http://www.timbalandmusic.com - $$
Review by - Angelica LeMinh
Dear dope producers, please do us a favour and JUST PRODUCE. Somebody had to say it, and lest I date myself here like a little old lady remember the days when teenagers held doors open for us, does anyone remember Puffy and Jermaine Dupri back when they didn’t scream their own names over everyone else’s tracks, date Janet Jackson, or design clothes/run marathons?!
http://www.gettingoutourdreams.com - $$$
Review by - Nin
After having secured both critical plaudits and street cred via the customary underground avenues, it appears as though Queens stalwart Consequence has finally managed to cobble together a full-length release. Indeed, one might cry foul about the inclusion of certain well-flogged standards- “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly” is resuscitated here after having made the mixtape rounds while “Grammy Family” and “Uptown” round out the host of phantasms given a new lease of life on this platter. I’m not entirely sure what prompted this puzzling decision, as the record has a hearty enough running time without such inclusions.
www.masslinemedia.com - $$$(1/2)
Review by Nin
If one were to assess the value of rap by taking stock of its cosmetic demerits, it would be easy to dismiss it as a creatively stagnant medium for self-aggrandizement and gangster theatrics, bereft of any enduring artistic or moral worth. It’s true that the spiritual bankruptcy of overground hip-hop has never been more grave, a grievous state of affairs exacerbated by continued corporate exploitation and widespread artistic irresponsibility.
http://www.stylesp.ne - $$$
Review by Nin
Obdurately po-faced and uncompromisingly grim, Styles P’s unassuming demeanor has always concealed one of the most pithy yet poignant wordsmiths in the rap game. True, he has never flaunted the adroitness or lexical playfulness of Jadakiss, the precocious fluidity of Cassidy or the brazen braggadocio of Sheek, but there is scarce doubt in my mind that Styles P’s quiet, unobtrusive genius is on an entirely different plateau.
Angelica LeMinh has bragging rights for life that the one and only Ursula Rucker called her phone, talked to her for two hours, and commended her on her stalking techniques (she likened it to “the perfect amount of persistence”). Philly’s most poetic Supasista waxes lyrical (for the lounge) about politics, street credibility, and raising her babies.
ALM: You just finished playing the Sistahood Celebration in my hometown with one of my best girls (Amalia Townsend www.myspace.com/sekoya). You’ve also been through Montreal a few times. Tell me about the crowds and the difference between playing Canada and the United States.
Ursula: Vancouver was great this last time, but I never have a bad show in Canada, I’ve also played Toronto. Like Europe, the audiences tend to be more open and progressive about what they know, and their awareness of culture and art is more acute. I haven’t performed extensively in the States, but I don’t think the current climate is too encouraging. I still don’t have a booking agent, and women doing poetry are always going to be beneath the radar. I was excited last summer to perform in Atlanta, a city renowned for being musically progressive, but the crowd was so unresponsive that I was almost bored. I’ve played in Ohio and Chicago, and it was like performing on a space ship.
ALM: Can you talk a little more about the current political climate and the war that hasn’t ended?
Ursula: Well, it’s no secret, and people would do better if they refused to accept trying to keep it secret. I remember I was in Vienna on tour for Supa Sista, and I already had a fear of flying, but this was just after 9/11 so it was exacerbated. I was pregnant with my third child, had left the other two at home and when I saw that night vision shot, I just started crying and wanted to come home. When people heard us speaking English and knew that we were American, the reactions of how they perceived us were completely different. Now, it’s only getting worse and worse for peace. I’m not a punk, but I’m for peace. I realize that as a super power, a First World country (if we’re going to rank), we can’t just sit back and do nothing in the face of such an attack, but what we’re doing right now is not protecting our country, we’re trying to oppress and control another one to fully participate in capitalism. But I appreciate the opportunity to travel and get the truth, because our media here is totally skewed. I think that people have lost that instinctual feeling to see something and react as aware folks and question further. I want to throw something everytime I see our president on the television. There is nothing elegant or eloquent about anything that ever comes out of his mouth, and I am ashamed.
ALM: Are you going to vote for Senator Obama?
Ursula: I don’t know who I’m going to vote for. You’re never actually voting for anyone, it’s just the lesser of evils. It’s like the police officers, you can’t be that good of a person if you are a cop. At least not in Philly, with the corruption that’s involved.
