Guilty Pleasures #2

You know you have more...

Alright, now that my blog has a nice, new face lift, I decided I should go ahead and write something.  I'm a bit empty right now as far as new albums go to review, but hopefully I'll be able to put up a couple on my days off next week.  If anyone has any suggestions of things I should listen to or things they want me to review, please, feel free to toss them out there; I'm open to anything.

On to what this post is about, however, guilty pleasures.  In my last post I talked about Britney Spears, Fallout Boy, and The Ying Yang Twins.  Little to my surprise, once I let the idea of "guilty musical pleasures" sink in, several other things came rushing to me.  I figure I should save some in case I ever need to make a "Guilty Pleasures #3," so for this round, I'm just going to put up another three.

I was trying to think of what order to put these three in and it was a little tough because two of them are certainly things that I have always gotten a semi-negative reaction from.  That being said, I'll put the easy one first: Chris Brown.  Now, I know some people were turned off by him once he beat Rihanna to hell, but others weren't.  I was one of those people that wasn't.  Now, its not that I'm condoning him beating her or condoning the hitting of women, but artists do stupid shit a lot and while this affects their popularity, they're still artists.  God only knows how many rock and roll artists have been charged with abuse or domestic violence; damn near everyone of them does drugs at least.  The only thing that pissed me off about Chris Brown beating Rihanna (outside of her looking like the ShamWow guy got his hands on her) was that his entire album after the event was about her.  She's already stated that she doesn't want to be with him and, personally, I don't blame her.  Yeah, yeah, do that song about how sorry you are, but make a decent album outside of that.  Nearly every single song in this album can be drawn back to Rihanna in some way, shape, or form.  His album "Graffiti" (2009) wasn't terribly bad, but it definitely wasn't good (Also, it quite possibly has some of the worst album art ever).

More to the point, I do enjoy listening to his bad music.  He has a pretty good voice and his songs are pretty catchy.  One thing I really do like about Chris Brown is the people he collaborates with, Big Boi and Lupe Fiasco among them.  He's fun to listen to and I'll admit it, but he needs to stop whining and go bang one of the other million women who still want him after the Rihanna debacle.  In fact, I'm sure there's even some male suitors out there for Mr. Brown.

Alright, now, which one of my last two will be my number two?  Hmmm... this is tough.  Should I make you question my sexuality or throw up first?  Which would you prefer?  Well, since no one is reading as I write, I'm going to chose for you.  You're going to throw up.  Are you ready?  

My second guilty pleasure, my number two: Limp Bizkit.  Boy, oh boy, does that bring back some memories, haha.  I can't even begin to tell you how into Limp Bizkit I was when I was in 4th-6th grade.  Not only were they my favorite band, but get this, me and two friends of mine were planning on making a band INSPIRED by Limp Bizkit.  Who in particular was I inspired by you say?  Was it their relatively talented guitarist Wes Borland aka Monkey Face?  No.  Was it their DJ, DJ Lethal?  No.  It was god damn Fred Durst.  Yeah, that's right, Fred Durst was my hero for a good two years.  Not until I got into high school did I realize he was a pedophile thanks to Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's one hit wonder "I Keed" where Triumph states: "And yet you're too old for Fred Durst to desire/ He's checking out the cast of Lizzie McGuire/ Soon Fred will try to get Mandy Moore/ To open for him and I don't mean on tour!"  At that point I started to reconsider ever having listened to Limp Bizkit.  For some reason though, I can't stop enjoying them.  I'm not saying that I listen to them every single day of my life, that, in fact, would most likely give me cancer.  When they do come on on shuffle, however, seven times out of ten, I'll stop and listen.  Now, I would never ask you to listen to Limp Bizkit for fear that you would never read my blog again, but I do think that if you were ever in your life to listen to Limp Bizkit you should listen to their rendition of "Behind Blue Eyes" which Fred Durst did for Halle Berry's 2003 release "Gothika."  I know its a cover of The Who, but at least listen to it before you entirely dismiss it.

