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How Big Is Your World? Matic – “Hustle Hard (Remix)”

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Baltimore club music lives for the holy-shit brilliant refix (the“taking [of] the so-called dominant culture and making it fit your nightlife rather than the other way around”), but what producer Matic (formerly Lil Matic) does here is a little different. He like, climbs inside the cockpit of Lex Luger’s rickety, still-stomping Voltron robot and mans the controls. The first few moments find Matic figuring it all out as he gently screws the Ace Hood hit but nah, that’s not it. So the song picks up the pace, starts to shuffle, and teases some Baltimore horns and some laser synths and from there, it just keeps getting darker and weirder. Shouts rise up and snippets of Ace Hood, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross poke through. The “Think” breaks arrives, too, as it should, but it’s like an afterthought or one more noise to throw in there. And then it changes again, slowing-up and even getting beautiful for a few moments, before seemingly falling apart, and then, coming back together for a sprint to song’s end, powering through a din of synths and shouts and samples and a dude groaning out, “bitch!” Matic has turned a Lex Luger beat even more evil. Even meaner and more fuck-you-up intense than the original, but somehow, freer too ready for a peak hour DJ set, and in that sense, communally cathartic and ready for those who do more than mean-mug and jump up and down when they’re in the club.

Written by Brandon

July 5th, 2011 at 7:18 pm

Posted in Baltimore, Baltimore Club, How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? Ken Seeno – “Spirit Of 77″

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This year, Ken Seeno played on Ponytail’s Do Whatever You Want All The Time–the group’s saddest and best and probably last record. He also put out two excellent tapes: Invisible Surfer On An Invisible Wave and Open Window. The both of them mix cheeseball synth work with patient, Terry Riley-like meditative minimalism. Not too sophisticated–like not even reaching for the pleasant, somber grooves of komische–they hover around in this weird awesome netherworld between like, 80s movie make-out music and what I wanted all those Ashra releases I read about to sound like. So basically, both tapes are perfect. In the video above, Seeno performs his song “Spirt of 77″ from Open Window which seems like it must be a reference to Ashra’s “77 Slightly Delayed” only this has the potential to emotionally destroy with gut-level guitar emoting. There are interviews where Seeno praises the Allman Brothers and Fleetwood Mac. This also makes sense and is probably where this song’s heart comes from.

Written by Brandon

June 22nd, 2011 at 2:50 pm

Posted in How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? Trina – “Long Heels, Red Bottoms”

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This is a song about Louboutins that mentions them only once by name and so, you gotta at least kinda know something to realize Trina’s referencing a specific type of heel here. And that’s a welcome change from all those superficially hip-to-fashion raps lately. See: Jim Jones on “Believe In Magic” calling them “Lou Boutons” (pronounced like it’s the name of a third baseman from the 1970s or something). “Long Heels, Red Bottoms” is also as an antidote to Kreayshawn’s “Gucci Gucci,” in that it’s like a populist feminist “fuck you” to that million dollar idiot’s privileged (oh but she grew up in Oakland!) hipster screed against rocking nice things. And the beat from Mr. Collipark (also known as bass legend DJ Smurf) is just awesomely throwback, skittering and shuffling along with a big dumb catchy hook that reminds this Baltimorean of “What Chew Know About Down The Hill.” Trina and Collipark could’ve easily made a shiny, product-referencing attempt at a viral hit but instead, there’s well, this, which is so raw and simple that it makes “Pull Over” sound decadent.

Written by Brandon

June 6th, 2011 at 2:40 am

Posted in How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? Cam’ron & Vado – “American Greed”

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So, I’m listening to this song. You know, the Cam’ron and Vado song called “American Greed” that has a hook that declares, “you get more dirty when your collar and shirt white” and invokes Bernie Madoff, Kirk Wright, and Lou Pearlman? Yeah that one. And I’m also reading about how a NATO airstrike killed one of Gadhafi’s sons tonight and mostly, it’s just like, that’s pretty “gangsta,” right? We take out this motherfucker’s family, just like we did with Sadaam’s kids. That’s some real enforcer type shit.

And of course, the wonky war parallels keep coming. Another effort that probably has some good intentions behind it (this time humanitarian, last time some loose idea of spreading democracy) but has a lot to do with “oil” too (though not exclusively, get smarter you cynics) and well, some half-insightful goon rap can really punch you in gut if you’re thinking hard enough. It helps that AraabMuzik’s beat is this completely evil, simmering Argento score type thing, that Vado has the singular ability to make his verses sound like hooks and his hooks like verses, and well, Cam’ron’s just being his decadent self, interested in oral sex punchlines and Berry Gordy’s The Last Dragon references only.

Awhile back, Bun B started calling himself “Big Dick Cheney,” which yes, was a dick joke, but was also a way of calling our old vice president exactly what he was: a bad-ass criminal. For decades, rappers compared themselves to the real or fictional crooks they looked up to: Tony Montana, Richard Kuklinksi, John Gotti, etc. Those guys though, are all ultimately, pretty inconsequential. Dick Cheney man, now that’s a real villain. And Bernie Madoff too. There’s also that really great line in Jay Electronica’s “Bitches And Drugs” (“If rap was blacks in the sixties/I’m a white cop in riot gear ready to hose down”), which again, adds some real sociopolitical weight to a simple “I’m bad” boast. “American Greed” is the same type of goofy, tangentially political shit talk rap. Fuck “Maybach Music.” We need more Madoff Music.

