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Every Jay Z Lyric That Mentions Fatherhood

April 5, 2017, 3:42 am
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In early February 2017, Beyonce took to Instagram to announce her and husband Jay Z were expecting twins. The announcement came just over 5 years after the birth of their first child, Blue Ivy Carter. Jay addressed the pregnancy on DJ Khaled's new single "Shining", which also heavily featured Beyonce.

By no means is this the first time Jay has addressed fatherhood on wax. His references stretch as far back as 1994, two years before his debut record. Over the past 23 years, his views on parenthood have changed dramatically, from dismissal and mockery, rejection and disgust, to heartbreak, trepidation and guilt, all the way to euphoria and an absolute embrace of his role as a father.

1994-1999
  • You diggin' me the epitome of rippin' it raw / You kiddin' me no nigga that rap gettin' bigger than me - "I Can't Get Wid Dat" (1994)
  • Thinking back to when we first learned to use rubbers / He never learned so in turn I'm kidnapping his baby's mother - "D'Evils" (1996)
  • I hate all girls with ulterior motives / That's why I'm 20-plus years old / No sons, no daughters - "Lucky Me" (1997)
  • I'm kinda hoping the condom break / To have a reason to go raw -  "Who You Wit II" (1997)
  • Drop a seed in her, little life to breathe in her / Wanna boy so to be sure, I OD'd in her / His days are laced in Caesar Leguars / All the chicks jealous at the baby showers / Beatch! - "Funkmaster Flex Freestyle 1" (1997) 
  • Got a condo with nothing but condoms in it / Same place where the rhymes invented - "Nigga What, Nigga Who" (1998)
  • She keep beggin' me to hit it raw / So she can have my kids and say it was yours / How foul is she? And you wifed her / Shit, I put the rubber on tighter - "Is That Yo Bitch?" (1999)
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Jay's early references to fatherhood are attempts at humour, witty wordplay, and outright dismissal. He speaks about condoms often, justifying their use on 1997's "Lucky Me", where he implies he doesn't trust women. On "D'Evils" he sees fatherhood as a sign of weakness, writing in his autobiography Decoded: "...we learned basic sex ed at the same time; that he never learned, which sets him up as someone sloppier, less calculating and cunning than me; that he had a child as a result, and a 'baby's mother'; and that I kidnapped her, which shows how profoundly blackhearted I had become". This "blackhearted" persona carries into 1999, where he openly mocks a rival and acts alarmed that a woman would want to have children with him. He appears to embrace fatherhood on "Funkmaster Flex Freestyle 1", but it's just as likely he's using the pregnancy to stunt hard (showering his unborn son with gifts), making other women jealous as a result. 

In an interview from 1998, he says: "Women I was with, I loved things about them, but I never been in love, they say love is forever and I never felt that forever type of thing." He goes on to say he wouldn't allow himself to fall in love, but is "on [his] way to recovery, maybe soon." 

1999-2001
  • Dear Nephews, I'm writing this with no pen or a pad / And I'm signing it, ya uncle, ya best friend and your dad - "Anything" (1999)

  • If it comes a time when you ain't feelin' your real dad / Put my face on his body / Don't wait for nobody - "Anything" (1999)

  • No kids but trust me I know how to raise a gun - "Come And Get Me" (1999)

  • S dot Carter turn rappers into martyrs / Separate fathers from their daughters, why bother - "Come And Get Me" (1999)
  • I got four nephews, and they all writing / They all young and wild, plus they like things / And I'm having a child, which is more frightening - Amil Ft. Jay-Z "For Da Fam" (2000)
  • Everybody stressing, who's his baby moms? / Who he got pregnant, let me tell you, ahh - "Streets Is Talking" (2000)
  • Don't wanna fight, don't wanna fuss / You're the mother of my baby - "Soon You'll Understand" (2000)
  • It gets worse, baby momma water burst / Baby came out stillborn, still I gotta move on / Though my heart still torn, life gone from her womb / Don't worry, if it was meant to be, it'll be soon - "This Can't Be Life" (2000)
  • Need a chick that practice Tai Chi / That still can buy weed / And give me some good head / And I'll make her a mami - "Hey Papi" (2000)
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Jay's rapid maturation during this period can likely be traced to the miscarriage suffered by a still-unknown partner around the year 2000. On "4 Da Fam", he reveals more about his personal life in 3 bars than he had the entirety of his career thus far. He's no longer the blackhearted figure, viewing pregnancy as sloppy or something that can be exploited.
It was also around this time Jay began to focus on nurturing young talent, notably a gang of artists he picked up from Philadelphia. He'd already taken Bleek, Beans, and Amil under his wing, along with Christion and Rell. During "Anything" he offers his fatherly services to anyone in his family needing guidance, but maybe this was as far as he was willing to go. In 2003 he told Playboy he probably wasn't ready to be a father in 2000.  

2002-2005:
  • But one thing y'all can say about Jay / It's not a day I ever bought it / Y'all can audit my life / I put that on my unborn daughter's life - Jaz-O feat. Jay-Z "Let's Go" (2002)

  • Love let's go half on a son - "Excuse Me Miss" (2002)

  • Then I move the weight like I'm Oprah, son / Uhh, I show you how to do this son - "La-La-La (Excuse Me Miss Again" (2003)

  • I son niggas like I adopted you - "Roc Star Freestyle" (2003)
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In four short years, Jay went from openly rejecting the idea of being a father, to rapping like it's a given he will one day have a child. During this period he was courting Beyonce, and they appeared to be official in 2002 with the collaboration "03' Bonnie and Clyde". Maybe he slipped a few references in to prove he was ready to take the next step one day in the distant future?

The "Roc Star Freestyle" was classic old--school posturing and braggadocio. His reference on "La-La-La (Excuse Me Miss Again)" may not have even been about fatherhood, he may just be addressing someone his junior.

2006 - 2011
  • See I got demons in my past, so I got daughters on the way / If the prophecy's correct, then the child should have to pay / For the sins of a father so I barter my tomorrow's against my yesterday's / In hopes that she'll be okay / And when I'm no longer there to shade her face from the glare / I'll give her my share of Carol's Daughter / And a new beach chair - "Beach Chair" (2006)

  • My last will and testament I leave my heir / My share of Roc-A-Fella Records and a shiny new beach chair - "Beach Chair" (2006)

  • Your girlfriend's pregnant, the Lord's gift / Almost lost my faith, that restored it / It's like havin' your life restarted / Can't wait for your child's life, to be a part of it / So now I'm child-like, waitin' for a gift / To return, when I lost you, I lost it - "Lost One" (2006)

  • Hello, Brooklyn, if we had a daughter / Guess what I'mma call her? Brooklyn Carter - "Hello Brooklyn 2.0" (2007)

  • Not rid the show and the kids is growing / Baby need new shoes, and you sitting on 22's - "BK Anthem" (2008)

  • Sorry junior, I already ruined ya / Cause you ain’t even alive, paparazzi pursuin’ ya / Sins of a father make your life ten times harder / I just wanna take ya to a barber / Bondin’ on charters, all the shit that I never did / Teach ya good values so you cherish it - "New Day" (2011)

  • And if the day comes I only see him on the weekend / I just pray we was in love on the night that we conceived him / Promise never to leave him even if his mama tweakin' / Cause my dad left me and I promise never repeat him - "New Day" (2011)
  • Let's tie the knot, let's grab us a pot, let's make a baby - Young Jeezy Ft. Jay-Z and Andre 3000 "I Do" (2011)
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"Lost One" might be explained by a brief separation the pair allegedly endured during 2006. Even then, Jay placed "Beach Chair" on his 2006 album Kingdom Come, which goes a step beyond merely accepting fatherhood. He's being pragmatic in guarding his unborn child against any bad karma he may have accrued earlier in his life. This isn't just accepting fatherhood as an inevitability, it's a wholehearted embrace of both the positive and the negatives. He digs even deeper into his own fears on 2011's "New Day" with Kanye, revealing a deep desire not to follow in the footsteps of his own father, who left Jay and his family when Jay was just 11 years old. When that song was released, Beyonce was pregnant, and they had been married for 3 years. Jay was ready to embrace and revel in family life. 

2012 - 2017*
  • The most amazing feeling I feel / Words can’t describe what I’m feeling for real /  Baby, I paint the sky blue / My greatest creation was you / You, you, glory - "Glory" (2012)

  • A younger, smarter, faster me / So a pinch of Hov, a whole glass of B - "Glory" (2012)

  • Bad ass little Hov, two years old shopping on Saville Row / Wicked ass little Bey / Hard not to spoil you rotten looking like little me / The most beautiful-est thing in this world / Is daddy's little girl - "Glory" (2012)

  • But you was made in Paris / And mama woke up the next day and shot her album package / Last time the miscarriage was so tragic / We was afraid you disappeared / But nah, baby you magic - "Glory" (2012)

  • Niggas couldn't fuck with my daughter's room / Niggas couldn't walk in my daughters socks - "3 Kings" (2012)

  • I love this shit like my own daughter / Let's spray these niggas, baby, just like daddy taught ya - "3 Kings" (2012)

  • Blue told me remind you niggas / Fuck that shit you talking bout, I'm that nigga - "Holy Grail" (2013)

  • Baby need pampers / Daddy need at least three weeks in the Hamptons - "Jay Z Blue" (2013)

  • My baby getting chubby / Cue that Stevie Wonder music, aww, ain't she lovely? - "Jay Z Blue" (2013)

  • Fuck joint custody / I need a joint right now just the thought along fucks with me - "Jay Z Blue" (2013)

  • Apologies in order, to Blue Ivy my daughter / If it was up to me you would be with me, sort of like daddy dearest - "Jay Z Blue" (2013)

  • Father never taught me how to be a father, treat a mother / I don't wanna have to just repeat another leave another / baby with no daddy want no momma drama / I just wanna take her back to a time when everything was calmer - "Jay Z Blue" (2013)

  • Nothing could prepare us / For the beauty that you be Blue be / Looking in your eyes is like a mirror, have to face my fears - "Jay Z Blue" (2013)

  • Now I got my own daughter, taught her how to take her first steps / Cut the cord watch her take her first breath / And I'm trying and I'm lying if I said I wasn't scared - "Jay Z Blue" (2013)

  • Go ahead lean on that shit Blue you own it - "Picasso Baby" (2013)

  • My baby momma harder than a lot of you niggas - "Part II (On The Run)" (2013)

  • Can't see it taking food out my lil monster's mouth - "Nickels and Dimes" (2013)

  • Can't even raise my little daughter, my little Carter / We call her Blue cause it's sad that / How can I be a dad that, I never had that / Shattered in a million pieces, where the glass at - "spiritual" (2016)

  • Until our babies showered in gold, nigga / Blue lookin' like Pac in the tub - Fat Joe and Remy Ma feat. Jay Z "All The Way Up (Remix)" (2016)

  • My baby Blue (What else?) / I dream in color - "I Got The Keys" (2016)

  • One ain't enough I need two / That night I mix the Ace with the D'US / Hit a triple double at the Garden - "Shining" (2017)

  • The European trucks for the twin babies / Don't let me have a son I'm a fool / Send him to school with all my jewels / I want a boy and girl to fight for truth / Whatever God give me I'm cool - "Shining" (2017)
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In November 2016, Jay was the talk of the internet when pictures emerged of him playing the traditional role of a father. Some commentators clowned him for relinquishing his street persona and his "Big Pimpin'" lifestyle, morphing into what Jay called in 2011 "a regular American boy". The disbelief that Shawn Carter could become the quintessential family man is merely a testament to the astonishing growth he's displayed throughout his career. 2013's Magna Carta, Holy Grail may not have been as well received as his records that dealt with the streets, but it was the first example of a 40+ year old rapper addressing fatherhood and family life for an entire project, and doing so successfully. Although Nas had released the track "Daughters" on Life Is Good in 2012, that album oscillated between his early life and his current circumstances. MCHG may not bear the Blueprint name, but it adheres to the goal of that series, to provide a map for mainstream artists to transition from the streets to the family life without losing their hunger or venom. It only further solidified Jay Z as a pioneer an trailblazer, and you'd be hard pressed to find another artist, regardless of genre, who has undergone such a dramatic and successful transformation. 

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Thanks immediately goes out to AintNoJigga, who helped immensely not only in the creation of this article, but in expanding my Hov knowledge infinitely over the past 2 years. Connect with him via Twitter.

*(Note: "Glory" and "Jay Z Blue" are entire songs devoted to Blue Ivy, Jay's first daughter. Only snippets of the lyrics are included)
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Every Beyoncé Lyric That Mentions Motherhood

April 5, 2017, 5:10 pm
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Following on from my piece on every time Jay Z mentioned fatherhood in song, here are all of the times Beyoncé has mentioned motherhood on wax during her career. In stark contrast to her husband, Bey never openly rejected parenthood, and never mocked it. She's also penned some beautiful and heartfelt lyrics about her daughter Blue, and the tragic miscarriage she experienced. 

1999 - 2003
  • She fell in love with a man who was so fine (so fine) / He made her promises yeah / She didn't to think if he was serious no no no / Until she had his baby - Destiny's Child "Sweet Sixteen" (1999)

  • You available? / So sensual / Lullaby love unbreakable / So special, baby makeable - Destiny's Child "Apple Pie A La Mode" (2001)

  • See, I have dreams, and with a man, what will become of them? /  There's not a kid out here who can make me believe / I should postpone my goals, he got tricks up his sleeve? -"If Looks Could Kill (You Would Be Dead)" (2001)

  • Baby boy let's conceive an angel - "Baby Boy" (2003)

  • I want my unborn son to be like my daddy - "Daddy" (2003)

  • Later on in my destiny / I see myself having your child / I see myself being your wife / And I see my whole future in your eyes - "Dangerously In Love 2" (2003)

  • I can't believe I believed / Everything we had would last / So young and naive for me / To think she was from your past / Silly of me to dream / Of one day having your kids / Love is so blind / It feels right when it's wrong - "Me, Myself and I" (2003)

  • Your family told me / One day I would see it on my own / Next thing I know, I'm dealing / With your three kids in my home - "Me, Myself and I" (2003)

  • Now it's been a year and we're closer / Fall in love again when I hold ya / I know that God set you aside / For me and now you are my prize / Wanna grow old with ya / Fill a house with ya pictures / Have a son for you, a little girl for me / Together we'll raise a family -"Summertime" (2003)

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Much of Beyoncé's early songs dealt with the initial phases of a relationship: meeting someone, mutual attraction, and falling in love. On "Sweet Sixteen", she shares a slightly harrowing tale of a girl who falls head over heels in love, only for life to get incredibly real when she finds out she's carrying his baby. On "Apple Pie A La Mode", a man is so desirable he's future father material, but on "If Looks Could Kill", she's hesitant and rational, stopping a possible suitor in his tracks by telling him she needs a serious relationship, not a fling. 

During 2003 she held the position of the father of her child in the absolute highest regard. On "Daddy" she honors her father by seeking a man similar to him, and elsewhere on the album Dangerously In Love she subscribes to the traditional dream of raising a happy family with the man she loves. 

2004-2011
  • There's so much darkness in the world / But I see beauty left in you girl / And what you give me makes me know / That I'll be alright - "Until The End Of Time" (2006)

  • Cause I'm a suga ma-ma-mama / I'm your suga mama, suga mama - "Suga Mama" (2006)

  • Maybe we can start all over / Give another life - "Start Over" (2011)

  • How we're smart enough to make these millions / Strong enough to bear the children (children) / Then get back to business - "Run The World (Girls)" (2011)

  • I'm trying to make us three / From that two - "Countdown" (2011)
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The first three lyrics quoted may not even be about motherhood. That just leaves 2011's smash single "Run The World (Girls)", and "Countdown". Jay and Bey were married in 2008, and much of her lyrics during this period reflected the stage of the relationship she was in at the time. In 2006 there were numerous songs about cheating and the trials that an established relationship goes through. It's safe to assume in 2011 they had begun trying to conceive a child, hence the two blatant references to motherhood on two of the biggest singles.  

2012-2017

  • But it's tough love / I know you feel it in the air / Even the babies know it's there: tough love - "Superpower" (2013)

  • Been having conversations about breakups and separations / I'm not feeling like myself since the baby / Are we gonna even make it? - "Mine" (2013)

  • You wish I was your pound cake / Boy, you know I look good as fuck / Wish I was your baby momma - "Flawless Remix" (2013)

  • I fought for you / The hardest, it made me the strongest - "Heaven" (2013)

  • Heaven couldn't wait for you / No heaven couldn't wait for you / So go on, go home - "Heaven" (2013)

  • We laughed at the darkness / So scared that we lost it / We stood on the ceilings / You showed me love was all you needed - "Heaven" (2013)

  • When I look in your eyes, I feel alive / Some days we say words that don't mean a thing / But when you holding me tight, I feel alive - "Blue" (2013)

  • Come on baby won't you hold on to me, hold on to me / You and I together / Come on baby won't you hold on to me, hold on to me Blue - "Blue" (2013)

  • Each day I feel so blessed to be looking at you / Cause when you open your eyes, I feel alive / My heart beats so damn quick when you say my name / When I'm holding you tight, I'm so alive - "Blue" (2013)

  • When you were born the angels sighed in delight / They never thought they'd see such a beautiful sight / You took the breath and the world was right again / Tears were shed, how we had been blessed - "God Made You Beautiful" (2013)

  • And your love, it shines so bright / You bring me back to life, back to life / You make everything right - "God Made You Beautiful" (2013)

  • You got a light inside, light inside - "God Made You Beautiful" (2013)

  • God made you beautiful - "God Made You Beautiful" (2013)

  • Well look at me, you were brought into my life / I kiss those little feet and watch for your perfect smile / And when it comes, the world stops in your eyes / I found love, I found peace of the purest kind - "God Made You Beautiful" (2013)

  • I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros - "Formation" (2016)

  • Me and my baby, we gon' be alright / We gon' life a good life / Big homie better grow up - "Sorry" (2016)
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It's interesting to watch the way Beyoncé lyrically evolved over the span of her career thus far in regards to relationships. From the outset, on "Dangerously In Love 2" and "Me, Myself and I", she sought out a loving family. She never sought riches, fame, or the wild success she has since attained, and her motherhood references post-2012 reflect a sincerity of character and behaviour. The tragic miscarriage of her first child was handled with grace and heart-wrenching emotion on "Heaven", before the euphoria of tracks like "Blue" and "God Made You Beautiful" that celebrated the arrival of their daughter Blue Ivy. Rather than litter her songs with references to children, as Jay Z has done since the birth of Blue, she dedicates entire songs to her. 2016's LEMONADE features just two overt mentions of Blue, and one of those is to make "Big Homie" aware of just what he's missing by messing around with Becky's. Jay and Bey are notoriously private people, but the LEMONADE visual album had a wealth of stunning shots of the family frolicking together.

Lyrically, it feels like the two are diverging, which makes sense. Beyoncé is still only 35 years old, around the same age as when Jay was heavily focused on his career, dropping The Black Album, retiring to focus on being the president of Def Jam, then returning with the introspective Kingdom Come, the retrospective American Gangster, and the forward-thinking Blueprint 3. Magna Carta, Holy Grail was an embrace of that family life he has begun to crave so badly, but he's got a solid 12 years on Beyoncé. It's her time to influence a generation of people, to become an indispensable icon. By all accounts, with her last two albums, she's cemented a legacy that will be just as iron-clad as her husbands.




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30 Things You Might Have Forgotten About Growing Up, NSW Edition

April 10, 2017, 1:38 am
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Never Step On The Cracks!!!

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Just don't. Trust me.

Custom Backgrounds for your Nokia
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Sure, they cost a fair bit of money, but it was totally worth it! How else were people to know you like The Backstreet Boys?

Happy Harold

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The mere sight of the trailer sent the entire school into a state of high anticipation. It's a giraffe talking about how important it is to eat carrots, why did we adore it so much?

Fundraising with boxes of Freddo Frogs and Caramello Koalas


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No playground was ever complete without some kid wearily moving between student groups trying to offload some fat and sugar for a dollar. It was fantastic to be honest! Even better when Cadbury started using their chocolate blocks in the boxes as well.

Trips to Wonderland were God-Like

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Our parents used to surprise us with visits. They'd get us in the car on some pretence about visiting some relative and we'd end up here. Words can't express how I feel about this place. It was a place for us to bond as a family, to have fun together and create beautiful, vivid memories. It was a true wonderland, filled with delight at every turn. The rides never got stale, especially not the Bush Beastie, which I swear lifted off the rails on that first drop. 

RIP to a legend. 



Trips to Luna Park were less God-Like

https://www.flickr.com/photos/proimos/12121270906Alex Prolmos via Flickr. License
Luna Park is much more a vibe thing. It's a place to go with mates and chill out and have a bit of fun, whereas Wonderland was always a full-day event, with plans and intense concentration. It was always a bit of a cop out when your school went here, especially after they got rid of the Big Dipper.

The obligatory school camp to Canberra

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Our nation's capital. Also sinfully boring except for the Telstra Tower, which is a beautiful work of art. Bonus points if you had to come all the way up from Victoria. 

High school's with vending machines and proper canteens

© Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar, via Wikimedia Commons
If your school canteen looks like this it was happy days. I used to eat cream buns, sausage rolls and LA Ice cola almost every day, but my absolute favourite was the custard doughnut. I assume school canteens are now watered down and boring. Seems like it's the same with vending machines, they're selling apples and such instead of vanilla coke.

Carob Buds

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Back in primary school I guess someone in charge thought carob was healthier than chocolate. Maybe the lack of caffeine was the reason. I adore carob buds now, and they're so hard to find!

Scallops 50c each/5 for $1.50

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Deep fried potato. Not to be confused with "Potato Pancakes", which don't exist.

Nesquik on everything!


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Milo was fine, but it was kind of a one trick pony. Quik was capable of so much: ice cream topping, sprinkled on yoghurt, added to milk (it combined much easier than Milo), sneakily added to Rice Bubbles to make Coco Pops. Delicious.



McDonald's Playground

AussieGold via Flickr. License
How good was Macca's form? Not only did they peddle junk food to children, they provided them with as a place to burn it all off! People talk about being carbon neutral, but McDonald's was calorie neutral. They were fun too, just not in the summer... 

McDonald's Birthday Party

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Remember the ice cream cake? And how they used to take us on a tour of the giant freezer? Epic. 

Red Rattlers

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Some of these legit didn't have freaking doors. They weren't nicknamed "Rattler" because of the bumpy ride, it was because you were rattled about falling asleep on your morning commute and falling out of the carriage on the Harbour Bridge!

Sizzler / Pizza Hut Buffet

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I can't describe the joy I have always felt when entering Sizzler and to a lesser extent Pizza Hut. Sizzler was so freaking good I still go there on occasion. I don't care what anyone says. The dessert bar was stunning, the cheesy toast legendary, and the salad bar allowed you to concoct your own delicacies. Nachos with wedges instead of corn chips, croutons in your spaghetti, bacon bits on your soft serve. RIP guys, you will be missed for eternity.


Music A Viva


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All I remember is a couple of people coming in and playing the Oboe. Better than Maths though!


Learning to sing "Achy Breaky Heart" in Kindergarten


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No idea why we had to sing this. I am sure your school chose something different. At least I hope it did...

Borrowing CDs from the Library

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Before Spotify, libraries were our streaming services. Free!! And who listens to an album for more than 3 days anyway?

Rage

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Before Youtube we had Rage. It was always so exciting to see your favourite song/video, cause you had to sit through 30 others not knowing if they'd ever play it!

Age of Empires 2


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Along with Counterstrike, one of the very first popular internet multiplayer games. I must have spent over 1000 hours playing it. And I still got spanked every time.

Cheez TV


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Just look at this ridiculous list of shows! Nothing more to say.


ICQ/MSN Messenger

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Did you know there was usually a log of all your conversations, archived somewhere on your HD? If you still have your hard drive from back then dust it off and try and find them!

Trends that lasted 6 months at the very least

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Jacks, Yo-Yos, scooters, Pokemon cards, Tazos, all of these took our school by storm for a really long time. Without the internet to introduce a new meme very day, we fixated on something and stuck to it.

Gak

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Before Minecraft, we had things like Gak. It's exactly what it looks like: a giant glob of goo. Stretchy and sticky, it really got disgusting quickly, thanks to dirt, dust, food, hair, fur, and all manner of junk getting stuck to it. After 6 hours it turned into a giant ball of disease. It tasted rubbish too. 

Clag Glue/Blu Stick

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Every kindergarten table in my school had a big pot of Clag glue, and they should have just given us all spoons before class everyday, because most of it ended up in our stomachs. It was bloody delicious. 

I never thought I'd love a glue more until the Blu Stick came out. Made by Bostik, glue went on blue and dried clear, so you could see where you had glued and where needed more glue. Glue glue glue glue glue. Blu stick tasted terrible though. 



Writing your lunch order on a brown paper bag


By Matt Edward [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons
This just reminded me I adore my mother so much.

Saturday morning sport on frosty grass

Tbmynors assumed. [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
Winter sports that started any time before 9am were absolutely brutal! Now you know why you love to sleep in on the weekend, because you wasted all your weekend morning energy chasing after a cricket ball that you couldn't pick up without gloves!


Legendary Characters

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You might have forgotten Grug, but guys like Blinky Bill, Brum, Agro, Mr Squiggle, Johnson & Friends, Babar, and Bananas in Pajamas are going to be your imaginary friends for life!


Sydney 2000 Olympics


By David Shapinsky from Washington, D.C., United States [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
How bloody good were they?! Magical time.


John Howard


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This legend.

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Jay Z The Sportsman

April 10, 2017, 4:44 pm
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Over the course of his public life, Jay hasn't always shown himself to be a supreme athlete. While Roc Nation Sports, the sports management arm of his company, deals with some of the greatest and richest athletes on the planet, Jay usually finds himself at the centre of a meme when he showcases his athletic abilities on camera. But is this fair? Is Jay actually much better at sports than we're giving him credit for? After collaborating with Frank Ocean on the track "Biking", a song that uses riding a bicycle as an extended metaphor for karma in the music industry, there is no better time to explore whether Jay is an underrated sportsman, or just human, like the rest of us.

