cool climb.

Do you remember where you were when you heard you had the No. 1 single in the U.S.? Foreman: We were just starting this tour.
Motte: It was right at the beginning. I remember we were in L.A. doing a radio thing. It was edging up and up and up. So it was pretty amazing.

Since it happened, have you been getting a lot more publicity from people like me trying to get interviews?
Motte: Tons of chicks man. When you’re No. 2, there’s no chicks. But when you're No. 1, you're swimming in chicks.
Foreman: My parents have been calling me a lot.
Motte: I think our friends and family share very closely in what we are experiencing, so it's cool, too, but honestly, not that much changes. We keep playing shows and keep trying to slam out as much as we can and keep trying to make our shows as fun as we can.

You guys wrote an anthem for the Colorado Rockies. What is that about?
Foreman: Fox Sports Net approached us asking if we would do kind of an anthem thing. We grew up fans of Colorado sports like the Rockies, even though they sucked forever. We would go to games and it was always fun, so we just made a small little anthem for it that was kind of in the vein of what we do.
Motte: Yeah, it's like stadium techno.

Where can we hear it?
Sean: Online, maybe? I don't know if you can even find it online. We just got a copy of the video.
Motte: I know they air it on Fox Sports Net when the Rockies play, but I don’t know where else it's out. So you have to be a Rockies fan to hear it.

I heard you guys toured with Barack Obama during his campaign.
Motte: Yeah. We were his backing band.
Foreman: Haha. The only thing I can think of that would make that true is that we did this "trick or vote" thing at a show during Halloween, where anyone who went and canvassed to get people to register to vote would get into the concert for free. Oh yeah, and we played for Barack Obama. He rapped over one of our songs. He remixed it.

Does Barack bring the freshest rhymes?
Motte: He brings only the hardest raps ever. Haha. No, but seriously, I think we were both pretty vocal in trying to motivate as much as we could and support his campaign as much as we could, but we never actually toured with him. We did write some political stuff for some magazines and stuff, but that’s it. It would be sweet to do that, though.

You guys should call Kal Penn from Harold & Kumar; he works in the Obama Administration.
Motte: Really?

Yeah. Really.
Foreman: Wow.

So Want has been out for a year and recently has been really successful. Have you considered writing a new record, or are you going to put out more singles from this one?
Motte: I think the prolonged, crazy life of our first single extends our record cycle. We've been writing songs and are working on stuff, but we are honestly lining up a couple more singles off our first record. We remixed "Starstrukk" with Katy Perry recently and kind of made it a funner, better, bigger song. That will be our follow-up single as far as radio and T.V. and stuff is concerned. That should come out in a few weeks or so. I think we'll keep working on stuff, but I think it probably won't be until next year that we see anything new, though.

Have you ever considered doing remixes of your songs with artists like Lil Wayne and Kanye?
Motte: We were actually just in the studio a couple of weeks ago with Lil’ John, which was rad. We got hooked up through a producer friend of ours. It's amazing for me because he is kind of a musical idol for me and made me want to make beats in the first place. We got in the studio with him and worked on a track for his new record, and it was awesome. He was actually on the Warped Tour in New York and came out and sang "Chokechain" with us. It was awesome. Foreman: We did a remix of "Don't Trust Me" with KiD Cudi. He rapped on it.

You recently gave Ryan Seacrest a call.
Motte: I called him and left him a message.

Are you guys friends with Ryan?
Foreman: Uhhh ... yes.
Motte: Well, he was on the Barack Obama tour with us.
Foreman: Yeah. He played bass.

His birthday is coming up. You should play his birthday party.
Motte: Where is it?

Probably in New York or L.A. or something.
Motte: I’ll call up my man Barack and he’ll hook me up.

Greatest Hip-Hop/R&B Duets

2009-07-28T04:15:41Z

Over the past decade, hip-hop and R&B have become the musical equivalent of peanut butter and jelly. When R&B was looking for direction in the '90s, it turned to hip-hop's thundering bombast, and when hip-hop began falling from grace this decade, it adopted R&B’s sexy swoon. And though genre purists from both sides have cried foul, this cross-pollination has resulted in some great music. In honor of this week’s release of the T.I./Mary J. Blige single "Remember Me," Rhapsody has picked the 10 greatest R&B/hip-hop duets of the past decade. ]]> 10. T.I. featuring Jamie Foxx, "Live in the Sky"
Though this wasn’t T.I.’s most popular duet (that honor would have to go either to his collaboration with J.T., “Dead and Gone,” or his turn with Rihanna, “Live Your Life”), but this is the most endearing. T.I. delivers one of his most mournful, heartfelt lyrics to date, exhibiting a wrenching vulnerability as he recounts his friends and family members who passed too early. The backing piano line adds a gospel tinge, and Jamie Foxx delivers a raspy, soulful vocal turn.

