It's kinda funny, 'cause just last week, I was reading about "Yonkers" on RapGenius, and I saw that there was a lot more thought put into that song than I had realized. It gave me a bit of appreciation for Tyler, but now it just seems like he's just saying random stuff that happens to rhyme, or cheaply shocks people. Tyler, the Creator is becoming the Adam Green of rap.
Cool visuals and all, but this track feels like a whole lotta nothin'. I can understand them wanting to have a "hardcore rap" feel by not having a hook on this song, but the verses and beat are not clever or interesting enough to hold attention for repeated listens. A song that succeeds in doing that, for example, is "Ice Cream Paint Job" by Lil Wayne.
I'm risking my life with this, but the truth must get out.
20, 30 years ago, SNL's stable of talent would hone their impressions over weeks, months, years, with some of the best ones (like Phil Hartman's) not being clone-alikes of the celebrities, but absurd, satirical parodies. Nowadays, "sound like him" is the only criteria they need. What does this lead to?
Instead of having characters that could breathe and exist on their own strengths, they need their celeb impressions to be plopped into in chaotic, already odd circumstances. The thing with that is, you need for those circumstances to happen before you can capitalize on them for your own gain.
You could just wait around for the zeitgeist to give you those moments, and then drop the ball with them -- M.I.A. -- or you could use your own resources to create your own cannon fodder. A month ago, Lana Del Rey had a nervous appearance on the show, weeks later Kristen Wiig parodied her on SNL. Same thing with Bon Iver: he snoozes up the soundstage, and weeks later he's putting babies to sleep. At this point, would it be outside the realm of possibility to see Tina Fey cameoing next week as Karmin? No. How else can you explain the bookings this year? It's a conspiracy straight out of an Alan Moore comic, and I'm the only masked stranger that can see throught the lies!!! Sleep well in your comfy beds, sheeple, and don't say I didn't warn you.
Fuck that, man, who the fuck is Scottla Poutine or whatever the f ucl, I ant never heard of that shit. Donnytilla was robbed for sure, Shut Up Dudies don't mean shit anyways
I still like Soundgarden! Though, yeah, I'd probably rather see Kanye, if they were simultaneous.
I have no problem with an artist calling out another artist for being late, but it seems like he was just mocking Kanye's music. He has every right, but yeah, kinda pointless. Also, he should probably know better than to say "retarded." I'm sure he didn't mean anything about handicapped kids, and I'm not really about censorship, but as a celeb in a public forum, he should know that using that word isn't the smartest idea nowadays.
About to go on a long rant here, forgive me.
I can totally get edy's point about the comment seeming it was belittling a serious life choice. I think that Tom didn't intend that, but I can see how it could be inferred that way. As far as some of the more intense objections raised by commentators, I don't necessarily think that was the best way to go about things; I honestly thought the first comment (since removed) was being ironic, it was so intense.
Now, I fully understand that yeah, Tom's comment could possibly be a symptom of a larger problem, namely the West's misunderstanding of non-"white Christian" groups and religions. However, I also know that Tom is probably a very smart guy -- would a world famous music blog have hired him if he weren't? -- and that if he had a made a mistake that could have offended others, an honest, open pointing out of why it was offensive probably would have been better than blatant toxic words.
Again, I understand where the objection comes from. the more I think about edy's comment, the more I realize that yeah, it was probably a dumb thing to say. I'm not condemning Tom, though. I'll admit I know as little about Islam as most people, at a time when, honestly, it is probably as misunderstood as ever. Tom, I probably would have made the same comment, had i written the article. I honestly didn't know that Mos Def had changed his name for religious reasons (or at all, really, I'm behind on my Mos Def news); I searched the "Mos Def" tag on Stereogum at the time for extra context, but found none at the time.
However, what Mos could hopefully understand is that, yes he became world famous under his own created pseudonym, Mos Def. He's free to call himself what he wants, and if it's for religious purposes, I totally respect his choice. He should understand, though, that we've known him as Mos Def for 10+ years, and that he's not so much in the headlines, that a name change will get pounded into our brains quickly. For the duration of this piece, i admit i kept thinking of him as Mos Def.
Anyway, I'm sure there's other things I wanted to say, but that's all i can remember for now. Yeah, Tom probably said something dumb, but we don't need to fling hate speech at him; i doubt there's any sort of negative political agenda coming from him or Stereogum; I'd stop reading it if I ever thought there was one. i understand the objection, but, especially today, a day lot of us didn't work in order to reflect on the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, jr, can't we try a little adult dialog?
Honestly, if the headline was "Yasiin Bey - 'Ni**as in Poorest'," there'd probably be a ton of people asking 'WTF is Yasiin Bey?'. I don't wanna put words in Tom's mouth, but I'm reasonably sure he didn't have any sort of agenda when he wrote the headline; it was probably for name recognition. That's what I'm guessing.
Nick, heh! I see what you mean.
Radius clause? As in, "if you're playing Coachella, you can't play another gig within so many miles"? That sucks. I think Bright Eyes usually plays Pomona the same week he/they play Coachella, though.
I hope Carney's not falling into the "I'm famous, now I'm gonna start pulling dick moves" trap. But then, even though it was an unwarranted cheap shot, he does have a point. Nickelback are the worst.
Anyway, Nickelback look like blind, futuristic supervillains in that photo, so thanks for that.
Comments