Cycling

We start with a pursuit that he may actually have had a natural talent for. On Jay's autobiographical 2003 track "December 4th", his mother relates a story of him learning how to ride a bike, without training wheels, at the age of 4. This story has become common in Jay interviews. He told Vibe in 2003:
My uncle had promised to put training wheels on the second bike I’d received from my cousin, but he hadn’t gotten around to it. Me being the younger of four kids, I was determined to be independent and not spoiled... I took the bike outside, and from 10 a.m. to 5pm. taught myself how to ride without training wheels.
He told Oprah in 2009 that as a child he was "famous" because he was the five-year-old who could ride a 10-speed bike, and on "Best Of Me (Part 2)" he claimed to be doing wheelies by age six.

All of this experience didn't stop him from getting flamed in 2013 when Tyler, The Creator posted this picture of Jay cycling on Instagram:



Boxing

In his autobiography Decoded Jay declared boxing a "glorious sport to watch", but "a stupid game to play", because of the potential injuries. This didn't stop Hov honing his own skills, though. In a 1998 interview (7:51) he told a journalist he sparred often, and said:

I don't want people to think they could test me on the street... Everything I do, I've mastered... Two more years Imma be fighting Roy Jones."


This continued into the 2000's. During the height of his beef with Nas, Jay appeared on Hot 97 with Angie Martinez and claimed he'd box Nas, behind closed doors, to determine the outcome of their conflict:
We go to the gym, this one's closed doors, throw on some headgear, three rounds. Quick. 
There have been multiple lyrical references to Jay's ability to throw hands as well. On 2001's "Renegade" he offered "Do not step to me, I'm awkward / I box lefty". On 2003's "Moment of Clarity" he rapped  "What, you gonna box me, homie? I can dodge a jab", and on 2002's "Show You How" he challenged "You can't fight me, in the Porsche I'll box you out."

There's no footage of Jay actually boxing, but we can ascertain from his lyrics and interviews he probably fancies himself in the ring. He's been associated with the sport as both a fan and manager on multiple occasions, with boxing references and metaphors littering his rhymes, and pictures of him with legendary scrappers all over the internet.

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Basketball

While Jay's relationship with basketball is best displayed through his constant Michael Jordan comparisons, lyrical basketball references, and Roc Nation Sports' huge roster of basketball superstars, he revealed in Decoded that he's been playing the sport as far back as he can remember, in apartment 4B in Brooklyn with his dad and older brother:

My big brother Eric played basketball in junior and summer leagues and was a straight star. When we first moved to Marcy my father set up a little basketball hoop in our apartment -- and we would all sweat it out right there in the living room like it was Madison Square Garden.
His ties to the sport are incredibly deep. Back in 2003 Jay took on the famous Rucker Park street ball competition, amassing a team of local legends and ringers that eventually lost to Fat Joe's Terror Squad team (it's a long story, but a freak blackout in the city forced the game to be played the next day, and by then, Jay was on a private plane jetting off on a holiday). While he didn't play in the competition himself, Reebok still decided to award him his own signature basketball shoe in April 2003. At the time, it was the fastest selling shoe in the company's history. He was also an unlockable character in NBA Live 07.

But can Jay ball? We may never know. There is video on youtube of his dribble game, recorded after Kobe Bryant's final outing. On Memphis Bleek's "Do My" video Jay can be seen dunking, although that may have been staged. In 2010 rapper Nelly claimed he could beat Jay in a game of one-on-one. And who knows what's going on in this photo...

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 Tennis

This is one sport Jigga is not too good at. Although, in his defence, he was taking on one of the greatest athletes of all time. During the video for Memphis Bleek's single "Do My", Jay, Bleek and Serena Williams engage in a game of Tennis. While Jay is shown actually returning one of her serves, this may not be an accurate depiction of what transpired. In an interview with 106 & Park Serena said: "Bleek was good, he was actually hitting my balls! But Jay wasn't that good..."

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American Football

Another sport that Roc Nation Management has on lock, with multiple high-profile athletes on the roster. Unfortunately, Jay's physical association with the sport has boiled down to a meme of him looking awkward throwing a football.

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I'm sure if someone analysed every still frame of me playing a random sport they'd find something awkward as well. Hopefully, the footage of Jay playing football with daughter Blue Ivy that aired during Beyonce's LEMONADE visual album will usurp this meme.

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Other Sports / General Exercise

If you don't have a personal trainer in 2017, are you even a superstar? Like the rest of us, Jay tries valiantly to squeeze in his 30 minutes of physical activity every day. Here are some of his favoured methods:
  • Tae Bo - A form of martial arts, Jay was roasted for participating in this form of physical activity by Nas on "Ether": "I still whip you ass; you 36 in a Karate class? / You Tae-Bo ho tryna work it out, you tryna get brolic?"Nas was likely using Jay's line on 2001's "Girls, Girls, Girls" ("That means I fly rough early, plus I know Tae-Bo") as a jump-off. Needless to say,  Jay didn't mention it again...
  • Swimming / Diving - People love to knock a legend don't they? In 2013 the internet exploded with memery after Jay was photographed awkwardly diving into a pool next to Beyoncé. The fact he was next to his famous, beautiful, talented and rich wife on a family holiday in Italy at the time doesn't seem to matter. 
  • Motorsport - The video for Jay's 2006 comeback single, "Show Me What You Got", was dripping in expense and luxury. In the opening scene, Jay (riding shotgun to NASCAR ace Dale Earnhardt Jr in a Ferrari F430 Spider) challenges stock car legend Danica Patrick, who is in a Pagani Zonda, to a motor race through Monaco. Jay then takes the wheel of a speedboat as he engages in another high speed race. 
  • Running - Despite claiming "I just run the town, I don't do too much jogging"on Drake's 2010 track "Light Up", Jay told an interviewer in 2010 that he had run a mile that very morning: "I got up around 8, had some breakfast, went and ran a mile, it was really tough... You know, I just wanted to touch it, a little bit." During the track "Lyrical Exercise" he often references running but uses it as an extended metaphor for the way he trains and hones his skills as a rapper. 
  • Golf - Hov has a mean backswing. Check him out during Memphis Bleek's "Do My" video launching one into the city. 
  • Push-ups / General - In 2003 he was pictured with his then-personal trainer Gregg Miele. In a Rolling Stone feature from 2005 it was revealed he had a gym at his house in New Jersey, and had used it the morning of the interview. He was pictured with exercise physiologist Marco Borges in 2016 at a basketball game. He was pictured backstage in 2006 doing push-ups to "stay fresh". A beautiful home video also exists of Hov doing push-ups with daughter Blue Ivy. 




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Albums Of The Week April 7 - 14

April 12, 2017, 12:21 am
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Slugabed - Inherit The Earth
Rating: 8/10

Greg Feldwick took a 5-year break between his debut and sophomore LP's, and Inherit The Earth is a testament to a man who certainly didn't just hang out on the couch watching house music enter it's most generic phase yet. The new record trades in the washed-out synths for the ghosts of acoustic instruments. After all, Feldwick is a Fruity Loops devotee, and each time you can identify the source of a sound, he puts it through a filter that turns it slightly dystopian, reminiscent of how The Caretaker can turn a 1920's waltz into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. And there's a wealth of ideas and sound on this record, which feels less structured that his debut, almost like an open-world version of a first-person shooter (think Fallout). Likely not by design, but it's decidedly anti-EDM. The anxious beat of "Feeding Time" is the right BPM, but the jazz-infused horn riff is about as uncool a sound as possible in 2017 (until Metro Boomin' uses a trumpet on his next Future beat). When he does touch on this "tropical house" trend on "Gold", the woodwind stabs and halting beat doesn't feel contrived in any way. There's even a lovely ambient piece on "Virtuous Circle" as if Feldwick is intent on breaking free of the constraints of Time Team and proving to us all his next direction could quite literally be anything, anywhere, any time, and any sound.
Best Tracks: "Infinite Wave""Time 2 Let It Go""Feeding Time"




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Future Islands - The Far Field
Rating: 8/10

This record just shades it as their best lyrical effort thus far. All of the band's sonic trademarks are present, as they continue to add a strong undercurrent of momentum and melody to almost every single song. There are no stop-start moments, and the most devastating lyrical efforts, in particular, "Through The Roses", aren't immediately identifiable as heart-tuggers until you consult the lyrics. And while you'd never have previously said Herring lacked emotion on wax, his recorded voice is finally starting to impart that desperation and depth of feeling that he so brilliantly conjures for live performances. He's an energetic front man, whose delivery often drags the production along behind him, valiantly turning standard synth-pop into something as grand as the soundscapes The Killers were able to create on their first two records. If the music ever matches the man, we are in for a classic album. Future Islands isn't quite there yet, but the potential is being realised more and more with every record.
Best Tracks: "Through The Roses""Cave""Ran"



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Joey Bada$$ - ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$
Rating: 6/10

It feels like Joey's career is still in somewhat of a holding pattern. He blew up as a teenager with prodigious skill, but like so many before him (Canibus, Chino XL, Pharoahe Monch) he's struggling to turn that skill into an interesting and exciting narrative. He makes his best play on this record, an album of the times spitting raw venom at the systematic and disgusting racism present in his home country. The intro to "TEMPTATION" is a public service announcement that needs to be heard by anyone who isn't fully aware of the way African Americans are being discriminated against, spoken by nine-year-old Zianna Oliphant. It's heart-breaking, but Joey never manages to replicate that emotion on wax, either in this song or in subsequent ones. This slight disconnect between emotion and words is never more obvious than "ROCKABYE BABY", in which Schoolboy Q drops by and in his very first bar grabs your attention like Joey isn't able to at any other point on the album. Joey is much better on "RING THE ALARM", showcasing his own ability next to Kirk Knight and Nyck Caution, both of whom can spit really, really well. Joey spits bars. That's his unique selling point, and if he wants to be mentioned in the new school conversation alongside A$AP Rocky, Schoolboy Q, Big Sean and J. Cole, he needs to play to his strengths.
Best Tracks: "ROCKABYE BABY""RING THE ALARM""SUPER PREDATOR"




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The Chainsmokers - Memories... Do Not Open
Rating: 7/10

EDM thrives on that fist-in-the-air energy that unites casual drugs users across the globe. They pay their $180 to see someone stand behind a desk and yell platitudes at them while they lose 7 kilos in fluids and come home with their pupils the size of disco balls. The Chainsmokers know this. People clown them, critics despise them, it's cool and edgy to hate them. But it's just music, and hate all you like, this duo delivers the goods. They don't try anything fancy on their debut LP, and they don't try and turn the party up to 11 on every single track. It means songs like "Something Just Like This" can flutter your stomach, while "Bloodstream" drags the conversation out of the summer road trip for 3:44 as listeners question their own happiness and own existence in the party realm. Ultimately, it's a brilliant summer album, and while only the most intellectually vapid will get something out of the lyrics, they don't impose on the mood of the songs, and in EDM music that's pretty much all you can ask for.
Best Tracks: "Bloodstream""Something Just Like This""Break Up Every Night"




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Booka Shade - Galvany Street
Rating: 6.5/10

Last week I commented on Goldfrapp's ability to throwback to those art-pop days of the early to mid-2000s, when electronica was beginning to explore the fine line between pop and experimental. Booka Shade decided to do exactly that on Galvany Street. They're toying with the definition of trip-hop, especially on songs like "Babylon" and "All Falls Down", which blend EDM elements with slower breakbeats. Craig Walker gets all Damon Albarn on "Loneliest Boy", and it can be hard to shake that image. Not quite as catchy as the brit-pop legend, nonetheless these tracks stick securely in your ear, happy to be trotted out on a repeat listen. It's a very chilled out album, not quite as exciting and dramatic as their initial work, but another set and forget record designed to help you slip and slide through the week. 
Best Tracks: "Loneliest Boy""Broken Skin""Magnolia"




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Cold War Kids - LA DIVINE
Rating: 5.5/10

Please don't let it be so... Remember Stereophonics? Dandy Warhols? Hell, even The Rifles fell prey. Cold War Kids are not a pop band. I don't care if Modest Mouse went number 1 on the US Alt charts with "Float On", you don't have to do the same thing. By the time "Part of the Night" rolls around, your synapses are tired of firing. I expect pop platitudes from The Chainsmokers, but the bubblegum of "Ordinary Idols" or drum programming of "Invincible" is just too much. "It only takes a moment of silence / We stare in disbelief at our phones"and "What if we attack like an army / The only weapon is love"is a little excessive coming from the band that brought us "Hospital Beds" and "Hang Me Up To Dry". Lead single "Love Is Mystical" is the perfect mix of pomp, swagger, and dirty indie beer-bar performance, as Willett perfects his waltz over a throbbing piano riff and aggressive percussion. That's the kind of live energy Cold War Kids can bring. Let's hope this album is as round as their edges get because Train isn't far off on the horizon... Scary.
Best Tracks: "Love Is Mystical""Luck Down" 

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Facebook Found My Old Psychologist And Suggested Him As A Friend

April 15, 2017, 5:08 pm
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So the "suggested friends" tab... I don't mind it to be honest. I can usually lose a sneaky half hour Facebooking people from my past, or people connected to my present, at the not-so-subtle request of Mark Zuckerberg's algorithms. I don't normally think too carefully about how they come up with this list, but then I've never had cause to. Until today, that is.

So today, I log on, and a name I vaguely remember pops up. A little mental digging, and it turns out it was a psychologist I had 3 sessions with in mid-2014. I was directed there by a psychiatrist, I booked an appointment via his receptionist, I probably googled him once or twice in early 2014, and that's it. I never once posted publicly about him on Facebook, I never posted about him on Twitter or Instagram, and the only time I would have mentioned him would have been via Facebook messenger, probably with my mum, girlfriend, or sister. We also have no mutual friends, and he doesn't appear in my phone's contact list.

So how in the world did Facebook dig this name up, and suggest that I become friends with a psychologist I had a private, professional interaction with? I've been in the system for a little while, and doctors ask for my consent before they share information with one another about me. How did Facebook gather this information? Is it ethical for them to know that I am linked to this person? Who else did they share this information with? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I actually like that Google and Facebook gather information on me and target my advertisements. But this is too far, these are medical records and private appointments. I'm not concerned about being linked with this psychologist, but if these are things Facebook can find on me, what can they find out about you? What can future employers then find out? What about potential partners? There's a reason medical records are private. 

To try and make sense of this, let's look at how Facebook finds possible friends. This is their official word: 
People You May Know are people on Facebook that you might know. We show you people based on mutual friends, work and education information, networks you’re part of, contacts you’ve imported and many other factors.
None of this explains why this person appeared on my suggested friends list. Around mid-2016, a number of outlets began reporting concerning behaviour by Facebook with regards to suggested friends. MamaMia collated a bunch of rumours and reddit theories in this article, Forbes floated a couple of theories here, but the creepiest by far was this report from Recode, published in October 2016. In it, writers Jason and Kurt revealed a number of highly suspicious coincidences; for example, Jason walked past an acquaintance, no dialogue passed between them, and just hours later Jason appeared in that person's recommendations. Here's another, probably more relevant to my story:
Jason met with a company spokesperson he hadn’t previously met. Within a few hours, that person appeared at the top of Jason’s recommendations.
So the guys from Recode asked Facebook some questions, and these are some selected answers:

  • When finding recommended friends, Facebook doesn't use your location.
  • It does use your phone contacts (if you've elected to share them with Facebook or Messenger).
  • It doesn't use your calls or text messages (unless made through Messenger, I assume).
  • It doesn't use your email.
  • It doesn't gather information from any third-party websites, so I assuming Google is out if LinkedIn is out.

All of that information can be found here. The article was published by Recode.net on October 1 2016, and the article was written by Kurt Wagner and Jason Del Rey.

If we take those answers by the Facebook spokesperson as the truth, how did they come up with my former psychologist, a man I haven't spoken to since 2014, as a friend recommendation? If I look back, I checked into his medical centre 3 times on Foursquare (I've since deleted those check-ins). This doesn't really hold up, because there were 10-20 other doctors working out of the same facility.  I have 3 email chains with his name listed, all from 3 months in 2014. I've deleted every tweet I have posted pre-2016, and I would never have tweeted about this. So here are the 4 possibilities I can see:
  • I was featured in this article about exercise addiction in December 2014, and the psychologist provided quotes and insight for the piece, but we didn't speak about that, nor did I have any contact with him during or after the writing process.
  • I recently posted this story about my own mental health battle, and the importance of psychological intervention if someone is struggling mentally. It's possible he read the post somehow and googled or Facebooked me. I believe this to be incredibly unlikely. 
  • Facebook may have access to parts of my life I deem private, such as my email account and my Messenger conversations. .
  • I have posted about it on social media and plain forgot. This seems unlikely, I don't know under what circumstances I'd share that I was seeing an eating disorder psychologist unless I mention him in a blog post somewhere, and a quick search of this blog reveals I've never used his name in any post..
So, what is it? Have you had any weird suggested friends pop up? Is there a simple explanation for this that I'm missing? 




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More Life vs. DAMN.: An Analysis and Review

April 19, 2017, 1:52 am
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These two don't appear comparable. Drake's More Life is a pop album masquerading as hip-hop, but no amount of hard-edged Grime can disguise his grab at chart success. The simple fact it's 22 tracks is proof enough he knows how to drop a project that will maximise his streaming figures. DAMN. is not designed to go number 1 on the Billboard 200, although it will, and that's the appeal of Kendrick. He's the first rapper since 2Pac who can consistently put out dense and emotional music that is bought voraciously by mainstream audiences.

These two albums might differ in concept and goal, but they're likely going to be the two biggest hip-hop releases of 2017. So, let's unpack each album based on Production, Lyricism, Quotables, Concept, Flow, and Overall Listenability. 

Production

More Life
While Drake doesn't seem to care that the world seems to care about the well-carved niche he's settled into over all four of his studio albums and his 2015 commercial mixtape, More Life hints that he's ready to entertain the idea that maybe VIEWS was one project too many without a sonic overhaul. This playlist plays exactly like a good playlist should: The transitions are as good as a Terius Nash solo album, and mood is managed to perfection. "Passionfruit" hits like a summery cocktail, and "Gyalchester" through "Sacrifices" is the hardest 4 song run since What A Time To Be Alive. He enlists 40, of course, but there's such a wealth of talent and innovation in the producer list. Nineteen85 is beginning to come of age, picking up a brilliant credit on Khaled's Holy Key last year and snatching dancehall and drum & bass influence for the standout "Get It Together". Boi-1da and Murda Beatz are gimmes, but plucking T-Minus out of the wilderness was a brilliant call. Taking a chance on the inexperienced FrancisGotHeat produced the entrancing "4422", a beautiful piece of music. Overall, this is comfortably Drake's best-produced project, and will likely stand up as one of the best of the year. The beats are crisp, clean, inventive, they hit hard, and they never tire or sound repetitive. 

DAMN.
Some billed this as Kendrick's attempt to straddle the line between full-on mainstream artist and incredible underground storyteller and lyricist. They pointed to first single "HUMBLE" as proof, a repetitive Mike WiLL Made It beat that favoured the simplicity of DJ Mustard and allowed Kendrick to spit venom and fire. What we got was almost the anti-TPAB. That album had a clear vision, and the production team worked tirelessly to perfect every single element. The result was staggering, an album so full of brilliant textures and soundscapes it almost defied belief. DAMN. is none of that. The production sounds confused, halfway between the experimental TPAB and the straight hip-hop fire and devastating bangers of GKMC. There are some standouts, including the thumper "DNA,", the incredible "XXX" (probably the only track that would fit on TPAB), and the Andre 3000-like "LUST". Yet there are so many beats that feel half-finished, that are too laid-back for Kendrick to match his flow and delivery to his message. "PRIDE" is the sleepiest beat of the year, doing an injustice to Kendrick's back and forth with his own conscience over the correct way to handle fame and fortune. "FEEL" is the mismatch of the decade. Kendrick's frank observations about where his fame has gotten him, especially in regards to those close to him, needs something dramatic and explosive. Sounwave needed to produce another "m.A.A.d. City", instead the beat is a dull Isaiah Rashad piece and Kendrick sounds exasperated and unable to coax the emotion he needs from the song. 

Winner: More Life
DAMN. is unfocused, it meanders, and there is too much simplicity and a lack of cohesion between message and sound. More Life is perfect, as you'd expect a top-tier pop album to be. Drake and his producers transition beautifully from song to song and treat the project like a live show, managing emotion and mood masterfully. 

Lyricism

More Life
Drake hasn't really been bothered with lyricism his entire career. There's a bunch of quotables, but nothing worth troubling the greats over. On opener "Free Smoke", his hardest song since 2015, he shows he blatantly just does not care, with what must be his 15th, and worst, Kid 'n Play reference: "House party up the road, yeah / I'm not Kid 'n Play / This kid doesn't play about the flow, yeah / Y'all keep playin' with your nose, yeah". Moving on.

DAMN.
Why is everyone so quick to put Kendrick in their top 5? Because he blends the emotion and story-telling of 2Pac with the insane lyricism of Notorious B.I.G. As a top 5 Kendrick scholar on Genius, I can attest to just how incredibly deep this man's mind can go. And while DAMN. is not Kendrick in top form, he's light years ahead of any other rapper, mainstream or otherwise, that's currently active. And I mean Jay Z, Nas, Lupe Fiasco, MF DOOM. I mean everyone. From the very start on "DNA" he weaves metaphors around a coherent and relatable story line. "Cocaine quarter piece, got war and peace inside my DNA", "Backbone don't exist, born outside a jellyfish, I gauge". But while Kendrick raps rings around the competition regularly on DAMN., it's not on the same level as his last 3 releases (UU, TPAB, GKMC). There were no wasted bars on those records, no treading water, no odd analogies or weird similes or played-out references. DAMN. has multiple second-tier bars that wouldn't be out of place on a Big Sean record. "Yoga on a Monday, stretchin' to Nirvana / Watchin' all the snakes, curvin' all the fakes", "Tell me who you loyal to / Is it money? Is it fame? Is it weed? Is it drink?", "Parmesan where my accountant lives". Then there are entire sections of verses that read very pedestrian, like the end of the first verse on "LUST", or the first verse on "ELEMENT". Not since Section.80 has Kendrick rapped so much filler, unless you count his bank-balance-boosting pop collabos. Maybe he is just tired? Maybe he wanted to reach us with more relatable and less complex language? 

Winner: DAMN.
Not even remotely a contest. Drake had zero bars of lyricism. Kendrick had 15+ per song. There's a reason why one of these rappers is in the top 5, and the other is a pop artist spoken of in the same breath as Nelly.

Storytelling

More Life
Within the bubble he has worked hard to create, Drake is a decent story-teller. He saves in-depth tales for his studio albums, so More Life contains snippets of what it's like to exist as the hottest pop rapper on the planet, without ever really sticking to a narrative for more than a few bars. This works very very well, exemplified by "Get It Together", a simple chorus and a simple thought that prompts some mental gymnastics: What does Drake need to get together? Could he ever be in a proper, committed relationship? Is it because he's always working so hard? There are also snatches of personality and opulence. On "Free Smoke" he raps "Just know man like Chubbs / He's a fixer if I ever gotta fix tings / Just know man like Fif, He's a sickaz", and on "Sacrifices" he's outlandish, bragging "I got Dubai plates in the California State". He can descend into tried and tested methods often, though they rarely lag or feel as dull as VIEWS. Alas, it's songs like "Teenage Fever" that expose Drake's inability to emote further than the length of his penis, both as a sexual device and a representation of his ego. He trots out tired teenage power-plays as if he's creating The Art of War, and that's one of the reasons why VIEWS failed. Thankfully, More Life is a little (I said a little) more self-aware. 

DAMN.
On final track "DUCKWORTH." Kendrick weaves one of his traditionally brilliant tales. Like a Hollywood drama that twists, turns, and spits, this track is about a chance meeting between his label head Top Dawg, and Kendrick's father Ducky, and how they almost came to violence around a local KFC. The final bars hit harder than anything else this year: "Because if Anthony killed Ducky, Top Dawg could be servin' life / While I grew up without a father and die in a gunfight." In an instant, Kendrick uses his fame and power to show how pointless and damaging gun violence can be. How many other beautiful souls have we been deprived of because of needless gun violence?  Alas, it's a standout moment that isn't matched on the rest of the record. While TPAB and GKMC were incredibly dense and layered storylines, DAMN. is more muddled and confusing, and it's difficult to draw a coherent narrative out. Essentially, Kendrick seems to be dealing with his own mortality, and how his actions on earth as a famous rapper, with all attendant temptations, might impact his ability to connect with God and the afterlife. As we saw on 2015's "u", Kendrick is battling a lot of self-worth issues, and he's desperate not to fall into the trap of addiction and excess that those before him with this level of fame succumbed to. He uses short narratives to convey powerful messages, as on "XXX." when he tells us his friend's child was killed because of the debts of the father, or on "YAH." when the mention of his niece's euphoria at seeing Kendrick on TV grounds his existential worries in reality, giving the anxiety a more relatable victim. Ultimately though, Kendrick is dragging us inside his mind and not letting us out. I haven't crunched the numbers, but I'd wager he uses the words "I" and "my" more on this album than any of his previous records. We're used to Kendrick weaving his own narrative around that of either his city, the music industry, or American culture. On DAMN. it's insular and difficult to grasp unless you've experienced similar emotions. 

Winner: DAMN.
While Drake's More Life is easy to slip in and out of, DAMN. rewards a patient and informed listen. The narratives aren't clear, they aren't linear, and they aren't always easy to understand, but that seems to be the point. The complexity and raw emotion in his scattered musings is truly artistic, and sadly beautiful. 