9. Mariah Carey featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard, “Fantasy (Remix)"
The Tom Tom Club sample that anchors the production is a perfect sonic foil, providing a bubblegum veneer. And you also have these two superstars in prime form. Mariah’s voice never sounded better, and you also have a great verse from O.D.B. The chemistry between the two is great, with O.D.B. declaring, “Me and Mariah go back like baby and pacifiers.” Mariah, for her part, teasingly asks, “Whatcha gonna do when you get out of jail?” When O.D.B. finally did get out of prison, where he was serving time for various drug offenses, Mariah was present at the press conference.

8. Young Jeezy featuring Akon, "Soul Survivor"
The R&B/hip-hop duet is a little more difficult to pull off when both performers are male. You can't create any sexual tension, that’s for sure, and usually the stars opt for party jams (see T-Pain) or more soulful tracks (see the aforementioned T.I./Jamie Foxx track). But Young Jeezy more or less has one setting -- menace -- so this 2005 collaboration with Akon is probably the most sinister entry here (it's certainly the only one where the singer talks about having his gun cocked).

7. T-Pain featuring Mike Jones, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)"
Not too many R&B songs manage to sound both sleazy and wistful, but the very unordinary T-Pain pulls it off on “I’m N Luv.” Traditional logic (or at least traditional feminist logic) says that stripping is degrading and creates a warped power dynamic between the male and female, but on T-Pain's 2005 smash hit, he seems genuinely vulnerable to the stripper's charms. The verse sung by Mike Jones (who?) is kind of an afterthought, but it certainly doesn’t take anything away from the song.

6. 2pac featuring K-Ci & Jo-Jo, “How Do U Want It”
It’s a testament either to 2pac’s failure to stay on concept, or his depth as an artist, that the song begins as a pretty straightforward player anthem (first verse: "Approachin' hoochies with a passion/ Been a long day, but I've been driven by attraction”) before veering into more political territory (second verse: "Mr. Bob Dole/ You too old to understand the way the game is told") before finally settling into 11th-hour paranoia (third verse: “My only hope to survive if I wish to stay alive/ Gettin' high, see the demons in my eyes”). K-Ci & Jo-Jo’s contribution is swirling gospel harmonies, and it reminds us why they were one of the hottest R&B duos in the '90s.

5. [tie] Ghostface Killah featuring Mary J. Blige, "All I That I Got Is You"/Method Man featuring Mary J. Blige, "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By"
It’s funny. Back in the ‘90s, Wu-Tang Clan used to always complain about commercial rap acts that would soften their approach by adding an R&B chick on the hook, but the Clan would occasionally do this with remarkable results. Both of these songs are among the most memorable in the Wu’s catalogs. "You’re All I Need" is a more traditional love song, with the occasional 5 Percenter doctrine thrown in for good measure, while few songs are as beautifully bittersweet as Ghostface’s five-minute 1996 memoir of growing up poor in a single-family home. There are roaches in the cereal, four to a bed and a friend laughing as a young Ghost goes to “Tex’s house with a note/ Stating, ‘Gloria, can I borrow some food I'm dead broke.’” Throughout the "snotty-nosed" winters, Ghost’s mother blunts a childhood "sharper than cleats" as she "wipes the cold out my eye." As Mary J. coos the coda, try to not tear up. Even though Wu Tang had a guest vocalist, they still maintained their gritty Shaolin sound.

3. Beyonce featuring Jay-Z, “Crazy In Love"
Jay-Z has a lot of songs that could make this list, many of which include Beyonce (“Bonnie and Clyde”) and some of which don’t ("Umbrella," featuring Rihanna, and "Can't Knock the Hustle,” featuring Mary J.). In many ways, Jay-Z is Mary J.'s hip-hop counterpart, the go-to talent for this sort of thing, so it’s difficult to narrow it down to just one song, but "Crazy In Love" is among the most euphoric, lovestruck songs of the decade. Rich Harrison’s gogo-infused production sounds like a thousand engines firing simultaneously, while Beyonce rises to the occasion with a yelping, barely hinged vocal performance. Jigga has probably had better punchlines (the "star like Ringo" line in particular is corny), but he’s wise not to draw thunder away from the production and Beyonce's performance.

