Is It Still Cool To Say "It's Gonna Be A Hot Summer?"

Well, I'm doing it either way. My body of evidence is two relatively new tracks, from opposite sides of the track. The bond that ties them is the pervasive sense of "man, I should turn the bass up really loud on my car while I play this." These are your first trunk-rattlers of the quickly approaching Summer Oh Eight.

If there's a "lesser" of these two tracks, it's definitely Ace Hood (f.k.a. Ace Gutta?) and his attempt to mimic the only two Florida MC's since Trick Daddy who've found mass appeal (The Beard Formerly Known As Rick Ross & Generic MC # 81 Flo-Rida). And, like his predecessors, Ace has very little substance on the mic. Throw in the Runners (who have REALLY played out that stutter-synth sound) and this song sounds awful on paper.

But "Cash Flow" is catchy, thanks to a revitalized T-Pain. Like he did on Twista's underrated "Creep Fast," Pain finally does something different than his weak sauce "let's put together some generic words that mean I would like you to do dance" ish. Granted, he's transitioned from club emptiness to ridiculous posturing ("I'll be bangin' on the front door with the nine"), but change is a good thing. It's not great (or maybe even good), but it's stuck in my head this week. And if it's got to be mindless summer drivel, I'll take T-Pain on the hook over almost anyone else on an entire song. So there.

See, I couldn't say anything too nice about "Cash Flow" because I had to heap all my praise onto this next track, the remix to the Kidz in the Hall's "Drivin' Down The Block." Featured are The Cool Kids (fire), Pusha T (fire), and Bun B (fire; can we get that II Trill soon, my dude?). And the result is terrifically awesome. The only hope for radio play this jam's got is (wrongly) the minimalist beat. Never have a ghostly cowbell and a handclap come so correct; in this way, it reminds me of "Vans," a stark less-is-more type beat that bangs you over the head with its simplicity.

Additionally, you can never go wrong with guests like Pusha and Bun. They both school everyone else on the track (Pusha: "Two doors, minus the top / all you see is head and shoulders, like a / jack in the box; Bun's verse nimbly builds on the cut-and-scratch sample better than anyone else's), but not in a showy way. In the true fashion of Pusha's "other" role as 1/4 of the Re-Up Gang, they just think they better, dig? Cool Kids, Naledge, and Double O all drop very solid verses in a great moment of "backpack" meets "gangsta." I don't subscribe to the ridiculous labels, but it's always nice to see when they get pulled down anyway. And when it's for a trunk popper like this offering from the Kidz, that's just icing on the cake.

Youngbloodz: Political Prognosticators?

What we smoke? (what we smoke?)/
That Kush/
Presidential shit/
George Bush

Mo' Fiyah

Nicest day of the year, by far. Call this a post of cheery springtime generosity (or beleaguered long-windedness, your move). Two jams for the people today, both endowed with that "summer is coming" urgency, in very different ways.

I'd never heard of Serani until this week, real talk. But the man gets all lonesome stoic on "Stinkin' Rich," this year's version of Cham's super-soulful "Ghetto Story". "I got money in the bank so my mama don't worry no more," he starts; he should be happy, but dude explains why his money can't buy happiness, nor can it erase his past. It's tried-and-true, but Serani's whine is haunting, like the ghost of a vocoder. His voice makes this song pop off as the antithesis to summer's usually breezy attitude. It's still gonna be a hot summer, but Serani's doing his part to give you grown man talk when everybody else is on about quixotic love or some immaterial bullshit.

I'd never heard of Southeast Slim until this week, real talk (ha!). But homie gets REAL busy alongside (who else) young Wale. This song is so "D.C., stand up" that's it unreal. I'm almost ready to cosign Slim just off this song, dropping heat like: "we take trips to the Keys like a pianist/ya girl take trips to her for my penis". And he stretches out the word for male member into three-syllable ooze. Holding your own with Wale on a track has quickly become a signal that you're the realness (the list of people who have done so: Pusha, Bun B, Evidence, D'wayne) and SE Slim joins the ranks. Listen to the minimal beat on repeat and TRY not to go in for seconds.