Quotables


More Life
This is Drake's strong suit, and one of the reasons why VIEWS felt so disappointing. Ever since the release of More Life, my group chats have been lit up with random Drake quotes, and Twitter and Instagram suffered a similar fate. Like it or not, this is the hashtag generation, and a quick bar is more easily digested than an entire verse of dense lyricism. "My side chick got a 5S with the screen cracked, still hit me back right away", "40 got house on the lake, I ain't know we had a lake", "You need me to get that shit together so we can get together", "I'm blem for real, I might just say how I feel". There are 5-10 quotables every single track, it's incredible. 

DAMN.
Kendrick employs some good old-fashioned repetition on this album, notably on his hit single "HUMBLE". While the chorus is likely directed at himself, many have taken it as an outward expression of aggression, with "lil' bitch, be humble" a constant on social media platforms since it's release. Alas, this album contains few other rallying cries. "My left stroke just went viral" doesn't lend itself to many everyday situations, and even the Rihanna feature on "LOYALTY." is devoid of her traditionally solid quotable reputation. 

Winner: More Life

Concept

More Life
More Life is a playlist, and playlists are carefully cultivated and can take on individual and unique meaning depending on who is listening. More Life is like the sequencing of a live show, or a DJ set without the ability to gauge the mood of the audience and adjust accordingly, which makes it a more tricky prospect to create. Drake and his two executive producers, Oliver El-Khatib and 40, have done an incredible job. Rather than wait for the circumstances to fit the playlist, More Life can turn any situation into the right circumstances. And if not, you can pick and choose songs to go with your own specialised playlists. The harder rap songs like "Free Smoke" and "Portland" are brilliant on your workout rotation, while "Passionfruit", "4422" and "Get It Together" are almost compulsory listening when preparing for a night out. Drake has never really stuck to a concept for an entire project, and if he has, such as on IYRTITL, it's been loose and easily modified. More Life is his most immersive listen.

DAMN.
Kendrick's last two full-length LP's were two of the best concept records of all time, regardless of genre. So DAMN. feels odd; it's inconsistent, songs don't fit together, and tracks like "LOYALTY." stick out as anomalies. Without Kendrick confirming anything to do with the concept, or explaining it like he did at the end of TPAB with "Mortal Man", the internet is scrambling to attach any and all deep theoretical concepts to the record, but they're really just theories until we get official word. Some say you can play the tracklist backwards and it transforms the meaning, others say Kendrick dies in "BLOOD." and the record is his retrospective attempt to avoid eternal damnation. But these are all thoughts and theories. Are we trying to assign meaning that doesn't exist? Are we disappointed that the album feels loose and unfocused, and are trying to make excuses? 

Winner: More Life
Kendrick's concept on DAMN. seems to simply be his struggle to keep a clean conscience while reaching dizzying mainstream heights. That was a side-story on TPAB, and even there it was better fleshed out and more cohesive. As yet, there's no confirmation that DAMN. is any deeper than this. More Life is simple in concept but flawless in execution. What's more important than taking people out of their own heads and into a world of fun and care-free enjoyment for 80 minutes?

Flow

More Life
Drake mimicks flows. He does it on More Life, snatching a cadence from no-hit wonder XXXTENTACION on "KMT", and the more passionate Drake haters even claimed he bit Lil Uzi Vert during the album. It's 2017 and no-one cares anymore. A flow is not something you can copyright, to my knowledge. Drake may have never come up with an original way of saying rhymes in his entire career, but he wouldn't be the first to build a career borrowing sounds from other artists. He's still not the most calming presence on a beat, and sometimes he sounds stilted and a bit off-kilter (such as on "Portland" and "Jorja Interlude"), but it's hard to deny his presence. This is his most vocally diverse project, and he sounds nothing less than professional, even at his worst moments. At his best, he flows like honey.

DAMN.
There have been points in the last 12 months where his flow has fallen into 2 distinct patterns: His aggressive flow (such as on "The Blacker The Berry") and his weird falsetto voice (as seen on "Holy Key"). Previously, he's been almost untouchable. He made Eminem lift to an entirely new level on "Love Game", he made mincemeat of everyone on "Fuckin' Problems", and the insane breath control on "For Free?" was absolutely flawless. Watching him perform at Coachella this past weekend was a privilege and an honour, he proved his top 5 credentials by performing largely without a backing track, and he never missed a beat. So where is that on DAMN.? The end of "DNA." and the entirety of "XXX." aside, he rarely dazzles. That's not to say it's bad, but does it impress you? "HUMBLE." is pretty stock standard, a slightly sped up trap flow that matches Mike WiLL's sparse beat. "LUST." recalls his most recent pop collabos, a sleepy and uninspired drawl. "FEAR." exemplifies the rut, a switch between the loud abrasive flow and the calm falsetto. He even gets outrapped by Rihanna. Maybe it was an artistic tool, for them to slightly switch roles on "LOYALTY.", but she sounds hard-edged and venomous while Kendrick sounds meek and tired. Again, that could be intentional, but, as with the overall concept, that's not immediately obvious. 

Winner: Tie
Kendrick used to be entirely untouchable. On DAMN. he doesn't dazzle or excite, outside of a couple of verses. That's at odds with his incredible career as a rap technician thus far. Drake doesn't ever dazzle, and he is no technician, but he's always interesting and he always engages the listener. And he does float on "Madiba Riddim". 

Overall Listenability

More Life
It's likely this will become the most listenable project of 2017. Drake accumulated 89.9 million streams in 24 hours on one platform alone (Apple Music). And while VIEWS was dull, insular, and didn't lend itself to repeat listens, More Life is designed to be heard multiple times, in multiple life circumstances, or on multiple road trips. This is a playlist, and it's curated almost to perfection, so it's basically unmatched thus far for listenability.

DAMN.
Some claimed this was to be Kendrick's commercial, mainstream album. That's doing a disservice to GKMC, which was stacked full of bangers. Not to mention the stunning "Alright" and "These Walls" off TPAB, an album oozing in jazz pomp that sounded incredible on a decent set of speakers. DAMN. is his least sonically accessible full-length LP, but it isn't a one-listen wonder. You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you only listened once. If you like Kendrick, and you're trying to get your head around his concept and message, many listens will be required. Immediately, "LOYALTY." and "XXX." jump out as big playlist fodder, but the urgent "FEEL." and the workout playlist addition "DNA." also deserve your attention. Apart from that, there's filler that drags on the 3rd listen, notably "FEAR." and "PRIDE.". That hasn't happened since Section.80.

Winner: More Life
Pretty unsurprising. Drake's album is pop disguised as hip-hop. Kendrick has proven with "HUMBLE." he's wholly capable of smashing the Billboard charts, but a big part of DAMN. is the restraint he uses when crafting his next record. Mainstream chart success is not everything.


Result:

More Life appears to have Kendrick beat at 4 to 2, but these are separate albums for separate listens and separate car rides and separate life circumstances. It's not Kendrick's best project, it's a 7.5/10. This is probably Drake's best project, and it's a 7.5/10. That should tell you all you need to know. Kendrick's mediocre is equal to the best that the biggest pop rapper has to offer. One album will be seen as a slight disappointment in a career that's already produced 2 classic albums, the other will be seen as the highlight of a rapper who burned brightly for longer than most, but ultimately fell out of contention along with so many contemporaries (Nelly and Ja Rule to name but two).
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Joe Goddard - Electric Lines Review

April 22, 2017, 5:22 pm
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Joe Goddard - Electric Lines
Rating: 8.5/10

On 2015's "Huarache Lights", Hot Chip's engine room of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard addressed the unrelenting advance of technology and questioned the role of humans, especially in the making of music. That album, Why Make Sense?, was a wonderful lesson in control and restraint, like they were trying to prove to the world electro-pop music doesn't have to be a fat kid sitting at their computer playing around with Fruity Loop pads.

If that album was restrained, Electric Lines, Goddard's second solo record, is an explosion of technicolour, a spit-shined record of influence and nostalgia. It's closer in scope and creation to a Girl Talk album than anything the EDM kings are creating in 2017, yet there's always a sense of "he can do it too" with Goddard's work. The sample that provides a beautiful build up in "Home" could just as easily explode into the stratosphere, Chainsmoker's style. Instead, we hear Goddard, his falsetto seemingly stronger with age, crooning and urging the beat along. There's a true sense of authenticity and warmth underpinning each thought or sound presented.

And the influences? It reads like a laundry list of beautiful sounds from the past 30 years. There is a wonderful clash of 80s disco and mid-90s electronica on "Funk You Up", huge late-90s pop on "Ordinary Madness", and mid-2000s art-pop on "Human Heart". "Lasers" might be the most promising of the bunch, as Goddard grabs from 3 separate decades to create a glitched-out dance number that's as at home in South London at 4am on a Tuesday morning as it is in the epic European raves of the 90s. Rarely can an artist or group take inspiration from such a wide variety of time periods and sounds and deliver a coherent album that requires no skipping and houses no filler. Now you know why Hot Chip haven't put out a bad record in 13 years.

Although Goddard is ever-present behind the decks, it's his voice that endears the most. On slow burn "Nothing Moves" he's vulnerable, crooning about the power of emotion over that of the five senses. The very next track is "Electric Lines", which features Alexis Taylor, and shows just how alike these two are in their approach to vocals. Taylor is smooth and unflustered, reprising his role on 2015's "Hurarache Lights" in an impassioned defence of heart and soul in contemporary pop music, and life in general. This track ties the narrative of the record up nicely, especially when followed by "Music Is The Answer". This isn't an album designed to throw shade at electronic producers who sit in front of their computer and write all their music to a formula. It's a plea for the world to drag their heads out of technology long enough to see the beauty and brilliance through their own eyes, in full HD. The only time a kid hears an Aphex Twin song from the 90s is when some edgy news outlet claims "Windowlicker" is one of the greatest videos of all time. Goddard isn't grabbing your phone out of your hand, or locking it away in the top drawer, he's politely asking you to please pay attention, because there is more to life than how many Instagram likes that picture of your truffle-salted bowl of chips gets.

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What if Lil Wayne had signed with Jay Z in 2005?

April 24, 2017, 1:22 am
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Source: AintNoJigga
Around 2005-2006, Jay Z, as president of Def Jam, made a play to sign Lil Wayne. It never eventuated. Jay's side of the story, told to The Breakfast Club in 2013, places the blame for the failed deal squarely on the table of Birdman, the head of Cash Money Records, the label that discovered and signed Wayne. Jay claims Birdman sent him a letter for "torturous interference", and that was that. Lil Wayne explained in 2016 that he had indeed taken a daytime meeting with Jay at a 40/40 club in the mid-2000s, but the $175k value of the deal wasn't agreeable: "Believe that... I was looking like... two teeth in my mouth is 175. My bottom teeth."

2006 was the beginning of Wayne's run as the greatest rapper on the planet. He ran the genre from 2006 through at least 2008, releasing an unprecedented amount of critically acclaimed music. As Jay said on 2009's "A Star Is Born", "Wayne scorchin', I'll applaud him / If he keep going, pass the torch to him". But Wayne didn't keep going. His 2009 rock album Rebirth fell on deaf ears, and after his 8-month incarceration that began in 2010, he was never able to recapture the alchemy that saw him entirely untouchable during that halcyon run.

How would Wayne's career have been different, had this illustrious period been under the guidance of Jay Z, and either Def Jam Records or Roc-A-Fella?


Free Mixtapes? Unlikely


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While Wayne had no choice but to release Dedication 2 (2006) and Da Drought 3 (2007) for free (although D2 did pop up on iTunes at one point), due to his lack of payment for instrumentals already used by other rappers, there was a wealth of original music released for free between 2006 and 2010. Wayne arguably built his buzz off of mixtapes, notably the Squad Up series in the early-2000s, which signified his coming of age as a lyricist and true technician. But it doesn't hide the fact that his three critically acclaimed mixtapes (D2, DD3, No Ceilings) had 20-30 of the hottest verses he would ever spit, all for free.

Jay Z doesn't give things away for free. Even his own critically acclaimed mixtape, the S. Carter Collection, was designed to boost his bank balance. It came packaged with his the sneaker collaboration he'd forged with Reebok, one that attained huge, unrivalled success. Freestyles get recycled and thrown onto album tracks, or used to promote the albums of his own artists (think "Dear Summer" on Memphis Bleek's 534, or his "Grammy Family Freestyle" appearing in full HD with a Chris Martin feature). 

Notice that the majority of Jay's artists don't put out mixtapes. Beanie Sigel didn't release a mixtape until he was under Dame Dash. Bleek waited till 2005, and self-released free music. Young Chris didn't release a mixtape until 2007, post-Roc-A-Fella. Neef Buck released one mixtape while signed to Roc-A-Fella, though under his own label. J. Cole has released 2 mixtapes under the Roc Nation label, the second was released commercially and charted at number 7 on the US albums charts, and the first was re-released in 2013 commercially. 

It's unclear how Jay would have navigated this situation. Likely, he'd urge Wayne to hold some of those incredible verses back, to be used on even more guest spots or for future albums. A large part of Wayne's success during this incredible period was due to his mixtapes, and the fact they were free ensured they spread across the internet like wild-fire. But did Wayne burn too brightly? Did he spread himself too thin? Would he have improved his longevity if he held some of that music back? 

The only time Jay and Wayne have since linked up for a full project (they have collaborated on 3 individual tracks) was the Free Weezy Album in 2015, a record Wayne intended to release for free, but ended up a Tidal streaming exclusive, securing a revenue stream from an album that wouldn't have made any tangible income. 

Quality Control ("Pussy Monster"?!)

"I just make the records, Tez picks the songs." Tez is Cortez Bryant, Wayne's long-time manager and A&R. As Tez said in that interview: "Wayne is like 'I'm a just create it and give it to you and you do what you do with it'". So this means he's accountable for "Pussy Monster" appearing on Wayne's near-classic Tha Carter III, or "Wowzers" on IANAHB2, and relegating "Mirror", Wayne's incredible collaboration with Bruno Mars, to the deluxe edition of Tha Carter IV. 

Someone should have stepped in before Wayne released his 2009 rock album Rebirth. While it wasn't terminally bad, it was an early example of the inconsistency that has now become his most frustrating quality as an artist. He followed up the incredible, million-in-a-week Grammy nominated Tha Carter III with the worst album of his career. 

Jay Z did rock as well. Twice on 2002's The Blueprint 2 he indulged in guitar-based music, on "A Dream" and "Guns & Roses". He also partook in a genre-busting collaboration with Linkin Park for 2004's Collision Course, an EP that shot to number 1, went platinum, and sold 3.5 million copies worldwide, along with widespread critical acclaim. 

Now, imagine if Wayne had saved the two best tracks from Rebirth, "Prom Queen" and "Drop The World", and placed them on his 2010 record I Am Not A Human Being, released to keep his buzz up while he was behind bars. "Prom Queen" hit number 15 on the US Billboard 100, and would have made a brilliant mid-album palate cleanser. Instead, Wayne has a record in his discography that sits at 37/100 on Metacritic. Jay Z would never allow this to happen. 



Leaks (or how Lance Rivera learned to stay away from Kit Kats)

Source: AintNoJigga

Yeah, Jay Z doesn't much like leaks. In 1999 he was arrested and charged with stabbing label CEO Lance "Un" Rivera at the Kit Kat Club. Jay pleaded guilty, and skated with probation. It's believed Jay and his team attributed a month-early leak of his 4th studio album Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter to Rivera, and dealt retribution. 

Although Jay's music would leak again, it would never be on such a scale. Lil Wayne suffered more than almost anyone else from the actions of a bootlegger. The offending party was DJ Empire, who leaked almost the entirety of what was to be Wayne's LP Tha Carter III. Cortez Bryant explained Wayne was hurt, but locked down the studio and created almost an entirely new album, which ended up being some of his best work. 

Overall, 35+ original songs were leaked from these recording sessions. It appeared on the internet as Da Drought Is Over series, but also The C3 Sessions. Wayne would suffer similar leaks before Tha Carter IV, although not to the same extent. While Jay Z's album leaked a month in advance way back in 1999, he wouldn't experience another leak of such magnitude. In 2008 a couple of loosies surfaced, notably "Ain't I", and "Ultra" and "Ghetto Techno" appeared online around this time too. But it's safe to say Jay tightened his circle notably, and that of his artists. Although albums like The College Dropout leaked, no-one on Roc-a-fella lost that amount (more than 35 songs) of high quality original product, ever. 


Who knows what measures Jay Z has in place to combat leaks? But just imagine if Wayne had songs like "Pussy, Money, Weed", "I'm A Beast", "Did It Before", "Kush", "La La La", "Something You Forgot" and "Love Me Or Hate Me" in his arsenal, ready to be deployed any time his career took a slight dip (during his incarceration, for example). 

Wayne Would Never Need To Sue

 During Cortez's Rap Radar episode it was revealed Cash Money was paying Wayne all the way up until 2014's "Believe Me" dropped. They waited for the money from the label, and it never arrived: "This time when we put it out, the check didn't come." The hugely successful Drake Vs Wayne tour began, then concluded, and Wayne's team wanted to put his next studio album, Tha Carter V, out immediately to capitalise. Still, Cash Money couldn't come up with the cash money.

Roc-A-Fella has been accused of owing former artists money. In 2010 Beanie Sigel went on record saying Dame Dash"owe me some money... My own lawyer found about $11 million that Dame stole from me". Oddly, Oschino, a member of the Roc group State Property, told The Breakfast Club in 2016 it was Beanie who owed them money. And while Dame Dash has been dogged by claims that he "owes everyone", it's incredibly rare to hear anyone level that claim at Jay Z. Beanie and Jay made up at the Tidal B-Sides concert in 2014, and Jay remains on good terms with Young Chris, Memphis Bleek, and just about everyone except Jaz-O. 

There are no parallels between what Birdman is currently doing to Lil Wayne, and what Jay Z has done to any of his artists, ever. Doubtless, if Wayne had signed with Jay in the mid-2000s, his bank balance would truly reflect his sales and standing in the industry. 

Young Money

Young Money Entertainment was formed in 2005, believed to be a sweetener to help convince Wayne to re-sign with Cash Money Records for an extended period of time. The label has 11 number 1 albums in their discography, and two of the biggest artists in the world, Nicki Minaj and Drake, are currently signed to the label. 

If Wayne expressed a desire to create his own label while signed to Jay Z, things would have taken a similar path. On 2011's "Why I Love You" Jay rapped "I tried to teach niggas how to be kings / And all they ever wanted to be was soldiers", with regards to artists like Beanie Sigel who didn't share Jay's entrepreneurial mindset. He allowed Memphis Bleek to create Get Low Records during the late 90s, Kanye West formed G.O.O.D. Music, and J. Cole has Dreamville Records. 

It's hard to say if anything would have been different. Young Money is wildly successful, but they may have been able to hang on to Tyga if YM was a part of Roc Nation or Def Jam, because he'd actually have been getting paid. 

Lil Wayne's Legacy

On Jay's 1999 track "Pop 4 Roc" he made the bold claim "You are about to witness a Dynasty like no other". Under Jay's watchful eye, at least 2 legends have been made. Both Kanye West and Just Blaze were relative unknowns before they began their Roc-A-Fella careers. In 2017, Kanye is at the absolute pinnacle of both hip-hop and fashion, and Just Blaze is considered a legendary producer. Jay also signed a 16 year old Rihanna, and gave guidance and opportunity to Ne-Yo and J. Cole, not to mention signing Rick Ross to Def Jam.  

Lil Wayne, in terms of ability and potential, was quite possibly on-par with Kanye West and Rihanna, and has proven himself to be an all-time great. Alas, Wayne fell off. His fall seems harder than most becauseit came and went so quickly; he arrived in 2006 and ran with it until 2010, but with the ability he had, he should still be sitting on top of the world. 

Would this have happened under Jay Z's guidance? How many rappers or artists have actually fallen off on Jay's watch? He managed to bounce back himself from the poorly received 2006 record Kingdom Come. Foxy Brown left Jay's orbit in 1997 to work with Nas and AZ, and fell off in the early-2000s far removed from Roc-A-Fella. Memphis Bleek was always "one hit away". Beanie Sigel went to prison. Kanye West never fell off, Just Blaze never fell off, J. Cole hasn't fallen off, Rihanna hasn't fallen off. There's a reason why everyone is signing management deals with Roc Nation: The label doesn't lose. Artists don't flop when they're signed to Roc Nation. Albums like IANAHB2 don't exist in their discography. mixtapes like No Ceilings 2 just don't happen on Jay Z's watch. 

I will make a bold claim. Lil Wayne would be comfortably in most people's top 5 if Jay Z had been in charge of his career since 2006. Rebirth would never have been a full project, "Wowzers" would be in a hard-drive somewhere buried deep underground. Wayne would never have attempted to rap over "My Name Is", or if he did, it would have been destroyed before anyone outside the studio heard it. Jay Z doesn't flop, he never has. Even Kingdom Come went number 1 and sold 680k first week. It has a Metacritic score of 67, 37 higher than Rebirth and higher than IANAHB2, Tha Carter IV, S4TW, D4, and S4TW2. Wayne's average career score is 60, Jay's is 73. As Jay said:
I've been winning so long it's like alchemy 
Wayne deserves to be in your top 5. It's just a pity it might now be too late to salvage his full legacy (he will still retire as a true GOAT, and maybe, in a few decades time, be recognised for the technician and superstar he is). Hopefully, he manages to secure his bank balance and curb his drug use. Jay Z can help, he always does. 


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Was Bink! the true architect of The Blueprint sound?

April 25, 2017, 2:08 am
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On September 11, 2001, Jay-Z released the second classic of his career, The Blueprint. The album was transformative for Kanye West and Just Blaze, the former picking up 5 production credits, and the latter 4. Both used this album as a springboard to hip-hop immortality. Just Blaze expanded on the sped-up soul samples by taking the instrumentation, playing it live, and propelling it into the stratosphere ("Welcome To New York City", "Hovi Baby", "As One", "Lollipop", "Pump It Up" and so on). Kanye stuck true to The Blueprint sound and helped vault Freeway, Twista and Common onto the charts, and his first 2 records, largely regarded as classics, relied heavily on the trail that was blazed by the creators of The Blueprint. Both artists are now considered all-time greats.

So who, you may ask, is Bink!? He's a producer who started out working with Lost Boyz, and came up in the same environment as Timbaland, The Neptunes, Nottz, and Teddy Riley. He produced "1-900-Hustler" (the record that broke rapper Freeway) and "You, Me, Him and Her" (the record that broke Amil) for Jay's collaborative Dynasty record in 2000.

He also said this on the Rap Radar Podcast in 2017:
I have a lot of sons out here but no-one's calling me Daddy
Bink is speaking about Just Blaze, and the next 5 minutes of the podcast touches on the phenomenon of biting a sound, copying a style, and getting a couple of lucky breaks (Bink specifically mentions "Just Blaze and the Blazettes", a line from Hov's 2002 track "Hovi Baby"). Bink mentions, in regard to what kind of sound Blaze in fact "bit", the tracks "The Ruler's Back", the opening track on The Blueprint, and "1-900-Hustler", released in 2000. The latter flips "Ain't Gonna Happen" by Ten Wheel Drive, speeding it up and sliding it into a nice loop. The horns are loud and bombastic, reminiscent of the Just Blaze signature sound that has dominated real hip-hop since 2001.

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Let's backtrack though, because Just Blaze produced "I Really Like It" for Harlem World in 1999, which borrowed heavily from the 1983 New Edition track "Popcorn Love". Bink was sampling 2 years prior to that, courtesy of his work with Lost Boyz. On "Beasts From the East" he sampled a classic Bob James song, "One Loving Night", from 1977. In 1999 Bink was sampling heavily on his contributions to A+'s album Hampstead High, as well as his work with Kurupt (notably "Trylogy").

It's not as though Just Blaze just suddenly began sampling in 1999, though. Like a sound engineer (Young Guru comes to mind), he studied the way phones and electronic devices worked, taking them apart and putting them back together, gathering an understanding of the way sound is made and maintained. He used this knowledge to create custom ringtones in an era where no apps or stores existed to make or buy them yourself. A primitive form of sampling. Blaze also told me via Twitter he'd been making beats since the late 1980s, and his first use of sampling was definitely prior to his earliest credited beats in 1999.

So what of the third architect of The Blueprint, Kanye West? He's the one who has achieved the most and scaled the highest heights since 2001. One much-publicised story from that lightning few weeks was the vibrant competition between Kanye and Just Blaze. Here is how Jay-Z tells it:
I had two rooms in Baseline. It was a big room... That I'd record in. Then it would be a small room that Just would be in doing beats. What happened was, Just would peep his head in and hear what me and Kanye was doing and would just go back mad... It was like a heavyweight slugfest. For three days they were just knocking each other out.
This was a coming of age for Kanye West, who was really struggling to break into the market during this period. One of the most candid re-tellings of Kanye's influence and standing at this time was by rapper Hot Karl, who published his book Kanye West Owes Me $300 in 2016. In the chapter dealing with Kanye, he describes the Chicago producer as a cut-price Just Blaze, the beat-maker you go to when you can't afford Just, and he relays stories of Ye playing his music for a room full of hip-hop heavyweights and getting laughed at.

