February 2012
11 posts
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Who Mastered This?: The Heir Up There
“DJing”: Very minor DJ Drama. But, “Call my cash Birdman, call my car Master P, there’s No Limit” is pretty funny. 6/10
Length: Not too long, but it could be shorter. 7/10
Production: This is what I imagine every rapper dreams of when they get a major label’s budget for beats. 9/10
Quality of Producer Names: Chase N. Cashe is the main name here, but...
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Stupid Hoe - Greatest Rap Song
Name: David Turner
Age: Under 20
Race: Not White
Gender: Bro
Just giving some background information on myself to provide a bit of context for why I am going to call this the best song created by a rapper ever! In the last few years one of the greatest rapping joys was a Nicki Minaj guest verse: “Bottoms Up”, “Monster”, “Little Freak”, “Dance (A$$)”,...
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Droptops & Stacy Lattisaw Tapes: An Indeterminate... →
spaceagehustle:
Words I wrote in a semi-coherent order were used in the creation of this post.
-SM
Hey, I also contributed this. And Soft Money’s write-up of “He’s My DJ” by Dangerous D and DJ Charlie Chan is great.
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“The song “Vowels = space and time” was actually me angrily writing...”
– Grimes, from an interview by Carrie Battan for Pitchfork. I’m just going to call this the “Zaum Defense”.
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12 Producers for '12 →
somanyshrimp:
Special thanks to David Turner, Jordan Sargent, Tyrone Palmer, and especially Scott M., who did the graphic design.
I did FKi, J Green, and Supa Villain. But, really please look at the graphics they are so nice.
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“And right by my side, I got the fucking future my nigga DJ Spinz. Mr. Southern...”
– DJ Scream, from “Mr. Futuristic”.
“AND RIGHT BY MY SIDE, I GOT THE FUCKING FUTURE”
“THE FUCKING FUTURE”
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Pitchfork: Lock Out Review →
Yeah, this is cool. I’ve been wanting to say something about this for a while, but couldn’t. So, still in a bit of shock this actually happened.
January 2012
15 posts
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solefoodsreal asked: you're a big fag. you have to understand squadda's early/current discography to write an accurate or even reliable review for Back $ellin Crack. Like, honestly who the fuck are you? Do you know anything about Main Attrakionz? Or do you just dick ride whatever you find on blogs and then criticize it for being exactly that?
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I Thought Only Boys Dubsteped?!
DUBSTEP! Rihanna with her album Rated R can take credit as one the first US pop star to really have some strong Dubstep influence in their music. Since then, Britney Spears released a pretty good dubstep influenced pop album last year in Femme Fatale and all of the stuff that has happened on this chart has lead to Dubstep being the next big thing people are stumbling over themselves to cover. Last...
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“I could have rapped about my hard times in this song,
But heaven knows,
I...”
– Scarface, from “This Can’t Be Life”.
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Wiz Khalifa: Rap's Romantic
That Wiz Khalifa had one of the biggest rap singles of 2011 with a song called “Roll Up” that was one of the cutest love rap songs instead of an ode to weed reads like a parody rap headline. Produced by Stargate, those quality Swedes who produced Wiz Khalifa’s biggest hit “Black and Yellow” & Rihanna’s great “Only Girl (In the World)”, might account for the fact...
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“I don’t recall, ever graduatin at all
Sometimes I feel I’m just a...”
– Cee-Lo, from “Git Up, Git Out”.
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The New Rap Sound of the Radio: Nope, but One Can...
The last couple years the rap world has been ruled by the menacing synths of Lex Luger and other producers mimicking his style by turning their Fruity Loops programs to bleak, and not looking back while scoring plenty of minor hits and street bangers with the style. But, in 2011 one of the few rap songs that actually crossed over not only into the top 10 of the Billboard charts, but into general...
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David Turner on Mouse & Box's "All the Way Live" →
Hey! That’s Me. This is my first post on So Many Shrimp, which if you’ve read this place you know I have enjoyed reading for years. So, it is pretty cool to see my name on their site. If I post or contribute there I’ll probably reblog Drake’s post to provide a link to it. But, more importantly. Listen to this song. It doesn’t even have a 1000 views, which is a...
