Fifty.Sixth.Time.Around

Yo, real quick, I'm going to let you finish....

But Good Kid m.A.A.d City was the chiz. Kendrick has worked oh so very hard this year and I have to hop up on my soap box for this one.

Kendrick Lamar's album was highly anticipated and critically acclaimed. The thought provoking album featured some of Kendrick's best written verses and collabs. I am deeply disappointed in Kendrick not winning any awards; it is an honor to be nominated but to be robbed so blindly before the public is disgusting.

Hops off soapbox...

A Heist of Grammys

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis swept the nominations with 6 (more than Tay Tay Swift! with 5) and brought home three, including the coveted Rap Album of the year. The Heist beat out Yeezus, Magna Carta Holy Grail, and most notably Good Kid m.A.A.d City. The album, which is well produced and a good listen is not my favorite. The Heist, to me is an album that amassed a cult following of fans that relate to what Macklemore is and was going through. Not an album full of bangers, urban truths, or universally relatable songs. I do not discredit Macklemore and Ryan Lewis- they worked equally if not harder than K.Dot and are amazing in concert- but their album is not as strong from an urban or rap standpoint. 

As for Best New Artist- I think that Macklemore deserved that one. It is important to remember all of these award shows and rankings are relative and debatable. Macklemore and company did indeed come onto the scene with a strong single (Thrift Shop), dropped their album (The Heist), and toured well (The Heist World Tour). Also, remember that Macklemore did everything he did without being signed by a major recording label. For this sole reason, I feel that Macklemore does deserve a little more gas. (Not enough to beat Kendrick though)

Royal Confusion

I am not really sure I get the hype behind Lorde and her song Royals. Her album Pure Heroine is completely lost on me. She isn't very appealing to me and her voice has zero range. Artists whose songs where I like the remixes better- I leave alone. Props to her though for grinding so early in life and taking charge. I commend her on her win, whether I like her music or not.

Album of The Year

Dear Complex Magazine- you are fully discredited by the Academia of Music and Grammy organization. If I do recall correctly you ranked Random Access Memories as 45th best album of the year under a mixtape released by Migos. Well, I'm sorry to tell you that you have mis-voted and Daft Punk has the appreciation they deserve. R.A.M is one of the best albums of all time and encompasses so many styles of music while still garnering new fans and cohesively bringing the original fans around for more.

As a quick little jib- shout out to Good Kid m.A.A.d City for the nomination. To be so close in several categories and lose it must sting a bit for Kendrick. However this is a battle well met- and a loss he'll most likely chalk up. R.A.M was really good.

That's All Folks

All in all, the 56th Grammy awards were cool. There were dope live performances, awards given when due, and a classy-star-studded red carpet. Every award show has some drama over robbed awards and this year is no different. Kendrick should've walked away with something; at the end of the day though Kendrick is always hard at work and his music still bangs. Good looks to Macklemore for the dedication of his award to Trayvon Martin and for his text to Kendrick.

P.S.- Shout Out to Alicia Keys on her win- and Little Big Town for their nomination. Those are two artists I love.

Grammy Winners               Grammy Robbery           Macklemore Wins A lot

Locality.Statements Pt. 2

She Had No Man, Now She Has No Gown

Yeah guys, naked women. 

Wait it gets better…. Lemonade.

Ryan Naylor, AKA Bucky, thee Royal Warlord hails from… somewhere in the 757. His stuff sounds really good in Richmond right now, though. Another VA native has some tracks out making the rounds on music sharing sites and in collegiate apartments. His latest releases (reviewed below) are rolling out and getting his listeners ready for his debut project which does not yet bare a name.

Mysterious..

Rusty

PROS: This song sounds like a straight freestyle- if dude wrote this thats still crazy. The days of continuous writing and spitting endlessly are coming back. The flow in this song is hungry yet playful. If the songs Vitamins and Watch For Detox, by Mac and Kendrick, respectively, had a song baby it would be Rusty. Bucky shows linguistic dexterity, going bar for bar with no hook at all. He hits all authentic points too: he's not sleeping but he's working, he isn't getting proper dues, he's smoking, etc. 

