The GenesisN.Y. State of Mind*
Life's A Bitch
The World is Yours*
Halftime
Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)
One Love
One Time 4 Your Mind
Represent*
It Ain't Hard to Tell
This is easily the most difficult review I can imagine doing. I will not mislead at all in my opening remarks, and will instead do the only thing I can think of and jump right into it.
Musically this is the simplest album I have ever heard. Nothing differs in tempo, no beats change, no bizarre phrasing. Even the piano and trumpet playing, though unique in mainstream hip-hop, are not inspiring. There is one saving instrumental effect: the longest, most drawn out pedal point in probably the history of the world.
A pedal point is basically a drone, used in many kinds of music as a constant which allows the attention of the listener to go elsewhere (a changing variable). In this case, the drone is the hypnotic repetition of the music. Every track is basically the same, with slight production changes which imply little to no knowledge of what else can be possible instrumentally. As bitter as this sounds, I am not so, I am merely explaining the fact: there is almost no room for melodic or rhythmic exploration in the hip-hop realm represented on this album. As I said the listener is dulled to what is heard, focusing his/her attention to something else. On Illmatic, the attention goes of course to the lyrics themselves.
Nas on this album proves to be honest (I am taking his word for it since I lost track of the number of times he indicated "this is real"), clever, aware, and relevant. His descriptions of urban brutality, poverty, and violence are acute and worth hearing. I especially appreciate, "Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne. I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside a thousand miles from home. I need a new nigga, for this black cloud to follow, 'cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow." This lyric reflects the depth in all of the tracks. Well, most...
Through scenes dealing with imprisonment, drug use and self realization there is an integrity to the presentation, but sometimes it feels compromised. For example, the first verse of Halftime really adds nothing to the grander scope of the album. It is simply Nas stroking his ego and not revealing anything meaningful in the words themselves, regardless of the entertaining word play. There are other moments on the album like this, where the tendencies of rap culture take over.
It could be argued that these tendencies are stylistic. However, I believe that just because something is an element of style, it doesn't make it allowable. The social self-disappointment and wallowing that accompanies subject matter in music dubbed "Emo" can be considered an element of style. Should "Emo" kids be teased because they can't cut in the right direction?
Of course they should, as also should Nas be ignored when he tells the listener that his rhyming is impeccable. Let the listener judge based on something that deserves to be said, and not simply hype. A parenthetical insert earlier referenced Nas' honesty; it is the same effect, coming off as trite and utterly moronic.
I earlier mentioned how difficult this album was to review. I probably exceeded my word limit doing so, but I felt it necessary because this album goes to the very heart of musical investigation. What is music? Notes? Harmony? Instruments? Poetry? Organized sound?
Poetry, though most often read, is musical to hear. And, good poetry set to a drone... well, certainly worth $9.90 from the iTunes store.
Grade: B+
Musically this is the simplest album I have ever heard. Nothing differs in tempo, no beats change, no bizarre phrasing. Even the piano and trumpet playing, though unique in mainstream hip-hop, are not inspiring. There is one saving instrumental effect: the longest, most drawn out pedal point in probably the history of the world.
A pedal point is basically a drone, used in many kinds of music as a constant which allows the attention of the listener to go elsewhere (a changing variable). In this case, the drone is the hypnotic repetition of the music. Every track is basically the same, with slight production changes which imply little to no knowledge of what else can be possible instrumentally. As bitter as this sounds, I am not so, I am merely explaining the fact: there is almost no room for melodic or rhythmic exploration in the hip-hop realm represented on this album. As I said the listener is dulled to what is heard, focusing his/her attention to something else. On Illmatic, the attention goes of course to the lyrics themselves.
Nas on this album proves to be honest (I am taking his word for it since I lost track of the number of times he indicated "this is real"), clever, aware, and relevant. His descriptions of urban brutality, poverty, and violence are acute and worth hearing. I especially appreciate, "Born alone, die alone, no crew to keep my crown or throne. I'm deep by sound alone, caved inside a thousand miles from home. I need a new nigga, for this black cloud to follow, 'cause while it's over me it's too dark to see tomorrow." This lyric reflects the depth in all of the tracks. Well, most...
Through scenes dealing with imprisonment, drug use and self realization there is an integrity to the presentation, but sometimes it feels compromised. For example, the first verse of Halftime really adds nothing to the grander scope of the album. It is simply Nas stroking his ego and not revealing anything meaningful in the words themselves, regardless of the entertaining word play. There are other moments on the album like this, where the tendencies of rap culture take over.
It could be argued that these tendencies are stylistic. However, I believe that just because something is an element of style, it doesn't make it allowable. The social self-disappointment and wallowing that accompanies subject matter in music dubbed "Emo" can be considered an element of style. Should "Emo" kids be teased because they can't cut in the right direction?
Of course they should, as also should Nas be ignored when he tells the listener that his rhyming is impeccable. Let the listener judge based on something that deserves to be said, and not simply hype. A parenthetical insert earlier referenced Nas' honesty; it is the same effect, coming off as trite and utterly moronic.
