So a lot has been said and contemplated of all the leaks from Jay-Z's new album that are almost coming on the daily. And the general consensus has been pretty negative. It's quite unfortunate. What the internet has been able to get its hands on are the two lead singles, "D.O.A." and "Run This Town", as well as the three joints produced by Timbaland on the album. That's the good news. Well ... honestly that's great news.
I've never been a Timbo fan. I think the majority of his beats get by solely because they're different-ish sounding. And while that may have worked for "Dirt Off Your Shoulder" (which inevitably endeared Jay to Timbo for forever) or a bunch of random bouncy R&B joints, he doesn't actually cut it for hip hop anymore.
First song off the Jigga/Timbo train was the unfortunately dull and plodding of "Off That". Most fanboys were looking crazy forward to what Drake could do on a song with Jigga, but it turns out all he could pull off was a hook. And while I appreciate that Jay wished to inform the world that he is way more advanced than us in all forms of livelihood, it's just too bad he couldn't have put a single line in the song that was memorable. And Timbaland throws in his familiar little Justin Timberlake ad-libs, but unfortunately ... the listening public was off that about four years ago. Maybe the only saving grace of the song is the fact that the term "fid-uck" is pretty humorous. I wonder if they have to bleep that on the radio. Hmmm.
Then was "Reminder", but that served a lot more as distracting techno nagging than it did as a serviceable backdrop to support Jay's lyrics on. One of the comments I saw that I laughed at was someone saying that Timbaland must've hacked into their Fruity Loops library. And that might be what happened. The beat is crazy annoying. It's some sonically unpleasing violin-ish scraping and random heavy effects on some run of the mill drums with a random sproing thrown in. And the worst part is that Jay kills it on here. He comes off sounding heavy and lyrically straight, especially on his third verse culminating in a hilariously non-hidden Joe Budden subliminal. But every time the vocodered chick on the chorus comes in, you wanna shank yourself in the ear. It's honestly that bad. I need a remix of that one pronto so I can enjoy Hov's lyrics more often on it, cuz this one as currently slated is definitely getting the skip button treatment on the iPod.
The latest was "Venus vs. Mars". Now this one I actually super enjoy. But that's prolly just cuz Jigga uses the same low and punctuating flow that he did on his first American Gangster single, "Blue Magic". I sweat that song, and the look works on here too if you appreciate his continuous line-by-line cultural references and uber word play. And while the laid back and almost yawning beat works pretty well with it, I can see how some people would hear this and just get kinda bored. There's no lush instrumentation behind it. Really, there's not much inspiration detectible at all and its lack of a for real hook sucks pretty bad, too. I've never been a fan of the anonymous throw-in female voice trying to seduce me on any given rap song. They usually come off more annoying than sexy. That said, I really like that this is a different kind of joint, which keeps it fresh for me, and I think it will fit in great under the context of the rest of the album. All in all, most people's complaints involve Timbo on this one, not Jay.
So basically ... Timbaland doesn't inspire Jay-Hoffa anymore. That's what it comes down to. Either he gave the Jigga man a second rate beat tape or Timbo's fallen off altogether from the peak he had reached with Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, and JT. At least in the public's eyes. I personally have had a grudge against Timbaland ever since Cee-Lo tried to run with his collabo "I'll Be Around" track as the Soul Machine single. It sucked and was completely unrepresentative of the rest of the album's geniusness. But whatever.
Regardless, I have definitely not lost hope for BP3. I mean, the Swizz Beatz joint is most likely guaranteed to completely blow, but I refuse to believe that Kanye and No I.D. could forsake the people any further. It's unfortunate that they didn't helm the entire project as reported ... but hey, Timbaland said he was taking care of the entire thing before Kanye did. Thank God that didn't happen. I firmly believe Jay-Z's still got it on the emceeing tip ... but apparently only while in studio sessions with certain people.
... but do take my word for it.
Showing posts with label Justin Timberlake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justin Timberlake. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Mismatched: Jigga Man & Timbaland
Monday, July 13, 2009
Jealousy #2: The Use of Language
Number two of my jealously list came to my realization in the form of the straight linguistic masterings of Pharoahe Monch. It's something beyond metaphors, rhyme scheme, articulation, or anything else that can be amply described. The only thing I could compare it to to try and get my point across is any given basketball player's floor game. You know, everything involving court vision, dribbling, understanding of offensive sets, decision making, shooting ability, timing, and whatever else. Pharoahe Monch has one of the best floor games in the hip hop world when it comes to his overall use of the language that makes rap so beloved by its fans.
"The master who speaks masterfully what he has mastered. For flaws to change, new laws are forecasted. This is bigger than the Dirty South or bi-coastal. It's global war, and the weapon we choose are Pro Tools. Rap moguls get slapped with vocals until they learn its colloquial, as though we're going postal. It's what I am supposed to do. I suppose you revolutionists stop to thinking that's old school. Let me assist you like Malone from Stockton; I'm in the cock pit, cocked back and locked it, indoctrinated with these hot toxins, refuse to be labeled, degraded, and boxed in. Let's go."
To me, this should be read as something from the letter of a great American mind's journal entry in the diary of livelihood. It's poetic, yet darn near an address to the nation. I left it in paragraph form because I almost feel it's a disservice to the verse's overall cohesive message to break it up bar by bar. Monch is an orator. Forget the forum. We just normally hear him in rhythmic form. I'm jealous.
Re-Link:
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Is JT Hip Hop?
Justin Timberlake. Complicated answer, debatable and prolly Column worthy. Real answer, no. Solves it for me.
Decide for yourself. I always was a "Signs" fan for the hilarity of Justin cursing something hard in the chorus. And I always thought he said "homies dead and gone" on the T.I. song, but nah, he said "old me's ...". So not as funny.
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