(1st round match-up 7 of 27)
Mostly getting in practice of writing regularly again
because feel like trash human who does trash writing so why not add abundance
of fresh trash posts to the holy altar of trash world wide web which hopefully
landslides into artificial intelligence which swallows us all? (Wait, it might
have done that already.) Anyways, brief recap, listed bunch of albums that were
on Pitchfork’s Albums of the Year lists that are conceivably considered hip
hop, listen to them in pack of threes twice-through, and deem a battle champ.
That’s how I roll – pure trash for the Two Thousand Seventeen (1438 AH). Here’s
three more for that wack ass idle reading ass…
Ghostface Killah – The Big Doe Rehab
(released December 4, 2007; #42 on 2007 Pitchfork Albums of
the Year list)
I remain firmly committed to notion that you not fuckin’
with Ghost. He is the Walt Whitman of this age, fuck you if you disagree. Now
Big Doe Rehab might not be Ghost’s best offering as an artistic contribution,
but hasn’t the man earned the right to have the clip jam now and then? Even
shitty Ghost is better than most’s best. This one is comically bonus because it
got hot-shotted to release a week before a full Wu album (up next on the ol’
dork queue), and this Ghost has enough Wu features to appear as part of the basic
Wu codex, and yet it is not nearly as boring as the upcoming 8 Diagrams. Props
to Ghost for staying fired up enough to not sound bored, prolly from chewing on
all that ginseng root. You know Ghostface’s probiotic levels gotta be live as
fuck too. THREE STARS (because I’d give this man three stars automatic; that’s
where he starts at).
Wu-Tang Clan – 8 Diagrams
(released December 11, 2007; #38 on 2007 Pitchfork Albums of
the Year list)
Can’t really call this trash as it’s not trash, but it’s not
8 Diagrams deep, unless it’s Venn diagrams, and they include categories like “how
bored are they?” as in Method Man’s mailed in verses where he says interesting
things, yes the lyrics remain on point, but he sounds like he’s giving
directions to a cop at a bus stop. Or “how old are they?” as in Cappadonna who
sounds like he smoked a lot of menthols while gypsy cabbing people around, and
I’m not entirely sure Cappadonna has the incredible Wu resume of others for me
to overlook this. Or “lol what the fuck?” as in GZA who by this point is far
from the Genius we loved, his liquid swords now congealed into gelatinous
mathematics not quite as supreme as they once was.
Ultimately the downfall of Wu falls on RZA’s shoulders, as
he took over the role of main handler of the entity, and marketed that shit in
abnormal but over-proliferated ways. At the same time, he seemed to overstep
the wants of certain members (Raekwon/Ghostface faction comes to mind), and it
all leads me to wonder about the Wu mansion to be honest. Who’s name was the Wu
mansion in? How long before it got sold off? Who made money off the sale? If
not sold, who would be allowed to live in right now? Communal arts require
dedication to communal power structures, and RZA asserted himself as head, thus
this album sounds like the head calling everybody to order for a reunion, and
some people care while most of the party in attendance is going through the
motions to appease the head and not hurt his feelings, but the end result is
yes, a reunion album more like shitty high school reunion drinks afterward than
something you’d be excited about. It’s like, “sorry honey, I’m gonna play this
Wu Tang album but I only have to do this like once every five years, and I’d
feel bad if I didn’t because of all the shit we went through together; you don’t
have to stay if you don’t want to” type reunion shit.
It makes me sad to be honest, because Wu really was what Wu
claimed to be back in the beginning, but the world (internet, Jim Jarmusch
movies, Hollywood itself) got RZA’s head gassed up, and his dome turning big-headed
scientist started squeezing out the purity. But what is allowed to remain pure
in terms of art when filtered through our material consumerist machinations?
Very little. The song about R.I.P. Ol’ Dirty might as well have been R.I.P. Wu.
I don’t know if they made another album after this (other than that stupid “there
is only one in existence, isn’t that awesome? oh shit, a rich asshole bought
it!” one) but I hope not. The only thing worse than shitty art is boring art,
because at least shitty art sucks. TWO STARS (Ghost is one, and then Rae and Masta
Killa add up to a second).
Wale – The Mixtape About Nothing
(released May 30, 2008; #36 on 2008 Pitchfork Albums of the
Year list)
Ahh, the DC enigma that is Wale. DC has so always
desperately wanted a major rap player to help complement all the go-go the DJ
plays at the Saturday afternoon back yard cookout, and I very clearly remember
reading with gusto in an old ass Fader magazine how finally FINALLY this was
gonna happen, with Wale and Tabi Bonney. (There have been roughly one of these
type FINALLY articles about DC hip hop every 16 to 19 months.) Wale seemed like
the best hope.
Wale started making mixtape noise, and getting prominent
(well-compensated) feature spots, and it looked like maybe DC would finally have
that rap hero we always wanted (I have lived most of my life in Virginia, which
exists in DC’s shadow footprint artistically).
This mixtape is a great fucking mixtape – secure in thematic
unity, but also with off-kilter parody of corny ass mixtape culture (and hip
hop culture) of the time. This was Wale’s March Madness run, hopefully putting
a mid-major on the map (as DC has never been more than mid-major in hip hop
realm). This was Wale taking VCU to the Final Four.
Sadly, this was it. Wale signed to MMG with Rick Ross, took
his talents to Miami, and quickly morphed into an all-too-obvious industry
whore. His DC stamp was replaced with something else; the man lost his sense of
home, and perhaps rightfully so never really achieved the same level of
brilliance as this mixtape did. Fuck man, he even ended up naming an album The
Album About Nothing. That’s kinda sad when you’re trying to recreate the magic
of your most famous mixtape on an actual album. I mean, I understand the
thinking, but it’s still sad.
Nonetheless, this mixape is on fucking point, and you add in
the March Madness montage moments of DC’s high hip hop watermark involved (thus
far… we’re about to finally FINALLY blow up), and this is FOUR STARS, but with
a certain amount of melancholy about what could have been.
THE WINNER: If this was a real fight, it’d seem easy that Wu
Tang would unify into massive critical beatdown of Wale. But as Wale is stomped
incessantly, the obvious Wu divisions would fracture along well-exposed
faultlines, like just as GZA goes for the pin on a beaten Wale, Raekwon pulls
him off, demanding to be able to make the pin himself. Pushing matches ensue,
and Wale starts to recover, but as soon as they see this, Wu starts beating him
down some more. And yet every time they cannot get on the same page to get the
pin, because they are the now Wu, not the back then Wu, and finally Wale sneaks
behind Cappadonna and rolls him up into a small package for the one-two-three,
and Wale wins this thing that is taking place inside the internet alone.
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