CONS: The production is lackluster for sure. I like the beat and feel like I recognize it from somewhere, (what's sampled?) He got his message down- but production is important. The right words always need the right beat. The right rapper always needs the right producer.

Stand

PROS: Again the flow here is confident. Even the trained ear could be fooled into thinking that Bucky has been at this for awhile. The relaxed and serious tone in this song offsets his young voice. It can be debated that Bucky sounds too clean-cut but the contrast created from his vocals saying some crude truths is his claim to fame, honestly. A listener can easily bump to his clear and enunciated bars. The content is there- cliche story of getting caught up spun originally. Iconic little verse from the track: "I'm taxed out the a** to get by. Yes I'm getting stressed- won't sell. But yes I'll get high,"

CONS: I'm not stuck on any. Nope, showing bias here.

Lemonade

PROS: This song is fun. The flow is lazy. The hook is catchy. The verses are just as catchy and easy to rap along to. This is an all around feel-good track that will bring a listener to the chill days of summer. Naylor shows some musicality through his voice inflections and meter of his flow on the beat. True there isn't as much content chocked up in these verses as his other songs but thats the beauty of it: He's chilling- and so are his listeners. There are some girls out there thirsty for lemonade- his spin on this phenomenon was made into a song thats honestly fire. If you miss pre-Lean Mac, from his K.I.D.S. days then you've found gold, man. Another dope thing about this track is that its Bucky's vocals on his own hook- which is catchy. Like... I Hit It First catchy.

CONS: I thought this song was the best produced out of all three releases I listened to, however, through a co-listen with my close friend, he pointed out this would sound even better with better production. If you don't like feel-good music where the point is to just "listen and chill" and instead prefer hard-hitting-thought-provoking music… this song isn't for you either.

Conclusion

Coming out of the production-heavy year of 2013 is one of the major problems on these singles. But when it comes to legit rapping skills and genuine flow talent: Bucky has it. This artist is young and has plenty of room to grow; his name will be one to watch though if he wants it to be. I personally like to listen to what he releases and that is always the point of music: to listen and enjoy. This sound that he has, this sound is natural talent. Naylor's story is interesting- let's see what the Royal Warlord does in 2014.

Look For The Project

"What you see you in the store- I can afford. And I'm whippin that beamer, don't f*ck with the Ford,"

Locality.Statements

Do You Support Local Artist?

Do you support? Do you fly your local flags? This isn't a gang initiation, no.

What is this Tico?

This is a serious step in many artists' lives. Being put on and helped out by those around them- very important. I've ventured into mainstream and other areas' artists- but my own backyard? 

That's a bit controversial...

So was that Kanye/Sway interview… so onward we move.

DC/Maryland/Virgina

Hailing from the DMV is young Cyrus- this dude is not even out of high school but sharing his vocals with the world. His debut project Ethos, dropped December, 29, 2013. He has been featured on other local artist's works and has made the rounds on rap blogs and music sharing sites. At such a young age he has been compared to rebellious Asher Roth- whose flow is lazy yet engaging. I can see the parallels, especially with Asher's more recent sound, but Cyrus has stamped his own in this area with his verses and bars.

Whats The Word On The Flow

This kid's flow is before his time. Again, I see the parallels between him, Roth, Vic Mensa, and possibly even Big Sean. A nice open-mic, mix tape-like, and earthy sound is heard on his EP. The syntax and rhyme scheme is dope and not even of this area. To some, this sounds a bit lazy, (which he can be reprimanded for). While he doesn't sound as hungry as others on his tracks, I think that a young artist can only get better in terms of bar structure and musicality.

What's Being Said?

The content is not deep. Masochistic and degrading verses sprinkle the drug references with counter-culture hooks introducing themselves. It's not that he can't rap about something of substance, this is debatable and relative. What's important to one may not be important to another. Rapping on girls, weed, and…. rapping isn't necessarily ground-breaking though and on that note I nod accordingly.

Hey I like bangers on chill subjects such as those…

I do too but the game is over-saturated in bangers on nothing. I expect better from this locality.

