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Big Bad Scary Karmin

Rap lyrics, at least among mainstream pop music are some of the most explicit in term of language and in actual content. So when a fan wants to express a love of a rap song and sing-a-long, some might feel a certain amount of trepidation in how to approach the lyrics. This is an issue can be left up to individual listeners because rap music unlike other genres traditionally doesn’t feature many rappers exactly covering other rapper’s work.

That is the problem faced by the duo Karmin, who have made a name for themselves doing acoustic covers of pop songs, ranging from Train to LMFAO, but their most popular songs were rap covers. I was introduced to Karmin in the most dismissive terms (“Ha, This Song is Fucking Terrible”, so I just avoided their music. I continued to see their name pop up, never listened, until one day I was watching MTV and saw their music video for “Brokenhearted”; thought it wasn’t a half bad pop song and figured I’d actually check out more of their work. To my surprise I really enjoyed “Hello” and even found the very awkward rapping and questionable singing of “Crash Your Party” goofy fun. But, it wasn’t their pop work that got people to be dismissive of this young couple, it was their rap covers.

The first Karmin cover I sought out was “6 Foot 7 Foot”, and after a minute or so, it finally hit me. Not that Karmin were terrible people who shouldn’t be allowed 50ft of a camera connected to YouTube; it hit me that they found a way to cover raps songs that was most comfortable for them. Lil Wayne’s original version of “6 Foot 7 Foot” is a weird pop (and rap) song with no real hook entirely composed of non-sequiturs. I’d bet Lil Wayne even at his weed and syrup highest couldn’t make sense of it; but as a rap song it’s just some basic unrestrained shit talking and Karmin’s version just finds another way to express that feeling.   

In their covers, Amy Heidermann raps with a certain try-hardness that usually bothers me in rap music, but that forced earnestness works with their attempts at rap chest thumping. She not only edits out the cursing (yet for some reason “nigga” is replaced with “jigga”, which I really don’t understand); she also changes whole phrases to create a unique version of Lil Wayne’s hit. In her edit, “Life is the witch”, instead of “bitch”; the “fucking family picture”, turns into an “awkward” one, and bizarrely “fuck segregation” turns into “forget”. The surrealistic quality of Wayne’s original isn’t lost in the cover, as much as it’s cleaned up, while still remaining as nonsensical. 

Karmin’s original work has turned into this well-manicured shit talking pop-rap. “Crash Your Party” is less Ke$ha, Jessie J, or Nicki Minaj, than it is the continuation of these cover Karmin’s been doing the past couple years. One might take issue with rap being reduced as a way to address one’s “haters”, but once again this shit talking and the unneeded defiance isn’t limited to the rapping sections but runs throughout songs like “Hello” or “Brokenhearted”.

Karmin’s Hello EP is kind of a dismissive of not only desperate guys, their new girlfriends, and generally anyone who Karmin wouldn’t accept a friend request from. It’s kind of hilarious not that isn’t acceptable to make songs about not liking the dudes who are interested in you (“Too Many Fish”) or not getting over that particular dude (“Brokenhearted”), but contrasted with multiple deliveries (singing and rapping) and various musical styles (2010s Pop this varied is actually pretty refreshing) it’s all a bit overly theatrical. But in “Brokenhearted”, Heidermann says “Business in the front, party in back, maybe I was wrong, was that outfit really wack” and Heidermann ends verses saying “Cheerio” in a weak British accent, so obviously their having fun here. 

They’re having fun. That is such a terrible thing isn’t it (well it must be if they need a “Hater’s Guide”). I can defend their actions of covering rap songs and acknowledge I can see why their covers of rap songs might annoy and bother some people. But beyond that, I think their music is silly fun, so “Cheerio”. 

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$$)”, and plenty of other singles were all made better by her multiple bottle captures of lightning verses where she’d take over a song in less than 45 seconds. Pink Friday disappointed a lot of people because it was not just her rapping with this known intensity for an hour straight, so critics instead got thrown for a loop with all of the auto-tune singing and love songs that made up most of the album.