2. The Roots featuring Erykah Badu, "You Got Me"
Originally, the vocals were supposed to be provided by Jill Scott, but, as legend has it, the label interceded and foisted Badu upon the Roots. No disrespect to the extremely talented Scott, but Badu is perfect here. Her vocal performance is disciplined and restrained, yet still carries that sexy Erykah slur. The Roots, meanwhile, rarely made such concise pop music. The song earned them and Badu a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 2000. It was produced by Scott Storch, who, at the time, was the keyboardist for the Roots.

1. Nas featuring Lauryn Hill, "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)"
Conscious rap never sounded as good as when Nas teamed up with Fugees vocalist Lauryn Hill. On this 1995 hit, Nas plays king and imagines the world under his rule. His fantasy involves "smoking weed in the street without cops harassing" as well as setting free all black prisoners and sending them back to Africa. And while Nas' lyrics are on point, it's Hill’s vocals that steal the show. Arguably, almost every hip-hop song that she contributed vocals to could be on this list (especially "Killing Me Softly"), but this wins out because it effectively introduced her to the world.

Q&A: Sa-Ra Creative Partners

2009-07-24T06:27:17Z

The sound of L.A. group Sa-Ra Creative Partners is hard to pin down. Their brand of psych urban music straddles the line between funk, soul and hip-hop. It references Funkadelic, Prince, Sly & the Family Stone and J Dilla, but ultimately the music manages to sound like nothing you've ever heard. It's jerky electro, ethereal hip-hop and secular gospel. It's beautiful music that is, at times, difficult to listen to. Consisting of (from left, in photo at left) Om'Mas Keith, Taz Arnold, and Shafiq Husayn, the group became darlings of the underground in 2005 with a series of 12-inches and remixes. They released their debut album, The Hollywood Recordings, in 2007, and followed up this year with Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love. In that time, an entire echo-system of psychedelic soul acts sprang up, but Sa-Ra remain at the forefront. Even if you haven't heard of the group, it's likely that your favorite artist has. The trio has worked with Erykah Badu, Kanye West, Dr. Dre and John Legend, among many others. In fact, Keith is currently serving as Diddy's musical director.

We recently caught up with Om'Mas Keith. By chance, we spoke with him on the afternoon of June 25, just when the news of Michael Jackson's death was reported. We discussed Jackson's influence on the group, as well as a wide range of subjects including Thelonious Monk's funeral, Keith's father, the group's future, and the influence of Sly and the Family Stone. ]]> Keith: Michael Jackson dead at 50, breaking news. It's officially 3:24 Pacific Standard Time. Wow. I just don't even understand -- I just left a meeting with a power player over at Paradigm Agency in Beverly Hills, and was just informed that Michael Jackson is looking for tracks. I'm looking at a piece of paper written by a f*cking mega agent at an agency right now. Two days ago she wrote Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson is looking for music, and the go-to is Peter Lopez. It's like … wow!

Rhapsody: I don't think anybody saw this coming. Maybe his family did or something, but I don't think anyone in the music industry saw this coming.
Well, we all know what cardiac arrest means for people in their 50s. It means an unhealthy lifestyle -- or whatever it means, there was something going on that Michael wasn't telling nobody about. Whatever; we're gonna find out. But all I know is that his work with Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton changed the entire world.

Yeah, yeah it did.
Three of my heroes. Three of the Sa-Ra's heroes: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton. Three people that are all visionary. Those are the people we follow. We follow in the line of our ancestors who know about process, procedure, strategy, politics, manipulation, war, pact.

As far as process, as far as actually building music, what can you say about what you took from the people you mentioned?
What you learn from the masters is that there is really no way to go about making music other than the path of least resistance. So what that typically has meant for people who are really successful is they just do it without anyone bothering them or without anyone getting in the way -- unresisted creative flow. For some people, that may mean not allowing people into your cipher when you create, so that you can work as efficiently as you may need to. For other people, that may require allowing many, many people around you, so that you may work as efficiently as you may need to. And then of course you have everything in between, which also includes having no one around and then having someone around within the same day. Knowing when to pull the trigger, knowing when you need to be alone, and knowing when you gotta call m*th*r f*ck*rs in to get the sh*t done. That's what Quincy knew. Quincy knew how to sit there, at his piano with a cigarette, maybe a shot of Jack Daniels, and score the damn film. And then take a break, and make the phone call and call in Hubert Laws and call in Ron Carter and call in Eddie Van Halen and cut the record, and get it popping. It's stages, so that's process, procedure. You have to know the task at hand. Ok, we're gonna make a record, what do we have to do? Whatever we have to do we know in the end we have to have vocals, we have to have instruments, we have to have songs, chords and ideas.

