Thursday, January 31, 2008

Chub&B: The Dream v. T-Pain

It's kind of strange that I never bothered to find out anything about The Dream until recently. His hit "Shawty is a 10" was ubiquitous during the latter part of '07, and "Falsetto" has been making the rounds on all the hip-hop & r&b stations in the area. But for a while, I mistakenly thought that The Dream referred to an entire group, not just one guy.


And a chubby guy at that. It wasn't until said Dream's debut album came out that I decided to look him up via youtube. The cover picture screams "hidden fatty" and the picture on the album's back cover pretty much indicates that Terius Nash is as chubby as the underage girl who just friended you on Myspace. Luckily for us, he can't hide his zoftig figure behind mirror shots and high contrast - check out the videos.





There are some members of the hip-hop world whose faces are instantly recognizable. We all knew what 50 looked like before Get Rich or Die Trying came out; young girls, mothers, and grandmothers certainly know what Chris Brown's prepubescent face is like. And there are some artists whose faces you may not know, but once you do eventually see that cover, you're like "Yeah, that's about right." When I first saw Sean Kingston, I was kind of weirded out that he was a pudgy teenager, but after a while it began to make sense..."Beautiful Girls" samples "Stand By Me," it's about retarded teenagers killing themselves, etc etc etc.

So why was I so worked up over The Dream's larger-than-life figure? It's more that when you hear an explicit (and cocky) boner jam like "Falsetto," you expect a suaver looking guy. And when you hear such a high pitched and young sounding voice, you expect someone closer to Soulja Boy's age, not Soulja Slim's. But after I got over my initial shock, I started getting a little excited. Perhaps this would be the man to battle T-Pain for the title of "Most Awkward Former Nerd in Hip-Hop That Still Doesn't Quite Fit in and Still Hasn't Quite Lost That Baby (Ph)Fat"?

Not quite. Let's keep this in perspective: The Dream sings about the involuntary vocalizations women make when he fucks; T-Pain sings about his Mini Cooper. We may have a while yet before we find another R&B star as enigmatic and dorky as Teddy Penderazdoun.


Granted, we must give credit where credit is due. The Dream is responsible for the delicious megahit "Umbrella" and the pretty terrible megahit "Bed". But that might be why his solo career seems to ring hollow: it seems as if Mr. Nash is merely attempting to capitalize upon his successful songwriting. And that might be the greatest difference between "Shawty is a 10" and "Shawty" - The Dream is just a regular hip-hopper looking to make money to buy a new car; T-Pain is ubiquitous not because he really needs the money anymore, but you can hear the pleading in his voice on every guest spot as he struggles to remain in the spotlight, to finally get some attention, just a little while longer.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Lil Wayne Arrested

(Reuters)

"..Inspection found 105 grams of marijuana, 29 grams of cocaine, 41 grams of ecstasy, and more than $22,000, agents said."
FREE WEEZY!

Snooper Markets

(Columbia Spectator)

Please let this be true. What would a Snooper Market sell? Premixed gin and juice? Fatherhoodies? KEYTARS?!

Snoop Dogg v. Kid Rock


schmap'n schmazz: ok
schmap'n schmazz: snoop dog
schmap'n schmazz: looks exactly like kid rock





schmap'n schmazz: what if they were the same person
schmap'n schmazz: a social experiment
schmap'n schmazz: white rocker vs black rapper
schmap'n schmazz: who goes further

In related news, no one misses "Bawitaba" and "Drop it Like it's Hot" is still the greatest song ever.

Grammy Nominations '08


All you need to know.

Wyclef Jean feat. Akon & Weezy - Sweetest Girl



Things that are epic fail about this song:
-Wyclef Jean
-Akon dabbling in a semi-socially conscious message (go back to "Bartender" and "Smack That" plz)
-Weezy's verse - Seriously, I can't think of a more tepid way to close this song out. I know you love money, Wayne, and that the money you got from this song probably paid for...something (does Lil Wayne spend money on things? He never even wears clothes...), but this verse was so worst. Weezy is usually hit or miss on guest spots (contrast the I'm So Hood (remix) on which even Busta Rhymes outshines him with We Takin Over and you'll see what I mean), but usually he's just weird enough to let it go.
-The fact that every girl in Uggs and a North Face <3<3 dolla dolla bill y'all

Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction



Jesus god. Snoop Dogg playing a keytar?! Call Bootsy Collins, the creepster 70's are back! It is my sincere hope that many children are conceived by way of this.

