Streets of Gold

For this review, I decided to take a look at something I didn't think I would like.  3Oh!3's (I will be abbreviating it as 303 for simplicity sake) has received incredibly low reviews getting comments such as "Streets of Gold is about as pleasant as a case of genital herpes" (Rolling Stone) and "Streets of Gold [is packed] with mindless, completely clustered romps through nothingness" (Absolute Punk).  Now, in all honesty, I have a bit of a soft spot for 303: they're from Boulder, they went to CU, and I enjoyed their first two albums, "3OH!3" and "Want."  Unfortunately, these comments from other reviews aren't very far from the truth.  303's "Streets of Gold" is easily the worst album the duo has released so far.

303 struck fame at first with their song "Holler 'Til You Pass Out" among native audiences, but gained national attention with their song "Don't Trust Me."  A comparison of these two songs really shows what has happened to the band over time.  "Holler 'Til You Pass Out," coming from their album "3OH!3," epitomizes what I liked about the band: they're an awkward looking, lanky white-boy hardcore rap group from Boulder, CO.  The vocals are harsh, complimented by the heavily synthesized and electronic sounding background music.  From this song comes the famous line "You'z a punk bitch if you don't know 'bout Boulda" which has to be one of my favorite lines 303 has ever come up with, just for the simple fact that I find it HI-larious.  "Don't Trust Me" on the other hand has a much different feel from that of the previously mentioned song.  While there's still a bit of edginess in the lyrics, the overall feel of the song isn't the same.  Its much more poppy and upbeat with little to no hardcore rapping, replaced by a vast amount of sub-par singing.  Unfortunately for 303, "Streets of Gold" seems to follow the trend that garnered national attention rather than that that accumulated native love.

While "Streets of Gold" isn't poppy entirely vocally, it is poppy almost entirely in instrumentals and content.  Every other song has some sort of connection to their fan base which largely consists of college students and those who which they were college students (namely guidos and high school students).  "My First Kiss" guest stars Ke$ha, who, in my opinion, makes me want to throw up all over the place, take a nap, and then throw up again.  As much as I hate Ke$ha, she seems to compliment 303's vocals fairly well and this song will undoubtedly be a hit, if not the single 303 decides to release for the album.  "House Party" is most likely 303's most ingenious song lyrically, starting off by saying: "GONNA HAVE A HOUSE PARTY IN MY HOUSE/ Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, PARTY/ Thursday, Friday, Saturday, PARTY/ Sunday better find somebody else/ So for one day i don't have to clean up after myself/ Everybody say FUCK THE CLUBS (FUCK THE CLUBS)/ FUCK THE CLUBS (FUCK THE CLUBS)/ Say FUCK THE CLUBS (FUCK THE CLUBS)."  This song alone drastically lowers the scores "Streets of Gold" has been receiving and is by far one of the worst songs I have heard in a long time.  I can understand writing stupid songs for an audience, but this song eludes stupid with something that stupid even thinks is stupid.  I hope that not even a drunk frat boy smashing Keystone Light in his face would enjoy this song.

*Note: After looking for links to "House Party" I found that they've already made a music video for it... this is upsetting*

One song manages to stand out among the rest on the album, however, and that song is "I Know How To Say."  This might be because the instrumentals are fairly reminiscent of an old song by The Offspring (a band that has always been a guilty pleasure of mine), but with that aside, the instrumentals aren't terrible, the lyrics are fairly creative, and 303 doesn't sound poppy but rather rock-like, which is closer to their roots.  However, as the song proceeds, it gets worse.  The chorus really takes away from the verses, but doesn't ruin the song entirely.  What really ruins it is around two minutes and fifteen seconds when 303 begins chanting "Aishiteru/ Te amo!/ I love you!/ Je t'aime!/ Everywhere I go I always say the same thing/ In Russia, Japan, Brazil, Spain/ Everywhere I go they seem to scream the same thing."  Now, this wouldn't be so bad, but they butcher the pronunciation of "Je t'aime" (French for "I love you" if you couldn't guess).  Its bad enough when the content of your song, rather, your album as a whole is stupid, but to actually get things wrong and sound stupid on top of that doesn't help.  Sure, your main audience won't care, much less notice, but its things like this that make me appreciate the fact that I don't listen to main stream music.  Lyrics should be creative and inspired and 303 is fresh out of inspiration.