The Beats Though

Ethos has awesome tracks that fit Cyrus' flow like puzzle pieces. These beats are reminiscent of throwback 90s tracks or Midwest production- I'm especially keen on the few samples included. The old man yelling about money? Classic. While I like the beats- production gets a zero. EP's by definition are about 10-15 minutes in length… 4 songs maybe. This EP is just around 10 minutes and has 7 tracks. There is not enough room nor any variability in the production to capture a wide fan base. The beats are nice yeah, but there is no different sound which is sad because there were seven opportunities to do so. These tracks being so short show Cyrus' weakness in a production team or his weakness in writing enough to fill out a whole song.

An even worse predicament is that there is no hype surrounding this young rapper's release. There seems to be a small twitter wave within certain circles but researching this dude's life shouldn't have proven to be as difficult as it was. For another release, Cyrus, you don't have to give us a NWTS album (way long) but more would be appreciated. This EP is more of a trailer as to what you want to say- no track even reaches 3 minutes.

The Conclusion

Ethos gets a "pat on the back" and a "what's next". I don't mean to sound harsh but the youthfulness of the artist is heard clearer than his bars on this EP. Being new doesn't discount talent though- while Cyrus has a ways to go, it's not like people won't watch him get there.

                                 Twitter Game                                                 Ethos   

Gambino.Wetsuit

No its Roscoe's Wetsuit...

Why'd you say that? 

I don't know.

Lets jump right in.

Some Logistics

Because The Internet dropped December 6, 2013. (Staggered release) U.S official release was December 10th. Promotions for the album started with his short-film, titled Clapping For The Wrong Reasons, which featured several people who actually appear in the album.

Gambino and Chance collabs are always nice..

The single given to the public was 3005- a good choice. Seeing as the rest of the songs have obscure names, I'm not sure if we as a public would've been ready. The album was recorded throughout 2012 and 2013 in a rented mansion. (Chris Bosh's??)

Content:

Because The Internet has some deep meaning. There is not a single wasted line or throw-away verse. If Gambino needed a break in a bar, the track would literally stop. There are several songs in which these pauses increase the dramatics of the song. When Childish Gambino said this would be his most "honest release to date" he was not kidding. Songs such as Life: The Biggest Troll are lyrically important to the game, and while not necessarily innovative, they are necessary to push other artist to step up their writing skills. This album was content heavy; Zealots of Stockhom (Free Information) is rich with truths and cries of help from Gambino. The listener cannot help but help but reach out.. to relate to him.

Flow:

The flow of this album is unmatched. Having an album compared to the

likeness of a mix tape is usually a bad sign, however, in this comparison

Childish Gambino turns the tables. His flow is relaxed and his story is told

in full. He does not trip over any words. While he does speed up how much

he says per beat, per bar- he does not rush the flow at all. Not many artist

can relate their verses that quickly and still sound lazy. Gambino literally

talks to his fans, just shoots the breeze with them. As mentioned earlier

there are noticeable pauses in some tracks like he even takes a breath

while rapping. Two thumbs up for that, man.

Beats: 

Because The Internet is mostly self-produced, with help with Community sound producer Goransson. If you didn't know how I felt about self-production... I hate it. Childish Gambino, you can take a pass. Yeah, self production was necessary here. This man kept it one hundred from start to finish. This album actually showcases Gambino's musicality- songs such as 3005 and Pink Toes have these lighthearted and catchy beats. This album will stand out against the trap-heavy-and-hard or big-showy-club production seen this year. The sound of each song bleeds into the next and Gambino's verses on top of his own beats: hand and Glover fit...

I see what you did there...

Did you read the screenplay?

I did. Did you? I recommend the screenplay. I heard it was 75 pages- untrue. It is actually 72. More like 65 because most pages are blank with only a sentence. Dope is all I can say. Childish Gambino is a talented artist all around and this is a weird screenplay, as far as screenplays and scripts go, but this is to be read alongside the album. I listened to the album, could bang that alone, sure; It was hot. While reading the dark but authentic screenplay, the album became an intersting backdrop. Does young Gambino have a future as a composer in Hollywood? I'm not sure but his fans in the music realm would sure miss him.

