All through this project, I kept on treating the pop world as if it is as it always was: a world where an artist must find a record company that will peddle their stuff, if they want to be heard by the public. I mentioned cases of artists who managed to circumvent the process and reach the public directly through the web, but they too were signed very fast. But there was another story that was going on, and one of the major events of its second half, at least since youtube was launched in 2005, is that we can all make video clips, and become famous for fifteen minutes. Youtube (and other sites) has a vibrant community with its own stars, and every once in a while some nobody from nowhere uploads a vid that the entire world views and talks about. I could have chosen many examples, but this one is the best.
The story is a classic pop story, of the type Andy Warhol would have loved. Four guys from Fort Wayne, Indiana were bored one evening, so they sat around and composed a hamburger-ordering rap, based on the McDonald's menu. The next step was to go out and try it on the local branch, and film the response. To their delight, the girl taking the order was totally cool and played along, which made the video all the more amusing. Joe Woody, the leading rapper, put the video on his homepage, and someone nicked it and uploaded it on youtube. Soon it had millions of views, and spawned numerous copycats all around the US who tried it on their own, composing raps for other types of junk-food. I doubt they got much to eat (a blessing in itself), but fun was had in abundance. And as for the rap itself, all I can say is: crispy.
Showing posts with label naughties record parade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label naughties record parade. Show all posts
Sunday, January 31, 2010
100. Snoop Dogg feat. Tanvi Shah - Snoop Dogg Millionaire (2009)
In the course of the decade, UK garage went in two main directions, which became dominant in the decade's second half: one is the frenzied and raucous grime, based on rappers; the other is what is known as dubstep, a mainly instrumental style, which combined the broken beats of two-step garage with the mystical sounds of dub, to create something that uplifts both body and soul. But dubstep remained underground, and did not create any pop stars. So it doesn’t really belong in the theater show that we call naughties pop, and may be waiting for the next decade to take the stage. To put it in our show, we'll have to look at it from hip-hop's perspective, and hip-hop discovered dubstep only in 2009.
After conquering the US, Snoop Dogg evidently decided to expand his empire, and started looking for fresh beats from around the world to rap to. When the successful movie Slumdog Millionaire came out, he naturally had to rapitalize, and pun-jobbed it as 'Snoop Dogg Millionaire'. And since this was an Indian movie, the record needed a touch of India, but Snoop recently featured in the bhangra record (and the Bollywood movie) 'Singh in Kinng', so he had to find something else. The solution was found in 'Eastern Jam', a record by dubstep duo Chase and Status, which contains a female Indian singer who blends in wonderfully with the dubby sounds. Snoop makes the record his own, and also grants greater exposure to the style, which seems to be on the brink of entering the mainstream.
I'm not too smitten by what Snoop is doing here, and he's a bit too brash for my taste. I prefer the original record. But I put it in here as a sign of hope that this heralds a deeper dialogue between American hip-hop and UK garage, which will bare fruit in the coming decade.
After conquering the US, Snoop Dogg evidently decided to expand his empire, and started looking for fresh beats from around the world to rap to. When the successful movie Slumdog Millionaire came out, he naturally had to rapitalize, and pun-jobbed it as 'Snoop Dogg Millionaire'. And since this was an Indian movie, the record needed a touch of India, but Snoop recently featured in the bhangra record (and the Bollywood movie) 'Singh in Kinng', so he had to find something else. The solution was found in 'Eastern Jam', a record by dubstep duo Chase and Status, which contains a female Indian singer who blends in wonderfully with the dubby sounds. Snoop makes the record his own, and also grants greater exposure to the style, which seems to be on the brink of entering the mainstream.
I'm not too smitten by what Snoop is doing here, and he's a bit too brash for my taste. I prefer the original record. But I put it in here as a sign of hope that this heralds a deeper dialogue between American hip-hop and UK garage, which will bare fruit in the coming decade.
99. t.A.T.u – All the Things She Said (2002)
Somehow, there never was a lesbian sex-symbol in pop. There were sexy lesbians, like Joan Jett, but they played down their preferences to appeal to a wider audience. Those who were open about their orientation looked like they were bent on justifying the stereotype of a lesbian as a woman lacking femininity and sexual appeal. The power of pop is in breaking stereotypes, and I'm still waiting for a lesbian who would be brave enough to pose a sexy image, which will star in women's fantasies. And, if she plays it right, in men's fantasies as well.
We needed an import from Russia to cast the first stone. The cute t.A.T.u duo declared that they have the hots for one another, were happy to demonstrate, and hinted that they dig boys too, which made them more interesting to the other gender (actually, it was all a fib – they are not lesbians). Their 2002 breakthrough wrote another chapter in the sexual revolution of the period, a period that saw the liberal mind completely transcend the remnants of past homophobia. But they got tired pretty fast: they weren't exactly sexy, they didn't have an interesting enough personality, and not enough good records. We still await the lesbian that will get it right.
