A Reformed Hater’s Mid-year Look at 2016
What Do People Mean When They Say “Nothing’s Out?”
I think I’ve said it in enough places, I spent a better part of the 2000s hating all of modern American Rap and R&B.
But five years ago, I had my Saul moment and with each year I see more clearly.
That said, 2016 is turning out to be full of ‘good’ music. Yet, a group, of which I used to belong, will say that “there’s nothing out.”
What exactly does that mean? Answering that without being disparaging to any artist will be like entering Fallujah in the early days of the second Gulf War but we ‘bout to get our “Hurt Locker” on. No one’s music will be insulted in this writing.
If the only album that came out this year was Malibu, then that alone would make 2016 a good year.
Not a week as gone by since Anderson Paak’s 16 track sophomore album was released back in January that I haven’t played Malibu in it’s entirety .
In fact, I haven’t played an album like this (that wasn’t ‘Jazz’) in eons. When I think of different contenders, the songs that I skipped over leap to the forefront of my brain.
From “The Bird” to “The Dreamer,” there isn’t a second of filler or fat. (I even enjoyed the vintage surfer segues). And it’s not just the wide variety of sounds that range from rap beats to dance music, Paak fills the album with honest lyrics. When he says, “Mama was a farmer — papa was a goner.” It’s real. As are the lines about his mother catching the gambling bug, sleeping on the floor with a newborn baby boy, etc. This is my kind of music.
But there’s so much more in the ‘my kind of music’ department.
Robert Glasper hit us with an eleven song ode to Miles Davis, Everything’s Beautiful, with tracks featuring Bilal, Erykah Badu, Phonte, and Stevie Wonder…to name a few…and that few alone should be reason enough to check this jawn.
Gregory Porter came back with another soulful “jazz” offering, Take Me to the Alley, that further solidifies him, in my mind, as the premier male “jazz” singer on the scene today.
Also releasing albums were Matthew Harnett, Etienne Charles, Jeremy Pelt, and as we previously wrote about, that Theo Croker, Escape Velocity pretty much means that I won’t be downloading new jazz albums for a minute.
And if that wasn’t enough, after five years, Radiohead surprised us with new music. I say surprise because the album was uploaded on a Sunday (as opposed to a Friday) but Radiohead stans knew the signs. A post card was mailed. All internet activity disappeared. They knew. Critics talk about Moon Shaped Pool with terms like return to form and crap like that. Glad I don’t have a job that forces me to find an angle for every released album. ‘Return to form’ implies that at some point Thom Yorke and crew lost it.
We know that’s not the case.
I could listen to “Identkit” on repeat for hours. I need my sister, Teisha Marie to tell me about the time signature and all of that but Yorke rides the beat the way Mark Mothersbaugh did that off beat/on beat thing in Devo’s version of “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” Then there’s the slower, almost acoustic songs like “Desert Island Disk,” mellowed out songs with enough aural effects to keep me squinting — my equivalent of Bashir Allah’s chills.
And The Avalanches make Radiohead’s five years seem like light work. If you had a child when the group of DJs released their debut Since I Left You, that child would be a sophomore in high school — sixteen years have passed.
Well worth it, I say. Despite the fact that I don’t want to hear rappers over The Avalanches’ heavily sampled tracks. (Am I the only one that finds irony in Biz Mark being on a highly acclaimed album by Australians that probably has thousands of samples when the lawsuit against him for using one [sample] pretty much ended sample based Hip-Hop by Black folk?)
Wildflower is smooth, no doubt, but I’m not listening to it all the damn time. Just something to cool out to.
Remember when Amerie was THAT woman? Back when Rich Harrison was blessing her with beats like “1 Thing”…before he took his go-go laced tracks over to Beyonce. After a seven year hiatus, even she’s back — added another ‘I’ to her name (she’s Ameriie now) and released an EP, Drive.
It’s been a year of comebacks.
No one needs to be told about the Blockbuster releases; we’re talking the record labels bread and butter performers, pop stars that defy category, we’re talking Rihanna, Beyoncé, Kanye, and Drake, all of whom picked the first half of this year to grace their beloved fans with highly anticipated music.
Rihanna’s Anti is by far the best Rihanna album ever. I’m not alone in saying this. It’s no secret that our sister is no Jill Scizzy, she ain’t blowing no one back with her vocals. Personally, when I heard “Run This Town,” I felt that that was the direction Ms. Fenty should have taken. With this album she does just that. I swear, she sounds like a sampled voice on 75% of the tracks.
That’s not an insult.