You come from a musical pedigree; your parents are jazz musicians, right?
Yeah, absolutely -- not only my parents, but my grandparents. My great-grandfather was f*ckin' George Gershwin's copyist.

Were you introduced to jazz when you were a kid? Was that always the atmosphere?
Oh yeah; well, my parents were traditional jazz musicians in every sense of the word. In the womb … Thelonious was playing in the womb. I was at Thelonious' funeral. I was there with my father. I was in Straight, No Chaser. I was born in 1976. Thelonious died in the '80s. I have a very fond memory -- I have a very unusual memory, a kind of macabre. That was my first experience of death! It was seeing Thelonious lying in St. Peter's church in Manhattan.

How old were you? Did you appreciate what you were seeing?
I was probably five. All I know is that I was a drummer, and Max Roach was in the house band at the funeral. So I remember specifically Max being my hero at that very young age; because I was a drummer by the time I was three, I remember Max Roach! Sitting in the pews, man. I was very conscious. I remember I was a little weirded out, even now I'm recalling the feeling -- it was weird. Because my dad was so a part of the New York jazz scne. My dad was one of Miles [Davis'] great friends, my dad was one of Thelonious Jr.'s greatest friends. My dad knew f*ckin' John Coltrane. My father made his career as an avant-gardist. Playing with cats like Lester Bowie and Sun Ra. My father was in Sun Ra's band.

Who was your father?
His name was Michael Keith. You can do some research. You know he was just one of those cats that was on the scene. He was savvy. Truth be told my dad was a dope dealer, too; don't get it twisted. That was the order of the day.

Yeah, avant-garde jazz musicians probably don't make that much money.
I mean come on, man. Especially avant-garde ones who are playing f*cking sh*t that no one gets anyway, in that era. So my parents were hippies, man. They got it. They knew it was about peace, love and having fun.

Do you carry over those sensibilities into your life and music?
Hell yeah. All of us do. As the Sa-Ra we are channelers of truth and channelers of the majesty of our ancestors. We channel the majesty of our ancestors. That's one of our main goals of life is to do that.

You can hear that. You can hear so many different threads of modern music within your music.
It's part of the repertoire; I was just talking about that today. Listen, people don't even use the word anymore, because they're so far detached from what that encompasses. For us, it's a nonstop quest to upload information.

I love that you guys did that "Just Like A Baby" on the new album.
Oh!

It was funny -- when I got this promo and put it in I didn't really look at the track listing, and I was kinda listening through it and I was like, I can hear some Sly & the Family Stone here, definitely.
And there it was, right there. That's so funny that you mention that because Questlove hit me and he was like, "Man, I know y'all got the original masters to do that." And it was like, "Nah. We just went in and did that." See, "Just Like a Baby" was a science experiment. "Just Like a Baby" could be parallel to a college-level master project, so to speak. We said we are going to go here and use what we know, to have then the technology embodied on the original recording, and go ahead here and do a cover of it. Do a rendition. But in our rendition we're going to try and go verbatim, sonically. And I think we achieved that because our approach was probably just like Sly, and because our equipment was probably just what he had.

But were y'all driving around L.A. in an ice cream truck with a bunch of cocaine? Isn't that how Sly recorded "There's a Riot Goin' On"?
He had the truck outside. He would often just have the truck parked outside the mansion and would rather be in the truck recording than be up in the house. Yes. We wasn't in an ice cream truck, but we're students of music, man. We speak to people, we know cats that were around, we saw the pictures. We know, "Oh, he's using this? Oh this was the mike placement? Oh you mean to tell me it was an Omni microphone, there was only one overhead? Oh!" I mean you know what I mean? All that type of sh*t. "You mean they didn't use 16 microphones on the f*cking drums like they do now? And make that sh*t sound so crisp that you can't even take it?" No, it's just one. Get back to basics. Don't make it so hard on yourself.

You guys working on any new music?
We're making new music every day. I'm working on a solo record. I have a joint-venture deal with a company called Plug Research. Shafiq has a joint-venture deal with a company called Plug Research. Taz is currently working on his solo album, and we're finishing his solo album up. So before the end of the year, you will see the release of yet another Sa-Ra record and three individual and unique solo records for the members of the group. So five releases in one year, if we can even pull out four -- but I'm gonna make sure that we deliver five releases by the end of the year.

