What's crackin everyone?? It's throwback Thursday time. You know what that means. Another track to throw us back to a time where music might have been a little more blissful and interesting. Either that or just a track that reminds us of good times. I was listening to some of my 90's rap playlist like I usually do, and I came upon the classic gem by Eazy-E "Real Muthaphuckkin G's". Remember back when Eazy-E and Dr. Dre were beefing in the wake of Dre's creation of Death Row and split up of NWA? Well you should because that's where the song "F*** Wit Dre Day" came from. It had its pretty hilarious video, but I think E came much harder with his response diss "Real Muthaphuckkin G's". What takes me back with this song especially is the accompanying video and just how hard and west coast the beat sounds. Way more hood than Dr. Dre's "Nuthin but a G thang" could have ever been and some hilarious pictures of Dr. Dre exploring his more feminine side. If you don't believe me...take a look for yourself:
This week: Eazy-E "Real Muthaphuckkin G's"
Now that's gangsta! Give this a spin, put your locs on, put your Compton hat on, and drink a 40 of St. Ides and bring it back! RIP Eazy
-M
Showing posts with label Throwback Thursday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Throwback Thursday. Show all posts
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
#ThrowbackThursday: Rock 'n Roll vs. George W. Bush
Hey what's going on music heads welcome to another posting of the "Throwback Thursday". Ever since I've noticed Throwback Thursday was indeed not my idea, I've realized you can find out everyone else's Throwbacks on this fine Thursday by doing a twitter search for "#throwbackthursday", and see what everyone else is thinking about in musical retrospect. I stumbled upon my idea for this week's throwback because as I was going through some of Eminem's old albums, I came across a song I hadn't heard in quite some time: "Mosh". This song came out and stirred up quite a buzz when it was just before election time in 2004, and actually I haven't really heard it since. It's not the most inspirational and motivating political song in the world, but it kind of became a symbol to youths and the hip-hop community that arguably the most powerful man of rap at the time, Eminem, really did not want George W. Bush re-elected. It has a pretty original concept of a video as well. Check it out if you don't remember:
Remember now? I sure hope so. While this song didn't help to knock Bush out of the campaign run, it made me remember the other movements that were going on in the realm of politics and music at the time. I remember there being a tour rallying in campaign support for John Kerry that included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Patti Smith, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews Band, John Mellencamp, The Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, The Dixie Chicks, and a few other noteworthy names.
I think it's pretty much safe to say that at the time, 80% of the music industry was sick of Bush. Except for maybe the country singers like the redneck all-star Toby Keith making songs about freedom and putting his foot up Osama Bin Laden's ass. Now with Eminem, even several rappers showed their militant support for John Kerry. We all know how it ended up though. In the end, Bush won, the liberal side was heartbroken, and many musicians felt their efforts were in vain. I guess it was just an important moment for music because it showed that people were willing to sacrifice their careers by coming out about their political affiliation and were willing to take a stand. I think that's important. We have definitely seen that in the Obama vs. McCain election in 2008. When even rappers make their own political songs ("Black President" by Nas, "My President" by Young Jeezy), it shows some serious support. Welcome to America, where everyone is allowed to speak their mind.
~M
Remember now? I sure hope so. While this song didn't help to knock Bush out of the campaign run, it made me remember the other movements that were going on in the realm of politics and music at the time. I remember there being a tour rallying in campaign support for John Kerry that included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Patti Smith, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews Band, John Mellencamp, The Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, The Dixie Chicks, and a few other noteworthy names.