The screenplay has themes:

 Life and Death

Meaning Of Life

Sanctity of Relationships 

Drug Abuse In America

 Deterioration Of Relationships

Violence and Violence Desensitization

Yeah it's very comprehensive. Most importantly Gambino writes about how we are all ... slaves to the internet. We don't exist in our own right anymore, our worth is based off of how many hits we can get on social networking sites- or how much we can keep up with what the media and the internet says is important. 

SPOILER

Within the script the main character, played by him, captures a death in a video intended for the internet, most likely.  How ironic he also captures his own death within this script, posted to the internet.

The Verdict?

This album gets a 6/5. This is arguably one of Gambino's best releases and one of my favorite albums. This album, while coming so late in the year, is one of the best albums released in 2013. Childish Gambino is not that big an artist, taking into account his sales and everything else he dabbles in, but he is hanging with the greats after this album. The amount of people he shouted out and sampled in his screenplay and album is beautiful too. He definitely respects the rap community and music community as a whole. This album is intelligent as well as an easy listen. Versatile and varied- you can play this whenever. Break Up? Riding to work? Babysitting? Angry at Mom? Doing Homework? Because The Internet is that album.

It was hard for me really sit and write on this album without sounding too biased. I mean Gambino was so raw and very honest over some eclectic and chill beats. But.. this music is somewhat obscure to be considered pure "rap". I mean dude can rap, but its sentiment is not hard. Someone debate with me LOL, anyway... A1 album with an A1 message; I mean how're you even reading this post?

Because The Internet

WIKI Tracklisting                             The Script                           Childish Gambino

Shout Out to The Adventure Time Line in the Screenplay: UNACCEPTABLE

Flag.On.The.Play

Complex Magazine

First and foremost- I applaud Complex magazine. I am an avid reader and writer. I like music and writing. I would be a fool to trash another for doing what I do all the time. The whole point of my excuse of a blog is to throw two cents on all things media, urban, rap, blah, blah. I also do not write to discredit the artists I write on. These people are entertainers and offer their art to the world as a living. I applaud artists as well, I am not in your shoes. I'm a kid behind a Mac.

Are you done being politically correct?

Yeah.

Complex Magazine And That 50 best Album List

That sh!t was wack, brah.

I went on a Twitter rant. I went into a ceaseless, sarcastic, and maniacal rant on how I couldn't grasp the ranking system at Complex. To their credit, they try to explain the album why it's ranked where it is. These explanations are like the ones you give your teachers when they ask why you didn't complete an assignment... Useless.

What's good with the list, Tico? Why so hurt?

Daft Punk released an album, Random Access Memories. This album in my raw opinion is beautiful and a necessary break from the usual for Daft Punk. Complex Mag ranked this album 45.

Okay.

They ranked YRN (Young Rich N*ggas) x Migos (Quavo, Takeoff, Offset), as album 44.

Okay then, YRN bangs harder than...

NOPE. And this is my AP English constructed argument peeps...

Count This As A Dual Review

Random Access Memories, in a nutshell, was not only a commercially successful deviation from what Daft Punk usually puts out- it was also a nuevo classic. This album has some longevity in that the songs (while sampling others) will be sampled. The features on the album were diverse and the single used to promote the album was smart. Pharell, being the entertainer he is, is more attuned to a more urban or grittier audience. Daft Punk teamed up with him for Get Lucky- which is pretty catchy and remixable, and put their name on Urban America. Couple these things with the fact that Daft Punk also helped produce what Complex Mag named "Number One Album of the year", Yeezus. So how did Random Access Memories rank below Migos' Young Rich N*ggas?

Yes, tell me how..

Well it's simple. Just as simple as the production on YRN. Apparently club-spins may have to do with rankings. The songs on YRN are, at best, club bangers. In reality they are one-dimensional and very loud. Complex claims the album evokes some sort of energy from the listener... Yeah okay because, hearing about who to call- FEMA- in times of hurricanes- KATRINA- gets me going. 

Commercially this makes no sense: R.A.M sold 19,000 vinyl copies priced at 39.98 first week. I still haven't found how any copies YRN sold. Whenever I search, interestingly enough all search engines will tell me YRN is a mixtape. I knew that though, you can hear it...

Gee, Migos sucks.

No, it isn't that Migos sucks. Their music has a place in 2013, definitely. Listening to their mixtape-wanna-be-album did cause me to raise my arms and "crank". However the place of the album is not above Daft Punk's classic.