3Oh!3's "Streets of Gold" caters to a particular audience, an audience that snagged them fame on a national level.  They've strayed from their hardcore rap roots so much that the 3Oh!3 of the past and the present could likely be considered two different groups entirely.  Furthermore, they insult their fan base by both lowering the quality of their instrumentals and the content of their lyrics, showing that, for now, the creativity they were once adored for has disappeared entirely.  Beyond that, 3Oh!3 decides to tack on two tracks at the end of the album which were already previously released: "Don't Trust Me" and "Starstrukk."  "Strarstrukk" makes a bit of sense because this version is featuring Katy Perry, a version that was only previously available through the duo's music video of the song.  "Don't Trust Me," however, doesn't make any sense; nothing in this version of the song has been changed, remixed, or even changed in the slightest from  the version that was on "Want."  In my eyes, its just another low ball attempt for the duo to entice fans to buy their album by placing their first hit on it just for the hell of it.  "Streets of Gold" will likely be popular among the national 3Oh!3 fan base, but native Coloradians that discovered them before they hit it big will likely be disappointed.  The duo has found success straying from their roots and it is incredibly unlikely that they will return.

Take a listen here. 

"Streets of Gold": 22/100

Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

"Damn, and that wasn't nothin' but the intro.  Here we go."

Four years since the release of Outkast's "Idlewild" Big Boi has blown critics away with his debut solo album, "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty."  Averaging a Metacritic score of 90 thanks to rave reviews from Pitchfork (92), NOW Magazine (100), and the L.A. Times (88) it seems as though Big Boi hasn't fallen far from the tree of Outkast's record success.  "Idlewild" aside (receiving an average score of 72), Outkast is no stranger to high reviews with "Stankonia" receiving an average of 95 and "Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below" receiving an average of 91; In fact, "Stankonia" was the highest rated album of 2000 and Outkast was the highest rated hip-hop artist of the past decade.  Even after a label dispute regarding Andre 3000's appearance on the album causing Big Boi to completely change his track listing, he still managed to pull through and blow everyone out of the water.  Thankfully, Andre 3000 still manages to make an appearance as a producer on "You Ain't No DJ" and, although removed from the final track list, on "Lookin' For Ya," which can be found on YouTube thanks to Big Boi.

Listeners, undoubtedly, will still feel like they're listening to Outkast even with the absence of Andre 3000.  However, even so, Big Boi's sound is a little different from what can be heard in his half of "Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below."  Big Boi has always had a harder more gangster sound between the two members of Outkast, but has always managed to successfully pull off a very smooth, jazz type feel as well.  Songs such as "The Way You Move" and "Church" from "Speakerboxx" definitely have a softer, smoother sound to them when compared to his more gangster rap songs like "Ghetto Musick" and "Last Call."  These sorts of songs, while not entirely absent, are definitely overshadowed in Big Boi's solo debut.  "Be Still" featuring Janelle Monae definitely calls back to Big Boi's softer roots, but overall the song is unimpressive.  For people who have followed my blog you'll know that when I reviewed Janelle Monae's "The ArchAndroid" I raved about her creativity and range vocally.  However, in "Be Still," while she sounds incredibly smooth and has a beautiful voice, nothing about this song shows off how much talent she has; This song, to say the least, is boring.  

"Sir Lucious Left Foot" definitely has more strength in its faster, potential club hits such as "Shutterbug" and "Shine Blockas," as well as its harder, more gangster songs such as "Tangerine" and "Night Night."  "Shutterbug," which by far will be the song the album is remembered for, shows that Big Boi still has the same impressive flow in 2010 that he had in "Humble Mumble" from "Stankonia" in 2000.  While "Shutterbug" will definitely be the most well known song from "Sir Lucious Left Foot," "Tangerine" is without doubt Big Boi's most impressive song.  The steady guitar, the slow but heavy bass drum, and the clapping meld together to make an incredibly sensual and seductive back beat.  Big Boi and T.I.'s flow create the same sort of atmosphere that can be seen in songs such as "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre.  What's that atmosphere you say?  A strip club.  You can't argue me on this one, Tangerine is a strippers name and I won't hear anything saying otherwise.  "Tangerine" just has the feel of a completed song; nothing is missing and it seems to accomplish exactly what its striving for.  Big Boi and T.I. create an impressive tandem and the overall feel of the song is just awesome.

