Glaciers and Shirl put me onto Neal Armstrong’s mixtapes a couple weeks back, if you haven’t already checked them out you should cause they are the shit. The dudes song selection across the board from rap/r&b/soul/pop/rock/everything in between makes me think I could be mates with this guy. Something particular that struck me upon listening to one of his tapes was Spandau Ballet’s song “True”.
I’d got to thinking about this last year when “You” by Lloyd was out, but hearing the original again just reminded me. Is there any english song that has been successfully interpolated by r&b/hip hop artists as many times as this has ? i.e Is there anything that has birthed as many minor hits through it’s use ? Even if there is, I think you’d be hard pressed to find another english pop song that is as universally beloved by the ‘urban’ audience as “True”. In my mind I can’t think of anything that tops it. What follows is a video tribute to a great song, perfect for your Friday afternoon.
I thought the end of the “Love In This Club” video was retarded. Now that I realise the club was actually in Narnia, it all makes perfect sense. Regardless, it is Usher’s time right now so this should be getting drummed into our collective consciousness heavily over the coming months. In talks with the bro’s recently, it’s become apparent that it’s almost like Usher and Justin Timberlake chat to each other about who is going to run music for each 12 - 18 month period when they release their albums. Shit is like clockwork, once J.T finishes up owning everything, boom - Usher is back owning everything and vice versa. In reality of course their labels plan this shit out so that they don’t compete whatsoever, but still.
I have to say that I was disappointed in “Love In This Club” as a first single from Ush, not cause it’s a bad song… more because I felt Usher usually sets the trends as opposed to following them. So admittedly soon as I heard the trance arpeggiator on it, I felt like Usher had kinda lost. You gotta imagine Timbaland and Justin(ESPECIALLY Timbaland with his ego) woulda been sitting in the mansion listening to that song like “yeah thats right, keep biting our shit”. For your average R&B/Pop dude biting what’s ‘current’ is what you do, Usher is NOT your average dude though, that’s why he has the career he has. I’m hoping his brother J-Lac of Lloyd - “Get It Shawty” fame has hooked him up with some more unique stuff for his album, I wanna see some whole nother other shit. Anyways, I been bumping this track with Hov for the last 2 days and I’m feeling it. If you haven’t already peeped check:
Watching artists perform and stuff is all good - but when you actually want a party as opposed to a spectacle, you can’t beat havin some good ass DJ’s and a reason to celebrate. So if losing the league last week was a bit rough for your national pride, head along to this and rejoice in the fact that some NZ fullas put the worldwide DJ/Production game on smash. Something for everyone up in there, from the celebs, to the trueschool purists, to the “avant garde” indy cunts. Shit, there might even be some house. You can bet Slick and Glaciers are amped on DJ AM coming through, so team shotthen will most definitely be in the building.
But check this out though Just to show you how down for the broke mans cause we are, we’ve got a double pass to give away to someone awesome who can answer this question:
How many different Scratch LIVE interfaces are on the market ?
Easy as. Just email your full name, address and answer to shotthen@gmail.com. Get them answers in by the 29th of May. We’ll then announce the winner on the 30th, so that those who are non victorious still have time to go score themselves tickets. Don’t play around folks, this is serious business. Big thanks to the bro’s at Serato for the hook up. Oh!
After much speculation marketing mastermind P-Money has unveiled what the countdown was for and has upped a beat-tape of all new P-Money instrumentals. Great for those who wanna vibe out, or MC’s needing something to spit on. Boom.
Bit late for mothers day, but this lil’ dude is the mantis. Hes got swag out the wazoo and proves you don’t have to write tech to say some heartfelt shit.
Almost 4 months on and I’m still feeling this track, hope this vid is dece. In more “Everyone nose” news, peep the remix. Sick line up on this one, tracks not really my cup of tea but it’s worth a listen just to hear the usually laid back azz pusha T spittin double time. I would recommend this song to Wadams. Oh yeah, LOL @ Kanye.