I think it's pretty much safe to say that at the time, 80% of the music industry was sick of Bush. Except for maybe the country singers like the redneck all-star Toby Keith making songs about freedom and putting his foot up Osama Bin Laden's ass. Now with Eminem, even several rappers showed their militant support for John Kerry. We all know how it ended up though. In the end, Bush won, the liberal side was heartbroken, and many musicians felt their efforts were in vain. I guess it was just an important moment for music because it showed that people were willing to sacrifice their careers by coming out about their political affiliation and were willing to take a stand. I think that's important. We have definitely seen that in the Obama vs. McCain election in 2008. When even rappers make their own political songs ("Black President" by Nas, "My President" by Young Jeezy), it shows some serious support. Welcome to America, where everyone is allowed to speak their mind. ~M
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Throwback Thursday: The Hyphy Movement
If you listen to rap radio stations when you live in the Bay Area, it is a little depressing to realize that all of the "hits" that are played on our local stations don't play any local music. Once in a while we might hear a local "hit" from a local "big name" artist, but it is a rare occasion considering that these artists fizzle out after their career remains stagnant even in local circles. It's not their fault however. The San Francisco Bay Area is by and large one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the United States that has struggled to discover an identity in rap to separate themselves from the rest of the nation ever since rap has been introduced to the masses. Many Bay Area rap fans can argue with me on this. We do indeed have a lot of unique artists that make music unlike any others in the country. Bay Area beats do have some unique identifiers that most can recognize and attribute to being from the Bay Area. However, this is all old school. The rap legends of the 90's have cemented their legacy in our corner of the nation: Too $hort, Digital Underground, Mac Dre, Richie Rich, E-40, The Luniz, etc. The new generation of rap artists remained with no local sense of identity or direction. That is...until the Hyphy Movement was introduced.
I wanted to write this Throwback Thursday in commemoration and appreciation of the Hyphy Movement. Even though the movement has lost most of its steam at this point, it represented something new and fresh for the rap scene in the Bay Area that we had never experienced before. Finally, the Bay Area had something to call its own. The Hyphy Movement brought along new slang, new themes, new artists, and everybody was loving it. Suddenly we were all wearing "stunnas", going "dumb", and "poppin' thizz" in our "scraper" on the way to the "sideshow" while "yokin'". Even if the rest of the nation didn't necessarily like it or catch on to it, everyone knew about it. When My Block: The Bay premiered on MTV, the word was out: The Bay Area had a new movement.Even the older Bay Area rappers wanted to catch on. Suddenly we heard veterans like E-40 and Richie Rich doing raps on Hyphy beats. It was all about parties, clubs, drinks, drugs, going dumb, and being ignorant to the extreme. It pretty much was similar to the Crunk scene of the South, but what separated it a bit was the slang, the rappers, the territory, the different style beat, and the extreme nature. I believe the height of the Hyphy Movement had a few notable moments:
-E-40's My Ghetto Report Card album debuting at #3 on the billboard 200
-Keak Da Sneak's "Super Hyphy" music video making an appearance on MTV's video rotation
-Big name producers like Lil Jon contributing production for Bay Area artists
-Mistah FAB getting signed to Atlantic Records
-Bay Area rappers making appearances on big name rappers' mixtapes and vise versa (Example: Ma$e making an appearance on Mac Dre's Judge Dre Mathis)
-MTV doing their My Block: The Bay special
-MTVnews actually covering news of Bay Area artists and the growth of Hyphy
Why did it die? I really can't tell. For a while it seemed like the movement was here to stay. Unfortunately for the Bay, this was not the case. There are many fingers to point at the demise of our precious rap identity. Was it because the scene was so similar to Crunk of the South? Possibly.
