Well….like the title says - this is going to be a big one.  Let’s get to it.

Nas - Untitled

Where do I go with this?  I’ve looked at a lot of the reviews for this album, and as par for the course - people are all over the place.  The LA Times basically trashed it…..some other reviewers loved it.  My take is this:  Where was this album about 4 years ago with he put out Street’s Disciple.  The beats still aren’t Jay-Z quality in selection….but I can live with what made the album.  I mean on ‘Make the World Go Round’ even Chris Brown sounds good on the album - not that he is a bad singer…but a Nas album?  It’s actually a decent look for the one of the two “commercial” singles a major label release like this would have.  The ‘Hero’ beat brings Nas back into what I’m used to….a BIG beat…a good female chorus….hard drumline - Polow tha Don did Nas a solid on this beat - very good single. Are either of these song political?  Hell no….but if it helps to push pop shit over to get this into people’s homes - there are worse ways to do it.  The real talk is basically every other song on the album, starting with ‘Queens Get the Money’ and on to the Busta Rhymes assist on ‘Fried Chicken’….to his Obama backing ‘Black President.’

I won’t go thru all of the highlights.  One thing I will say - he has a great theme/message for the album….and believe or not, he actually sounds even doper and more mature than he used to.  The lyrics are crazy nice up and down the album.  He has a nice mix of regular ‘I’m ballin’ talk and the sociopolitical talk (lots of this.)  One of the top 3 albums he’s made…and easily the best of 2008.  I’m not going to say Nas is nicer that Mr. Carter…Jay is a natural superstar and master lyricist.  Nas isn’t a superstar in the “Glastonbury’ sense, but in terms of using the medium of rap music, in its original state - as an INFO-tainment tool - he is the best we have, maybe even ever.

4.75 out of 5 - Essential selection of the week…month….year….thus far.  (If when you pick up a copy…see if it has the bonus track “Like Me” on it…..if not, then find it - it’s worth your time)

Beck - Modern Guilt

Dope.  I know some are lukewarm on it.  But man…..I’m feeling this.  I love the Dangermouse production.  The lyrics are a little dark….he seems a bit, I don’t know, deceived….or tired…whatever it is - it comes across nice on the songs. It’s not his very best, but it’s still doper than most.  Beck has attained that top-notch status.  I mean….has he made a bad album?

4.25 out of 5

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

Another dope album by the Brooklyn based - Minnesota raised band.  Very Springsteen - very honest, but not too heavy to bring you down.  I have a feeling that they are GREAT live for some reason.

4.25 out of 5.

Slept-on picks of the Week:

London Elektricity - Power Ballads

Originally came out in 2005.  OFFICIAL drum and bass - how I missed this?  I don’t know.  Usually I don’t want or need vocals on my d’n'b….but this album shows me that you CAN make it work, if done correctly and with a talented singer like Liane Carroll.   Heavy instrumentation…..not just a laptop and Ableton Live 6.  Real drums and a bass.  BBC’s Radio 1 Xtra named them best live drum and bass act in 2007.  Only thing about that - they hadn’t actually played a live show in two years.  “Out of This World” is the standout.  DOPE.

5 out of 5 - great drum and bass, very soulful….good for DnB beginners

Primal Scream - XTRMNTR

Ill.  Deathly ill.  I can see how I made it past this album - it was 2000…..I was still finding my ear at that time…and I really didn’t get it yet (not that I have it all down now…I’m still learning.)  Eight years later - I know what the fuss is about.  Great album….very fuzzy electronic punk rock - heavy political (anarchy) themes all over.

4.5 out of 5 - glad I bumped into this album

Throwback(s) of the week:  Talking Heads (1979 to 1983 - the Brian Eno era, except for Speaking in Tongues)

The Fear of Music

For some reason I felt like some Talking Heads…but they are incredibly hard to explain.  This one is kind of in a post-punk mold.  “Life during Wartime” is the star here……a must listen

Remain in Light

My favorite Talking Heads album, and probably one of the favorite albums ever.  It’s just a dominator.  Every song is money…..with the Fela Kuti-inspired Afrobeat polyrhythms.  This album is so dope…even VIBE magazine listed it as one of the most important albums ever.  Not Rolling Stone or NME or Spin………..VIBE.  ‘Once in a Lifetime’ is the dimepiece here…..the bassline kills it.

