Tha Carter IV - Lil Wayne

Cuts Only

Oh. Hai. Sup? So, what's new? How about that new Facebook layout, huh? Now I can see which song lyrics relate to a grade-school acquaintance's daily life in two places. I heard it's only going to get worse ... Face it: the Zucks is fucking up.

But, to get back to the blog, I decided to review Tha Carter IV in honor of Weezy F. Baby's birthday on Sept. 27: plus, I thought it would be easier to find all the tracks on YouTube at this point. It's also on Spotify.

While we're on the subject, I don't see how this Spotify deal is exactly legal. Isn't this the definition of pirating? I'm not really sure how it works, but I think people can listen to music from your iTunes or something. I guess downloading without buying is stealing, but listening to it for free in some cloud program makes it OK. Also, isn't this an invasion of privacy? People can go into my music library? It makes things a lot easier for me to review new stuff, but I can't see how this thing can ethically stay up.

But I know a lot of you are Lil Wayne fans, and so am I — just not a super-fan. I only own the rest of the Tha Carter albums. This means:

1. I don't have every single mixtape he's ever released. He put out at least 153 of these things last month alone. If that makes me some punk buster, that's because I am. I'm a 23-year-old white college graduate currently living in the suburbs with my parents until I can find a job to help cover my expenses. Pretty pathetic, but what are you going to do? I listened to this album while my neighbors were taking their 4-year-old daughter and 11-month-old son to Chuck E. Cheese's so as not to disturb them. My guess is that if you're reading this, you probably don't live in Newark, so step off and eat a Nature Valley Granola Bar or something. You can't go wrong with Oats 'n Honey.

2. I don't have any of his pop-guitar shit, such as Rebirth or anything of the like. What I still don't understand is how after three years or whenever he decided to pick up an instrument, Lil Wayne still sucks at guitar. If he wants some lessons from a sick axe-master like myself (I digress), he would only need to contact me. I'll do it for the modest sum of $20K a lesson.

But let's direct our attention to Tha Carter IV, the first album Wayne released since he served a prison sentence for gun possession at Riker's Island. While I feel like the rapper has not missed a step lyrically, I find that this album cannot live up to the lofty precedents that Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III set. Although the songs gain some momentum toward the end, the album lacks that overall "wow" factor that seemed obvious on his previous projects.

I blame a lot of this on some piss-poor production. Most of the songs sound like something out of a Ridley Scott-sci-fi soundtrack — corny and ominous synthesizer melodies that resonate terribly. After perusing the track listings, the pair Cool & Dre were the only technicians I could recognize. This does not help Lil Wayne. Sometimes, no matter how well he strings his words together, he cannot climb out of the metaphorical hole these producers created for him — e.g. not even the line "But they all on my wire like Stringer Bell" can save Wayne from such a stale background of "Nightmares of the Bottom." Yeah. He referenced one of the craftiest gangsters in television history, Stringer Bell from "The Wire," and that even that cannot save the song.

The good news is the album gets better as it goes along. If you're the one person who hasn't heard "How to Love," you'll notice how much of a departure it is. There's a reason why this is the seminal single of this work. Wayne ceases to be a rapper and becomes a singer-songwriter serenading the listener about the plights of women scarred by uncaring men. It comes out of right field for Wayne, who has made it perfectly clear in his songs that he has no time for women interested in his money or fame and, in turn, advocates detachment from a monogamous lifestyle. Here, Wayne shows he is capable of being a romantic.

The next song "President Carter," a more typical rap with a simple-yet-effective hook that is lacking from the others, wittily sampling exerts from President Jimmy Carter's inauguration (Lil Wayne's real name is Dwayne Carter, for those who don't get the pun). Here, Wayne gives his own qualifications for presidential candidacy and muses on the abolition of the separation of church and state, the foolishness of "The War on Drugs," and lighting up while getting blow jobs in the Oval Office. Good stuff, and a solid song.

But what is shocking, and what might be the most noteworthy, is the newly established Roc Nation/Young Money Rivalry could possibly escalate because of a verse on "It's Good."