Pink Friday: Roman’s Revenge has had plenty of songs released on the build towards the album, and while none of them have stuck on the radio, “Stupid Hoe” with over 30 million views in a few weeks has certainly entered plenty of ears. The much hyped music video definitely has something to do with that, but I don’t think there is all that much interesting happening in the video, because “6 Foot 7 Foot”, also by Hype Williams, was far stupider and more enjoyable to watch, as a poorly done 3-D dog rolling on the ground is hard to top.

Sorry, if I am teasing about talking about the greatest song ever, so let’s get into it. “Stupid Hoe” produced by Philadelphia DJ, DJ Diamond Kuts (even if the official credits go to her real name T. Dunham), is a rapid-fire assault that thought “A Milli” was too boring yet still understood that its minimalism was a good path for future rap production. This allows Nicki Minaj to rap with no regard to a consistent flow, as every few lines it slows up, speeds up, and by the end of the song she is fucking singing. As a whole, the song sounds like a blend of four or five different songs smashed together with little regard to how it might sound on the radio or really anywhere, which makes it great no matter the context its heard. 

“(Run the World) Girls” was probably a terrible idea as an opening single for Beyonce’s latest album 4, because it was pretty damn weird, but its mix of maximalism and minimalism certainly fits better on the radio today than it did just a year ago. The song sounded great on rap stations when placed near overstuffed Lex Luger beats and it would have been great right next to its sonic cousins of “Dance (A$$)” and “Niggas in Paris”. “Girls” certainly had way too much going, and “Stupid Hoe” similarly has three or four too many things happening. But, the vocal shifts effectively capture the greatness of Nicki Minaj’s guest verses as she contorts and changes her voice and verse to fit the song best, and since she cannot be a guest on her own song this is a good approximation of the effect. This captures the high of her “Monster” verse without stripping it from the original song that made it so great, because she formed a song that can highlights her own verses contrasted with her singing, “woo” yelps, and even small talking bits. 

The song is apparently a diss track towards Lil Kim, which it in itself is uninteresting, because who cares about diss tracks anymore. But, this gets us to the title of the song “Stupid Hoe” and the actual lyrics of the song. The funny thing about Pink Friday is the best lyrics on the album are probably on the auto-tuned love songs and not the straight up rap songs, because when rapping Nicki Minaj, she focuses on the style and technique it seems over the actual words she is saying, where the songs like “Super Bass” and “Your Love” is where the real heart of her music can be found.

Nicki Minaj ends the song calling herself “the female Weezy”, which is a bizarre claim as she has displayed an artistic control over herself that Lil Wayne has never shown, and this even extends to how each of them rap. The usual style over substance heard in Lil Wayne’s work, I feel has plenty of roots in the fact he never stops recording music and he hits on the same topics over and over again. Minaj might see herself in a similar mold, except she completely owns this idea and lets style and presentation run wild in her appearances, songs, and videos. While, Lil Wayne has never shown that type of artistic control of his work, and probably has no interest in doing so, which is probably why his best loved work are mixtapes have the biggest rap DJs in charge of them. To proclaim something the greatest anything is plenty stupid, and calling this the best rap song ever, when I doubt I would hold up any of the lyrics of the song is probably even stupider. But, the goals and ideas that Nicki Minaj has been aiming for could not be better represented in this three and a half minute song of air horns, high-pitched screams, various styles of singing, and somehow I forgot calling someone a “Stupid Hoe”. 

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 Flocka Flame (feat. Gucci Mane, Wooh Da Kid, YG Hootie, Ice Burgandy, Slim Dunkin, Lil Capp, & Frenchie) – “2 Deep”: “The smell of blow on my motherfucking clothes nigga”, “Put your lips on the curb, make you bite the street”, “Came to the club on that bullshit”, “The choppa hanging on my shoulder looks like a violin”, “Knock you out, swear you had Ciara’s feet dancing on you”, “I push the line, I think I’m Suga in ‘95”, and one last line “They gone find him in a lake, while them boys fishing”.

3. Rustie – “Ultra Thizz”: Listening to the song at high volumes is best decision you could make with your life. No question. The best decision you could make.