The Music For April

Monthly playlist numero deux. Can I realistically hope to have a megajam like "Love In The Club" in my rotation before it hits iTunes and the masses? Probably not, but there are some bona fide pre-summer jams. If nothing else, this playlist should evoke some "damn, I really need this Ann Arbor spring to hurry up so I can play this set outside" ish. Additionally, this might not be the final product, but we're almost halfway through the month, so it's time to get on the grind. Let's get it.

1. Bobby Creekwater - Fucking Up My Cool

This one comes with a cool sidestory. This track is produced by the Alchemist, but doesn't sound like his typical sample-meets-drums thing. Just a driving piano and the occasional flourish of dramatic strings; the track is still a monster because B Creek gets busy on the mic. He has a perfectly rare voice, all Southern twang with a precise cadence. Anyway, this is a track off a joint EP with Alc & Creekwater called Second Hand Smoke that promises to be interesting, if nothing else. I'm still down to get Bobby's LP whenever it actually drops; he should be getting serious promo from Shady sometime soon if there's justice in this world.

2. Elephant Man - Feel The Steam (feat. Chris Brown)

This is like that scene in Office Space where one of the Bobs admits: "I'm a Michael. Bolton. Fan. I love his work!" That's me with Chris Brown. My manliness will go into hiding for a while, but Chris Brown does big things. Elephant's got some nice tracks on his new LP, Let's Get Physical, but this the standout and probably the only one that will grab serious radio play. The reason? C Breezy. He's vocoded out and playing up his "I'm here for the ladies" role to the max. It's as undeniably club as it catchy; summer club anthem sleeper pick right here, people.

3. Lupe Fiasco - Superstar (feat. Matthew Santos) (Acoustic Version)

You know what it is.

4. MGMT - Electric Feel

I've had this one for a while and I'm not sure why it didn't catch me before this. I love "Kids," another track off MGMT's debut LP, Oracular Spectacular. But I guess I was slacking on my MGMT game. This Brooklyn duo threatens to be gloss-rock at times, but this one oozes with summery stagger. Guitars, plinked away, just hang out on the track. The vocals kick with Prince-like apathy, but end up sucking you in. Hang around for the final crescendo: fireworks everywhere.

5. Lupe Fiasco - Black Out

Left off the American release of The Cool, the song might be accused of completely jocking "Ayo Technology". Guilty as charged, maybe, but I'd take Lupe over Curtis fourteen times out of ten. The hook isn't Timbo/Timber crack like the aforementioned hit, but Lupe's reptilian flows works pretty damn well. I understand why self-conscious Lupe left this off his sophomore LP, but it'll make you feel like you just stumbled upon new Lu material. Good enough for me.

6. Elephant Man - Our World (feat. Demarco)

Quite a dancehall month, apparently. Demarco, for those who don't know, is a more polished version of your boy Sean Kingston (sidenote: young homie Kingston DESTROYS the track "Roll" on Flo-Rida's mediocre album...if I hadn't already bumped that thing at March's end, it would be on here for sure). Elephant Man is...well, excited, as always. Elephant jumps around the track, but Demarco's vocoded hook holds this thing down. The beat is infrequent snares and a smorgasboard of other dinky sounds; there's even some crashes of thunder in there. The sum, though, is way more than its parts. Infectious hook on the real.

7. Juelz Santana & Lil' Wayne - Let Us Pray

Can't really justify this on its content, although there's a handful of pretty bangin' punchlines. Then again, it gives me a chance to bitch about how the alleged I Can't Feel My Face LP is no closer to being out than it was a year ago when were talking about it. Wayne? Juelz? Any thoughts, fellas? At one point, you had us wagging our tongues like Rottweilers in July! Now the best flow in the game and a top ten most marketable face can't get their shit together on this? Really, dudes? Honestly, if Carter III and Born to Lose, Built To Win (The Reagan Era) would drop, I'd stop my bitching about this double-MC project. And c'mon JuJu, stop that shit with 29 hollow-points and 20 large in brown paper bag money; you don't have Tip's lawyers to save you.

8. Gnarls Barkey - Neighbors

I really love this song. Sonically, it's piercing, almost too much Cee-Lo in the mic. First listen doesn't do it justice either. The lyrics show a type of postsuburban self-consciousness that's just fascinating. It's all about a very creepy version of keeping up with the Joneses and I'll be damned if it's not one of 2008's best songs so far. Cee-Lo and Mouse should keep this Gnarls project rolling as far it can take them because they're doing a bang-up job. "My neighbor wants what he sees," cooes Cee-Lo. Not just your neighbors, big homie.

