omg its the spizzazzz rap party 02 mixtape!
...and it's nearly march 03, yes, but nevermind! check it out to bring back all those memories of when that girl was looking at you during "good times"; or getting annoyed when you heard "nothin" coming from somebody's car for the millionth time and you were like "why doesn't nore do some more real shit like "t.o.n.y."" but then it dawned on you how good the beat is! or when you were in hmv and some dude was hogging the listening decks when you wanted to play your shitty house 12s, but then "oops oh my" came on the loudspeakers and you watched everyone's ears perk up and people started to make embarrassing hip movements; etc etc it's all good!
(thanks to sha naynay for the upload!)
28.2.03
26.2.03
recently on westwood...
westwood defends that rubbish xzibit song "choke me, spank me, pull my hair": "this song ain't advocating violence against women or anyone... it's a story about going to a strip club... AND HAVING SOME FUN!!"
"in da club" confirms its position as biggest song in the world by having like eight million alternate-mc versions, mainly by up-and-coming types like joe budden who need to prove shit - westwood neglects to play inevitable faux-conscious, truly-embarrassing dead prez version. (lets have a proper dancehall riddim version like that addictive riddim!) (also, ms dynamite should freestyle over it to begin the hype for her 'good' album!)
westwood loves r kelly's music but "if he did the crime he's gotta do the time." all this awareness of outside events is quite uncharacteristic.
pharrell guested last week and the main news is he's turning into a complete dickhead! he pompously got westwood to turn down the music down so he could deliver this message "we do not want a war; we do not want a war; we.. do.. not.. want... a.. war; we do not want a war; we. do. not. want. a. war." you don't hear chris moyles do that, and its very worthy and cool - but pharrell, what about britney??
and he has played some good tunes! joe budden's actual new single, "pump it up" (shhhh), is all forward-motion energy rush horns and siren sounds, kind of like "pass the courvoisier" but thankfully without busta or diddy or acoustic guitar. that dude from blueprint 2 whose name is almost paedo crack has this song which sounds like what rza should be doing instead of falling off worse and worse every year; freeway guests and takes the oppurtunity to sound more like ghostface than ever before. i heard like thirty seconds of kardinal offishall's new single - it is very possibly some weirdo snare-less neptunes indian riffing. "excuse me miss" is still rubbish.
westwood defends that rubbish xzibit song "choke me, spank me, pull my hair": "this song ain't advocating violence against women or anyone... it's a story about going to a strip club... AND HAVING SOME FUN!!"
"in da club" confirms its position as biggest song in the world by having like eight million alternate-mc versions, mainly by up-and-coming types like joe budden who need to prove shit - westwood neglects to play inevitable faux-conscious, truly-embarrassing dead prez version. (lets have a proper dancehall riddim version like that addictive riddim!) (also, ms dynamite should freestyle over it to begin the hype for her 'good' album!)
westwood loves r kelly's music but "if he did the crime he's gotta do the time." all this awareness of outside events is quite uncharacteristic.
pharrell guested last week and the main news is he's turning into a complete dickhead! he pompously got westwood to turn down the music down so he could deliver this message "we do not want a war; we do not want a war; we.. do.. not.. want... a.. war; we do not want a war; we. do. not. want. a. war." you don't hear chris moyles do that, and its very worthy and cool - but pharrell, what about britney??
and he has played some good tunes! joe budden's actual new single, "pump it up" (shhhh), is all forward-motion energy rush horns and siren sounds, kind of like "pass the courvoisier" but thankfully without busta or diddy or acoustic guitar. that dude from blueprint 2 whose name is almost paedo crack has this song which sounds like what rza should be doing instead of falling off worse and worse every year; freeway guests and takes the oppurtunity to sound more like ghostface than ever before. i heard like thirty seconds of kardinal offishall's new single - it is very possibly some weirdo snare-less neptunes indian riffing. "excuse me miss" is still rubbish.
23.2.03
the 50 cent album after one listen
- dude could have made this record a lot funnier! before now i thought of 50 as kind-of detached, watching thugged-out shit around him with a raised eyebrow so he can apply it the same way he applies those r'n'b singer jokes on "love me" (the twisting of other people's tracks on those mixtapes he put out was done with absolutely no love towards the originals - it sounded more like he wanted to be apart from the rest of hiphop so there could be a 50 cent version of everything), but maybe dre or someone has schooled him on the direct-action style. we get told every five minutes he was shot nine times, stabbed, etc so he could afford to take a wittier route without anyone thinking he should be in black sheep!