'All the Things She Said' is probably the most memorable gay record of the decade. The heroine is a girl who falls in love with another girl, and has to deal with her confusion, and with the negative reaction of those around her. Trevor Horn, who was responsible for similar records in the past, produced.
We needed an import from Russia to cast the first stone. The cute t.A.T.u duo declared that they have the hots for one another, were happy to demonstrate, and hinted that they dig boys too, which made them more interesting to the other gender (actually, it was all a fib – they are not lesbians). Their 2002 breakthrough wrote another chapter in the sexual revolution of the period, a period that saw the liberal mind completely transcend the remnants of past homophobia. But they got tired pretty fast: they weren't exactly sexy, they didn't have an interesting enough personality, and not enough good records. We still await the lesbian that will get it right.
'All the Things She Said' is probably the most memorable gay record of the decade. The heroine is a girl who falls in love with another girl, and has to deal with her confusion, and with the negative reaction of those around her. Trevor Horn, who was responsible for similar records in the past, produced.
98. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Whatever Happened to My Rock'n'roll (Punk Song) (2001)
One of rock'n'roll's starting point was the movie The Wild One, that came out in 1953. Young Marlon Brando, wearing the coolest outfit ever (boots, jeans, T-shirt, black leather coat), leads a biker gang that descend on a small peaceful town and wreaks havoc in it. The bikers call themselves B.R.M.C, and when a local girl asks them for the meaning of the initials, they replay: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The girl then turns to Brando and asks him: "hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?" "What d'ya got?" he shoots back, in a quote that became one of the youth slogans of the era.
Rock'n'roll hit shortly after, and for several years it did to American culture what Johnny and his buds did to that small town. By the end of the fifties, the first wave of rock'n'roll subsided, but was not forgotten. There were kids who remained loyal to rock'n'roll, and formed the subculture that was known as "Rockers": bikers who adopted Brando's look, and danced only to the most unruly and rebellious rock'n'roll records. With their records and bikes, the Rockers made a noise that sent chills down the public's spine, and made them feel like they are rocking the foundations of the dominant culture. The Rockers were the ones who kept the flame burning, those who purified rock'n'roll and left only the essence, those who turned it into a religion. And yes, they were the ones who gave us the Beatles, the band that saw to it that it will never be forgotten.
But even if rock'n'roll was not forgotten, it always had to battle for its soul, since humans have the tendency to get used to any type of noise, and even learn to like it. Whenever rock'n'roll started to become acceptable by society at large, it ceased providing its fans with the original experience. But there was always a new generation that came along and created rock'n'roll anew, as a style that once again sounded to previous generations like unmusical noise, and made its fans feel like their soul is surging against the world. In the middle of the seventies, this process generated punk, which regarded rock'n'roll as anti-music, whose essence is eruptive noise. And punk kept recreating itself, through increasingly extreme noise, and for a couple of decades didn't do bad at all.
But in the beginning of the new millennium, there was nowhere left to go. When even your grandfather danced to rock'n'roll, it can no longer be the voice of teen rebellion. And if it isn't rebellious, it loses its breath. This record, by a band that named itself after Brando's gang, presents the problem: the singer tells us that he converted to rock'n'roll, and experienced total spiritual elation, but now can no longer feel the same ecstasy. For me, this is the record that best represents rock'n'roll's current status.
Rock'n'roll hit shortly after, and for several years it did to American culture what Johnny and his buds did to that small town. By the end of the fifties, the first wave of rock'n'roll subsided, but was not forgotten. There were kids who remained loyal to rock'n'roll, and formed the subculture that was known as "Rockers": bikers who adopted Brando's look, and danced only to the most unruly and rebellious rock'n'roll records. With their records and bikes, the Rockers made a noise that sent chills down the public's spine, and made them feel like they are rocking the foundations of the dominant culture. The Rockers were the ones who kept the flame burning, those who purified rock'n'roll and left only the essence, those who turned it into a religion. And yes, they were the ones who gave us the Beatles, the band that saw to it that it will never be forgotten.
But even if rock'n'roll was not forgotten, it always had to battle for its soul, since humans have the tendency to get used to any type of noise, and even learn to like it. Whenever rock'n'roll started to become acceptable by society at large, it ceased providing its fans with the original experience. But there was always a new generation that came along and created rock'n'roll anew, as a style that once again sounded to previous generations like unmusical noise, and made its fans feel like their soul is surging against the world. In the middle of the seventies, this process generated punk, which regarded rock'n'roll as anti-music, whose essence is eruptive noise. And punk kept recreating itself, through increasingly extreme noise, and for a couple of decades didn't do bad at all.
But in the beginning of the new millennium, there was nowhere left to go. When even your grandfather danced to rock'n'roll, it can no longer be the voice of teen rebellion. And if it isn't rebellious, it loses its breath. This record, by a band that named itself after Brando's gang, presents the problem: the singer tells us that he converted to rock'n'roll, and experienced total spiritual elation, but now can no longer feel the same ecstasy. For me, this is the record that best represents rock'n'roll's current status.