4. Nicki Minaj – “Super Bass”: A pure pop rap love song, whose music video is pinker than a Target on Valentine’s Day. Yet, more than a half a year since it arrived on pop radio it still puts a stupid grin on my face just before I go to rap the entire song.

5. Travis Porter – “Bring It Back”: Even if you wanted to get off the dance floor, once this song comes on the only option is to keep on going for another 3 minutes and a half minutes.

6. Clams Casino – “Motivation”: (Insert whatever amazing magical adjective you would use to describe music here, because honestly my mind is still blown away each time I here this).

7. Chris Brown (feat. Busta Rhymes & Lil Wayne) – “Look At Me Now”: This is Chris Brown’s song, but the only two people really matter here: Lil Wayne and Diplo. Hopefully, this song becomes a creative inspiration for young producers, so rap radio doesn’t have to suffer from another year of “B.M.F.” clones; if you’ve written off Lil Wayne this verse here has more energy than a mix of Ciroc and Sprite or any song he has recorded in the last few years.

8. Jeremih (feat. 50 Cent) – “Down on Me”: 50 Cent displays a control over Drumma Boy’s beat that makes me wish he was the main artist of this song, and while Jeremih’s vocals are probably the reason for the song reaching the Billboard Top 5. The real star of the song is Drumma Boy, who is as underrated a rap producer can be and yet still able to produce genuine pop hits.

9. Ke$ha – “Blow”: There are three simple reasons why Ke$ha’s club specific Dr. Luke songs is better than everyone else’s party obsessed Dr. Luke produced work. Auto-tune, unicorns, and attitude. I’d also wager it has more to do with the auto-tune and attitude, but having unicorns certainly don’t hurt.

10. Grimes – “Vanessa”: (Music Nerd Moment #1) I have no idea what to say about this song, except that it sounds pretty and I am pretty sure Grimes is my favorite person making music right now.  

11. Mindless Behavior (feat. Diggy Simmons) – “Mrs. Right”: In a rap context, this would be a fully formed Young L beat would sound like. In a pop context, this should be Missy Elliot’s next single. In an electronic music context, this would have been remixed by Kyle Hall and given credit for throwing back to the 80s with a modern twist. But, nope. This is a really strange R&B track sung and rapped by some teens, so of course no one besides pre-teens cares about it.

12. Mr. Collipark (feat. Ying Yang Twins & DJ Kool)– “Let the Beat Hit”: This song begins with blaring whistle then proceeds to throw obnoxious synths, DJ Kool, the Ying Yang Twins, horns, and something that sounds like an old Detroit Techno record all on the same track. Only a few people were probably involved in the production of this song, but it sounds like at least a 100 were needed to finally realize the song.

13. Swindle (feat. Roses Gabor) – “Spend is Dough”: This song isn’t on Youtube. So, look it up on Spotify or iTunes or just take my word that it is the best song radio hit that never touched American airways, even though you could have heard it on the UK’s Rinse.FM.

14. Miguel – “Sure Thing”: Chopped and Screwed vocals paired with sweet verses by Miguel, yeah there is no way I’d change the radio dial if this song came on.

15. Cobra Starship (feat. Sabi) – “You Make Me Feel…”: This song performs a little trick that it seems recently a lot of pop music has forgotten. Emotion. Without Sabi the song would pretty limb, but she adds intensity and drive that the song needed to be memorable at all.

16. YC (feat. Future) – “Racks”: Have you done the “Racks” dance? If not, watch the video. Do the dance. Then appreciate America nearly getting this song into the Top 40 (it sadly peaked at no. 42).

17. Drake – “Look What You’ve Done”: Number of times played: 25. “And I leave out and you call me, you tell me you are sorry/ You say you sorry, and I love you, and your hearts hurts, mine does too”. Number of times stopped, so I don’t breakdown in tears: 3. 

18. Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Niggas in Paris”: What do you listen to: bored with homework, just returning home from brunch, or are you getting ready for a night out? For one friend it is just one song: “Niggas in Paris”. The number of plays could get excessive, but he pointed out the amount of joy that Jay-Z and Kanye must get to play this song so many times night after night made even the most random midday play of the song a cause of celebration, as it really does get the people going.  

