Archive for the RAP Category
If you don’t know about the documentary known simply as The Carter, it’s time you became familiar. Â The movie, which screened at this year’s Berlin and Sundance Film Festivals (among others) to rave reviews, gives fans and foes an inside look at the mind and the day-to-day world of what it’s like to be Lil Wayne. Â The movie will be released next week on DVD, giving anyone willing to pony up $15 a chance to see for themselves what goes on behind the scenes. If you didn’t trust me before, now y’all will know — it’s not easy being Weez. It’s all there — the drugs, the excess, the fights, the drama — exposed for all the world to see in a way you probably never imagined Wayne would even allow.
Variety has said about this movie, “‘The Carter’ is the ‘Don’t Look Back’ of rap” — a comparison who’s fairness I look forward to testing on my own. Â Whether you like, love, dislike, or hate Lil Wayne, you cannot ignore his presence as a force in music and culture. Â There’s a realistic fear on Wayne’s part that this movie might ruin his image and his career, but I’m pretty sure that his folk anti-hero status is well-secure in the modern era. Â I can’t think about all of that — I’m ready to pop the popcorn and chill out at home for the night to learn more about one of the most important and polarizing figures in modern music.
Last year, I procrastinated heavily. I think there were a lot of good records that came out the last couple of years, but I started to think that for every record that came out, there was an equal number of these “best-of” lists being bandied about. At first I thought, “Wow, it’s finally happened. Everyone’s a music critic.” Then, with this pervasive thought entrenched in my gourd, I started reading these other lists before making my own.
I suddenly felt small.
So deadlines for the “best of 2007″ rolled around, and I was in a tailspin, dogged by the massive amount of music I had encountered. I kept reflecting on these words of Billy Corgan that I’d read years ago. Billy had once quipped to, I think, Rolling Stone, that, “Not every year can be a great, or even good, year in music.” This thought just stirred in my head and fed into some neurosis. The thought actually fucked with me; maybe 2007 wasn’t that great? Or was it? So I slacked until it was way too late to really do it with any fervor.
Newsflash: Shit aint happening like that this year. I’m past all that, and this year’s going to be different.
Roots Manuva’s Let The Spirit EP will be out Digitally October 28th. We like this preview.
In the interest of full disclosure, let me say it right up front: yeah, I’m friends with the men of Lord T & Eloise and I even make a guest appearance on their new album, Chairmen of the Bored. However, that being said, if you read this website with any frequency, you know I make a big deal about being very particular about what I write about. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances out there about whom I have never written a single word because of my strong conviction to only write about music that really blows my mind or trends in music that I see as vital to the progression of things. Furthermore, my friends (at least my real friends) will tell you that I’m more critical of their work than anyone. Why? Simple: because if I actually care about you as a person and I know that you value my opinion, what good does it do you for me to want to sit around and bullshit you?
If you’re the kind of person who comes to me for my opinion only because you want to hear someone else tell you how great you are, I don’t want to be bothered with talking to you or talking about you. Ever. The Lord T & Eloise situation is no different for me, and these gentlemen know it all too well. Now if you want to know the story, read it after the jump.
Don’t worry, guys. There’s a historical precedence in hip-hop for being caught out there. But for the fans who didn’t know, all you gotta do is follow this simple rule just like the t-shirt says –
WARNING: May contain language your co-workers would find offensive, so possibly NSFW.
I’m pretty sure it isn’t either.