Was it because even though we kept learning about new rappers, none of them brought anything fresh to the table? Likely. Was it because after a while the corporately owned radio stations began to get bored and decided to play less Bay Area music to please the higher ups? Maybe. Or could it have been because every song started to sound the same after a while? Very likely. In any event the scene has greatly died down and we don't hear so much about the rappers we had grown to love between around 2002 to 2008. We don't hear so much about guys like Rydah J. Kyle, J. Diggs, Keak Da Sneak, and Dubee Sugawulf anymore. Matter of fact, many of these rappers like Mistah Fab, are actually doing their best to steer away from their Hyphy roots and cleanse their image to blend in with the rest of the generic rap going on in the music industry today. The most tragic part about all of this, is the aftermath in the wake of Hyphy. The Hyphy Movement has produced some bastard children like L.A.'s "Jerkin" movement; clearly an offspring from the bay sounding beats, bay sounding flows, variation of the turfin' style of dance from Oakland, and use of bay area slang. Jagged Edge also has a song called "Stunnas". Did I mention they were from Atlanta? Anyways... It's sad to see that the promise and possibility of the Bay Area to finally have their own identity ripped away. However, I can see some solace in the fact that even though it only lasted for a short minute, the Bay Area was recognized as an up and coming force to be reckoned with. We realize the potential is there as long as it is organized, supported, and marketed correctly. I believe it's only a matter of time before the Bay Area regroups and comes up with something new and fresh. Even if we don't, I don't mind the Bay Area lacking commercial exploitation like some areas such as Miami have endured. Maybe that's what makes us so unique; we keep it so real that we can't fit into any commercial category that the music industry can exploit and generalize. Keep it real Bay, we will have our day...~M
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Throwback Thursday: How Napster Changed The Game
I have been reminiscing on a lot of great music and music moments from my teen years, my pre-teen years, and my childhood years and how a lot of them have affected my life. In this pursuit I have come up with a lot of good material for the Throwback Thursday column. However, then I started thinking deeper and about how I even became so inclined to music in the first place. Then it hit me as I started to download some new tracks. Not sure what all of you music heads use to download music (yes I am one of those), but I use LimeWire. I have my issues with it, but overall it gets the job done. No point in getting too used to one particular program because before you know it, you will have to find something new. Before this it was KaZaa for me, before that it was Morpheus, before that it was WinMX, before that it was....Napster. It made sense. This is what I had to write about. Napster not only changed my life in various ways, it enriched it infinitely. But forget about me, Napster single handedly changed the music industry as a whole forever. It will never be the same, and it's all thanks to a kid named Shawn Fanning... Let's just get into this Throwback Thursday shall we?
This week: Napster
Before the internet became the mass population's superhighway for music discovery and music purchasing, we were all old school. How did we find out about new music? Whatever the hell radio played. How did we buy music? Record stores. What were the media outlets? CD's and audio cassettes. Needless to say, I'm sure all of us listened to a lot more of a narrow selection of music back then as we do today. Aside from the record labels and radio stations playing for us what they wanted us to listen to, our selections for music were also limited based on income. Take me for example: I was a kid living in the suburbs of the SF Bay Area and my only outlets for music were the radio that I listened to on my walkman and the few CD's/tapes I could afford to buy with the little bit of allowance here and there. Yeesh. Were I still restricted to those constraints for the rest of my life, my musical knowledge and appreciation would be slim to none. The outcome of this was that all I listened to were top 40 hits and when I could actually afford to buy something I would get whatever album was popular with my friends at the time. It sounds ridiculous in hindsight, but who could blame me? I didn't know any better, and I can imagine a lot of youth back then did not either. Music for me wasn't necessarily a form of self expression in my childhood years; it was more of an acceptance tool. I didn't know much about it or understood what was "good music", so I went along with the flock of sheep when it came to music selection. I didn't grow up poor, but I didn't get a lot of money from my parents, so the CD's I bought were the popular rap or rock albums at the time. Green Day's Dookie, Sublime's self titled, Puff Daddy's No Way Out, Notorious BIG's Life After Death...you get the picture. However, the answer existed that nobody had thought about up to this point: the internet.
