Year In America September 11, 2008

[koganbot]

T.I. still number one, and girlboymusic will be vindicated to read that the song still hasn't registered in my memory despite my writing it up last week*; M.I.A. still at number five, still hasn't lost her bullet or her bang bang bang bang; only two new tracks in the Top 40; and Jennifer Hudson and Jazmine Sullivan still under the border, not able to break in, which will drive Lex nuts in frustration.

Artists Stand Up To Cancer "Just Stand Up!" which already stood up four days ago in Britain and I haven't had any new insights since then. Carrie Underwood is out of place and weak, Miley out of place and distinctive, Fergie the only one who carries emotion, none of the singers here really at fault, just can't propel a lame song. NO TICK.

Lil Wayne f. Bobby Valentino "Mrs. Officer": I like the beats of hollowed-out cardboard and Bobby's "wee-oh-wee-oh-wee," but not much else. Bobby tries and fails to recreate the shimmering emotion of the classic black harmony groups, while Wayne's concept is that a woman in uniform desires sex. Blah. NO TICK.

*Two weeks ago, actually. How time flies when nothing's happening.

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha I'm exactly the opposite on 'Mrs Officer': I love love love the conceit (fuck the police like ACTUALLY fucking the police!) but I don't think I actually need to hear Bobby Valentino pretending to be a siren again. I tend to skip it on the album. Weird choice of single.

Jazzy and J-Hud still doing 1000 times better in the US than in the UK, you still win here.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Also, 'Whatever You Like' is by far my favourite of the new batch of TI tracks I've heard - actually I kind of hate both the MIA-sampling one and the maiahiii maihaaa one.

Jazmine Sullivan

[koganbot]

To answer your Jazmine question from yesterday ("Why is it that PRs of shitty indie bands manage to constantly bombard me with unwanted information and endless CDs, but PRs of amazing artists can't even find the time to inform me of RELEASE DATES unless hassled?"), it's partly that when it comes to being a conduit between artist and buyers, the press can do a lot more for indie than it can for r&b. Also, the labels themselves probably don't think much of Britain as a market for r&b, though I don't know if the latter is true, or, if it's true, if it's justified. Is there much radio especially devoted to r&b or r&b-flavored dance and much product that moves despite not being a hit on Top 40?

That said, Jazmine's "Need U Bad," sounding like an extra-reggae-heavy takeoff on "Doo Wop (That Thing)," is something that I'd think Britain might be quite receptive too.

I see how Wayne's let's-really-fuck-the-police conceit could be funny; problem on this track is that words and vocals seem routine in comparison to the rest of the alb. I still haven't given the album enough attention, though, to see how things really fall into shape (or fail to).

And I haven't heard much recent T.I. I always have a memory problem with him (except for "Rubberband Man," which always makes me smile though I don't think it's a great track). I was with everybody in liking "Why You Wanna" and "What You Know," but without going back and listening I wouldn't be able to tell you much about them.

Re: Jazmine Sullivan

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The biggest station dedicated to 'urban' music in the UK (ie hip-hop, r&b, grime, dubstep, dancehall, ragga, funky, bassline &c &c) is 1xtra, which is an offshoot of the state-funded Radio 1 (the most important pop station in the country - a place on the R1 playlist is generally seen as paramount to having a hit (there hav4e been exceptions, but not many). The creation of 1xtra is a mixed blessing for the mainstream presence of 'urban' music in the UK: on the one hand, it gave a voice to many forms of black music, especially homegrown underground music, which would never have got on to the R1 playlist in the first place; but on the other, it's ghettoised all but a few token black artists to a digital radio station which most households don't even receive, and all but erased their presence from the mainstream R1 playlist. People waffle about the various reasons for this but I prefer to just call it "massive racism".

Pirate radio station Rinse FM is also key to the development of underground scenes like grime, dubstep and funky.

Good discussion about the current 1xtra playlist on this ILM thread, of all things. You'll note that both Jazmine and J-Hud are present and correct on it, but have been left off the mainstream R1 playlist in favour of artistic colossi like The Verve and Kings Of Leon. I think I might actually throw up a little at this point.

On to happier matters - in purely vocal terms TI is probably my favourite rapper around right now, I just love the sound of his voice and his Georgian drawl. 'What You Know' is one of the five best hip-hop singles of this decade. Am still hopeful for his new album despite the varying quality of what's emerged so far - even the bad songs are interesting in some way - though his last album was really disappointing. Also he's one of my few celebrity crushes.

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

I think the TI song is very immediate. I've only heard it the once (on Paul Gambaccini's US chart show last Saturday) but the hook is still lodged in my brain.

[koganbot]

Listening to it right now, the hook is very hooky, and I really shouldn't forget it, but I've heard it a bunch and I do forget. However, probably should've borderline ticked this rather than borderline not ticked it. Would have done better as a Nelly track, I think. Nelly's better at that light sing song.

Do like the girl in the vid.

[koganbot]

To confuse things, I quite like T.I. on Nicole Scherzinger's not hooky but very strong "Whatever U Like," which stiffed last year everywhere but Rumania and Turkey.