To get you up to speed, Birdman, Lil Wayne's mentor and Cash Money Records head (the guy who writes Lil Wayne's checks), said his surrogate son was a much better rapper than Jay-Z. Needless to say, Jay-Z didn't think this was the case, citing his monetary worth as the ultimate proof. He then dissed Birdman on the new single "H.A.M.," lambasting that the Cash Money mogul can't even touch the bank account of his wife, Beyonce, let alone his own.

Lil Wayne, in turn, comes back hard on "It's Good" with this verse:

"Talkin 'bout baby money? I got your baby money
Kidnap your bitch, get that 'how much you love your lady' money
I know you fake n----, press your brakes n----
I'll take you out, that's a date n----
I'm a grown ass blood, stop playin with me
Play asshole and get an ass whippin'"

Not only does it show huge balls to even attack Jay-Z and stand up for his mentor, it also shows that Wayne goes for the jugular, attacking the two things Jay-Z loves most: Beyonce and money. Like a comic-book villain, he wants to make him choose which one he considers more important. These are all words, of course, but no one has come that hard at the seemingly invincible Jigger Man since Nas. To hear some critics say that Wayne phoned it in on this album, this is the only piece of evidence you need to argue otherwise. That's the way you do it, folks. This is how you start the next huge feud in the rap community. This kind of puts Drake in a bad position, doesn't it? The rapper, formerly of "Degrassi: The Next Generation" fame, has been under the tutelage of both artists, and was featured on this track.

Note: Drake, as usual, brings down his two featured songs on Tha Carter IV with his presence.

So there are good songs that will be awesome to add to your Lil Wayne catalog here. However, I think the rapper made a mistake not getting some better names to help him with production. Without this part, it all becomes muddled and unpolished. Tha Carter IV does not equal the effort of Tha Carter III — there is not even an argument. I don't doubt that some die-hard fans would consider this as one of the best releases of the year, but it didn't seem like that to me. If you keep him on your musical peripheral or are just a casual fan like I am, this might not be the album for you. If you have everything he's ever done, along with a clone growing in a tank made with DNA from a clump of his dreads, then by all means grip some purple drank and bump Tha Carter IV at high volume.

For Your Consideration: "How to Love," "President Carter," "It's Good"

For Next Time: I'm with You - Red Hot Chili Peppers perhaps?

Watch the Throne - Jay-Z & Kanye West

Noteworthy

This effort by two of the biggest names in rap music today took the world of music by storm as suddenly as it was released. Although Jay-Z and Kanye West have had a rich history of collaborating since Jay-Z's groundbreaking Blueprint album, many thought these two artists' egos could barely fit into a cramped recording studio for longer than three minutes. But after months of speculation, there were rumblings in the music community last winter. This album finally had come together, and the two MCs were in the process of scrutinizing every piece of material.

Although it helps by having Kanye, imho one of the best producers of hip-hop in the game today, oversee a crops of engineers that includes The Neptunes, The RZA and Swizz Beats to create the musical backdrop behind the lyrics, there is only so much this can do to mask the fact that this whole album is not the masterpiece that it was thought to be. I will try to give you a little bit of dialogue that may help illustrate my point:

- Hey! There's something on your shirt.

- Do you think I'm going to fall for that?

- Seriously. You got something on your shirt.

- Really? ... Aw, fuck, dude. The nose thing? What are we, third graders? I should have seen that coming. Why did I fall for that?

- Because you're dumb as shit. I can get you every time.

Familiar? Like the gullible idiot I am, I blindly thought, "OK. If two prideful guys like Jay-Z and Kanye West are going through the trouble of putting out a collaborative album, they really have no choice but to take the attention of themselves individually and work together to put out some sincere and forthright music." What happens throughout, however, is a call and repeat of humble brags as the each rapper does his best to explain how talented, charismatic and influential he is while trying his best not to step on the other's Air Force Ones.

This is the irony that surrounds the whole album, even in the title. Watch the Throne implies a singular entity to which all others must respect: the best rapper alive. Singular. Why is this the best title for collaborative effort. The irony and lack of cohesion does not stop at the title.

In most of the songs, not much is novel and not much can be taken as truth. "New Day," a heartfelt song of emotional purging and morality directed to both rappers' unborn sons that is produced by the RZA, is the strongest song on the album by far. The song describes how both the rappers feel fame has lead to making multiple mistakes, but how those mistakes were made under the best intentions in forging a better life. However, the following track, the '80s throwback-inspired "There's My Bitch," Kanye makes a glorified dis to the conventions of monogamy, seems to automatically nullify what he said in the previous song.