97. Daft Punk – One More Time (2000)
The French never knew how to make pop. Their approach to music is too brainy, and in pop the trick is rather to forget everything you know, and give yourself up to the new experience. In French pop, and that's true throughout the twentieth century and beyond, there is no ecstasy, and therefore it lacks the essence. But the intellectual approach does occasionally produce a different take on the existing pop styles, brings in a touch of class. In the end of the nineties, they gave us French house, which was pretty cool. And the coolest were of course Daft Punk, with their spacesuits and electro-funky sound. In 2000 they hooked up with one of the main phenomena in the pop culture of the last two decades – Japanese manga (comics) and anime (animation) – and created a concept album that was accompanied by an anime movie. It was okay, but a tad pointless, and after that I've had enough of French house. Nevertheless, one more time.
96. Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill (2007)
Hip-hop ruled my parade, and mostly it was African-American hip-hop. But hip-hop from other cultures also represented, and I showed that it became the language of minorities around the world, the expression of their street-culture and their struggle against the dominant culture. But here's a white British duo, which connected to hip-hop for the purpose of making art. Scroobius Pip, one of those poets who found in hip-hop a channel for self-expression, teamed up in 2006 with DJ Dan Le Sac, and together they created a unique mixture of electronic beats and poetic rap. The rap's flow here is obviously indebted to the classic 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' by street-poet Gil Scott Herron, but it is turned into a lash at today's pop culture, expressing mainly confusion in face of the overload of stimulation in our life. Snappy, nutty, happy, funny.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
95. Eminem – Like Toy Soldiers (2005)
In 2004, Eminem felt that the curtains are about to go down on his inner drama. His first three albums were named after the three main characters in it: the first was called The Marshall Mathers LP, the second The Slim Shady LP, and the third The Eminem Show. The name of the third already hints that we were witnessing a show, and his fourth album from 2004 was named Encore, bringing it to a close. While the first three albums were dominated by the hilarious sociopath Slim Shady, in this album you could sense Shady losing the cynicism and anger that drove him, and becoming a caricature of himself. In the meantime, the characters of Marshall and Eminem grow and mature: in the course of the epic battle against the shady one, they managed to overcome him, and establish themselves as confident, conscientious and moral figures. Eminem displays it in this record, decrying the beef between his protégé 50 Cent and the rapper Ja Rule, and calling for restrain. Ja Rule dissed him as well, and rather viciously, but Eminem sets a personal example and refrains from retorting, to avoid escalation (if Slim Shady was still strong, he would never let that happen). It shows a higher awareness to the dangers of these feuds and an attempt to prevent the recurrence of the 2Pac & Biggy tragedy (and other rappers who fell victim to violence, and appear in the video), and so far, it looks like the efforts bare fruit, and the current hip-hop spars do not result in violence.
But without Shady, Eminem also becomes less interesting, and he knew it. A year later, he released the album Curtain Call, a greatest hits collection. The album ends with a new recording, in which Marshall tells us how his little daughter got him to want to heal their family, and reunite with his ex-wife (yes, the same ex-wife that Slim Shady fantasized about slashing her throat, cutting her up, and some less pleasant things). And so, the show closes with a happy ending. Marshall Mathers did indeed remarry his daughter's mother, and they lived happily ever after…
Well, not quite. Life isn't a show, and does not end when the happy ending arrives. Three months after the wedding, the couple divorced again (although this time, it seems, the relationship remained cordial). Eminem himself went into hibernation, and suffered from the usual problems that plague an artist when his fountains of creativity have run dry. In 2009 he came back with a fresh album, but it's not the same. As the teens open, the naughties' most important artist is looking for a new show.
But without Shady, Eminem also becomes less interesting, and he knew it. A year later, he released the album Curtain Call, a greatest hits collection. The album ends with a new recording, in which Marshall tells us how his little daughter got him to want to heal their family, and reunite with his ex-wife (yes, the same ex-wife that Slim Shady fantasized about slashing her throat, cutting her up, and some less pleasant things). And so, the show closes with a happy ending. Marshall Mathers did indeed remarry his daughter's mother, and they lived happily ever after…
Well, not quite. Life isn't a show, and does not end when the happy ending arrives. Three months after the wedding, the couple divorced again (although this time, it seems, the relationship remained cordial). Eminem himself went into hibernation, and suffered from the usual problems that plague an artist when his fountains of creativity have run dry. In 2009 he came back with a fresh album, but it's not the same. As the teens open, the naughties' most important artist is looking for a new show.
94. Aaliya – Try Again (2000)
This decade in pop, thank the gods, did not beleaguer us with many tragedies, if we don't count the agonizingly dragging tragedies of Michael Jackson and Phil Spector, which began long before the decade began, peaked during it, and reached their bitter end at its closing. There were other tragedies, but when it comes to losing people we felt had a lot more to give, this was the least heartbreaking decade in the history of pop. Aaliya, who died in a plane-crash at the tender age of twenty-two, was I believe the biggest loss. A talented r'n'b singer, who released a few excellent records in her short life, and was still in ascendance. This lovely record gives us the opportunity to hear how Timabland's production sounds when it is detached from the aggressive rap of Missy Elliott and engages with soft r'n'b, and Aaliya's feathery voice makes it complete. Still pinches your heart.