I can't remember exactly when the internet was introduced to me. I think it was in 5th grade that I got a personal PC for the first time. It might have been until 1997 that I actually got the internet on that personal computer. I thought the internet was the greatest thing ever invented when I begin to explore it, but the true potential experienced to me was when I realized things were "downloadable". First it was sound clips, sound bytes, and short video trailers. But the true pinnacle was just around the corner. The introduction of the mp3 file was a key element. Windows .wav files were way too big to reasonably be able to download at full length of a song with the 56k dial up speeds that the internet operated on at the time. MP3's were a new file type that greatly reduced the amount of data required to represent an audio recording and still sounded like a faithful reproduction of the uncompressed audio. Now with this, The true pinnacle was realized to me when Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker released Napster in June 1999. Nothing was ever going to be the same for the music industry because myself and the rest of the world finally found a way to get all the music we couldn't afford and actually have control over what was being played to our ears. The concept was amazing: all one had to do was type in the artist name and song title and a list of the people who were sharing those songs would pop up. One double click away and a download would begin for the mp3 file of the song of your choice. A few minutes later we had a file that was good to go to just press play. The revolution had begun and there was no stopping it...
The Good:
What did it mean that kids could listen to music now without having to pay for it? It meant that all the doors were opened for music listeners to discover new music and accept new genres because the burden of paying for a record virtually didn't exist anymore.
Example: I wasn't a huge fan of the blues before simply because I didn't know about it. I never heard blues music on the radio so by default it wasn't my thing and it wasn't in my music library. However, I had heard so much about B.B. King and wanted to understand why he was so popular. But like most of the general public, I didn't feel like shelling out 16 dollars simply to check out a new artist. My money was limited so I wanted to spend it on music I knew I would enjoy. Napster introduced the new alternative: I typed "B.B. King" in the artist box of Napster and downloaded the top results. What happened? I am now a full blown fan of the blues. Would this have happened without Napster? Absolutely not.
People became more eclectic and appreciative of other music styles simply because it was available and they had the option of exploring. If a young kid like me was curious about new artists and new music movements that were happening, they could actually check out what was going on. This meant amazing things for up and coming artists looking for exposure. Also, it is an arguable point that post millennium saw the biggest uprising of genre blending among artists. Rap Metal, Blues Punk, indie rap, electronic rock...the possibilities became endless.
The Bad:
Those same up and coming artists that were excited about all this new exposure were also facing an incredible backlash from the recording industry and leading record labels. File sharing meant less profit margin for record labels and big name artists, and naturally, they didn't like that one bit. Many acts like Metallica, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Britney Spears were widely outspoken against people listening to their music for free. Lars Ulrich event want as far as to publicly campaign and help orchestrate a string of lawsuits that would ultimately be the demise of the Napster program (we all remember that now don't we?). Since there was less money all across the board for the recording industry, the inevitable outcome for all up and coming artists was that securing a record deal was infinitely more difficult. Not only that, but once a record deal was secured, it on the record label's terms. Now that the dust has settled and it's 10 years later, we see the long run effects that the record industry has suffered. Music as a whole has been watered down and the same producers and artists are now being forced upon us; simply because they have the money to do so. Less profitability means more struggling artists. There is less emphasis on quality and more emphasis by the labels on the search for "the next big thing".
There was no denying that the revolution was here to stay. File sharing was introduced to the masses and the greater population. Once Napster was shut down, the idea was not about to die. New programs were created in its stead and file sharing became an untamable beast that eventually grew to film and television. Some options have been presented to keep money in the hands of the record labels like iTunes, a pay version of Napster, Rhapsody, and other mp3 download sites. Will there ever be an answer on how to save the music industry and still keep the music lovers happy? I have no idea. I do know one thing for sure: I am a living, breathing product of the Napster revolution and I owe all my music enthusiasm, music knowledge, musical depth, and musical inclination to the program. Thanks Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. You created a monster. Cheers.
~Dr. M.
