No Trivia

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NO TRIVIA @ SPIN.COM

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Hey guys, I sold out! No Trivia is now on SPIN’s website. I will be blogging daily for them and doing the kind of bullshit I used to do on this blog a few years ago. It’s going to be lots of fun. Eventually, No-Trivia.com will forward you over to the SPIN blog, so subscribe to the new No Trivia, and follow me on Tumblr for other writing. My first post at SPIN is an introduction:

Some of you are probably familiar with my semi-frequent column over the past year, and December’s “Hip-Hop Issue,” which I was fortunate enough to help put together. A few of you may even remember No Trivia as my once-fruitful personal rap blog, before it turned into pretty much nothing but a repository for links to writings for SPIN, Pitchfork, Village Voice, and other publications.

My relationship with rap began when I bought Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day.” — on cassingle. The next purchase was Spin Doctors’ “Two Princes.” I was eight years old. I mention my first music-buying forays because I know a lot of kids who like to boast, ten years after the fact, at the height of their indie-rock infatuation, that their first CD was Weezer’s Blue Album or Flaming Lips’ Transmission from the Satellite Heart — as if some latent hipster gene existed in their unformed 10-year-old frames. When you ask, “Well what was your second CD?” it’s always something embarrassing. Who knows what was appealing to my elementary-school-attending ass about “It Was A Good Day” and “Two Princes,” other than the fact that they were catchy and on MTV a whole bunch…

Written by Brandon

February 27th, 2012 at 7:36 pm

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Spin: Heems – Nehru Jackets

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Reviewed Heems’ ridiculously great, Queens rap-indebted mixtape for SPIN. It was given the “essential” tag, which it totally deserves. There are a few words about Kool A.D.’s The Palm Wine Drinkard in there as well. Dunno, I feel like people are really underrating Nehru Jackets. Go back to it if you thought it was “too long” or whatever…

If you discovered hip-hop during the so-called Golden Age of the late-’80s/early-’90s, Queens still holds an almost mythic quality to this day. Which applies to both the rappers — bigger-than-life rogues like Nas, Mobb Deep, Kool G. Rap, Pharoahe Monch, and Capone-N-Noreaga — and the locale itself, which, if judged by the rhymes about stick-up kids and videos full of dudes standing around fire-belching trash cans, always seemed idyllic in its awful-ness.

The general definition of “Queens rap” came from that sort of thing, which means Nehru Jackets, an eccentric boom-bap mixtape from Queens residents Heems (a.k.a., Himanshu Suri of Das Racist) and producer Mike Finito, probably fails to qualify under such a strict rubric. But that’s a good thing. The off-the-cuff confidence of this free offering — presented by Queens-based nonprofit SEVA NY in support of their campaign against gerrymandering and redistricting — feels like a bleary-eyed character actor strolling through a big-budget crime flick, mucking up all that once-poignant, now-rote “authenticity.” It’s a reminder of what was actually charming about classic Queens rap: Behind the rugged-and-raw signifying, there were weird personalities and a palpable sense of community…

Written by Brandon

February 3rd, 2012 at 8:17 pm

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Spin: ‘Pariah,’ Finding Love and Loving Hip-Hop

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This week’s column is about Dee Rees’ movie Pariah, which is totally not Oscar-bait! The movie also has some smart things to say about rap music and hip-hop culture. I try to explain what it’s saying. Deleted thought: Rees cuts up and refashions black cinema with the same respect/disrespect that a beatmaker brings to a soul sample. Belly’s referenced, and Precious director Lee Daniels’ greasy hyper-realism’s there in the cinematography even as Pariah rejects that film’s sense that black living is at best, a beautiful hell. The nearly forgotten stirrings of the early 90s African American film renaissance are present thanks to Spike Lee as executive producer and it has the homespun sincerity of post-civil rights cinema like Ossie Davis’ Black Girl and others. Alike’s father seems plucked from Charles Burnett’s Compton neo-realist classic Killer Of Sheep. Go see it!