93. Scarlett Johansson – Falling Down (2008)
The changes in female attitude, dictated by the pop princesses, were visible in the cinema as well. In the years 1997-2003, when pop chicks became evermore funky, the young movie starlets (Liv Tyler, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz, Christina Ricci, Selma Blair) also displayed a new kind of femininity, strong and kicking ass in action flicks, independent and rebellious in teen dramas, sexually liberated in romantic comedies. In the following years, just like in pop, this attitude deteriorated to the loose and stupid behavior of starlets like Lindsay Lohan and Tara Reid. But there were others, who preserved the good from that wild period but displayed a tamer attitude, like Natalie Portman and Keira Knightly, and above all, Scarlett Johansson. Combining the beauty and glamour of the old screen goddesses, new millennium sexiness, a bright and fetching personality, good taste, and a serious attitude towards the acting profession, Scarlett managed to charm many people in the movie industry, and was offered many diverse and juicy roles to sink her teeth into. Thus, she became the most interesting entertainment figure of the latter half of the decade.
Many of the period's movie-starlets tried to make it as singers as well, and the products they put out were as superficial as their image. When Johansson decided to cross over, it was obvious that we were going to get something else, and I was very curious to hear which direction she will take. Once again, she managed to charm some great people to want to work with her, and got the acclaimed producer Dave Sitek, and none other than David Bowie, who awoke for a moment from his long hibernation to contribute background vocals on a couple of the tracks, including this one. But the album also displayed the problem with smart and serious girls: they can be too smart and serious. Scarlett decided to do an album consisting only of Tom Waits covers, and went with Sitek to strange and foggy directions. It was another testament to her good taste and creativity, and was a worthy homage to Waits (who gave his blessing to the project and was satisfied with the result), but did not give her the opportunity to show other sides of her personality, like the glamour, the sexiness, the humor and other things I like about her. She took an active role in the production, and created interested walls of sound, but too many times she drowned her vocal in them. I was hoping the videos would save the day, but the only video she made is this one, which goes in the other directions and shows her as the everyday person behind the glamour. Clever, you see.
I hope Scarlett keeps singing, and explores other directions. One of her virtues is a will to get better and try new things, so there's hope. When this will happen, it will be possible to go back to her first album and enjoy the good things in it, and there are many. Her vocal has many colors, and her theatrical ability can express itself in Waits' epic songs. She understands and connects to the lyrics, and tries to deliver the emotions while doing it in an original vocal style. You have to listen carefully to get it all behind the misty production, and then you hear someone trying honestly to be an artist. When you look at the vid, you realize how desperately Scarlett wants us to see her as a woman of deep substance, not just amazing outer beauty. When she will succeed in combining her interior and exterior, she'll fully realize her potential.
Many of the period's movie-starlets tried to make it as singers as well, and the products they put out were as superficial as their image. When Johansson decided to cross over, it was obvious that we were going to get something else, and I was very curious to hear which direction she will take. Once again, she managed to charm some great people to want to work with her, and got the acclaimed producer Dave Sitek, and none other than David Bowie, who awoke for a moment from his long hibernation to contribute background vocals on a couple of the tracks, including this one. But the album also displayed the problem with smart and serious girls: they can be too smart and serious. Scarlett decided to do an album consisting only of Tom Waits covers, and went with Sitek to strange and foggy directions. It was another testament to her good taste and creativity, and was a worthy homage to Waits (who gave his blessing to the project and was satisfied with the result), but did not give her the opportunity to show other sides of her personality, like the glamour, the sexiness, the humor and other things I like about her. She took an active role in the production, and created interested walls of sound, but too many times she drowned her vocal in them. I was hoping the videos would save the day, but the only video she made is this one, which goes in the other directions and shows her as the everyday person behind the glamour. Clever, you see.
I hope Scarlett keeps singing, and explores other directions. One of her virtues is a will to get better and try new things, so there's hope. When this will happen, it will be possible to go back to her first album and enjoy the good things in it, and there are many. Her vocal has many colors, and her theatrical ability can express itself in Waits' epic songs. She understands and connects to the lyrics, and tries to deliver the emotions while doing it in an original vocal style. You have to listen carefully to get it all behind the misty production, and then you hear someone trying honestly to be an artist. When you look at the vid, you realize how desperately Scarlett wants us to see her as a woman of deep substance, not just amazing outer beauty. When she will succeed in combining her interior and exterior, she'll fully realize her potential.