19. Lil Wayne & Kreayshawn – “Gucci Gucci (Mash-Up)”: Over the summer, rap stations I listened to could not stop playing “Gucci Gucci” and tracks from Sorry 4 the Wait, so why not combine the two. The final result, Kreayshawn’s questionable brand putdown verses pair with some good old Lil Wayne nonsense on top of dubstep! In shorter terms: awesomeness.

20. Juicy J – “A Zip and a Double Cup”: Drugs. Drugs. Drugs. Drugs. Drugs. Just in case you didn’t know Juicy J like telling you that he does drugs, and I enjoy listening.

21. Rich Boy – “All I Know”: “All I Know” or “All I Need” is a cop-out name for an introspective rap song, because forces the song to be an all or nothing me against the world declaration. Which, is exactly what the paranoia filled “All I Know” is, but with Supa Villain’s chilled keyboard work and synths it is hard to not want to give a pass to Rich Boy for indulging in the cliché.

22. Drumma Boy (feat. 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, & Young Buck) – “I’m On Worldstar”: Drumma Boy is a great producer and an average rapper. This song is a great example of this fact, and while all of the verse sans Gucci’s are pretty lacking, I could and have listened to this song on a near hour long loop, because of the beat.

23. EMA – “Anteroom”: This isn’t the most intense minute of music this year, as that goes to EMA’s “Coda”, but some simple guitars and a lot less noise it is an effective 3 minutes from an album that emotionally never lets up.

24. Washed Out – “Soft”: If there was a single word to describe Washed Out music, “soft” wouldn’t be a bad one. That isn’t to mean that it is weightless or unimportant, but when Green’s voice and synths blanket your ears “soft” isn’t a bad word to run to and use.

25. Cities Aviv (feat. Fille Catatonique)– “Black Box”: Pleasant relaxed production. Appropriately introspective lyrics. And has a good live show. Someone get this guy a record deal ASAP.

26. Royal T- “Orangeade”: 2011 was a great year for the grime record label Butterz, but every time I listen to this Red Bull, orange soda and vodka mix of a song. I cannot help but hope more people in the United States start paying attention to these guys, because imagine any rapper over this song. Just imagine!

27. T.I. (feat. Big K.R.I.T.) – “I’m Flexin”: Simply put. This is the type of comeback single rappers should seek out it sounds fresh on the radio and displays an energy and hunger announcing the return of a rapping force.

28. Wiz Khalifa – “Roll Up”: Who is the softest rapper in the game? The fuck if I care. Even as a joke, reading and hearing about the softness of rappers makes my skin crawl, because a song like this is better than 99% of what was on the radio, streets, or internet this year. It might be a bit overly cute, but that is something I don’t mind saying regarding to a rap song.

29. Rittz (feat. Yelawolf & Big K.R.I.T.) – “Fulla Shit”: A lot of rap songs by their inherent nature are kind of assholish—I mean do I really want to hear a song about a rapper having sex with someone’s girlfriend, one would expect me to answer “no”, but my iPod clearly says differently. So, here three excellent rapper fess up to being jerks and explain in great detail how and why they do it.

30. Waka Flocka Flame/Travis Porter – “Clap” & “Clap (Remix)”: First, the production by DJ Speedy is the type of weird woozy track that used to be the exclusive soundtrack of Bricksquad before a young kid named Lex Luger came along. And while, I love Waka’s comparison of jewelry to a variety of drugs, it is Travis Porter’s stripe club focus remix that is the definite version of the song.

31. Mouse on tha Track & Killa Kyleon – “I Got Tha Power”: This is not too far from Mouse’s previous hits of “Zoom”, “Wipe Me Down”, “I.N.D.E.P.E.N.D.E.N.T.”, but five years later radio stations are less receptive to this sound, and instead Mouse is just performing in clubs, releasing mixtapes, and letting what should be at least a regional hit song languish on Youtube.

32. Danny Brown – “Lie4”: “What the fuck I got to lie for?” and “I got that income tax swag” are not phrases I would expect from a rap song. Then again, Danny Brown is nothing if not always subverting your expectations and he does it so effortless on with Skywlkr’s five styles in one beat (again, this is a very very twisted Travis Porter song with less singing).

