"Hip Hop Junkies"

So, last night I was on my way to my weekly late night Wal-Mart visit. I like to go at night in order to attempt avoiding the crowds. You would think with 24 lanes to use, I would have more options than 3 lanes with about 5-6 people in front of me doing some serious shopping. All of that information is probably jibberish to you but ,I was sidetracked momentarily with the thought of destination, not the journey. The journey to my destination was the enjoyable part of the evening.

I couldn't take another fraction of a second listening to the radio playing the same songs that I'd heard earlier in the day as I ran errands. I'd decided before I left the house that I'd spare my self the anguish of being subjected to completely unnecessary repetition and go to the vault and pull out something that hasn't gotten any action in a while. My high school days of drinking 40oz Colt 45's and making underground tapes in my homeboys basement with the my 12 man, sometimes rowdy neighborhood crew must have guided my hand to Nice and Smooth's "Ain't a Damn Thing Changed".

There were crews and MC's from Harlem before these cats, but these dudes had swagger for weeks. People talk about the lyrics back then as if Socrates had grabbed the mic and put it down. Not exactly true. Through the years styles and lyrical content always evolved. As I see it, Greg Nice and Smooth B were a part of a transitional period as far as lyrical content. With some hints of the previous generations knick knack rhymes, they brought some wordplay and style the Harlem always brings to the table. When you think of Harlem you got Doug E. Fresh, Big L, Ill an Al Scratch, Diddy, Mase, Jim Jones; basically cats known for a certain amount of swagger. Nice and Smooth were right in line with the tradition. Smooth B was like the laid back dude with the slick flow as if he may have partaked in too many herbal sessions to raise his voice or care about any nonsense in the area. In "Hip Hop Junkies" he lets us know that he dresses warm so that he won't catch pneu-mo-nia; he's and diamond not a cubic zir-co-nia. Maybe not much on paper, but the easy going, pimp like voice and the pronunciation of every syllable to make the rhyme scheme tight made him a master craftsman of the flow. Greg Nice, also extrmely detailed with the pronunciation placed emphasis on expression. Greg Nice had the CRAZIEST echo since DMC. Not to be compared to one of the kings, because it was on a different plane. Greg Nice had energy to be passed around the room twice without being a cornball. "I knew a fat girl who broke the sca-le, you won't ta-le, I won't ta-le, clientele I must exce-l" is what he emphasizes on the on the track. They even broke out a Partridge Family sample to ride over the drums. I knew there was something familiar about the song when I first heard it on Rap City. I remember a night when I was watching Nick at Night or something when I should have been asleep for school the next morning and The Partridge Family came on. I bugged out like "these cats are nuts. Who does that?"

Of the two, alot of the time Greg Nice my favorite on the track except for on "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow" and "Dwyck" with Gangstarr. Smoth B laid down a story of a lady friend with a "skiing" issue. You know the story, she spends the money wrecklessly, he gets her help and the problem continues. A story that may go on until the end of time. I've had the CD case for a while and just realized last year the Greg Nice produced most of the album. DJ Premier and Guru make appearances as well. You can propbably check them out on You Tube or just get it on I Tunes. Get it, sit back and enjoy. Once again, feel free to comment and spread the word.

Marcus Obrien

Bury The Animosity Over Jay-Z's DOA

I remember sitting in my cubicle at work and the girl next to me peeped over and said "I just sent you that new DOA son!!". So I checked my inbox, watched, listened as Jay-Z performed this CRAZY song talking about killing Autotune with T-Pain on the stage. I was left with my arms in the air in victory because I had been waiting on this. I didn't know it was going to come in this form. Immediately, I sent it to the girl next to me, thought to myself "there are some people who won't be able to release their next single" and called my people in Newark to see what they thought while my supervisor is wondering what in the hell is so exciting. And yes, it was in that order.

As you may or may not know, for the past few weeks there have been grumblings, small rants, side looks and downright anger over Jay-Z's new single DOA (Death of Autotune). For those who don't know, it's a program used in the studio to enhance and alter vocal performances made popular by T-Pain. T-Pain was and is wildly sucessful and often criticized for the use of the program. It's his thing and I'm not personally mad at it because he brought something original to Hip-Hop which alot of Hip-Hop "purists" claim is missing. He was obviously was not the first to use a vocoder for recording. Artist like Roger Troutman of Zapp, Teddy Riley, and rocker Peter Frampton were using the technique decades ago. To be frank, DJ Quick got busy with it on his West Coast Funk jams. So, the style has been around for a while but never used in the capacity that T-Pain has used and dominated it.

With the history lesson behind us, since T-Pain has popularized the sound there have been followers of the style that would resemble an Old West cattle drive. It's funny that with all of the biters only a small few that have been sucessful. Snoop had a jam with "Sensual Seduction" which was produced by ATL's Shawty Redd who had a stripper anthem of his own using a vocoder effect ("Drifter") which Snoop shouted out in his song. But Kanye West and Lil' Wayne have killed it with the approval of and collaboration with T-Pain which to me is righteous because in this age this IS his sound. Not to say that I've totally enjoyed every effort put forth by the Ye and Wayne using it but , they did do right by the style and had the blessing of the owner which is honorable. No knock against either one of them but, I tend to like it when they spit the heat that makes me believe that they are two of they best that there are right now and for a while in future. The problem that has arisen is too many people bought the cookbook for the same recipe. I'm not the one too be stuck on old school Hip-Hop so much that everthing has to sound like everthing before 1995. However, two points of that arguement that comes up are: originality and lyrical death to the biters which I tend to agree with. This is exactly what Jay is saying in this song and it's about time somebody turned up the heat and applied a suffocating full-court pressure to cough up the lameness. The molestation of our ears must end with horrendously whack songs from cats with no talent and nothing to say. But on top of that, they have audacity to present it to the public as if this is something that anyone needs to listen to ever in life. And DJ's playing it is like throwing away the rape kit.

If T-Pain can join Jay-Z on stage in New York for the debut of the song, no one should have anything to say except "Damn! I need to find a new cookbook!". Autotune has become a crutch as well as a henderence on creativity. The thought process has been reduced to "What is the sound that's poppin' and how can I re-create it?". I enjoy samples and fitting one liners that are bitten but, cleverly used. Complete style and technique being used without a mixtape being involved is a crime punishable by a 21 microphone salute to the chest area. The offended are not ready to come up with their own and it seems as if Jay has deeply wounded them and totally knocked, or should I say manhandled them off of their square.

There are avid Jay-Z loyalists. Ask me am I one? No. I simply believe pound for pound he is about THE best that has ever done it but I will save that for a later conversation. By me stating this, I want to dead the thought that this a pro Jay-Z session. Absolutely not. Simply stated, "Dude got busy on that isht". I whole-heartedly share his sentiments on the song. I would love for Rappers and or MC's to just spit rhymes and chill-out with all of the lollygag singing. It's cool to express what you need to but let's not take it overboard. Trey Songs, Neo, and other male vocalists do an excellent job fulfilling the ladies needs. If you break down the song he goes hard from beginning to end. Lines like "My raps don't have melodies, this should make jackers wanna go and commit felonies" and " I know we facing a recession but the music y'all makin' gonna make it a great depression". What??!! It's more than the lyrics. The concept and the track by Chicago bred NO I.D. make it a much needed Hip Hop gem. Jay has done his job of sending cats back to the kitchen and breaking monotonous whackness. And to that, I say THANK YOU Jay-Z. Feel free to express your thoughts and tell everyone you know to join us.