This week: Napster
Before the internet became the mass population's superhighway for music discovery and music purchasing, we were all old school. How did we find out about new music? Whatever the hell radio played. How did we buy music? Record stores. What were the media outlets? CD's and audio cassettes. Needless to say, I'm sure all of us listened to a lot more of a narrow selection of music back then as we do today. Aside from the record labels and radio stations playing for us what they wanted us to listen to, our selections for music were also limited based on income. Take me for example: I was a kid living in the suburbs of the SF Bay Area and my only outlets for music were the radio that I listened to on my walkman and the few CD's/tapes I could afford to buy with the little bit of allowance here and there. Yeesh. Were I still restricted to those constraints for the rest of my life, my musical knowledge and appreciation would be slim to none. The outcome of this was that all I listened to were top 40 hits and when I could actually afford to buy something I would get whatever album was popular with my friends at the time. It sounds ridiculous in hindsight, but who could blame me? I didn't know any better, and I can imagine a lot of youth back then did not either. Music for me wasn't necessarily a form of self expression in my childhood years; it was more of an acceptance tool. I didn't know much about it or understood what was "good music", so I went along with the flock of sheep when it came to music selection. I didn't grow up poor, but I didn't get a lot of money from my parents, so the CD's I bought were the popular rap or rock albums at the time. Green Day's Dookie, Sublime's self titled, Puff Daddy's No Way Out, Notorious BIG's Life After Death...you get the picture. However, the answer existed that nobody had thought about up to this point: the internet.
I can't remember exactly when the internet was introduced to me. I think it was in 5th grade that I got a personal PC for the first time. It might have been until 1997 that I actually got the internet on that personal computer. I thought the internet was the greatest thing ever invented when I begin to explore it, but the true potential experienced to me was when I realized things were "downloadable". First it was sound clips, sound bytes, and short video trailers. But the true pinnacle was just around the corner. The introduction of the mp3 file was a key element. Windows .wav files were way too big to reasonably be able to download at full length of a song with the 56k dial up speeds that the internet operated on at the time. MP3's were a new file type that greatly reduced the amount of data required to represent an audio recording and still sounded like a faithful reproduction of the uncompressed audio. Now with this, The true pinnacle was realized to me when Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker released Napster in June 1999. Nothing was ever going to be the same for the music industry because myself and the rest of the world finally found a way to get all the music we couldn't afford and actually have control over what was being played to our ears. The concept was amazing: all one had to do was type in the artist name and song title and a list of the people who were sharing those songs would pop up. One double click away and a download would begin for the mp3 file of the song of your choice. A few minutes later we had a file that was good to go to just press play. The revolution had begun and there was no stopping it...
The Good:
What did it mean that kids could listen to music now without having to pay for it? It meant that all the doors were opened for music listeners to discover new music and accept new genres because the burden of paying for a record virtually didn't exist anymore. Example: I wasn't a huge fan of the blues before simply because I didn't know about it. I never heard blues music on the radio so by default it wasn't my thing and it wasn't in my music library. However, I had heard so much about B.B. King and wanted to understand why he was so popular. But like most of the general public, I didn't feel like shelling out 16 dollars simply to check out a new artist. My money was limited so I wanted to spend it on music I knew I would enjoy. Napster introduced the new alternative: I typed "B.B. King" in the artist box of Napster and downloaded the top results. What happened? I am now a full blown fan of the blues. Would this have happened without Napster? Absolutely not.
People became more eclectic and appreciative of other music styles simply because it was available and they had the option of exploring. If a young kid like me was curious about new artists and new music movements that were happening, they could actually check out what was going on. This meant amazing things for up and coming artists looking for exposure. Also, it is an arguable point that post millennium saw the biggest uprising of genre blending among artists. Rap Metal, Blues Punk, indie rap, electronic rock...the possibilities became endless.
