The Holiday focus group, Lil Wayne's Rebirth, Gucci Mane, Mike Jones lost weight, Kevin Smith kicked off Southwest, Yale Cabaret's Missed Connections, Camron Diaz can't cry, Hero Tomorrow, Moon, Sherlock Holmes, JCVD in Universal Soldier: Regeneration, VIP, and more weirdness.
Tag Archive for 'Lil Wayne'
Announcing the 2009 YOU DON'T SUCK Award winners, painstakingly selected by a panel of AudioShocker celebrity (NOT!) judges!!! Listen to the thrilling selection process as Ross, Justique, Neal, Nick, and Pete choose the following 2009 YDS champions:
Movies - 2012
Music - Lil Wayne's No Ceilings mixtape
TV - Glee
Comics [TIE!!!] - Wet Moon 5 and Majestic XII
Books - Generosity: An Enhancement by Richard Powers
Metalocalypse and Dethklok, Street Fighter III, Master of Mosquiton, Lil Wayne, Norah Jones, The Life of Lucky Cucumber, Jean-Claude Van Damme in Desert Heat and In Hell, Danny Trejo vs. Luis Guzman, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and way mucho more.
Let me state for the record: I am not a Drake stan. But, I have listened to the Heartbreak Drake disc a few times and won't turn it off it someone puts it on. I am not a stan - not even a fan - more like a guy who passively listens. Anyway, someone finally got around to shooting a video for Successful and here it is:
I used to really dig Trey Songz, and his hook on this track is pretty sick; but it's hard for me to give a fuck about Drake or his verses. His flow is just OK - there's no edge or flair to it. Not to mention the thematic content of the song is fucked considering "the times we live in". If I had a tour bus, and said tour bus looked like a 'freakshow', I would not be whining about my tumultuous internal conflicts and struggles with success and fame.
The video is pretty boring too, no more than a vehicle for Trey and Drake's faces. Nothing actually happens, it's all just passing medium shots. But perhaps Drake said it best himself: 'Buzz so big, I could probably sell a blank disc'.
Anyway, I'm glad that 'mini-weezy' has been getting so many guest spots requests recently. It can only increase the chances that he'll record some stellar hits and that he'll get stellar production throughout. As it is, I feel like most of his present hits depend pretty heavily on Weezy/Young Money.
There used to be several great things about New Haven: Pizza (specifically Modern Apizza), quick access to NYC (well, 100 min train ride), and listening to Hot 97 in my car. The signal comes in clearest on I-95 or Route 15, both of which I have been using with unprecedented regularity over the past week. I have driven to and from New York at least 5 times this week; almost double the number of times I've done it in the last 8 years. So, after almost an entire 24 hours worth of drive-listening, I felt it necessary to compose the following missive.
Dear Hot 97,
As a recently returned New England-expat, I was very excited to listen to Hot 97 in my car again. I remember how you brought the heat, musically speaking, and kept me up to date on hiphop. Without a doubt, Hot 97 was the only radio station qualified to serenade my ears. Hot 97 was a shining oasis in a sea of Prophet, Clear Channel, and short playlists.
You may notice my use of the past tense above; it is intentional. The Hot 97 of today, is rather different from the one I used to listen too in high school and during college breaks. Apparently today's playlist was a unending loop of 3 Drake/Young Money tracks (Best I Ever Had, Every Girl, Successful, and now That One w/ MJB). For every six times I heard Drake, I heard maybe one JayZ (D.O.A), Wale (Chillin), or even Kid Cudi (Day and Night - the techno remix no less) track. (ed note: for those of you regular readers, you may notice some similarity to/overlap with this week's Culturology. I can assure you that I drafted this at least a week before Pete last logged into WordPress)
Now, I understand Drizzy and anyone even remotely affiliated with Lil Wayne is a hot commodity these days. I also know that you have to give the people what they want. I've even begun to accept the rapid decline of hiphop thanks to youngsters like Soulja Boy and ignorant fools like Shawty Lo. I get all that. I know that radio has a lot to do with money.
But when did you allow jackass Weezy et al to outright buy your playlist? Last I checked, blatant over the counter payola was illegal. And, how on EARTH is Fab's Throw It In The Bag track your #1 on the midday countdown? Clearly the streets are not being represented. Anyone with even half a brain knows that the last track Fab did with any semblance of 'heatrock'ness was Breathe. Additionally, does Miss Info provide anything that her blog does not? I don't want to hear celebrity news during my midday forays into the city, all I want is hiphop! And another thing, how about a little old school RnB in the morning - give the kids a little taste of where some of these killer samples came from. I don't mean the 90's, I mean Chaka Khan's Through The Fire and Robert Flack's Killing Me Softly. There is (was?) an independent station in Rochester (whose name I don't recall since it's been 5 years) that does this amazingly well. Seriously, drive your asses to Rochester for some dope ass radio.