As we discussed in Always on Another Level, Kanye West don’t do nothing small or regular. Who has Twitter wars over an album title but Kanye? Who has an album listening party at their own Fashion show…at Madison Square Garden…but Yeezy? No one. Who releases an album…then rereleases it with almost indiscernible changes but Ye? No one.
The Life of Pablo is typical Kanye. Meaning no one can ever predict what the hell Kanye will do.
Lemonade? Come on. Yoncé has a sweet deal with HBO and can change the national conversation by just showing up in a venue (or performing during the Super Bowl’s halftime) The theme of the album outweighed the collective of songs in my opinion with people talking more about if Jigga cheated than the merit of each song.
With each album, Beyoncé pushes the limits of what people consider pop. Being the largest pop star in the world allows that.
Drake ain’t far behind in that largest pop star department. But he ain’t changing shit. Same formula. Rapping and singing, singing and rapping. Some people complain about that, particularly the critics. The masses don’t care nothing about none of that and has kept Views in the Billboard 100's top ten since it’s late April release.
Future may not fit the above category in terms of hits and crossover appeal but he makes up for that with influence. Evol picks up where the mixtapes Beast Mode, 56 Nights, Purple Reign, & DS2 left off and his album leads the pack in the Jeff Weiss dubbed “Sad Robot Music” genre.
(I hate to use that term, but I needed something to describe these artist’s music)
Lil Uzi Vert’s mixtape. Lil Uzi vs the World, as of July 20th, had two songs climbing the Billboard 100 which means that Vert man is getting some crossover play for “Money Longer” and “You Was Right.”
Lil Yachty, who some proclaim to be Atlanta’s next big thing, released two projects Lil Boat and Summer Songs 2 within a few months of each other. Summer Songs 2 was an Apple Exclusive and was highly anticipated.
Last year’s darling Fetty Wap and the up and coming PNB Rock pulled the collabo card on Money, Hoes, and Flows and represented for the people who want their autotune from the North.
Which brings us to the superstar of Northern autotune, Desiigner, who exploded on the scene with “Panda” back in December of 2015. The song slowly crept up the charts, finally landing in the number one position. The GOOD Music artist decided to strike while the iron was hot and came out with a supporting mixtape, New English.
(As of this writing, the Prince of Sad Robot Music, Travis Scott has yet to release his latest album but it was announced that it could be expected by the beginning of August. La Flame’s fans wait with bated thumbs)
Every since we started up Fun Da Mentals a year or so ago, we’ve made it a point to champion artists that have not quite come under the mainstream radar.
Contrary to modern myth, finding these artists ain’t easy. Sure, you can comb the Hip-Hop blogs that call every damn body’s album classic and speak of them as if their contribution is Sgt Pepper-like groundbreaking.
That said, finding class acts like Gallant, Porter Ray, Boogie (who’s expected to release the mixtape Thirst 48 pt 2 in a few weeks), and local artist Ameazy and having albums/mixtapes from them have further clogged up my iPhone memory.
Gallant’s Oology would have found it’s way into most soul loving Black folks playlists before Rap obliterated R&B. The way the industry works now is ‘they’ only allow for one of whatever category they label music. To discourage listeners, they compare every artist to that ‘one,’ making folk discard the music before ever hearing it.
Gallant’s assured falsetto (and regular singing voice) is refreshing in a world where being in tune and on key no longer matter. I also appreciate how the songs seamlessly flow from one to the other.
I’on’t always wanna trap, and in those instances Gallant takes care of that. “Miyazaki” and “Percogesic” send me to the so called Acid Jazz days. Funky ass shit, yo.
I mentioned how I discovered Porter Ray in a Gentrification piece of all places. Ray raps. It seems funny even writing that but anyone familiar with modern music knows, ain’t nobody trying to rap in the 1–6.
Nowadays, you have to follow an artist’s Soundcloud if you want to stay up to date on their music. That’s how I found out that Ray had an “EP” ‘dropping’.
I didn’t know anything about Tele Fresco but I know now. Electric Rain could have been an instrumental album (and Ray lets many of the tracks breath) but instead they are great accompaniment to Ray’s voice.
The music is so strong that I sometimes forgot that a rapper was going to be on the those beats but was pleased each time Ray did (rap).
(Jusmoni who sings many of the hooks needs to pull Fresco aside and get her a quick ten tracks. She compliments the songs so well.)
Every city has a rapper or a thousand. But not many rappers ever make it out. And it’s even more rare that a rapper puts their city on the map. Maybe A Meazy can do it.