92. Twista feat. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx – Slow Jamz (2003)
Twista is one of those virtuoso rappers whose flow is so torrential that they leave you razzled-dazzled. But here he pays homage to slow music, or to be more exact, to the slow sensual soul of the seventies, the music that makes your body melt in pleasure. Twista knows that fast-talk may be good for impressing a woman enough to get her back to your apartment, but once she's there, something else is needed to put her in the mood that would get her out of her clothes. So he employs the services of actor Jamie Foxx, who became a successful soul singer after he played Ray Charles and learned to channel his singing, and of Kanye West, who attends to the luscious production. Together they create a record that is at once a paean to those soul greats, to whom we owe so many orgasms, and a very sexy record in its own right.
91. Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind (2009)
The last hit of the decade, and what an appropriate finale to a decade whose most defining records were duets between male rappers and female singers. And it is also a celebration of the bigger connectivity between the worlds that once were alien to one another, using New York as a showcase. As Jay-Z's rap moves fluidly between the different parts and facets of the city, it also reminds us of the easier and safer mobility between these areas, no matter which one of them you come from. And, of course, it is yet another great pop record about New York, the city that continues to be the capital of freedom, pluralism and ideas, even at the end of the decade that started with fundamentalists making their best effort to bring it down.
Friday, January 29, 2010
90. Beyonce – Work It Out (2002)
One of the places where you can witness the new sexual revolution is the Austin Powers movie trilogy, about the groovy and naughty spy who supposedly embodies the spirit of the sixties. Austin was frozen at the end of that decade, and when he is defrosted in 1997 (in the first movie of the series), he wakes up into a world where sexuality is a lot more inhibited, and finds it hard to cope. This is of course a gross distortion of reality: the sixties were infinitely more inhibited than the nineties, and the myth about them circles around a small group of youngsters who rebelled and went to the other extreme, going completely wild with the sex and drugs. They paid a heavy price for it, but also opened the doors for the rest of us, and by the nineties their influence spread to such an extent that society became a lot more open to sex and drugs, but also more aware of the dangers and therefore more tame and responsible. But the myth remained, and the Austin Powers series used it to blast the remaining inhibitions, to make the world even more shagadelic. While in the first movie the heroine reacts with prudish aversion to Austin's behavior, the second movie (from 1999) already has a leading lady that is as liberated as him, and the third movie from 2002 serves as a platform for the pop princesses to display their minxifulness: Beyonce plays the leading role, and Britney tries to steal the show from her in a charming cameo. But she has no chance, because Beyonce simply shines in her movie debut, and shows real comic talent. That year, I was sure that this girl is going to be one of the greatest ever, in line with Dietrich, Garbo and Monroe. Now I'm not so sure, but the potential is there.
Both Beyonce and Britney used the movie to present their new sexy image, to a crowd that mostly still thought of them as virginal teens. Each also put out a record to match, produced by, who else, the Neptunes. Britney made the horny 'Boys', one of her best records. But Beyonce trumped her once again, with this funky-to-the-bone bomb. In the movie, Austin uses a time machine to go back to the seventies and meets her in the role of Foxy Cleopatra, a combination of Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson and all the sex symbols of seventies blacksploitation movies, mixed together with Patti Labelle, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, Gloria Gaynor and all the singing divas of that decade. With the shagadelic afro and the downright funkiness, she proves to be a worthy heir to all of the above, and in this record she purifies their essence to a tune so funky it would make even Frau Farbissina shake her ass.
Both Beyonce and Britney used the movie to present their new sexy image, to a crowd that mostly still thought of them as virginal teens. Each also put out a record to match, produced by, who else, the Neptunes. Britney made the horny 'Boys', one of her best records. But Beyonce trumped her once again, with this funky-to-the-bone bomb. In the movie, Austin uses a time machine to go back to the seventies and meets her in the role of Foxy Cleopatra, a combination of Pam Grier, Tamara Dobson and all the sex symbols of seventies blacksploitation movies, mixed together with Patti Labelle, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, Gloria Gaynor and all the singing divas of that decade. With the shagadelic afro and the downright funkiness, she proves to be a worthy heir to all of the above, and in this record she purifies their essence to a tune so funky it would make even Frau Farbissina shake her ass.
89. Common feat. Kanye West & the Last Poets – The Corner (2005)
One of hip-hop's starting points were the black street poets, who emerged in the late sixties. Basically they were an offshoot of the merger that the beatniks formed between jazz and poetry, but their music relied heavily on the beat, and sometimes their only accompaniment was tom-toms. The singing was also completely rhythmic, kind of a precursor for rap, but with less flow and more pulsation, emphasizing every syllable. The content of their songs was highly political, and expressed the tumultuous spirit of the time. Contrary to what is claimed by some, hip-hop itself did not emerge out of this style, but from street dance parties, and drew more from reggae and funk. But hip-hop DJs did sometimes play the records of these street poets, and the rappers listened and internalized. When rap turned political at the end of the eighties, it became apparent how much they owe these pioneers.