Big Boi, however, does fall short in one aspect with "Sir Lucious Left Foot" and that's with his guest appearances.  He has a stellar cast of featuring artists such as Janelle Monae, B.O.B., T.I., Jamie Foxx, and George Clinton, but with several of these artists Big Boi fails to utilize them as well as he could have or should.  I've already mentioned how Janelle Monae's vocals are boring and lackluster, but the most disappointing of these guest appearances has to be George Clinton's.  "Fo Yo Sorrows" is an incredible song that really shows of Big Boi's talent lyrically and his incredible flow.  He addresses Hurricane Katrina quickly by saying "'member when the levee scream, made the folks evacua-ezz/ Yeah, I'm still speakin about it 'cause New Orleans ain't clean/ When we shout "Dirty South", I don't think that is what we mean/ I mean, it means the rough, the tough, the dangerous, we reign supreme."  However, although George Clinton is on this track, his appearance is very brief.   He chimes in during the songs intro as well as the bridge and outro.  In both instances he talks about how much he likes smoking weed, something that is far from news to anyone who know George Clinton (I mean, just look at the picture of him, come on).  Unfortunately, it seems as though Big Boi only really makes use of the lesser known guest appearances on his album such as Gucci Mane, Too Short, and Cutty.  While these artists make a solid contribution to the album, they're not nearly as exciting as some of the other names that grace the album.  Even Sleepy Brown, who had an incredible appearance on Big Boi's "The Way You Move," while appearing on a track seems to go unnoticed in "Turns Me On."

Outside of the unfortunate misuse of his guest appearances, Big Boi sounds incredible on this album and is definitely at the top of his game.  He still has the flare and spark that made him so intimidating in "Stankonia," yet seems more polished and refined both as a rapper and a creative artist.  Even with several road blocks in the midst of the albums creation, Big Boi manages to turn out a fresh sounding and beyond impressive solo debut.  "Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty" is an album that should be in every hip-hop listener's collection.  With a solo debut album coming up potentially this year, the ball is in Andre 3000's court.  Hopefully he'll be able to produce a solo album of the same caliber as Big Boi.  Take a listen to the album here.

"Sir Lurcious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty": 89/100

Music Discovery #1

Music: Some good, some bang-your-head-against-the-wall worthy
Since its a little difficult to find, listen to, and review more than about two or three albums a week, I thought I would start something new, but still music related, similar to my "Guilty Pleasures" posts.  This time, however, I thought I would write a bit about music I have recently stumbled upon. 


First off, I'd like to start out with the bad music I've found.  While I was writing my Miley Cyrus post and watching her music video on YouTube, I read a comment that said something along the lines of "Young girls can't look up to Cyrus anymore, blah blah blah, she better watch out for Cymphonique."  Now, after reading the name "Cymphonique," I thought to myself, "Maybe this is some sort of up and coming, young, R&B singer."  Well, I was pretty wrong.  After searching YouTube for "Cymphonique," this is what I found: "Lil Miss Swaggar."  At first, I thought it had to be a joke or at least some sort of Kidz Bop thing.  Unfortunately, this is serious.  I thought I had found the epitome of child extortion, but thankfully, she's related to a rapper or two.  For anyone who hasn't heard of Lil' Romeo, you're better off, he's terrible.  He was like a worse version of Lil' Bow Wow, ehem, excuse me, Bow Wow (fun fact: Bow Wow started getting upset at people for calling him "Lil'").  Lil' Romeo and Cymphonique are the children of Master P who has done little to nothing significant outside of the song "Oohhhwee," a song that's only redeeming quality is.... well, its sort of funny.  Oh, he was on Cribs too.  Anyway, if you couldn't tell, Cynmphonique's "Lil Miss Swaggar" is pretty catchy, but nevertheless, she scares me and needs to go away.  She's almost as bad as Bieber... almost...  I have one more bad thing I stumbled upon, but I'll save that for a later post (Hint: Asian pop song).