Miles Brand, What...Would Ya Say Ya Do Here?

I know that it's taboo to question the training methods used by college teams, but does anyone else see a problem with this? A UCF scholarship football player, Ereck Plancher, died during a workout on March 18th. His death was met with the same ambivalence as those of Korey Stringer, et al. Sportscenter gave a 45-second piece, then ended with a solemn silence. The team and University mourned, but nobody really worked themselves up about it.

A college player has different issues than a pro, regarding a case like this. And when an anonymous player tips off reporters at a major news source that practice was unnaturally tough and the coaches apparently weren't monitoring the well-being of their players...it doesn't seem right.

We don't want to know how hard college coaches push their kids; I get that. But if the NCAA is gonna force announcers to use the phrase "student-athletes," then shouldn't someone be policing this shit? Plancher's death shouldn't be spun politically, by anyone, but shouldn't UCF lose some football scholarships or something? If nothing else, to show that, no matter what happens, a football player dying during practice is unac-fucking-ceptable?

The student-athletes I run into have it easy. They don't go to class, people write their papers, and the University can say they're none the wiser. Whatever; it's the commodification of sports blah blah blah. But when you're playing for a scholarship, and George O'Leary shrieks that you better hustle your ass in gear, despite the fact that you feel faint, there's no real other option. And when, in a rare case like this, that becomes a life-or-death decision, that's a-excuse the hyperbole-lethal injustice for these "student-athletes". I'm sure that the medical report will find some undetected heart defeat, as it always does in cases like this, but the degree of human error has to be recognized. Just makes you shake your head.

RIP Ereck Plancher

Snippet Of The Year

If you haven't heard of Ricky Blaze, join me on the bandwagon. You get on early enough and you'll sound really cool by the time the summer rolls around. Because his mega-club record "Cut Dem Off" is getting remix treatment, courtesy of Elephant Man and Tony Matterhorn. And this thing destroys all other dancehall tracks in a ten-mile radius. The remix is atomic. And it doesn't even exist, technically, yet-only a two minute, seemingly incompete, version of the song exists as of print time.

The riddim is distant pin-pricks of full-sound synth, with a potent hand clap framing the whole thing. But of course a riddim is only as good as those who ride with it. Blaze & Co. come correct on this jam. I'll be honest: I've only decoded about half of the lyrics but it doesn't stop me from listening to the song at every junction.

If you want a mainstream analogy, Blaze is a human to T-Pain's club robot, vocoded across octaves and capable of actual sounds that might be emotion (I still cosign Teddy...just saying that he's the definition of a one-track mind). "Cut Dem Off," the remixed version, is catchy beyond catchy. I woke up with the damn thing stuck in my head this morning. Check out his track "For Life" (feat. Ding Dong) for more of Ricky Blaze's awesomatic sound.

The best moment of the song comes during the riddim's start-and-stop fluttering: the headliner flips his delivery, making it stunt just like the beat: "Ricky/Blaze/fire to the top". I'm with you, Rick. Let me know when you drop the LP.

A Plea

If I could ask the people of this country one thing, the second thing I'd request would be that they vote and take a less passive stance towards government. But the first thing I would ask is for them to go listen to the new acoustic version of Lupe Fiasco's "Superstar." Kidding...kind of.

In this fairly raw recording, a sleek, glamorous neon sign of a track gets hijacked. Lu gets his Marley on, cooing and breathing into the mic. Santos goes nu-soul-meets-John-Mayer...which is much better than that mix of things makes it sound. And some cat plays just enough tasty licks (in my ideal world, they make a video of the recording and the guitarist desperately overacts in his playing because this is his one shot at MTV) to let the thing ride.

I know Lu digs his wordsmith status and that punchy, enjambed flow, but it's kinda nice to actually hear what dude is saying. Sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it just sounds nice, but he sounds way liver than it does on studio tracks. This track alone may have compelled me into serious action regarding Glow in the Dark tix. If I can see this happen on stage, I don't even need to see Kanye (...kinda). The laid back grown man Lupe sounds like he wandered into a bakery in Amsterdam; dude is relaxed, like he cares less about blowing you away and more about sounding great in the headphone. This might be the ignorance of a man who's never seen Lu live, but he always seems a little high-strung, a little self-conscious.

