I suppose it’s own fault. “Don’t Touch Me (Throw ‘Da Water on Em)  was so vintage Busta that I figured that he had another The Coming/When Disaster Strikes in him—or at least another Anarchy. Wrong. There’s nothing “bad” about “Back on My B.S”–Busta’s talented and likeable enough to carry most tepid tracks.*  But his 8th […]

In an ideal world, the Maybach Music and Toyota Tercel rhymes of Rick Ross’ Deeper than Rap would’ve been exchanged with Crime Pays’, “Ross Dress for Less” Beats and Bergdorf Goodman raps. If you’re scratching your head at the clunkiness of the mixed metaphor, that’s the point–it’s Killa, the man calling out for a James […]

  There’s something sad about watching a once-great group sing old songs because nobody wants to hear the new ones.  Except The Pharcyde don’t have new ones, even though they’ve been “reunited” since last year’s Rock the Bells–which means that their performance at at the Santa Monica Pier last Friday was solely to cash a […]

Admittedly, you’re taking a recommendation from someone who missed Exile’s set at Fat Beats last Saturday, to see The Grateful Dead. So maybe the MPC mastery of Aleksandr Manfredi is the hip-hop equivalent of the drum circle–meaning I’m the prime demographic. Still, between Fly Lo, Exile, Nosaj Thing, Gaslamp Killer, and, of course, the venerable […]

In my quest to redeem that last lost post, let me invoke the name of half-Kenyan, half-American benga band, Extra Golden. Among the premier practioners of contemporary afro-beat, they’re living proof that the American legacy of Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, and D.O. Misiani, isn’t entirely the province of a bunch of pencil-necked geeks rocking […]

Too young and initially obsessed with hip-hop to have seen The Dead when they were still Grateful, my communion with the skull and roses is primarily a personal one. The first Damuscus Moment tape: a battered bootleg temporarily loaned by an ex-girlfriend, but hoarded as break-up spoils–dubbed off a radio station in Provo, Utah. Studded […]

  There are three albums I’d theoretically want to write a 33 1/3 about: Fela Kuti’s Expensive Shit/He Miss Road, Ghostface’s Supreme Clientele, and Company Flow’s Funcrusher Plus.  500 words clearly doesn’t cut it, but it’ll have to suffice. LA Times: Company Flow-Funcrusher Plus Reissue Download: MP3: Company Flow-“Juvenile Technique” MP3: Company Flow-“Simian Drugs”

Whether labeled “Speedboat rap” or “yacht music,”  Rick Ross is not deep. No one believes he is–save for Ross himself–a man who lives in an oblivious nether-galaxy heretofore reserved for Mike Tyson, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rod Blagojevich, Killa Cam, and Jim Jones–the real Jim Jones. Even if we agree on this pathology, the “RICK ROSS IS […]

Next week, we’ll tackle more pressing questions like keeping Atlantis off the map, making Steve Gutenberg a star, and keeping the metric system down. But for the duration of this one, consider Passion of the Weiss, official anti-stone mason headquarters. On Thursday and Friday, Sach and Jonathan Bradley will battle the bulge of Roth publicist […]

Not much to add that the title doesn’t explain. All in all, a fair quarter for rap albums: two great ones (UGK 4 Life, Born Like This), one great mixtape (Superbad), and a half dozen solid to very good efforts. For better or worse, contemporary hip-hop is about keeping up. Product is increasingly disposable. It’s […]