Common is one of the rappers who came out of this political wave, and he's also very aware of black history, and believes that one of the roles of hip-hop is to educate the youth about it. Here he joins the Last Poets, the greatest street-poet band, to pay respect for the past. Together, they eulogize one of the most important places in the formation of black culture: the corner. The street corners of the ghettos were the places that gave host to the preachers, the street poets, the doo-wop singers, the break-dancers, the rappers and many other elements in this culture, which so affected the lives of all of us. Common's rap moves on several levels, the main one being just a description of the flow of sights and sounds that pass through the corner on any given day, but on other levels there are descriptions that paint the street-corner as a place where ideas meet, converge and go in other directions, and also descriptions that turn the corner into a modern version of the blues singers' fabled crossroads: a place where you must determine the direction your life will take from here on, your fate always riding on your choice. The Last Poets, on their part, focus more on the political significance of these meetings and choices, and remind us how they shaped and advanced black culture in the past. Thus, the record itself becomes a corner, a meeting between two generations of black music, and Kanye West mixes it all together to make sure it works, and even sounds like great pop.
Common - The Corner
Uploaded by UniversalMusicUK. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.
Common is one of the rappers who came out of this political wave, and he's also very aware of black history, and believes that one of the roles of hip-hop is to educate the youth about it. Here he joins the Last Poets, the greatest street-poet band, to pay respect for the past. Together, they eulogize one of the most important places in the formation of black culture: the corner. The street corners of the ghettos were the places that gave host to the preachers, the street poets, the doo-wop singers, the break-dancers, the rappers and many other elements in this culture, which so affected the lives of all of us. Common's rap moves on several levels, the main one being just a description of the flow of sights and sounds that pass through the corner on any given day, but on other levels there are descriptions that paint the street-corner as a place where ideas meet, converge and go in other directions, and also descriptions that turn the corner into a modern version of the blues singers' fabled crossroads: a place where you must determine the direction your life will take from here on, your fate always riding on your choice. The Last Poets, on their part, focus more on the political significance of these meetings and choices, and remind us how they shaped and advanced black culture in the past. Thus, the record itself becomes a corner, a meeting between two generations of black music, and Kanye West mixes it all together to make sure it works, and even sounds like great pop.
Common - The Corner
Uploaded by UniversalMusicUK. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.
88. Christina Aguilera – Ain't No Other Man (2006)
If it isn't clear already, I adore Christina Aguilera. I love almost everything about her, and one of my favorite traits is her graciousness, which comes through in several records. Already in 1999, still a teen, she released 'What a Girl Wants', in which she thanks her boyfriend for being kind and gentle and promises to reward him for it, and in the video she also does a sexy dance for him. In a period that was still loaded with female pop records that bashed men for their baseness, Christina reminded everyone that along with the stick there should also be a carrot, and the carrot better come with a bunny. This was still just on the level of principle, but in 2006 there was already an actual man to reward – her husband, whom she just wed. This record, the leading single from her new album, was dedicated to him, and what more can a man ask for than to have his desired superstar wife tell the whole world who's the man?
One of Christina biggest challenges came after her 2002 Stripped album, in which she adopted a skanky image. Those who paid attention realized it was about making an artistic statement and breaking stereotypes, but the world at large is obviously too dumb to get it. Most people viewed her as a slut, and the challenge was to change that image. A decade earlier, Madonna solved a similar problem by going in a romantic, and then mystical, directions. Aguilera, on the other hand, turned to the past, and in 2006 took on the image of a sweet forties pinup girl, and cooked up an album the merged contemporary sounds with the jazz and blues of that decade. It was an interesting musical experiment, albeit not very successful – the album didn't manufacture strong hits like its predecessor. But image-wise it was just the right step, and Christina quickly got rid of the cheap reputation that burdened her, and became a model of good taste. I eagerly anticipate her next step, which is coming very soon.
As mentioned, I wasn't very taken by the other stuff she put out in 2006, but this is an excellent record. Jazzy, funky, one of a kind. Do your thing, honey.
One of Christina biggest challenges came after her 2002 Stripped album, in which she adopted a skanky image. Those who paid attention realized it was about making an artistic statement and breaking stereotypes, but the world at large is obviously too dumb to get it. Most people viewed her as a slut, and the challenge was to change that image. A decade earlier, Madonna solved a similar problem by going in a romantic, and then mystical, directions. Aguilera, on the other hand, turned to the past, and in 2006 took on the image of a sweet forties pinup girl, and cooked up an album the merged contemporary sounds with the jazz and blues of that decade. It was an interesting musical experiment, albeit not very successful – the album didn't manufacture strong hits like its predecessor. But image-wise it was just the right step, and Christina quickly got rid of the cheap reputation that burdened her, and became a model of good taste. I eagerly anticipate her next step, which is coming very soon.
As mentioned, I wasn't very taken by the other stuff she put out in 2006, but this is an excellent record. Jazzy, funky, one of a kind. Do your thing, honey.