But Kanye sold sample-based beats as far back as 1996, utilising soul and disco samples, notably "City to City" by Grav, which lifted the bass line from "Cyclops" by Eddie Henderson. And while Bink! doesn't seem to acknowledge Just Blaze's work prior to 1999, he's complimentary of Kanye and never accuses him of copying or biting. During that same Rap Radar Podcast in which he confronts rumours that Just Blaze copied his style, he's incredibly complimentary to Kanye, saying, after he had heard early Ye track "Wow":
He's the epitomy of believing in yourself, cause if he had let people around him dictate his worth he'd still just be doing beats... There was a big hole in the game, and he filled that hole... He created a lane for himself, you have to respect somebody who creates a lane for themselves. That's why I respect Kanye. 
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Is it a popular misconception, then, that Just Blaze created the soul-sample sound that etched both his and Kanye's name into hip-hop legend? Based on an objective timeline, Bink! was getting heavy spins from top-tier acts with sample-based beats a full 2 years prior to Just Blaze, and Kanye was sampling in 1996, 3 years prior to Just Blaze's breakthrough in 1999. But Just Blaze confirmed he was sampling well before his first production credit in 1999. When they came together for 2001's The Blueprint they were undoubtedly the top 3 sample-based producers in the world, and Just Blaze was likely already in most people's top 5. Kanye would soon join him. All three are still sampling heavily, and still sit atop the sample-based tree (Bink's work on the new Rick Ross album is confirmation he never fell off).

When you consider how influential that 2001 album has become, how many millions of dollars has since been earned and how many platinum plaques can be directly attributed to the trail that the album blazed, Bink! needs to be recognised alongside Kanye and Just Blaze as a pioneer, and someone who altered the direction of hip-hop in a few short years.

But was Bink! the true architect of The Blueprint? Based on all the facts available to us, all three producers contributed equally to that incredible body of work, and all three deserve the accolades for the sound that dominated hip-hop during the 2000s.
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Ranking of Traditional Pub Grub

April 25, 2017, 4:50 am
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All standard Australian pub food. No lobster, or seafood platters. No dishes from pubs that specialise in a foreign cuisine (Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Italian, French, Indian etc).

28. Fisherman's Basket
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So you put on enclosed shoes and deodorant, drove to the pub, and bought the exact same meal your local fish and chip shop sells, for 3 times the price. There's a reason fish and chip shops don't usually stay open past 8pm. Figure it out.

27. Ribs
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The messiest food known to man is ribs. Usually swimming in the most sickly sweet BBQ sauce invented, ordering this is nearly as anti-social as ordering fish. While everyone else politely nibbles away on the chicken schnitzel at the end of their fork, you're indulging your inner animal and flicking bits of sauce and meat all over everyone. And Lord help you if you try and shake my hand at the end of the night. 

26. Roast of the Day
Source: Via Flickr and Vanessa Pike-Russell
There's a reason it costs $12 when everything else on the menu is $20+. Has anyone, anywhere, ever been content with their decision to order the roast of the day?

25. Fish and Chips
Via Flickr and Mats Hagwell
Unless you're at a really nice restaurant, which you aren't, you're at a pub, this is just the same as your local beer-battered takeaway fish, served on a plate instead of a box.

24. Sausage and Mash
Source: Flickr Via Alpha
Surely just a legacy item on any menu, aimed at those old enough to remember the food shortages during the Great Depression. Never order something at a pub or restaurant that would take you less than 10 minutes to whip up at home. It's about as exciting as a Sydney comedy festival. 

23. Pot Pie
Flickr via Foodista
The pot pie is where the chef throws all the cheap ingredients no-one would knowingly order. Huge marks deducted for pubs that omit the bottom crust, that's a real kick in the teeth.

22. Prawns (Cutlets/Garlic)

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Prawns are a delicate ingredient already bursting in flavour and in possession of an incredible texture. Why deep fry them? And show me a pub chef who doesn't drown their prawns in enough garlic to fell every Twilight fan in existence.


21. Surf and Turf
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Ever wonder how pubs without poker machines stay afloat? They slug out of towners an extra $10 on top of a regular steak for 2 or 3 sad looking prawns to be placed unceremoniously atop their 300gm piece of beef (this lucky soul managed to get 3 calamari rings too). And on what planet does seafood go with steak? 

20. Calamari Rings
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Calamari is notoriously hard to cook well, and unless you live in Vaucluse, your local pub chef can't be expected to get them right every single time. When they're slightly overcooked it's like chewing a Michelin off your dad's Hilux. And they're usually overcooked.

19. Pasta Carbonara
Via Flickr and dodongjan
Brilliant when done correctly, but it never is done correctly. It's always so creamy and rich. The human body was not meant to process that much heavy dairy in one sitting.

18. Greek Salad
Source
Inconsistency between venues drags down the Greek salad. I swear some chefs take it as a personal slight when you order a salad, so they whip it up in 2 seconds flat. Or maybe the pub see's it as a way to gouge you, so they charge $15 and you get 3 olives, 3 bits of crumbly fetta, and enough lettuce to satisfy Lil Wayne.


17. Salt and Pepper Squid

Flickr Alpha
Squid is a touch more forgiving than calamari, it's tougher by nature which lends it a real hearty texture. But the spice mix is so strong, it's difficult to get through an entire plate. Good to share.

16. Mixed Grill

Source Flickr via Alpha
A relic of a forgotten time, the mixed grill is slowly slipping off the menu to make way for mini burgers to slide in. It consists of a selection of meat from the menu, grilled, and shoved on a plate. You're looking at a hefty price too, usually in the mid $30's. I liken it to Crown Lager: expensive, nothing special, and consumed solely by those who peaked in high school in the late 70's. 

15. Lasagna 
Flickr tenasclousme
If it's surrounded by other pasta meals on the menu it's likely to be decent. But if it's the obligatory pasta dish, with no Spag Bol etc to keep it company, avoid, because you can just do it at home with a microwave.

14. Meat on a Skewer

How does a bamboo stick make meat any better? Meat is the only thing that's worse on a stick (think cheese and deep fried butter). You have to pick the skewer up with your fingers to get the meat off. Maybe you want lamb pieces but not for your hands to be covered in meat. Bad luck.

13. Steak
Source
Steak is easy to cook well at home. Chefs seem to forget about their steaks sometimes and cook it too long. On the flip-side, there are chefs that think they're being edgy by cooking your steak medium rare when you wanted well-done. It's a decent option, but not dazzling or terribly exciting or difficult to execute.

12. Burger With The Lot
Source: Food and Wine
Did we create this? Seems like Americans and the British aren't as enamoured with these towers as we are. Buzzfeed even felt the need to introduce the concept to its readership. They're traditionally stuffed full of a huge number of delicious things, that all seem to work in perfect harmony. Meat and cheese is a given, as is lettuce and tomato.  Then there's bacon, because of course. Sauce is usually BBQ or tomato, or a dressing. Beetroot and egg are essential, but anyone who puts pineapple on it needs to be disbarred, or whatever the culinary equivalent is.

Problem with this is how the hell do you eat it? You have to deconstruct it, which means you're eating the parts individually, which is significantly less fun. On the plus side, it's usually quite cheap considering what you get. Pubs never quite get it as right as the local hot food takeaway joint.


11. Lamb Shanks

Flickr via Nathan
It's impossible to screw these up, so they're also insanely easy to cook at home. Some pubs do impart their own unique style on the flavour though, and if you find a pub with something new and exciting in their lamb shank recipe let me know!

10. Grilled Chicken Breast

Good for you, delicious, and succulent when cooked well. Bonus points if they serve it with avocado! 


9. Grilled White Fish

Source
As long as there are no bones, and I haven't encountered any yet, this is delicious. What is it with pub chefs and fish? They always nail it! 

8. Nachos
Flickr via pamelasvoboda
Is it a snack? A side? A share plate? Is it a main? When executed properly, Nachos is a top 2 option. Cheese, beef, corn chips, guac and sour cream, it's truly incredible. But menus rarely give a clue as to how the chef views this dish. If it's a snack I'd avoid, but if it's listed on the main menu order away, it's delicious!

7. Spaghetti Bolognese

Hearty and delicious. As long as they didn't just warm up a frozen package, it's quite a good meal. You usually get free parmesan cheese too, which is the reason for life!

6. Caesar Salad

I don't know what it is about pubs in Sydney, they love to show off when it comes to this, the God of Salads. Portions are more often than not huge, and they don't just precariously place two slices of chicken atop a mountain of margin-boosting lettuce. Major marks are deducted if there's no egg.

5. Chicken Schnitzel


Some people can't eat cheese. This was created for them, and it's absolutely glorious.

4. Salmon

It's been a brilliant run for the not-so-humble salmon fillet. It usually arrives unadorned, with a small amount of herbs dusted on top, a bowl of sauce you're never going to eat, and some sides (salad or chips) that you pick unenthusiastically at after devouring your entire salmon fillet in 45 seconds. Rarely does a pub chef mess up a good slab of salmon; becoming a dab hand at this dish can lead to restaurant offers.

3. Pizza

Pubs make the best pizza, hands down. Usually one of the cheapest items on the menu, they don't bother with this "less is more" crap regarding toppings that Italian chefs swear by. Pizzas come stacked with ingredients, fat, oil, salt, cheese. So. Good. 

2. Garlic Bread
Source
It's unlikely the world would exist without garlic bread because it's a God. even bad garlic bread tastes good so imagine how good good garlic bread tastes?

1. Chicken Parmigiana 
Source
The hero. The schnitzel becomes a canvas on which a pub chef can paint their masterpiece. I am yet to meet a pub Parmi I don't like. 











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The Fate of the Furious Review

April 29, 2017, 2:09 am
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Rating: 10/10 (I'm serious)

Wow. I walked out of this movie energised and enthused, and quite frankly staggered at the leap in quality from Fast and Furious 7 to this, the eighth instalment. Every weak aspect of this long-running series has been enhanced, as if the writers took to previous movies with a fine toothed comb tightened every loose end.

Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel has been criticised heavily in past movies for his wooden performances. His slow and measured platitudes have been delivered with all the grace and subtlety of the cars he drives, and it's been difficult to believe he's the mastermind behind the various plans and escapades. In The Fate of the Furious he is revolutionary. It's almost like someone turned a light on in his head, and emotion shines brightly out of his every facial feature. When he smiles, he lights the entire screen up. He puts in a dynamic, show-stopping performance (sorry Charlize), and when it turns out he created an incredibly intricate and complex plan, it's believable for the very first time in the series. He's clearly the main character, and in a movie that also features Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, not to mention Charlize Theron, that's no small feat.

The Writing

As for the writing, it's genuinely good. And I don't mean action movie good. In previous iterations the writing lumbered along like a Tyrese album. The story line was genuinely surprising, the twists weren't telegraphed and they came with shock. They utilised character development from previous movies to heighten the sense of loss and the emotional response to big moments. They kept the lame one-liners to a minimum, and Tyrese was hilarious when called upon. They left it open for sequels in a way that didn't feel overly contrived. Ultimately, this wasn't Armageddon, it was closer to a Bond movie. That's high praise.

The Action

Somehow, they topped the last movie in terms of insane action. I don't know how they keep doing it. Maybe they have 2 or 3 people dedicated solely to thinking up crazy things that can happen. Making it rain took on an entirely new meaning. And while those kinds of moments previously felt a bit silly, like Hobbs breaking out hospital, stealing an ambulance, and driving to a location he surely didn't know ahead of time to shoot down a helicopter single-handedly, or Dom basically dying for 2 minutes but coming back to life through the power of family, in this movie the big moments don't feel forced, which is huge considering how huge those moments are. There are points where you're just laughing at the sheer audacity of the writers and cast, at how unreal it all seems yet how it's still possible. Jumping a car between 3 buildings isn't feasible in anyone's book, but (spoiler alert) leading a heat-seeking missile on a round-a-bout trip back to the device that fired it could potentially happen.

A Deeper Analysis

There isn't much deviation from the "family is everything" message that has underpinned the entire series. We're introduced to Cipher, who is scary not because she's willing to blow the world up (there have been thousands of baddies that can do that), but because she's willing to take the life of a child. Her motivations aren't explored any further than a 20-second conversation with Dom about why she wants to control nuclear missiles. Her dialogue is whispered for effect, and it's downright scary when she feels threatened. When you consider every antagonist thus far has been loud and hands-on, capable of doing vast damage via conventional weapons, Cipher is meek. This is where the writing really shone. They utilised the intense character development, especially that of Dom, to drastically heighten the emotion attached to every move Cipher makes. Her actions are irredeemable inside the narrative Dom and Letty have created, so we know there will be no switching sides for her in later films. More so than ever, Dom has reason to seek revenge, which means we all have a reason to watch the next movie.

What is even more exciting is Dom's coming of age as a strategist and shrewd thinker. By introducing Cipher, Ramsay, the Shaw brothers, Mose Jakande, and Mr. Nobody, we've been exposed to some of the most deadly and high-tech individuals in the entire universe. While Dom always seemed sloppy and prone to fisticuffs, in Fate of the Furious he's calculated, intelligent, and 2 steps ahead of the most elusive and dangerous hacker in the entire world. Not only that, Deckard Shaw proves himself to be a story all on his own, one that is ripe for a spin-off. And Jason Statham can carry a lead role with his hands cuffed behind him. That's exciting.

Fate of the Furious marries so many fun, enjoyable elements. There is Mr. Nobody, the man with endless resources at his fingertips, who makes things appear out of thin air, who has an entire hangar of high-end sports cars, and yet who is as likeable as Jim next door, and as unflappable as Dwayne Johnson at a pancake eating contest. There is Tyrese as Roman, incredibly funny but capable of swift and effective violence when needed. The jokes carry this movie alone, Tyrese is hilarious when in full-on charm mode, dropping one-liners at will. Which is good, because the rest of the cast isn't so quick to catch on. Letty's dialogue is still slow and obvious, her occasional one-liner either confusing or dull. Ramsay is yet to find her feet as part of the team, she isn't quite developed as a character yet. Tej isn't as dazzling as in previous movies, but again, he's up against Roman, who is the light.

As for Dwayne Johnson, what more can you ask of the guy? He's hilarious, he's the most imposing action hero since Arnie, and he plays his role to perfection. He could easily steal this movie, and the fact he was the highest paid actor in 2016 proves he has the box office clout to do so, but he plays Hobbs to perfection. A character who has learned that family is the most important aspect (and device) in the series, and although his interactions with his daughter feel tacked on and played up, he approaches each scene with style, grace, and believability.

This is a great movie, and not just a great Fast and Furious movie. The series will long be remembered for the box office records it smashes, but if the final two films are of the same quality as this one, it could change what we expect and demand of our entertainment. We want it to be bigger, brasher, and sexier than the last, but if we can also get top-drawer writing and acting at the same time? Well, movies like Captain American and Suicide Squad will cease to exist.

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Jay Z Dream Album Number 13

May 19, 2017, 5:26 am
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Artist: Jay Z
Album:Tense
Executive Producers: Shawn "Jay Z" Carter

1. Lights Down
(S. Carter, S. Combs, D. Matthews, L. Coppin, J. Butler, K. Gamble, L. Huff)
Produced by Diddy and LV & Sean C for Grind Music/The Hitmen/Bad Boy Entertainment. Recorded by Steve "Rock Star" Dickey at Daddy's House, NYC, and Young Guru for Gurucrates LLC at Roc The Mic Studios, Manhattan, NY. Mixed by Supa Engineer DURO for Chairman of the Boards at Daddy's House, NYC. Drums by Mario Winans. Arranged by Kenneth "Scooter" Whalum. Trumpet by Keyon Harrold. Strings by Mario Winans
Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//Justin Combs Publishing ADM, EMI April (ASCAP)/For My Son Publishing (ASCAP)/Steady On The Grind(BMI)/Uni-CHappell Music, Inc (BMI)/Sa-Vette Music Co. (BMI)
Contains a sample of "Chocolate Candy" performed by Soulful Strings, courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises. Used by permission, all rights reserved

2. Out The Boat
(S. Carter, Scott Storch)
Produced by Scott Storch for Tuff Jew Productions/We The Best Music Group/Bluewave Group, Inc. Recorded by Young Guru for GuruCrates LLC at Roc The Mic Manhattan, NY, and Panya Pirdpipat at Dynamic Recording Studio, Klongton, Wattana. Mixed by Young Guru. Bass by Leonard 'Hub' Hubbard. Horns by Tuba Gooding Jr. Keys by Scott Storch. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//Epic Records/We The Best Publishing

3. Blue Zion
(S. Carter, L. Hill, E. Wilson, C. Njapa, R. Wade, R. Murray, S. Brown)
Produced by No I.D. for Rich Daily Since '71, and 88-Keys for Keys Open Doors, LLC. Recorded by Young Guru at Roc The Mic, Manhattan, NY. Mixed by Mike Dean at Jungle Studios NYC for Dean's List Productions. Guitar by Craig Love.  Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//EMI April Music, Inc//NO ID Music (BMI)
Contains an interpolation of "To Zion" by Lauryn Hill, used with permission from Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records

4. BP4 (Feat. Nipsey Hussle, Willow Smith)
(S. Carter, E. Asghedom, W. Smith, PurpDogg)
Produced by PurpDogg for Just My Opinion Entertainment LLC. Recorded by Young Guru for GuruCrates LLC at Roc The Mic Manhattan, NYC. Nispey Hussle appears courtesy of All Money In. Willow Smith appears courtesy of Roc Nation. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//Cinematic Music Group/All Money In//Roc Nation Publishing

5. Cocktail (Feat. Beyoncé)
(S. Carter, B. Carter-Knowles, T. Mosely, N. Fisher)
Produced by Timbaland for Timbaland Productions, Inc., and Noel “Detail” Fisher for The Order For The Order Music. Recorded by Chris Godbey for Side by Side/JVU ent. and Demacio "Demo" Castellon at Jungle City Studios, NYC. Mixed by Demacio "Demo" Castellon for The Demolition Crew at Oven Studios.  Additional vocals by Timbaland. Beyoncé appears courtesy of Parkwood. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//Jerome Harmon Publishing/ Warner Chappell (BMI)//WB Music Corp. (ASCAP) And Oakland 13 Music (ASCAP)Contains a sample of "Pansa Pansa 1/2" by Fela Kuti and Africa 70, used with permission from Kalakuta Sunrise/Polygram/EMI Nigeria/MCA/Universal/Celluloid

6. Sudoku (Feat. Future)
(S. Carter, N. Wilburn, DJ Khaled, T. Pittman)
Produced by Young Chop for Chop Squad. Additional production by DJ Nasty & LVM for Nasty Beatmakers. Recorded by Young Guru for Lorreal Inc, at Roc The Mic Manhattan, NY. Mixed by Fabian Marascuillo at Hit Factory Criteria, Miami FL. Additional vocals DJ Khaled for We The Best Inc. Future appears courtesy of Freebandz/Epic. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//We The Best Music Music Group/Republic Records//Freeband/A1/Epic

7. Original Gangstas (Feat. Shyheim)
(S. Carter, S. Franklin, D. Willis, A. Thompson, E. Sermon, J. Yancey)
Produced by J Dilla for Pay Jay Productions (ASCAP). Additional production by Ski Beatz for Rok-A-Blok Productions.) Recorded by Young Guru for Loreal Inc, at Roc The Mic Manhattan Studios. Mixed by Ski Beatz at DD172. Scratches by Ski Beatz. Additional Drum Programming by Questlove for Okayplayer. Additional vocals by Shyheim. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)/Bottom Up Records//Stones Throw Records/MCA Records//Def Jam RecordingsContains an interpolation of "Reservoir Dogs" by Jay Z, used with permission from Funklord Productions/Roc-A-Fella Records/Def Jam RecordsContains a vocal sample from "Shaolin Style" by Shyheim, used with permission from Noo Trybe Records/Virgin.  Shyheim appears courtesy of Bottom Up Records/The Block Never Sleeps

8. Don't Play Yourself (Feat. DJ Khaled, Big Daddy Kane
(S. Carter, A. Hardy, DJ Khaled, M. Williams, Masta Ace, Kool G. Rap, Craig G, Marley Marl)
Produced by Marley Marl for Barley Breaking Even, and Just Blaze for F.O.B. Entertainment. Mixed by Marley Marl at Power Play, Long Island NY. Recorded by Young Guru for Lorreal Inc, at Roc The Mic Manhattan. Contains a sample of "The Symphony" by Marley Marl featuring Masta Ace, Kool G. Rap, Craig G, Big Daddy Kane, courtesy of Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. DJ Khaled appears courtesy of We The Best Music. Big Daddy Kane appears courtesy of Mercury
Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//We The Best Music Music Group/Republic Records//Warner Bros/Cold Chillin'//Mercury

9. Cookie Jar (Feat. Rihanna)
(S. Carter, C. Hollis Jr, R. Fenty, Terius Nash, D. Rachel)
Produced by Hit-Boy for Very Good Beats/Hit-Boy Music Inc. Recorded by Noah Goldstein at Avex Recording Studio, Honolulu, HI. Rihanna vocals recorded by Marcos Tovar for Allfadersup and Kuk Harrell at Westlake Santa Monica in Los Angeles, CA. Vocal Production by Kuk Harrell for Suga Wuga Music, Inc. Vocal arrangement by Joesph Angel. Mixed by Manny Marroquin at Larrabee Studios, North Hollywood, CA, and Anthony Kilhoffer at Jungle Studios, NY. Additional vocals by The-Dream. Rihanna appears courtesy of Roc Nation. The-Dream appears courtesy of Radio Killa and Roc Nation. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)

10. Last Minute                     
(S. Carter, C. Martin)
Produced by DJ Premier for Works of Mart. Recorded by Young Guru for Lorreal Inc, at Roc The Mic Manhattan, NY. Mixed by Supa Engineer "DURO" for No Question Entertainment/Loreal, Inc at Enterprise Studios, LA and DJ Premier. Additional scratches by DJ Premier. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)

11. You, Me and Him Return (Feat. Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel)
(S. Carter, M. Cox, D. Grant, R. Thomas)
Produced by Rick Rock for Cypher Cleff Music. Recorded by Young Guru for GuruCrates LLC at Roc The Mic, Manhattan NY. Mixed by Rick Rock at The Federation Compound, Sacramento, CA. Memphis Bleek appears courtesy of Warehouse Music Group. Beanie Sigel appears courtesy of Ruffhouse. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//Ruffhouse//Warehouse Music Group

12. Mathematics
([S. Carter, R. Diggs, Dale O, D. Warren, L. Austin, T. Steels, J. Derrickson, R. Foster, J. Talbert, W. Talbert, K. Dent, Princess Hearn, V. Malone)
Produced by RZA for Wu-Tang Productions. Recorded by Lawrence "Boo" Mitchell at The Cutting Room, NY. Additional recording by Young Guru for GuruCrates LLC, at Roc The Mic, Manhattan NY. Mixed by Manny Marroquin at Larrabee Studios (Universal City, CA) assisted by Chris Galland. Drums by Wes Mingus. Bass by Curt Smothers. Keys by RZA. Guitar by RZA. Published by Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)//Warner Bros Records Inc/WEA International Inc/Diggs Family Music/Wu-Tang Publishing/Sony ATV Tree Publishing/EMI April Music Inc/Songs of Universal Inc
Contains a sample of "Ghetto: Misfortune's Wealth" by The 24-Carat Black used with permission from East/Memphis Music/Stax

13. Song Cry 3
(S. Carter, J. Smith, T. Nash, Joseph B. Jefferson)
Produced by Just Blaze for F.O.B. Entertainment. Recorded by Young Guru for GuruCrates LLC at Roc The Mic, Manhattan NY. Mixed by Young Guru
Contains a sample of The Spinners - "One of a Kind (Love Affair)" courtesy of Mighty Three Music, published by Blackwood Music. Published by Roc Nation Music/Carter Boys/Warner Chappell (ASCAP)

14. Samatha
(S. Carter, T. Krell, R. McDonald, A. Young)
Produced by Dr. Dre for Aftermath Entertainment. Contains a sample of "Childhood Faith In Love (Everything Must Change, Everything Must Stay The Same)" by How To Dress Well, used with permission from Domino Recording Co. Ltd

Artwork: Andre Woolery
Executive Producer: Shawn Carter
A&R: Lenny S
Mastered By: Chris Geringer at Sterling Sound NYC
Management: Desiree Perez and John Meneilly
Legal Counsel: Jennifer Justice
Sample Clearances: Eric Weissman, Shawn Carter
Marketing: Roc Nation
Label: Roc Nation, Roc-A-Fella Records
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Iggy Azalea is Australia's Most Courageous Rapper

June 11, 2017, 5:44 pm
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Iggy Azalea doesn't appear to give a fuck. On her break-out hit "Fancy", a track that stole the coveted number 1 position on the US Billboard 100 (a first for an Australian rapper), she flaunts hip-hop convention on the 7th bar, rapping "Cup of Ace, cup of Goose, cup of Cris". Old heads probably spat their D'Usse into their Yankee fitted upon hearing her shout out Cristal and Ace of Spades in the same bar. Rappers hoping to make it in America don't often go against Jay Z, the undefeated heavyweight champion of the entire industry. Cristal has been off limits since 2006. But I doubt Iggy cares.

Continuing her career in the face of persistent and damaging criticism takes a kind of courage rarely seen in the Australian hip-hop community. She's been accused of appropriating black culture, accused of putting on a "blaccent", accused of not caring about rap music, accused of just about everything you'd imagine a white woman earning platinum plaques in the genre of hip-hop could be accused of. Yet in 2017 she is readying her new record Digital Distortion unabated, though she has been hamstrung by label issues and leaks.  The music we've heard thus far points to a woman still brave enough to push the envelope, to create the kind of sound she wants, unfettered by heavy criticism at the hands of rap gatekeepers.

Source: Vibe 2014

Australian mainstream hip-hop, with some exceptions, isn't displaying anything as remotely experimental as Iggy's latest offerings "Mo Bounce" and "Team". One major exception is the brilliant work of A.B. Original, whose song "January 26" sparked many important and essential conversations around the validity of Australia Day, an event that attracts fierce patriotism amongst some, but for indigenous Australians can be a painful reminder of the suffering they have endured since their land was invaded and forcibly taken from them in 1788. This piece by Leigh Sales and the team at 7:30 is a must-watch, and considering the contentious nature of the topic and the passion with which each side debates their case Briggs and co risked alienating a large portion of their fanbase by releasing this song and their "Reclaim Australia Day" party. Now that is true courage, brilliant courage, and desperately needed courage.