- i'm not feeling his torso, although i spent a long time looking at it yesterday.
- i think 50 spends a lot of time working on that elasticated, addictive flow. haven't caught many great micro-hook moments like that one part in "wanksta" ("daaamn homie / in high school you was the maaan homie / what the fuck happened to you?") or virtually all of "in da club" , but i'm thinking they'll start to hit me after a few listens. just as possible i'll never play the whole thing again though, i could be listening to the radio.
- the aftermath/shady records default sound is now, sadly, way worse than the roc or murder inc default sound! (look for the rakim record to be the most tedious good album of the year.)
- of the two eminem guest spot tracks, one sounds like ukg dude wiley playing at 33 (i mean instead of 45, mp3 headz!), and one ("patiently waiting") is a brilliant creeping-death gothy thing!
- my other favourite so far is that completely-out-of-place tender rap ballad with nate dogg.
- dude could have made this record a lot funnier! before now i thought of 50 as kind-of detached, watching thugged-out shit around him with a raised eyebrow so he can apply it the same way he applies those r'n'b singer jokes on "love me" (the twisting of other people's tracks on those mixtapes he put out was done with absolutely no love towards the originals - it sounded more like he wanted to be apart from the rest of hiphop so there could be a 50 cent version of everything), but maybe dre or someone has schooled him on the direct-action style. we get told every five minutes he was shot nine times, stabbed, etc so he could afford to take a wittier route without anyone thinking he should be in black sheep!
- i'm not feeling his torso, although i spent a long time looking at it yesterday.
- i think 50 spends a lot of time working on that elasticated, addictive flow. haven't caught many great micro-hook moments like that one part in "wanksta" ("daaamn homie / in high school you was the maaan homie / what the fuck happened to you?") or virtually all of "in da club" , but i'm thinking they'll start to hit me after a few listens. just as possible i'll never play the whole thing again though, i could be listening to the radio.
- the aftermath/shady records default sound is now, sadly, way worse than the roc or murder inc default sound! (look for the rakim record to be the most tedious good album of the year.)
- of the two eminem guest spot tracks, one sounds like ukg dude wiley playing at 33 (i mean instead of 45, mp3 headz!), and one ("patiently waiting") is a brilliant creeping-death gothy thing!
- my other favourite so far is that completely-out-of-place tender rap ballad with nate dogg.
19.2.03
mis-teeq - scandalous
radio edit
to check for only one mix of a mis-teeq single would be to miss the point - a big part of their genius is the ukg or dancehall or rnb (or even miami fucking bass!) remixes, which are just as good or better than the original, and which are all given a fair chance of blowing up on the radio (= they aren't like eight-minute dance mixes for awful house djs down your local to play, they're pop!). this is kind-of a british thing now; american acts couldn't pull off multi-genre mixes, maybe because of us radio or maybe the way remix is defined as either 'let some other mcs tackle the same beat' (also good!) or that part-two thing where everything is different except the narrative (different to what mis-teeq are doing - the fact that the vocal remains similar is important!).
however, bad boy records and mary j and super cat were regularly putting out equal-billing dancehall/hiphop mixes in the early nineties, in fact loads of them still sound amazing, so what a great idea to revive this after the ukg-inspired tremor in brit-urban music. also it means every mis-teeq single is like biggie's amazing one more chance 12 where you got the sweet r'n'b mix which ashanti stole, and the pretend-ruff nubian hiphop mix, and "the whut" as an added bonus! this is called value for money! its enjoyable partly cuz of the attitude - it makes me want to shout "omg yes!" when mis-teeq do the rewind sound effect and switch to the remix in a couple of their videos. (they did this even on their first tune, "why" - they were setting us up to accept the equal importance of all mixes from the beginning! and it means they invented 1xtra.)
