More 2011 pop and hip-hop releases. Read about others here.
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Lupe Fiasco, Lasers (Atlantic) I don't know what would have happened if Lupe Fiasco, one of the best rappers working today, had released the original conception of this album: a three-disc set called LupE.N.D. that would have been the rapper's last release ever. However good or bad that record might have been, though, I'm glad Fiasco's contract obligates him to two more albums, because it means there's more of him coming in the near future. And I don't think the three-disc full-stop that he originally wanted could have come close to Lasers - and if this is how good Lupe has become, I don't think it could have come close to his next two albums, either. Lasers is a lean, concentrated hip-hop statement, full of anger, sadness, joy, hope, and fear - all of the humanity that mainstream hip-hop has lost. Fiasco is a major-label artist, and while some in the rap community wish he would go indie (think what heights he could achieve, they cry, and with reason), I'm glad he hasn't: the major-label rap game needs songs like "Till I Get There," a relentless track packed with piano, drums and Lupe himself ("Doctor doctor please, the fame ain't painless enough / That's 'cause you ain't famous enough / You got a little name, but your name ain't ringing enough"), or the witty "All Black Everything" ("First 400 years, see we actually enjoyed it / Constitution written by the W.E.B. DuBois / Were no reconstructions, Civil War got avoided / Little black Sambo grows up to be a lawyer"). An indie Lupe might be able to do these songs better, but I'll happily settle for the Fiasco we have. He's up there with Kanye and Common, and he'll just get better over the next two albums. If Lasers was all we ever got, it would be enough.
Radiohead, The King Of Limbs (Self-released) Thom Yorke seems to supply most of the Radioheady ambience on their latest album, a drum-heavy record with lots of breakbeats, lots of echo-filled vocals, and not much else. When the bass plays a line soon after the start of the fourth track, "Feral," it booms out at you unexpectedly. If only the melodies and their treatments did the same. The King Of Limbs sounds like it was recorded by a Radiohead algorithm, one which approximated and averaged all their other albums and then tried to produce the ultimate Radiohead sound; it fails, mostly because, although the group thrives on electronic whirlpools and computer-generated effects, it still sounds human, something The King Of Limbs does not. Metronomic drum beat after metronomic drum beat, spacey Yorke vocal after spacey Yorke vocal, this is one of the dullest and least inspiring albums I've heard in quite a while. It's a shame, too. Radiohead is one of the greatest groups around. It's a long way to fall; let's hope that they grab the proverbial tree brach before they hit the bottom of the canyon.
Raekwon, Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang (EMI) There are good moments throughout Raekwon's latest effort. The problem isn't bad raps (they're as good as they're ever going to be); the problem is that the production never lets those raps establish a momentum or a drive for the album. Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang, which boasts an impressive list of guests (including Rick Ross, Ghostface Killah, Nas and Method Man) has fallen victim to the same device that scuttled Mos Def's disappointing The Ecstatic in 2009 - namely, samples of speech, usually from movies. Let's be honest: no one wants to listen to a full (and often lengthy) movie quote before, during, or even after a song. It's distracting and boring - we want the rap! It also sounds suspiciously like a crutch; if you have something to say, why not say it yourself? I'm sure that a message unites the samples on Shoalin, but to tell you the truth, I wasn't listening hard enough to find out. What I was listening to was the rapping, which is to-the-point, strong and usually dextrous and clever. That's what this album should be bought for, and that's what it should sound like - not like a YouTube clip collage. Recommended tracks: "From The Hills," "Chop Chop Ninja," "Last Trip To Scotland."
Wiley, 100% Publishing (Self-released) If you haven't heard of Wiley (pictured above), then boot up your computer and get started. He's one-third rap, one-third electronics, and one-third ego - it's a potent combination. 100% Publishing, so called because it was made by Wiley alone, is marvelous, an in-your-face mishmash of sounds and styles all sung in a thickly enunciated London accent (with traces of the Caribbean). His songs don't let up, they sweep everything in their path, and even if you don't catch every word, you get the point: Wiley is here. This is far from his first album, but it has the energy of a debut, or at least a rebirth, as well as a maturity that, blessedly, allows for immaturity. "Numbers In Action" is a good introduction to Wiley's confidence and overall style, and "Boom Boom Da Na" will fully immerse you. You won't regret it.
Bon Iver, Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar) There are, thank God, no surprises here. This album walks like Bon Iver and talks like Bon Iver, just as the band's founder and (often) sole member Justin Vernon walked and talked his way through the last Bon Iver album and EP. There are changes to the formula here - some horns, some more synths, bigger songs and wader landscapes - but nothing alters the fundamental Bon Iver mentality. Which is fine with me. Vernon is a master of the slowly rolling ocean of sound, full of beautiful and uncomplicated chord progressions that go exactly where we want them. That he does all this while being an uncompromising and uncompromised musician is, then, all the more amazing. Bon Iver, which had a shaky release, is a road trip of sorts, from Calgary to Wisconsin to Texas, and it sounds like the way long car rides feel - slow, suspended in time, and warm in the fast-moving metal bubbles that are cars. This is both comforting and unsettling music, and highly rewarding at that. Recommended.
Lupe Fiasco's album was incredible. I know he didn't personally like it much because it was too mainstream for him, but I think it was the perfect mix of mainstream and Lupe's unique style.
Posted by: Hip Hop Blog | 01/30/2012 at 02:34 PM