The Bad:
Those same up and coming artists that were excited about all this new exposure were also facing an incredible backlash from the recording industry and leading record labels. File sharing meant less profit margin for record labels and big name artists, and naturally, they didn't like that one bit. Many acts like Metallica, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Britney Spears were widely outspoken against people listening to their music for free. Lars Ulrich event want as far as to publicly campaign and help orchestrate a string of lawsuits that would ultimately be the demise of the Napster program (we all remember that now don't we?). Since there was less money all across the board for the recording industry, the inevitable outcome for all up and coming artists was that securing a record deal was infinitely more difficult. Not only that, but once a record deal was secured, it on the record label's terms. Now that the dust has settled and it's 10 years later, we see the long run effects that the record industry has suffered. Music as a whole has been watered down and the same producers and artists are now being forced upon us; simply because they have the money to do so. Less profitability means more struggling artists. There is less emphasis on quality and more emphasis by the labels on the search for "the next big thing".There was no denying that the revolution was here to stay. File sharing was introduced to the masses and the greater population. Once Napster was shut down, the idea was not about to die. New programs were created in its stead and file sharing became an untamable beast that eventually grew to film and television. Some options have been presented to keep money in the hands of the record labels like iTunes, a pay version of Napster, Rhapsody, and other mp3 download sites. Will there ever be an answer on how to save the music industry and still keep the music lovers happy? I have no idea. I do know one thing for sure: I am a living, breathing product of the Napster revolution and I owe all my music enthusiasm, music knowledge, musical depth, and musical inclination to the program. Thanks Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. You created a monster. Cheers.
~Dr. M.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Throwback Thursday: The Eminem Show
Hey what's going on world? Welcome to another Throwback Thursday. Not sure why, but I have been in a big rap mood lately. Not necessarily that today's rap is anything exciting, but I've brought out a lot of my old records and have been reminded of how great rap used to be not so very long ago. One of those old favorites of mine is the album I'm about to review for this week's Throwback Thursday. In the spirit of my man Eminem's new single "Not Afraid" being all over the airwaves (which I've already posted my thoughts on here), I went into a retrospective of the older Eminem records I used to enjoy. This week I chose...
Artist: Eminem
Album: The Eminem Show
Released: 2002, Aftermath/Shady/Interscope Records
Up to this album's release in 2002, there was no sugar coating the fact that Eminem was #1 in the rap world. Whether or not you loved him or hated him, album sales don't lie. His initial breakout with The Slim Shady LP has sold rough 6 million worldwide to date. The follow up (and career peaking) Marshall Mathers LP has sold roughly 19 million worldwide to date. At the time, Eminem had done it all in music after merely 2 major label recordings. He had done world tours, sold millions of records, performed and recorded with huge names in rap, made magazine covers and newspaper headlines, saw his way onto everyone's television set, angered the government and censorship groups, and yet at the same time had music critics eating out of his hand. The question lingered; how in the hell was he going to follow up The Marshall Mathers LP: the album that put his name in everyone's mouth, his face on everyone's magazine, and his status on top. The answer? Perhaps my favorite Eminem album: The Eminem Show. What made this album so significant to me was the toning down of the insane "Slim Shady" moniker he had created for himself. He had already proven himself as the king of controversy and shocked America to death about gruesome themes like drugs, sex, and homophobia. This album went to a great length to give controversy a backseat and show off what Eminem was all along: an artist.
#1 - The Production. How do you prove your critics wrong and show that you don't necessarily need Dr. Dre to be succesful? Produce most of the album yourself; and that's exactly what Em did. With only 3 tracks produced the the Doctor, the rest of the production was handled by Mr. Mathers.
#2 - Lyrical skill. It was mainly shock value in the previous albums. In this album not only does he step the flow up, but he tells a solid story with his rhymes. He stays on theme, his rhymes and metaphors are consistent, and he tells a story in his lines. Much more improved from his previous showcases. I think this album was the one that reminded all of those of losing his rap skills since "selling out" that he was still the skillful rapper that came out of the slums of 8 Mile.
#3 - A more personal touch. In The Eminem Show we catch a glimpse more into a more serious and personal side of Em. The gimmicks and shock value aren't so necessary anymore. He goes into lyrical depth about his childhood, his stance on politics & government, race dichotomy in rap, recent personal events, being a father, and how he has dealt with fame.
All in all, this is a more consistent album and more of a proving ground of the artist that is Eminem. It showed that Slim Shady could evolve and that he wasn't a one trick shock value pony. The end result: another classic album that sold as much as The Marshall Mathers LP worldwide. Eminem could have died out, but decided not to, and The Eminem Show set the stage for the artist that we still know and love to this day. Good job Em. You deserved your success. Detroit WHAT!!
