Have You Heard the Ocarina of Rhyme by Team Teamwork? (New Hip-Hop Thread)

[Thermofusion]

Man, I've been listening to Trunk Muzik a whole lot in anticipation of Trunk Muzik 0-60. So fucking good.

[Antero]

Oh damn, that's coming out this month!  Did not realize that.

[Thermofusion]

Yeah! Of the half dozen or so major-label rap releases I was looking forward to this year, I think it's the only one that hasn't been pushed back to 2011.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

When Tyler hits rape/violence, he's not using it as an outward-directed fantasy, but rather as a way to expose internal concerns - rejection, possessiveness, &c.  The big point, I think, is that horrorcore and the like use the description of violence and so forth as a way to either act out a fantasy of power or to gross out the audience (itself an assertion of control), whereas Tyler is internally-focused and engaging his own lack of power and control.  There is nothing at all empowering about "Sarah."

I'm just gonna say that the use of rape as lyrical matter projecting "outward-directed fantasy" vs. exposing "internal concerns"--these are not mutually exclusive concepts, especially when it comes to horrorcore. Engaging your own lack of power and control is another way of asserting power and control.

But whatever, I have no desire to hear rape fantasies so I'm probably never going to engage with Odd Future properly.

[Antero]

Describing it as a fantasy would be inaccurate.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Fine I'mma listen to this shit.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Early verdict:

- I suspect when people talk about Odd Future and rape fantasies they're really talking about Earl, who is talented as hell but also raps about shit that makes me so angry and hurt..

- Production on this shit is so fucking good. Like slowly lifting mercury. Unh.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Oh also new Kanye is maybe his best record.

Feel free to strip me of this conviction.

[ellaguru]

Early verdict:

- I suspect when people talk about Odd Future and rape fantasies they're really talking about Earl, who is talented as hell but also raps about shit that makes me so angry and hurt..

I only know Bastard, and the lyrical content of that makes me a bit uncomfortable. Not really any particular song, but tone is a little pervasive.

On the other hand, I did just grab MellowHype, so we'll see how that goes.

[shai faithe]

i actually find earl sort of endearing. i probably wouldn't if i didn't know that he's sixteen, but that's just something i have to figure out.  anyway, earl is funny, and he's obviously really pained and defensive, same as tyler.  see "wakeupfaggot" where he's fighting with his "mom," then the very next track, "luper," which couldn't be more diaristic. wakes up, regular day, starts reflecting, can't get a girl out of his head: "she's gorgeous, when niggas see her their jaws hit the floor, so when she left me, it didn't break my heart, it broke my torso;" "i fuckin hate you, but maybe if you looked in this direction, i'd pick my heart up off the floor and put it in my chest, then feel life rushing through my body;" "most wanna tap and score, i wanna fam of four;" after which he tries to defend that "slip up," but gives in: "you're not gonna listen to this shit anyway, bitch." THEN he talks about raping and killing her.  soooo i don't know. dude is a really good rapper and really witty and funny. that's how i got over shady's horror shit, who knows. i don't think that material is going to keep them from blowing up, in fact i think it'll help.  it's going to be interesting to see how the larger world reacts to OF.
i'm listening to mellowhype right now, and the first thing i notice is how much more accessible it is.  the beats, as antero (sort of) said, aren't as on point, but i like hodgy a lot, and his material is much EASIER to listen to.  first OF ladies' song: "right here" (same bass sample from "money in the sky").
and yeah, the new kanye is a really good album.  i was bummed that we've already heard most of the tracks, but hey.  the best news is that the version of "runaway" includes all of the drops from the live performance, and a lot more interesting stuff with the vocals (though it has a two minute voice box drunken singsong outro). "blame game" is just fantastic: aphex twin piano, all sorts of vocal crushes, tone switches, john legend not sounding boring, chris rock talking about "cirque de soleil pussy."