Speaking in Tongues

Another flamer thrower.  This one is more straight forward…..well, at least as straight forward as the Heads can be.  Some nice R&B inflections in each song.

If you have any official….official……..official albums I need to check out or review…..hit me up on the comments.

 October 2008…Thats all I have to say

It’s been a long time coming, but Elzhi is finally set to release his proper solo debut The Preface on August 12. Produced almost entirely by Black Milk, The Preface shows one of the finest lyricists of his era entering raising the bar for emcees in 2008. Elzhi has been relentlessly recording of late, and while this release took longer than many of his fans had wished to see the light of day, look for the follow up The Feed to hit shelves in 2009.

In the meantime, look for the following tracklisting to give you more than enough food for thought until then:

1. Intro (The Preface)
2. The Leak (Feat. Ayah)
3. Guessing Game
4. Motown 25 (feat. Royce Da 5′9″)
5. Brag Swag.
6. Colors
7. Fire (Remix) (feat. Black Milk, Guilty Simpson, Fatt Father, Danny Brown, & Fat Ray)
8. D.E.M.O.N.S.
9. Save Ya (feat. T3 of Slum Village)*
10. Yeah (feat. Phat Kat)
11. Transitional Joint
12. Talking in My Sleep
13. The Science (feat. Fes Roc)**
14. Hands Up
15. What I Write
16. Growing Up (feat. A.B.)

Produced by Black Milk
*Produced by T3
**Produced by DJ Dez

also in Hip Hop News

Murs will be dropping a free album wit 9th Wonder called Sweet Lord prior to his album Murs For President

As of 1 April 2008 according to the Okayplayer website it has been announced that Pete Rock will collaborate with Madlib. This could turn out to be one of the most hugely anticipated partnerships since J Dilla and Madlib who crafted the classic,’Champion Sound’ under the moniker Jaylib.

LETS KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED!!!

Anything K?

****YES!!!!**** BIG UPDATE ON THE ELZHI ALBUM:

I happened to Google ‘Elzhi’….and a fell upon two things.  A dope blog and Elzhi’s Europass mixtape hotlinked to it.  It has a lot of the songs (some unmixed) that will be on The Preface.  Peep the blog and download the album - it’s one of dude’s top posts on the right hand side.

You could only get this if you were at the EL-P/Dizzee Rascal Tour

Heres a free link–Just put 0.00 in the charge cart and its all yours!

http://www.definitivejux.net/news/el-p/438

Nation Poll

Now that telecom immunity has passed, how can the Democratic Congress redeem itself?

• Impeach Bush and Cheney.
• End funding for the war in Iraq.
• Open up a real debate over universal health care.
• Abolish the Bush tax cuts and restore economic fairness.
• There’s nothing they can do. They’ve blown every opportunity.

This is a poll that I just saw on a website called The Nation.  I’m not going to directly criticize the site, because well….for one they do a decent job for the most part.  And for #2, EVERYONE has a poll of some sort.

But what I don’t understand is why they do the polls in the first place - they are complete bullshit.

Let’s check out the one above.

Now the question is asked of whether the Democratic Congress can redeem itself after the telecom immunity ruling.  So they list some options.  They go thru them.

Choice #1- Utterly ridiculous.  Impreaching the President NOW……this far down the line?  Really?

Choice #2- This is a non option.  For one, we are never leaving Iraq.  Look at the signs - multiple Western oilcos got large NO-BID agreements (excluding like 40 other NON Western companies…interesting) to basically pull up the black gold.  The UAE has decided to forgive all of Iraq’s debt - if this is not a sign, I don’t know what is……I mean Shell and BP are drilling everywhere in the world…..but the UAE forgiving like $7 billion in debt?  You don’t wipe that much away for nothing.  Mark my words - Baghdad will look like the Dubai of the desert in 15 years.  YOUR kids will come to Baghdad as adults to travel at leisure in 20-25 years.