After only hearing about Pariah, Dee Rees’ smart, heartbreaking film of a young black lesbian growing up in Brooklyn, a friend of mine compared it to Boys Don’t Cry. Meaning: It’s obviously another one of those feel-good-about-feeling-bad, issue-heavy melodramas that pop up on the indie film landscape every few years. Pariah however, goes to great lengths to confuse and confound its potentially in-built audience of civic-minded, liberal cinema-goers.

Pariah begins in a strip club. Gritty, hyper-stylized shots of grinding dancers and dollar bills floating around are set to Khia’s raunchy early-2000s hit “My Neck, My Back (Lick It).” It looks like a scene out of Hype Williams’ high-contrast 1998 rap classic Belly. The club is girls-only, though, so here’s a strip club full of women enjoying themselves, joyfully objectifying one another, and acting as obnoxious as men. And the film seems fine with that, reserving judgment even as it gradually introduces Alike (Adepero Oduye), whose concern is her curfew, not grabbing as many girls’ phone numbers as possible…

Written by Brandon

January 28th, 2012 at 12:03 am

Posted in Spin, Spin column, film

Spin: Tyga’s “Rack City” Is the Best Song on the Radio Right Now, Here Are 10 Reasons Why

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On “Rack City” as well as snap music, Rick Rubin, Newt Gingrich’s brain in a jar, teenage prick kids on YouTube, Grip Plyaz, Drexciya, music video auteur Chris Robinson, and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch. Rack City, bitch, Rack Rack City, bitch…

Written by Brandon

January 20th, 2012 at 8:42 pm

Posted in Spin, Spin column

Spin: Rick Ross vs. Squadda B, Street Rap at the Breaking Point

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Why Squadda B’s street concept mixtape Back $elling Crack is better than Rick Ross’ Rich Foreverr and just as much big dumb fun. Post-script is a defense of Jay-Z’s “Glory.”

Two new mixtapes, Rick Ross’ Rich Forever, and Squadda B’s Back $elling Crack recently hit the Internet — the former ostentatious and fantastical (still defined by 2010 mega-hit “B.M.F.”), the latter aggressively smooth and confessional (think: “cloud rap”). And they very pointedly pull street rap in dramatically different directions. A stop-gap release between last year’s Teflon Don and the upcoming God Forgives, I Don’t, Rich Forever finds Ross typically referencing guns, drugs, and snitches. Though, in a fascinating postmodern turn, his drug-lord persona also takes a backseat, as he mostly talks about the money he’s now earning that’s he’s a famous rapper. The beats are glorious and shiny, but there’s a tedium to Ross’ bellowing style — like a steroidal version of Young Jeezy, who was already a steroidal version of Cam’ron and Clipse, which is actually the ideal image for this engorged, hustling kingpin and his new mixtape: Roided-out twice over…

Written by Brandon

January 13th, 2012 at 7:41 pm

Posted in Spin, Spin column

Follow

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If you haven’t already heard everybody complaining and pontificating about it, SPIN’s going to start doing Tweet reviews, and I’m one of the 20 critics involved. So, please go and follow It’s gonna be a lot of fun.

Written by Brandon

January 13th, 2012 at 4:08 am

Posted in Spin

Spin: The Weeknd – Echoes Of Silence

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The Weeknd, you done it again! I think that Thursday remains my personal favorite but this is right up there with House Of Balloons in terms of it being weird but fairly accessible too. And man, the Clams Casino beat on here is crazy. Between “The Fall,” that Big K.R.I.T. remix, and yes, Mac Miller’s “My Team” (and that “Wizard” track we all slept-on), Clams is proving himself to be pretty diverse. Don’t love this one as much as this guy though.

Neither as relentlessly hooky as March’s House of Balloons nor as noisy and hatefuck-filled as August’s Thursday, the third 2011 mixtape from Internet-driven phenom Abel Tesfaye nonetheless continues his mastery of the druggy/lovey/loathing Weeknd thing. So isn’t it about time we just declare this guy a straight R&B act? He’s on Drake’s Take Care; devotees of Trey Songz are listening to him, too. The hipster accusations just don’t hold. And this is his most straightforward take on radio R&B yet.