[coldforge]

College buddy 1 is guesting on college buddy 2's track here: http://www.birthplacemag.com/2010/10/soul-khan-fahrenheit-video/

Here's his album. Free download.

http://soulkhan.blogspot.com/2010/11/2dopeboyz-presents-soul-khan-soul-like.html

[Babar]

Oh also new Kanye is maybe his best record.

Feel free to strip me of this conviction.

Yeah, maybe. I like it a lot after one listen. You thought 808s was a masterpiece, right? We got good taste in Kanye, BAoH.

[shai faithe]

thanks coldforge for posting that.
808s is near perfect...i liked it a lot when it first came out, though i figured that it wouldn't age well.  BUT IT HAS! for me.  and interestingly, the best parts of fantasy draw on 808s.  i'm thinking of the vocal tricks on "blamegame," and EVERYTHING on "lost in the world" / "who will survive in america?," which is one of the best beats that kanye has done period.  the track (i'll just talk about them as one) just blows up after "the mama say" bit, little bits sneaking in and taking over.  and we've ragged on kanye before for having crap drums, but fuuuuck, this some great drum programming, some house, some hip hop, some dnb, some griot, what the fuck ever, just great shit (basically the chorus of "love lockdown" extended over one and a half songs, getting better every four bars).
his best? i think he could make an album better than college dropout...he hints at it here, more than he has since late registration.  but he doesn't do that here.  maybe people like me put college dropout on an impossible pedestal.

[Antero]

I fucking loathe 808s, but I've liked most of the things I've heard off of the new one.  Especially "Lost In The World."  Robot gospel choir?  I'm sold.  I will totally forgive the abject failure of making an emo, misogynistic, autotuned trainwreck of an album of discarded Coldplay demos if it leads to more robot gospel choirs.

---

8Ball & MJG's From The Bottom 2 The Top is pretty goddamn good.  It's pretty much exactly what I want from them - big beats, surprisingly agile gangsta talk, a couple out-the-hood inspirational tracks.  "Blunts & Broads" is top 10 of 2010 for me, easy.

[shai faithe]

blue flame is awwwwesome.

also! good news regarding the next clipse album.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1652644/20101118/pusha_t.jhtml

[ellaguru]

So, Pitchfork likes the new Kanye. I can't remember the last time they gave a 10.0 to a non-time-tested reissue.

[dieblucasdie]

Yeah, that's the first one since Source, Codes, and Tags.  Uhhhhh...

[Antero]

Dickriders.  I know, objectively, that Kanye's album can't be a 10.0 - which should imply an album that is perfect, or at least one in which all flaws are subsumed beneath its overall quality - because it has "Monster" and a four-minute vocoder jerk-off session.  I'm sure it's good, but really now.

Also: remember when Pitchfork used to cover indie acts?

[Antero]

Yeah, that's the first one since Source, Codes, and Tags.  Uhhhhh...

Ouch.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

First one since Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, actually. That came out after Source Tags.

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Also someone stop Ryan Dombal from writing about hip-hop. Forever. "Strokes-like filter." 2010, everybody!

[Black Amnesia of Heaven]

Album is not a 10 because the Chris Rock thing at the end of "Blame Game" is stupid boring and not funny

[Babar]

The distortion vocoder "solo" is the only bad thing about the album. It's not a perfect album but just as good, if not better, than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or Source, Tags and Codes so, sure pitchfork, give it a 10, it won't change any aspect of my life. The end of "Reservations" is just as much of a jerk-off as the vocoder thing, really. Just different.

[Antero]

Yelawolf's album drops today.  A lot of overlap with the last mixtape, though.  Considering.

Also, Nocando and Nobody have a project out called Bomb Zombies.  Also considering.

[dieblucasdie]

The distortion vocoder "solo" is the only bad thing about the album. It's not a perfect album but just as good, if not better, than Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or Source, Tags and Codes so, sure pitchfork, give it a 10, it won't change any aspect of my life. The end of "Reservations" is just as much of a jerk-off as the vocoder thing, really. Just different.

Would you say it's better than literally every album released 2002-2010?  When you're purposefully stingy with 10.0s, you're really trying to say something definitive when you hand one out.