87. Ronan Keating feat. Yusuf – Father and Son (2004)
Cat Stevens was one of the voices of my youth, an enchanting singer/songwriter whose records were a spiritual quest in search of the ideal life, and carried messages of peace and universal human harmony. I knew he found the answer in the Muslim religion, stopped making rock and changed his name to Yusuf Islam, and for me, Cat Stevens was a voice from the past, someone who died before I got around to listen to him. Islam and pop were completely alien to one another, and the possibility of a connection ever forming between them, or that we will ever hear Stevens singing pop again, seemed like fantasy. From time to time, the media published stories (completely distorted) on Yusuf, which made him seem like a rabid fundamentalist, and he was for me a completely different person than the man I heard in the old albums.
In 2004, I opened the radio in my car and heard a young singer, which I later learned was Ronan Keating, covering Stevens' classic 'Father and Son'. I wasn't very impressed, but I let it play on. And then, an unmistakable voice joined it, a little older and cracked, but still full of soul, still the same soul from back then. I recognized him instantly, and it was like hearing a voice from the beyond coming out of my radio, sending a quiver down my spine that did not subside for several days. The few lines he sang were enough to make me fall in love with him all over again.
Turns out Yusuf never quit singing – he just sang religious songs, shunning the sinful world of pop. But the war that broke out between Islam and the West encouraged him to try and form a bridge between the worlds, and sound a message of peace once again. Somehow, the path his life took brought him to be exactly in the right place at the right time, to make a difference. After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center he participated in the concert for New York, and performed his song 'Peace Train' for the first time after more than twenty years. Around that time he announced that there is no contradiction between the religion of Islam and the secular world of pop, and those who think otherwise are wrong. His duet with Keating announced his return to the pop world, and since then he's with us again, writing and performing in his familiar style, which still sound good.
'Father and Son' was one of Stevens' biggest records, a dialogue between the rebellious son who looks for a different existence than what the world has to offer, and the settled-down father who advises him to conform. In the original recording from 1971, Stevens sings both parts, but there's no question he identifies with the son. Here, he takes the role of the father, and this is the role he took in real-life as well, the role of the adult who tries to advise the young, and steer them in more positive directions. In today's Muslim world, such people have a lot of value.
In 2004, I opened the radio in my car and heard a young singer, which I later learned was Ronan Keating, covering Stevens' classic 'Father and Son'. I wasn't very impressed, but I let it play on. And then, an unmistakable voice joined it, a little older and cracked, but still full of soul, still the same soul from back then. I recognized him instantly, and it was like hearing a voice from the beyond coming out of my radio, sending a quiver down my spine that did not subside for several days. The few lines he sang were enough to make me fall in love with him all over again.
Turns out Yusuf never quit singing – he just sang religious songs, shunning the sinful world of pop. But the war that broke out between Islam and the West encouraged him to try and form a bridge between the worlds, and sound a message of peace once again. Somehow, the path his life took brought him to be exactly in the right place at the right time, to make a difference. After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center he participated in the concert for New York, and performed his song 'Peace Train' for the first time after more than twenty years. Around that time he announced that there is no contradiction between the religion of Islam and the secular world of pop, and those who think otherwise are wrong. His duet with Keating announced his return to the pop world, and since then he's with us again, writing and performing in his familiar style, which still sound good.
'Father and Son' was one of Stevens' biggest records, a dialogue between the rebellious son who looks for a different existence than what the world has to offer, and the settled-down father who advises him to conform. In the original recording from 1971, Stevens sings both parts, but there's no question he identifies with the son. Here, he takes the role of the father, and this is the role he took in real-life as well, the role of the adult who tries to advise the young, and steer them in more positive directions. In today's Muslim world, such people have a lot of value.
86. Black Eyed Peas – Pump It (2006)
The Black Eyed Peas were the decade's most successful band when it comes to hits (except for Coldplay, who made pretty but formulaic records), and displayed an impressive talent to sample and quote from every possible source, and manufacture something that works. Only it didn't really work for me – many of their records had no real substance for my taste. Nevertheless, every once in a while they hit very close to the mark, like with this record. The sample is of course from Dick Dale's classic 'Misirlou', and it is one of the most energetic and electrifying guitar licks ever made. It is very dangerous to mess with such records, because the inevitable comparisons will usually bury you, but the Peas ride the waves created by Dale, the king of surf guitar, and manage to make a record that almost equals it in ecstasy.
To my ears, this is the last record that is still part of the fun pop of the decade's early years. It came out in the beginning of 2006, the year when the mood changed, and since then, no one has created such vibrations, which make you increase the volume to the max. Like the surfers that inspired this massive guitar riff, I live in anticipation for the next wave.
To my ears, this is the last record that is still part of the fun pop of the decade's early years. It came out in the beginning of 2006, the year when the mood changed, and since then, no one has created such vibrations, which make you increase the volume to the max. Like the surfers that inspired this massive guitar riff, I live in anticipation for the next wave.
