Look out! He's got a knife!

Moozak reviews

It's all hip-hop again, sorry. Does anyone who reads my blog even like hip-hop? Do I even care?

Common - Be
I was a bit disappointed in this album at first. Common's 2002 effort Electric Circus was a fascinating experiment, musically combining elements of hip-hop and psychedelic rock and lyrically pushing him both into more abstract areas and also into apologies for his prior misogynistic and homophobic tendencies (I suspect Erykah Badu was an influence there). However it didn't sell well, it was critically maligned (idiots), and the label basically said to him "You are not Jimi Hendrix."

His new attempt is an almost complete reversal, musically. Kanye West produces almost the entire album, and even for him it's a commercial affair. The sound is soft and smooth and very RnB.

But I kept returning to it and it kept growing on me and now it's one of my favourite early morning albums. Go figure.

Pharrell - Can I Have It Like That? (single)
If I was one half of the most successful production team in hip-hop and I was going to release a single in my own name to try and make it as a ***star***, I think there are two things I would do. The first is to pull out all the stops and make a really hot track, and the second is to get an awesome guest who'd make me look good by association.

I mean, The Neptunes did Milkshake (Kelis), Drop It Like It's Hot (Snoop), On And On (Missy), all in the past year. Every one is shit hot - distinctive, non-imitative, catchy, weird and cool.

So naturally, for his bid for the crown, Pharrell brings in Gwen Stefani to help him pad out his warmed-over collection of bits of other Neptunes songs. He's also re-christened himself with the somewhat teh ghey name of Skateboard P.

He apparently produced this track on his own, so maybe the absence of Chad Hugo explains the musical deficiencies. And it's possible that everyone he approached to guest said "No way fool, you a wack nigga!" except for Stefani (who wouldn't know wack hip-hop if she looked in a mirror).

I like The Neptunes. I liked Pharrell as the frontman of N.E.R.D. This song is a turd.

Talib Kweli - Right About Now
The prevailing wisdom is that Kweli has fallen off. Don't believe the hype. Sure, The Beautiful Struggle was a disappointment, but right before it he released The Beautiful Mixtape and it was awesome. Now he's released another mixtape and it's - um - awesome. His flow is tight, his lyrics are dextrous, and while the beats are kinda basic, that works (like it always has) because it makes him more of a focus.

Mos Def turns up of course, as does recent collaborator (and maybe more than that, the liner notes suggest) Jean Grae. There's a soppy tribute to Lauren Hill that I could have done without, but the best tracks (Drugs Basketball and Rap, Who Got It, Where You Gonna Run) more than make up for it.

Posted by pearce at November 29, 2005 10:33 PM