Choice #3- What exactly is real debate for universal healthcare?  It won’t work - believe me, if the hospital systems could find a way to charge you more than they do now, they would.  They have NO interest in losing money, or even making less of a profit.

Choice #4- I mean…I guess.  They help the rich…so what?  You think rescinding a tax is going to fundamentally change anything?

Choice #5- This option is just nihilistic ..and stupid.

Look….the only way to kill the telecom immunity ruling….is to……(drum roll) - fight like hell to get it rescinded.  I mean….the options are just peacemeal and somewhat retaliatory, either ridiculous as options or completely unrealistic.

Polls are psychologically rigged.  They ask you to make choices that are either relatively (or soon to be) media relationally in hindsight, or not based in a tangible reality.  Then they use the result to tailor future content towards the “winning” vote.  And so trains you to vote idiotically, based on miniature, baseless opinions.

Let’s practice:

• Barack Obama
• John McCain

:\

The music sucks.

I can’t even focus at work right now.  No tunes - no good tunes to space out at work for.  You can only listen to so much of the stand-bys like Radiohead.

Today, I had a thought - 2008 has been a subpar year for music.  I immediately need to validate this thought in some way….so I need to find a trusted site that would give me a nice consensus to seal in my heavily subjective thought.

I went to Metacritic.  Thinking to myself that over half the year is already done, I expected to be wrong about my statement.

i was right.  As I sorted the top review albums by score - I had a feeling of “I was totally right on that”, yet a bit surprised and actually saddened.

For those of you that don’t know, Metacritic is basically a music/movie/DVD review tally site - they take all the reviews for a particular work and they generate a score strictly based on the the average scores of the combined reviews.  It’s actually a pretty fair system.  If I’m feeling apprehesive about a selection, I might consult the site, especially if the selection is a bit older than 3 or 4 years (they go back to 2000.)

So….I’m sorting all the scores so far in 2008.  And I’m disappointed from the jump.  Most of the albums on the top of the list have one of the following qualities:  a former Beach Boy, something with Nick Cave, metal, actually been out for a while as singles and/or EPs, generally blah.

I realized that “generally blah” was the order of the year thus far.  I mean there are a few gems: Nick Cave, Portishead, Robyn ( I KNOW it’s pop…but it’s good pop), Fleet Foxes, a few of the dubstep releases I’ve copped.  There have been some decent releases: Shearwater, Sigur Ros..other some of the stuff I reviewed previously that was released this year.  And they’re a a few more I really enjoyed like Natalia Clavier, Flying Lotus, or the new Beck, which I will be reviewing in the next day or two.  But for the most part there has either been a lot of blandness or disappointments (The Roots, in a sense), or better yet curiousities (i.e. Coldplay).

I’m actually feeling more compelled to travel back in time - which is why you’ve been seeing a lot of throwbacks and 70s funk compilations…or Gilles Peterson podcasts (CRUCIAL).  And if 2008 continues on its current trend…..I may have to keep the DeLorean in 1974 for a little while.

No real reason for me to go forward right now.  And don’t even get me going on hip hop in ‘08 (on the whole - HOT GARBAGE.)

With that being said - if any of the handful of you that read/write on this blog think I need to hear something you’ve determined to be crucial listening (and it was released in 2008), please post a comment with the album(s) or EPs…..I’ll find the CD, listen, and review it for the blog.

Is this not important? I saw it on CNN and MSNBC this am. Then it has dissappeard, barely mentioned on NPR and not mentioned on prime time news at all.

Earlier, a Russian foreign ministry statement said: “If a US strategic anti-missile shield starts to be deployed near our borders, we will be forced to react not in a diplomatic fashion but with military-technical means.”