"scandalous" the proper version is on a sleazy squelch-bass-and-sirens r'n'b tip, i assume it sounds like this because mis-teeq are having scandalous, unlawful sex with some ruff dude (harvey?? gross!) and... look, ok it sounds a lot like "one night stand" but not as good. this doesn't make it bad or anything, since "one night stand" is the best fake destinys child song ever (far better than a lot of actual dc!), and it's actually referenced in the lyrics on "scandalous" so it's probably meant to sound similar. it's just perhaps less earth-shattering as a result. key point: it's better than big brovaz so who cares!
oracles ukg mix
one of my favourite (quite possibly era-defining!) moments from 02 was heidi singing the torch-song breakdown on "round round" on record and live (sugababes are also pretty good at the remix thing, like that soulwax mix of "round round"), i mean have you ever seen people not sing along to it, even in virgin or something?? it's so theatrical! and heidi has a wicked voice. this oracle dude tries something vaguely similar on the ukg mix, which sounds like the one that should blow up. its more addictive, it makes the b-line sound like the fiesta riddim, and of course allleeeeeeeshhaa only ever sounds good mcing over ukg. and yeah, the breakdown almost brings the song to a brilliant, stuttering full stop... but then off it goes again only sounding even more great! they don't do much with the breakdown in the radio edit.
blacksmith r'n'b mix
oh blacksmith man, how many times must our paths cross?! this is the dude who's had the uk r'n'b remix locked down for as long as i've been buying 12s! him and motherfucking desert eagle discs (the second-rate jam and lewis to blacksmith's second-rate trackmasters)! and they're pretty much all mediocre-to-shit except for that achingly good remix of craig david's "rendezvous" where all he did was put premier's "boom" beat over craig's speeded-up vocal (to be fair, dude deserves credit cuz that was an amazing idea!). what does he bring to this mix? ehhh, a slightly lighter, less sleazy vibe, some decent tinkling in the chorus. but like i can't imagine bothering to play this over the original in a club situation; so dude, what is your point exactly??
jazzwad mix
yes, that's jazzwad! i was going to say i liked this anyway cuz jazzwad is a good name but it turns out to be great in a reasonably fresh analog-bleep dancehall style, and it makes allleeeeeeeshhaa sound nearly as good as on the oracles mix. like maybe this is the key thing behind the best mis-teeq moments: making her sound good because she is so intent on being lead teeq! the tension between her mcing and sabrina's quite traditional r'n'b-ness (don't forget to not check for her solo career!) is also most effective on this.
radio edit
to check for only one mix of a mis-teeq single would be to miss the point - a big part of their genius is the ukg or dancehall or rnb (or even miami fucking bass!) remixes, which are just as good or better than the original, and which are all given a fair chance of blowing up on the radio (= they aren't like eight-minute dance mixes for awful house djs down your local to play, they're pop!). this is kind-of a british thing now; american acts couldn't pull off multi-genre mixes, maybe because of us radio or maybe the way remix is defined as either 'let some other mcs tackle the same beat' (also good!) or that part-two thing where everything is different except the narrative (different to what mis-teeq are doing - the fact that the vocal remains similar is important!).
however, bad boy records and mary j and super cat were regularly putting out equal-billing dancehall/hiphop mixes in the early nineties, in fact loads of them still sound amazing, so what a great idea to revive this after the ukg-inspired tremor in brit-urban music. also it means every mis-teeq single is like biggie's amazing one more chance 12 where you got the sweet r'n'b mix which ashanti stole, and the pretend-ruff nubian hiphop mix, and "the whut" as an added bonus! this is called value for money! its enjoyable partly cuz of the attitude - it makes me want to shout "omg yes!" when mis-teeq do the rewind sound effect and switch to the remix in a couple of their videos. (they did this even on their first tune, "why" - they were setting us up to accept the equal importance of all mixes from the beginning! and it means they invented 1xtra.)
"scandalous" the proper version is on a sleazy squelch-bass-and-sirens r'n'b tip, i assume it sounds like this because mis-teeq are having scandalous, unlawful sex with some ruff dude (harvey?? gross!) and... look, ok it sounds a lot like "one night stand" but not as good. this doesn't make it bad or anything, since "one night stand" is the best fake destinys child song ever (far better than a lot of actual dc!), and it's actually referenced in the lyrics on "scandalous" so it's probably meant to sound similar. it's just perhaps less earth-shattering as a result. key point: it's better than big brovaz so who cares!
oracles ukg mix
one of my favourite (quite possibly era-defining!) moments from 02 was heidi singing the torch-song breakdown on "round round" on record and live (sugababes are also pretty good at the remix thing, like that soulwax mix of "round round"), i mean have you ever seen people not sing along to it, even in virgin or something?? it's so theatrical! and heidi has a wicked voice. this oracle dude tries something vaguely similar on the ukg mix, which sounds like the one that should blow up. its more addictive, it makes the b-line sound like the fiesta riddim, and of course allleeeeeeeshhaa only ever sounds good mcing over ukg. and yeah, the breakdown almost brings the song to a brilliant, stuttering full stop... but then off it goes again only sounding even more great! they don't do much with the breakdown in the radio edit.