Source: Pedestrian TV
And while "January 26" was typical of Briggs' back catalogue; an infectious beat, oozing personality and technical ability, the rest of the industry in Australia seems tethered to a very specific sound. EDM has infected our hip-hop community in a way it wasn't able to in America. Even the more diverse tracks from artists like Hilltop Hoods feature sweetly sung choruses and dramatic, skyscraping instrumentals. The worst purveyors are artists like Bliss n Eso and 360. Bliss n Eso's single "Dopamine" is almost comically stratospheric, with platitudes pillaged from the sweetest of bubblegum electronica. The latest record by Thundamentals, Everyone We Know, is derivative and boring, and regularly falls back on music that will get regular spins on local radio station Triple J. That station can make or break an act. Rapper 360 has admitted his goal is to chart high on their annual Hottest 100, and rappers like Kerser have called Triple J out for their selective hearing when it comes to Australian hip-hop.

All this breeds a culture of adherence to a common sound. It's not isolated to Australia. America is slowly but surely emerging from an era in which EDM, and sub-genre Tropical House, have absolutely dominated their charts. The Chainsmokers are likely the final horse out of the stable, as hip-hop, and I mean experimental, high-quality hip-hop, begins a fresh assault on the charts, it's first since the early 2000's when Eminem, Jay-Z, Ja Rule, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West ruled the roost.

So how does this relate to dear old Iggy Azalea? As I said earlier, she doesn't give a fuck. She vacationed in Miami at the age of 16, and fell in love with hip-hop culture, rang her parents, told them she wouldn't be returning home, and put her nose to the grindstone. A white Australian girl, who wants to make it as a rapper... Courage! Australian rappers are merely scared to deviate from the formulaic music that will earn them a place on Triple J's Hottest 100. Meanwhile, Iggy has written and recorded her second studio album despite being told in no uncertain terms, by multiple people who are highly respected in hip-hop, that she doesn't belong. And she drops a track like "Mo Bounce", an absolute stomper in which she repeats the word "bounce" 136 times. And yes, she copped criticism for that song too. She released a song in which she raps "drop that shit like a cholo at the dub show" despite being told by none other than Q-Tip, hip-hop royalty, that the genre is a "socio-political movement". She has been repeatedly called out by Azealia Banks, and was even threatened by hacker group Anonymous. In 2015 Cosmo called her "The World's Most Hated Pop Star". Noisey had a go at her in 2016, reminding us they'd accused her of cultural appropriation and reporting a story in which some random person "thanked" her for ruining hip-hop. Legend Snoop Dogg engaged her in IG beef, and worst of all, in 2015 her mentor T.I. went on the radio and claimed that they had "sort of" cut ties, despite Iggy having no forewarning of this arrangement.

Yet Iggy releases new music. Iggy does new interviews. She was engaged to basketballer Nick Young, but was devasted when he was exposed as a cheater by a secret video. Yet she didn't run home. She didn't withdraw. She was pictured with French Montana, and continue to put herself out there.

I don't care if you like her music or not. I've just given you a small snippet of the kind of opposition she's faced as a musician and a rapper, and the fact that she is dropping music videos, doing interviews, and desperate to release her next album proves she is just as tough as any Aussie I've ever met. And she isn't adhering to a sound that she knows will be picked up by radio, she isn't featuring Quavo, there is no Katy Perry feature (Nicki Minaj), no Diplo production (Nicki Minaj), and no superstar collaboration (being on Def Jam she could easily make this happen). Iggy is making the music Iggy wants to make, regardless of how a mainstream audience will react to it. On that point alone she's already confirmed Digital Distortion will be the most diverse, experimental and brave Australian hip-hop release of 2017 (and yes, she is an Australian rapper, she was born and raised here). It's sad that she may not begin to see her legacy truly appreciated for many many years to come.

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Comprehensive Ranking of Cakes

June 12, 2017, 3:32 am
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38. Fruitcake
Via Flickr User California Bakery
90% of the fruit cakes I have had in my life have been awful. They're too dense, and the spice mix is too overpowering to eat more than a tiny sliver. For some reason, every single fruitcake has some inexplicable, teeth-shattering hard thing in them, be it the pip of a date, some sort of awful seed, or maybe just the final piece of your resolve that was washed away by the 18 Christmas beers you've had before your piece of fruitcake. 

This isn't just the worst cake ever, it's the worst dessert.

37. Rock Cake 

Source

Basically a fruit cake that looks a bit cooler and has a slightly better texture. Still rubbish.

36. Cheesecake 

Source

I think liking cheesecake is akin to liking Adele. We're told she's very good, just like we're told cheesecake is delicious. So we buy her album, or a slab of cheesecake, and you listen to the first 2 songs, or take your first two bites, and you think "Oh man this is just laid on way too thick. I can't consume any more of this." Cheesecake is dense and way too sweet, and no-one has ever felt good after eating a slice, just as you never really feel good after listening to "Hello".

35. Croquembouche

Source

You know what? It actually doesn't look delicious or impressive. In fact it looks gross, like the leg of a Gorilla. Should be renamed "Croquemdouche" for two specific reasons.

34. Upside-down Cake 


Pineapple. Why in the world do people insist on putting pineapple on things? Yes you can make the upside-down cake with other fruits, but no-one ever seems to. Take it off my supreme pizza, take it out of my Hawaiian Pack at Red Rooster, and never put it in a cake!

33. Devil's Food Cake 

Source

No-one needs that much chocolate and sugar at the same time.

32. Clemetine Cake 

Source

I feel bad for this cake. It's ugly, it's dense, it's flat, and may the Lord watch over anyone who accidentally bites down on a seed mid-slice.


31. Angel Cake 

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About as boring as a cake can possibly be. I like how people claim this cake is "guilt free" because of it's lack of fat. It's got 300 grams of sugar in it!

30. Red Velvet Cake

Regular cake dyed red. It looks so special, but tastes like a sponge cake. It loses points for being deceitful.

29. Rum Cake 

Source
Decent cake if you get it right, but too many people think it's cool to splash rum into the mixture like you're catering a Wednesday night book club meeting. I don't want to still be drunk when I wake up the next morning. Your guests should be able to have a piece and drive home safely under the limit.

28. Lemon Cake

Source
Gets a bad rap, but when combined with a simple white icing, the lemon is transformed, and this push and pull of acidity and sweetness makes for a nice little palate pleaser with your afternoon coffee.


27. Genoise cake 

Source
Basically a temperamental sponge. It loses points for being difficult to make, but to the victor goes the spoils, if you're patient enough to deal with some setbacks.

26. Jaffa Cake 

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Orange and chocolate? Yes. Deduct every single mark if you're doing the Jamie Oliver recipe with Marmalade. No Jamie. No. Orange buttercream plz.

25. Gingerbread 

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Delicious. Bonus 10 points if she lives less than 20 minutes away.

24. Sponge Cake 

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A good sponge cake is lighter than air and carries the flavour of the filling and frosting to another level.

23. Banana Bread 

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This is a cake. It isn't a breakfast food or a healthy snack (Wayne, if you're reading this, sorry mate). It's also pretty delicious!


22. Carrot Cake  

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Get's the nod over banana bread because of the epic frosting you can toy with. Goats Cheese is easily my favourite. Alas, no

21. Coffee Cake 

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What's amazing? Coffee. What's also amazing? Cake. You can pass this off as a breakfast food.

20. Layer Cake 

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The coolest part is what you can put between the layers. Jam, cream, frosting. Surely fresh cream takes the cake. I'd warn against using gummi bears on the outside though, I don't think they mesh well with cake.


19. Lady Baltimore Cake

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The Simpsons.

18. Butter Cake 

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Sponge Cake's hotter sister. Thick and sweet!

17. Pancake 

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Another cake masquerading as a breakfast food. There's nothing healthy about pancakes, unless you omit the sugar, then there's nothing tasty about them. Special shout to McDonald's hotcakes for providing Jiffy and I nourishment on our way to cricket for so many years

16. Lamington 

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Certified best afternoon tea snack in Australia. 

15. Pound Cake 

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Made famous by Jay Z.

14. Anti-Grav Cake 


Looks spectacular! But it's basically a normal cake with a big stick in the middle. It looks super impressive but it's not actually that difficult to make (that is my creation in the picture btw).

13. Bundt Cake  

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Make a Bundt cake, cover it in chocolate ganache, find yourself a big stick, and fend off the hundreds of people now throwing themselves at you.

12. Mudcake 

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Let's take a moment to acknowledge the unsung hero of the mud cake name: Caramel. It's sweeter and prettier than its chocolate brethren, and it's less messy, more grown up, more mature. You could serve a caramel mud for afternoon tea. I once had a friend who ate a slice at a McCafe at 6:30am, with no shame. He even flirted with the girl behind the counter. She'd have called him a pig if it were chocolate mud cake, but caramel? He was a discerning gent!

11. Flourless Chocolate Cake 

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Wildly underrated, especially for a family that needs to be gluten free. It's moist but not too dense when made well.

10. Pavlova 

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Do. Not. Put. Passionfruit. On. A. Pavlova. Don't be the person who ruins Christmas for everyone. Same goes for pineapple. 

9. Pinata Cake 


Devilishly easy to make look difficult. I made one and it was an absolute show stopper! Make sure you get the interior right though. No-one wants to eat Starburst and sponge cake at the same time.

8. Molten Chocolate Cake

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The only time it's ever acceptable to use "ooze" in a non-medical sentence.

7. Tiramisu 

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Definitely an old persons cake, millennials won't know much this, but it's delicious despite being attached to one of the sappiest movies of all time. 

6. Ice Cream Cake 

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Basically impossible to mess this up. The best ice cream cake of all time is the
Viennetta, although at current prices you might want to take out a second mortgage if you're planning on feeding more than 4 people.

5. Boston Cream Pie 

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Unfortunate name, but bloody delicious. Basically a slice or biscuit base filled with custard or cream and covered in chocolate ganache. There's probably only 4 things better in the entire world than that...

4. Brownie

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We've all got a Brownie story or two. Anthony will recall our experience with brownies and Gumby with fondness I hope. It's also almost impossible to screw it up by accident. 

3. Tres Leches Cake  

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I find it odd that so few recipes utilise the unique property of the sponge. It soaks stuff up, so give it something delicious to soak up. 

2. Cupcake 

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Slightly impractical (difficult to make 1 or 2 cupcakes, but then if you're making them for a crowd why not a cake?) but absolutely delicious. They usually sell for $4.50+ per cupcake though. And, similar to shoes, you can't just buy one (and it's foolish to try).

1. Black Forest Cake

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My mum managed to create about 84 different types: flourless, a sponge, a butter, a pound. There's something special about cherry, cream, and chocolate, mixed together with a delicious cake that's moist but with the texture imparted by cherry and choc bits. A dash of rum makes it a bit edgy, and renders the drive home from Grandma's a bit dicey.





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Placebo's Sleeping With Ghosts is one of the Best Concept Albums of the 2000s

June 18, 2017, 4:50 pm
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On the 1st of April, 2003, Placebo released their fourth studio album, Sleeping With Ghosts. It remains their tightest concept album, and likely Brian's greatest lyrical and conceptual achievement to date. It was the first time he truly nailed the difficult synergy between self-contained stories and an overall narrative, a method he used on both 2009's Battle For The Sun and 2013's Loud Like Love. Of 2013's Loud Like Love, Brian described the technique he perfected on 2003's Sleeping With Ghosts:
...this record as a collection of 10 small fictions, based on my own experience and my own feelings around relationships over the past 20 years, I feel that I’ve been able to use the device [of] storytelling, which I think I’ve become a little bit more adept at, create songs with characters.
He said something similar in an interview with Drowned In Sound prior to the release of Sleeping With Ghosts: "I write both from my own point of view and from others. Sometimes I create a character and place myself within it. I find that it's a release for me, and I think I have gotten better at storytelling."

There are three distinct narratives running through Sleeping With Ghosts, all orchestrated by Brian's lyrical content and matched seamlessly by the new electro-rock direction the band began on 2001's Black Market Music. On the surface level, the entire album details a relationship, from euphoric start to painful finish. On top of that, each individual song is a self-contained story, not always about love ("Something Rotten", "Plasticine"), and able to be viewed and enjoyed separately. The third narrative is the most meta approach the band has ever taken, as Brian, Stefan and Steve deal with the pressures of fame and celebrity, as well as the development of their unit artistically, and the acknowledgement that, as humans, they are mortal and that Placebo as an entity is mortal as well.


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The Main Narrative

 The album is called Sleeping With Ghosts, and as much as Brian wants to claim"There are many themes. There's never a full unity to an album we make", it's clear that the album can be viewed as a start-to-finish love story (whether intentional or not). 

"Bulletproof Cupid" is a frenetic, adrenaline-fuelled description of the moment your heart exits your chest and enters the soul of another human being, the euphoric rush of new love. It's length may be a commentary on the fleeting nature of the "honeymoon period" of a relationship, because conflict almost immediately ensues.

"English Summer Rain" tracks the perceived drudgery of a relationship of routine, maybe even a marriage, where one or both parties are stuck thinking "is this it?". A pre-breakup song, if you will, a primer for "The Bitter End". 

"This Picture" and "Sleeping With Ghosts" approach the impending breakup from different angles, the former an energetic admission that things are over ("Hang on / Though we try / It's gone"), the latter an acceptance that life will never truly be the same, the most romantic ending imaginable ("It seems it's written / but we can't read between the lines").

"The Bitter End" is the focal point of the record, and the series of events it sets off is Placebo at their absolute best. Brian said: "It's about a relationship, two people fighting, they both want to be the stronger one. A classic fuck-you song." The breakup teased in the previous two songs explodes in technicolour, with spite and malice. 

"Something Rotten"then captures the desperation and depression, the heart-wrenching loneliness that follows the loss of love. While "The Bitter End" is full of adrenalin and action, "Something Rotten" is a frank admission of pain.

Things oscillate wildly over the next 5 songs. Post-break up moods and emotions can be a confusing maelstrom of conflicted thoughts and feelings, of positive and negative behaviour. "Plasticine" tries to counter the immediate desire to change or mould yourself in order to appeal to the person you just lost. LCD Soundsystem perfectly captured this phenomenon on "I Can Change", and Brian's plea's to"Don't forget to be the way you are" are the most rational words on the entire album. 

Third single "Special Needs" could be a competing thought, and the music video is the visual expression of the title of the album. The relationship has passed, and the protagonist is, as Brian says, "worrying that they’ll be written out of their ex’s biography". As those who have experienced this thought know, it can plant delusions of reconciliation, or a desire to resume the relationship at all costs, exemplified by "I'll Be Yours", of which Brian says: "Someone who wants to engulf another person completely in the name of love." Again, he is rational enough to see logic and sense, notably in "Second Sight" and "Protect Me From What I Want", the first sung in second-person as if Brian is giving our protagonist the motivation and means to remove themselves from the situation that developed in "Special Needs", the second is the protagonist reacting to that plea, desperate to move on but unsure how to do so. 

All of this leads to "Centrefolds", the piano-based closer, and the saddest song on the record. It ties the narrative up perfectly. While the protagonist has been battling themselves internally since the start of "Something Rotten", their former partner has moved on in spectacular fashion. Brian's lyrics capture the pain and loneliness that accompany the realisation that you no longer matter at all to this person who was once your entire life. The relationship is well and truly over, and you're now forced to sleep with the ghost forever more. 


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Self-Contained Stories

"Bulletproof Cupid" opens the album at a frenetic pace, and Brian explained it was used to build intrigue, to drag people into the album through the lack of vocals. The track encapsulates everything the band has been working towards since their first album: it's raw and barely controlled energy. This could be a fight song, or used to pump you up before tackling a difficult task.

"English Summer Rain" is an expression of angst at the drudgery of daily life, using the stereotypical English weather (rain even during summer) to highlight the malaise someone with untapped potential may feel when stuck in a dull daily routine.

"This Picture" is best explained by Brian:"Someone walking away from a self-destructive relationship. It recalls James Dean’s fetish of having cigarettes stubbed out on his chest during sex, only here they’re being stubbed out on mine." The music video and accompanying commentary describes someone losing their identity due to an abusive or violent relationship. 

"Sleeping With Ghosts", again explained by Brian:"Inspired by a crazy American psychologist who believes in the cliché of eternal love. He thought two of his patients were soulmates who’d been reincarnated through many previous lives." The refrain "soulmates never die" was adopted for their 2003 tour video, and addresses the idea that true love between those destined to be together never dissipates or diminishes regardless of time. 

"The Bitter End", being one of their most successful and famous songs, has a number of interviews that feature interpretations, but the simplest is taken from the title. It's about the end of a relationship, the very end, a very bitter and spiteful end. "Two people trying to come out of a relationship with the least scars. Very fuck you." 

This feeds into "Something Rotten", a song that caused a minor stir when the album dropped because it was believed to be about certain scandals in the music industry that had come to light during this time. Brian said the song was "instinctual", and he didn't really have a theme or target in mind when singing the lyrics. Steve also said in that interview it was open for interpretation, and the closest we get to a full explanation is Brian hinting it may be about physical or mental abuse in a marriage, a topic explored on "This Picture" and escaped during "The Bitter End". 

"Plasticine" is straight-forward, a song about accepting yourself for who you are and not modifying your behaviour, appearance, or thought patterns based on societal norms. It's probably the song that best describes Placebo's appeal and motive during their first 5 albums, as "music for outsiders, by outsiders". 

"Special Needs" then details a protagonist's desire for recognition in the face of a world that values conformity. It also details someone being left behind, be that an ex-lover or a friend or even a family member. Seeing someone close to you excel while you tread water can be difficult to come to terms with. 

"I'll Be Yours" is a simple premise; a person becomes consumed with another person. "Someone who wants to engulf another person completely in the name of love. Something I’ve been on the receiving end of and it’s scary". Fans have long speculated it's about Brian's relationship with alcohol, fuelled by his tattoo that seemingly pays tribute to the group Alcoholics Anonymous and lines like "I'll be your liquor / bathing your soul with juice that's pure". 

"Second Sight" could be about the same topic, only from a sober and more rational perspective. Brian says it's the story of a one-night stand, and the fight for dignity after engaging in such behaviour. It could easily be your conscience calling you out for yet another perceived mistake. 

"Protect Me From What I Want" can then be applied to this theme of alcoholism again, although it's another example of a Placebo song with enough ambiguity to lend itself to endless applications. The message is simple: I know it's bad for me but I want it anyway. Brian said it's written from personal experience, stuck in a "self-destructive relationship", but it can be applied to so many different stories or personal circumstances.

Finally, "Centrefolds" acts almost like the centrepiece of the album. All of the negative self-talk, self-loathing, and self-centred voices from "Special Needs" packed into three short paragraphs. "For you to be mine" is dripping with pain and desperation, a protagonist beaten down by their own self-hatred trying one last ditch effort to attract the object of their desire. 

Each of these tales can link with each other, but they're written so well any song on this record could slot into any Placebo album before or after and not feel out of place. "Plasticine" is such a universal Placebo theme it'd fit perfectly on Loud Like Love or Battle For The Sun. Meds would easily accommodate "Something Rotten" or "I'll Be Yours", and Black Market Music could include "Second Sight" or "Bulletproof Cupid". It's the quintessential Placebo album, delivered via 12 self-contained stories. 


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In the Context of the Band

Placebo do not often refer to themselves as an entity on wax. Tracks like "Happy You're Gone" and "Come Undone" are anomalies in their catalogue, and the only time Brian has sung the word "Placebo" on a recorded song was on the demo "Flesh Mechanic" way back in 1994/1995. It's unlikely Sleeping With Ghosts was written with the trajectory the band has taken in mind, but the songwriting is strong enough that it can easily be applied to the various stages the band had been going through and would go through in the not-to-distant future.

Remember that their ascension to the limelight was incredibly fast. Before they'd even recorded their first album they were touring with David Bowie, as well as supporting The Foo Fighers. NME were interviewing the band in 1995. Courted by major labels, they signed a deal quickly and finished recording Placebo in quick time. "Bulletproof Cupid" is the embodiment of this whirlwind start, thrusting the listener into the album the same way Placebo were strapped with guitars and thrown headlong at the press. By "English Summer Rain", or 1997 in Placebo history, they'd already appeared tired and bored of the drudgery of the press circuit, with Brian proclaiming in May of that year he was already tired of the narrative that the English press had cooked up about him. 

Along came Without You I'm Nothing, a wholly more mature and fleshed out Placebo sound. The refrain of "can't stop growing old" from "This Picture" fits perfectly, and the loss of identity that song communicates can be applied to Brian's own self-identity, which at the time seemed to be changing every interview. "Sleeping With Ghosts" and "The Bitter End" could easily be switched around, with the latter describing the break-up of the original trio (Robert Schultzberg leaving) and the former describing the bond between the new trio, a bond that would remain strong for another decade of intense writing and touring.

"Something Rotten" describes the way the band had begun to give in to the sweet embrace of illicit substances. Fans have long since speculated "My Sweet Prince" is about Brian's experience with heroin, and countless interviews speak on the excess the band engaged in during this time. By this album in 2003 the band had begun to take a step back and take stock of their indulgences, and maybe began to view those Herculean ingestions as "something rotten". 

"Plasticine" hardly needs an explanation. It's about being yourself, a concept that Brian and Stefan bravely pursued throughout their entire career. From wearing dresses on stage in Irving Plaza during heavy rock shows to writing a song like "Nancy Boy", Placebo has blazed a trail for anyone different from the norm. 

"Special Needs" could be an ode to the rock star lifestyle. "Just nineteen and sucker's dream, I guess I thought you had the flavour". Brian may be singing to the person he is below the guitar and alcohol - "remember me when you're the one you've always dreamed". Of course, he's never had to truly reconnect with the mundanity of a normal job, and in 2015 declared himself free of that shackle for eternity. 

"I'll Be Yours" could be about the rabid fan base that the band had amassed by this stage of their career. In 1999 he spoke of screaming teenage fans, and in subsequent years, especially during huge concerts in South America, those fans would show up in droves to their shows. The band even used death threats Brian received on their 1998 hidden track "Evil Dildo". 


"Second Sight" and "Protect Me From What I Want" can again be attributed to the excesses the band had indulged in thus far in their career. Although the band had yet to truly take stock of the toll drugs and alcohol had taken on their personal lives (this would come with Meds and Battle For The Sun), there are always numerous references to drugs on every Placebo album. As this interview explains, Brian was dragging himself slowly out of this era of substance addiction, only to be dragged straight back in during Meds.  

"Centrefolds"is a band reaching what, in the music industry, is at the very least middle-age. They exploded in 1996, and most bands by their 7th year would be well on the way out, one or two well-received albums under their belt. Rarely did Stefan and Brian comment on the mortality of the band in song, but certainly "Centrefolds" foreshadowed the breakdown that occurred post-Meds, a breakdown that may have already been in motion when this album was released. 
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Why Every JAY-Z Album Is His Best

June 27, 2017, 7:49 pm
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Reasonable Doubt
His best because: 
  • Jay himself said so
  • It's the album he took his whole life to write
  • It's considered an objective hip-hop classic
  • He portrayed both the good and bad sides of hustling, something more conscious rappers wouldn't truly attempt for another 15+ years
In 2013, Jay ranked this album as his greatest, and in countless interviews post-2003 he's named this record as his best. "Reasonable Doubt, well yeah that's the first album I made, because that's the joint I took my whole life to make." Jay was 26 years old when he dropped this album, and it is now almost objectively regarded as a hip-hop classic album. 

But why is this his best album? This was Jay at his observational peak. He would rap on 2003's "Moment of Clarity": "Truthfully I wanna rhyme like Common Sense, but I did 5 mil / I ain't be rhyming like Common since". Well, this was him rapping like Common Sense. And while it was well regarded upon release, it wasn't fawned over by critics in the same manner as The Blueprint or The Black Album. In today's climate of instant classics, RD might have slipped undetected, and it may have in the late 90s too, if not for Jay rescinding his promise to make a solitary album and retire. Instead, he dropped the chart-chasing In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 and the true genius of Reasonable Doubt was exposed. There was no-one on the planet rapping about hustling with more skill than Jaÿ-Z, and no rapper since Slick Rick with the same level of intricate storytelling detail. This was exemplified by "Brooklyn's Finest", a collaboration with titan Notorious B.I.G. While Dame Dash urged Jay to wait for Biggie to lay his vocals before rapping, to avoid getting shown up on his own song, Jay was headstrong and "had to go and blaze it superfast". It took Big an entire 4 months for his verse to finally be laid, and rap nerds agree that Jay matched the legend bar for bar. 

During his Combat Jack Show episode, Jay's long-time engineer Young Guru explains the moment he realised Jay was on the same level as Pac with regards to storytelling:
When he said the Rayful Edmonds line, I was like 'how did anybody outside of DC know about Rayful Edmond? Like, how you know about him? And then, the way he said it... So if you really was from the area, he's telling you... The point being, those lines for me brought me into Jay. Jay's honesty. 

The honesty and emotion Jay managed to pack into that album, with tracks like "Regrets", "Dead Presidents", "Can I Live" and "Can't Knock The Hustle" was something he'd only manage fleetingly in years to come. This was his most passionate project. He has spoken before about the impact his words were having on the crowd, saying he would look out and see grown men crying in solidarity, because they understood his words and his truth. It's an untouchable album, and Jay's best.