I earlier mentioned how difficult this album was to review. I probably exceeded my word limit doing so, but I felt it necessary because this album goes to the very heart of musical investigation. What is music? Notes? Harmony? Instruments? Poetry? Organized sound?
Poetry, though most often read, is musical to hear. And, good poetry set to a drone... well, certainly worth $9.90 from the iTunes store.
Grade: B+
4 comments:
Patrick-
Rap is indeed a difficult genre to review. Especially for music majors, who have been (for better or for worse) trained to listen to things for compositional complexity/instrumental dynamics. I feel like approaching a rap album with this kind of mindset will inhibit one's appreciation for the power of the artist's delivery and lyricism, the constant interaction between beat and word--which is what attracts people to the genre in the first place. But you kept an open mind and that's very good.
Your review was very puzzling at first. You gave the album a B+ but 80% of what you wrote was negative or carried negative connotations. How does that make any sense?
Here is what I think happened: you listened to the CD and on some level you appreciated (even enjoyed) what Nas had accomplished. But your vocabulary constrained you... you are built to expound on music and much of what makes Illmatic appealing does not lie within the traditional musical realm.
the long awaited rap review! expanding thy horizons...excellent. well done, sir. your analysis of the lyrics are spot on. i'm surprised that this album recieved such a high score (pleased but still suprised). however, this album is a diamond in the rough.
Oh Patrick. Congrats on getting through your first rap album. Now that the proverbial cherry has been popped, you can move on to bigger and better things.
About you review. I agree with Jerbear, 80-90% of the review is negative, yet you gave it a rather high grade--almost as if you felt obligated to do so because of the status of this album in hip hop. As I told you before, I don't think it was good for someone with your expectations to start with this album, something a little more modern and indie would have been better.
A few things to consider:
1. This album was made when hip hop was still in its infancy (more like in its toddler years, but I digress), so the production (the music) isn't as evolved as one would expect. Most of the people making the music had no knowledge of music or music theory or chords or whatever. The music throughout the album (for the most part) was created with samples of old jazz, funk, and soul records. The tools to make this type of music was still being developed. Almost all the instruments from the drums to the horns are sampled. Times have hanged however and there are quite a few producers pushing the limits of what can be done with sampling.
2. You surprisingly neglected any talk of the "music as a collage" thing that academics discuss when they talk about hip hop. Like I mentioned, all samples from old records of different styles existing, often on the same track.
3. Horn stabs. This probably betrays your lack of knowledge about rap music. And that's all cool. I just found it a bit humorous that you thought the use of piano and trumpet was "unique." This is the case if all your main exposure to rap is off of Madden, but pre-95/96 hip-hop was pretty much all jazz samples as I mentioned and this type of production is the signature sound of producer DJ Premier.
4. Lyrical braggadocio. This is a staple of hip-hop, and no matter what you listen to (no matter how emo the rhymes) you're going to get some boasting. Hip-hop started in the streets where often people would "battle" each other, which consisted of disparaging their opponent and talking shit about how great they were.
So in total: a good review, with a unique perspective. I respect the fact that you honored my wishes and decided to step outside your musical "box." I hope the experience hasn't soured you to the genre. I still think you should listen to some artier, more modern hip-hop.
A few recommendations:
Sage Francis - "A Healthy Distrust"
An incredible lyricist, who flows more like an spoken word artist (well he kinda is). The production on this album is fairly progressive and very dynamic though not the most impressive in terms of innovativeness.
El-P - "Fanastic Damage" or "I'll Sleep When You're Dead"
Both great albums and both are essentially noisy, dense and incredibly hard to decipher. I'm not sure if you will love it or hate it. "I'll Sleep" is probably more accessible with less filler, but Fandam is almost genius at times. If you can't tell, this guy is my favorite hip-hop artist right now.
Madvillain - Madvillainy
Features some of the most interesting production I've heard in a while. The producer of the entire album, Madlib, is a skilled jazz musician (he can play like 8 instruments and puts out jazz albums) and the rapper, MF DOOM, is an one of the more trippier rappers I've heard. This is a stoner album, but the interpolation of samples and live instrumentation is nothing short of incredible.
RJD2 - Deadringer
An all instrumental, almost all sample album. Just fun to listen to piles of samples from random places placed together to create some fun ass music.
Diplo - Florida
Not necessarily hip-hop, but think RJD2 with a more southern styling.
Cage - Hell's Winter
Great album in its scope (about a recovering drug addict) and it features three of the best producers in the game currently (El-P, Shadow, Blockhead).
Aesop Rock - "Labor Days" or "Music for Earthworms"
Jeremy's Favorite. Great abstract lyricism featuring production from Blockhead, possibly the best sampling producer (if not the best) in the game today. Ask Jerbear about him. It's great. Trust me.
And that's that. Anywho, good review. Consider reviewing another hip-hop album and I'm looking forward to the Brian Eno review.
Oh and if you don't want to spend the money but still don't want to try some of this shit out just get at me by e-mail/IM/phone. I can help you out (cough, cough).
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