*Thanks to Miss Becca Skinner for telling me how to embed videos from YouTube.  She has an amazing blog, which you really should check out: Thoughts about Rocks & other valuable things*

Hey, after watching that, you have to give props to Fred Durst for even touching Halle Berry let alone making out with her. Alright, and now we come down to it, my third and final guilty pleasure.  What I hear most often from people when I tell them that I like Limp Bizkit is, "Why do you listen to that crap?"  What I hear most often from people when I tell them I listen to my third guilty pleasure is, "You're gay, right?"  My third guilty pleasure is Mr. Justin Timberlake himself.  Now, personally, I think JT is great... well, once he went solo at least.  In 'N Sync he was a total creep with his white boy fro and obviously lack of swag.  However, once he had openly deflowered Britney Spears and gone solo, he changed a lot.  He had a new look and early on in his career discovered some beat boxing talent, something I also discovered in 7th grade, memorizing every beat box part in his song "Rock Your Body" from his 2002 release "Justified."  He was part of the Janet Jackson Super Bowl XXXVIII Half-time Show scandal without getting any of the heat and he even hooked up with Janet on top of that;  I have to say that's pretty sly.  He's also been with another hot lady that is easily in my top 5, Scarlett Johansson.  JT is a big playboy and he knows how to get around.

I'm definitely into his music, especially his last album "Futuresex/Lovesounds" (2007).  He's always been known for his high hitting notes and stellar performing abilities.  JT always puts on a great show where ever he performs, whether it be the MTV Music Video Awards or even the New York Live Garden Show, singing a duet with Beyonce.  More recently, he hasn't been doing much in terms of his own solo career, but rather has been helping out other artists such as Timbaland, T.I., and an up and coming pop star Esmee Denters.  On top of that, the best thing he's done in the past year is parody "Single Ladies" on SNL.  Its quite possibly one of the best SNL skits of all time, at least in the Top 25.  Let me tell you, Justin Timberlake is one hot biscuit.

justin timberlake snl beyonce single ladies video

So, there you are, my Guilty Pleasures #2.  Again, if anyone has any music they want me to check out, feel free to hit me up on here or on Facebook.  Also, let me know, what's your guilty pleasure?

Why Shock Value II Isn't as Good as the First

"Oh, Timbaland, where you gon' run to?"

I cannot tell you how disappointed I was once "Shock Value II" (2009) by Timbaland came out.  Now, as far as ratings go, "Timbaland Presents Shock Value" (2007) didn't do much better, it had an overall score of 54 whereas "Shock Value II" only dropped four points to a 50.  However, there are three reasons in particular why Timbaland's second round of Shock Value isn't as good as his first.

1. Beats

To start off light, Timba's beats aren't nearly as catchy as in his first album.  He had fun playful beats in songs like "The Way I Are" and "Give It To Me," he had heavier beats in songs like "Bounce" and "Apologize," not to mention his incredibly unique beats in songs like "Oh, Timbaland" and "Bombay."  His second album however really is lacking in this department outside of a select few songs ("Carry Out" and "If We Ever Meet Again" among them). 

2. "Oh my goodness, [Timbaland has] built in auto-tune!" (Name the song and you win forever)

This second point bothered me a lot.  Timbaland had a few different songs in his first album where he used auto-tune, but it was relatively limited.  For the most part he rapped and was pretty good at it.  To put it in perspective for you, in his first album he uses it a few times, maybe three times, the only stand out song being his hit "The Way I Are;" even then, its very subtle and adds more of a vibrato if anything.  In his second album, Timbaland uses auto-tune heavily in eight different songs, not to mention lightly in several others; the album only has 17 tracks in total, you do the math.  Why is Timbaland using auto-tune so heavily?  Well, as far as I can gather from listening to the album its because he wants to sing.  His first album only had a few instances where he really relied on singing, whether it be verses or choruses.  In his second album, in nearly every song, either a verse or chorus has Timbaland singing with the help of auto-tune.  You're not T-Pain, Timba, there's a reason why people respect you more than him, but you're tarnishing you're reputation.

