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A Hopeless Cynic

A Hopeless Cynic

Category Archives: Music

The Overlooked Savagery of “The Story of Adidon”

05 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by Ryan Ross in Hip-Hop, Music, Race

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

drake, kanye west, pusha t, rap beef, the story of adidon, yeeugh

Drake Blackface.jpg

Technically speaking, the beef between Pusha T and Drake is really a proxy war. In 2002, the duo Clipse (comprised of Pusha and his brother, then known as Malice) guest-starred on the track “What Happened To That Boy” by Birdman, the head of Cash Money Records and Drake’s boss.

The track was produced by Pharrell, who had discovered and signed Clipse to his own record label; according to Pusha, Birdman never paid Pharrell for his production work. So, out of a sense of loyalty to Pharrell – who is too easygoing to engage in this kind of dispute – Pusha adopted the beef as his own. (The Washington Post put together a nice timeline if you want to follow along.)

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Kanye West Is An Empty Vessel

03 Thursday May 2018

Posted by Ryan Ross in Entertainment, Hip-Hop, Music

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Conservatism, Donald Trump, free speech, Hip-Hop, HOW SWAY, kanye west, media

I’m standing up and I’m telling you, I am Warhol. I am the number one most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare, in the flesh. Walt Disney, Nike, Google…

-Kanye West, Creator of the Yeezy, 2013

The last time we heard from Kanye West, he was unleashing a tirade at a show in November 2016, during which he called out Jay Z and Beyoncé, proudly proclaimed he would have voted for Donald Trump (West didn’t vote), then abruptly ended the show after four songs.

At the time, it was the latest in an ongoing string of very public meltdowns, and a few weeks after that show, West was hospitalized for mental health issues. West receded from the public eye for a while, and given the news about his mental breakdown, the public was willing to attribute his previous crack-ups to a manifestation of untreated mental illness.

Last week, however, Kanye West resurfaced, and as the kids say, he’s on one.

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Falling Out of Love With Hip-Hop

16 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Ryan Ross in Music

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I suppose I could make a bunch of sounds vaguely resembling an apology for the massive, unendurable, and frankly unacceptable length of time between posts, but I think it’s clear by now that 1) I am not sorry, and 2) it is highly likely I’ll do it again. Probably between this post and the next one.

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The Case Against The Beatles

26 Thursday Feb 2015

Posted by Ryan Ross in Music

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

SNL40, the beatles

WithTheBeatles_1

I was reading about the “SNL 40” special last week, and apparently Paul McCartney was on the show. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but I guess if you can’t have Chris Farley, you book the guy who just sat there during Farley’s most famous sketch. (You’ll do that, but you can’t get Eddie Murphy to participate in one sketch? Nice work, Lorne.) Continue reading →

The Last “Best of 2014” List You’ll Read

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by Ryan Ross in Music

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Look, I know it’s January 7th. I am acutely aware of that. And if you’re anything like me, you’re so fucking tired of “best-of” lists that you’d rather kiss a spinning bike tire than read another one, but I hope in this case you’ll indulge me just a little bit.

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Upworthy/Summer Music

29 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by Ryan Ross in Music, Rants

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I realize I’m a bit behind schedule here since summer is set to end in approximately 8 hours, but I figured I’d give you all (both?) a rundown of the songs I’ve been listening to since the last time I put together a playlist.

But before I do, I’d like to cover a topic that’s been bothering me for going on, oh, fucking forever: Upworthy. Here’s a quick vignette that describes what Upworthy is like:

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The Springtime Playlist

25 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by Ryan Ross in Music

≈ 4 Comments

Spring is nominally upon us (I say “nominally” because it’s 42 degrees outside as I write this); as anybody who knows me will attest, one of my ongoing pointless pursuits is finding music that matches the weather conditions around me. For example, I don’t want to listen to “Paranoid Android” on a sunny day in July, because it doesn’t mesh well with the weather, and when that happens I get angry. So, so angry.

The rage consumes me.

Anyway, in honor of the alleged arrival of spring (or “der Frühling,” as they say in German because I’m learning German and wanted to impress you DID I IMPRESS YOU WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?), I have come up with a list of songs that I think fit these mild months. As always, your suggestions are not welcome, but feel free to disregard my wishes and throw your ideas in the comments section, where I will make a concerted effort to ignore them before eventually caving in, downloading the song, loving it and pretending like I found it all on my own. Off we go!

Twin Shadow: “Dreary”

A song without lyrics is a risky proposition; if it’s not composed correctly, the listener will invariably lose interest. I’m not saying it has to be a Miles Davis-type jazz odyssey, but without a certain level of variation, songs without lyrics can get stale very, very quickly. This is one of the songs that does non-verbal expression the right way.

Parquet Courts: “Borrowed Time”

I don’t think I’ll get much blowback if I make the observation that this song isn’t going to change the way we listen to music. It’s simple: three or four chords (don’t quote me on that, I failed music theory), repeated throughout. But so what? I’d rather save the ponderous, multi-layered songs for fall and winter- I’ve got nothing better to do around that time of year but endlessly analyze music. Spring is for uncomplicated fun, and that’s exactly what this is.

Black Joe Lewis: “Come To My Party”

This…THIS is a party song. A good party, not one of those crowded apartment parties where eighteen people are huddled around an iPod arguing whether they should play Rick Springsteen or “Drunk In Love” for the 46th time. Christ, I hate that fucking song. “SURFBOARD.”

Knox Hamilton: “Work It Out”

You know what I love about indie bands? No matter how shitty their albums may end up being as a whole, they’re always good for at least one impossibly catchy song. There’s no evidence to suggest that Knox Hamilton will ever make it big- they sound basically like every other indie band that’s had a popular song in the past five years. If nothing else, though, they’ll always have this song. It’s a keeper.

Foals: “Bad Habit”

When I was a kid, our house had a little path in the backyard that led to the woods. In the spring, I would go into the woods and spend most of my time wandering around, looking at bugs, climbing trees, or just slicing the buds of ferns from their stalks with a stick. (I liked to pretend I was having an epic sword fight against ferns. I was a weird kid.) I don’t know why, but this reminds me of being in those woods in the spring, the dappled sunlight peeking through the newly-formed leaves on the trees above, illuminating my adventures.

Anyway, it’s a good song.

tUnE-yArDs: “Hatari”

If you can get through the bizarre opening, I promise it’s worth it. tUnE-yArDs (Christ, I hate typing it like that) are experts at creating records that start off so irritatingly you’re ready to change the song, but right before you do, the beat kicks in and makes it all worthwhile. They’re awesome.

Simple Minds: “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”

Hey, if it’s good enough for Judd Nelson, it’s good enough for me. (See also: heroin addiction.)

Toro y Moi: “Harm In Change”

http://open.spotify.com/track/5r7buNCNQX85kHLyziBC1

I think my love of Toro y Moi has been fairly well-documented here. Consider this your quarterly reminder that he makes incredibly good music.

The Joy Formidable: “Whirring”

Hopeful, assertive, pleasant. Words to describe me, or words to describe this song? YOU DECIDE.

So there you go: a handful of songs to kick your spring off the right way. Feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.

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