Here's that new video for "No Church in the Wild" off WTT. It's directed by Romain Gavras, who you may remember as the director of M.I.A.'s "Born Free". (The ginger genocide video.) Several of his videos are set in a dystopian future, somewhere between now and when Mad Max takes place. In this future, Jay-Z is a freedom fighter, possibly picking up from where he left off in "Run This Town".
Jay's semi-endorsement of the occupy movement has been pretty curious. He had those t-shirts with "occupy all streets", but then it turned out he wasn't donating any of the money, because celebrity charity rule #1 is: Fuck you, pay me. Okay, that's not always the case, but it often is. In this case it was surprising because Jay claims he was "the first person that wrote checks to Columbine."
I have to think that Kanye didn't anticipate this video when he wrote those lyrics. I figure he was thinking about wearing a really snug outfit with a pair of Yeezy II's, probably wearing sunglasses in the dark.
Does this feel really over-manufactured to anyone else? I can't put my finger on it, but something doesn't feel right here. Anyway, moving on.
How was your weekend?
Hopefully better than this.
Conspiracy theory: The rise of zombie-themed entertainment was designed to prepare citizens for the inevitable. Better theory: This guy was fuuuuuucked uuuuup.
The police were originally saying that Rudy Eugene was on "a powerful form of LSD", but what does that even mean? A "form" of LSD? If you know anything about tripping on acid, you know this doesn't even sound plausible. PCP on the other hand, now that sounds quite likely. In my experience, if someone is tripping, acting violent, and getting completely naked, there's a stong possibility that PCP is involved. It doesn't usually end up like "when they caught T-Bone, dancing with that rabbit."
Good times on PCP.
One thing I find troubling about this is the police explanation. They were awfully quick to blame this "powerful" form of LSD, with no toxicology report. What "form" of LSD was he talking about? I've read a good portion of erowid.org, especially the parts about hallucinogens, and I've never heard of this. The follow-up reports are mentioning "bath salts", which should absolutely not be confused with acid.
Most of you probably know of bath salts and "spice blends". For the unfamiliar, lets discuss briefly. Because drugs are fun, but illegal, people often find substitutes. Years ago, a scientist at Clemson, while researching the active components in marijuana, synthesized several synthetic compounds that are "similar" to those found in weed. Similar, but not the same. (Rather than name them all uniquely, he used his initials, so they're all called JWH, followed by a number.) Somebody saw the possibilities here, and started selling dried herbs (Wizard Smoke and the like) sprayed with these compounds. Anyone who's tried K2, or "spice blends", will tell you that compared to weed it's similar, but not the same. For the last couple years, these products have skyrocketed in popularity, mostly due to the fact that every mom and pop gas station in rural America seems to stock them. (Spice and several other "research chemicals" are available from overseas websites as well.) While some states have started banning these "fake" drugs, enforcement is spotty, and there are so many of these compounds that banning one just makes another one more popular.
So what if you like snorting powders that amp you up, but want a drug you can buy at a convenience store? Well then, bath salts are for you. (I am being sarcastic. Don't consume this shit ever, or at least if you do, don't blame me if you try to eat someone's face.)
So what's in bath salts, you say? Who fucking knows. Seriously, the range of ingredients that have been found in these drugs is ridiculous. Mostly, they will contain at least one upper, possibly a numbing agent, and some psychoactive component. At least if you actually do cocaine, you know that the adulterants are probably something along the lines of baby aspirin or laxative. (Breakfast of champions, right?) Also, drug dealers have a vested interest in you not dying. (Although it's been pointed out before, and I can't remember the exact line, but a junkie dying usually brings you more customers.) More importantly, actual drug dealing is illegal, while selling you bath salts is quasi-legal. The way the law is set up, using a chemical for something other than its intended purpose actually makes you the criminal. Long story short, if you ingest something that has a label saying "Don't ingest this", then the seller is probably legally safe.
What does all of this mean in the long run? Cops and reporters don't know shit about drugs, or at least haven't done acid. So, if you want to know about drugs, try talking to someone who's done drugs. Or at least read up on the topic. There's an amazing tool for that, called Google. (Difficult, I know.) Also, expect a huge scare campaign concerning bath salts. Now that these are on the radar of the news and police, expect white parents to freak the fuck out. (Expect more minorities to get frisked also.) This has happened before, and will happen again. Without going too far down the rabbit hole here, I want to point out that the image of a scary black man on [insert drug name here] has been a powerful tool in shaping drug laws in America. I suspect this will somehow become a tool for keeping pot illegal given the current political climate. (Trust me, I have plenty more to say on the topic of drug legalization, but we'll get to that another time.) For now, watch out for bath salt zombies.
So never mind about this being over. Apparently, Dwayne Wayne still has beef, and he feels like Pete pulled a sneak move. This interview brings to light something that hasn't been discussed in a while: sampling rights. According to Lu, the original sample for T.R.O.Y. was never cleared, ever.
Gather 'round kids, and let me tell you about a magical time in Hip Hop. Once, long ago, you could use samples with no regulation. Well, more like nobody was paying attention. Before artists realized (or cared) that producers were using their tracks for samples, nobody had to pay to use them. It wasn't like producers were being shady to the artists intentionally, there was no precedent for this at the time. "Diggin in the crates" of records for cool snippets to expand into tracks was, and still is, a rite of passage for "real" hip hop producers. (Once apon a time, before he started listening to Justice, Swizz Beats was reviled for disrespecting the art of sampling in an interview.) Finding that obscure sample and flipping it is the producer's equivalent to snagging a pair of exclusive kicks. (And I mean real exclusives, like limited-run, Japan-only colorway J's, not some sponge-bob, flea market joints.) For a brief time in the late 80's, snitching on someone's sample (telling people what song it came from) was as bad as snitching to police, partly because it could financially wreck your entire career. The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique would never get released today. Even with an unlimited budget, you might not be able to track down all of the rights' holders, and even then, you would get destroyed on any residuals. The most notorious example of this is the song "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve. Basically, they'll never make another dime off of the biggest song they ever made. Supposedly, they can't even put it on a greatest hits album.