3. Guest Appearances

This, in my opinion, is what hurt Timbaland's second album the most.  In Timbaland's first album, you could tell right away that he knew EVERYONE.  He had collaborators that were familiar faces, such as Justin Timberlake, Kari Hilson, and Nelly Furtado, to ones that were completely out of left field, like Elton John, The Hives, and M.I.A.  Now, while some of these people return in his second album (namely the familiar faces), Timba has a completely different list of guest appearances.  Let me name a few for you: Jojo, Drake, Chad Kroeger (lead singer of Nickelback), Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, The Fray, Daughtry, Jet.  Do you notice a patern?  Each of these artists has had some sort of break in the MTV mainstream culture.  Jojo was a teen sensation a few years ago, Katy Perry broke out onto MTV last year, Daughtry originated from American Idol, and we don't need to mention Miley Cyrus.  Timbaland has taken a drastic turn towards the pop scene and left his creative sound in the dust.  Where on his first album he used Elton John's piano styling and The Hives abrasive yet unique sound to create new and exciting tracks, in his second he tries to appeal to what is "now."  Drake is a new pop hip-hop artists that is "now" (How do I know this?  He was on a Sprite commercial) and Miley Cyrus is currently, and regrettably, the face of teenage girls across America.  

Now, in all fairness, after listening to "Shock Value II" over the past couple of days, its not nearly as bad as what I had first thought and that's probably because I had really, REALLY high expectations.  I thought "Carry Out" was a stupid track, but after comparing it to "Bounce" from his first album, I realized they were counterparts.  I can't help but laugh when Timbaland compares a woman to an IHOP.  Secondly, although I don't approve of his turning towards more "now" guest appearances, some don't do a terrible job, namely Katy Perry and, as much as I hate to say it, Miley Cyrus (her song is set-up much better for her than are the songs for Chad Kroeger and Daughtry, which are unimpressive to say the least).  Overall, Timbaland really needs to go back to finding a unique sound rather than what's "now."  His first album was so unique and creative that it deserves more credit than it originally received.  Also, I cannot stress this enough, LAY OFF THE AUTO-TUNE!  Its fun sometimes, yes, but not for nearly every single song.  Remember where you came from Timba: You're an excellent producer and not a half bad rapper, however, singing is not in the cards for you.  I hope Shock Value III is better than II.  With that being said, I would highly recommend listening to "Timbaland Presents: Shock Value."  Take a listen here and if you really want to, "Shock Value II" is here.

"Timbaland Presents: Shock Value": 87/100

"Shock Value II": 58/100

The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book

The Rock is the shining moment of this album.  That's right, The Rock.

Surprisingly enough, this is the first hip-hop album I've ever reviewed.  Being someone who listens to a larger amount of hip-hop than anything else, I found this surprising.  Here we go though, my first hip-hop review.  I've been seeing Wyclef Jean everywhere and I was curious as to what his music sounded like so I downloaded one of his more popular albums "The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book" (2000). Although its not his highest rated album (that would be "Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant" (2007) scoring a 72 overall), scoring mixed reviews ranging from 91 as the high and 20 as a low with an average of 67, it still seems to be Wyclef's first major album that brought him attention after his split from The Fugees in 1997.  

Overall, the first thing you notice when looking at the album is that Wyclef definitely knows people.  He has several different people (not artists) featuring on his album, including Mary J. Blige, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Whitney Houston, Kenny Rogers (yes, that Kenny Rogers), and, the reason I said people, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson;  Yes, Wyclef Jean has a track with The Rock on it.  Surprisingly enough, the song that The Rock features on, titled "It Doesn't Matter," is actually really catchy and The Rock is limited enough on the track that it doesn't seem like some sort of gimmick.  

