I'm a bit late to this, but there's a great interview with the RZA at the Onion AV Club - be sure to check out the bit about what Ol' Dirty Bastard was like back in the day:

"Like if he got hold of a car, he'd crash it."

I promise to finish and post the full-length review of the new RZA album over the weekend.

my hero

Ghostface Killah To Give Away 1000 Sleeping Bags To Homeless

"Ghostface... will personally handout the bags and will initiate a "Hat and Glove" drive.

Fans of the rapper are being asked to bring gently worn hats and gloves to the event in exchange for an autographed photo of the rapper."

As my man Seth likes to say, he really is a beautiful human being. (Which makes this story equally satisfying.)

New album Pretty Tony, out in February... Let's hope it's more substantial than the last one.

(First link via somedisco.)

are you not entertained?

Early thoughts on Jay-Z's Black Album - I'm just going to pick out my current favourite tracks and talk about them individually for a moment. Suffice to say if I had to offer an overview, it would say something like "Fucking brilliant, back at his best, probably even better than The Blueprint".

1) 'My Name Is Hov' reminds me very much of Method Man's awesome 'Shaolin What?' in its flawless density: two minutes of tightly-packed lyrical brilliance over a fantastic organ sound. It contains probably my favourite one-liner of the year - "flyer than a piece of paper bearing my name" (do you see?) - just before Jay may or may not confirm those Beyoncé rumours - "got the hottest chick in the game wearing my chain". Jigga, you tease.

2) 'Dirt Off Your Shoulder' - oh my God, Timbaland did it again. This is incredible, just the most sick electro beat imaginable, and Jay-Z just sounding completely in control of it. I think it's interesting to compare this to previous Tim/Jay collaborations: 'Hola Hovito' was great, possibly my favourite track from The Blueprint, but it didn't exactly sound like your typical Timbaland track - I'm not sure what it did sound like, but it got round the problem that arguably many MCs don't know quite what to make of the speed/rhythm of Tim's beats. That doesn't seem to trouble Jay-Z here: the bit where he stays on top of the track as Timbaland starts throwing in these crazy glitchy scratches and rewinds - "I drop that BLACK album then I BACK out..." - it's just a thing of wonder. Jaw-dropping.

(That's before we even get onto the subject of what a great club track this is, and how cool it's going to be if people start actually doing a little "brushing dirt off your shoulders" dance...)

3) 'Allure' - at first I was too busy thinking about how familiar the Neptunes beat on this is, and thinking about how they've not really done anything amazing on this album - but then the hook insinuated itself into my brain and I realised hey, this is some great songwriting here. And then it dawned on me that the lyrics are fantastic: basically, it's Jay-Z talking about how every time he "solemnly swear[s]" to quit misbehaving, the "allure of the game keeps calling my name", and pulling him back in. Now, a less rapper or even this rapper on one of his lazier days would have just left at it at that, and there would probably still be some merit in it. But what he does here is to generalize the idea beyond just the specific temptations of his own vices ("the life") and talk about the other kinds of tasty bad behaviour that human beings find themselvesirresistiblyy drawn to, whether it's women having affairs with married men, or James Dean "dying young, leaving a good-looking corpse". As with much of the new RZA album, this is all about acknowledging that being bad might just be an inescapable part of the human experience - that every now and again, you have to let off that steam.

Which is also a concern in 'Lucifer', but if I start on that then I really will end up breaking down the whole album track by track... Another time.

do you like good music?

It must have been the winter of 99/00 that me and the boy Cavsie were obsessed with 'Sweet Soul Music'. Those were the days of living for the Friday Social at the Refinery, Travolta-style: you do your shitty working week and then when payday comes, you dance. And this was something of an anthem, this and 'Superstition': because sometimes the staples of dubious 'eclectic' nights in the depths of the Midlands are staples for a reason. This one is all about that moment where you stop moving just before the next verse kicks in - and then BAM!, off you go again, shaking your lil' tail feather. Singing "hold on, I'm coming." Oh yeah. Ohh-ho yeah.

Spotlight on Arthur Conley, RIP.

reminders #1

There’s a photograph of the author Donna Tartt in one of last Sunday's papers that makes me think of you. Not a physical resemblance at all, really – more the sense of style, and the expression. Her head is tilted slightly to one side, her arms hang down straight against her sides, and the effect is quizzical, almost clownish. It’s a deliberate pose, but still a genuine one – the quirkiness and childlike openness aren’t being affected, they’re just the particular qualities which she’s chosen to let shine through at that moment. She’s wearing a coat which I can imagine you appreciating even if you decided it wasn’t for you, and in the accompanying interview she talks about coats and how “very attached” to them she becomes. You grin when you read this, later. Later still, I read the bit where she talks about writing and fret about writer’s block (my recurring condition).

Mind you, if you ask me The Little Friend needed some serious editing. And a better end.

"All you need to understand popular music is instinct. That's why it's popular!"

- Frances McDormand as Jane, in the movie Laurel Canyon. Truer words have never been spoken. You should see the film, if you can.

Two things about 'Stand Up' by Ludacris:

1) It's good to see Tommy Cooper getting the respect he deserves from the hip-hop community. When I move, you move:



"Just like that!"

2) Ludacris feels like a MIDGET is hanging from his NECKLACE! Genius!