Niki N. Phaser » hip-hop

Get Ready To ‘Rise Up’ With Cypress Hill

Niki N. Phaser — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:16:07 +0000

Rap veterans Cypress Hill are about to make yet another spectacular comeback this April, as they will release their first album since 2004’s classic Till Death Do Us Part. The new one is suitably entitled Rise Up and will be out on the 20th next month. It has been announced by a first single, It Ain’t Nothin’. As with the previous album, the South Gate gang is finding new ways to expand their sound, while still combining an unforgiven edge with some laid back-laid high grooves. There are also some interesting choices in their guests collaborators. Tom Morello succeeds in making the guys sound like RATM, while the track with Daron Malakian (System of a Down) promises to be something quite different. I have to admit, though, that from the tracks already available on the band’s MySpace, Armada Latina, their chill number featuring Pitbull and Marc Anthony (yes, that’s what it says) is the one with the most classic-potential. Other names featuring on the album: Mike Shinoda, The Alchemist, Kannabis Kartel, Everlast, Young De.

It Ain’t Nothin’ HERE

Mike Shinoda Teases LP Fans

Niki N. Phaser — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:16:42 +0000

In a recent blog post on his official website, Linkin Park/Fort Minor member, Mike Shinoda gave fans an update on LP’s new LP. The band had their first meeting of the year, regarding the evolution of their future album, expected to be released, sometime in the summer/autumn of this year. It will be their fourth and the follow-up to the successful Minutes to Midnight. The MC seems happy with the way things are going and emphasizes a lot on the new direction of their recent songs. He even talks about initiating a new genre with this one, so the pressure to not repeat themselves seems to be really off. He also teases the army of fans, waiting for any new information: “I was going to tell you guys the working titles…but I changed my mind”, he writes. Though not a concept album, the new material is, so far, tied by “some thematic threads”, the producer also admits. Five songs are almost confirmed, with another 15-20 being worked on, a batch from which the final tracklisting is supposed to be picked. In earlier reports, there was talk of a more electronic sound, Blade Runner-inspired, but, as we all know, an album has many gestation periods, so we’ll just have to wait and hear.

Gorillaz – Last Living Souls : Static Dance

Niki N. Phaser — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:33:48 +0000

With 2005’s Demon Days, Gorillaz evolved from a corky-but-cool experiment of Damon Albarn’s to a mainstream, chart topping venture. And it’s no wonder, considering that Feel Good Inc. became such an anthem of this decade. So did Dare. It was a bit of a surprise that the album’s second track, Last Living Souls, was disregarded as a single. It’s not as bassline infectious as Feel Good Inc., but there are plenty of catchy synths to make you love the song at first contact. Albarn’s vocals have that brit boredom in them, that should be familiar to Gorillaz fans. There is also an interesting 70’s American folk moment in the middle. The lyrics, well, they complete what Feel Good Inc.’s video started — the song gives you the impression that someone is discovering a new world (but takes the time to smoke a fag before exploring). You might not get the urge to dance to this tune, but you will want to walk in a really cool way while it’s whispering in your headphones…

LAST LIVING SONG

The Prodigy – Diesel Power : It Really Does Blow Ya Mind

Niki N. Phaser — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:15:53 +0000

We all know (or do we?) the story of The Prodigy’s The Fat of the Land album and how, because of it, the rave elders of the tribe ruled the world for about two years, before taking a long break. The three singles released from this album, Breathe, Firestarter and Smack My Bitch Up have all made history: the videos included in almost every countdown of controversial mv’s, the tracks covered and remixed by legions of dj’s, they haven’t missed from any live set of the band ever since. But an album does not achieve such success and notoriety on singles alone. Amongst non-single masterpieces like Funky Shit, Mindfields or Climbatize, we also encounter the first official collaboration between Liam Howlett and rapper Kool Keith of Ultramagnetic MCs fame. The hip-hop crew is one of Howlett’s favourite to sample, but this is the first time Kool was actually invited to do the vocals and the lyrics. Before being included on the album, the track used to be played live, known as Blow Ya Mind with Maxim doing some freestylin’ over the beat. The Kool version retained the chorus “Blows your mind drastically, fantastically” and most importantly, the sick d’n'b line, punctuated by a base hit that will test ya speakers and blow ya mind, all in one. It’s interesting that despite hip-hop being one of Howlett’s primal preferences, this is about the only Prodigy tune that would qualify in this genre. It is one of their most powerful tracks, displaying once again Howlett’s ability and pleasure of creating beats that no matter at what volume you play them, they still sound too loud for the neighbours.

LIVE PERFORMANCE OF Blow Ya Mind IN 1996

Maxim Reality – Killing Culture : “The Maxim In Your Bloodstream”

Niki N. Phaser — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:05:35 +0000