blacksmith r'n'b mix
oh blacksmith man, how many times must our paths cross?! this is the dude who's had the uk r'n'b remix locked down for as long as i've been buying 12s! him and motherfucking desert eagle discs (the second-rate jam and lewis to blacksmith's second-rate trackmasters)! and they're pretty much all mediocre-to-shit except for that achingly good remix of craig david's "rendezvous" where all he did was put premier's "boom" beat over craig's speeded-up vocal (to be fair, dude deserves credit cuz that was an amazing idea!). what does he bring to this mix? ehhh, a slightly lighter, less sleazy vibe, some decent tinkling in the chorus. but like i can't imagine bothering to play this over the original in a club situation; so dude, what is your point exactly??
jazzwad mix
yes, that's jazzwad! i was going to say i liked this anyway cuz jazzwad is a good name but it turns out to be great in a reasonably fresh analog-bleep dancehall style, and it makes allleeeeeeeshhaa sound nearly as good as on the oracles mix. like maybe this is the key thing behind the best mis-teeq moments: making her sound good because she is so intent on being lead teeq! the tension between her mcing and sabrina's quite traditional r'n'b-ness (don't forget to not check for her solo career!) is also most effective on this.
10.2.03
more new release singles
clipse - when the last time/grindin predictably this is the only 12 i bought today, for the "when the last time" instrumental because that's like the best beat ever. "grindin" is still the freshest thing out there (can we have some new freshness please?), but its also worth checking the imports for skillz - "v.a. banger": the next level of neptunes' bdp-hop.
2pac - thugz mansion you know, the acoustic one! i might buy this later in the week cuz it has the nas version and they both sound quite sweet on it. pac is dead.
ll cool j ft amerie - paradise how you doin miss/my name is l, i'm from... paradise. he should have quit this style after "loungin" really, it still gets a crowd all gooey! "paradise" is the same but less effective. (amerie's new song "talkin to me" with foxy brown is wicked! even if its another jack of the top billin/real love beat.)
clipse - when the last time/grindin predictably this is the only 12 i bought today, for the "when the last time" instrumental because that's like the best beat ever. "grindin" is still the freshest thing out there (can we have some new freshness please?), but its also worth checking the imports for skillz - "v.a. banger": the next level of neptunes' bdp-hop.
2pac - thugz mansion you know, the acoustic one! i might buy this later in the week cuz it has the nas version and they both sound quite sweet on it. pac is dead.
ll cool j ft amerie - paradise how you doin miss/my name is l, i'm from... paradise. he should have quit this style after "loungin" really, it still gets a crowd all gooey! "paradise" is the same but less effective. (amerie's new song "talkin to me" with foxy brown is wicked! even if its another jack of the top billin/real love beat.)
9.2.03
tatu - all the things she said
the best idea behind tatu is surely not the lesbo-schoolgirl thing but making them sound like the girl linkin park - proper pro-tooled digi-rock (check how digi-rock is killing off r'n'b though! pink, "stole" etc) where there's no pretense of making one section sounding anything like the next! the vocals are silly and annoying enough to fit, but it would be cool if tatu had their very own rap dude like mike shinoda. still, you all know its great.
the best idea behind tatu is surely not the lesbo-schoolgirl thing but making them sound like the girl linkin park - proper pro-tooled digi-rock (check how digi-rock is killing off r'n'b though! pink, "stole" etc) where there's no pretense of making one section sounding anything like the next! the vocals are silly and annoying enough to fit, but it would be cool if tatu had their very own rap dude like mike shinoda. still, you all know its great.
sean paul - gimme the light
hmm, i have bought this on 12 three fucking times, like first the original, then the busta remix which i couldnt resist because of busta's comedy english accent in the intro, and now the uk 12 featuring very, very good heartless crew ukg remix! the remix is kind of like "heartless theme" (with identical whistling sound) but with sean paul, you know! and it sounds like they got him back into the studio just to say "yo heartless crew!". the original version is still pretty much unimpeachably good when you hear it in a club.
hmm, i have bought this on 12 three fucking times, like first the original, then the busta remix which i couldnt resist because of busta's comedy english accent in the intro, and now the uk 12 featuring very, very good heartless crew ukg remix! the remix is kind of like "heartless theme" (with identical whistling sound) but with sean paul, you know! and it sounds like they got him back into the studio just to say "yo heartless crew!". the original version is still pretty much unimpeachably good when you hear it in a club.