Jay-Z's doesn't come out as a philosopher either. In "Murder to Excellence," Jay-Z relates the struggle of black life, but in earlier tracks, for example "No Church in the Wild," he still clings to the fact that dealing drugs is the best way for African American males to reach the apex of wealth and potential.

If there is any argument for profundity, it lies in the rappers' struggle to live with bestowed fame and maturity while yearning for a chance to return to a more independent anonymity without the curse of media attention.

But something struck me that caused me to question a lot of the messages presented in this work. The strange and omnipresent circus-like outro on many of the tracks seemed to play up that this was all a mirage. It is hard for the listener not to become distracted by this, as it plays on many of the albums more candid and mature tracks. It's almost as if it was put there to suggest this is only a canned sincerity, and everything that was said was merely an act.

That being said, the album's greatest strength is its superior musical value. Every song sounds dynamic and seems to fit in its own place perfectly. "Otis" is a great example of one of many melodic gambles that work in emulating a Motown sound. There are many who don't know who James Brown even is today. I'm going to guess fewer know who Otis Redding is. However, Jay-Z and Kanye are able to use the voices of these late R&B masters as unlikely samples to create one of the album's first singles. The songs can trigger easily identifiable emotions. "Lift Off" sounds like something out of an epic last boss battle of a video game, while "I Can't Stop" sounds like a new take on the electronic music that is continuing to nudge its way into modern pop music. Unfortunately, hip-hop in today's conventions still celebrates the lyricism of the MC first and any musical-production accomplishment as a secondary force.

This is in no way a bad album. For an anticipated album such as this, I only left expecting more. In terms of rapping, it sounds a lot like the stuff you've heard before and does nothing to advance the genre. Aside for a few tracks, most of the album's lyrics remain cliche and do not expand the catalogs of these established artists. Like many works from this era, the whole is not as good as its individual parts. However, the music alone makes it a great way to get pumped up for a night on the town or for a trip to the gym. Check it out and see what you think.

For Your Consideration: "Lift Off," "Otis," "New Day"

For Next Time: Tha Carter IV - Lil Wayne or I'm with You - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Let's Get Busy

Oh. Hey. Wut up. Haven't seen you for a while. I've wanted to get the blog going again, but, like I said a few times before, the world of music has become such a desolate wasteland that I can;t bring myself to write anything.

To bring you up to speed, I just graduated college, and nothing is more life-affirming than returning home after more-or-less four years of independence. I'm not blaming anybody — I pretty much counted on the fact that I would be making less than $10K my first year out of college regardless of Baracky Obs's economic management or mismanagement (whichever you prefer ... this isn't a political blog).

So in between crying over my journalism degree and smelling my finger, as you can see to your left, I've been bartending and following up on any leads for a real job. Musically, I've been catching up on the classics. Take a look at http://www.acclaimedmusic.net to see what I mean.

So, with little options elsewhere, I hope to find some fulfillment in writing by returning here.

Looking back, I thought about how I could make things easier and more enjoyable than just doing the standard album-rating format that you can get anywhere else. Surprisingly, an improvement has shown itself through a new limitation to how I hear new music. Now, I don't pretend to be a saint by using iTunes or supporting my local record store exclusively. In my point of view, if an artist has earned my respect, I will buy a new album unconditionally. But until that time, I'm going to find a way to hear material without incurring too much of a cost, which leads me to my dilemma.

I recently received an e-mail from the Comcast Corp. saying my family's account was being monitored for illegal downloading. I don't know if this is B.S. or what have you, but I must be careful as long as I'm at home. This may mean a slower writing turnaround as I need to find a way to listen to music somewhere online or to get some money to purchase a new album.

But here's the good news! There will be a much simpler ratings system. Money's tight everywhere, regardless of where, when or how you work. This means there's less money for frivolous and extravagant things like an iTunes shopping spree. Reviewers make their living by giving out gold stars (Rolling Stone) or belaboring over an elaborate ratings system (Pitchfork). But what does that all mean to you, the consumer? Hopefully I have an answer. Pay attention to the new ratings and compare to my old criteria:

Buy It - This album is great, and the artist has earned your $. This probably fits within the 5 to high-4 rating.