Obviously, I can get my musical fix via alternate methods, but I maintain that radio is the purest form of in-car entertainment. Additionally, my iPod was stolen the week and my car can't handle XM, so throw me a frickin' bone here. Moreover, I want to like Hot 97, it has a storied history of world premiers and exclusives. I value that and good programming. As they say, variety is the spice of the life. So let's put the heat back in Hot 97!
Sincerely,
Neal - AudioShocker.com
Granted, radio is hardly relevant beyond one's car, what with the internet and all. But you get what I'm trying to say right? On another note, I'll be out of blog range until the 21st. Peace!
Note: Paul Tobin has never endorsed, nor does he intend to endorse, nor has he... to the best of our knowledge... ever even used a golden chamber pot.
With that said, comic book creator Paul Tobin talks about his scriptwriting method, working with artists including Matteo Lolli and Jacopo Camagni and (his wife) Colleen Coover and Patrick Scherberger, editors including Nate Cosby, Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil #3, writing Spider-Man vs. writing Hulk, and Marvel Adventures Avengers and Marvel Adventures Super Heroes comics. This is part 1 of 3 of our Paul Tobin interview series!
When Paul is done, the golden chamber pot arrives. Neal has outgrown Del tha Funkee Homosapien, the 80s synth funk group D Train is the one for Nick, Justique is feeling the electronica of Glitch Mob and their side projects including Nasty Ways (makers of the Lil Wayne Lollipop remix), Nick was let down by MPLSoUND and Lotusflow3r by Prince, and Neal has weird feelings about SuChin Pak.
So I'm at home for the holidays, and one of the rituals is going to Archie Moore's (the local neighborhood bar) with my sister and her husband for beers and dessert.
During the course of our round table, we found ourselves with a lot of conflicting views: who looks better (in US Weekly and onscreen), Aniston or Jolie?, is Beyonce going to have a baby in 2009 -- or is Lil Wayne going to fall off?, who rocks harder, U2 or Journey?, neighborhoods vs. subdivisions, Eliza Dushku vs. Elisha Cuthbert, Pittsburgh vs. Harrisburg (S T E E L C I T Y baby), and even blondes vs. brunettes (I think you all know where I stand).
Of course, I was drinking and my voice rings loud, so I dominated the discussion. But I'm never sure how my opinion sits with you readers. That said, I'd like conduct an informal poll regarding the most heated of our discussions:
U2 Vs. Journey
(when it comes to the ultimate test: karaoke, are you going to pick Don't Stop Believin' or Sunday Bloody Sunday?)
Leave a comment and tell us who you are rooting for.
I give Lil Wayne a hard time here at the AudioShocker, I really do. I've also said that 2008 has been the year of Weezy, T-Pain, and their joint reign of vocoder terror. That said, sometimes you hear a new song on the radio by an artist you don't particularly care for and it gets you sprung. As I was driving home the other night, I caught wind of Mrs. Officer feat. Bobby Valentino (another hot/cold artist in my book) and I had to tell you all about it.
The Track: Tell me you don't like Valentino's weeohweeohweeohwee cop call chorus thing. I love it -- almost as much as I love Weezy for NOT using a vocoder on this. That is huge for me. Maybe the vocoder is done for 2008? The beat is laid back and I'm actually pretty surprised this was not released as a summer jam, would have been big.
And the rhymes!! I can't hate - Weezy keeps it hot.
She know I'm raw, she know I'm from the streets // And all she want me to do is fuck the police
And after we got done, I said lady what's your number she said 911
Breakfast in bed turn into breakfast and head (this verse isn't in the video)
The obligatory negatory: Wayne has taken up an affectation that I am dubbing 'The Dorian Self-Laugh'; it was first brought to light by Dr. Cox on Scrubs. Zack Braff's J.D. did this stupid self laugh whenever he made a joke and no one else thought it was funny. Well, Weezy has been doing the same thing recently - after every. single. line. Other examples? Check T-Pain's Can't Believe It and Mike Jone's Cuddy Buddy. It's like the new delay double and I find it similarly bothersome. Hopefully, Mr. Carter will grow out of it quickly. However, given his repertoire of vocoder hits this year, it may be a while.
The Video: Hot cops may be cliche, but they make for an entertaining video. I mean who hasn't wanted to get it on with a Hot Cop? Ladies and Lads alike. It's the basis for an entire genre of porn. Frisking hot perps? I want to do that. Mugshot modeling? I've seen it before, but I still chuckled. 3 hot cop dancers and squad cars? Yeah, I can suspend disbelief. Obviously this isn't anything groundbreaking or new, but it's easily digestible fluff that I can watch it more than once.
