Musicology

Can you believe it, it is already September 20th! The goddamn month is almost over before it has even started! Back to university tomorrow, oh well in two days actually because I am skipping tomorrow. That is always the best solution when you hate the first days just as much as I do, just skip them. Anyway, the last few weeks I have been helping my cousin move into her new house. The previous owner never ever cleaned the place in those two years he has lived there so you can imagine how dirty it was inside. Let me give you an idea, I assume you all know the movie The Adams Family, right? Well you can compare it to their house, sprider webs everywhere! It was just gross! When I got home, I jumped in the hot bath tub and stayed there for more than one hour, washing my hair six times and still feeling the spiders run over me (of course that was all in the head, but still that is how it felt). While cleaning and carrying boxes, I had enough of time to listen to my iPod and some new Cd's I’ve downloaded the past few months.

The Blueprint 3 by Jay- Z

This is the third album of the Blueprint series and I must say, it’s my least favorite one too. After his strong comeback CD Kingdom Come, I would have expected more from this one. It is also remarkable how many features there are on this album; 12 out of 15 tracks contain a feature (with names as Alicia Keys, Drake, Pharrell, Kanye West and Rihanna).

About the album itself, some may have already noticed that it does not sound like the previous two Blueprint albums. The word "blueprint" also does not refer to a "back to basics" approach this time. Jay-Z wanted to explore himself with this album, and just as other MC’s of this time, innovation does not stand for creating a whole new sound, it just taking the music as how it sounds now to a different level with some new flows or new samples, but never really new and unique things. The Blueprint 3 belongs to this category too: it has some new rhymes and a somewhat futuristic sound, but it is still Jay-Z rapping about how great he is. Nothing new there right? That is basically what he has been doing for the last 13 years, and I must admit, he is good at it.

Overall this album is solid, but when you are Jay-Z, standards are higher and this album can because fairly boring after a few listens. My favorite track is Empire State of Mind.

Personal rating 3.5 stars

Danger by P-Square

P-Square is back with their 4th album, Danger. It has been announced as “highly anticipated” and bringing a new vibe into the music industry. Based on their deal of 40 million Naira, you could expect this album to be even better than the previous best selling album Game Over. Being a major P-Square fan myself, I was eagerly waiting on this album, but it was a major blow. It wasn’t even nearly as good as their previous albums Last Nite, Get Squared and Game Over.

When they released the title track of the album, Danger, they’ve quickly released the video of the song too, most likely due to the bad response on the song. This is tone of the whole album. Danger is an album with some heights, but mostly it is just average with very few lows. It all becomes so plain and jacked up basically (never thought I would say this about them, because I am not really objective though because they are just too good looking and then you digest horrible things a bit better). This album is everything but renewing and original, samples seem to become the standard for this record. With each song, you get the “haven’t I heard this beat before?”-feeling. To my feeling, it is just not at powerful and high quality as their last album, but I guess that is the problem. We have been spoiled the last time, offering an album you like to listen to without skipping a track or without getting bored, so you expect more from them, the standards are higher than for other artists.

The one single that really caught my attention was Bye Bye. When you look at the title, you wouldn’t expect it to be a love song. But this song has a very strong chorus, maybe one of their strongest ballads in general. It’s subjective, but I think Paul’s voice is at his best while singing powerful ballads like say Your Love or Miss U Die. Those guys are lucky they have a solid fan base and good looks, because if this was their debut album, I am afraid their career was over before it even took off. Just my two cents.

Personal rating: 2.5 stars

Loso's Way

One of my favorite artists Fabolous is back with his latest album called Loso’s Way. Is Loso’s Way the right way? Fabolous has always been too raw to be metro, but now that he has signed to Def Jam, you could hear he has become a bit more mainstream. His latest album, From Nothing To Something, fairly disappointed me because it was a bunch of radio ready tracks and not the raw Fabolous who used to spell his name and worked with beats from unknown producers and turned them into fire. But one thing you have to admit, Loso is one of the artists who redefines itself album after album, for better or worse.

The thing that makes Fabolous a great emcee is his charismatic flow, and that charisma that can get him away with mocking nursery rhyme raps. If this was any other rapper, he would be slayed for it, but not Loso. This is also his major strength: ignoring the critics and perfecting a style of New York gangster narrative that's 25% braggadocious, 20% swagger, 15% clever punchlines and 15% his "da-da-da-da-DAMN" vocal style. When you listen to his previous albums, except for From Something To Nothing, you notice that only a limited amount of songs are radio-ready. This is where lies the smartness: he adds just enough tracks to get played on stations and make the mainstream public know his name, but he mainly keeps it raw so he would not loose his oldest fans.

But the thing that made Fabolous a stayer was his beats. Even the throwaway tracks on most of his previous albums had beats that could be lead singles on most other rappers’ albums. But, yes a serious but the beats on this album are not what they used to be. He is leaving his original Breathe beat behind him by doing three tracks with Jermaine Dupree who is a wack producer, unless you want a small radio hit. The best beat is the one on My Time by the Runners but this get overshadowed by those of Throw It In The Bag, which has only a piano and drums as beats – even a little kid could make one like this.