What label are they all gonna be on?
Well right now this one's on Babygrande, both mine and Shafiq's are gonna be on Plug Research, Taz is closing his deal so we can't speak on that right now, that's private information. And the Black Fuzz album, which is probably what we're going to release at the end of the year, is in negotiation right now with all the major labels in the game. So right now we're in a position where all the four majors are bidding on us, and it's gonna be funny because the very same label that we severed our ties with is in fact indirectly the same label that may in fact put this album back out again -- after they paid for it and let it go, they 'bout to pay for it again! Ain't that a b*tch?

Are you guys working on the new Erykah Badu album?
Yeah. In fact I just received my first bit of paperwork from the label today; that's funny you mentioned that, because right before I got on the phone with you I got on the phone with my lawyer confirming the producer declarations and all the agreements coming in for the work on the new record.

Yeah, I know your work on that album blew a lot of people's minds. Is your work on the new one going to be a continuation of that?
I would like to hope so. For anyone who doesn't know, the Associated Press listed her album as one of the best f*cking albums of last year.

Ten Essential Warp Artists

2009-07-21T04:27:19Z

Jamie Lidell

What do hypersoul crooner Jamie Lidell, futuristic beatsmith Flying Lotus and psychedelic math-rockers Battles have in common? Aside from their shared penchant for turning traditional forms inside out, and the ability of all three artists to combine experimental-music rigor with refreshing good cheer, they all make their homes on Warp, the iconic U.K. label that turns 20 this year. Despite a roster heavy on electronic agents provocateur like Aphex Twin and Autechre, no single sound dominates Warp's catalog, which ranges from bleepy electronica to mind-bending hip-hop to smart, snappy rock 'n' roll. Here are 10 Warp artists you need to hear now.

]]> AFX
Released as a pair of vinyl-only EPs in 2005, Hangable Auto Bulb found Richard D. James shelving his Aphex Twin alias to pursue even darker, weirder material as AFX. Jungle's slice-o-matic beat science dissolves like a mercury spray of skittering beats and beatbox hiccups. Wags called it "drill 'n' bass," but that only held true if you considered tools of the Fisher-Price variety: the keening synth melodies and rubberized cadences never lost sight of Aphex Twin's most playful instincts, even on charcoal-coated, church-choir rave-ups like "Wabby Legs." This is one of experimental dance music's undisputed classics.

2. Squarepusher
Among his labelmates, Tom Jenkinson is in the running for more than a few superlatives: best beard (definitely), best name (maybe) and best slap-bass technique (infreakingdubitably). In keeping with its all-inclusive title, 2006's Hello Everything tosses together ideas with cartoonish aplomb, resulting in a cheeky and invigorating blend of jittery breakbeats, melodic synths and Weather Report-like jazz fusion. Just a Souvenir, from late 2008, generally has a slimmer, trimmer profile (with the exception of the odd noise-rock rave-up), the better to show off its nimble electric bass workouts and curious electro-acoustic sound design.

3. Jamie Lidell
What does it say about Warp that its most widely appealing artist -- he toured with Elton John, for crying out loud -- is also one of its weirdest? On stage, Lidell is a deranged entertainer who loops his own beatboxing into towering, top-heavy assemblages of postmodern soul. On record, he's a demure crooner channeling the spirit of Sam Cooke for the post-techno generation. Co-production from Feist collaborators Mocky and Gonzalez explains the sweetness of his 2008 album, Jim; the manic charm is Lidell's alone. Multiply Additions, meanwhile, collects remixes from Four Tet, Herbert and others along with two live recordings of Lidell at his unhinged best.

4. Flying Lotus
Warp has flirted with hip-hop over the years, but with Flying Lotus the label takes it to a very different place indeed. The L.A. musician (and nephew of Alice Coltrane) clearly owes a debt to Dilla in his off-kilter beats and unkempt sonics, and his zooming synths suggest affinities with dubstep's bass warriors. But the weird, wrinkled textures of Los Angeles are FlyLo's alone. A haze of static hangs over everything, with jazzy chords and Moog leads congealing in limpid pools. It's been a long time since hip-hop sounded this far out.

5. Prefuse 73
If you ask Guillermo Scott Herren what kind of music he makes, don't expect him to blink before saying "hip-hop." But his music (as Prefuse 73, Savath & Savalas and still other names) has never sat comfortably within any one corner of the genre. Flecked with filmic interludes, 2005's Security Screenings flows like a mix tape, though the only guest spot on this mostly instrumental album goes to fellow avant-beatsmith Kieran Hebden, aka Four Tet. Beats crumple like paper bags beneath zipping synthesizers and ragged samples sourced from jazz, folk and soul: it's head music for cobwebbed minds.