Next, I'd like to talk about something I found that was surprisingly good: J. Cole's "Who Dat."  I came across this song because I was listening to something on YouTube in the morning and he came on immediately after by mistake.  J. Cole's video, as far as I can tell, was taken in one shot and includes a mob of people follow him, a marching band, and lots of stuff exploding as he shouts "Who dat?  Who dat?  Bitch I got that flame! So don't worry 'bout my mother fuckin' name!"  J. Cole has some pretty impressive flow and has great personality and inflection on top of that.  His voice sounds good, a little similar to Kanye West, but has a certain rhaspy quality to it that really makes him stand out.  He also has lines that really make you go "Woah!" or, my favorite, "OOOOOOOOOOH SNAP!"  Among these lines are: "Clown told me, 'Ain't you rock, where the fuck your chain at?'/ Guess its something like your girl, nigger, it ain't came yet" and "Boy I'm picture perfect baby, you can check the Kodak/ Hey! So anything you can do, I can do better/ And any chick you can screw, I can get wetter."  All I can say is that I would absolutely love to see this guy throw down in a rap battle.  I may be mistaken, but at some point I can distinctively hear a clip of Andre 3000, and all I can say is that if Andre 3000 is backing this guy, I can too (it would make sense seeing as how Big Boi recently backed Janelle Monae with great success).  I am now eagerly anticipating the release of his new album, which should drop some time later this year.

As a finishing point I'd just like to mention a few things happening as far as releases go in the music world.  Big Boi, half of the Outkast duo, is coming out with his solo album "Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty."  Kylie Minogue is also expected to have a release coming out this week, although I'm less excited about that one.  3Oh!3 came out with their newest album "Streets of Gold" which, unfortunately, has received underwhelming reviews averaging a 47.  Lil Jon also came out with his newest album, "Crunk Rock," averaging a 59, just shy of overall positive reviews.  I may just have to give that a listen, for a laugh if not for anything else.  As for me, right now, I'm listening to the new Roots album "How I Got Over" and The Decemberists' "Hazards of Love."  Hope you enjoyed this new segment, and hopefully I'll be able to keep it going in the future.  What music have you stumbled upon?

Total Life Forever

"Religious regret and infinite debt,/ Heaven's pressure"

I wanted to write about something that was completely foreign to me, so I decided to take a listen to Foals new album "Total Life Forever."  I had never heard of this band, so I was interested to hear what they sound like.  Foals is a British indie/rock band that released their debut album, "Antidotes," in 2008.  "Total Life Forever" overall got a Metacritic score of 79 with high scores from Sputnikmusic (90) and BBC Music (80).

Out of all of the albums I've reviewed so far, I definitely had to listen to this one the most.  I listened to it about three or four times and thought I had a good feel for it.  However, when I looked at the track list, I couldn't imagine what each song sounded like.  I then proceeded to listen to the album about three more times really intently until I could think of what almost every song sounded like and I could pick out at least two songs that I felt explained the bands sound on "Total Life Forever" the most

The first song that really caught my attention was "Total Life Forever" (this link will take you to a pretty good live studio version of the song; you can listen to the album version here)  The reason it attracted my attention was because its significantly more upbeat than the albums first two songs.  It has a very bouncy beat with some funky guitar licks and keyboard lines.  Another reason why it caught my attention was because "Total Life Forever" sounds incredibly similar to Friendly Fires' "Skeleton Boy" (another album I may review at some point).  They sound so similar vocally that I did some research to see if the vocalists were the same.  Unfortunately, I didn't have the musical epiphany that I had thought, although they have played together before.

As you progress through the album, you'll notice that Foals has two different sorts of sounds they like to play with: one that is a bit more upbeat and funky, and another that is much slower and much more ambient.  "Alabaster" is the second song that attracted my attention starting with some simple synthesizing and guitar strumming which leads into some mild, but brief tension, bringing in the bass and vocals, all of which are incredibly light.  Not only do the lyrics present the idea of flying with lines such as "She's up in the sky/ She's up in the domes/ She's up in the sky, up in the dome," but the instrumentals also create a soft melody to compliment it.  About half way through the song, the vocals turn to chanting which lead into a brief industrial sound that becomes ever present throughout the background of the rest of the song as Yannis Philippakis, the band's vocalist, begins to convey a darker message: "She's up in the sky and the sky is one fire/...And with victory the whole world will be ours/ We will build nothing in it/ Nothing in it."

