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June 25, 2006
Hot Picks for June '06
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1. The Coup - Pick A Bigger Weapon
Boots and The Coup have had that serious Right-Guard-worthy funk since the early 90s, but I still didn't really expect Pick A Bigger Weapon to be quite as great as it is. "Laugh, Love, Fuck" is a squirty keyboard anthem whose fourth and fifth priorities are drinking liquor and helping make the revolution come quicker. Perfect for a left-of-center bar like Hell! "I Love Boosters!" is perhaps the greatest pro-shoplifting song since Smog's "When The Power Goes Out". And then the hottest jam on the record is "ShoYoAss", 6+ minutes of watery guitar funk on which those Dirty Mind comparisons could not be more apt. I'd link to the extensive Cocaine Blunts interview where Boots talks about the Prince influence but unfortunately it appears to be offline at the moment.
Rather than make an ill-advised attempt at analyzing the unique political bent of Boots' impressively intricate raps, I prefer to let those words speak for themselves. Oddly enough, when I lived in SF I saw The Coup at Slim's less than 48 hours before Bush was inaugurated. The recent 506 show was a lot better than I remember that one being....and nothing absolutely terrible happened in Washington D.C. last weekend either!
2. Sleepy Brown feat. Pharrell and Big Boi - "Margarita"
Towards the beginning of the Got Purp? Vol. II comp, Killer Mike pointedly asks "Is it only me, or does Pharrell sometimes remind niggaz of Sleepy Brown back in '93?". I guess it wasn't just Killer Mike, 'cause someone got the two crooners together in the present day for this potent new collab. Summer wants a feel-good Neptunes hit the way 9-to-5-ers want a post-work margarita, and this jam definitely quenches that thirst. Pharrell's bueno beat is all bossa nova bouncy and Big Boi has us believing that he actually clocks out of his job at 4:59. Who wants to hit the Armadillo patio after work sometime soon?!? First round of Fro-Margs on me!
3. Rick Ross - "Hustlin'" (Catch Mix)
I've really been wanting to rock some Rick Ross for awhile now, for completely superficial and non-musical reasons. But however huge it may be, the original "Hustlin'" is way too menacing and glacially paced for the dancefloor. Enter Nick Catchdubs, who doubles down on that 68 BPM tempo and comes up with an awesomely grimy horn-fueled rock groove that sounds like it high-stepped its way off of an 80s aerobics tape. A real burner that hustles in the Charlie sense of the word as much as it evokes those now-too-familiar Fast Eddie and Jigga Man connotations. This remix sounds especially great coming out of "Super Freak" and/or "U Can't Touch This". WHIP IT, WHIP IT REAL HARD!
4. Busta Rhymes - "New York Sh*t"
Mr. Rawls recently reminded me of an August 2003 evening during which I repeatedly yelled "Busta Sucks!!!" at the Alltel Pavilion stage. At the time, that proclamation was on-point and even well-deserved (Busta was berating the crowd and North Carolina in general for no good reason). Unfortunately, I'd have to say that the sentiment has stuck with me over the last few years, and "Touch It" did very little to change my mind. But this song's a different story. I don't know if it's the super-sweet sample/DJ Scratch beat from the Diamond D song (more detailed beat discussion/etymology here) or just the fact that I was living it up in the Big Apple a mere few weekends ago, but "New York Sh*t" has been going through my head a lot this past month. Much more than the other Big Bang singles, at least. I've also got the instrumental version of this if any local MCs out there feel like dropping their own "NC Sh*t" or "North Cack Sh*t" variation. Somebody's gotta step up, I don't really want "It's Carrboro" to be the only 2006 song that reps my area!
5. Yung Joc - "It's Goin' Down"
There might be a few other brand-new-ish jams out there that I like a little better than this certified Top 5 hit, but now that summer is officially here, I feel the need to belatedly acknowledge and even embrace the now-undisputable fact that "It's Goin' Down" is THE summer anthem for 2006**. My Apple Chill experience was an early indicator that this could happen, but then Tom Cruise sorta ruined the song for me while promoting Mission: Impossible III. Just a few days ago, another 1980s celebrity who should've stayed out of the 2006 spotlight found himself in a very similar situation. Even though I hate the Heat, there's something kinda hilarious and charming about Pat Riley gettin' down to "It's Goin' Down", maybe because he's old and just going along with his team for the sake of having fun. Or maybe because he's not a creepy Scientologist. At any rate, that Nitti beat isn't going away anytime soon, and neither is the motorcycle dance that's helped give this song such legs. For what it's worth, I can motorcycle-dance a lot better than either of those fools. Meet me in the club on July 8th...guaranteed to go down!