The large-scale cosmic justification of why you should listen to this track is that you, Joe Internet, want to be on the cutting-edge of all trends musical. And this organic, acoustic guitar-backed sound is way the fuck in. Like "denouncing China for human rights" in. Go take a listen to B.O.B's (by the way, I been riding with Bee Oh Bee, hip-hop's best early 2008 shot for "Online Sensation Turned Somewhat Household Name" since "Stack My Paper Up"...please believe) "Fuck You." Song got the internet goin' nuts. Basically, you listen and tell friends. You look superior. Promotions, one-night stands, and jackpot wins are inevitable.

The Tudors: Back, Religiously-Charged, & Now With More Moustache!

Apology: that Brother Ali entry was a fucking mess. I could have written a well-articulated five-page blog entry but no one would read that. I could have condensed the concert and my thoughts to a nice three hundred words, but I did neither. So that rambling mess of ideas will stay in the archives as the example of how not to review a live show. Good learning experience, I s'pose.

In the revolving door of my television pantheon, The Tudors is somewhat of a guilty pleasure. I don't like the fact that I enjoy a series whose main character (the insufferable Johnathan Rhys-Meyers) is such a mediocre actor. While Showtime has begun grooming hit series like Weeds, the emergence of Tudors as entertaining TV was anything but foregone. I thought it looked like a crass "let's put together a historical epic" attempt. But after thoroughly enjoying the first season, I feel obliged to bear with England's royal court...at least until Anne Boleyn bites the dust.

The first episode of this season threw me right back into the fray of things. There are some cast changes, a given seeing as Sam Neill's brilliant (and instrumental) Cardinal Wolsey was wetted. I can't speak to the cast's changes on the whole after just one ep, but the increasing emphasis on James Frain's Thomas Cromwell rocks. Dude was a highlight on 24's messy fifth season and he's noticeably better here.

Anyway, as the pre-ep montage summarizes, Henry (Rhys-Meyers) has serious issues: he wants a divorce with Queen Catherine (a stunning, veteran Maria Doyle Kennedy). The reason? He wants to move on to younger thangs, namely Anne Boleyn (the gorgeous screen-commanding Natalie Dormer). The series does not ignore the fact that Henry's growing frustration with the Catholic Church in Rome is more out of libido and machismo than any actual theological or political issues. Henry is a megalomaniac who wants to wrest control of England's church from papist hands.

A pretty basic rule of TV is that when you bring in a great actor, your product will see immediate improvement. Cite Peter O'Toole, as Pope Paul III, as the umpteenth example. He steals all the scenes he's in during the premiere (and arguably the entire episode). If there is a reason to start watching, having missed the first season, O'Toole might be it.

Caveat: not much happens in the episode. Henry tries to off some of the purist bishops through proxy Thomas Boleyn (Nick Dunning) and continues not to see eye-to-eye with Thomas More (Jeremy Northram, the series' most consistently good on-screen presence). And the now-mustachoied king has also become sick of his old flame hanging around and creeping out his new flame; he wants his union with Anne and he wants it now.

The episode features a lot of manuevering; all parties creep towards their own goals as England starts to show some discontent with the sovereign. If subtlety has any place on Showtime, one might debate the relevance of the Henry v. Rome argument. Henry represents tyrannical and egotistical rule, but one that is basically secular. The Church is not a "bad guy," per se, but an institution with many very flawed individuals (although I do hope that last year's Wolsey was not the last of them...the show does much better when it stays away from simple good v. evil). But should the people be ruled for country or for God? Interesting to think about, at least.

Which leads (not really) to the best moment of the premiere. It didn't hurt that the last season's two best actors (Northam and Kennedy) carry the entire thing, but the departure scene with Queen Catherine knocks it out the park. The entire court drops to their knees, all uttering "God bless you, Majesty" (oh, the biting irony). And when the Queen reaches More, he addresses her as "the blessed lady". It's one of the series' first real goosebumps moments. Honorable mention goes to the scene where Anne listens to the violin player; Dormer's eyes are the best thing on television now that The Wire ain't around.

All in all, it's good to have Tudors and mid-season standout John Adams on the ol' DVR to pass the time until all the old reliables (Lost, House, The Office) come back in full force.