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In My Lifetime, Vol. 1
His best because: 
  • He balanced street poetry, storytelling, insane rhyming ability, and mainstream appeal
  • It was a precursor to his biggest hits
  • It introduced him to a mainstream audience, something ten more Reasonable Doubt's would never have done. 
Young Guru, on this record:
You know why people take away from this record? Because it has the Puffy record, and because... If there's just two records that are okay to you on a Jay-Z album, people start to question it. Where if there's five records you like on someone elses album you start going "this is kinda aiight"
Alas, it is the curse of Jay's second album. It's his best because this was the creation of the artist we'd know as Jay-Z, all the way up until he dropped the hyphen in 2013. He perfected the balancing act he'd rap about on "The Bounce" in 2002: "But no dummy, that's the shit I'm sprinklin' the album with to keep the registers ringing". He also spoke of the phenomenon in 2010's Decoded: 
The idea some people have of dumbing down is based on a misperception of what a great rap song can do. A great song can be dumbed down in the sense that it appeals to a pretty low common denominator. But's that not the whole story: A great hit can also give listeners a second layer, and then a third, and then more. 
So, while Jay reprised some of the incredible emotion and storytelling of his debut record with tracks like "You Must Love Me", "Where I'm From", "Lucky Me" and "Friend or Foe '98", he also sprinkled it with the "Puffy" juice, meaning he adopted the shiny-suit theory of Sean Combs' hitmaking abilities at the time. "(Always Be My) Sunshine" and "I Know What Girls Like" are the two tracks that so often come in for heavy criticism. But the truth is this was Jay playing with the formula that would see him sell 5 million records in 1998, and become one of the most successful recording artists (regardless of genre) of all time. And "I Know What Girls Like" isn't bad at all. The beat actually holds up incredibly well over time, and Jay was spitting bars: "Got the bomb place, fireplace John Blaze / Victoria Secret lingerie, ice like Don King""Got to have things locked, champagne popped / Cruise around the world til the damn thing stop".

And if that's the worst song, then this album is not bad at all. Consider "You Must Love Me", a heart-wrenching tale that is now considered a classic song. Or "Where I'm From", which postured Jay as the heir to the Notorious B.I.G. throne. Or "Imaginary Player", the track that introduced Jay-Z as a connoisseur of the finer things, and has been referenced by J. Cole, among countless others, fostering that "pioneer" spirit that Jay would carry throughout his recording and business career.

Jay threw his entire ability into both divergent directions; the ignorant party hits were dialled up to 11, a precursor to "Big Pimpin'", and the introspective, emotional pieces were even more piercing and vivd than his debut. That is why this is his best album.



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Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life


His best because: 
  • His cold, heartless "Iceberg Slim" persona was perfected
  • The emotionless violence would litter mainstream rap until 2003
  • His highest selling record
  • He helped launch Swizz Beatz and Memphis Bleek
  • He perfected the mainstream formula: street single, radio single, crossover hit, and hard-edged album cuts for die hard fans
  • This was proof he was learning and gathering knowledge at a frenetic pace
We've never seen Jay, before or since, as negative, dismissive, and cold. This album is Jay's best, as he achieved new peaks of violence and cold-heartedness. It was his "Iceberg Slim" phase, stacked full of gritty lyrics: "Drunk ginseng with Japanese chicks & pulled the root out""This n**** ready for war? Well where that fool at?""She want us to end cause I fucked her friends / She gave me one more chance and I fucked her again". 

It was his first number 1 record, and while the classic Annie sample on "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" had something to do with it, it was on this album Jay figured out how to release multiple big singles, and how to market them. "Can I Get A..." was a Billboard hit, while "Money Ain't A Thang" was a cult classic.

But it's the words from Irv Gotti that still resonate in 2017:
Biggie died, and he went and ran to the Biggie formula... But that wasn't his energy. He made that album (Vol. 1), he didn't fuck with none of us. It was a Bad Boy/Hitmen album... Jay especially, he looked and seen what I did with X and he was like 'woah. Holy shit that shit work'. His Vol. 1 album went like platinum, X comes out and sells 5. So now he's looking for shit, he's in my office a little bit more now, in Def Jam... When he dropped "Hard Knock Life" it was a quick impact. It got him on David Letterman, you know what I'm sayin' it got him everywhere. But it was a quick burn... "Can I Get A..." stayed on the charts for almost a year. "Money Cash Hoes" was Jay coming around after X was the biggest... in the world and saying 'lemme get some Swizz Beatz'. 
Jay was showcasing his talent for being the ultimate sponge. He'd soak up all knowledge, skill, and talent around him, and channel it into his own version of success. By 2001 he'd be a true pioneer, but this record is his best because it put the finishing touches on "Jay-Z: Recording Artist". He'd finished tweaking the formula. He had his radio single, "Can I Get A...", he had his street single, "Money, Cash, Hoes", he had his huge crossover hit, "Hard Knock Life", he was already promoting his Dynasty through Bleek and Beans, and he had discovered the power of a hot producer (Swizz Beatz), a power he'd utilise via his status and power with Timbaland, Just Blaze, Bink!, Kanye West, Pharrell, and even Eminem in 2003. Jay is savvy, and Vol. 2 is him at him most savvy.


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Vol. 3... Life And Times of S. Carter


His best because: 
  • Solidifed Jay's reign at the top of hip-hop
  • He was so passionate about the album he almost went to prison, proving once and for all he did care about his music outside of sales
  • He became "the master of the intro"
  • He introduced the backbone of his Dynasty (Bleek, Beans, Amil)
  • He discovered the power of the R&B collaboration, vital to his 2000's success
  • The first to truly feature the "Jay-Z sound"; modern, heavy, deep, witty, and accessible


I've wanted to write this piece since 2003. This is the album. This signalled the continuation of Jay's reign. This is when he solidified his position as the new King of New York. He was so passionate about this body of work he almost went to prison for it. It re-introduced Jay as the master of the intro, a title he'd carry all the way up until the woeful "Holy Grail" in 2013. He had fully cast aside the shackles of mortality that tethered his first three records. Nothing was off-limits on this record. "Big Pimpin'" remains the largest, most fun, most ignorant hip-hop single to ever appear on MTV's "Making The Video". "Things That U Do" introduced Jay-Z to the R&B collaboration, a potent drug he'd use to fuel his ascension to pop royalty in the 2000s. He continued to reach out to the south through Juvenile and UGK. He provided fertile soil for his Dynasty to grow, with Amil, Beanie Sigel and Memphis Bleek putting in star turns. 

While "Hard Knock Life" was, as Irv said, a quick burn, Jay's star rose into the stratosphere in 1999. He was a red-carpet regular, yet still able to connect with the hip-hop underground, notably dropping heat on Sway's classic "The Wake Up Show". This was the album that began his dominance at awards shows, earning two Grammy nominations, his first American Music Award, and his first BET award. It's likely still his most commercially accessible album, with wall-to-wall smash beats, which he used to drop some of his wittiest, lyrically dynamic lines. "I ain't crossover, I brought the suburbs to the hood", "Thug n*** till the end tell a friend bitch / Won't change for no paper plus I been rich", "The fo-fo like a force field you won't get me", "I'm about a dollar what the fuck is 50 cents?""She keep begging me to hit it raw / So she can have my kids and say it was yours / How feel is she? And you wifed her / Shit I put the rubber on tighter."

It also featured multiple flows that began to prove his diversity. There was no singular "Jay-Z" flow. His rapid-fire switches on "Big Pimpin'" have never been topped, even by that legendary Pimp C verse. His rapid-fire spit on "Is That Yo Bitch?" was only overshadowed by an imperious Twista.

But mostly, this album was his best because it was the first that featured the "Jay-Z" sound. He wasn't copying anyone, he was pushing the boundaries through world music with Timbaland, legendary collaborations with DMX and Mariah, and huge budget videos. Jay had finally arrived in the mainstream, where he remains to the current day.



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The Dynasty: Roc La Familia
His best because: 
  • Greatest intro of all time
  • He introduced his "Dynasty", one that artists would reference as inspiration for the next 17 years
  • He finally achieved that "record label boss" goal he'd so craved at the beginning of his career
  • The legacy of Roc-A-Fella
  • The music was fun, aggressive, and even inspired Britney Spears! 
  • It launched the careers of Beanie Sigel, Kanye West, Bink! and Just Blaze
The greatest intro ever laid on wax, period. Hard, unflinching, lyrical, street poetry. This record was first meant to be a total collaborative project, similar to what Cash Money would do in the 2010s, or MMG did with their Self Made series. But Jay ultimately realised he was probably the biggest hip-hop star coast-to-coast in the year 2000, and once "Big Pimpin'" had hit there was no stopping him, so it became a solo record. 

The beats are perfectly selected for who is on what records. It's hard. When you're talking Jay-Z you're comparing Jay-Z to Jay-Z. So it's very difficult... 
He then claims that Dynasty is Jay's 4th best record. But it isn't. It's his first. It's his greatest achievement as the record label boss he always dreamed of being, ever since he saw what Russell Simmons had done at Def Jam and envisioned his own "dynasty".
I was looking at Russell and thinking, I want to be this nigga, not his artist.
Roc-A-Fella Records allowed Jay-Z to move into the presidency at Def Jam in 2004, but it was this album that hammered the point home. He cultivated careers for Beanie Sigel, Memphis Bleek, Amil, Just Blaze, Bink!, and Kanye West. And it all started here. Kanye West produced "This Can't Be Life", Just Blaze basically blew the competition out of the water with "Intro", as well as "Streets Is Talking", "Stick 2 the Script" and "Soon You'll Understand". Bink! did "You, Me, Him and Her", and "1-900-Hustler". Bleek's next album The Understanding shifted 900,000 copies. Beanie Sigel, who 2 years prior couldn't even count bars, sold 695k and then 585k between February 2000 and June 2001. Hell, even Amil's record charted.

But this was just the beginning of the legacy of Roc-A-Fella. Genius provided this infrographic recently that proved just how influential the label was in the industry. I can't even post the picture, because it's so large it'd take up 4 pages. Countless artists would point to Roc-A-Fella Records as their inspiration for starting their own label, or wanting their own situation. And while labels like Def Jam and No Limit had released collaborative albums, none of them had gone number 1. Dynasty did. Dynasty has gone double platinum. Hell, it even inspired Britney Spears!

And the music itself? Fire. Pure fire. From the first single "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)", to gritty gangster refrains like "Squeeze First", to West Coast smoke-tracks like "Get Your Mind Right Mami", this album was the precursor to Jay's The Blueprint 2, in which he explored a number of discordant styles and genres. But while that album was overblown and patchy, Dynasty is an incredibly tight project, and the sped-up soul samples from Just Blaze and Kanye West would soundtrack the next 5 years of hip-hop classic albums.



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The Blueprint
His best because:
  • Introduced an entirely new sound that would dominate the charts for 5 more years
  • Ended the mainstream career of one of the greatest emcees with 2 verses 
  • Sold incredibly well despite being released September 11, 2001
  • Flawless front to back
  • After this record, he would never lose again, in any realm
  • Proof that Reasonable Doubt was no fluke
  • It was written and recorded in 2 weeks!!! 
The Blueprint never struck me as a classic album. It took me well over a decade to work it out for myself. I love Jay-Z, so I blindly accepted the general consensus that it is one of the greatest hip-hop records ever made, but deep down I didn't believe it to be true. 

I wasn't brought up on hip-hop, I had to discover it by myself. So when The Blueprint dropped, I was glued to my TV watching the horror of the 9/11 attacks unfold. I didn't realise how much people were anticipating this record. I had no idea what it meant to New York, with Jay dismembering two of the hottest rappers from the city, Prodigy and Nas, with just 4 verses. I didn't realise Jay's legacy as a hip-hop legend was not yet solidified, and that people were still waiting for him to create something on the same level as Reasonable Doubt before they would start championing him as a legend. I didn't understand the pressure he was under to deliver yet another number 1, platinum selling record. 

I do now. The Blueprint is Jay's best album because not only is it flawless (Reasonable Doubt was flawless), the bulk of it was created in one weekend. One weekend?! Consider that Drake and Future's 2015 collaboration What A Time To Be Alive took six days, and it's not even close to the level of The Blueprint. Artists take years to craft classic albums. Jay-Z's first classic album took him 26 years to write! And here he drops The Blueprint, which is basically a 2 week project. 

The sped-up soul samples that Just Blaze, Kanye, and Bink! were creating signalled an entirely new direction for mainstream hip-hop. The Swizz Beatz/Timbaland/Scott Storch era had come to a close, and the power of this new movement was such that Kanye's second ever single, "Slow Jamz", actually hit number 1 on the Billboard 100 in 2003. 

The lyricism was incredible. On "Jigga That Nigga", Jay slips perfectly into the pocket, and raps "Playin' guts on the cruise, Hermes boat shoes / The Izod bucket and I'm so old school". In 2017 you'd be googling guts, Hermes boat shoes, and Izod bucket. He raps "Gucci flip flops" well before Future's classic opening. How about "Hola Hovito"? "My dick game is vicious, insane at bitches / Mami keep coming back cause mami came vicious". "I rhyme sicker than every rhyme-spitter ./ Every crime-nigga that rhyme or touch a mic because my mind's quicker". This is basically off-top, when you consider Jay doesn't write his rhymes down, and recorded these songs in 3 days. The bars are a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Everyone considers this album to be a classic. Complex broke it down statistically to even try and prove it's better than Reasonable Doubt, which it is. Within 2 years he'd have released another classic. Why do you think Lil Wayne was dropping back-to-back projects in the mid-2000s? Why does Drake drop back-to-back projects now? Why does Future keep dropping a project every time he has enough songs recorded? Why was Kanye West responsible for 4 separate classic albums during this period (The Blueprint, Be, College Dropout, Late Registration)? "The Blueprint" became a catch-cry for Jay's entire life from here on out. And if you notice, post-2001, Jay-Z didn't ever lose again. "Ether" was his final loss, December 18, 2001. He predicted it all on "U Don't Know".



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The Blueprint²: The Gift & The Curse
His best because: 

  • The most diverse mainstream rap album of all time
  • For the first time in his career, Jay was brave. He didn't write The Blueprint 2, he created an entirely new sound and direction
  • He distinguished himself as one of the greatest technical rappers by playing with a variety of flows over a variety of instruments

Your best album doesn't need to be flawless, it doesn't need to be played front-to-back, over and over, in sequence, for it to be your best record. In 2017, this is never more obvious, with projects like More Life proving diversity sometimes trumps a coherent listen. But in 2002, sequencing mattered. People didn't grab 5 or 6 songs for a playlist, they put a record in and listened front to back, which is why The Blueprint² is looked upon less favourably.

It went number 1, it's certified triple platinum, it's a double album. Name me a mainstream double album more genre-hopping and experimental than this. This was before the backpackers took over from gangster rap, before Death Grips, before Odd Future, before Shabazz Palaces, before Kanye pushed the genre further than anyone before him in 2008 and again in 2013. Jay-Z was rapping over straight guitars, he was rapping over live horns, he created a straight hip-hop song over a beat that was primarily just a couple of piano chords and a discordant 808, he even rapped over a sample of "My Way" by Paul Anka. This album was so incredibly diverse, and while more underground artists had explored the limits (or lackthereof) of hip-hop before Jay, none of his stature, with that much to lose, had ever risked it. Think about it. He had just come off The Blueprint, regarded a classic, and dropped the follow up, with everyone expecting more looped up soul. But as Jay rapped on "Addicted To The Game": "Thoughts is sporadic, I got to unconfuse it / Sort of like a rubik's cube is / Every album's a color / But I fuck up the other color". 

Should it have been a double album? Probably not. Blame Young Guru and Kyambo "HipHop" Joshua for that. "We look at Jay's career from the outside, so we're like in order to be on the same level as Big and Pac. They both had double albums that were like perfection."Blueprint 2 is far from perfection. It's messy, it's overblown, it's discordant, and the theme of "The Gift & The Curse" is applied sporadically at best. But "03' Bonnie and Clyde" and "Excuse Me Miss" were both signs of a maturity that just 2 short years ago seemed impossible with "Big Pimpin'". "Bitches and Sisters" was the first time Jay actually sat down and refuted the charges of misogyny aimed at him. On the title track he broke one of his own rules and actually listed some of his vast philanthropy. In 12 months Jay showed more growth and maturity than a lot of artists show over their entire careers. 

The Blueprint 2 was a showcase of just how far the genre could be pushed in the mainstream setting. We've since seen platinum albums like 808's and Heartbreaks, Tha Carter 3, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy spawned directly from this desire to experiment when at the height of your career (and both Kanye and Lil Wayne speak of being inspired by Jay-Z). This is Jay's best, bravest, and technically brilliant album. And I didn't even mention Beyonce once. 


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The Black Album
His best because: 
  • It is as close to perfection as Jay ever came
  • Considered a classic by almost everyone
  • His most autobiographical release
  • His lyricism and storytelling blended perfectly
  • No beat, no lyric, no flow, no ad-lib is out of place. Front-to-back the smoothest, most enjoyable, most accessible listen of Jay's career. 
There is a line at the very beginning of Jay's concert-film Fade To Black about the very beginning of the conception of this record. Paraphrased, he says "Any time you're making an album, especially if it's your last album, you want it to be perfect. In order for it to be perfect, you need everybody on the same page at the same time. You don't know how hard that is". Well, he did it. He'd later say in an interview that section of the film embarrassed him, because it certainly wasn't his last album.

There were all sorts of ideas and concepts surrounding this record. It was first going to be called The 8th Wonder, and he even shouted that title out on a number of verses pre-2003. He was going to use a different producer for every single song. He was going to pull a Beyonce and just release it with no fanfare, no marketing; it would just appear on record shelves suddenly with no warning. None of that happened. Pharrell was too good, Kanye West was too good, and Jay-Z was too big. So instead he did the exact opposite. He allowed word of mouth to spread, allowed anticipation to build, he said in multiple interviews he was retiring after this record, it would be his last. 

He even commissioned a film to chronicle the creation of the album, which eventually became Fade To Black. This film perpetuated the myth of Jay-Z. He was pictured picking the beat for "What More Can I Say", and going into the booth and spitting a verse in one take, with basically no prep. He called it his "rain-man". He's seen rapping in the home studio of Rick Rubin, the legendary producer, who fawns over his creative process. He's seen hearing a beat from Timbaland and spitting an entire verse top-to-bottom in one take, with Timbo in the background marvelling at his process. It was like Instagram before Instagram; Jay was painted in the most God-like light possible. Which wouldn't have really worked, except The Black Album became his best album.

Remember, by 2003 Jay was still an enigma. He was the largest rapper in the game, certainly the King of the East Coast, yet hardly anyone knew anything about him. We knew he'd had a miscarriage, possibly two. We knew he had a father but hadn't seen him since age 11. We thought we knew he was dating Beyonce. We knew he had a Tribeca penthouse. But in an age of tabloid media, the public were so thirsty for knowledge they devoured any and all rumours. So Jay-Z delivered his most personal album to date, a whirlwind of historical fact ("December 4th", "My First Song"), late-night musings ("Allure", "Moment of Clarity"), admissions of guilt ("Lucifer"), brushes with euphoria ("Encore"), existential crises ("What More Can I Say"), and ultra-violence ("Threat"). Not only was every single beat tight and flawless, every. single. bar. was flawless. Every single one. There are no weak bars. There are just ultra-gems, triple entendre's, verses steeped in emotion, some dripping with blood from the aggression. When Jay raps "When the gun is tucked, untucked, n*** you die it's like nunchucks held by the Jet L.I." you visibly recoil, then scream for more. This was Jay at his lyrical and thematic peak. 

And of course there are the legendary stories. Just Blaze had provided "December 4th", but Jay was still holding out hope he'd drop another gem. He did, but not until after the album had been sent for mastering. So, while Jay was also enduring an entire day of press and interviews and photo shoots, he was concocting the rhymes for "Public Service Announcement" in his head. In between interviews he'd lay bars as they came to him. By the end of the day he'd basically finished the song, while having done 12 hours of press! When he met 9th Wonder, the producer for "Threat", Jay gave him the sample and told him to work his magic. He made the beat in 25 minutes. He actually wrote down the second verse to "99 Problems", which Rick said was "the first time" he'd ever seen him write anything down.


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Kingdom Come
His best because: 
  • "The maturation of Jay-Zeezy" - his growth between The Black Album and this is staggering
  • He began to lay the blueprint for veteran rappers to transition from the streets to the corner office on wax
  • He saved Def Jam
  • It felt unfinished, which gave listeners a unique view of the process Jay goes through when making an album
You're wondering how in the world I'm going to frame this, aren't you? None but the most ardent Jay-Z stan could argue this is his best record. But it absolutely is. Some readers may not have been exposed to the "maturation of Jay Zeezy". When I published this article that listed every single time Jay has mentioned fatherhood on a track, it became starkly apparent that post-2004 Jay entered into a new, thus far uncharted phase of his career. He was the biggest rapper in the game (save for Eminem and 50 Cent, both of whom would fade during the next 3 years), and for the very first time the biggest rapper in the game released a conscious, mature, forward-thinking record. Gone were the flashy brags of do-rags on MTV, guns on the White House lawn, "hottest chick in the game wearing my chain"-style raps. He blasted a path for humility, maturation, and mid-life crisis rap.

It was an ugly path though. While Jay claimed he was saving hip-hop with this record, he was actually trying to save Def Jam, which isn't surprising when you consider everything Jay does has at least two meanings, and "Kingdom Come" is of course a comic in which Superman is believed to have lost his powers, only to regain them in glorious fashion, saving many innocent lives. Young Guru told Complex this album saved Def Jam employees from being fired, but it came at a cost. Jay was in Africa on his "Water For Life" tour, and his voice was ruined from the performance schedule. The fatigue shows in the album, with some lacklustre tracks ("Do U Wanna Ride", "I Made It", "Anything", "Hollywood") almost derailing the entire project.

We'd already seen some examples of Jay experiencing existential issues ("What More Can I Say"), but none as deep, honest, and hard-hitting as "Beach Chair", one of his all-time greatest lyrical and thematic achievements. He wrote in Decoded that the song is "..a meditation on ambition and the laws of the universe, on questions I can still only ask but not fully answer". Once you frame the rest of the album in the depth of this track, it begins to make perfect sense. The depth of the survivor's guilt he felt after making it out of a situation that claimed many of his friends and associates (including Emory Jones, mentioned on "Do U Wanna Ride"). The timid offering that karma may just be catching up to him on the heart-wrenching "Lost Ones". The realisation that he needs to be more aware of his own status and celebrity on "Minority Report".

People like Jay-Z are very rare. The way his mind works is intricate and detailed. As he said in Decoded: "...even when I'm sitting still, my mind is racing. I've built my life around my own restlesness". Until this record, we'de only seen the finished product of what his mind could do. Kingdom Come is performance art; it's Jay creating a record in front of our very eyes. 



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American Gangster
His best because: 
  • Proof he could still create a critically acclaimed record post-retirement
  • His tightest concept record
  • His most focused project
  • The tightest blend of every Jay-Z attribute we love (flow, beats, storytelling, technical ability)

"When I come back like Jordan, wearing the 45, it ain't to play games with you". We compare rappers to athletes all the time. Each is deemed to have a limited creative peak. Insanul and Genius theorized for rappers it is five years. American Gangster is Jay's best album because, like Michael Jordan, he came back and won another championship. Another platinum, number 1, critically acclaimed, classic album. It's his best because he defied all odds, all the negative press, and a gradual tide of public opinion that was beginning to turn against him. It's his best because it's the most focused he's ever been on wax. Because he managed to transform his life experience into not only a great mainstream record, but a cautionary tale to those who seek fortune through illegal means.

He did so by gaining inspiration from the film American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington. The film was about Frank Lucas, a drug kingpin in New York who was shipping drugs in from Vietnam and selling them at ridiculously low prices, just as Jay had done decades before in Trenton. The parallels didn't end there. Lucas employed his entire family, just as Jay has through The Carter Foundation, Roc Nation, Roc Nation Sports, D'Usse, and a number of other avenues. Both sold drugs, and neither ended their career as street-level hustlers. Plus, Frank's nephews want to be just like him, eerily reminiscent of Jay's nephew Ramel, who apparently wants to rap as well.

It may also be the tightest blend of every Jay-Z attribute we know and love. His flow is impressive, but on "Blue Magic" it's downright perplexing how he managed to find a pocket in the weird Pharrell production. His lyricism is less dense than his last 3 studio records, aligning more with The Blueprint in terms of the straight-forward punchlines and vivid storytelling. And that storytelling is on-point with extended metaphors like "Hello Brooklyn" and "I Know". The production is a more mature version of the sped up soul; as Jay said it's the music of his youth. Some incredible samples and huge instrumentation, the like of which Jay hadn't before utilised, and orchestrated by Puff  for the first time since Vol. 1. In fact it was Diddy who helped inspire Jay to make this record:
I get there and he’s playing all these lush samples and all this 70s soul music – which relates straight to the movie
Next time you question why American Gangster is his best album, try peeing at a crowded urinal. That's the pressure Jay was under, and he unleashed a mighty stream.


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The Blueprint 3
His best because:
  • His biggest album
  • His most mainstream
  • His most awarded
  • The first time a rapper had displayed such longevity
  • A true "world" album, on the back of his pioneering Glastonbury set
  • Proof that you could still sell records without resorting to gimmicks


This is Jay's best album because it is, by far, his biggest, his most mainstream, and his most awarded. It charted in 19 separate countries. It spawned two multi-platinum singles ("Run This Town" and "Empire State of Mind" which was Jay's first ever solo number 1). It is his most awarded record, the most awarded rap record of all time, and the 8th most awarded record (all genres) of all time. 

And Jay-Z was 39 years old when it dropped. He was in his 14th year as a major solo artist. No other rapper had ever experienced such success so late in their career. Dr. Dre was only 2 albums in and 34 years old when The Chronic 2001 dropped. Eminem was 37 and only 11 years into his mainstream career when Recovery dropped. Somehow, Jay-Z had not only remained relevant since 1996, he had actually increased his popularity the longer he went on. 

The album was meant to be a "blueprint for the next generation of artists", and the lead single "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)" was meant to literally be a death knell for the technology that helped Kanye create his masterpiece 808s & Heartbreaks, and that propelled T-Pain to new levels of stardom, not to mention the huge number 1 single by Lil Wayne, "Lollipop". As Jay said, the "trend" was becoming a "gimmick", and it was time to "get rid of it". This, of course, didn't happen, in fact the exact opposite happened.

