Music of the Weak: Chinese Plutocracy

Drake - "Shut It Down (Feat. The-Dream)"

One amazing thing about the era of music we’re living in is pop stars’ liberal use of the word “motherfucker.” They just throw that shit around like it’s nothing. On “Shut It Down,” a leak from Drake’s forthcoming full length, he and The-Dream toss out come-ons and f-bombs with equal vigor: “Put that fucking dress on/And work it kind of vicious/Like somebody’s taking pictures.” The song’s whole steez is that it’s called “Shut It Down,” and there’s an effect like somebody’s pulling the plug after every chorus. It. Is. Awesome. The hook is basically Drake isolating the catchiest part of “Best I Ever Had,” and then extending it across a hypnotic beat by Omen. It’s like watching a one-trick pony perfect his one trick.

Yelawolf - "I Wish (Feat Raekwon)"

Yelawolf is a prodigiously talented rapper from Atlanta with a decent mixtape (Trunk Muzik) and a freshly-signed contract with Interscope. On “I Wish,” Raekwon drops by for a verse and some plug-ins, and the joy of the song is in hearing the two MCs snake in and out of the song’s military beat, creating tons of bonkers counter-rhythms along the way. Rae’s on auto, while Yelawolf’s got something to prove. Dude is so angry that he has to create imaginary people to be mad at. There’s some motherfucker out there ready to tell him that he “ain’t hip-hop”—presumably either because he’s country or because he’s white, though I’m pretty sure both of those ships have sailed. He chooses the old rubber/glue strategy as a response to this imaginary naysayer: “Bitch, you ain’t hip-hop.” He spends so much of the song telling so many people that they ain’t hip-hop, that you’d think he was KRS-1.

Come to think of it, maybe this song is directed at KRS-1.

 Goldfrapp - "Rocket"

Allison Goldfrapp’s new album, Head First, could soundtrack a world filled with disco roller rinks. Each song sounds like a lost 80’s radio hit—one by an anonymous artist. Inane sexual metaphors tumble out over schmaltzy synth pop. All of a sudden, she’s a genre-revivalist, along the lines of King Khan or The Dap-Kings, and her genre is Xanadu. “Rocket,” the album’s lead track and first single, comes closest to reaching the Platonic Ideal. There’s so much about it that could be tongue-in-cheek, if it weren’t played with such utter sincerity—from the chorus lyrics (“Ooh ooh ooh/I’ve got a rocket/Ooh ooh ooh/You’re going on it/Ooh ooh ooh/You’re never coming back”) to the spaceship blast-off that ends the song. So much could have gone horribly wrong, but “Rocket” glides effortlessly on Goldfrapp’s vocal melodies. She’s so committed that she manages to strike that perfectly vague nostalgia that she seems to be striving for. Plus, Olivia Newton John—even in homage form—is notoriously hard to resist.

The Tallest Man on Earth - "Burden of Tomorrow"

“Burden of Tomorrow” is one of a handful of stunners from The Wild Hunt, Kristian Matsson’s second album as The Tallest Man on Earth. Bob Dylan comparisons will continue to be unavoidable, what with Matsson’s affected, nasal delivery and streams of metaphors and all. But, in terms of pound-for-pound songwriting, dude is the most reliably heartbreaking man-with-acoustic-guitar since Sam Beam. Here, he does exactly what artists should do on their second albums—he pulls at the edges of his range, refines his palate, takes calculated risks, and digs in deep on the things he’s already good at. “Burden of Tomorrow” is up there with “The Gardiner,” from 2008’s Shallow Grave, as a career moment for The Tallest Man on Earth. It comes out of the gate with the staggering line, “Rumor has it that I wasn’t born/ I just walked in some frosty morn/ Into the vision of some vacant mind,” and only gets thornier from there.

Erykah Badu - Turn Me Away (Get Munny)

I can think of a thousand transgressions more heinous than arrogance. So, why does Erykah Badu’s self-satisfaction bother me so much? First, there’s the video for “Window Seat,” (http://www.erykahbadu.com/) which is an amazing piece of pop art, until she starts to explain it: “They who play it safe are quick to assassinate what they don’t understand.” The perceived truth of that statement (and the ones that follow) depends on your willingness to generalize. I might argue that making huge generalizations about types of people is a particularly insidious form of playing it safe, and she’s condemning others for doing exactly what she’s doing.

“Turn Me Away (Get Munny)” has some similarities, in that it takes a simple idea—a semi-cover of Sylvia Stricklin’s “You Can’t Turn Me Away” with nods to Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Get Money,” which sampled it—and mars it with a tiny amount of ego-driven bullshit. In this case, she’s role-playing as a character named Sunny Bunny, meaning that she’s tweaking her voice toward her upper register and delivering one-dimensional lines like, “I look like a model/ I do what I gotta/To stay and live on it/I want your money.”

Obviously, these are minor points. But they get to me. I think it’s because Erykah Badu gets sold as this intellectual, political earth-mother, yet here are two instances where she’s finger-pointing and re-enforcing a negative female stereotype. Not only that, but her music is way too good for her to be caught slipping on that kind of intellectual waste. “Turn Me Away (Get Munny)” is built on a great idea and a slinky, retro-futuristic groove. Turning it into a screed against gold diggers makes it subversive in a bad way. According to her, she should know better.

-Marty Brown, 2010

Comments

[BerserkerJosh]

Fuck it. I don't even want the Raekwon write up anymore.

[Kenny Cather]

Marty! You're back! Yay! The Factual suffers when you're not doing the music....

I found a *really* fun music blog in your absence. It's mypoproks.com. It's freaking awesome.

[Marty]

Thanks, Kenny. Thanks (?) Josh.

Hey, everybody, can I get a little feedback on including the mp3s with the music write-ups? Cool move or totally useless?