The Lyrical Lounge gets an exclusive peek into the minds and personalities that represent Animate Objects, a crew that sets out to call attention to questioning accepted social norms of work (music), love and life. Their name and music is an active social commentary, and Angelica LeMinh gets to the sum of their hearts:
www.myspace.com/hawino - $$$
Whatever Happened to The 5-Footaz?
Review by Angelica LeMinh
The more things change, the more things stay the same. Warren G will always be a dope beatmaker, but he never was the strongest lyricist. This effort is ambitious and scattered as Mister Griffin could’ve benefited from the advice of an editing consultant. The sheer number of tracks on this album (18 mostly full lengths, there are no Wyclef style interludes here) is enough to floor the average conditioned listener with ADD tendencies.
He tries to tackle some tough issues like war for oil and relationships but overshadows himself with the same old “weed and hos” talk (it doesn’t even seem like he believes it anymore) and allusions that he makes to his own work, “I’m still Warren G, it’s time to regulate” and “this DJ be Warren G”. There just comes a point when it’s grasping at straws when artists have to remind us of why we love them and not the other way around.
www.myspace.com/mudkids - $$$(1/2)
Dig-Dug Hip-Hop
Review by - Angelica LeMinh
It always ceases to amaze me when I come across hip-hoppers who manage the feat fusing humility and irony. With the title of this joint, we can deduce that the breakdown of “base mentality” is to be read as one that is getting back to basics, as in something created with the love of that from your basement that is mental with vitality.
Angelica LeMinh’s second interview for the Year of the Lovers puts the lovely and talented Melange Lavonne in the hotseat to chat about who all and what all she loves. The mellow and confident force to be reckoned with knows that she prefers Riley to Huey after only watching one episode of Boondocks, and has a hard time discerning that Mos is the bigger Blackstar, but knows for sure that she prefers him as an emcee to him as an actor (though who knows that he was actually an actor before he was an emcee?) She’s candid and intelligent, able to respond to questions of all realms of experience, so without further adieu…
ALM: Do you think hip hop is dead? Nas shows more than just one mic in that video, what are the dangers of such a high profile emcee running around making claims like this? I read an article in Total Chaos* that states that ”we’ve been saying it’s dead since the first time Puffy picked up a mic” so how do we negotiate working within an artform that has “dead” for almost twelve years?
ML: Hip-Hop never died. We can blame the saturated wackness and dumbed down lyrics on the A&R and executives who make the desicions in signing these particular artists, giving them big budgets, and guaranteeing heavy rotation from local radio stations and national video stations. So is hip hop really dead? No, not at all. It just isn’t in the spotlight. There are plenty of talented MCs who are worth listening to and talking about, but these cats aren’t getting deals because the man behind the desk decides that their content isn’t marketable.
Rather than focusing on following in the footsteps to become the next Great White Hope of Hip-Hop, Mic Sol figures to blaze his own trail. With all-respect due to Beastie Boys, 3rd Bass, Eminem and the like–why should an emcee’s success be based on his skin tone. (It’s the music you should be listening to right?) But Yo, don’t let me preach or be your convincer–go peep the chat and you’ll discover (what we already know) that Mic Sol is ‘all-the-way-live’ in any color spectrum. — Capt. Westside
For starters, tell us a little about Mic Sol. How long have you been emceeing and when did your appreciation for hip-hop culture begin? How’d you get the name “Flowgun?”
My name is Mic Sol and I was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. My apppreciation for hip-hop began with Beastie Boys “Licensed To Ill” and Run DMC. After that it was NWA “Straight Outta Compton.” I used to have my older sister buy their tapes for me by flirting with the clerk (she wasn’t old enough to buy them either) at Coconuts (or Peaches) in Broad Ripple, where the organic grocery store is now across from McDonalds.
