Is it me, or has Shawn Carter become hip-hop’s #1 whipping boy? I guess that’s par for the course when you’re on top of the game, but bitterness seems to surround this cat like no other rap artist before or since. The latest person to step to Jay-Z with beef is…Hammer. No, that is not a typo. 48 year old Stanley Kirk Burrell, the genie-pants dancing, KFC shilling rapper who dropped the “MC” from his name back in the early […]
Posts tagged "Jay-Z"
Hear Here!: “The Joy” by Kanye West (and Friends)
Another week, another Kanye tune. The latest track is entitled “The Joy”. One thing I’m starting to get a little concerned about is that many of the tracks that have surfaced recently are a bit overstuffed with guests. Case in point: “Joy” is credited as co-starring Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Charlie Wilson, Pete Rock and Curtis Mayfield. Can’t we just call this a Kanye and Jay record? Mayfield (obviously) appears via sample, while Uncle Charlie’s contribution is brief and negligible. Cudi’s […]
Jigga What? “Hits” Track Listing is Kind of a Head Scratcher
Jay-Z’s long overdue for a greatest hits collection. Actually, he’s one of those artists whose hitmaking proficiency has been so prolific that one disc isn’t gonna be able to contain all of his worthwhile material. Well, the track listing for Jigga’s long-overdue “The Hits Collection Vol. 1” surfaced on amazon.com yesterday, and as a Jay-Z fan, I’m kinda nonplussed. If you think about it, though, the track listing kinda makes sense from a “truth in advertising” perspective. Let’s split hairs-this […]
So Appalled? Eh, Maybe a Little Disappointed
I had to step back from this G.O.O.D. Friday stuff for a little while, lest Popblerd turn into the Kanye West blog. That said, I’ve been checking out Mr. West’s offerings and I’ve gotta say, he’s put out some pretty good stuff, although nothing’s given me that “College Dropout”/”Late Registration” feeling yet. However with Kanye, the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts. In other words, he’s best when making a completed album-length statement. I wasn’t crazy about […]
Ushering in a New Era of Mediocrity with “Versus”
I stand corrected. When Usher’s “Raymond V. Raymond” came out earlier this year, I predicted that after a solid first week, it was going to flop hard. Well, I guess I have egg on my face. Thanks to the inexplicable success of the will.i.am-assisted hit “OMG”, “Raymond” has already outsold Usher’s (much better qualitatively but not as pop-friendly) previous record “Here I Stand”. In order to keep the momentum going (and maybe to hoodwink Usher’s fans into buying material that […]
Another Crazy VH-1 List: The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
My first thought upon hearing that VH-1 was compiling a list of the 100 Greatest Artists of all time was: how does one even begin to compile such a list? It’s not easy to quantify exactly what makes a great artist. Is it raw talent? Is it an eye for reinvention? Is it work that revolutionizes the artist’s milieu? The thought of taking the time to compile one of these lists myself makes my head explode. Nevertheless, on 9/6, the […]
A “Monster” of a Track: Delivered by Kanye & Co.
I must admit to being somewhat preoccupied the last week or so with personal pursuits, so I may have been a little late to the party when it came to Kanye West and Jay-Z announcing a joint EP. Does this mean that the release date for Kanye’s own fifth album gets pushed back? Hope not. Considering Jay-Z’s horrid track record in regards to collaboration albums (two disgustingly bad albums with R. Kelly and one not terrible but pointless album with […]
Kanye & Jigga Kill ’em on the “Power” Remix
I feel like every time I write something about Kanye West I end up spending more time explaining WHY I like him so much than actually talking about the guy’s music. You know what? Time to stop the explanations. The most talented all-around hip-hop artist of the past decade has reconfigured his song “Power” to hit a million times harder than the already pretty hard-hitting original. Everything about this song is A+ material: from Jay-Z’s tight verse (why is Jigga […]
After Ingesting the Hype, Thank Drake for Making a Solid Album
Hype is a hard thing to overcome-I’ve said it before. As someone who follows the goings-on of the music industry, I certainly fall victim to heightened expectations and wind up getting disappointed every once in a while. No one’s been the beneficiary of more hype over the course of the past year than Drake. His story seems unlikely in the world of hip-hop. He’s biracial. He’s Canadian. His first name is AUBREY, for Chrissakes. Even more damning, he was a […]
Um…How the Hell Does Justin Bieber Get Nominated for a BET Award??
Nothing gets my goat quicker than the announcement of award nominations. It seems like the older I get, the more I realize how much awards are based on political considerations and not based on actual talent or even common sense. To wit-the nominations for the BET Awards were announced this week. Most of the nominations go according to what you’d typically expect for a BET-endorsed award show-Alicia Keys, Jay-Z and Beyonce are among the key nominees-hell, it seems like they’re […]
Betty White & Jay-Z on "SNL": How'd They Do?
A few quick comments on last Saturday’s “Saturday Night Live”, which was hosted by the inimitable Betty White (thanks to a Facebook campaign) and featuring musical guest Jay-Z. First of all, you’ve got to give it up for a woman of Betty White’s age (88) to do ANYTHING even remotely resembling hosting a 90 minute show. She appeared in the vast majority of the sketches, and I’ve gotta say that although I only watched the second half of the show, […]