33. Katy B – “Movement”: While, none of Katy B’s singles mattered in the United States pop landscape, this sadly was her only single to not even chart in the UK. The track is some breezy fun that is hard to find fault with unless a nice evening out to the club with your friends is what your nightmares are made out of.

34. Foxx – “Gold Mouth Dawg”: Loud energetic synths and a heavy southern drawl. I would say more, but this song is called “Gold Mouth Dawg”, I think you already know if you like this song.

35. Hercules and Love Affair – “My House”: I am not sure whether people still like or don’t like Hercules and Love Affair anymore, and while this is a House song called “My House” it is still leagues ahead of other revivalists acts and even original house songs I come across in seeking out the original work that inspired songs like this one.

36. Lupe Fiasco (feat. Trey Songz) – “Out of My Head”: Lupe Fiasco released the perfect rap summer single. Which I, and I bet Lupe and his record label, didn’t see this one coming when the year started even with a great Trey Songz’ hook.

37. Oneohtrix Point Never – “Replica”: Daniel Lopatin, you made a really good song. I wish I could say more, but I just cannot right now.

38. Araabmuzik – “Streetz Tonight”: (Music Nerd Piece #2) A cheesy trance song remixed to MPC hell and sound like what I always wanted to soundtrack my 2 am drives home. Music dreams do come true.

39. Ace Hood (feat. Rick Ross & Lil Wayne) – “Hustle Hard (Remix)”: One of the few rap songs on the radio that acknowledge recent economic struggles. But, that doesn’t matter on the remix because it is all about Lil Wayne’s verse (“Swagger just dumb, call it Kelly Bundy”) and Lex Luger’s rising synths and dour keys.

40. Dev – “In the Dark”: I’ve enjoyed this song since the first time I heard it listening to a Los Angeles rap station online in February. The song took a while to catch on nationwide, but it finally did which means that lovely sax riff did not get restricted to just car radios cruising around L.A

41. Lil Wayne (feat. Cory Gunz) – “6 Foot 7 Foot”: For a brief second Lil Wayne sticks his tongue out during the music video, and this ridiculous song is nothing if not just Lil Wayne sticking his tongue out at the rap world by more-or-less remaking “A Milli” and just throwing out whatever metaphor he can think of and hoping it works. At least for me it worked even better than the original.

42. Big K.R.I.T. – “Dreamin’”: Even if Big K.R.I.T. wasn’t a more than an average rapper the instrumental of this track could do more than carry the emotional weight of the song, but Big K.R.I.T. is a becoming a great rapper and this shows that growth.

43. Trouble – “Bussin’”: Just listening to the audio of this song looses a lot of the menace of when you watch the music video, and you see Trouble surrounded by his partners toting a ridiculous number of guns. Then again, the metallic beat with its gun loading sound paired with Trouble’s unflinching eyes is probably enough to put fear in most people.

44. 50 Cent – “Happy New Year”: The new 50 Cent is not quite the 50 Cent of a decade ago, but he is still one of the rap world’s biggest asshole villains. A role he embraces here by laughing at himself and his ridiculous life, which dims the jerkish quality that has always been a part of 50 Cent’s music.

45. Stuey Rock (feat. Future) – “Shinin”: I called this shit “auto-hop” earlier this year, and you know what for my first attempt at a genre name, I don’t think it is too bad. Also, it is a pretty accurate description of this pure sugar sweet hook filled song that happens to have a little bit of rap thrown in.

46. Teeth – “Frequencies”: It’s bleak. It’s scary. It sounds like the opening credits for a horror movie based in the woods, so if you preferred your club music to be as dark as the club you are in listen.

47. Pains of Being Pure At Heart – “Belong”: One day I am going to go back to listening to the Smashing Pumpkins and maybe the second time around they will click for me, but until then I am happy enough listening to those influenced by the Pumpkins and get lost in these larger than life guitar sounds.