** NOTE OF CLARIFICATION: "Official summer anthem" is not necessarily the same thing as "jam of the summer". I'll write about my leading candidate for jam of the summer next week when I post my July picks....
Posted by Tim at 04:54 PM | Comments (4)
June 06, 2006
Sinister Picks for 06.06.06
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There are plenty of heavy metal songs and hard rock anthems that could serve as a Satanic soundtrack to today's very strangely numbered date of 06/06/06. But you have to dig a little bit deeper to come up with some appropriately themed tunes from the funk/hip-hop/pop/dance side of the gates. Hell asked me to contribute some ideas and recordings for tonight's 6/6/6 party, during which they will reportedly play "THE 100 MOST SATANIC SONGS OF ALL TIME!". Here are six essential non-Slayer jams that I'm going to be burning for the occasion:
1. Curtis Mayfield - "(Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below, We're All Going To Go"
A big hit from Mayfield's 1970 solo debut Curtis. "Move On Up" from the same record is one of the most uplifting blasts of optimism ever recorded, but "If There's A Hell Below..." starts with ominous bass and scary Book-of-Revelation talk and winds up telling us exactly where we're all gonna end up. Someday I hope Papa D rewrites the frightening introductory roll call of people-labels ("Sistahs! Whiteys! Jews!") to fit Hell's diverse clientele ("Indie-rockers! Grad-students! Townies! Punkers! RTP workers!").
2. Paris - "The Devil Made Me Do It"
Until just recently I hadn't thought about Paris in a long while, but his Tommy Boy debut had a huge effect on my young ears in 1990. WXDU played the hell out of The Devil Made Me Do It when it came out, maybe in part because of the Duke mascot tie-in but probably 'cause the album struck such a chord with fans of Public Enemy and other powerfully produced political hip-hop. With its dark guitar riff intro, those crazy backmasked drum rolls, and a bassline that's even lower than P-Dog's deep voice, this title track still sounds sinister as shit.
One of my first-ever rock concerts was INXS and Ziggy Marley at the Dean Dome in September 1988. In much more recent years I totally dropped the ball in terms of realizing how appropriate it would be to play "Devil Inside" at Hell. Luckily I was finally shown the light when One Duran dropped this jam at a Disco Inferno last fall.
"Horny Little Devil" off of Death Certificate might seem like a more appropriately themed 06/06/06 song, but the "devil" in that song is a white boss/employer trying to get "a taste of chocolate". "Wicked" from The Predator is way scarier - a really evil groove with fierce Ice Cube rapping, some Don Jaguar toasting, and menacing Bomb-Squad-ish production. This 1992 banger also has what might be the earliest rap reference to Shaquille O'Neal, who was very recently spotted wearing a blood-red jersey with some fire imagery on it.
5. Jeru the Damaja - "Ain't The Devil Happy"
Spine-tingling strings make for a subtler form of sinister, but this song is no less appropriate for 06/06/06. Premo produced another bumpin' Beelzebub beat when he did D'Angelo's "Devil's Pie", but I'm going with Jeru for this short-list.
Kanyeezy "did it again" on this Black Album track, flipping Max Romeo's vocal sample ("Lucifer son of the mourning...") from the equally Satan-centric reggae jam "Chase the Devil". Somehow I think the calypso-ish "Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers might fit surprisingly well before or after "Lucifer" and its devilishly bouncy beat.
These six tunes are just the tip of the pitchfork, of course. Hell will also be playing songs like James Brown's "Hell", that AC/DC song that I recently blogged about, "Helter Skelter", "Death Valley '69", "Straight to Hell", "Devil's Haircut", "Shout at the Devil", "Hellhound on My Trail", "To Hell With the Devil", "Sympathy for the Devil", "Devil Got My Woman", "Satan is Real", "Running With The Devil", "The Devil Went Down To Georgia", etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And if the wicked music isn't enough of an incentive to come out for tonight's festivities, Hell will be serving red beer. Not simply Red Stripe or Red Hook, mind you, but actual red beer! I've been feeling pretty sick for the last week, but the chance to try red beer is a little tempting...
Posted by Tim at 06:06 AM | Comments (0)