A lot of Wyclef's songs are very hit or miss.  Most of his songs in which he raps are very solid and even on the track "However You Want It," his flow sounds a lot like that of Mos Def from his track "New World Water" from the album "Black on Both Sides."  Where Wyclef has a fairly good flow with decent subject matter (although his line "Wake up, wake up, I'm in a nightmare dream" makes me want to throw up), the same cannot be said for his singing.  His vocals are rough and although he does sound passionate, its not very good.  Singing is something Wyclef should definitely keep to a minimum on this album, however, the tracks are almost split 50/50 with rapping and singing (He should take a hint from Eminem who tried to sing on his album "The Eminem Show," but kept the singing to one track, "Hailie's Song").  The worst among these tracks has to be "911" which features Mary J. Blige.  This track is especially disappointing because, although I'm not a huge fan of Mary J. Blige, she does an incredible job on this track.  However, with each verse, Wyclef and Blige switch off singing.  Wyclef attempts to sing within the same vocal ranges as Blige and all that comes out are flat, sharp, and off key notes.  Had this been a song that alternated between Blige's vocals and Wyclef's rapping it would have been a significantly more enjoyable track.

The entire first half of "The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book"  is pretty good.  The rapping is consistent and even the track with Kenny Rogers isn't half bad.  However, once the album hits the track "Perfect Gentleman," the album takes a dive bomb.  "Perfect Gentleman" is close to the worst song I have ever heard in my life;  Its at least a lot less than what I expected from Wyclef Jean.  The beat is terrible, combining a subtle symphony with a drum machine beat on top and it easily has the worst chorus in the world: "Just 'cuz she dances go-go/ It don't make her a ho, no/ Maxine, put your red shoes on, hon/ We going to the disco/ We gonna eeeeelope to Meeeexico/ Called up my mama, said I'm in love with this strippah, yo."  Really?  "Just 'cuz she dances go-go/ It don't make her a ho, no" as a hook?  Terrible, terrible.  Not to mention the way its sung makes it even worse.  

Overall, Wyclef does a good job on this album, but only insofar as his rapping goes.  His singing is warm and heartfelt, but its so rough that its incredibly hard to listen to.  "It Doesn't Matter" featuring The Rock and "However You Want It" really save this album.  These two tracks should be a guideline for how all of Wyclef's albums should be.  He needs to stay away from singing unless he takes lessons and learns what pitch is.  That being said, this album is good, but only half of it.  I give it a 60/100.  Take a listen here.

The ArchAndroid

"Tip on the tightrope"

Janelle Monae comes to the stage with an incredibly successful album release in 2010 with "The ArchAndroid," which is a continuation of her 2007 EP "Metropolis Street I of IV: The Chase," which follows the story of Cindi Mayweather, an android she introduces in the EP.  With Big Boi from Outkast mentoring and collaborating with her on this album, she has a solid rap background, but even so, she manages to jump to a pop/gospel/funk sound with seamless effort.  I can easily say that I did not expect much at all from this album.  I feel like female singers pop up every so often that have these great voices, but don't do anything incredibly special with them.  The last female vocalist I was really impressed by in terms of creativity was Regina Spektor.  Now, Monae is no Spektor, not to say Spektor is better, but they're in completely different fields entirely.  Where Spektor is unique because of her quirkiness, Monae is unique because of her intense vocal and instrumental experimentation.

Monae's single for the album is titled "Tightrope" which features a rap from Big Boi.  The music video for this song is what made me give Monae a chance.  In watching the video, she's incredibly different looking, but very entertaining.  Her sound is unique and although she seems like she would be one of those knockout singers who would just stand in front of you in a pretty dress and belt her lungs out, she presents an entirely different persona.  She seems fun and energetic and this song emulates that perfectly.  "Tightrope" is a very fun song and I'm sure it is the standout favorite among listeners.