Standout tracks: The whole damn album!
Review: ***** (5/5 stars)
~Dr. M
Scale:
***** - Amazing! Highly important
**** - Great, very enjoyable
*** - Decent, worth checking out
** - Average, not very exciting
* - Poor, don't even bother
Artist: Eminem
Album: The Eminem Show
Released: 2002, Aftermath/Shady/Interscope Records
Up to this album's release in 2002, there was no sugar coating the fact that Eminem was #1 in the rap world. Whether or not you loved him or hated him, album sales don't lie. His initial breakout with The Slim Shady LP has sold rough 6 million worldwide to date. The follow up (and career peaking) Marshall Mathers LP has sold roughly 19 million worldwide to date. At the time, Eminem had done it all in music after merely 2 major label recordings. He had done world tours, sold millions of records, performed and recorded with huge names in rap, made magazine covers and newspaper headlines, saw his way onto everyone's television set, angered the government and censorship groups, and yet at the same time had music critics eating out of his hand. The question lingered; how in the hell was he going to follow up The Marshall Mathers LP: the album that put his name in everyone's mouth, his face on everyone's magazine, and his status on top. The answer? Perhaps my favorite Eminem album: The Eminem Show. What made this album so significant to me was the toning down of the insane "Slim Shady" moniker he had created for himself. He had already proven himself as the king of controversy and shocked America to death about gruesome themes like drugs, sex, and homophobia. This album went to a great length to give controversy a backseat and show off what Eminem was all along: an artist.
#1 - The Production. How do you prove your critics wrong and show that you don't necessarily need Dr. Dre to be succesful? Produce most of the album yourself; and that's exactly what Em did. With only 3 tracks produced the the Doctor, the rest of the production was handled by Mr. Mathers.
#2 - Lyrical skill. It was mainly shock value in the previous albums. In this album not only does he step the flow up, but he tells a solid story with his rhymes. He stays on theme, his rhymes and metaphors are consistent, and he tells a story in his lines. Much more improved from his previous showcases. I think this album was the one that reminded all of those of losing his rap skills since "selling out" that he was still the skillful rapper that came out of the slums of 8 Mile.
#3 - A more personal touch. In The Eminem Show we catch a glimpse more into a more serious and personal side of Em. The gimmicks and shock value aren't so necessary anymore. He goes into lyrical depth about his childhood, his stance on politics & government, race dichotomy in rap, recent personal events, being a father, and how he has dealt with fame.
All in all, this is a more consistent album and more of a proving ground of the artist that is Eminem. It showed that Slim Shady could evolve and that he wasn't a one trick shock value pony. The end result: another classic album that sold as much as The Marshall Mathers LP worldwide. Eminem could have died out, but decided not to, and The Eminem Show set the stage for the artist that we still know and love to this day. Good job Em. You deserved your success. Detroit WHAT!!
Standout tracks: The whole damn album!
Review: ***** (5/5 stars)
~Dr. M
Scale:
***** - Amazing! Highly important
**** - Great, very enjoyable
*** - Decent, worth checking out
** - Average, not very exciting
* - Poor, don't even bother
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Throwback Thursday: 5/20/10 Edition
Throwback Thursday? Wtf is that? Let's start this off with a bang. This will be a retro-throwback-oldschool-vintage-aged (or whatever you want to call it) review of an album or band or a reminiscing of a particular trend, scene, or moment in music that takes importance in my mind. So considering it's Thursday and this blog is brand new, why don't we start off with one right off the bat? Let's get right to it....
