Kanye, Cousin Rick, and Amber Rose Feeding the homeless The Day after Christmas.
I’ve come to a conclusion that by far, the most annoying emails in the entire universe are party promotions for some event taking place next week featuring all 84 of the Heavy Hitters and their cousins DJing at once with live rap performances from every unsigned MC in the Tri-State area. Now I’m surely exaggerating (Though my Facebook inbox is filled with about 984 of those messages so I can’t be that far off base), but it does say something about promoting music in today’s day and age. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, any kid with a microphone and a DSL modem can go from a complete no body one moment to the next Tay Zonday or Jay Electronica with a few blog posts.
Despite how equal of a playing field the internet creates for those aspiring to be musicians, it just as much makes exposing “good” music incredibly difficult. When the life of a blog post on any popular blog is about a day at the very most, most artists get one chance to make jaws drop, if they miss that opportunity, with the pace of the web their shot for a little taste of internet glory is more or less lost. Anyway, enough about my opinion on the game online, there’s a reason I’m writing this post. Since I seem to have stumbled into a position where I can expose some of what I consider “good music” to the folks, I’ve got something to set off your new year in a proper manner.
Arc-Peddle Music
[Erick "Arc" Elliott: "Peddle Music"]
It’s always my pleasure when I get to post music from my brother Erick. I’ve known this bloke for years and every time he gets around to throwing some sonic static into the rap game it’s a breathe of fresh air on my iTunes playlist for weeks to come. This is Erick’s first foray back into the musical world since Birth To Bank’s release over two years ago. Well worth the wait if you ask me.
Erick “Arc” Elliot presents “Noir.” In the midst of a game full of ‘rappers’ who are more concerned with singing their verses or convincing us all that they are an alien from another planet, it’s refreshing to sit down and hear a tape full of nothing short of straight forward, heart felt, authentic rap. No gimmicks, no nonsense-just the voice of a hungry, 21 year old, MC from Flatbush Brooklyn relating his day to day to the listener over some beautiful original production from The Remedy and Flash Frequency Music. For fans of rap and fans of old-fashioned-home-baked in a bedroom music in general, Arc’s Noir will not disappoint
Gilbere Forte-Exhibit G
[Gilbere Forte-Exhibit G]
Gilbere is another one of the brethren who I am more then happy to promote without any second thoughts. This guy has been moving behind the scenes working with more then a few of your favorite streetwear brands for years now. Then seemingly out of no where I turn around and he’s sending me an email of his remix of a Sade record. I knew he was a producer so I assumed he had flipped the beat and added a little funk to the track. The last thing in the world I expected was to hear this guy going in with a clean 16 bar verse over the introductory chords, much less did I expect the rapping to actually be that good. Who knows how long Gilbere has been sitting around in basements perfecting his flow, but if this is just the beginning, it’s sure going to be fun to see what happens when he gets rolling.
Oh yeah, since that first email, Gilbere has been popping up on literally every single rap blog out there and made quite the little introductory splash. 2010 will be a year of interesting moves, telling you to stay tuned isn’t even necessary. (When was the last time you were being put onto an artist who has less then 1,000 profile views on Myspace?)
That’s it for the moment. I could go on and on with a bevy of new folks worth your time, but I have a serious date with a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch downstairs. These two artists alone should be able to help you usher in the next twelve months witha soundtrack for glory pounding relentlessly as the background music. Listen and proceed my friends and be sure to let me know what you think.
<3 Es’Q
Filed under: People, Photography | Tags: Dolce and Gabanna, Madonna, MILF
Madonna for Dolce & Gabbana Spring 2010.
By photographer Steven Klein.
<3 Es’Q
Prologue: I have an enormous amount of respect for those who claim the DMV as their home. I realize that certain aspects of this article may inspire the hords of the DC faithful to try to hang me with a noose of SB laces but trust and believe that I only write what I feel and my opinion really means nothing at the end of the day. DMV folks, I still love you.
So let’s put this out there right off of the bat ok? I was never a big Wale guy. I have some friends who would rather listen to Benzino freestyle for three hours than download a Wale song, and I have some friends who swear up and down that Wale is the truth.