6. Battles
To gauge how far Warp has come from its early days pressing up acid-house white labels, look no further than Battles, a powerhouse quartet combining muscular playing and clever electronic manipulations into the 21st-century equivalent of progressive rock. Former Helmet drummer Jon Stanier provides the band's formidable backbone, while Tyondai Braxton, son of jazz legend Anthony Braxton, gives it an avant slant via slippery vocal modulations. (Post-rock veterans of Don Caballero and Lynx fill out the lineup.) Their debut album, Mirrored, is brute force meets high concept, with passages of hip-heavy boogie exploding into confetti-like clouds of tone.

7. Plaid
Greedy Baby, a 2006 collaboration between Plaid and the filmmaker Bob Jaroc, finds the ex-Black Dog duo burrowing down ambient rabbit holes reminiscent of tunnels dug by Biosphere, Sun Electric and Future Sound of London. Their shimmery touch is apparent on "The Launching of Big Face," with its Caribbean accents and bright, vigorous percussion; the web-crawling arpeggios of "Zn Zero" are typical of Plaid's balance of classic synth-pop (Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra) with touches of modern-classical dissonance.

8. Nightmares on Wax
Maybe it's appropriate that Nightmares on Wax's music has such a vintage tint to it; the project, formerly a duo, has been working for Warp longer than any other act on the roster. (Their "Dextrous" was the label's second release, preceded only by Forgemasters' bleep classic "Track With No Name.") Originally purveyors of jacking, stripped-down acid house, Nightmares on Wax gradually slowed down and fattened up, taking on influences from Jamaican soundsystem culture and northern soul. On 2006's In a Space Outta Sound, tautly tucked guitar lines step and dusty boom-bap beats sketch the merest outlines, sopping up horns, keyboards and voices like watercolors in the empty spaces.

9. Broadcast
Inspired by a vision of unflappable retro-futurist cool, Birmingham started out on Stereolab's Duophonic label before moving to Warp. Their most recent album, The Future Crayon, brims with lucid vocals, tremolo flutter and layers of guitars as spongy and marbled as pound cake; '60s pop refracted through a tomorrowland prism, it's the perfect soundtrack for a monorail ride to the moon.

10. Maximo Park
Maximo Park suggest that beneath Warp's pulsing bleeps beats a traditionalist's heart. The Newcastle group revives jagged post-punk and power-pop jangle in short, sharp songs recalling XTC, Elvis Costello and the Jam. On 2007's Missing Songs, cuts like "A Year of Doubt" and "Trial and Error" show off songwriting far fresher than their retro sonics might suggest, while dizzying rhythmic changes give "I Want You to Leave" an unmistakably modern charge.

America's Most Wanted

2009-07-20T22:57:54Z

From left: Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne, Drake

Hip-hop tours are always a bit of a crap-shoot. For every beyond-belief blockbuster like last year's Jay-Z/Mary J. Blige tour, you have a debacle like the '97 Wu-Tang Clan/Rage Against the Machine rampage, where our favorite Shaolin warriors seemed more interested in visiting local jail cells than in performing music for sold-out crowds. More recently, Lil Wayne's traveling adventures have included arrests for everything from cocaine possession to weapons charges. But, lord willing and cops permitting, this summer looks like a monster for hip-hop live shows. We have the Rock the Bells Tour featuring Nas, Talib Kweli, Wu Tang and Slaughterhouse among others, as well as the Jay-Z/Ciara tour that is already well under way. But perhaps the elephant in the room is Weezy's monster America’s Most Wanted AKA Young Money tour featuring Weezy F., Drake, Young Jeezy and Soulja Boy. Over 21 days, Weezy and crew will scour the continent, playing everywhere from Scranton, Penn., to Edmonton, Canada (you can check complete dates here). And though it’s an open question whether these guys can stay out of trouble (Drake should be safe), we already have a pretty good indication of what kind of live show they put on. Below you’ll find our exclusive and all-inclusive tour guide. ]]> Lil Wayne
Part of the charm of Weezy's rhymes is that you never know what's coming next. Everyone's favorite extraterrestrial rapper can pivot from discussing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to going into long tangents about his syrup habits. And that unpredictability carries over to his live shows, which range from transcendental to tangential.