For the most part, Winter can kiss my ass. The only benefit of the cold season is you get to wear some cool shit you can’t wear in the warmer months, and there is better sports on TV. Apart from that, Winter is trash. It’s not uncommon for your spirits to take a dip around this time also, not neccesarily saying you get depressed, but there’s generally a marked difference from the carefree attitude of Summer. You start evaluating how your year’s been thus far, thinking about where you are and where you want to be in life etc. As a musician I’ve noticed all the serious stuff I’ve ever written has been during this period, it’s a reflective time and you’ll often find yourself listening to more reflective and sombre music to accompany it.
The other day when I was over at Che’s, they were playing a CD of original songs sampled by 2pac throughout his career. I knew a majority of them, but this one right here caught me off guard. “Picture me rollin” is my absolute favourite Pac song, not his best lyrically or anything like that.. just as an overall piece of music, to me - the best. A week doesn’t go by without me playing it. The beat is top 5 of all time IMO, but I had always assumed it was an original composition. So I felt rather uninformed to find out not only is it an interpolation, but an interpolation of a song by Kool and the Gang no less. I need to step my game up. Anyways, if you’re in the need of some mood music for these months indoors… it don’t get no better than this baby. No ma really. Give the bassist some.
As I mentioned in an earlier post about Curren$y, there’s numerous reasons why you can like a particular artist - X-factor included. However one thing we often neglect to think about, is just WHO is actually deciding WHICH artists we get to hear. Nowadays, with the internet being more prevalent and a major label not being totally neccesary to garner attention perhaps these people aren’t as vital as before. But don’t kid yourself, 9 times out of 10 the artists that we get to hear are what the A&R and key figures at a Label have decided we will enjoy the most. Such is the way with most entertainment related things in life, movie and TV studios filter through film scripts and show ideas and pick the ones they think will blow up for production. Artists are in themselves a business, and like any business they need financial backing. Hence these key label figures are really just like music versions of the dudes on Dragon’s Den, deciding whether or not these businesses are worth the investment.
Back to my point though - I was rolling round Kura with overthebolts the other day and “What is it” by Baby Bash came on the radio. Being that I AM really cool, I cranked that shit up and said “what izzzz iiiiiiit ?” to passers by, hilarious. However it was right then that it really hit me. Who the hell decided that shit was cool ? Like for real, who would have actually heard Baby Bash’s demo and said “Damn, this dude is the man we need to sign him RIGHT NOW!” LOL. It’s mind boggling. If i met the person that did, I’d have to shake his hand. He’s a legend. How could you possibly have heard this dude, seen his picture, and been like “yo, this is gonna be huge”. On paper he appears to have NONE of the credentials you would think you need to be successful as an entertainer:
Can’t rap - This is a big one. I’ve heard people say Bow Wow can’t rap… Bow wow is Rakim,Nas,Jay and BIG compared to this cunt.
Can’t sing - His vocal tone sounds like a sex offender.
Can’t dance - You’d think he should be on some Chris Brown/Usher shit considerin the first 2 points.
Zero swag - Be for real. You know how people see T.I on vids and say “fuck he’s cool”. When was the last time you heard someone say that about Baby Bash ? Never happened.
No fashion - Dresses like a rude boy racer
Out of it looking cunt - I can’t even pinpoint what he looks like. He’s just out of it. Scares me.
This would all mean nothing if he was some great songwriter, but from what I gather the dude effectively just cameos on his own shit - Gets a good artist (Akon,T-Pain etc) to come in who writes/does the hook and everything memorable about the song > fills in the verse gaps with some pseudo rapist mumblings > done. The remarkable thing about it is, he’s STILL here. Obviously it works, and it’s a shining example of the obstacles that can be overcome if you know some good singers and producers that will let you ride. Still though, none of this would be possible without that first dude who heard the demo and said … “Yup”. Legend.
-UPDATED-
Courtesy of Gunt, Oldskool Baby bash when he was “Baby Beesh”. Ho-ly.