Despite not being a big fan, I’ve been well aware of this fellow’s track record over the past two years as he was being heralded as the MC that would put the DMV on the map. Fast-forward now to November 10th, 2009 and Wale is putting out his first major label debut Attention Deficit. An album that I could not escape like Snuggie commercials on late night TV. This body of music has not only been hyped from here to the mother land and back again, but it has received the biggest promotional push I’ve seen in years for any artist’s first album.
With those being the facts, I figure what the hell. Let me uphold my duty as a law breaking citizen of the 21st century and download this album and give it a fair chance. I would give the guy who’s name no-one-could-pronounce-at-first a shot at proving that he lived up to the hype I had endured hearing for the past two months. Well, what follows is my reaction. And in case you’e somewhat sesitive, I’ll warn you now that I’m not rushing out to purchase any “Nike boots” in which to do a W.A.L.E. D.A.N.C.E.
My very first impression? They really, really, really tried to sell this album. Take a look at the roll call of artists present on nine out of fourteen total tracks. Literally everyone from arguable legends like Pharrell and Bun B to heavy radio hitters like Gucci and Rihanna. (That’s not to mention fellow up and comers Chrisette Michelle, J.Cole or Marsha Ambrose.) They jam packed this disc with more collaborations than Nike SB had in 2007 and yet somehow I’m not convinced.
Follow me on this one. If Wale is the man who is going to not only put the DMV on the map, but also be one of the biggest forces in helping to usher in a new school of rappers…you’d think he would absolutely impress me on at least a few songs on his album right? I mean with some sort of lyrical mastery that would absolutely shatter my ear drums and lead me to hug the nearest dollar bills and coints next to me because they are as close to Washington D.C. as I can get right?
Where was that on the album? Since the very first day that I hear a Wale track, probably somewhere around two years ago. I have never been blown away by his skills on the microphone. There is something lacking to me, maybe it’s his voice, maybe it’s that he was so closely tied to a sneaker culture I was exiting at the time he came out or maybe it’s just plain and simple the fact that as a rapper he is just good at best.
Take a serious look at it. When I think of the other up and coming rappers in the game-I’m talking about a Drake, J.Cole, Pac Div, Blu, hell even throw Cudi in there. They have all at least once succeeded in make me stop, nod my head and go, “Damn, yeah he deserves the hype. That was ridiculous.”
I am not getting this from Wale.
The album has production of epic proportions. “Let It Loose” had the potential to be so over played that it would be annoying despite the genius hook from Razor Scooter/Skateboard/Roller Blade P or whatever we’re calling Pharrell today. But as soon as Wale got into his first verse… I literally tuned the song out. As soon as the hook came back? I was back into it, but Wale succeeded once again in losing me over the course of his verses.
There’s some light on the album. Prescription has some amazing production and some verses from Wale that are highly listen-to-able but again not stunning. The man has talent and I respect the degree to which he’s promoted himself and succeeded to date but to all my brethren out there calling out his name in adulation. Is this really the savior of the DMV? The fore bearer of the new movement? He’s cool guys…. I suppose but I don’t feel like this is the best out there. I think there needs to be some competition, maybe from the DMV, maybe from somewhere else but this can’t really be it?
From the amount of hype so many of you guys gave him, the absurd supporting cast assembled around Wale to make the album a success and the largely genius production throughout Wale still failed to make me a believer.
No par intended for those who are a fan of the man, all the more power to you. I even took it easy on him in this article. There’s a lot of things that could have been brought to light here but I feel like it’s counter productive to really shape any one’s thoughts who may be reading this and accepting it as truth without listening for themselves.
The essential problem is this.
I just feel as though maybe Wale was raised onto a platform to be a savior and star and perhaps maybe we all moved a little fast in choosing him to be the artist standing on that platform. Hell, I’m not even sure Wale wants to be on that platform.
At some point I think there needed to be a step back and analyzing of this man’s skill and ability to ‘wow’ on a track before we all cosigned his proclamation as rap’s “prescription” in his own words. That goes for everyone from the DMV to L.A. and in between. Best of luck to the artist on future releases. I’ll be listening, and should he inspire, paying for the music as well.
<3 Es’Q