Young Jeezy
ATL's favorite trapstar is an unlikely hero. Over the course of three full-length albums and countless mix tapes, he has sounded like a man unhinged; greed and paranoia peek through the cracks. "I know God's watching over me," he declares on mix tape track "I'm Back," before quickly adding, "and so are the Feds." Life lessons from Young Jeezy include selling crack, clapping enemies and stacking money. But despite his nefarious reputation, Jeezy is generally known to put on a good show. His stage presence and intensity are renowned, and he performs with the professionalism and panache of a seasoned vet.

Drake
If you haven't been swept up in Drake-mania, you probably haven't been awake for much of the past few months. His hit single "Best I Ever Had" has been dominating the charts, the clubs, the Internet and everywhere else, real or virtual, for what seems like forever. As a rapper, Drake exudes a goofy, likable self-awareness. He's a little brother, a harmless crush and rapper next door. He's oftentimes arrogant, but he's also often self-depreciating, and introspection seems more natural for him than braggadocio. As a performer, he is largely untested, though his recent appearance at New York's S.O.B.s created massive buzz.

Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
What can we say about this cat? You either love him or hate him, and though we tend to fall into the latter camp, we're sure that Soulja's fans will be clogging arenas throughout the continent, eager to mimic the hyperactive dance moves of their young leader.

LOL @ LMFAO (NSFW)

2009-07-14T04:16:32Z

Is it just us, or is LMFAO's "I'm in Miami B*tch" a whole lot like the Lonely Island's "I'm on a Boat" -- except not as funny and not, frankly, as funky? But the QWERTY-loving gag-rap duo and their new album, Party Rock, got us thinking about other occasions where funk has been put into the service of humor, unwittingly or no. Featuring tracks from the likes of Blowfly, Too Short, Eddie Murphy, DJ Assault and, uh, Leonard Nimoy, this playlist takes in filthy banter, faux-gangsta boasting, good-natured absurdism and (just for good measure) everyone's favorite dancing-banana meme. Oh, and it's totally NSFW, as though you hadn't figured that out already. Listen to selected tracks below, and get the whole playlist here.

Concentric Pleasures: Major Lazer, Bjork, Animal Collective

2009-07-10T04:55:26Z

Irony Doesn't Kill People, Curmudgeons Do
Being allergic to most things ironic, I half-expected to get some kind of rash from rubbing up too close to Guns Don't Kill People, Lazers Do, Diplo and Switch's kinda-sorta concept album about a one-armed commando from Jamaica named Major Lazer. (It's all very Gorillaz meets, oh, I don't know, Dr. Alimantado or something, or Rex the Dog meets rockers uptown.) But the record's actually kind of awesome. The first track alone features surf guitar; horse whinneys and clip-clopping hooves; Nokia ringtones; cash-register bells; a hyperactive Santigold loop; and gruff, absurdist chat from Mr. Lex. The album's first half offers a solid stretch of dancehall bangers and earnest lovers' rock; Major Lazer achieve genius with "Baby," a 67-second sketch featuring the roly-poly-voiced Prince Zimboo waxing philosophical to a newborn. (The baby has "built-in Auto-Tune," wouldn't you know.) For all the goofiness, Diplo and Switch flex considerable muscle with tracks like the supercolliding "Anything Goes" and the martial, minimalist "Pon De Floor." To make the latter beat, one imagines the producers having rigged up a Whac-a-Mole game with those toy cans that moo when turned upside down. As The Hudsucker Proxy's Norville Barnes would say, "You know, for kids."

]]> Declare Independence
It's tempting to say that Bjork is the polar opposite of the zany Major Lazer, except for the fact that the Icelandic singer and conceptualist clearly values absurdity as much as they do -- just put toward more ambiguous and, in recent years, less populist ends. A new collection of remixed Bjork songs regards the dancefloor with equal parts desire and distrust. Tackling tracks from 2007's Volta, Voltaic: The Volta Mixes runs the gamut from Alva Noto's tilted pinball meltdown to XXXChange's no-nonsense punky electro disco. Matthew Herbert skulks past the DJ booth with a charred guitar amp tucked under his arm, while Modeselektor, Simian Mobile Disco and Sinden offer alternately sleek and bleepy variations on a techno theme.