He’s certainly been getting good press. Hell, any press on a Denver artist is good press. Thing is, The Real Ned Flanders 2 is completely worth it.
First off, A Meazy doesn’t sound like anyone. Not that Denver has a sound. But he sounds like he’s from here. And second off, he reps Denver — dropping Mile High City references like Cold Crush and Prince Hall (damn, we hated them back in the day — we were Pirates.).
Thirdly, Flanders features Denver rappers. I’m talking rappers like Trev Rich, who is already making a name for himself. But most importantly, he has rappers like Ray Reed (I downloaded all of his mixtapes after I saw him perform “Rent Money”) and Trayce Chapman (among many others) on his album which demonstrates that the 303 has more than just the most strains of green.
Fourth of all, in “Only Human,” A Meazy gives a biographical analysis of why he behaves the way he does. Songs like this are why I still listen to rap.
Which is what sold me on Boogie. First time I heard “Oh My” where he speaks about growing up with no food, I became an instant fan. Been checking his Soundcloud for any new music since. A few weeks back, “Man Down” appeared and Boogie let us know he has something coming in August.
Critical acclaim goes a long way. May not always translate into sales, may not always cross over into the mainstream. I don’t know if the masses have any idea who Chance the Rapper or Schoolboy Q are. We don’t live in the water cooler era. All I know is both Chance and Q made it out of the blogs into the white world of the New Yorker, New York Times, & New York magazine.
One thing can be said for Chance the Rapper, he’s definitely Sammy Sosa-ing it. He’s swinging for the fences. This ain’t yo cousin’s mixtape. Every damn body shows up on The Coloring Book, everybody from DRAM to Justin mothatruckin Beiber.
A lot of people have said that listening to the mixtape was a spiritual experience. Having a choir singing throughout will do that. Whenever people ask me about Chance, I always answer, “He’s not scared. He’s going for it.” That unto itself is spiritual.
Ain’t nobody gonna call Schoolboy Q’s Blankface LP spiritual. Certainly not the Crips on Welton who have pitbull latched on to “Ride Out.”
The way I see it in 2016, people get points for rapping. Not many people are doing that. Schoolboy Q raps…and he got Anderson Paak. Add to that a wide variety of sounds and it just further increases my stance that Cali is winning right now.
Lastly, I haven’t stopped listening to Tigallerro. I been a fan of each incarceration of Phonte: Little Brother, Foreign Exchange, and solo artist Phonte. He and Eric Roberson have collaborated before but never on an entire project. Apparently fans requested this collabo and I’m glad they did.
In the same vein of Oddisee’s Good Fight, this is an album that I can listen to around my parents and my children. If there are curse words, I miss them every time. There’s no gratuitous sex or violence. Just ten tracks of soulful goodness.
And I’ve left out a ton of albums, I’m sure. As it stands, I have more than enough music to listen to, an album for every mood.
So what it is that people mean when they say that “there’s nothing out?” I just spent ten minutes of your time mentioning a plethora of albums for every persuasion.
As a Recovering Hater, I believe I’m more than qualified to answer this question.
The belief that there is no good music out mostly is bellowed by audiophiles 30+ years and older (and I’m being liberal saying 30s, we really talking folks in Generation X).
When you’re younger, music acts like the soundtrack to your life. A heartbroken teen will find a song that deals with a dissolved relationship and make it their anthem.
“I feel like these words were written for me,” is a common refrain.
As we Gen Xers have aged there are fewer songs or artists that deal with our current lives. As we search for a music that will resonate with us, it’s imperative that we remember one thing — most of these artist are not making this music for us. Coming to that realization SHOULD help.
But also it’s important to support those artist who do (De La comes to mind). Without our support, at some point they’re going to consider the bottom line and make music that sounds of the time.
(I recently listened to an established R&B artist — someone who’s known for making that so-called Grown & Sexy music — in his forties ‘singing’ like Bryson Tiller, similar subject matter and all)
Lastly, if you’re going to be listening to music in 2016, you’re going to have to drop your 1996 criteria for what’s good. Aside from the fact that not doing so will piss you off, you have to realize that what was once important in music is no longer of any concern to the young artists. Their audience doesn’t give a rats ass about your checklist of what makes a good song, album, or artist, and what you like ain’t moving units.
My earbuds runneth over with music. Mostly because I’ve made those adjustments. Alls I need now is a Jay Electronica album, and we can go ahead and retire the side.
Check an Accompanying Playlist in the comments and click on that heart to let us know you care.
