Voted in a local election. Didn't know anything about the candidates so instinctively I voted for the woman over the man. Is that telling? 11 hours ago
I can’t stand repetition. I certainly don’t like to repeat myself. But I put a lot of work into my thoughts on THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS, and I know that some people who follow me on Demon’s Resume might like to have alerts on when I write elsewhere, so I wanted y’all to know about my piece for Daily Grindhouse. I tried hard to make it worth your time!
Talib Kweli has for a long time been my favorite MC, certainly the one I’ve seen most often in concert. Few in any genre of music can match him for consistency and substance, and none have better balanced witty wordplay with words actually worth saying. Matching Kweli with DJ Z-Trip is inspired, since Z-Trip is one of the most inventive and playful of the mash-up artists to have appeared in the hip-hop underground over the past decade. Kweli brings a sophistication, sincerity, and sardonic humor to everything he does, and Z-Trip brings the wild sonic inspiration.
Their Attack The Block mixtape is a riff on my favorite movie of last year (and apparently Kweli’s als0), with contributions from all-stars like Black Thought, Styles P, and 9th Wonder (among others) and musical nods to Dead Prez, Public Enemy, Eric B., and REM (!!!!!!).
In my opinion this is pretty much the best thing to happen on computer speakers all year.
Angel Haze is super-young, but as a statement of intent at the start of a new rap career, you could do plenty worse than this track, “New York,” off her new album Reservation. You can draw your own comparisons to other rappers if you want – I hear a tiny, tiny bit of M.I.A. in there, but she likens herself to Nas and Lil’ Kim on this song, and if you poke around the internet a little you’ll see more than a few critics going so far as to name-check the Notorious B.I.G. (They’re talking about the style and the talent, not the voice, obviously.) Seems likely she’s got her own unique stories to bring to hip-hop though – read this intriguing profile by The Fader for some background.
Personally, I like the confidence. I like that she’s barely 21, she’s from Virginia, and she’s coming out rapping “I run New York.” I don’t care if you’re Jay-Z or if you’re me, when you say “I run New York,” you’re mainly running motivational incantations on yourself, and if you’re a musician, you’re offering that same boost to everyone who listens and nods and rhymes along. It’s a good thing. The fact that this melody and beat are taken from a Gil Scott-Heron song “New York Is Killing Me” (ironically, a very different sentiment than “I run New York”) only suggests that Angel has cooler taste than most up-and-comers.
“Hot Like Fire” is arguably even catchier and definitely more radio-friendly:
Wanted to clue everyone in to a guest post I did for the terrific movie blog Rupert Pupkin Speaks, which has been inviting all kinds of well-travelled movie writers to contribute their lists of favorite quote-unquote “bad” movies. (It’s all subjective, right?)
I think you’ll enjoy this one. I had a lot of fun putting it together. I’m very proud to be featured on another site I enjoy, amongst some fun people. You’ll have to click through to get to the meat of what I wrote, but I wanted to share some posters, still frames, and YouTube clips also, so scroll down for those.
If you know me or have stopped by my site before, you know that this is hardly the end of my voyage into tremendous cinematic badness. It’s only the beginning.