Personal rating: 3 stars

BLACKsummers'night by Maxwell

Eight years after his previous album Now, Maxwell is back with a new album BLACKsummers'night. His first albums were all very good, occasionally brilliant, R&B projects that flirted with neo-soul, straight-up soul and something more… futuristic, all tied together by Maxwell’s otherworldly gorgeous voice. Also, most R&B kind of sucks these days, what with halfway talented singers using autotune to warble clichés over throwaway hip hop beats. This combined made people were excited about Maxwell’s return. Fortunately BLACKsummers'night is indeed pretty good, though it’s definitely not any kind of revolutionary step forward.

Maxwell himself is still Maxwell. His voice is still impossibly smooth, his timing impeccable, his lyrics generally pretty good. And that melancholy permeates BLACKsummers'night. Maxwell is still the king of baby-making music, but this time the undeniable sensuality of the vocals and arrangements are often at odds with the darkness of the lyrics. This gives the album a refreshing twist, and at just under 40 minutes long, the novelty is never lost.

As the first part of a planned trilogy, BLACKsummers'night may simply be the reintroduction of a phenomenally talented vocalist to the public. The next two albums, blackSUMMER'snight and blacksummer'sNIGHT may hold more surprises or take more radical steps forward. It’s hard to complain, though. While this album isn’t the game-changer some were expecting after such a long wait, it still signals the return of one of soul music’s best voices.

Personal rating: 4 stars

It's no use crying over spilt milk

A few day ago Belgian farmers, and later this same week also farmers from other European countries, poured away milk onto fields as a protest against the European Union milk quota and low milk prices. The total milk drain was estimated 6 million liters, twice as much as the originally planned 3 million liters. I totally understand the frustration of those farmers, but this is nutrition they are spilling.

The farmers are obligated to produce a daily quota of milk by the EU, and this causes a surplus of milk. Due to this surplus, the prices of milk stay low (economic equilibrium of price and quantity is where supply and demand meet). In a competitive market, the farmers would produce less milk, the supply would get less and the prices would go up, but due to the obligated quota, prices stay low and the farmers barely survive. So is this quota a bad thing? Yes and no, depending how you look at it. From the consumer point of view, the quota is a good thing because the milk is cheap and that is how a basic nutrition ingredient should be. As seen from the world market, it is a bad thing. For example, European milk is exported to Africa. The local milk is much more expensive than the European milk. This results into the fact that the local farmers will lose their market and end up with unsold milk. This can have dramatic consequences for the already poor farmers.

As from a human point of view, this milk drain is unacceptable. All over the world people are dying of malnutrition, starving of hunger and here they just pour away that essential white liquid.

Acts of douchebachery, signed Kanye West

The annual MTV VMA’s, the place to be if you mean anything in the “pop” music industry. The red carpet was stunning. It seems like the dress code was “short” this year. Beyoncé Knowles’ short red dress with dazzling décolleté was just so fierce! Loved it from head to toe. Then there was Jennifer Lopez her eccentric dress. It was a strange combination, from the black leopard shoes to the beige dress and black accessories. It looked hard, the black on the nude tones, but I kind of loved the fierceness. And then there was Lady GaGa… The least we could say is that she is unique, but I think she’s just too much and too eccentric. Just my two cents.

The show had some great performances, especially the one of Beyoncé. Pink wasn’t too bad neither and GaGa was, well she was GaGa. Over the top eccentric… Janet Jackson looked and sounded fierce when she performed the song “Scream” as an ode to her brother. The main award, best music video was won by Beyoncé for her video of Single Ladies. But I think no one will remember this due to Kanye West and his ego.

Mister West succeeded to pull the attention to himself, and only himself. It is not the first time he misbehaved. It happened before at the Grammy Awards and also at the American Music Awards. Hopefully this is the last time he is invited to these kinds of events. For those who did not yet see the video of his “performance”, a short recap. The lovely and innocent 19 y.o. Country singer Taylor Swift just accepted the award for best female video and was ready to start her acceptance speech. At that moment, Kanye West run up on stage took the microphone out of her hands and expressed his own preference for Beyoncé’s video. Then he left the poor girl, standing there while he took away her moment of glory.

Kanye West, what is wrong with this guy? A few years ago he has caused a whole scene backstage at an award show because he found he deserved to win, yet he did not get the award. And now this debacle… Is it really his big ego? Can he not handle the fact that he is not always the centre of attention? That the world does not always surround around him? When you read his blog, he sounds like he thinks he is the best musician ever. That he is reincarnation of God on earth. He is so full of himself and obviously he has never heard of modesty. Running up on that stage shows how ignorant and arrogant he really is. What happened to him? Did he not get enough attention and hugs when he was little? Is he really one of those persons that cannot stand it when other people get the confirmation that they mean something in the industry while he, the self-proclaimed musical genius, doesn’t succeed to win any award?