Lyrically, Foals is pretty strong and has fairly good content.  However, some of them seem lazy and redundant audibly with lyrics such as "Come and help me accept it, affect it, protect it/ Come and help me accept it, it's always my home" in the song "Blue Blood;" and "I'm the fury in your head/ I'm the fury in your bed/ I'm the ghost in the back of your head" from "Spanish Sahara."  Lyrics like these really take away from some of their more creative lyrics that are seen in songs such as "Alabaster."  "Blue Blood" in all fairness is one of the better tracks on the album, but because of the aforementioned lyrics, it drops significantly, not only because of the lyrics themselves, but because of the way they're sung, or rather, chanted.  Furthermore, unfortunately, the chant of "accept it, affect it, protect it" happens more than once.

While Foals seems to be successful in having two predominant sounds in their album (upbeat and ambient) they still seem to struggle with how to use both of these sounds effectively.  While "Spanish Sahara" turns out to be a pretty great song, it begins so quietly that not until almost forty-five seconds in did I realize I was listening to a new song as opposed to my iPod freezing; to me that's a little too ambient.  Their more uptempo songs, however, overall, are much stronger, "Black Gold" and "Miami" among them.  Overall, Foals manages to create something that is unique and possesses and interesting quality.  They are, however, a band that can easily become background noise; you really have to listen to the album intently in order to gain an appreciation for their music.

"Total Life Forever": 82/100

Take a listen to the full album here.

Although I wanted to go to bed... I had to say something

 "I've never heard a Jay-Z song."

 Miley Cyrus... she used to be Hannah Montana or whatever, right?  Well, she's certainly not looking like it.  I don't know if anyone has heard or noticed anything about her as of recent, but she's grown boobs, I mean, wings, and has evidently become a slut and is quite proud of it (I can thank this discovery to Target).  Her new single, "Can't Be Tamed," off the album by the same name has her prancing around in a bird costume with a bunch of other people in bird costumes talking about how she, get this, can't be tamed.  This is seemingly ironic seeing as how in her music video she both starts and ends it inside of a cage.

Anyway, on to the issue: why does she exist?  She started out like Hilary Duff with her own teeny bopper show on Disney, followed up with a movie that hit theaters based off of said show, only to land a musical career afterward.  Now, Hilary Duff was a big flop and didn't really go anywhere.  Thank god the biggest mistake she ever made was dating Joel Madden from Good Charlotte;  she never seemed to hit her Britney phase.  Miley Cyrus, on the other hand, seems to heading straight down the path towards Britney, however, this could be much more interesting than Birtney's crazy phase ever was.

The part about this "new" Miley Cyrus that baffles me is that she's using this song as a platform to say, "Hey, everyone!  I'm an adult and am going to sing about adult things, so, like, take me serious, okay?"  which roughly translates to, "Hey, dudes!  I'm a slut still, but am going public!  Do adults things to me, like, serious, okay?"  I can understand where certain pop stars had these phases: Britney was always seen as the innocent virgin until she released her "Britney" album in 2000 with the "sultry" song "I'm a Slave 4 U" (Yay for text talk);  Christina Aguilera did the exact same thing, with a slightly grungier look, in 2002 with "Stripped."  There's no denying that all three of these female vocalists started in Disney, but there is one big difference.  Britney came out and said, "Hey, I'm a slut!" when she was twenty, Christina did it when she was twenty-two... guess how old Miley Cyrus is.  She's a whopping seventeen years old.  You know what that means?  She's still jailbait (jailbait: n. Slang A person below the age of consent with whom sexual intercourse can constitute statutory rape).  Uh... that's a no go.

The thing that's even worse about it is that while now she's publicly trying to have a womanly image and have people take her seriously sexually as opposed to thinking she's still some sort of Disney child star, everyone already thought she was a slut in the first place.  Her announcing it via album isn't anything new.  Remember in 2008 when you were FIFTEEN YEARS OLD and there was a scandal about you posing in PROVOCATIVE photos as well as doing a supposed NUDE PHOTO SHOOT for Vanity Fair?  Everyone thought you were a slut then and no one has changed their minds about that, I promise you.  If anything, you're just admitting that you're a slut (I have never used the word slut so many times in such a short amount of time in my life).