If you prefer unadulterated Bjork, Voltaic attempts to capture the immediacy of her live show via a studio recreation. Fresh from her Volta tour, Bjork and backing musicians (including Mark Bell, Chris Corsano and a 10-piece brass section) set their stage show to tape in London's Olympic Studios. Putting a twist on live recordings -- of which she's created plenty -- the album reinterprets both classics ("Army of Me") and new material ("Declare Independence") with stripped-down urgency. Rebuilt from the ground up, many songs bear little relation to their studio versions, proving that the material has evolved on pace with the malleable singer.

Single File
Black Strobe's Arnaud Rebotini dusted off his collection of vintage analog synthesizers to make Music Components, a throbbing album of melodic techno that was banged out in five days of jamming. Tech fetishists might want to have a bib handy before they check the photos of the Parisian musician's gear on his MySpace page. Key cut: "CM."

Fans of Thomas Fehlmann are in luck. The revived R&S label has digitally reissued Good Fridge, a decade-old classic by the sometime Orb member and Kompakt signee. Recorded between 1990 and 1998, the 20-track collection spans lush ambient techno and glistening living-room rave music, and will please fans of Aphex Twin, Mu-Ziq and Sun Electric. Key cut: "Schizophrenia," featuring Basic Channel's Moritz von Oswald.

For the single-minded among you, a few new EPs worth checking: Ewan Pearson gives Junior Boys' "Hazel" not one but three remixes, spanning gooey disco, New Wave R&B and Lite-Brite house music. Animal Collective's "Summertime Clothes" gets a vigorous going-over by L.A. boogie funkster Dam Funk and dubsteppers Zomby and LD. If it's dubstep you're after, don't miss the new Planet Mu singles from Floating Points and Brackles. And new U.K. label Infrasonic makes a strong showing with their split EP from Ike Release and Hot City, two Londoners in love with the sounds of acid house and 2-step garage.

Concentric Pleasures: Bodycode, Faze Action and Kotchy

2009-06-27T04:28:36Z

This week, Ghostly International's Spectral sublabel releases Immune, the impressive new album by Bodycode. Inspired by the classic deep house of New York and Chicago, it nevertheless sounds little like anything else from the recent deep-house revival. That might have something to do with the background of Alan Abrahams (pictured). He was raised in a South African township, where he began producing after he discovered Chicago house music -- not so unlikely, considering the music's centrality to South African kwaito. He moved to London in 1997, recorded a handful of EPs and founded his S�d Electronic label; today his discography includes releases on Perlon, ~scape, Musik Krause and Spectral, which signed his Bodycode alias. But unlike most of his peers, he didn't wind up in Berlin. Instead, Abrahams relocated to Lisbon, whose qualities -- a postcolonial city on the periphery of Europe -- are evident in the way he comes at dance music from the margins. His shuddering machine rhythms and balmy chords don't break radically with house traditions; his tough, rubbery basslines come straight from Larry Heard, via Luomo, and there are plenty of pumping chords, woozy leads and soulful vocals. But like Pepe Bradock, Move D and DJ Koze, Bodycode manages to make the music sound unusually alive and refreshingly weird. It's flush with hazy, underwater melodies and electronically treated tribal percussion, so you're never quite sure what's really going on -- just that the music makes perfect sense, once you're deep inside it.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the deep end, England's Faze Action recently released their first album in five years, Stratus Energy. Following a handful of recent singles (and a nice boost last year from Carl Craig's remix of their reissued single "In the Trees"), the new album continues to mine the same vein of classic disco that they've been working for a decade. Chugging Italo synths and Gamble & Huff strings are all over this thing; the sound of it is enormous, a mammoth amalgam of live instruments and dubby studio smarts. For highlights, check the happily overblown "Danae's Journey," the Bullitt-worthy thrill ride "Stratus Energy" and "Keep It Coming," an invigorating fusion of cocksure string vamps and fibrillating Clavinets.

That rather purplish prose makes as good a transition as any to the last album I want to discuss, Kotchy's 89. I don't know if he's explicitly down with dudes like Gemmy, Guido and Joker -- who have settled upon "purple" as the working title for their shared approach to dubstep and hip-hop -- but his knock-kneed beats and garishly colored synths certainly bear similarities. The Brooklyn musician's lurching beats lean closer to boom-bap: Prefuse 73, Dabrye, Flying Lotus and of course Dilla are obvious antecedents. But Kotchy's mix of electro-acoustic samples and buzzy synths doesn't sound much like anyone else, and the vocal tracks are even weirder, suggesting an accidental fusion of Mouse on Mars and the Sea and Cake over clomping, clunky breaks that seem to reassemble themselves with every bar. Just because this funk is far-fetched doesn't mean it won't make a believer out of you.