But wait...there's more. I give you: Snoop Dogg performing "Sensual Seduction"...on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Ellen looks so amped:

UGK feat. Outkast - Int'l Player's Anthem



The song that started it all. Everything is right with this song and the corresponding video. T-Pain leading the church choir? Andre 3000 and his weird brand of scottish-chic? PIMP C?! (RIP NEVER FORGET) Needless to say there existed at one time a period of my life where I would watch this video no less than five times a day.

Money Quote: "Hate to see y'all frown, but I'd rather see her smilin/ Wetness all around me - true, but I'm no island/ Peninsula, maybe"

1. Mix Three 6 Mafia, UGK, and Outkast
2. Roddy Piper
3. ???
4. PROFIT!

The extended version of the video develops the plot a little more, but is pretty unnecessary unless you want an extra 30 seconds of ear-candy. iTunes > Repeat > One

Jay-Z - Roc Boys



Jay-Z's "Roc Boys" was one of my favorite singles last year and with good reason - this was easily the swankest rap song of last year. Jay-Z's Black Republican schtick didn't fly on Kingdom Come, but on American Gangster he manages to pull off entrepreneurialism with style. Jigga's classic flow is top-notch here; it's hard to even pick out favorite lines.

Money quote: "Thanks to a little change, I'll tear you out the game/ Bullet wounds'll stop your buffoonery/ Thanks to the pastor rappin at your eulogy"

For those of you who haven't seen the movie, the song is pretty much based off of this scene:



Fader also has a "Behind the Scenes" clip of the producers behind the slick-as-hell "Roc Boys" beat, which fails to deliver somewhat, but is still worth a look:



Mazel tov. It's a celebration, bitches.

Birdman - 100 Million



d-rock: omg u see this ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8bri89oz6E
d-rock: most epic vid evr
madame psychosis: holy shit holy shit
madame psychosis: i feel like i am about to die
d-rock: yeeeeeahhhh
madame psychosis: god dj khaled
d-rock: hundredmilliondollarshundredmilliondollarshundredmilliondollarshundredmilliondollarshundredmilliondollarshundredmilliondollarshundredmilliondollarshundredmilliondollarshundredmilliondollars
d-rock: HE THE BEST !!
madame psychosis: this beat is so fucking epic
d-rock: fa sho
madame psychosis: omg the bags have little birds on them
madame psychosis: how much money did they spend on this video
d-rock: S and T were playing a drinking game w/pbr, where they'd watch this vid, and take a gulp whenever someone says 'money' or '100 million dollars'
madame psychosis: ca$h money trillionaires...we rich
d-rock: 'Make a lot of money'
madame psychosis: god bless

m-dawg: cash money billionaresssss cash money trillionairesssss
madame psychosis: WE RICH
madame psychosis: god how much money did this video cost
madame psychosis: i bet it cost more than the GDP of venezuela COMMIE
m-dawg: i think rick ross has a new game where he tries to throw out his first and last name as far apart as possible
madame psychosis: DJ KHALED aka "the best"
madame psychosis: affiliation: terror squad
m-dawg: RICKKKK .... i be up in dis joint, hatin on nigga .. etc. etc. ROSS
m-dawg: i hear in the middle of his verse a random "ROSS"
madame psychosis: god how much money do you think dj khaled gets paid for his spots
m-dawg: i hope alot
madame psychosis: yeah that's the ultimate sign that you have a lot of money
madame psychosis: you paid khaled a billion dollars to yell CASH MONEY TRILLIONAIRES
madame psychosis: omg what this video had a TRAILER
m-dawg: lavish
madame psychosis: and it spells khaled wrong!
madame psychosis: "khalid"
madame psychosis: omg


Introduction (skit)

Official blag of the KWUR show The International Player's Hour (and a half). Check back for weekly updated playlists and reviews of rap singles, rap chains, and rap snacks.

6:30 - 8:00 pm every Friday at www.kwur.com YA HEARD