While somewhat unrelated, I disliked that the 2nd video Comfortable used the same video treatment/model. I am of the mind that videos self contained packages that can stand on their own. But Comfortable is easy to ignore, so it's all good.
The Bottom Line: Perhaps this is some of that 'change we can beleive in'
Ryan Leslie. What can I say that hasn't been said already? You gave us Cassie and Diamond Girl, and for that I am grateful but conflicted. Cassie is hot, but she's a mess as a performer. Diamond Girl was a hot track but the video tried too hard to channel OutKast and Michael Jackson. Well, I finally got around to watching the new video for Addiction and it's more of the same. Read on for more.
The Track: The beat is mellow and I'm all about that. Not every track needs wicked knock. I didn't like the synth at first, but I've really warmed up to it. The percussion is well designed too. Hand drums playing off a synth? Yes. Cassie provides the backing vocals, natch. She sounds a little flat and detached, like she's in a daze - perhaps that's the point? It's sort of hypnotic in its monotony.
Fab's verse had me hooked because of how it handles a pet peeve of mine. I have reviled name-dropping in the past, but Fab turns it around. He incorporates the names into the verse as punchlines and not just as obnoxious references. His lines get better and better: 'I got you Amy Winedout', 'I hop out the suicides looking so Cobain', and 'They come back want more grams, right back, like Lindsey out the program'. If that doesn't get a rise of out of your punchline meter, perhaps you should stop listening to hiphop.
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The Video: The 'official' video is your typical 'white background' video but in gray. The treatment must have read like this: 2 guys, 4 models, all gray. The '2 guys and some models' concept is not new either. Schwayze did it. So did Lil Wayne and Lloyd. Remember Golddigger? SAME THING. There are plenty more examples. It's the buddy cop equivalent of music videos: you're not really sure if Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan belong in the same movie, but it's easy to watch and you're too lazy to change the channel.
The 'alternate' version of the video is fairly unremarkable except that it is in color. Alternate videos strike me as a sign that the album isn't going to stand by itself without being crammed with extras.
Remember George Michael's Freedom video? No one ever does stuff like that anymore, which is sad. It is the closest thing to a perfect music video I have seen to date. It had models, explosions, good set and costume design, new technology, replay value, and it wasn't just a taped performance!
The Bottom Line: Decent track, routine video. It happens.
Now that the GMAT is over, I finally have time to rant about analyze music videos again. It takes a lot of time to properly put a video in its place, believe me. Today I'll discuss Cassie's new joint Official Girl, featuring Lil Wayne, which premiered last week on FNMTV. As you may know, Cassie is a model who got a record deal with Bad Boy after catching the eye of producer Ryan Leslie, or something like that. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. Anyway, after a year or so hiatus she's back on the block. I'll address both the track and the video.
The Track: The beat is courtesy of Danja and smacks of his mentor Timbaland - that is definitely a good thing. The song is basically Cassie saying 'i don't want to be a jumpoff, I want to be your girl for reals,' but it's insincere and pushy. If she's so tired, why doesn't she just leave? Even Keri Hilson (who belongs to the production team that wrote the song) knows the energy isn't worth it.
It is by 'label magic' alone that the super busy Lil Wayne found time to record a verse. It's not like he even needs the cash right now. (This has seriously been the year of Weezy F Baby) Sadly, if there was any chance of this song being salvageable, the vocoder towards the end crushes it like a boulder.
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The Video: After about 20 seconds you will inevitably make the Aaliyah connection. I mean come on,The bikini top with the hair and the jacket and the black pants, who are you trying to fool Cassie? This isn't an homage - it's cheap imitation. The director, Chris Robinson has actually worked with Aaliyah before, so I'm a little surprised. Additionally, Cassie says in an interview "I've never seen myself dance like this before." What I infer from this is that you really stepped up your dancing game.
But I call bullshit. I've seen your other videos, so I have a good baseline. Dancing wise, the video doesn't bring anything new to the table. It's the same old moves from the same old Aaliyah videos of yore. If this is a 'new level' for you, I'm surprised Diddy didn't bounce your ass like he did half the girls from Making The Band 3! Lastly, the white bikini. Totally gratuitous! It comes out of nowhere and has no relevance to the rest of the video. You aren't near a pool, the beach, or even outside.
The Bottomline: Hear me out Cassie. You are a beautiful girl - but if you want to stay in the game, you need to learn to sing, act, or at least dance. They call you a 'triple threat' in Step Up 2 - but where is the supporting evidence?
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