What is most surprising about Monae is her versatility in sound, which can best be seen in comparing her songs "Cold War" and "Oh, Maker."  In the former, Monae has very gospel like singing, with long held notes and an intense chorus.  In "Cold War" Monae sounds very reminiscent of Cee-lo from Gnarls Barkley, calling to mind most "Transformer" and "Storm Coming" from Barkley's hit debut album "St. Elsewhere."  Only three songs later, however, Monae sings "Oh, Maker," which starts out with a very soft beat, with an almost indie sound.  Then, a steady bass line drops in with some simple percussion and backup singing while Monae starts to belt a little more.  Suddenly the indie feel (sounding very similar to Panic at the Disco's most recent release) turns into an rhythm and blues sort of feel.  Monae's ability to transform her sound on a dime and, furthermore, be able to pull it off without sounding awkward or wrong is incredible.  As Metacritic put it, "Monáe playfully leaps from cabaret to gospel to rap with a versatility that would make mentor/collaborator Big Boi’s head spin," a statement that could not be more true.

Another song to mention would have to be "Come Alive (War of the Roses)," which is Monae's most experimental song vocally.  The harshness of her voice and almost anger and despair she presents puts the listener on the edge of their seat.  The funky baseline, however, keeps the listener interested and even though the vocals are somewhat cacophonous, the funky instrumentals help to make a perfect synthesis of sound.  Although Monae has this radical experimentation in her album, she manages to keep some of her songs more mainstream to draw in a more traditional audience with songs such as "Faster" (a very poppy song) and "Dance or Die" (a more traditional hip-hop song).

Monae's versatility is incredibly impressive and there's more on her album I could go on and on about such as the quirky "Wodnaland" (something I personally think should have been on the "Alice in Wonderland OST" in place of some of the bullshit that was on there *cough* Avril Lavigne *cough*).  Monae, throughout the entire album only lost me at one point, which was with the last two songs of the album; both are roughly eight and six minutes long respectively, but sound so similar that they merge into one fourteen minute epic.  Its the only time I looked at my iPod confused as to whether or not the song had changed; with so much versatility in her album, I didn't expect the same sound for more than four or five minutes.

Monae received high reviews from Chicago Tribune (100), Entertainment Weekly (91), and Pitchfork (85) with an overall Metacritic score of 90, the highest rated album of 2010 so far.  I would highly, highly recommend "The ArchAndroid" to anyone who enjoys music.  Every song may not appeal to you, but with how experimental Monae is, its almost impossible that she won't have at least one or two songs you won't enjoy.  Overall, I have to give "The ArchAndroid" a 94.  Take a listen to it here.

"Tightrope" video

Brothers

 "Loving you, baby child..."
Let me just start off by saying that I found out about The Black Keys WAY too late.  I consider myself pretty up to date with solid artists that are out there.  A couple of my friends had mentioned them and said how great they were and I had no idea who they were talking about.  A few times I actually said, "Do you mean The Black Kids?"  No, they didn't, The Black Keys are an entirely different band.  Their new album "Brothers" was one of the more highly anticipated albums for early 2010 and it did not disappoint.  The duo of Daniel Auerbach and Patrick Carney got high scores from reviewers such as Entertainment Weekly (83), Rolling Stone (80), and Pitchfork (77) with an overall Metacritic score of 81, putting it just into the range of a "great" album.

I was originally interested in The Black Keys because of their different rock sound.  At times they sound a little bit like The White Stripes (part of this is likely due to the guitar and drum combination) drawing certain influences from blues and other genres that Jack White has also including in his playing style.  The first album of theirs I listened to was "Attack and Release," which is a great album you should also listen too.  At first I was worried I wasn't going to find any hidden gems in "Brothers" because there are a few songs off of "Attack and Release" (2008) that I really enjoy (its one of the few albums I can listen to over and over again without getting sick of it).  "Brothers," however, undoubtedly has more gems.  This might be because it has four more tracks than "Attack and Release", but that's beside the point.  "Brothers" is easily the duos best album to date.