Echoes of Silence begins with a goofy, gutsy remake of Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana,” mysteriously titled “D.D” so as to not spoil that first-listen, “Oh-no-he-didn’t-just-cover-MJ” moment. Replacing the original’s heavy-metal signifying with mournful Requiem for a Dream strings is both inspired and predictable. And by singing the song straight, Tesfaye doesn’t hedge his bets. Instead, he and producer Illangelo boldly stick themselves into a tradition of icky, cruel R&B, taking on Michael Jackson’s most misogynistic song — underlying message: I hate the sort of woman who’d want to sleep with me — and, in the process, basically summing up the entire Weeknd project…

Written by Brandon

December 28th, 2011 at 11:29 pm

Posted in Spin

Year-End Stuff

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  • Baltimore City Paper: I did some blurbs for film (Drive and Midnight In Paris), music (Jay-Z & Kanye, Frank Ocean, Beyonce), and local music (DJ Pierre, DDm, E Major).
  • Pitchfork: I’m sure you already read the thing, but I did some writing for the Pitchfork year-end extravaganza. Holy Ghost!’s “Jam For Jerry” in the “The Top 100 Tracks,” Gil-Scott Heron & Jamie xx’s We’re New Here for “Albums Of The Year: Honorable Mention,” and Danny Brown’s XXX for “The Top 50 Albums.”
  • SPIN: I helped with the “40 Best Rap Albums of 2011” list and wrote the blurbs for J. Rocc, J. Cole, Kristmas, Clams Casino, and Mouse On Tha Track. I think it’s a pretty unimpeachable list. And there’s also SPIN’s “50 Best Albums Of 2011″. I wrote about SBTRKT and Bon Iver, two really great albums that I didn’t get the chance to comment on much this year.

Written by Brandon

December 17th, 2011 at 9:38 pm

Posted in 2011, Spin

WNYC Soundcheck: “The Changing Face Of Hip-Hop”

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I was on the radio to talk about the hip-hop issue of SPIN. I actually did alright?! Thanks a whole bunch to Soundcheck and WNYC for taking interest in the issue!

Written by Brandon

November 28th, 2011 at 10:17 pm

Posted in Spin

SPIN’s December Issue

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So, by now, you should be able to find the December hip-hop issue of SPIN in stores. I had a hand in putting the whole thing together and I’m very proud of what we did: We documented what the hell is going on in rap right now and that’s what we wanted to do. So yes, go read it, maybe buy it, or at least stand in a Barnes & Noble somewhere and look through the thing. Most of the content is online but there are a few thing you’re missing out if you don’t grab the print version…

  • “Opening Act”: The usual “editor’s letter” for each issue. Here it has the great Charles Aaron discussing SPIN’s role (or lack thereof) in covering hip-hop and a pretty funny Instant Messenger conversation between Charles and I about Mac Miller, Main Attrakionz, and other rap minutiae.
  • “The New Underground: We Got This”: My story that explains how the hell we got here. Featuring: Danny Brown, A$AP Rocky, Big K.R.I.T., Curren$y, Lil B, Yelawolf, Odd Future, Kendrick Lamar, Cities Aviv, Main Attrakionz, Stalley, Clams Casino, AraabMuzik, and DJ Burn One.
  • “Hip-Hop’s Planetary Shift”: That infographic that everyone’s arguing about!
  • “The Loud Family”: Julianne Escobedo Shepherd hung out with Odd Future and showed them to be regular-ass human beings. Tyler’s essentially straight-edge, which is totally fascinating.
  • “50 Mixtapes You Need”: A guide to 50 essential Internet releases (most of them free) from Action Bronson to Zilla.
  • “Rocket Men”: David Peisner went down to Huntsville and talked to G-Side and plenty of other Hunts Vegas rappers. Lots of stuff about Slow Motion Soundz that I didn’t know before, including a really tense meeting with a “real” record label.
  • “Encore”: The last page of the issue features a picture of a young sleeping Rick Rubin, with quotes from the dude who took it and Rubin himself.

Written by Brandon

November 28th, 2011 at 3:38 pm

Posted in Spin

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