Music Does Evoke Emotion, Complex

The feel you get from Migos' music is like the feel you get after going to an awesome party. I mean a really good trap-tastic eager, okay? This feeling is nice to capture while riding to school, cleaning your room, or actually trapping. Daft Punk's album is that mature well-produced stuff though. That music theory, hand me a cigar type flow. If you as a listener haven't progressed to discern the difference, then I feel bad. *Hands you a cookie*

                Complex Magazine's List                                         Random Access Memories 

            

Young Rich N!ggas

 Follow Me On Twitter @iGetSalty

Hard Hitter Pt. 3

HaRd HiTtInG mUsIc?

Hopsin's new and third studio album, Knock Madness, dropped into this beautiful world on 

Noember 24, 2013. I haven't had the chance to listen to a single track from the album

 but his latest "ill-mind" single was dope and a little more vulnerable than usual. I happened 

across a review of the album on xxlmag.com and it seemed that the reviewer was spot on.

ThE tRaCkLiSt LoOkS dOpe

There are 18 tracks on the album, (18 is my lucky number), and these 18 tracks have climbed to

76 on the Billboard 200, 1 on Billboard Heatseekers, and 6 on US Billboard Independent Albums.

Hopsin usually does not disappoint; there is talk of retirement from him on this album. 

Hope that is all balderdash.

XXL MAG!                                                    Wiki HipHop                                                      H0PS!N

Hard Hitter Pt. 2

So... More Hard Hitters?

Of course I'm still writing about Hard Hitters man! We all listen to them weather running in the gym, driving to Starbucks, or dropping the kids off at school- Hard Hitters are omnipresent so listen up.

Ali Bomaye (Meaning Ali, kill him..) is that song that gets you hype about everything. This song actually swam under the radar for me. If your like me here is some background on the song:

Ali Bombaye x The Game ft. 2 Chainz & Rick Ross

Track 2 on Jesus Piece

Also Featured on Radio Los Santos (For My GTA Fans)

How Hard Does It Hit?

Within the scope of three categories: Beats, Content, and Flow. This song

goes and goes and... goes. 

First off CONTENT: the song starts with The Game commenting on social-injustices or outdated thinking. He simultaneously comments on how many of (assumed he's talking about Black America) our Black counterparts are in "chains" or handcuffs. He then blows the sad stereotype of poor and incarcerated colored man with verses filled with things people can only dream of.

Second off BEATS: The Track was produced by Black Metaphor who we've all probably heard but he tends to fly under the radar. He's produced Get Right, In God We Trust, The End, and Sanctuary for Jeezy, Meek Mill, and French Montana, respectively. The beat is a head-bopper. Just enough bass to roll up to a red-light like a thug and enough intricacy to revel in with the team. Rapping over a beat this nice shouldn't be that hard and hopefully we'll see more from @BlackMetaphor, who quote, "Yall will never hear a wack track from me. Ever". Okay man. We better not.

Third off FLOW: Okay so The Game has that OG-Kush-Cali-Gangster flow. There isn't much to be said, what you usually get is present here on the song. 2Chainz has his voice ever present within his verse and Rick Ross as well. The way each artists presents their verse isn't in deviation form how it's done. This isn't a bad thing- all three are consistent. However, because Ross and 2Chainz didn't jazz it up on The Game's song, their verses don't eclipse The Game's at all which is almost a trend lately: features going ham on someone else's song... (Or maybe thats just K.Dot...)

Hard Hitting Conclusion

Ali Bomaye is a dope song and the cool thing is that you can ride dirty to the song in real life or ride dirty virtually in Los Santos! This track encapsulates the feeling you'll get from Jesus Piece. The album and song itself is dope but audience oriented. This song obviously bangs a little harder with peeps from the west coast because they are used to The Game's "listless but angry" gangster flow. In my being an east-coast fan, I can appreciate Jesus Piece to the max but I'll never fully get behind it like a native of LA would I'm sure. 3.5/5

Ali Bomaye Info Jesus Piece Tracklist The Game

P.S.- Shout Out To The Kevin Hart Skit At The End Of The Song... Classic.