"Brothers" has an overwhelming feeling of love throughout the album.  Whether its family ties or romantic relationships, most of the songs on the album deal with love from one angle or another.  The Black Keys have released two music videos so far from this album, "Tighten Up" and "Next Girl."  "Tighten Up" can be argued as a sort of love ballad.  It has a fun, bouncy beat with some light hearted whistling at the start of the song.  Auerbach's vocals really help to emphasize a feeling of infatuation the person singing the song has for his "baby child" (arguably my favorite line in the song, mainly because it reminds me of Nicholas Cage in Kick Ass: Hit Girl: "Mhmm... but getting shot, Daddy... it hurt a lot more than when you did it." Big Daddy: "That's because I used low velocity rounds, child... he... he.."; Priceless).  The video they produced for the song even further emphasizes this point, not to mention its a hilarious, endearing video.  "Next Girl" has a bit of a different tone, talking about some whore or so I assume.  It has a heavier beat to it with Auerbach singing "My next girl will be nothing like my ex girl."  Clearly he's torn up about it and is bitter about the break so much so that he begins to blame himself for it.  However, he does see the light in the situation, claiming that "I made mistakes back then, I'll never do it again," and "That was a painful dance and I got a second chance."  The music video for this is out of this world.  Probably the best, most hilarious video I have ever seen in my entire life.  Where "Tighten Up" sort of put the song into context, this video does nothing of the sort.  I would describe it to you, but I'd rather you just watch it and be taken back (I'll include links to the videos at the end of the review).

After having watched both of those videos, I had no idea how hilarious The Black Keys were.  They're definitely an awkward looking bunch, what with Auerbach's mountain man beard and Carney's lanky, almost cartoon-like presence, and that's hilarious in and of itself, but these videos really bring a different light to the group.  However, in saying that, they also have a serious side that isn't in either of the videos they have released for this album.  The best example of this is "Never Gonna Give You Up," which is significantly better than Rick Astley's song of the same title.  This song talks about how the singer can't give up the girl he's with.  No matter what she does, no matter how she treats him, he will never give her up; she's like a drug and he can't quit her, sort of like how Jake Gyllenhaal can't quit Heath Ledger... well, I guess he can now, haha... too soon?  Anyway, the song really makes  you feel for the guy and Auerbach's vocals only strengthen the sentiment.  

Overall, "Brothers" is a solid album.  They manage to keep the flavor that makes them unique while still having a vast amount of variety within the album itself.  Each song has its own personal message and each one can mean a lot to someone.  My personal favorite song off of the album would have to be "Ten Cent Pistol."  It is by far the most unique sounding song and has the most interesting subject matter.  The steady and subtle drum beat accompanied by the twangy guitar riffs almost hearken to a Western sort of atmosphere.  The album also does a good job of setting up a sort of story and atmosphere, starting with the upbeat "Everlasting Light" and ending with the very slow and somber "These Days."  The Black Keys keep true to their roots through "Brothers," yet manage to bring back the unique sound we heard in their 2004 release of "Rubber Factory," their highest reviewed album to date until "Brothers" was released (both scored an 81).  I would highly, highly recommend this album to anyone who has yet to listen to The Black Keys.  It is easily the best album they have ever released.  They seem to be getting more popular as well, which makes me happy, I just hope they don't pull a "Kings of Leon."  I give the album a 92/100.  Take a listen to it here.

 "Tighten Up" video
"Next Girl" video

Friendship Can Sometimes Be a Battle

So, I decided that maybe I should write about something a little different... 

I'm feeling like I just need to write something, you know?  I just got a pretty big hit from a really close friend of mine (no need to say who it is, that wouldn't be fair).  This is, after all, my blog, so I have grounds to say what I want to.  Hell, not a whole lot of people look at this blog anyways (probably because I haven't written anything in forever, haha), so what the hell.  