48. J-Green – “Weed, Pills & Promethazine”: I don’t think there is one part of this song that is not stolen from an old Three 6 Mafia song, which normally would be cause for damning a song. But, J-Green figured out a way to connect about two decades worth of Memphis rap in one giant mash-uped song, and song title references 3 different drugs, so you know somewhere Juicy J is smiling listening to this.

49. Meek Mill (feat. Young Chris) – “House Party”: Meek Mill is pretty great at being Meek Mill. So, as long has he keeps doing party tracks that begin with him fucking a chick with the water running while the girl’s friend is asking to go the bathroom, he will always have a fan in me. Well actually he doesn’t need to do that, but it is a memorable way to start a song.

50. New Boyz (The Cataracs & Dev) – “Backseat”: There are two good things about this song: the Cataracs production and Dev’s emotionless chorus. So, that leaves a lot of the rest of the song to filled with subpar rapping and singing on the part of the New Boyz and Cataracs, but you know some songs only needs a good hook and beat. 

Tha Carter IV: It’s Great.

2011 eventually will be remembered as one of the best years in Lil Wayne’s career. Tha Carter IVnearly sold a million copies in its first week, 2011 was his first full year free after spending a good chunk of 2010 in jail and with that restriction it is amazing to look to see the number of songs (big and small) he was able to appear on in 2011. Yet none of that makes Tha Carter IVa good rap album, because if it did the album would shown better that its middling critical reception.

The album is only 15 songs, and two of them don’t feature Lil Wayne, which would be an interesting conceit if interesting rappers were put on them. Andree 3000, Rick Ross, and Drake who all have a good connection and understanding of where Lil Wayne’s currently is in the world sound great on the album, but the rest of the guest verses sound out of place and not sure what do on such a big album.

Those three guests in particular offer a unique lens which to view were Lil Wayne is right now. Andre 3000’s biggest hit “Hey Ya” was barely a rap song, and from that point on stopped rapping thus making all of his verse a cause for great applause. Lil Wayne is far too much of a recording machine to slow down that much, but it isn’t hard to imagine a world people are actually surprised to see a Lil Wayne verse instead of taking it as truth. Drake usually raps about the struggles of the life on the top, which is all that Lil Wayne deals with on this album expect more metaphorically. Rick Ross won’t be mistaken as a more interesting rapper than Lil Wayne, but in 2011 he commands tracks in a way that only Lil Wayne right now could compare to and on “John” Rick Ross bests Lil Wayne on his own song (Yes, this is ignoring the fact that “John” samples from Rick Ross’ “I’m Not A Star”). 

This album is a purely Lil Wayne project, and more than that it is an “I can still sell a million album in my opening week of sales and I’m going to still record a dozen more songs this week” project. Lil Wayne’s lyrics on this album go from intensely personal with the “Faded off the kush, I’m gone, only two years old when my daddy brought them hookers home” on “Megaman” to completely nonsensical “Life is the bitch, and death is her sister, Sleep is the cousin, what a fucking family picture” from “6 Foot 7 Foot”. But, within those extremes are Lil Wayne’s constant references to having everything he could ever want and still not being satisfied.

It is easy to make fun of his constant metaphors of fucking the world, but contrasted to Andre 3000’s “Hello Lord, it’s me again. I just want to make love to the globe and all her girl friends” on “Xplosion”. Andree 3000 sounds exuberant and excited at this prospect making love to the world, where Lil Wayne doesn’t an ounce of glee when saying he wants to fuck the world. Lil Wayne might have a song titled “Nightmares of the Bottom”, but he always sounds confident and never fearful of the falling off throughout the album. Which, might explain why a song like “How to Love” can end up on this album and be its most successful single, as for any other rapper it would be a risky single to release, but for Lil Wayne at least in the music world there is no such thing as a risk.

There has been a quick rush to say this is the final proof that Lil Wayne has fallen off from drugged up 2006-2008 high, not only is it premature when he recorded one of his best guest verses of his career (“Look At Me Now”), it is even more unwarranted when he released dealing with the fact he is still the king of the rap world even if some have already taken away his crown. The album shows that Lil Wayne isn’t climbing for the top or even fighting to hold the top position; he is the top and everyone is reaching for him and while that might be as interesting to some as the hunger of wanting to the best it is still makes a great album.