So, if Jay failed in his quest to bring the culture back into line, why is this album his best? The late-2000s was a transition period for rap, as traditional artists like 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Snoop Dogg, and Busta Rhymes experienced a steep decline, artists like Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, J. Cole and Drake began to rise. Jay employed his relatively old-school method to a new school and a new sound. That he could "penetrate pop culture" in such a manner, so long after the peak of his form of rap, was telling, and proof that, regardless of trend, he could still find success simply being Jay-Z.

And let's not forget that both J. Cole and Drake appeared on this record. Drake appeared on the strength of his mixtape So Far Gone, and J. Cole was newly signed by Jay-Z, 2 years before he'd truly blow up with his first album. Roc-A-Fella Records wasn't just luck of circumstance, it was apparent that Jay had a distinct talent for seeking out the next big thing (let's not forget Rihanna on "Run This Town" either).


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Magna Carta, Holy Grail


His best because: 
  • Pioneering deal with Samsung that made him $5 million, changed the RIAA rules, and gave him a platinum plaque before the album even dropped
  • His lyricism and depth reached new levels
  • The beats slapped, his hardest project since Dynasty
Jay's best record for three distinct reasons. His deal with Samsung, which netted him $5 million and a platinum record before the album was even released. His lyrical content, which was his most in-depth, intricate, and intellectual of his entire career. And his beat selection, which straddled the line between Kanye's dark and stormy Yeezus, and Beyonce's futuristic R&B classic Beyonce. 

The deal with Samsung was the first of its kind. Samsung and Roc Nation entered into an epic $20m deal that directly affected Jay's new album. 1 million Samsung users would receive Jay's new album 3 days before the rest of the world. And Jay was receiving $5 per record! This deal occurred in the middle of the incredible downward spiral for record sales that had hit the industry around 2009. Artists like Nelly and 50 Cent, who both had diamond certifications, were selling less than 50,000 records first week. In 2014, RESPECT. posted this article, revealing only 8 rappers achieved platinum status between 2009 and 2014. This, in an industry in which Obie Trice and Chingy have both gone platinum. Jay's deal was such a game-changer it prompted the RIAA to change their certification rules, handing Jay a platinum plaque before he'd even sold a physical or digital copy. 

Alas, the critical community weren't too pleased with Jay's lyrical content. And a prophecy was fulfilled. When Jay rapped "do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?" he was being critical of those that make snap-judgements on music based on broad statements or messages. He'd been doing this since "Money, Cash, Hoes" in 1998, but in 2013 it came sharply into focus. He was accused of relying too heavily on his art collection and his net worth, taking the braggadocio of his early career and running it deep into the ground on tracks like "Picasso Baby" and "Holy Grail". But snatching the odd bar from each track to prove a point is shallow, and shallow is the very last thing this record should be accused of. The imagery and intricacy of "Oceans" is a great example. Frank's hook is incredible, and Jay's punchline raps require a deep read and a referral to Genius for the full meaning. "Heaven" is steeped in 5 Percent references, it may be his deepest track since "D'Evils" on Reasonable Doubt. "Meanwhile this heretic, I be out in Marrakesh / Morocco smoking hashish with my fellowship / Y'all dwell on devil shit, I'm in a Diablo / Yellow shit, color of Jell-O shit / Hello bitch, it's me again / Fresh in my Easter clothes feeling like Jesus and". It must have perplexed Jay, after rapping "I dumbed down for my audience, doubled my dollars / They criticise me for it yet they all yell 'Holla!'" on "Moment of Clarity" in 2003, to see those same critics refusing to acknowledge his most lyrical and deep piece of work. 

It's also his best simply because the beats are just incredible. At a stretch, you could accuse Jay-Z of turning his back on the bangers that littered Vol. 1, Vol. 3 and Dynasty. Nothing as hard as "So Ghetto", "Do It Again" or "Stick 2 The Script" appeared on his records between 2001 and 2010. MCHG certainly didn't suffer this. The knock of "Picasso Baby", the ominous smash of "FuckwithmeyouknowIgotit", and pure joy of "Tom Ford", Timbaland had rediscovered his "bounce" and this record is heavily stacked with huge tracks.


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Bonus: MTV Unplugged
His best because: 
  • He revolutionized not only his own live show, but lifted the bar for live hip-hop in general with the organic, live instrumentation and crowd interaction
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The Story Behind The Personnel of JAY-Z's 4:44

July 1, 2017, 5:31 pm
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Producer: No I.D.

Prior to the release of the record it leaked that the entire project would be produced solely by No I.D. This was met with skepticism by most, including myself. Jay had never released a project produced by one person. The closest he'd come was Magna Carta, Holy Grail, on which Timbaland had a production credit (collaborative production credit on most tracks) on 12 of the 17 tracks. We know how that turned out. Even more foreboding, his collaborative LP with R. Kelly, Unfinished Business, relied almost exlusively on Tone from Poke and Tone. He had a hand in the production of every single song on that record, and all but 3 songs on their first collaboration The Best of Both Worlds.

So who exactly is No I.D., and how did he come to produce every single track on this record? You might know him as Kanye West's mentor, and he received a shout-out on a track that links all three artists, Kanye's "Big Brother". No I.D. was heavily involved in the Chicago scene, producing entire records for rapper Common, and that was how he linked up with Ye.

Well Jay and No I.D. go waaaay back to 1997, and Jay's second solo record In My Lifetime, Vol. 1. No I.D. told Complex he was around during the mixing of "Sunshine (Always Be My)", and reputable sources say he was also involved in the mastering process.

They collaborated on The Blueprint 2, but it wasn't until American Gangster he became a regular producer for Jay. He appeared on every Hov album since, working on The Blueprint 3, Watch The Throne and Magna Carta, Holy Grail. Photos of their work in Paris emerged in October 2014, post-Magna Carta, Holy Grail. The producer even claimed he made the legendary "Control" beat, the one that Kendrick Lamar spazzed on and wet up the entire industry, for Jay, but Jay passed, and it ended up in the hands of Big Sean, who collected Kendrick and Roc Nation artist Jay Electronica to perform over it. The conversation No I.D. had with Jay over that beat points directly to the sound and vibe they managed to cultivate on 4:44:
I told him I felt like he needed to do some straight, hardcore Hip Hop records. Sometimes we focus so much on selling records that we leave some artistic points uncovered…I had this beat.  I had actually done it for Jay, right before I let Sean hear it. I said, ‘You should take this beat. I think it would be great for you to show up on one of these beats. Forget money. Forget everything.
And so in 2017 the project is not executive produced by No I.D., he produces every single track. And it's doubtful Hov cares about projections or first week numbers on this track. "Forget money" is something he appears to have taken to heart. The seeds for this project have been sown many years prior.

EDIT: Since writing this article, No I.D. has given an incredibly in-depth and candid interview to Rolling Stone about his role in the album. Rather than repeat it here, I suggest you read it in its entirety, it's an incredible insight.

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Recording Engineer: Young Guru

We have Memphis Bleek to thank for the last 17 years of crisply engineered Jay-Z songs and albums. As Guru told The Combat Jack Show:
Long story short I met Lorreal... The very next day she had me rocking with Def Jam... Somebody couldn't make it to a Memphis Bleek session, so I remember her calling Lenny [Santiago] and Lenny was like halfway fronting on me... Like Lenny was like hating on me a little but that's my dude now... As soon as I did the first session with Bleek it was over... 
Working with Bleek and Just Blaze led to meeting Jay-Z at Chung King Studios. Jay would ask Guru what he was doing for the next month, and Guru was locked into the Dynasty sessions. When Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella built Baseline Studios, they built it to the specifications of Just Blaze and Young Guru. A collaborative relationship was born, to the point where Guru has the keys to all of Jay's unreleased material on a single hard-drive.
First of all, Jay doesn't want any of his music on any other drives but my hard drive. If it leaks, it's on me. For Jay, it's safer to have me as his central base versus it being scattered all over the city. 
And Guru?  He'll take the blame for Blueprint 2. During Jay's 2014 Tidal: B-Sides concert, Young Guru was on stage bumping his head and shouting the lyrics out like a true day-1 fan (even though he initially felt Notorious B.I.G. was the best rapper of all time, and didn't change his opinion until the early-2000s).

Guru has also spoken about the sole producer on this album, No I.D., and what he's learned from him:
When I work with No I.D.... he'll say to me 'I don't know if it's an EQ thing, I just more "presence"'. So I'll turn the 1073's preamp section way up... and bring my fader on the output side down to get me back to my original volume level. 
There could be no other recording engineer for this project. If it is indeed Jay's last, he's surrounded himself with family, shouting out Ty-Ty and Emory repeatedly on the record, recording with his mother, speaking on his nephews, his siblings, and his extended Roc Nation family. Young Guru is part of the fabled and courted inner-circle. As long as he keeps those "Ghetto Techno"-type tracks on lock...

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Mixing Engineer: Jimmy Douglass

Hov and Jimmy Douglass go way back, mostly because Jimmy Douglass and anyone of note in the music industry go way back. Think Aretha Franklin, Roxy Music, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, Snoop Dogg, Bjork, Justin Timberlake. It's through his work with Timbaland that he was connected with Jay-Z, and it was while the two were working out of Manhattan Center Studios that Douglass engineered 2 tracks on Jay's 1998 album Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life: "Nigga What, Nigga Who" and "Paper Chase", before linking up again for the biggest track of Jay's career to that point, "Big Pimpin'". He also worked with Jay on "Encore" from 2003, separate from Timbaland.

Considered a legend among those in the know, it's not yet clear why Jay locked in with him for an entire project.  Although having heard 4:44, these comments Jimmy made during a roundtable discussion in 2016 certainly reveal his fingerprints are all over this record:
[When asked if the Neve provides too much character] There's never enough "character" for "The Senator!"
You can't deny this record is steeped in character. Jay's vocals at times feel so intimate it's as if he's in the room whispering them from the other side of a gold piano. There is a distinct spoken-word quality to a lot of the tracks, and without the correct mixing, those vocals would sound disembodied and out of place. On previous records Jay's vocals have been spit-shine clean, especially on his bigger budget records like Magna Carta, Blueprint 3, and The Black Album. On 4:44 I have yet to catch a double-track, at least not on any of the verses. This is the most character Jay has ever exhibited on an album.


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Mastering Engineer: Dave Kutch


Welcome to the Master of The Mastering Palace in Manhattan, a studio set up by Mr. Kutch that has mastered projects from Danny Brown, The Roots, Take That, Bruno Mars, Wale, Clipse, Pitbull, Ke$ha, Alicia Keys, Solange, Justin Timberlake.... You get the picture.

It was to Dave that Beyonce sent LEMONADE to be mixed at in 2016, although he was working out of Pacifique Recording Studios in North Hollywood at the time.

Now I could be mistaken, but Dave has never worked on a JAY-Z solo project before. He is listed as the Mastering Engineer for The-Dream's 2013 album IV Play, on which Jay was featured ("High Art"). He was also on The 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake, and Jay featured on "Suit & Tie" from that record. Likely, it's the strength of his work with wife Beyonce, and his work through Jungle City Studios; a recording space set up by Ann Mincieli, who is Alicia Keys' main engineer, and Alicia Keys is married to Swizz Beatz, a long-time JAY-Z collaborator.

Jay has been a regular at Jungle City Studios for decades. He recorded 3 tracks off Magna Carta, Holy Grail there, with Chris Godbey, Jordan Young and Demacio Castellon providing the engineer work. There is a picture of him working with Justin Timberlake, Nas, and Timbaland at the location during the recording of "BBC" which was also on that record.  It's likely Jay connected with Dave through this studio.


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"Marcy Me" Co-Written By The-Dream

The-Dream has been a pivotal member of Jay's (and Beyonce's) artistic team. He first signed to Def Jam as a solo artist in 2007, while Jay was still the President of the label. Since, Terius Nash has been pivotal in some of the biggest and best tracks in both Jay and Beyonce's catalogues. He co-wrote "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)", "No Church In The Wild", as well as "Holy Grail" and "Heaven" off Jay's 2013 album Magna Carta Holy Grail. Jay calls him "the secret weapon",

He likely picked this moniker up in 2011. During the recording of Watch The Throne, Jay apparently played Kanye "Holy Grail" and "Oceans" from Jay's 2013 solo LP Magna Carta, Holy Grail. Kanye wanted them for Watch The Throne, and what ensued was a 4 day fight between the close collaborators. It was Terius Nash who helped diffuse the situation, providing the bridge and the spark for the group of artists to be able to replace "Holy Grail" with an even better opener, "No Church In The Wild". The track won a Grammy.


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"Bam" Featuring Damian Marley

JAY-Z and Damien Marley have a long history. It's been said that Jay tried to sign Damian Marley to his Roc La Familia arm of Roc-A-Fella Records back in 2005. That sub-label was for international artists, notably reggaeton, and had signed N.O.R.E. and Tru-Life, among others. It's alleged that it was the Marley family that stopped the deal from happening. Fast-forward to 2015, and Damian Marley became another co-owner of Tidal, Marley is also listed as a Roc Nation artist on their website, and in December 2016 Marley's manager Dan Dalton and his Dalton Entertainment Group entered into a partnership with Roc Nation.
I first met [Roc Nation CEO] Jay Brown and [Roc Nation founder] Jay-Z in 2004 when Damian was shopping for a record deal. Jay and Jay Z were at Def Jam, and it was an exciting time with Damian's 'Welcome to Jamrock' being a summer anthem. We really vibed with them and liked their take on the music business, and very much value their opinions.
Jay caused a major stir in June 2017 when he was filmed in Kingston with Marley, and Marley confirmed that they'd been working together on new music.
We did some work in the studio recently and he wanted to come to Jamaica to get a tour of the place. He's been to Jamaica before, but never Kingston. So he wanted to come down to Kingston and asked us if we could have been there to show him around and give him a tour musically, in terms of our history in Kingston.
This is the first time the two have collaborated musically.

Production and Co-Production: JAY-Z

Part of the reason Jay is listed as a co-producer on this record was explained by No I.D. to Rolling Stone:
At a point, I said, "Man, make me a playlist of songs you like. Where's your taste at right now?"
Tidal has provided that playlist here. No I.D. mentions "scoring" the album in that interview, saying:
This album is about Shawn Carter, Jay-Z, opening up, and me scoring that. It only came about me doing the whole album because the scoring part of the story started getting so specific that no one else knew how to do the music that fit what was going on. That just happened by default. Half of this album we credited him as co-producer on.
These are Jay's first-ever production credits. He is an accomplished executive producer, not only listed as one on most of his own records, but also albums by Cam'Ron, Jadakiss, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, and Fort Minor. On 4:44 he is listed as a co-producer on the title track and "Legacy", and as the producer (alongside No I.D.) on "Moonlight".


Additional Vocals: Beyonce ("Family Feud")

"Additional vocals" rather than "featuring" occurred previously on Jay's 2013 track "Tom Ford", during which she performs a short interlude under her rap alter-ego "Third World Trill". She also does this on "BBC" from the same album, rapping "My mothafucker is a billionaire mothafucker, you head that shit / I said my mothafucka is a billionaire mothafucker". You'll also notice Jay's vocals appear uncredited on "***Flawless" by from Bey's 2013 self-titeld album; she uses a sample from Jay's 2013 track "Crown".

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"Smile" Featuring Gloria Carter

Jay's mom appears on the third track "Smile", providing the outro. Her previous collaborative credit is from "December 4th" off 2003's The Black Album, in which she provided snippets of stories about Jay growing up that were used as interludes. She also appears in Jay's concert DVD Fade To Black, where she can be seen entering the studio to lay her vocals for Jay.


Additional Vocals: Blue Ivy Carter

Blue has appeared twice previous on songs by her parents. At the end of Jay's 2012 loosie "Glory" she provides "baby noises". That was enough to make her the "young person ever to appear on a Billboard chart," when the track entered the R&B/Hip-Hop charts at number 74. She would also appear on Beyonce's 2013 track "Blue", calling her mom "Bee-sy-ay".


"Marcy Me" Co-Written by Toze Brito and José Cid

These artists wrote "Todo O Mundo e Ninguem", which was used as a sample in "Marcy Me". Their words are provided at the end of the outro. Tozé Brito and José Cid both provided quotes on Jay using the sample.

Brito:
I was amazed when I knew they wanted to use the theme. I still don’t understand how they, in New York, discovered a song released here as a single in 1970. JAY-Z is famous worldwide. The request got here at SPA [Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores] about six weeks ago, and we authorized right away, we negotiated an… appealing percentage. And we got a symbolic sum.
Cid: 
Time goes by and Quarteto 1111’s work is ignored. [Being sampled by JAY-Z] is a way of making justice.


Addional Vocals: James Fauntleroy


Fauntleroy provides vocals on "Legacy", the final track on the record. His path to JAY-Z is easily traced. He has ties to Timbaland, who we know was working with Jay heavily post-American Gangster in 2007/2008. Fauntleroy's pen game came in handy on Rihanna's Rated R; he co-wrote six songs and launched his Def Jam and Roc Nation career. 
It was fun working with her and all the Roc Nation people. It was a crew of people out there just having a good ass time and basically I was just doing everything creatively that I wanted to do.
James was listed as a co-writer on Jay and Bey's 2013 collab "Part II (On The Run)", as well as "Blow" and "No Angel" from Bey's 2013 self-titled record. He is part of 1500 Or Nothin', Jay's backing band for his 2014 concert Tidal: B-Sides. He is also part of No I.D.'s collective Cocaine 80s. Oh, and he once met up with Jay and Bey at the Viper Room, in 2016.  


"4:44" Featuring Kim Burrell

Kim is a gospel singer who has previously worked with Missy Elliott, Stevie Wonder, R. Kelly, and Frank Ocean. Frank is a featured artist on the previous track "Caught Their Eyes", and Stevie Wonder is sampled in the song "Smile".

The choice to have Kim Burrell on the album is slightly perplexing. In January 2017 she was quoted as calling homosexuality "perverted" during a sermon, and even defended those comments. Everyone from Pharrell to Ellen DeGeneres announced they'd be keeping their distance from the gospel singer. Considering on "Smile" Jay reveals his mother is a lesbian who has fallen in love with another woman, placing a homophobic singer on the album seems out of place.


Additional Vocals: Hannah Williams


"4:44" samples "Late Nights & Heartbreaks" by Hannah Williams and the Affirmations. During an interview with Rolling Stone, No I.D. revealed why he chose this sample for the incredible title track:
That whole piece of music was created with me knowing: I'm going to make you say it on this song, and this song will be the only song you need to say it on so it wouldn't turn into a full Lemonade response album. I boxed all of those parts in and said, here, what are you going do with this?
The sample proved pivotal, getting Jay out of bed one morning at 4:44am to record his vocals.
True story, at 4:44 he wakes up in the morning and writes that song. He hits me a little bit after. It's literally the way a producer and an artist should work – nudging and pushing, creating boundaries and allowing him to be the center.


Additional Instruments: Steve Wyreman

Steve has found himself all over this record. He performs Guitar, Bass, Celesta, Electric Piano, Synthesizer, and Hammond Organ, featuring on 3 tracks. Now let's try and trace how he made his way to JAY-Z recording sessions.

Steve has been playing guitar and bass on top-tier releases for well over a decade now. You can find him on Rick Ross' 2010 album Teflon Don, as well as projects from Rihanna, Big Sean, J. Cole, Nas, Ne-Yo, Vince Staples, and even Chrisette Michele, all of whom have ties to JAY-Z. During a 2010 interview it was revealed he was collaborating with No I.D.,  and following that thread, his connection to this project is clear.

In 2011 No I.D. formed a musical collective known as Cocaine 80s. They have released 3 EPs and 1 LP. We know that No I.D. is signed to Roc Nation, and the production arm of Kanye's G.O.O.D. Music, Very G.O.O.D. Beats. This explains the connection to Big Sean, who is also signed to G.O.O.D. Music. It's no surprise No I.D. would want someone he knows and trusts playing the instruments on this record.

Additional Instruments: Nate Mercereau

Nate plays the French Horn on "Bam" and the guitar and piano on "Marcy Me". He is the lead singer and guitarist of the band A Million Billion Dying Suns, a San Francisco act that also includes guitarist Steve Wyreman, who plays instruments on 3 tracks on 4:44.

Nate has worked with Jhene Aiko, on 2014's Souled Out, and Aiko is part of No I.D.'s Cocaine 80s collective. His tumblr page announces that he's worked with No I.D. before. He also worked heavily on Logic's 2015 album The Incredible True Story, a record that Steve Wyreman also helped with.


Additional Instruments: Crystal Torres


Crystal plays Flugelhorn and Trumpet on "Bam". In this Instagram post she screen shots the credits and shouts out Steve Wyreman, Jonah Levine, and Kenneth Whalum, as well as featured artist Damien Marley. Evidently, she was heavily involved in those recording sessions that took place in the Rema community during June 2017. A full break down of those sessions can be found here, with commentary by AintNoJigga.

She has been part of the Carter Empire since as far back as 2007 as part of Bey's all-female band Suga Mama, as the trumpeter. She was still performing that role on 2014's On The Run collaborative tour, where she had first-hand experience with JAY-Z:
Every night OTR tour, I watched @S_C_ (JAY-Z) tell us, 'Dream Big, Be Unrealistic'
She also performed trumpet on Bey's 2013 track "Blow". Solidfying the connection, she featured on "Brave" by Jhene Aiko from Souled Out, an album Nate Mercereau also worked on. Furthermore, Crystal's husband, Michael Law Thomas, has worked heavily wih Common and John Legend, and has been the go-to engineer for No I.D. ever since No I.D. was promoted to Def Jam vice president in 2014.

Additional Instruments: Jonah Levine

Levine plays the Tenor Sax and Trombone on "Bam". He leads the Jonah Levine Collective, who released their first record in 2017. Further connections aren't forthcoming! But the album is very chill, I suggest you give it a spin.















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Best Album Cuts of 2017

July 2, 2017, 12:22 am
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With the invention of Spotify playlists like "New Music Friday" and "Release Radar", as well as the continued advance of technology, we're bombarded with new music every week. But as playlists become more relevant the traditional album format is slowly being pushed to the side, exemplified by Drake's "playlist" More Life and things like Vic Mensa's "capsule" The Manuscript. I still listen to full albums, in fact I've listened to well over 200 thus far in 2017. Here is my full list. But I recognise the appeal and power of a good playlist, so here are some tracks to add to your own that you may have missed if you have been skipping full albums this year.




T-Pain & Lil Wayne - "Listen To Me"

Permit me to swear. HOLY SHIT! God damn. Like what the actual fuck is this? I know it's from 2009, but the Willy Wonka sample has been flipped into something monstrous. Tha Bizness needs a medal for this. T-Pain actually sets the track off well, he spits some hard bars that rival Wayne's 2013 penchant for dissinterested sex. Then mixtape Wayne turns up: "It is Money Mouth Carter, smokin' like runnin' hot water / Better yet like runnin' hot lava""And if I'm in the building I've been motherfucking paid off". He rhymes "rebel rap", "shovel at", "devil back", "schedule that" and "Reynold's Wrap". This is one of the songs of the year, and it was meant to come out in 2009...


Rick Ross - "She On My Dick" Feat. Gucci Mane 

At the time of publishing, this track isn't a single, but I doubt that will last. It's an absolute stand-out. The production from Beat Billionaire isn't even that impressive, but Ross just brings this aggressive energy, manhandling the beat until it's as turnt up as he is. Gucci Mane's section is proof that Ross' delivery is what makes this track, the song drops off a cliff when Gucci starts spitting, but it isn't long before Ross' breathless chorus kicks back in and lifts the pulse.

Jamiroquai - "Superfresh" 

There was no need for concern on Automaton, Jamiroquai came back and delivered something easily on par with Love Foolosophy, and in time, maybe even the classic A Funk Odyssey. The lead single was an absolute romp, but this track better exemplifies the sound and direction of the record. It's that difficult bridge between nostalgia and futuristic, and it touches on the disco-funk of the 80s, the electronic of the early 2000s, and the huge EDM beats of the 2010s. Superfresh indeed.

The Chainsmokers - "Bloodstream" 

The Chainsmokers made fools of the critics who were lining up to devastate Memories... Do Not Open before they'd even heard the full project. Backpedalling, Pitchfork assigned it a 4.2/10, and other publications crossed out the "0" and wrote "3-4" instead. "Bloodstream" might just be why. It's not a fist in the air, let's party until 8am and then get back on our steroid cycle anthem. It's downtrodden, self-aware, and actually quite sad. The "drop" is nothing like you'd expect. It's a warm set of chords set perfectly to the low-bpm percussion.


Actress - "UNTITLED 7" 

Yet again, Actress delivered a record of pure face-melt. The huge build up to "UNTITLED 7" may bore some, so skip forward to the 3 minute mark and turn your volume up indiscriminantly loud, because once the groove of this track drops in, punctuated by aggressive kick drum stabs, it's pure euphoria.

Gorillaz - "Charger" Feat. Grace Jones

Mate... Why in the world did Damon Albarn not realize we love DAMON ALBARN!!! Not his Rolodex. And "Charger" is the reason why. The production is unceasing and uninviting, Grace Jones is merely on standby for the odd ad-lib, but somehow Damon's delivery and smokey vocals elevate this track to an absolute romper stomper. Listen to this song and stop yourself just going "a char char charger" over and over and over in inappropriate situations. Is he doing the cha-cha? Is he talking about a Dodge? Who the hell knows. The lyrics are so ambiguous. But he slays this track. Please, Damon, we want you.


B.o.B - "Tweakin" Feat. Young Dro

Ether came and went so quickly. It snuck onto the Billboard 200 at number 179, which is criminal really, because it's a decent project. "Tweakin" is one of the highlights, with Young Dro dropping some passable bars before B.o.B spends a verse explaining exactly why his album tanked at number 179 on the charts. There are subliminal references to his most famous hit and the trajectory his career has taken since that moment, and while they sound bitter and defensive, it's at least refreshing to know he doesn't harbour any delusions of grandeur when it comes to his popularity.