Noteworthy - This album is OK, but it's not spectacular or memorable. You probably want to check it out by getting a listen before you give over any hard-earned cash. Low 4 to 3 rating.

Cuts Only - Most of this album is pretty bad, but it may have a good single or two. 2 area.

Trash It - Need I say more? 1 to 0 rating.

In terms of writing style, I want reading this to be fun. In the past, I was trying to be overly clever. That kind of writing makes it more about how I can legitimize myself as a writer. In the end, it makes it less enjoyable for the reader. You probably skip over such garbage in the magazine or newspaper anyway. I now promise to give you the facts in a matter-of-fact way. For example, if a lyric needs to be mentioned, I'll mention it, but I'm not going to be Freud and dissect every little word. I want this to be legible and entertaining, not a thesis paper.

I hope to update this blog frequently and regularly in the future. Continue to follow me if you're interested.

For Next Time: Watch the Throne - Jay Z and Kanye West

Brothers - The Black Keys

In short, the album really succeeds or fails depending on your mood at the time you're listening to it. Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach's musical style makes Brothers sound nostalgic-blues cool or somewhat insipid. Fuzz guitar and Mississippi-Delta-influenced lyrics may sound appealing, but they are presented in a way that makes the songs sound repetitive and sometimes really white. It's almost like Auerbach might be that dirty-looking artsy guy with the dreadlocks and the poncho you sit behind in English class that plays blues at the coffee house every Wednesday for open mic night. This guy (meaning the English student) isn't a real musician; he probably has a trust fund. Not to say The Black Keys isn't a real band, but some of their songs give the same feeling of being disingenuous. Sometimes, your inner Randy Jackson (American Idol reference really? I know; I suck, but it serves a purpose) will start plaguing your membrane with "Look, dude ... It was OK ... I just didn't feel it on that one, dog? Y'knowwhatI'msayin' man? You're better than that."

The songs that sound the best is when the band acknowledges that they are two white dudes from Akron, Ohio, and drop the whole Gospel-sounding 2nd-generation sharecropper facade. To clarify this more, there just isn't enough soul to channel someone like Muddy Waters or an old blues legend like Stevie Ray Vaughn or even Eric Clapton could do, which they didn't do to excess. The legends who based their careers on R&B and Soul (Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles) can pull off saying "Oh, mercy me" whenever they feel like it and make me feel it too. The Black Keys can not. Seriously, the audience that eats this band up are the musically enlightened high school/college kids and the folks who listen to university radio. Songs like "Everlasting Light," "Tighten Up" and "The Only One" sound awesome in this regard (Side note: "Tighten Up" and "The Only One" are played in the same key, so they sound pretty similar).

What gets the Keys into trouble are the examples in their songwriting as I listed above. Listen to "She's Long Gone" to see what I mean. Part of the chorus lyrics is "She's long gone / Like Moses through the corn." What the f*ck is this I thought when I first listened to it. Are you from the f*cking '20s? I just didn't think it worked the first time I listened to it, and I still don't after listening to it a few more times. It's just delivered so blandly. "Unknown Brother" gives the same feel. The song is about a guy whose older brother died before he was born. Yet, it lacks soul. When it comes down to it, I couldn't give a sh*t about a dead baby: I jumped to the next song on the album. Well, that song, "Never Give You Up" wasn't too great either. Auerbach uses a falsetto voice on the song, which does makes the lyrics sound better. The problem this time is actually the music. It just sounds like a sub-par Motown number.

However, the whole album isn't just a few good songs mixed among the mediocre. The album has some decent filler. They're not as good as the songs I mentioned first, but they're not songs that will tempt you to hit that right-arrow button. "Ten Cent Pistol" succeeds because the song tells a great story about a impassioned girl killing her cheating boyfriend and the other woman he's sleeping with. "Sinister Kid" gives the listener one of the better tempos on the album, having drummer Patrick Carney shine. Even "These Days," the most repentant of these Gospel-esque songs, works because it is sung with feeling.