Just to add another thing, she's stupid as hell.  In an interview she was asked what Jay-Z song inspired her to write "Party in the U.S.A.," her hit from last year, seeing as how in the song she mentions a Jay-Z song coming on the radio.  She responded with "I don't know, I didn't write the song, so I have no idea," closely followed by "I've never heard a Jay-Z song. I don't listen to pop music." ... shit like this makes me mad that people like her have a fan base.  Anyway, she's heading straight down the path to marry K-Fed, have two children, and look like Britney in her crazy days.

Have fun shaving your head.

Recovery

After over a week of sitting in a wedding, reading the seventh Harry Potter, getting sun burnt, and eating cheese curds I'm finally back from Wisconsin.  Its nice to be home.  On to the review, and its gonna be a long one, its Eminem:

"Cinderella Man"

I was really anticipating the release of Eminem's new album "Recovery," and had been for a long time.  Anyone who reads my blog might have read a post I wrote about Eminem talking about why I hold him in such high esteem as a rapper.  After listening to his 2009 release "Relapse" and being severely disappointed, I was expecting a lot from this album.  When I first listened to it I was pleasantly surprised.  Where on "Relapse" Eminem took a dramatic turn towards his more comedic rapping style, in "Recovery" he definitely tries to return to the edgy, angsty, angry sound that made him so popular on his "Slim Shady LP" and "The Eminem Show."  At first, I thought the album was great.  After talking to a friend of mine, however, I realized that even though he is trying to dig back down to his roots, it isn't possible; there is absolutely no way Eminem can be the Eminem that Dr. Dre originally discovered.  He's changed drastically and he just isn't the same.  After listening to the album a few more times, I realized that this is even more true in terms of his rapping and lyrics.  The best way I can describe it is through this analogy:  Say you have a friend who you go out drinking with a lot; you have fun, get drunk, get schwasted, whatever.  Say later they become an alcoholic and are crazy out of control.  They check into rehab and afterward, you're glad they're sober, but they're just not as much fun as they used to be.  Well, that's Eminem.

Eminem has always been the epitome of edgy rap.  Certain rappers like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, 2-Pac, and the Notorious B.I.G. pushed what was typically acceptable to rap about by (as Steve Berman puts it in "The Marshall Mathers LP") "rappin' about big-screen TVs, blunts, 40's and bitches."  Eminem, however, took it to an entirely different level, as Steve Berman again puts it, "rappin' about homosexuals and Vicadin."  Its without question that Eminem is the edgiest most controversial rapper out there.  In fact that's what attracted me to him; he is entirely different from any other rapper that has ever picked up a mic.  In his 2009 release "Relapse" Eminem was almost entirely devoid of his typical edge.  "Relapse" focused more on his comedic side and although it did have some disturbing content, such as his song "3 AM," even those songs were rapped in his more joking style of rap seen in hits such as "My Name Is" and the "The Real Slim Shady" (save for the stand alone harder song "Underground/Ken Kaniff" at the end of the album).  In "Recovery" Eminem really does try to turn back to his harder edgier style, but, unfortunately, with little success. 

His single from the album "Not Afraid" conveys feelings of regret for his last album, confessing that he knew it was a disaster, saying "Let’s be honest, that last Relapse CD was 'ehhhh.'" He also addresses his absence from his fans right before by rapping "And to the fans, I’ll never let you down again, I’m back/ I promise to never go back on that promise."  Eminem really does stand out on this track and does sound a bit like his old self.  Its nice to hear him own up to his mistakes and actually apologize to his fans.  While this is all well and good on "Not Afraid," Eminem wears his apology a little too thin, the same subject matter appears in several other songs such as "Cinderella Man."  He exhausts several other themes such as how he hates "the fame" but loves "the game;"  how hip-hop can't be the same without him and he's not going away; and how he has been constantly doubted as a rapper.

To get the rest of the negativity out really quick, the only other serious downfall on this album is that Eminem doesn't make the most of his guest appearances.  In "Won't Back Down" and "Love the Way You Lie" he has P!nk and Rihanna as guest appearances respectively.  However, all they do is sing the chorus and nothing more than that.  Having two hot, popular female artists on a hip-hop album is huge and to not use their vocals to your advantage is a huge mistake.  The only guest appearance Eminem makes use of is Lil Wayne in "No Love;" however, even then, this song doesn't seem to compliment Lil Wayne very well and one would expect a duo of Eminem and Lil Wayne to make a hilarious rap song if used correctly.  Unfortunately, the end product is an almost cheesy, heart-broken ballad with Haddaway's "What is Love" as a back track.

