Tag: hip-hop
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The Hometown Hero
When I think about Shawty Lo, I think about my youth. “Dey Know” came out during my first year of college. It’s marching band trumpet sample feels defeaning and Shawty Lo raps over it without a sense of urgency. He’s gliding,slowly taking in the moment; his raspy, dragged out rapping is melodic and easygoing. He…
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Sounds Of Blackness: The Year In Rap
At the End of The Sellout, Paul Beatty’s merciless satire of the intersection between black culture and America, there’s a moment when the main character stands up in a room full of other black people and poses the question: what exactly is “our” thing?” For much of 2015 we’ve seen a surplus of rappers grapple…
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The Music Video Sartorialist: Nelly’s “Country Grammar”
The Music Video Sartorialist is a new column in which I will review the fashion of various music videos. First up: the 2000 masterpiece “Country Grammar” by Nelly. Before we even get into this, let me just say that the music video for “Country Grammar” is pure love. There is not one bad thing I…
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What Is Kanye Doing?
I am growing exhausted pretending Kanye West is a genius. It is tiring having to pretend that the reason I don’t like the things he’s doing is because I don’t “get” it. I genuinely like Yeezus a lot and just that fact alone is weighs heavy on my spirit because as interesting and purposefully off-putting…
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Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside
Very few artists are as good at dismissing fame as Earl Sweatshirt. He spent the prime years of Odd Future’s unlikely ascent in a therapeutic retreat school for at-risk boys because he kept fucking up at home. He was unable to enjoy the success of the crew as well as his own personal success after…
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Who Does Childish Gambino Think He Is?
This morning, Donald “Childish Gambino” Glover dropped a new mixtape hosted by Gangsta Grillz/DJ Drama titled Stone Mountain. It’s… not horrible, but it’s also not very good. From the opening line “I had a dream I ran Atlanta” to the jacking of popular beats to songs like “Money Baby”, “Move That Dope” and “Go DJ”…
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CB4 (1993)
Rap music and I have a tenuous relationship. As time goes on, I’m increasingly puzzled as to whether rap wants me to love it. Maybe these are the symptoms of getting old and washed up; when I was young, rap is all I cared about. The music consumed me at my most pretentious years and…
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Real Quick Note On Yeezus
In the midst of nearly dying or wondering when I’m actually going to die, I never got around to talking about Yeezus. In what is Kanye’s latest cry for help album, Yeezus seems to be a testimony of a celebrity who’s self aware enough to recognize how stupid, meaningless and full of shit fame and status…
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Revisiting Open Mike Eagle And Thinking About Misogyny In Hip-Hop
These past couple of months–in the midst of debates about women’s issues, women’s representations in congress and women’s bodies–I (and I’m sure many others) have been thinking a lot about… well, women. More specifically, I’ve been focused on how we look at women due to popular culture and our own ideas based on years of…
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Kendrick Lamar “Good Kid, m.A.A.d City”
The plight of the young black person, especially the male, is one that’s been documented heavily and, as time has gone on, the line between informative and sensationalist has been blurred almost beyond recognition. With the release of Kendrick Lamar’s proper debut album, Good Kid, m.A.A.d City, Kendrick has reminded us all that there is…