2 Chainz - "Bailan" Feat. Pharrell

This track was unlikely to fail. There are few artists that Pharrell doesn't have chemistry with, but his connection to Tity is well rehearsed. It's not always easy to find the flow on a Pharrell beat either. Only the best can turn these weird time signatures into something special (think Jay-Z on "Blue Magic"), and Chainz manages to keep up with the beat and still sound his usual laid-back self, dropping quotable upon quotable. 


The Flaming Lips - "Almost Home (Blisko Domu)"

There is always a sense of wonder and atmospheric enchantment to a Flaming Lips album, whether it's good or bad. Thankfully, Oczy Mlody, released in January, is very good. This cut see's them oscillate between light and dark, using furtive drum machines and a nice reverb filter on the vocals. The stabs of synth keep the track from losing momentum, and although it's one of their more restrained pieces of music, it's nonetheless beautiful, possessing heavy replay value.

Vitalic - "Levitation" 

Vitalic never lost that ability to make a true dancefloor anthem. It sounds like the late-90s, but when those rubbery synths kick in, and it settles back into its groove, it's just at home in 2017, a floor-filler at a 2am German rave. There is a sense of fun too, a recurring theme on the record.

Leatherette - "Si Fly"

 I can't place my finger on it, but there is an organic element to this song, almost as if it were recorded outside during an Australian summer, with insects providing background static. It sounds like the lovechild of "Kiora" by Bonobo and "The Rip" by Portishead, which is high praise. When the beat drops out and the sonic sand is washed away, you're in the middle of one of the best bridges of 2017.


Tennis - "Fields of Blue"

Yours Conditionally is already a lovely upbeat record, but "Fields of Blue" might just be the sunniest instrumental Tennis have ever released. A frank admission of love (or addiction, depending on your perspective), it's endearing and warm. Despite the subject matter, there isn't a hint of desperation or compulsion, just a song about being in love.

Austra - "We Were Alive"

The opener to their new album Future Politics is a massive tune, the kind of song that turns concert halls into intimate venues with infectious and shuddering bass, soaring vocals, and epic piano chords. The refrain "it's like we were alive" can be heard as a call back to a visceral time of deep emotion, or an adrenalin-fuelled statement that daily life is mundane and fake when compared with those moments in life when reality is in sharp focus. A strong way to begin an album.

T.I. - "Black Man" Feat. Quavo, Meek Mill and Rara

This record dropped December 2016, and it's an incredible body of work, as T.I. uses his unique technical ability to talk about the sickening systematic racism black people inexplicably face in modern America. The stand out is "Black Man", signalling the beginning of a run of features that Quavo has absolutely bodied. The true star of this track is Meek Mill though. "Black man, running from the law like Pac-Man" is evocative and desperate. "Got smoked by a cop on the dash cam". It's Meek's best verse since his last record, and when T.I. comes through with the final verse as the cleanup hitter the entire song somehow lifts to an even higher level. It's protest music, but it's catchy and memorable, indicative of the album, which is wildly underrated.

Wiley - "Name Brand" Feat. Frisco, Jme and J2K

Wiley remains the greated Grime technician. This song is angry, aggressive, and dexterous. Wiley's flow is like a battering ram, and his collaborators struggle to find a new pocket; once you hear Wiley it's almost impossible to imagine anyone finding a decent alternate flow.

Throwing Snow - "Cantor's Dust, Pt. 2"

If you prefer your face to be fully melted off your skull when listening to music, this will be relevant. While Embers as a whole is a bit disappointing, there are still tracks like this, huge, industrial numbers that sound heavy and powerful. A good pair of headphones are needed to do this proper justice.

Future Islands - "Through The Roses" 

While the song may be somewhat informed by the US Presidential Election, it's yet another example of Samuel T. Herring's incredible emotional compass and his depth of feeling. Just as tracks like "Tin Man" and "Seasons" are heart-wrenching, "Through The Roses" grabs you by the soul and pulls you into the desperate circumstance where you rely on another human being for your survival. It's even starker when you're sitting at your computer at 10am on a Monday morning well aware you don't have a "together", there is only a "you", and you're doing all the heavy lifting by yourself. 

Problem - "Don't Want No Smoke" Feat. Taxstone

Problem remains criminally underrated in the game. He has such respect from industry vets, yet he never popped off. This track is one of his absolute best. His autobiographical verses are whispered in deference to the incredible Enya sample, and they hit hard, painting the picture of a man cornered and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. The Taxstone feature at the end is dope, and quite eery since Tax is now locked up and facing serious time.

Future - "Sorry"

Coaxing emotion out of Future is incredibly difficult. He's rapped over any number of sombre, downtempo beats and is yet to really show remorse for his lifestyle. Whatever the sample is on "Sorry", it's pitched him into melancholy, and amongst the self-aware bars about addiction and violence, there is a chorus full of regret, and a few lines at the end of verse 3 that point to this track being about high-profile ex Ciara. Future sounds genuinely sad, and it's a massive comedown and the centrepiece for his record.

Depeche Mode - "Cover Me - Alt Out" 

This really should have been in the original tracklisting. It's an anxious and reserved instrumental to match the downbeat nature of the record. The vocals have disappeared, but the song never lags throughout all 4 and a half minutes. It's not the most bombastic track on the album, but it might be the most indicative of the mood.

Kodak Black - "Candy Paint" Feat. Bun B 

This is the track that explained the sound and influence Kodak draws from. His popular tracks "Tunnel Vision", "Too Many Years" and "Patty Cake" are insanely catchy, but where is he from? What sound is he pushing towards? By placing Bun B on the end of this track, a voice we're so used to hearing alongside the legendary Pimp C, Kodak's flow makes a whole lot more sense. His extreme drawl that sits right behind the beat sounds fantastic up against the more rapid-fire Bun, and while Pimp C was an accomplished wordsmith, that Kodak can even draw a comparison to that kind of flow is high enough praise for one so young.

Clark - "Slap Drones" 

Clark expertly toed the line between complete anarchy and melodic order on "Slap Drones". It's his gift, combining Autechre with Boards of Canada, to create something that could almost be played at a rave, if not for the horrid sense of foreboding that renders rave-type substances useless.

Snoop Dogg - "Swivel" Feat. Stressmatic 

At first I genuinely thought this record might have no filler, but just like COOLAID and Bush before it, replay value is hard to find. "Swivel" is about as West Coast as you can possibly get in 2017. Artists like DJ Quik, Droop-E and Rick Rock are dropping beats exactly like this, the kind of song that vibrates your scraper so much you send sparks. Snoop doesn't even need to turn up on this, the chorus is catchy and infectious. He finds a nice little pocket and sets up camp, throwing some dated bars at us that recall Doggystyle in the best way possible.


DJ Quik & Problem - "European Vacation" Feat. AMG

The entire project is great, but the first track sets the mood in spectacular fashion. Did you know DJ Quik could rap this well? He doesn't even sound West Coast, he sounds universal. Problem makes his second appearance on this list, his most diverse performance in recent memory. He pitches his voice up a notch, spits some reverse bars, and raps. And raps. And raps. 44 bars of raps. Great track.

SZA - "Doves In The Wind" Feat. Kendrick Lamar

I really do enjoy it when Kendrick works within a concept, similar to "Love Game" or "YOLO". And SZA sounds so damn smooth on this track, like lyrical velvet slowly enveloping every aspect of this sparse beat. Listen to Kendrick's verse in a decent set of speakers, he chases his voice back and forth between left and right, it's a really interesting mix technique. And the song is about as accurate as one can get. Only Kendrick could step back from the hyper-masculine posturing of mainstream hip-hop in 2017 and deliver a verse like this. Can you imagine Big Sean rapping this? Exactly. 

Alt-J - "Deadcrush" 

I've seen a lot of cricitism for this record, and it looks like Alt-J went a touch too experimental, although I think it's absolutely divine. "Deadcrush" will interest you if An Awesome Wave is your favourite record of theirs, it's propelled by that same kind of warm dance beat and an inventive bass section that made that album a future classic. I'd urge you to check the rest of the album out if you haven't, it's inventive and sounds like nothing before it. 

Biosphere - "Turned To Stone" 

There is just something about vocal samples from pre-1960s movies. While Biosphere try to create a foreboding and ominous atmosphere with this song, they never quite manage it, and instead your mind eye grabs at a black and white vista, different to a forest, closer to an expansive desert. This EP is less organic and atmospheric than their usual work, and hopefully, the samples on this track are indicative of the direction they're going to pursue.

Joey Bada$$ - "RING THE ALARM" Feat. Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight, Meechy Darko

Joey can spit, he is one of the true lyricists who has built up a big enough mainstream fan base to be disappointed when his record only sells 51k first week. Put him up against Nyck Caution and his lyrical skill is starkly apparent. It still sounds dusty, and the entire album is actually quite dull, but the beauty of streaming is we can cherry-pick the best tracks for our own playlists, and this is the standout.

Talib Kweli & Styles P - "In The Field"

This has to be one of the songs of the year. SP hasn't spat such venom since the late 90s, and that includes the latest LOX project. His increasingly nasal delivery drips with poison, rapping about the horrid injustices and violence faced by black people in modern America. Lyrically, it's in his top 5 verses. "The jail's the plantation they spread it across the land""I ain't go to Harvard or Yale, I went to jail / But hold a horse that's pale and the slave ship sails / It ain't on water but I know who's steerin' it / The reptilians hid the truth about the pyramids". Incredible. And naturally, Talib Kweli matches that performance, being the most consistent underground rapper in the game. I played this song for my parents yesterday, because I believe everyone trying to understand injustice and racism towards black people in America should hear it. It has helped increase my knowledge, and everyone I speak to in Australia who is passionate about understanding, I've sent them this song.


Your Old Droog - "Bangladesh" 

While the mainstream goes crazy for "emcees" dropping bars over woodwind, Your Old Droog drops by with Heems to slaughter all-comers in the woodwind category with an incredible lyrical track, "Bangladesh". Heems concocts the best 4-bar stretch, rapping: "Now I'm in Tahiti with a queen like Nefertiti (she fly) / You can't see me 'cause my face between her titties (that's why) / Bank off the city, hit the bank, cop a CD (I'm high) / Offshore accounts in Dubai with habibi (my guy)". That's indicative of the quality of this song, a must for your playlist if you appreciate lyrical content. 

Thundercat - "Tokyo"

One of the tracks of the year, hidden away on the incredible jazz/funk of Thundercat's album Drunk. It's a homage to the sights and sounds of Tokyo, set to a futuristic 90s theme reminiscent of legendary game Gran Turismo. The lyrics are playful and fun, recalling the humour that Lonely Island found on their track "Japan", and it's way too short. Stab your repeat button because this is just a great lark to get you through a tough, dark period.

Young Thug - "Get High" Feat. Snoop Dogg and Lil Durk

This album will be forgotten in 2 weeks, which is a tragedy, because it's pushing the genre forward. Nonetheless, giving Snoop free reign over a really sparse beat is rarely an error. And Lil Durk drops by to remind us just how inventive Young Thug truly is. Durk sounds like every other rapper using auto-tune at the moment, aside from Future. It could be Quavo or Travis Scott delivering this verse. But Thugger is a one of one, there is no mistaking the unique and exciting cadences he concocts. 

Forest Swords - "Raw Language"

Another song that feels like it's been stacked together using discordant sounds. The fanfare at the beginning could be Just Blaze during his mid-90s ringtone era. The vocals give it an epic feel, and like a well made retaining wall, the building blocks are obvious but look brilliant when seen in the final product.

Young Chris - "Life of the Party" feat. Lil Wayne

Young Chris always lifts his performance to match his collaborator, and "Life of the Party" is the standout track from his Network 4 mixtape. Wayne's verse is tight but derivative, and it's Young Chris who snaps harder, delivering something as aloof and dismissive as we have come to expect from Lil Wayne in mixtape mode. It's not a party starter, the beat is too cagey for that, but it's typical of mid-2000's Philly. 

Raekwon - "My Corner" 

Honestly, what did you expect when The Chef and Lil Wayne dropped bars? Rae's bars are incredible, aggressive and opulent. "Anthrax pussy, the minks, whiskey king" turns into "tryna hang with wolves, yo, you still plain pussy". Wayne shows up in rare form, sounding almost bored as he drops into a silky smooth flow that sits marginally behind the beat. The production isn't anything special, but the two veterans turn the track into something memorable.

Andy Stott - "New Romantic"

I was a little disappointed with this record, but "New Romantic" is a stark standout. The industrial-strength beat is paired to early-2000s computer-based synth stabs that lend an endearing and familiar quality. It sounds cobbled together, but in the best possible way.

Kasabian - "The Party Never Ends" 

So we were all sitting at our computers desperate for vintage Kasabian, and what we got was another example of the watering down of Brit-rock that has inexplicably fallen upon us over the past decade. The Arctic Monkeys may have staved it off for one album, as did Franz Ferdinand, but best believe groups like Kasabian, Maximo Park, The Rifles and God forbid The Kaiser Chiefs are releasing more and more generic records as they age. So it's with delight that "The Party Never Ends" appears on this album, the title indicative of the carefree nature of those halcyon early days. The synth refrain is reminiscent of "Ovary Stripe" or that epic bassline in "Processed Beats". They have it in them... Please let's see it more!


Jonwayne - "LIVE From The Fuck You" 

The standout track on this album is the final track "These Words Are Everything", but that song is a single with a video and everything. Instead, peruse this track, because it might transform your opinion on Jonwayne. This track was offered for streaming prior to the album dropping, and it built huge hype because Jonwayne is spitting, and spitting hard. The opening skit is likely the way his conscious mind words when out in public, given the content on the rest of the album. He seems quite shy and withdrawn, taken to long bouts of deep introspection. When confronted by an unruly fan in a restaurant, rather than brush him off, he just disses the guy into submission, sounding more like Kendrick Lamar than traditional Jonwayne. This guy can rap, and now view the rest of his output through your newly tinted glasses. He's even more multi-dimensional than you thought!

Big Sean - "No Favors"

Despite this not being a single, it still charted at number 22, likely thanks to the elusive star power of Detroit's Eminem. On first listen Sean floats, finding a rhythm for his chopped flow and not bothering to compete with Eminem on a lyrical miracle level, and it sounds like Eminem is the one ruining this song. Em just pillages his favourite topic of violence, throwing lyrical barbs at whoever he sees on his newsfeed that day. His flow is choppy and unappealing. But the more you listen, the more you realise Sean never stood a chance. Eminem packs dense multi-syllabic rhymes into each set of bars, with at least 3 meanings for each punchline. It's definitely not his best work, but it's a very very good verse, it just takes some time to appreciate.



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2nd Quarter Ambient Round-Up

July 2, 2017, 1:01 am
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Check out the first quarter ambient round up here, featuring Brian Eno, William Basinski, Max Richter, and Lawrence English, among others.

Now that winter has truly set in in the Southern Hemisphere, conditions for ambient music listening are beginning to peak, which is great, because there have been some high-quality releases in the past 3 months. Here are some records and projects that you may have missed.



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Max Corbacho - Nocturnes

I haven't stopped listening to this record since it was released. Max is one of the most reliable ambient music creators in the industry, an artist who can deliver decadent cerebral projects like The Ocean Inside, or unceasing beauty like Ars Lucis. Nocturnes straddles those extremes, oscillating between higher-pitched drone and more bass-heavy low-end work ("Stellar Time" especially). You might be asking "honestly, what sets an expert ambient artist apart from a bedroom hobbyist?"Nocturnes is the answer, the sounds he manages to create are complex and multi-layered. The first three tracks combine the light touch of strings, the heavier, bass-heavy touch of woodwind, and even the occasional tinge of brass. Movements take minutes to set up and longer to execute; the shiny veneer that is the second half of "Dark Sky Opening, Pt. 3" builds for nearly 25 minutes before breaking the surface. Corbacho can comfortably take his place alongside William Basinski, Brian Eno and Forest Fang as the rockstars of the genre.




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Gas - Narkopop

 Having never heard Gas before this record, it was comforting to be able to slip straight into the narrative. No knowledge of previous album Pop is required to enjoy Narkopop, a drone-heavy experience that adds a dystopian element through mismatched drum patterns that, as Anthony Fantano so well put it, feel like they're bleeding through from the hip-hop convention next door to the Opera House. It adds danger and mystery, and the swelling strings and synth arrangements that would normally be used to build tension actually provide a safety zone, a touchpoint in case the percussive elements overwhelm your senses. You can just as easily fall asleep to this record as wake up with it, a rare commodity in the ambient world. There's much to unpack for the immersed listener, note especially the bells during "Narkopop 6" that call up images of a windy front porch in the middle of a hot summer in Nevada, or the off-pitch synths towards the end of "Narkopop 8" that match well with drums that feel like an irregular heartbeat.




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The Caretaker -Everywhere At The End of Time Stage 2

 There is an inexplicable voyeuristic charm to The Caretaker's incredible concoctions. The second track feels like a mournful waltz, but the mind's eye latches on to an opulent ballroom filled with beautiful people slowly moving in time as their jewelry glitters, softened by the passage of time. This is part 2 of a 6 part series, so it feels more incomplete than An Empty Bliss Beyond This World or Patience. Track 4 could be the backing to a 1950s thriller movie, and despite the title track 5 doesn't appear to hide any desperation. There are more elongated ambient phases, and the scratches and warm sounds that accompany any ancient record are even more of a contributing voice than ever before, bridging gaps between thoughts and movements with more purpose than background noise. "I Still Feel As Though I Am Me" ends with something akin to a Beatles outro during their Lucy In The Sky phase. As a package it's difficult to truly immerse yourself and allow the music to influence and bend your own emotion, rather, it's easier to view it as a time-capsule and let your imagination run wild in black and white. Kirby's premise for these releases is a documentation of early-onset dementia, and these records are meant to be indicative of the loss of health and mind, and eventually death. The concept feels very difficult to grasp, especially for someone who has no first hand knowledge of dementia, but the music is such that personal narratives and the pure act of invoking your own imagination carries any concept you so choose to apply.


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Christopher Willits - Horizon

 Christopher makes good old-fashioned ethereal drone music. His previous collaborations, notably with Taylor Deupree and Ruichi Sakamoto, have been slightly more expansive and diverse. Horizon is befitting of an artist at the very forefront of ambient music production. It is part of his promotion of the Envelop Listening project, taking a three-dimensional approach to the creation and consumption of music. This gives the music a more substantive footprint, and while contemporaries chase a sound that will transport the listener away from reality and into a more utopian (or even dystopian) theoretical dimension, Horizon imparts upon the consumer a mind full of images taken from real life. A windswept field ("Simplicity"), a crisp early morning ("Rotation"), a summer evening ("Two"), a lonely walk home ("Return"). I always say the true stars of the genre can create music that is able to draw a user into an immersive experience or provide calming background music, depending on the mood you're in. Willits has done just that yet again.


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Ryuichi Sakamoto - async

There are a few different Sakamoto's you might expect to hear when listening to one of his solo records or a collaboration. He is highly adept at playing the piano, as he revealed on 2009's Playing The Piano. He's a master of tension, in the same way post-rock bands can build and release. It's why he worked on the soundtrack to The Revenant. He can dive straight into drone/ambient waters, as on Perpetual, or he can go full experimental, as on AUN with Fennesz. async could then be a career recap, with lovely piano ballads ("ubi"), disquieting atmospheres ("ZURE"), ambient textures ("solari"), and even spoken word wisdom ("Life, Life"). More so than any of his previous projects, this is a journey as an album, as Sakamoto walks us through his influence and legacy. It reminds me heavily of major label debuts by underground rappers, with a huge budget and a proper A&R encouraging them to display all sides of their musical personality. async is less of a set and forget album, much more of a CD you could put in your car and really engage with repeatedly. Sakamoto is a multi-dimensional musician, and this release ecompasses every one.


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The Beacon Sound Choir - Sunday Songs

It's fitting that this record was released during a quarter of 2017 that is heavy on experimentation within the ambient genre. Rather revolutionise the process, Peter Broderick adds to his already strong legacy by employing a 35 voice choir and channelling their vocals into a genuine ambient record. We've all seen pads in Fruity Loops that utilise ethereal vocals, but those are recorded and heavily looped before being filtered through multiple electronic devices. Sunday Songs uses genuine live vocals, and the textures and tones are entirely organic (until the final track). "Drone 3" is the most impressive track, a thick hue of human voices that plays out like a cycling pelaton, as each individual voice drops off the front you can clearly hear that individuals unique timbre.  

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Jonny Nash & Suzanne Kraft - Passive Aggressive

There are few records as aesthetically pleasing in 2017 thus far, regardless of genre. This is a beautifully constructed album, the attention to detail in the mixing and mastering is well on par with heavyweights like Boards of Canada. Kraft's take on modern ambient guitar music equals that of Bryce Dessner's classic 2015 album Music for Wood and Strings, while Nash provides the backdrop, the coffee table for Kraft's expertly laid out coffee table book of beautiful sounds. The duo has linked the project to the experimental jazz that Manfred Eicher oversaw during the 70s and 80s, and each snatch of bass helps build that image of ultra cool, ultra chic, ultra modern that took hold during this period. There's just something so satisfying about this record, like a perfectly frosted caramel mud cake. It's warm and beautiful. 90's romantic drama backing music ("Small Town"), elongated Gran Turismo snippets ("See Yourself Out of the Way"), and rainy days in a Norwegian coffee shop ("Beluga's Song"). Just images that my own mind was able to conjure out of thin air listening to this record. It's beautiful. 

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Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Negative Chambers

The centrepiece of this record really is "Desacrelasation", a truly menacing and disquieting piece of music that casts a shadow over the rest of the album, and any sense of calm or contentment you were feeling. It manages to tinge even the less ominous songs like "Format and Formalize Desire" and "Turn Roots in Iodine" a very slight shade of madness. Their command of so many instruments is also very impressive, you can honestly lose hours identifying each sound and following the duo down each rabbit hole they furrow in.


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Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - On the Echoing Green

To be honest, we should have expected something along these lines. Cantu-Ledesma has always been on the more noise-oriented side of ambient music, and On The Echoing Green can be seen as nothing more than a refinement and condensing of tracks like "Love After Love", "The Twins / Shadows" or even "White Dwarf Butterfly". This album is more Beach House than Fennesz, although the beautiful centrepiece "A Song of Summer" could easily be compared to Fennesz's own crowning achievement "Endless Summer". On the Echoing Green is a lovely record, at times quite dense but always capable of poking it's face through the clouds and basking in the sunlight. The disquieting "Vulgar Latin" even has some 1920s vibes, while "Door to Night" legitimately sounds like someone fighting their way through a haunted house at 3am, only to open the door onto a beautiful moonlit evening on the edge of a stunning piece of coastline. An evocative record to say the least.

John Matthias & Jay Auborn - Race to Zero

I had to give this a spin on the basis that John Matthias is good enough on the violin to grace legendary album The Bends by Radiohead. Race To Zero doesn't disappoint. There are some downright tunes on here! "Pretoria" is a stunning waltz, grabbing the ambience from a 1920s box social and pairing it with the piano western sound of the 1950s and the percussion that propelled so many brilliant 90s creations. Each track is a new twist in the trail, and you truly never know what you're going to get. A huge horn section on "Stone Face", industrial strength drums on "Every Word a Mask", and something that sounds simultaneously like a whip cracking and a horse drawing a cart on "Soma Vapour". This album is a true romp.

GP Hall - Industrial Blue

 It's not surprising GP Hall has created one of the most diverse ambient records of 2017. His work speaks for itself, and there's a distinct "wall of sound" feel to this record, constructed using a wide variety of expertly played instruments. The way the guitar begins in middle America, and over the course of 2 minutes ends up deep in South America is something spectacular to behold. A wonderful concoction.


Jean-Michel Blais & CFCF - Cascades

We know CFCF as a pioneering electronic musician making high-quality, wide-ranging music. 2016's On Vacation touched on a variety of cultures and sounds, so this collaboration is unsurprising. It's Jean-Michel, though, who dominates the record, his command of the piano the focal point of each track. The outlier is "Hypocrite", the best song on the album and a wonderful marriage between the soaring experiments of CFCF and an energetic and ever-changing riff from Jean-Michel. The record isn't quite as globe-trotting as it looks on paper, but it's a nice piece of music.


Mary Lattimore - Collected Pieces


Mary is an accomplished harpist, and this record showcases just how incredibly experimental and creative she is within her craft. The sounds she manages to conjure on "Bold Rides" are like nothing I've ever heard before, and she very rarely crosses over into any space outside of "warm" and "ambient". There's a Eastern European edge to "The Warm Shoulder", and "Your Glossy Camry" might be the greatest piece of music ever written about the family car from Toyota (I am of course kidding, unless Mary does indeed hold a soft spot for the veteran transport). This is a must-listen in 2017. 

Justin Walter - Unseen Forces

This isn't merely a pretty album designed to be hung on the wall. Tracks like "Isotope" and "Sixty" have a distorted quality, a restless energy that occasionally spills over into sound. But Justin certainly does take care of the aesthetics where he can, crafting delicate pieces of music that move too quick to be labelled as drone, but can easily provoke your inner ability to daydream.

Dale Cooper Quartet - Astrild Astrild

There's an incredible moment around 6 minutes into "Huis chevechette". You're acutely aware of your imagined surroundings, as if time has slowed to a standstill. A troubadours voice, a busker with more experience than your average, bursts through the ambience and then settles into it. It exemplifies how this record can lurch from sound to sound and still present a united and consistent sound. "Ta chassis euplecte" goes from warm afternoon vista to cold, dark, Autechre-levels of mayhem, and somehow the transition is as natural as an afternoon storm rolling in from the ocean. This is an expertly constructed album.

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