BBC article that contains a video of Condaleeza Rice speaking on this…

Background on the story

Immortal Technique - The 3rd World

I can say it is what it is. If you like Immortal Technique’s previous releases then you will enjoy this one as well. Immortal Technique is a talented lyricist and is a passionate defender of poor people all across the world. I think you can safely say that since he is totally independent you will not find his music on a bud light or Ipod commercial like other “leftist” musicians (i.e. M.I.A. or Santogold). The album is produced by Dj Green Lantern and South Paw(who is underrated). Notable tracks include “Apocalypse remix” feat. Akir & Pharoahe Monch and “Thats what it is”

Atmosphere - Sad Clown Bad Dub Spring #12

This is the final seasonal release of the continuing Sad Clown Bad Dub series. Similar to what I said about Immortal Technique. Its Atmosphere doing what they do. If you are an Atmosphere fas as I am then adding this series to your collection is worth it.

Article here.

For all of you “Make Poverty History” people, I have a quote from Gro. H Brundtland -

“And you cannot tackle hunger, disease, and poverty unless you can also provide people with a healthy ecosystem in which their economies can grow.”

Stop worrying about whether or not the hungry can feed themselves, and whether or not the US and the other G8 countries are giving aid to these countries - you need to worry about whether the G8 is helping them develop.  That issue always seems to be passed over…..you’re worried about the prutruding bellies of malnournished 5 year olds. and you forget that there are millions, if not billions, that need more food, and are going to increasingly think about splitting your wig to get it.

Why do you think these countries are always at war with each other, and with themselves - because they are barbaric?  …Or because they are ..non white, which is what one very bold gentleman recently told me?

No - They are hungry.  And poor.

I recently watched a great documentary called Manda Bala - it was more or less about Brazil in terms of it’s direction - using megapolis Sao Paulo and the poor northeastern area as a backdrop.  There was one guy profiled, that had his face covered, and went by a fake name during the doc.  He was basically a professional kidnapper and thief,  from one of the favelas in Sao Paulo.  The interesting thing was that in the news they paint these people are evil and immoral human beings.  He even maintained indifference when asked if he really thought about what he did to people, even in killing individuals that didn’t give in to the demands.

But he said something that struck me - he didn’t think about it…because basically “they” have….and he and the majority of the population have not.  And when the insides of your stomach….your kids tummies…begin to rub - you (yes you) will do anything.  Do you know how wide the disparity between the rich and poor in one area has to be for this mindset to be engrained?  It’s not just about having bullshit stuff like cars- the man still lives in the favelas and mostly gives what he made from the crimes to the community and to feed his kids.

I will leave you with some verses from a song on Freeway’s first album, which really explains a great deal:

But without this drug shit your kids ain’t got no way to eat, huh?
We still try to keep Mom…smilin’…
Cuz when the teeth stop showin’ and the stomach start growlin’
Then the heat start flowin’
If you from the hood I know you feel me
If a sneak start leanin’ and the heat stop workin’
Then my heat start workin’ I’m-a rob me a person
Catch a nigga sleepin’ while he out in the open…and I’m-a get him
We gotta raise our kids while we livin’
Make a million off-a record bail my niggaz outta prison
Fuck a Bentley or a Lexus just my boys in the squadder
Nigga talk reckless then I hit ‘em with the Smif ‘n…
But I’m never snitchin’ I’m a rider
If my kids hungry snatch the dishes out ya kitchen
I’ll be wylin’ til they pick me outta line-up…

I’m not advocating doing what’s wrong ( Part of the song’s title and the sampled chorus says “…even though what we do is wrong…”).  But I’m an advocate of capable people doing what’s right so that others are never in a position to feel this way…or be hungry enough to kidnap, rob, or maim you.

An Amazing editoral by Naomi Klein in the recent edition of The Nation.

Once oil passed $140 a barrel, even the most rabidly right-wing media hosts had to prove their populist cred by devoting a portion of every show to bashing Big Oil. Some have gone so far as to invite me on for a friendly chat about an insidious new phenomenon: “disaster capitalism.” It usually goes well–until it doesn’t.

rest of article here