I had an old rhyme where i called myself the “Flowgun capitalist”, and I dug it up while I was working on my album. I like the double meaning of like a shogun with a microphone as a sword or your mind as a gun spitting lyrical bullets. Once I released the album, people started calling me that.
www.k-osmusic.com - $$$$
Miscegenation Station
Review by - Angelica LeMinh
Yeah. So, I wonder what the hip hop purists might have to say about this one. For all intents and purposes, K-OS should be in that “Gnarls Barkley” category, but because he’s Canadian, I think the label has been trumped. He sings on damn near every track, there are reprieves on at least three (he leaves then comes back), and he’s playing with genres and instruments/vox like there’s no tomorrow. While I must argue against the statement that he’s Canada’s answer to Kanye West, his use of violins on “The Rain” (as well as chords and sustain in general on what is one of the album’s strongest tracks), his cross-over appeal (though he’s more Roots than Ye on this tip), and penchant for self-reflexive reflection (my only enemy’s inside me) could argue that case.
He differs though, as he doesn’t use a single sample, and for the most part, his tracks are audio adventures into space (broadcast from the Universe) and time (“Flypaper”-he’s loving that upright bass, though he’s really riding the motif of “Crabbukkit” on this one). He succeeds where Electric Circus and Phrenology confused folks, they just weren’t ready for it yet. That psychedelic, he musta been listening to some Beatles Revolver shit, a perfect example; “
www.buka1995.com - $
Review by - Nin
To be earnest, I’ve never found the Lone Catalysts terribly interesting- their laconic, inoffensive brand of jazzy, pensive boom-bap has always been well-intentioned, but bland to my ears. J. Sands, then, certainly does no favors for himself here, as he treads ground markedly different from the bulk of the Lone Catalysts’ material. I’m sure you can make your own conjectures as to what that means- this is pregnant with trite gangsta swagger and braggadocio, the same bog-standard, somnambulistic battle rap that’s been clogging the pipes for the better part of the last decade. What distinguishes this from the pack, though, is the embarrassingly bad delivery- even for improvisatory freestyles, some of the punchlines on this would make listeners blush with profound discomfiture. I’m not entirely sure what the intent of this is, but I’d like to think that this series is akin to Prince Paul’s satirical record, a good-hearted lampoon of mixtape and thug-rap stereotypes. Sadly, even from that position, this mixtape is lamentably unfunny.
Disjointed, lackadaisical, phlegmatic rhymes characterize each and every track, and it seems as though the air of lethargy has similar effects on all of his guests. The jackin’ for beats angle is milked ad nauseam, and the original beats are rudimentary, sloppy and yawn-inducing, save for certain sparse, contemplative exceptions (the loose, sultry “These Words” is a good example). Gratingly bad r’n’b vocals add insult to injury, as is the case on “Place To Be (Saturday Night)”, with confounding hooks compounding things further.
If this is intended to be a farce or a parody, it is a wonder that this much time, expense and effort has been invested into something that is as risible as watching the Weather Network on mute. As comedy or pantomime, this record is equally weak. Don’t bother.
Greetings and welcome to the new ShotgunReviews.com. Since 1999, we’ve done our best to give you worthwhile (and often funny) reviews and columns, and it’s time to shake off the rust and do it a little differently. We’ve kicked around a few ideas regarding how we’d do this new thing, and we hope you like what you see.
The new design comes to us from Barb Hallock, a student of mine with the appropriate attitude for this place (that is, bad). The more bloggish format puts us more on par with the current landscape. After all, we’ve been doing this almost eight full years. It was time for a big change. I think that you’ll agree that the new format, with a huge list of categories and easy searching, is a good one.
As part of that big change, we’ve brought in an influx of new talent from a variety of places. The entirety of our Best Shots team, responsible for the Best Shots column that runs every Monday at Newsarama.com, is now operating here in several capacities. You’ll also meet several talented young writers, including Barb herself, who will be tackling a variety of topics.
However, if you’re one of the rare folks that has read us since 1999, don’t get too worried. Shawn Delaney will still grace us with terrific music reviews, as will Jonathan Birdsong and the Lyrical Lounge crew. The Russ is back on wrestling coverage in full force. L.I. Rapkin’s already kicking in some culture. Eric Barker’s already opened the film vaults. And they aren’t the only familiar faces lurking around.
In the next few days and weeks, you’ll see the roster expand a little more and you’ll see some new recurring columns and features that we hope will become favorites. If you want to check out the old stuff, the old site currently still exists in its full glory under the archive button. If you want to talk about any of the stuff, old or new, visit our newly established forums.
So there’s my big speech. Enjoy yourselves, express yourselves, and invite friends. ShotgunReviews.com never went away, but we are most certainly back. Thanks for your time.