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“In a cruel and sad twist of irony, easily the best verse on the album belongs to...”
– Jordan Sargent, from his review of BAYTL for Pitchfork.
I doubt Slim Dunkin will get any more critic appreciation in death than in life, but Sargent is right that Slim Dunkin in the last year was showing marked improvement as a rapper. Usually it resulted grizzly and graphic rap verses, but as...
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Who Mastered This?: Back $elling Crack
The Numbers:
“DJing”: N/A
Length: At only 13 tracks, it could be far worse. 7/10
Production: Left of field of samples and a faux Lex Luger beat, this is 2011 tumblr rap. 5/10
Quality of Producer Names: “BK Beats”, “YS”, and “Star Status” are all great, but “Bk Beats” is why this section exits. 9/10
Sound Quality: Besides Squadda B sounding like he is rapping under water (which might just be his...
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James Ferraro didn't make a Mixtape.
James Ferraro profile has increased in 2011 with his latest album Far Side Virtual being named The Wire’s album of the year and receiving increased coverage in places beyond the music circles that Altered Zones previously covered. So, at the end of 2011, he released a “mixtape” under the name Bebetune$ with the unfortunately ironic title inhale C-4 $$$$$.
Ferraro’s mixtape would seem to have...
December 2011
17 posts
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Can You Listen to These 2011 Albums Please?
If you have read my blog over the last year and my top 50 songs list then you can probably get a good idea of what albums I really enjoyed this year (XXX, Take Care, and Glass Swords). So, instead here are 15 albums/mixtape/EPs that I either under-covered on this blog (Lee Banks’ P.A.P.E.R.) or I just want to say are really good and you should be sought out even though you might already...
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“The truth is that in art no one actually owes anyone anything. Yes, older...”
– Nelson George, from his book “Hip Hop America”.
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Top 50 Songs of 2011
1. DJ Khaled (feat. Drake, Rick Ross, & Lil Wayne) – “I’m On One”: I have done a 180 on this song since I first heard it. Drake’s chorus began ringing too true and one day I looked at myself and formed some meaning behind Drake’s “with my skin tanned and my hair long”. Looking back on the year, whether on my best days or worst mornings this song would always find its way into my ears.
2. Waka...
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“Dance music is all about structure, knowing when to do this or that, and also...”
– Brandon Soderberg, from his former(?) “It’s All In the Details: Comments on Specific Parts of Rap Hits” Feature talking about Usher’s “O.M.G.”.
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“Like Popeye the Sailor, man (yeah) I go hard, Pimpin like the Pink Panther,...”
– Mouse on Tha Track, from “Cartoon”.
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chaseaftersomething asked: who are your favorite music journalists/bloggers ?
November 2011
16 posts
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Who Mastered This?: 1.21 Gigawatts: Back To The...
The Numbers:
“DJing”: N/A (There is no DJ)
Length: 9/10 (It is only 12 songs and just a hair over 45 minutes long)
Production: 7/10 (Some of the biggest names in Atlanta rap are here, but it could still be better)
Quality of Producer Names: 8/10 (Names like “Drugs” and “Wonder” is the reason this category exists)
Sound Quality: 8/10 (I did not turn off a song, because it was mixed poorly....
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“After all, the Antlers have produced a total of two great records since 2009,...”
– Ian Cohen, from his review of (together) EP by the Antlers.
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Who Mastered This?: 2 Chainz' "T.R.U. REALigion"
Introduction:
Without attempting to step on too many toes: I don’t like rap mixtapes. Rap mixtapes are horribly mixed by loud self-promoting DJs, they are 20+ tracks long, calling the sound quality inconstant would be a complement, and there are way too many released every week. Yet, how often do you hear people talk about these issues? Not enough. This isn’t a call to be contrarian and...
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chaseaftersomething asked: you should do an album review of Take Care