Friendship is tough.  You have to put a lot into a friendship in order for it to work out.  You put yourself completely on the line.  You entrust secrets to them, you open up and let them see who you really are.  Some friends you'll have forever, and some you won't.  Some friends will just sort of fade away into the background and others will stick around forever.  I'd love to think that all of my friends will be there forever.  I'd love to think that the same five guys I've always wanted as my best men will be standing on the altar with me when I eventually get married.  This may or may not happen, but we'll see.  Some times though, friends surprise you.  Some times friends don't trust you as much as you trust them; some times they don't open as much as you do; some times they keep things from you.  Friends are great, but they also leave you incredibly vulnerable.  Out of all the people I have met in my life time, (friends, family, enemies, etc) out of all of those people, if anyone wanted to hurt me, wanted to destroy my life as I know it, my friends could do it.  As much as I hate to do it, I have to quote Jimmy Fallon: 

"'Okay, I got it beat, I got it beat.  My buddy from high school is coming up, he's going too be my room mate, it's going to be awesome.'  No, that is never awesome, it doesn't work out.  Hate to tell you, you will fight each other.  You will just get, you will get, I'll tell you why.  One reason is because they have too much dirt on you.  Your friend from home has too much dirt on you, they'll kill you, they'll crush you in an argument for no reason.  Like, you just say, 'Hey man, uh, these dishes have been in the sink for like two weeks man, and they're your dishes.  Are you going to clean them?'  'Yeah, remember when you had crabs in sixth grade?'"

I'd also like to note really quick that I had to re-write those lyrics out because the person who originally typed them up is by far the epitome of bad grammar and spelling (I literally threw up when I read it.  "Literally?  Well, no, not literally. That's disgusting.")  Check it out here.  Friends, if they wanted to, could crush you.  I know I've done it before and I know my friends have done it to me.  Its fun sometimes.  You have that trust with each other.  Its nice to know that you have just as much dirt on your friends as they do on you.  It's sort of what I've always thought about sleeping with a boyfriend or girlfriend or something.  You are most vulnerable when you're sleeping and I just think its great for two people to trust each other enough to be in their most vulnerable state with one another.  

Sometimes friends can really hurt you though.  Whether its intentional or not, it happens.  Some times they're just trying to defend themselves; makes sense, survival of the fittest, I guess.  You have to try to remember those good times you had though.  I know its hard to forgive and forget, but it will happen eventually.  Right now what I'm dealing with is that I'm trying to remember the good times, but after what has happened, I'm starting to think, "Were those really good times or were they just good times to me?"  You have to think that if something goes wrong in a friendship, when did it happen?  When you're blindsided by something like that you have to think, "Have they felt this way from a few days?  Weeks?  Months?  Years?"  Stuff like that is tough to deal with because then you start questioning how real the friendship is/was.  As of right now, luckily, I'm not second guessing the entire friendship and I hope I don't get to that point.

Anyway, we'll see what happens with this whole ordeal.  Hopefully it will work out and what I've said will get through and won't have too much damage.  I tried to be as fair as possible in what I said, saying what I needed to without sugar coating it or being mean.

Within the next week I hope to write a few things on here.  I have a post in waiting about three different things: American History X, Breaking Bad, and Bioshock 2.  I also want to write a few music reviews about a couple of albums.  The first is the new The Black Keys album, "Brothers."  The second is The Noisette's "Wild Young Hearts."  Within this month, I want to write another "Guilty Pleasures" post because I've come up with a few more.  This month is almost up, so that will hopefully be within the week too.  Thanks for reading.

-Hugh

Guilty Pleasures

You know you have one...

So, everyone knows that, as far as music goes, they have some sort of guilty pleasure that they like listening too.  I, myself, have multiple.  You know, its that band/ singer/ rapper that you always make fun of, but you actually like listening to their music because... well, its fun.  This is a huge confession for me, so here we go.  I'll list three guilty pleasure in particular: one singer, one band, and one rapper.  Lets start off with my earliest guilty please that came when I was in the 4th grade, Britney Spears.  Ugh, I even feel bad about typing that out, it just doesn't feel right!  I feel so dirty.  Anyway, moving along, I first was drawn to Britney Spears, as most prepubescent boys were, after she released her "Baby One More Time" video. 