Perhaps that asshole, Jack White, may be the cause of what might be perceived as an unfair review for the Black Keys. But I think I'm being fair, despite my previous biases. This album has some good songs. However, I also felt like there were way too many songs I felt like I was forced to sit through for the purpose of the review. Because of this, I'll give this album a fair, but not exemplary grade. I would figure out which songs you want before you buy this album. It's your money.

F*ck Jack White and everything he does.

4/5
For Your Consideration: "Everlasting Light," Tighten Up," "The Only One"
For Next Time: TBA

Don't Call It a Comeback!

Sup snitches,

I have been away for a while. As you can see, I was kidnapped by Madonna for some reason. No, not really. This is from a facebook group I made about a year ago.

In reality, I had to stay away from this because it was a "conflict of interest" with my music reporting position in my college publication. After a rewarding, but weary, semester (20 hr. week on average, not including class and schoolwork), I decided to take the rest of the school year off. I wanted to come back, but with only Ke$ha being the biggest thing in the biz, it's been hard to write about anything. But, now that it's summer, there are a few albums coming out that have piqued my curiosity. Expect a Bieber-less review in the next few days.

Holla.

Announcement

Hey everybody. I'm not sure who reads this, but I have some bittersweet news. As it turns out, in the first piece of good luck I've had in years, The Daily Collegian has announced that I will be the Senior Music Reporter. This is a terrific opportunity for me. However, this blog will probably be the one that suffers the most neglect, followed by sleep and then by social life. As of today, I will be unable to update my blog until my tenure is over because it could be viewed as a conflict of interest. Even so, if you want me to review something, I will definitely take it under consideration as a story idea for the Collegian or something to come back to when I return. Thanks for reading, and I will be sure to return.

The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies) - Black Eyed Peas

It's been a while. I would like to think my absence is purely due to work, but that would only be partially true. The other part has to do with reviewing this new album by The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D. I planned on releasing the review a few weeks after the album dropped like with the newest U2 and Dave Matthews albums. However, I didn't have the time to listen to it all the way through until recently, or could even wrap my head it when I did.

So why have I been struggling for months trying to write this review? Well, I can't seem to tell if The Black Eyed Peas even a work of music or not. You mean like ... more than usual? Look, we can argue if Monkey Business had any aesthetic merit until the cows come home. Even so, I think this will put my frustration into words. When Billboard interviewed the band's leader, will.i.am, he said it would be breaking away from the concept of the album. He said to Billboard, "What is an album when you put 12 songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs?" That is why this has been so hard. I mean, is there a point to me writing this? The way this album is constructed, all 14 songs are more or less the same song. They all are about five minutes in length. They all have some kind of moderately cool breakdown (listen to "Imma Be," in which the beat goes from the Kill Bill vol. 1 slow-mo-hallway scene to a jazzy breakdown sounding like A Tribe Called Quest Quest or Illmatic in a matter of seconds). They all have blatantly stupid lyrics, from which I will spare you from reading. They all have techno beats and Fergie singing auto-tune. The only difference is that some of these songs are better than others. How can this be? Just listen to "Boom Boom Pow" after you listen to "Alive." Yes, they are the same song. And yes, "Boom Boom Pow" sounds better for some reason. The parts of the formula above just come together for some songs better than others. The only exception to the rule is the harmonica-dominated "Generation Now," a welcomed change from the monotony of the rest of the album.

But will.i.am. gave us exactly what he promised. If this establishes a trend in the music industry, this will be the E.N.D. of the music album as we know it. We all know since iTunes burst onto the scene that there is very little need to download a whole album rather than just downloading the songs you want. Will.i.am. understands this. He understands that a song like "Ring-A-Ling" could have some appeal in small doses. However, if you listen to it on the album at track No. 8, it becomes so exasperating that you may want to throw your iPod out of the window of your car.

To sum this up, you cannot listen to The E.N.D. all the way through. Your ears will just not allow you to do so. Perhaps the individual parts are greater than the work taken as a whole, but the purpose of this blog is not to review singles. This is not an album; it's a paint by numbers kit ... and the picture doesn't match the one on the box.

1.5/5
For Your Consideration: "Boom Boom Pow," "Imma Be," "Generation Now"
For Next Time: TBA