We all know why Maxim Reality would ever be ignored: because he is a component of one the essential electronic bands in the history of music, The Prodigy. In that big break the band took between The Fat of the Land and Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned, these guys weren’t lazying about. For Maxim Reality it was a chance to finish up his first solo album, by the title of Hell’s Kitchen, released in 2000, which also contains Carmen Queasy, his quasi-famous collaboration with Skin from Skunk Anansie (nice video). Maxim’s music is different than The Prodigy, but has a major thing in common: it’s hard to label. There is instrumental stuff that sounds real dirty and undergroundish, like Dominant Genes, also some more accessible stuff, like the aforementioned duet and a lot of hip hop, which remains Maxim’s favourite genre. In this category we mention Killing Culture, a real dynamic banger of a song. Punctuated by a chorussy bass, that will remind you a bit of The Prodigy’s Diesel Power, Killing Culture is, lyrically, that “I am the baddest motherfucker” song that each rapper has to have. Of course, we are talking about rapping skills, not guns and crew. It’s all about the lyrical ammo: “Drop bombs, stain your eardrum” or “Fear the words spoken by my tongue Nubile force yet to come”. He’s aware of the challenges of a solo move, but not worried as so skillfully expressed here: “Thousand acres of critics Two thousand hectares of addicts”. Like in many Ignored-Gold cases, this is not only about Killing Culture, but the whole Maxim Reality solo project, including his second album Fallen Angel. This song is just a good taste of what Maxim is capable of as an artist, with or without The Prodigy.

Eminem – Say Goodbye Hollywood : It always works

Niki N. Phaser — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:20:04 +0000

If you are slightly familiar with Eminem’s music, you would know that his stuff could be divided into two major categories: the funny songs, where he is clowning and the serious stuff, where he sounds… angry. There is an interdependence between the two, because the dramatic rapping is far more effective because of the flow of jokes from lighter songs like The Real Slim Shady, Without Me or the recent We Made You. Say Goodbye Hollywood from his 2002 album, probably his best, The Eminem Show, is a song which finds a place between those two groups. The beat has a hook which resembles The Real Slim Shady, but the subject is quite serious. Still, it is not delivered in his angry voice (like White America or The Way I Am), but in rather argumentative tone, which suits the fact that he’s explaining why he is leaving Hollywood, here regarded as a symbol of all wrong things that come with fame. All the “classic” characters from Eminem’s music are checked: Kim, his very own Nancy Spungen, his daughter Hailie and his father (“my dad, cus I hate him so bad, the worst fear that I had was growin’ up to be like his fuckin’ ass”). The great absentee is his mother. There are plenty of memorable lines like “just sold two million records, I don’t need to go to jail, I’m not about to lose my freedom over no female” or “It’s like the boy in the bubble, who never could adapt, I’m trapped, if I could go back, I never woulda rapped”. But this is not one of those hip-hop songs, where you totally ignore the beat. In fact, the entire album is a good example of how much attention Eminem pays to the production of his tracks. You have the main beat, but it’s very well filled with subtle sounds and the vocals from the chorus are quite catchy. Another non-single from The Eminem Show I strongly recommend is Soldier.

LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE

RZA’s obsession with kung-fu reaches new level

Niki N. Phaser — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:06:23 +0000

Hip-hop master RZA, the brain behind Wu-Tang Clan’s beats, is going one step further with his by-now legendary obsession with old martial arts movies. He plans to make his directorial debut with a movie entitled The Man with the Iron Fist, which has been on his mind for years. The screenplay is written by the rapper himself, but not to worry, Sonny Chiba fans, if there is anyone with his homework done in the field of kung-fu movies, it’s RZA. More experienced help will be offered by Eli Roth, author of the Hostel movies, who will be producing and is very siked about the project. RZA is also said to have been studying the art of film directing while working with Quentin Tarantino. The rapper provided some of the score of Kill Bill, but if you are really interested in what this man is able to create, I recommend the Ghost Dog soundtrack. It’s a classic. The film promises to be really bloody, but we musn’t expect something tarantinesque, since the debutant director is a strongly-visioned artist, who, no doubt, has his own ideas about how a neo-kung-fu movie should look like. This might just become the next cult classic (at least, soundtrack-wise), whose poster will hang on every cool kid’s wall. OS !

Beyonce vs. Bow Wow

Niki N. Phaser — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 09:39:26 +0000

If you are a fan of Beyonce or Bow Wow, you probably shouldn’t read this… If you are that kind of fan that has a problem with seeing the truth about their idols. But, you have to be really psycho-stalker material to claim that Beyonce’s Diva is a good song, or, even more, a… song. It seems more like private bet she or her producers made with someone in the lines of “I’ll make some stupid noises and win the charts with them, just you wait and see…One condition, I need to release it as single”. And the rest is history… a lame repetitive sample, vocals that don’t fit the rest of the song and the hope that the “diva is the female version of a hustler” line will be catchy enough. It’s really a shame that Beyonce tainted the album which contains Halo and If I Were a Boy with such experimental… bets. A lot of a singer’s success is based on inertia. Once they are up there, they don’t have to do much to remain there: the flow goes with itself.

Which brings us to our contestant, number two, Bow Wow, formerly known as… something else. I admit I am not too familiar with the music career of this young hope, I have seen some of his movies and Like Mike is quite the guilty pleasure for my inner child. However, a song by the name Marco Polo, signed by our young thespian was once bestowed upon me and I just needed to say it out loud: WTF ? It’s sort of rappy, but not quite. The verses could pass as low-volume musical background for some MTV dating show, but that chorus… man, that’s classic. A legend in the making. Because of those Marco Polo shouts this track could gather a cult-following, like some Ed Wood movie. At least, this one is less annoying than Diva, because these boys, Bow Wow and Soulja Boy Tell’Em (now, that I spelled it, I get it – soldier boy tell them, right), these boys really seem to think they’ve got something here and their naivete is really heartwarming.

BEYONCE Diva vs. BOW WOW Marco Polo