Well I think that by doing this, a lot of people (including fans) have lost respect for him, and I cannot blame them. This douche simply doesn’t deserve it anymore after all he has said and done. And the apology (damage control by his PR management), not sincere at all! Only a few moments after the event occurred (welcome to the world of modern communications) people were already Tweeting about what happened. In less than 12 hours, Kanye has been called the N-word way over 2 million times, by both black and white people. Still, some were way out of line. It seems that this act has brought out deep racial issues in people. I don’t justify this at all, but sometimes I feel like there are two standards for using this word. When a black person uses this word, it seems to be accepted because it would be some sign of brotherhood. When a white person uses the word, it is considered racism. I understand where the meaning and usage comes from, and I wish I could change the past, but I do not see any difference when it is used. I feel it has the same meaning, no matter the race and should never be used.

But back to the issue, stop buying his music. A plain and simple boycott!

N.B. That "apology" on Leno? Over the top played! You would make a crappy actor 'Nye! It lacks credibility.

The unthinkable: Nazi adoration

For the past few days, I’ve been watching the 7 o’clock news with disgust. It all started a few days ago when there was an announcement for a show in between programs. The subject was about nostalgia of World War II and this village in Germany where you could relive the whole atmosphere, from the whole way of life until the cars they drove. I was in pure disbelieve when I heard about it. How can you think back about something awful and actually miss it? Millions of people were killed back then!

Some days later, I totally had the you-gots-to-be-kidding-me feeling. I was watching the news when they introduced the upcoming reportage. It was about a Belgian baby sitter who had a clear preference for the Nazi-empire and its fürer, Adolf Hitler. She had pictures of him on the wall and also the swastika symbol. Also the words she spoke creeped me out. She compared Islam to the Jews, who where the cause of WWII (actually this is wrong, it was Hitler’s sick mind that started the war) and stated that “they took everything from us, we are caught”. She also called Hitler an intelligent man with fantastic ideas and a clear vision (the only intelligent thing he has ever done was kill himself).

I am going to put my emotions aside (which is very hard, yet I will try) and explain with rational elements why he is not intelligent at all. First of all, yes Hitler listened to the youth and yes he created jobs when he, for example created roads or other infrastructure. This said, let us take a look about how this employment was arranged and why I am proponent of the liberal economy, even though that one has its shortcomings too. Hitler’s strong leadership can be compared to that of the late USSR, North-Korea, Cuba and maybe even China. The government strives to have people employed, but this is forced employment. I remember a guest lecturer back in my first year of university and he was surprised that children of less fortunate families could enroll. He came from the strict USSR Empire where the government decided what you could study and where you would study. This resulted that only the children of fortunate families could enroll in university. This reminds me of the past 4 or 5 centuries, the aristocracy and the French Revolution. Yes, there is employment, but at what cost? Is this worth giving up the freedom to choose what and who you want to become in the future?

Beef with Hip Hop

Hip Hop. Everyone knows the term, but what does it really mean? What does it really stand for? Most people will think about the music gerne with obscene language and a lot of bling. But just those things make me dislike Hip Hop more and more. This is the story about my beef with Hip Hop. Hip Hop isn’t about dissing each other, neither is it about the Hip Hop candy shaking their ass in some music video. But then what is HIP HOP?

Hip Hop is a movement, it is a way of life. It is saying “I AM HERE”. Ever since I can remember, Hip Hop is a way to express yourself. It was a way to address the injustice. It was a way to express yourself. Freedom of speech. A way to speak up against the political oppression. But most of all, it was peaceful. This all changed over the years. Hip Hop became a commercial product. It has gotten a negative connotation. Hip Hop became the symbol of drive by shootings, gangs and other criminal activities. When it once was used to address these forms of crime, it now turned into an instrument of crime. Saggy jeans, do-rags, guns and knifes became a part of this so called new Hip Hop culture. Instead of speaking up against it, violence became accepted and “smacking up my bitch” or “shooting a bullet through his brain” became the standard. Hip Hop has become something completely different and I, I am left behind, confused how it has gotten this far. Confused how it could have made this 360 degrees turn. And even more confused about the fact that so many people like the new direction Hip Hop has taken. It became more popular than ever.

What does this say about our society? How can a people support something that went from sending a positive message to something that supports rage and anger? As for me, I don’t support it and I miss the old days. I think I have written about this subject earlier when the Ice Cube versus Soulja Boy things happened, but I still don’t agree with the path Hip Hop has choosen. Violence seems to be the standard in our society and the music reflects this. Young children see the videos, they hear the lyrics and they grow up with the idea that there is nothing wrong with it. Even more, they see adults living the lifestyle they hear about in the songs… This way they get a double confirmation. It seems to be more cool and respected to be a hustler or a pimp that to get a university degree, and heck, it often brings in more cash too!

So dear Hip Hop, will you ever come back? Will you ever become the way you was before? Will you ever be the thing that I adored?