*I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention something about Bin Laden’s death here, which happened less than a day after I posted this. All I’ll add is that this both undermines my hand-wringing above and kinda proves my point: There’s very real, not-so-pleasant actions and consequences behind all this stuff. Last night, Cam’ron and Vado reminded me of that fact. This evening it was our own president who invoked “the costs of war” in a speech that was like a lot of Obama’s speeches, conventional and rah-rah enough to satisfy people who want that kind of thing, but quietly turned and complex enough for anyone listening harder. It’s a dark, half-hopeful speech if you sit there and really listen. As it should be.

Written by Brandon

May 1st, 2011 at 5:33 am

Posted in How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? Jim Jones ft. Chink Santana & Logic – “Perfect Day”

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Jim Jones, voice all weary and shit, turns everything he records into a dusted, kinda sad slog: “Summer Wit’ Miami” was filled with longing, “We Fly High,” only half-victorious. In that sense at least, he’s actually got a little something in common with Ghostface and well, NYC rap’s so fucked upside down in 2011 that these guys are even rapping on songs together! On “Perfect Day” however, Capo’s going pop. Realizing he sounded like much more of a “lonely stoner” than Kid Cudi on that “Day ‘n’ Nite” remix, he’s decided to make his own “Day ‘n’ Nite.” Problem is, three years have passed so he’s gotta throw in a little bit of Black Eyed Peas’ fist-pump party music to keep it relevant, and he’s gotta remain gangsta too, so he rips-off Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day” or something? “Perfect Day” has been out for awhile, but it ambles through Hot 97 playlists with a vengeance these days, providing plenty of opportunity to stop guffawing at the damn thing and just give in to its bizarre, oddly affecting timbre.

Written by Brandon

April 7th, 2011 at 2:53 am

Posted in How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? Los – “Stand The Rain”

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Producer Skarr Akbar (an excellent Baltimore rapper in his own right) does something to New Edition’s “Can You Stand The Rain” so that it sounds like the music to an early 90s after-school special and Los unleashes all his concerns, frustrations, and worries over top of it, on some real Cam’ron “Harlem Streets”-style, tight-lipped sad-sack shit: “When I think of the feeling of seeing my face on a billboard in my own city/I reminisce like, “damn, I got nobody to zone with me.”

Los races through this Shooter highlight, firing off as many references to the minor victories and major tragedies of his life and the way they intertwine (“I’m focused on my vision, but damn I’m missin’ my dogs”), trying to keep up with that sped-up sample, and rapping like his time is running out, which makes sense when you’re a guy once signed to Bad Boy, who’s slowly building himself back up with mixtapes because suddenly, there’s a rap scene getting more and more comfortable with vibrant, on-beat obsessed rhymers again.

The most affecting aspect though, is the way Los bounces over the bad stuff in his life, enough for you to know it’s there, but not enough that it’s dwelled upon in great, street-cred grabbing detail. The line, “I think about our father, callin’ some time” refers to his dad, a high school basketball coach who was tragically murdered (shot in the head) when Los was still in his teens. One more contribution to the always entertaining “rap some serious shit over a corny, sped-up sample” sub-genre for sure.

Written by Brandon

November 29th, 2010 at 5:01 am

Posted in Baltimore, How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? DJ Class – “Bitch Ass Niggarrrrr”

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(photo by Josh Sisk)

DJ Class’ new track, titled um, “Bitch Ass Niggarrrrr” arrives at an interesting time for club music. Elements of the Baltimore sound have made their way to the radio (from four-on-the-floor pap like Usher’s “O.M.G,” to Waka Flocka Flame’s violent, dance records full of gun-shot percussion and more shouting than rapping) and into art-rap (Kanye’s “All Of The Lights” and Lil B’s “Ride Up” to name two up-to-the-minute examples), but club music itself remains as underground as ever. And if there were a sign that hometown producers are finally sick of trying to court mainstream attention, it would be this convulsive, completely off-putting, weirdly catchy track from Mr. “I’m The Ish” himself. A hybrid of two club classics (Class’ own “Tear Da Club Up” and Scottie B’s “Niggaz Fightin”), featuring an artfully chopped Boondocks sample (shades of Class’ masterful “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” refix) that couldn’t be less radio-friendly (or human friendly for that matter) and some incongruous auto-tune crooning, “Bitch Ass Niggarrrrr” is a harebrained attempt to merge Class’ singular street-pop sensibility with the kind of defiant, anti-social club music that he helped create almost twenty years ago–and it works way better than it really should.