This Week: The Fat Of The Land (album) by The Prodigy [1997]
Now I was a wee-lad when this album came out, but in terms of groundbreaking discoveries, this is the album that changed mine and a lot of other peoples' lives around the world. When Prodigy dropped The Fat Of The Land in 1997, that year became a big year for the electronic music scene to make its way out of the dungeon basement raves in the Europe and certain sectors of the US and into the mainstream and onto the charts. I want to say this album and Daft Punk's Homework (which also came out the same year and will get its own Throwback Thursday post) were the two driving forces that made 1997 a year where electronic music found their way onto boomboxes (what are those?), walkmans (what are those), and stereo systems around the world. It could be debated forever as to why people were turned onto this album, considering the big beat and hardcore techno movements weren't necessarily new, however this was a big step for Prodigy into a more commercial friendly sound. Their previous albums were pretty much the same genre, however The Fat Of The Land had more "song" aspects than their previous albums had. The songs were structured, they were shorter, they were less ambiguous, they had quite a few vocalists...but the main keys: they were catchy, they had some ridiculously freaky videos, and they were club bangers. Those 3 elements were what really shot them into the masses. Liam Howlett's beats, the genius that he is, rang through everyone's ears yes, but the freakishly looking outfits and haircuts of Keith Flint (main vocalist) haunted everyone's nightmares after watching a Prodigy video. Catchy beats and catchy hooks, cue "Smack My Bitch Up" made something for everyone to request in the club, whether they knew about electronic music or not. I was no exception to that rule. I spent many nights watching the videos of "Breathe", "Firestarter", and my favorite "Smack My Bitch Up" and watching in awe as my musical tastes began to evolve from that point. The mind of a child might be weak, but there was no going back after this point. This album never gets old and to this day, I still hear some of the jams played at clubs and at raves. And guess what...the electronic/dance scene is bigger than ever (expect a post about that in the near future as well). I'm positive that won't change anytime in the near future. Thanks Prodigy...you'll always freak me out and make me dance at the same time.
~Dr. M
Review: (*****) 5/5 stars
P.S. Remember..did I miss anything? Do you disagree? Did you not like the album? Did you really like the album? Leave a comment yo!
This Week: The Fat Of The Land (album) by The Prodigy [1997]
Now I was a wee-lad when this album came out, but in terms of groundbreaking discoveries, this is the album that changed mine and a lot of other peoples' lives around the world. When Prodigy dropped The Fat Of The Land in 1997, that year became a big year for the electronic music scene to make its way out of the dungeon basement raves in the Europe and certain sectors of the US and into the mainstream and onto the charts. I want to say this album and Daft Punk's Homework (which also came out the same year and will get its own Throwback Thursday post) were the two driving forces that made 1997 a year where electronic music found their way onto boomboxes (what are those?), walkmans (what are those), and stereo systems around the world. It could be debated forever as to why people were turned onto this album, considering the big beat and hardcore techno movements weren't necessarily new, however this was a big step for Prodigy into a more commercial friendly sound. Their previous albums were pretty much the same genre, however The Fat Of The Land had more "song" aspects than their previous albums had. The songs were structured, they were shorter, they were less ambiguous, they had quite a few vocalists...but the main keys: they were catchy, they had some ridiculously freaky videos, and they were club bangers. Those 3 elements were what really shot them into the masses. Liam Howlett's beats, the genius that he is, rang through everyone's ears yes, but the freakishly looking outfits and haircuts of Keith Flint (main vocalist) haunted everyone's nightmares after watching a Prodigy video. Catchy beats and catchy hooks, cue "Smack My Bitch Up" made something for everyone to request in the club, whether they knew about electronic music or not. I was no exception to that rule. I spent many nights watching the videos of "Breathe", "Firestarter", and my favorite "Smack My Bitch Up" and watching in awe as my musical tastes began to evolve from that point. The mind of a child might be weak, but there was no going back after this point. This album never gets old and to this day, I still hear some of the jams played at clubs and at raves. And guess what...the electronic/dance scene is bigger than ever (expect a post about that in the near future as well). I'm positive that won't change anytime in the near future. Thanks Prodigy...you'll always freak me out and make me dance at the same time.
~Dr. M
Review: (*****) 5/5 stars
P.S. Remember..did I miss anything? Do you disagree? Did you not like the album? Did you really like the album? Leave a comment yo!
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