85. Mylie Cyrus – Fly on the Wall (2008)
The next generation is sharpening its teeth. Mylie Cyrus grew up as a child-star on the Disney channel, the same channel that a decade before sprouted Britney, Xtina and Justin. At age thirteen she was already a big star, and accumulated lots of fans and stage experience, on which she can count when she reaches adulthood. Beyond being a Disney star, Mylie has rock'n'roll in her blood as well: she's the daughter of country-rock star Billy Ray Cyrus, and she's already displaying signs of rebelliousness, and corrupting a new generation of girls. It looks like we're witnessing the birth of the next pop-kitten.
This, to me, is one of the greatest teen-pop records ever. I jogged my memory and couldn't recall a fifteen-year-old girl putting out a record that was so powerful, and frankly it would have been powerful even for a twenty-year-old, loaded with an ass-kicking electro-rock sound and aggressive vocals. The object of her attacks and flirtations is someone who is obsessively stalking her, and you don't need a lot of imagination to ascribe it to the paparazzi, or to the public that follows her life. Mylie is already part of the generation that grew up into this reality of being twenty-four-hours under surveillance, the generation for whom this is second nature, and I'm waiting to see how she works this when she gets older. With such a strong warning shot, I guess we have something to wait for.
This, to me, is one of the greatest teen-pop records ever. I jogged my memory and couldn't recall a fifteen-year-old girl putting out a record that was so powerful, and frankly it would have been powerful even for a twenty-year-old, loaded with an ass-kicking electro-rock sound and aggressive vocals. The object of her attacks and flirtations is someone who is obsessively stalking her, and you don't need a lot of imagination to ascribe it to the paparazzi, or to the public that follows her life. Mylie is already part of the generation that grew up into this reality of being twenty-four-hours under surveillance, the generation for whom this is second nature, and I'm waiting to see how she works this when she gets older. With such a strong warning shot, I guess we have something to wait for.
84. Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell & Charlie Wilson – Beautiful (2003)
By the end of the nineties, Snoop Dogg looked finished. Gangsta-rap lost its cachet, his collaboration with Dr. Dre fell apart, and his attempts at trying softer directions did not gain the popularity that his gangsta braggadocio brought him. He also had serious trouble with the law, and the feeling was that he was burned out. But then, he hooked up with the sexy and bouncy style of the Neptunes, wrapping his flow perfectly around it, and recreated himself in a cute, romantic and lovable image. His private language is silly as hell, but he manages to make even that sound like the coolest thing in the world. This little sizzle proves that Snoop is still the dopest thing in pop.
83. M.I.A – Paper Planes (2008)
Already an established figure, M.I.A did not forget where she came from. She continued to make politically flavored music, and be the voice of minorities. This record samples the Clash's 'Straight to Hell', which reflected and lambasted the way Westerners regard and treat third-world immigrants, and gives the story from the immigrants' perspective. The Clash tell us that most Westerners would rather see the immigrants go to hell, and get out of their face – Mia replies that they all ready are in hell, having to struggle all day to make a buck in a society that doesn't want them. Lyrically moving, musically hypnotizing, and a surprising hit for the Tamil tigress.
82. DeScribe & Y Love – Change (2009)
One of the decade's most uplifting developments is the rise of Hassidic hip-hop, which comes mainly from the US. While most religious Judaism remains hostile to pop, there are those in it who find in the spirituality of reggae something they can relate to, and express their Jewish soul through contemporary dancehall/reggae. Matisyahu is the biggest star to come out of the scene, and his success is commendable. But it is still hard for me to get excited by his and his peers' music, because I hear nothing new in it. The themes and messages are the same as in Hassidic music – only the style is different.
Y Love, on the other hand, is something else. A black Puerto Rican who was born a Catholic but converted to Judaism and studied in a Jerusalem yeshiva, he blends English, Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic to one seamless fabric, and spreads the words in an amazing flow that makes them all sound like the same language. His music is also very varied, able to collaborate with musicians from all over (especially Jews and Arabs), and his spirituality is a universal spirituality, carrying a message of peace and harmony.
Here he collaborates with DeScribe, a Hassidic rapper from Brooklyn, making his first steps. What I like about DeScribe is his use of auto-tune, because the vocal manipulations of the auto-tune always remind me a little bit of the Jewish trill, and DeScribe does indeed utilize it in his favor. Together, these two mishuginas make a crazy and groovy mix.
Y Love, on the other hand, is something else. A black Puerto Rican who was born a Catholic but converted to Judaism and studied in a Jerusalem yeshiva, he blends English, Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic to one seamless fabric, and spreads the words in an amazing flow that makes them all sound like the same language. His music is also very varied, able to collaborate with musicians from all over (especially Jews and Arabs), and his spirituality is a universal spirituality, carrying a message of peace and harmony.
Here he collaborates with DeScribe, a Hassidic rapper from Brooklyn, making his first steps. What I like about DeScribe is his use of auto-tune, because the vocal manipulations of the auto-tune always remind me a little bit of the Jewish trill, and DeScribe does indeed utilize it in his favor. Together, these two mishuginas make a crazy and groovy mix.
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