So anyway, when Pete Rock originally made this song, some parts of it were apparently never properly cleared. In order for Lu to use the original beat, he would have to clear the samples, so the beat had to be remade. (This has been done before, although an example escapes me at the time.) If you listen to the track, you can tell it isn't quite the same (in a bad way). So whatever actually happened, now Lu is so upset he had to call Sway (while he was driving through a tunnel, apparently) to talk about the whole situation.
This is a bad look for everyone involved. Ima steer clear of this whole nonsense going forward, because what hip hop needs is not more fucking drama. Pete Rock is one of the greatest producers of all time. His influence on Kanye, RZA, and Just Blaze, to name a few, is obvious in their sound. He's also old, at least by rap standards, and this is just not helping people think otherwise. Lupe is one of the best lyricists out today, but also a noted enthusiast of some lame shit (Linkin Park, for example), so when he goes off like this, it doesn't look good at all. I'm not saying that you should make every decision based on what people will think of you, I'm saying you should be talking up your future projects, not getting involved in beef that makes people think your future projects probably suck. Maybe this is just how you "dumb down" marketing.
P.S. - Hear the original that Pete sampled in the clip from The Boondocks below.
Beef Dies Quickly in the Digital Age
So Lupe did a cover of (T.R.O.Y.) and Pete Rock was not amused. Lupe claimed he reached out to Pete before he did the track. Pete claimed he wasn't angry with Lupe, but the producer. Lupe was like wtf?..
Annnnnnnnd, then it was over. Now they're going to collab. I was gonna go into much more depth about the concept of beef, but this was over before it started. Also, this developing feud between Weezy and Pusha T looks to provide plenty of fodder. So, like the cops used to say before they got a license to taze everyone, move along folks, nothing to see here.
According to Jay-Z, the Jay Electronica album is nearly finished, and it's crazy good. So we'll probably never hear it, or it will come out in five years. Lyrically, the dude is just ridiculous. So, should we be excited that this album is "Coming Soon"? I would like to be, but here are some reasons I'm not.
This is coming out on Jay-Z's label. Hov might be the Mike Jordan of rap, but he also might be the Mike Jordan of owners too. Do you remember how life was for Def Jam artists under Jay's reign? Marketing budgets? Yeah right.
What did you think of J. Cole's album? I don't think anyone necessarily hated that album, but I also don't many people remember it.
He's too good as a mixtape rapper. Is there such thing as a good mixtape rapper with good albums also? Wale's Attention Deficit is probably the best official debut album by a mixtape rapper, and even that one let plenty of people down. (We'll revisit this issue down the road.)
I sincerely hope this album is great. Realistically, if Hova gave this dude beats from his usual producers, Electronica could legitimately make a classic. (Whatever the fuck that means anymore.) I wonder if what Hov likes about this guy is the same thing that he fears - he's weird. What I mean is that Hov's got a reputation for liking indie bands like Animal Collective. (Or at least attending their shows to promote the gentrification of Brooklyn.) Most of Animal Collective's music sounds like an orgy of noise involving Sonic Youth and Pink Floyd. And Electronica is weird, at least by rap standards, and doesn't really have singles. The closest he's had to a marketable single is "Exhibit C", and that doesn't even have a hook. I personally love it when songs forgo a hook in favor of pretty much anything else, but the independent promoters who pay DJ's to play the kind of nonsense that "Urban" radio stations play don't. (Nikki Minaj featuring Drake anyone?) Even Hova's, ahem, "connections" might not be enough to help market a rapper who once made a fifteen-minute song where he rapped over a beat that was made entirely of samples from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. You know Hov knows how to "sprinkle in...to keep the registers ringing", but hopefully on this one he just "lets 'em walk through the hood." I've got low expectations, but high hopes for this project. If it never comes out, I hope we at least get a leak of the unfinished work, since that would probably be better than the finished product.
Check out an example of the unmarketable greatness:
What's happening everybody? I'm back after two weeks of feeling like straight garbage. Okay, well I was actually sick for the last week, and just really lazy for a week before that. What did I miss? Time for a lightning round:
Yesterday marked one year since the US government took credit for Bin Laden's death. (Or since George W. killed him with his bare hands in Iraq, according to teabaggers.)
Prosecutors in Florida finally press charges against George Zimmerman. (Or, exactly what they would have done in the first place if he was black, or Trayvon was white.)
Goodie Mob debuted a new song in a performance that Goodie Mob fans mostly found depressing. (Is he getting back at them for the title of that album they did without him?)
Sadly, both Dick Clark and Levon Helm passed during my absence. Dick Clark gets respect in my book for having an integrated audience on television, when people openly said the kind of racist things that would get even Glenn Beck fired today. Helm is most remembered as a guitarist, drummer, singer, and mandolin (among other instruments) player for The Band. After his cancer diagnosis in 1998, he fought back in truly inspiring fashion, performing regularly in the Midnight Ramble at his home studio to raise funds for his treatment. He went on to produce multiple solo albums for his remaining years.