Seriously, how can a twelve year old resist that?  Man, did she look good when she wasn't crazy and was a virgin... well, that last point is up for debate.  This guilty pleasure with Britney only got worse when she actually decided to "embrace" her sexuality and womanly body with singles such as "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Toxic" (I still listen to "Toxic" from time to time).  As if things weren't bad enough for my now early teenage mind, she had to go out onto the MTV Music Video Awards wearing next to nothing performing, of course, "Oops, I Did It Again."  Stuff like this just wasn't fair.  Did I mention a few years later she made out with Madonna live?  In addition, it didn't help that watching her music videos to see her shake around got her songs stuck in my head.  Thankfully, Britney went crazy and let herself go, also freeing me from her trance.  Plus, I've found a better substitute for her anyway, Beyonce.  Now she's classy.

Now, you may be thinking, "WOAH!  Hugh's music credibility totally just went out the window!"  Well, let me show you just how far out the window my credibility is going.  The band: Fall Out Boy.  Now that you've taken a minute to throw up and clean yourself off, let me continue.  I don't listen to them as much (not that I listen to Britney very frequently), but I used to be pretty into them... well, as much as a high school sophomore can be into bad music.  Fall Out Boy has to quite possibly be one of the most annoying bands in the world.  They sound pretty terrible and their song names are obnoxiously long.  They later realized that and tried to make them shorter, however, not in that simple way which uses less words.  No, not for Fall Out Boy.  They decided to uses less vowels, seven less to be exact.  "Thks Fr Th Mmrs" is quite possibly the stupidest song title I have ever heard.  I guess I wouldn't necessarily call Fall Out Boy a guilty pleasure... they're more like a person I really regret dating.  You know, the one with the hump and the lazy eye that you met online and then saw them at Starbucks, thought they looked good, but that was only because you were blinded by the sun coming in from the window behind them,  and agreed to see them again only to later discover that they had a mustache?  No?  Well... that's Fall Out Boy.

I really think for the last guilty pleasure I could list an endless amount of people.  Lil Wayne is pretty terrible, but actually isn't bad half the time and has some pretty heartfelt songs (this is not including his recent travesty "Rebirth," which is quite possibly already the worst album of the year).  I thought it could be The New Boyz because theur hit single right now is pretty sub-par, but the rest of their album is actually really solid and pretty funny at times.  I could say Ludacris, but to his credit, he's actually really good even though he's pretty mainstream.  I could say Lil Jon, but everyone knows I can't say that.  Hmmm... well, I guess I'll just have to settle with, get ready for this, the Ying Yang Twins.  I only have a few of their songs, yes, but when they come on, I'm diggin' it.  Anybody who can come up with lyrical genius such as "Boom!  Its on! Bitch n***** we'll rock your dome!" or a chorus that consists of "beat the pussy up" is definitely a guilty pleasure in my book.  The Ying Yang Twins really got their start from doing "Get Low" with Lil Jon.  After that, they didn't do much... well, except for host an episode of Cribs.  

Probably THE worst thing they do is this honking noise.  The only way I can describe it is a goose honking, no joke.  Also, this picture shows what they look like when they make the noise.  Here's an example of it at the start of their song "Salt Shaker."  The only thing that saves this song is Lil Jon being misogynistic.  Oh, Lil Jon.

EDIT: I just stumbled upon this and I have to share it with you.  This may be my new favorite song. 

Just so I can redeem myself a bit, I want to toss out a bit of "good stuff" I've been listening to lately.  The Gorillaz's "Plastic Beach" is a great album, and I would highly recommend it.  They've really moved towards a more hip-hop feel which "A" Class names guest starring on the album, Snoop Dogg and Mos Def among them.   The New Boyz's album "Skinny Jeans & A Mic" is surprisingly fun and entertaining (they sound a lot like the Midwest hip-hop group The Cool Kids, actually referencing them in their song "Colorz"). 

Things I'm about to listen to are Usher's new album "Raymond v. Raymond" and Titus Andronicus' "The Monitor."  I'll update you with those as soon as I can.

So, what's your guilty pleasure?