“A man broke his jaw trying to say what I / say on the microphone, you shoulda left it alone / just for the record, let it be known / that my ego’s only partially grown / and never will I ever condone / biting, in any form”

-Masta Ace, “The Symphony,” 1988.

 Nothing can inspire indignant hip-hop purists and classicists quite like Justin Bieber’s flirtations with rap music. When Raekwon featured on the 2010 remix of Bieber’s hit “Runaway Love,” many “real hip-hop heads” were up in arms, disturbed by how their favorite gritty street rapper would sell his soul to the marshmallow-soft teen pop star. Read More »

“If the Quest don’t look good, then Queens won’t look good
But since the sounds are universal, New York won’t look good”

-Phife Dog, A Tribe Called Quest, “God Lives Through,” Midnight Marauders, 1993.

Welcome. In this, the first Boom Bap Backstory, all the readers out there deserve an explanation. Some of you out there might be asking, “what is boom bap, and what’s its backstory?”

Boom bap is one of the sounds of hip-hop: steady, pounding, swinging drums. Any hip-hop song from New York from 1989-2000 that you’d call an anthem is most likely boom bap.

The term boom bap also has a connotation of classic-ness. And therein lies the aim of this column. I take the hip-hop of today, and add in the “Boom Bap Backkstory” to it. I want to show the roots and long-term trends that have led to what’s present within the music today. The point is to tie everything together, and make hip-hop of different eras and styles more accessible. Read More »

This album is certainly about Christmas, but it is not very special. The Boy Least Likely To have put together eleven tracks which are fairly innocuous and sometimes catchy, but nothing more. A holiday album is a project which should only be undertaken with great care, because it’s so hard to avoid sounding completely uninspired – anyone contemplating a Christmas album should remember that any original song idea they might come up with has probably already been done many times before. Read More »

J-Live has returned, and he is demanding your Undivided Attention on his latest offering. On this EP, J-Live revisits a measure of the confidence and boldness that once animated his tracks; a confidence that compelled him to rage against inequality and wack MCs with equal intensity; a boldness that once led him to use non-rhyming lines with no fear, and do it perfectly. The rejuvenation of J-Live’s swagger makes Undivided Attention a very satisfying listen, even though J-Live’s lyrics have slipped a little. Read More »

In an age of irony and cynicism, where passion and earnestness are more often questioned than admired, Mt. Desolation offers a welcome piece of gentle soulfulness on their debut.  Their music serves as an excellent soundtrack to an afternoon of taking things slow.

Mt. Desolation was formed this year as a side project by Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin, two members of the successful English alternative band Keane. Inthis new group, they depart (somewhat) from their other group’s sound, Keane, for a more alternative/country feel. Mt. Desolation’s songs are driven by drums, guitars, and pianos, but Oxley and Quin don’t fear musical innovation either, working in electronic and orchestral instrumentation to their otherwise ‘traditional’ music.

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Albums are usually praised for being innovating and creating music which sounds different and new. However, creativity and originality does not always lead to great music. Helado Negro’s latest album, Pasajero, suffers from being too deliberately unusual and innovative. Under his alias, Helado Negro, Roberto Carlos Lange mixes traditional-minded Latino sounds with an assortment of far-out electronic instruments, and it doesn’t quite work.

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Robots & Dinosaurs by DC’s own Kokayi is one of those rare hip-hop albums which achieves a balance between consistency and variety, and appeals equally to both his hard-core fan-base and newcomers. Too many rappers put out albums that are either filled with fifteen tracks rehashing the same theme, be it the life of a gangster, lyrical skills, or getting it on in the club. Read More »

I don’t like mash-ups because they are a waste of time. Before you scroll down to the bottom of the page and leave an eloquent comment explaining why a hater like me shouldn’t be writing about mash-ups, please allow me to explain myself.

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