Written by Brandon

November 12th, 2010 at 6:49 am

Posted in Baltimore, Baltimore Club, DJ Class, How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? Untamed – “Club Riot”

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Untamed’s “Club Riot” begins with Three Six Mafia’s “Tear Da Club Up,” like its noting the bar previously set for rowdy, fuck-you-up hip-hop: From tearing the club up to an all-out riot. That iconic Three Six sample is just one part of the crowded, snapping, crashing music here though. Reflecting the general trend in horrifying dance music these days (to eschew explicit structure for something scarily one-note and crowded), producer Johnny Juliano doesn’t so much build-up energy as just sustain one level of hard-ass insanity for three minutes. Listen to the way PT Primetime steps in within a second or two of that iconic hook entering the mix, as if he’s unfazed by its status and just raps over it, like it’s another smack of percussion, which is kinda what it is here.

Unlike G-Side, that other Huntsville duo that don’t seem to do anything wrong, PT Primetime and AC Burna are an interesting rap duo precisely because they aren’t foils for one another. And they don’t really complement one another either. It’s more like they continue each other’s thoughts, just in slightly different, fevered tones, giving off the impression that if you upset one of them, you’d get both of them in front of you screaming threats and then, nimbly rapping those threats too. The approach is refreshingly straight-forward and lets the group avoid the rather hedged, narrowcasting take on rap (make one kind of song, over and over and over again) that’s taken over much of the underground as of late. These guys comfortably pull off songs like “Country” or “Gangsta” too. “Club Riot” is fueled by healthy homage and a surefooted desire to up the fight music ante, and the next group to come along, ready to make next-level, mad-as-hell, hard-as-fuck Southern chant rap that does to “Club Riot” what Untamed’s done to “Tear Da Club Up” have to call their song “Club Apocalypse” or something. From the upcoming Street Solid, presented by (you ready?) Baller’s Eve, I’m Not A Toy, Southern Hospitality, Traps N Trunks, and Dirty Glove Bastard.

Written by Brandon

October 30th, 2010 at 5:47 pm

Posted in Baller's Eve, How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? DJ Burn One – “Bobby Cox”

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DJ Burn One’s arranging skills are on display in the twenty seconds of foggy, movie music that begins “Bobby Cox” and then, the “Burn one…” drop arrives, some wailing funk guitar not far behind, and that composer pretense is pushed to the side for something with a lot more knock. Burn One is too consistent, too prudent, and too devoted to country rap tunes to forgo their appeal, just to prove he’s the Jerry Fielding of this hip-hop shit. So yeah, “Bobby Cox” is still a beat, but it’s not an “instrumental” in the sense of a rap beat unadorned by an emcee, it’s a hip-hop-tinged piece of music that takes full advantage of not having to worry about who can rap on it and how. Everything gets to be a little more filled-out and sprawling.

Ricky Fontaine’s guitars endlessly glide along and get to have a real musical conversation with one another: “Oh, pleasant wah-wah guitar, meet politely screaming Eddie Hazel guitar.” The drum programming has seven or eight different layers to it, all bouncing and snapping off one another, peaking with that gun-shot-like snare. The second half of the song adds some hesitant pings from a music box (courtesy of Walt Live) and blaxploitation strings from Walt Live. The music box and the strings are the main sounds in the gloomy intro, and they return towards the end of “Bobby Cox,” now in the background and with a new context. It’s a brilliant production touch and bridges the seemingly disparate intro to the rest of this track. Really can’t wait for The Ashtray.

Written by Brandon

October 28th, 2010 at 9:25 am

Posted in How Big is Your World

How Big Is Your World? Tim Hecker – “Apondalifa”

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“Apondalifa,” has more in common with Tim Hecker’s 2007 10-inch release Atlas or 2008’s Aidan Baker collaboration Fantasma Parastasie than it does last year’s underwhelming, plastic epic, Imaginary Country and that’s a good thing. See, the musical mindfuck of all the post-glitch, proto-hypnagogic noise that came about at the beginning of the ‘aughts is that it bypassed all the typical rewards of a music listening experience. There weren’t build-ups or breakdowns, it wasn’t catchy, and more often than not, rhythm of any kind was absent. The experience hearing this stuff was truly temporal: the music engulfed you and shot out a feeling for that moment and that moment only, and then it moved on. This new Hecker track is like that—rather than reach for “transcendently beautiful” histrionics like Imaginary Country, “Apondalifia” grinds and whirls and eventually gets beautiful, kind of.

Beginning at its breaking point, with an ugly, in-the-red mess of sounds, “Apondalifa” spends its eight minutes letting bursts of noise stick out and do a kind of “solo” before another damaged drone, flickers up and get to stands proud. The base of the song though, is disquieting, guitar. Shambling nylon-string squeaks appear early and ultimately conclude the song and in the very back corner of this soundscape is guitar shredding from what sounds like hundreds of feet away. Another bundle of drones does take over for a bit, but the last few moments—most of what the 7-inch will label “Apondalifa Part 2”–is kindly plucked guitar that loops and waddles until it’s no more. “Apondalifia” doesn’t build-up, it falls apart. Even by Hecker’s usually high standards, this is breaking-apart beauty on another level.

Written by Brandon

October 5th, 2010 at 6:19 pm

Posted in How Big is Your World, Tim Hecker

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