Onto what makes this album good, namely three tracks: "Cold Wind Blows," "Almost Famous," and "Cinderella Man." While at first I didn't really enjoy "Cold Wind Blows," after listening to it a few times I liked it more.  Eminem has comedic rapping in it (my favorite line is "Yeah I laugh when I call you a slut, its funny!") while still having a sort of tough back beat.  I was unsure about the chorus at first because its Eminem singing which is never pretty.  However, after listening to Mariah Carey's "Obsessed" it is clear that this song is a little stab at her.  Although Eminem already DESTROYED Mariah and her husband, regrettably, Nick Cannon in his single "The Warning," everyone knows that Eminem tends to hold onto grudges for quite some time.  His flow overall is really solid and his content is decent making an overall standout song.  "Almost Famous" has an eerie, almost creepy sound that borders on a hybrid of "Amityville" from "The Marshall Mathers LP" and "3 AM" from "Relapse."  A female vocalist sings the chorus which really provides for the eerie atmosphere.  The lyrics in the song back track through how Eminem started out and made it famous.  Although this is a subject Eminem has touched upon several times in the past, the lyrics are strong, dynamic, and manage to paint an impressive pictures with lines such as "Now there he goes in Dre's studio cuppin' his balls/ Screaming the wood off the panel/ And cussing the paint off the walls."

"Cinderella Man"  in my opinion, is the best track on the entire album.  It starts with Eminem talking over a stomping and clapping beat, closely followed by a male choir singing.  The male vocalists also later sings the hook "Cinderella man, Cinderella man, Cinderella man" mingled in between Eminem's verses which really compliments the harshness of his flow.  The chorus on top of that, while being somewhat cheesy, is incredibly well constructed and really works as possibly one of the best he's ever created: "Now guess who who (hey)/ Here's a clue (hey)/ He came to a ball in a wife beater/ Lost his Nike shoe/ It's in ya ass (hey)/ He's in ya ass, he's all up in ya psyche too/ Now what's his name?" followed by the choir repeating "Cinderella Man."  The overall feel of the song really juxtaposes a calm, relaxing feeling with one of anger and triumph creating an epic song that really shows that Eminem still has his spark. 

While its not his best album ever, Eminem does have some shining moments in "Recovery," which ended up with an overall Metacritic score of 61, which is a huge success, considering that he started his release out with as low of a score as 30.  Thankfully he had high reviews from Entertainment Weekly (83) and Rolling Stone (80).  Where "The Marshall Mathers LP" (arguably his best album) has all good songs with stand out great songs, "Recovery" has some decent songs, some good songs, and one great song, "Cinderella Man."  Eminem will never be the edgy rapper he used to be.  He's not struggling as much as he once was and although I'm glad his life is almost entirely turned around, that in turn turns around his rap as well; his torment and anger is what originally fueled his fire.  Fortunately, "Cinderella Man" shows listeners that Eminem doesn't need to be at the bottom of the barrel in order to create something great.  Take a listen to it here.

"Recovery": 79/100

Check out Mariah Carey's "Obsessed" and Eminem's rebuke, "The Warning" and you be the judge as to who won the battle.

Milkman

"I wish the milk man would deliver my milk, in the morning"

Rather than reviewing an album, I'm going to review an up and coming artist.  Gregg Luskin, aka Milkman, is a glitch-pop remix artist (in laymen's terms, a mash-up artist) from San Diego, CA rocking a tight Jew fro.  His first album "Lactose and THC" was released on January 22, 2008 and he released his second album, "Circle of Fifths," on March 29, 2009.  