big brovaz - ok
i suspect i am the exact brought-up-on-american-rap type who's meant to gag at the sound of big brovaz' vaguely embarrassing appropriation (starting with their name!), and thats pretty much what i feel! the hooks arent terrible though, i might be able to get into it if i work through some issues.
i suspect i am the exact brought-up-on-american-rap type who's meant to gag at the sound of big brovaz' vaguely embarrassing appropriation (starting with their name!), and thats pretty much what i feel! the hooks arent terrible though, i might be able to get into it if i work through some issues.
jurgen vries - brave new world
i'm not feeling this. but what about this wes dude who's presenting, huh! i suppose he's better than scott mills because he's made precisely no value judgements or shitty jokes. the problem with having mills or moyles is basically like they're doing a shitty version of the spizzazzz review! who the fuck would want to actually hear us taking the piss on radio one right over the songs!?
(if you would like that, you should email us or something)
lil missy: yeah, wes is rubbish! what is pissing me off is that liberty x are doing a song just before the top ten! why can't we just hear the damn top ten, wes? sorry but it's weird to leave us hanging like this. i wanted to like wes because he's my age & likes aguilera but i can't now. this is stupid.
i'm not feeling this. but what about this wes dude who's presenting, huh! i suppose he's better than scott mills because he's made precisely no value judgements or shitty jokes. the problem with having mills or moyles is basically like they're doing a shitty version of the spizzazzz review! who the fuck would want to actually hear us taking the piss on radio one right over the songs!?
(if you would like that, you should email us or something)
lil missy: yeah, wes is rubbish! what is pissing me off is that liberty x are doing a song just before the top ten! why can't we just hear the damn top ten, wes? sorry but it's weird to leave us hanging like this. i wanted to like wes because he's my age & likes aguilera but i can't now. this is stupid.
good charlotte - lifestyles of the rich and famous
not as good as lost boyz' "lifestyles of the rich and shameless" (check the resurgent lost boyz love on the new lil kim song!) but its some catchy shit! i listened to the cd single at virgin and the b side was this horrible solo acoustic thing where the dude claims he is a cemetery (whoa), isn't it a bit early for showing they can handle many styles!? nevermind, check the half-speed breakdown on this!
not as good as lost boyz' "lifestyles of the rich and shameless" (check the resurgent lost boyz love on the new lil kim song!) but its some catchy shit! i listened to the cd single at virgin and the b side was this horrible solo acoustic thing where the dude claims he is a cemetery (whoa), isn't it a bit early for showing they can handle many styles!? nevermind, check the half-speed breakdown on this!
girls aloud - sound of the underground
yeah so whats up with their motherfucking outfits! its like some kind of woman-hating joke perpetrated by louis walsh after giving them an actual decent song to sing! i was wondering what their next move would be, cuz they might manage a sugababes-style stradling of all cutting-edge pop bases but they could just as easily go lame ballad style! i'd like to suggest they bring back dirty pop.
yeah so whats up with their motherfucking outfits! its like some kind of woman-hating joke perpetrated by louis walsh after giving them an actual decent song to sing! i was wondering what their next move would be, cuz they might manage a sugababes-style stradling of all cutting-edge pop bases but they could just as easily go lame ballad style! i'd like to suggest they bring back dirty pop.
panjabi mc - mundian to bach ke
im kind of annoyed by this record after overdosing but im glad it happened because av8 records would never have put out bhangin son, a hot comp of more rap-bhangra hybrids, if mundian hadnt got popular! the panjabi mc totp performance was cool.
lil missy: yeah! i loved the saris the girls were wearing & their dancing was sexy and cool!
im kind of annoyed by this record after overdosing but im glad it happened because av8 records would never have put out bhangin son, a hot comp of more rap-bhangra hybrids, if mundian hadnt got popular! the panjabi mc totp performance was cool.
lil missy: yeah! i loved the saris the girls were wearing & their dancing was sexy and cool!
1.2.03
the guardian in new york vs westwood in new york
(lank-haired dudes making pretend dance music vs former street-level mcs who've lost all sense of reality [and erick sermon] - which is the real nyc? also, westwood is back there tonight nine pm, don't sleep.)
(lank-haired dudes making pretend dance music vs former street-level mcs who've lost all sense of reality [and erick sermon] - which is the real nyc? also, westwood is back there tonight nine pm, don't sleep.)
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