hip-hop

Shabazz Palaces – Live on KEXP

/ David James / 3 Comments

I must begin with a heartfelt thank-you to Kevin for sharing this with me.  Thanks, Kevin!

Shabazz Palaces crafted possibly the best hiphop album of the new millennium with Black Up, something I’ve documented here and here.  Aside its status as a masterpiece of songwriting and innovative production, engaging places of the heart and mind which hiphop rarely acknowledges, the album serves as the blueprint for increasingly thoughtful and fun live appearances.  This particular video is the most professional and high fidelity recording I’ve seen, so despite its brevity there’s no better place to start expanding your view of the group.  Familiarity with the songs is not required for enjoyment – they’re evocative, head-nodding creations in any format  – yet the pleasures multiply when contrasting the live interpretations of such meticulously sculpted album cuts.  The hiphop I’ve seen in person tends toward one end or another: preformed backing tracks to emulate the recorded experience, or stripped down live-band approaches.  The latter are often more fun yet distance the performers from what we hear at home.  Shabazz Palaces seem to cut not a middle ground, but a third path to live nirvana, mixing the laptop histrionics and physical instrumentation with an experimental eye toward carving the feeling into something as disorienting and psychedelic as the album itself.

If you haven’t heard the album you owe it to yourself to check out my writeup and listen to the full stream here.

Kendrick Lamar – Real

/ David James / 6 Comments

I’m real, I’m real, I’m really really real.

I’d heard a single or two from Kendrick Lamar over the past year, and knew I liked his voice and style but never bothered to grab his Section.80 mixtape. So anyone else who’s heard his official debut good kid, m.A.A.d. City can imagine how completely my hair was blown back in surprise: his bravura storytelling prowess, easy-like-falling cadence, all-star lineup of peripheral talent behind the mic and mixing boards; most of all, the entire album comes together in a cohesive narrative which completely justifies the subtitle of “A short film by Kendrick Lamar.” The spoken interludes are not only enjoyable but essential to wrapping the entire package up. Presented as a series of voicemail tape recordings from Lamar’s mother while he’s out on the town in her borrowed minivan, the final episode unfolds within this song, flipping aspiration to inspiration and leaving a lump in my throat.

Whether it’s the Erykah Badu-like hook and bouncing beat or the way “love” acts as a prism through which several verses are refracted, something about this track in particular allowed it to burrow under my skin and seal the wound from inside. Since Lamar is such a gifted storyteller this almost feels like a spoiler to share a song near the end… but it’s too good to keep to myself. If you haven’t heard the album yet, do yourself a favor and try possibly the best major label release I’ve heard in years.

There he is, eating cereal and sporting what looks like the exact haircut I had in 1991.

You can grab the album on Amazon, but I’m waiting for a vinyl copy.

Shadow Piece [mixtape]

/ David James / 9 Comments

Change begs itself.

I needed to do something different here.  Too much has happened to remain the same.  This will now be a home for mixtapes.  I will still write about music that I love, sometimes even in the same fashion as before, but this place will change.  I have a large mix backlog that can and will be shared, but I assembled one special for this occasion.  Here is the inaugural Optimistic Underground mixtape:

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BEST OF 2011

/ David James / 26 Comments

In 2011, like every year since I’ve discovered how to harness the power of the internet (and a handful of discerning friends) to expand my horizons and unveil whole dimensions of music, has been an incredible year for listening: another slab in my monument to Why You Should Pay Attention.  I held crushes on a number of albums and fell deeply in love with a select few.  All deserve acknowledgement but only the most striking motivate me to gush at length.  With a little luck, I can turn people on to something which will enrich their lives and change perceptions in small or significant ways.  Or maybe even sell an album for one of these deserving artists!

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Get Based with Lil B

/ David James / Leave a comment

My last post about Lil B (Age of Information video!) ended with promise of a mix.  Well here it is. For you, your friends, even your mother: this is not only designed to get the uninitiated based in 45 minutes or less, but to properly rebuke those who think this man is all hype and no substance. Play it for them. Especially your mom.

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Singing Statues – Outtakes EP

/ David James / 2 Comments

Singing Statues hit me out of nowhere. Sort of. Truth be told I looked this up out of curiousity while absentmindedly browsing Teebs‘ profile and listening (again) to Ardour. After an afternoon bicycle ride with this brief EP providing the soundtrack, I’m completely sold.

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Jay Electronica’s Eternal Sunshine

/ David James / 6 Comments

I took Eternal Sunshine and I looped it.
No drums no hook just new shit.

Jay Electronica is, in my humble view, the most promising MC out there today. Although having no official albums under his belt, the bootleg collection What the Fuck is a Jay Electronica?! has been making the rounds for a year now and waking heads up across the land. Today I realized that I’d been keeping this hot treasure to myself and needed to share the love.

This song is what grabbed my attention first, being a fan of the titular film (and its dreamlike score, courtesy of Jon Brion) and always keeping my ears open for exciting new talent; suffice to say I was hooked. There’s nothing I can say that would persuade a listener more than the music itself, so have a listen.

With beats driven by the likes of Madlib and J Dilla, the songs released so far are not only deeply satisfying rhyme and rhythm excursions, but point the way to an incredibly successful career. I can’t wait for the day this man is known more for his incisive talent than simply as the husband of Erykah Badu – and that spot on the calendar is quickly approaching.

Give his What the Fuck collection a try.

[and keep your eyes and ears out for anything this guy drops, official or not. check his twitter for info.]