Milkman was originally introduced to me by a friend of mine and I really like his creativity and the variety of samples he uses.  He uses samples of artists ranging from Journey, Tiesto, Beck, Jay-Z, No Doubt, Eminem, Outkast, Lupe Fiasco, Britney Spears, Daft Punk, and Missy Elliot among several others.  What I want to do is compare his two albums and talk a bit about what he does and where he's going.  So, here goes:

"Lactose and THC"

Although this was his first album, I listened to this one after I listened to "Circle of Fifths" which was bit of a mistake.  While "Lactose and THC" has received some high praise, being called the second best mash-up album of all time by DJ Forum, it is extremely rough.  The first song "All About It" didn't exactly set a good tone for me to want to listen to the rest of the album.  I actually could not listen to the song all the way through and had to skip it because it was just too much.  It is quite possibly the worst, most obnoxious mash-up I have ever heard in my life.  It wasn't bad up until about three minutes in where Milkman decides its a good idea to include a siren... a sire that will not stop.  The siren is mixed in with some sort of bass beat, with "Call on me" being repeated in the background incessantly.  On top of that, he adds Pitbull's "Go Girl" and later Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback" followed by 50 Cent's "Candy Shop."  That's upwards of four different things going on at one time.  Not to mention that the only part of "Sexyback" that is played is "I'm bring sexy back (Yeah!)" and the only part of "Candy Shop" that is sampled is "I let you lick the lollipop/ Keep going til you hit the spot (Woah!)," each of which is repeated over and over and over and over.  I'm listening to it as I write and am trying to write faster so I can skip the damn song. 

Another problem is that Milkman not only reuses samples from his first album in his second album (such as "Ms. New Booty" by Bubba Sparxxx and "Bring 'Em Out" by T.I.), but he reuses samples within the album.  There's more than enough material out there for him to do sample something else, not to mention that his mass amount of creativity shouldn't lead him to reuse old materials, no matter how much he likes them.  Milkman also tends to ruin certain moods he sets up.  In "Dreams" he sets up a very laid back sort of gangsta lean song using samples from The Ying Yang Twins, Hot Chocolate (totally gangsta), and Lil Wayne.  This attitude is only to later be ruined by the back beat to Daft Punk's "Digital Love."  Don't get me wrong, that's a great song, but its more of a light hearted, lovey-dovey beat which does not work with what Milkman set up in the first half of the song.  Also, last thing, in "Light It Up" he alters Jay-Z's voice to be higher in his sample of "Dirt Off Your Shoulders," which is a little irksome.  

"Circle of Fifths"

This album is significantly more successful than his first.  There are very few awkward mash-ups and Milkman has really learned how to set up a mood and keep it.  Even if he does decide to change the sound of a song later on, its a subtle transition, nothing awkward.  It seems as though he's really figured out what goes together and what doesn't.  This isn't as much genre matching as you would think, seeing as how he mixes Snoop Dogg and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's cover of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and it works incredibly well, but also matching rhythm and musical count.  Certain songs have the same rhythmic count and others don't (musicians will know what I'm talking about); trying to put a song that is in 6/8 and one that is in 4/4 together doesn't work out as well as putting two 4/4's together. 

His two most successful tracks have to be "Good Sex" and "Rap Is Beneath Me."  Each has its own sort of attitude that it keeps throughout the song.  Its incredible how in "Good Sex" he combines the Ying Yang Twins rap from "Get Low" over Maroon 5's piano line from "This Love."  You would never think they would work, but they create an amazing sound.  Now, not every track on here is incredible, there are definitely songs I tuned out for, but the two aforementioned songs definitely have that WOW factor.  Its a lot of fun to be able to pick something like Maroon 5 out of a song or No Doubt; stuff like that really shows how various his samples are across "Circle of Fifths."  Milkman does, however, lose points in reusing "Ms. New Booty" and "Bring 'Em Out" in this new album.  Unfortunately, those are only the two I can recall off the top of my head, as far as I know, he reuses somewhere in between five and eight samples from his first album.

Overall, Milkman has a lot of potential, but he really needs to smooth out his rough edges.  He needs to bring new material to the table especially when he is working within an album.  As far as I'm concerned, and maybe I'm being a little harsh, using a sample two or three times within the same album is a big cop-out.  It makes me think that Milkman is lazy and really didn't want to look for a sound that could fill that certain gap.  He still has some mash-ups that really do not work, but he has gotten better about his layering, keeping his songs to about three samples at a time and rarely more than that.  I would definitely give him a listen though and definitely download "Lactose and THC" if you're interested seeing as how its FREE off of his website.  If you want to take a listen to either album, you can check them out at his website as well.

"Lactose and THC": 56/100

"Circle Of Fifths": 78/100