Thursday, November 19, 2009

Rhymes: B.o.B (Bobby Ray) - "No Man's Land" (Video)


A while ago I posted a live performance of this song, which was awesome. Here's the official video. And his full-length debut album finally has a date, April 2010. Thank God.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Rhymes: #6 Greatest Album of All Time: Bright Eyes "Fevers & Mirrors"

Oberst's 2000 classic is easily the darkest and probably the most difficult album to listen to on this list. Classifying this album as an "emo" album does it a great injustice, but you still cant deny that this album evokes very strong emotions; with songs dealing with heartbreak and suicide. Oberst's whiney voice is for selected tastes only, but for those who dont mind it will find some of the most brilliant lyrics of this generation.

Mirrors is a 12 track masterpiece that uses a lot of metaphors and imagery that upon hundreds of listens, I probably still havent understood every lyric. I often compare this album to the #7 album on this list, God Loves Ugly. Both are very pessimistic and somber, and both have a specific woman many of the songs are dedicated to. Daley dedicates much of God Loves Ugly to a woman named Lucy, and Oberst speaks of a woman named Arienette.


This is a fan made video for "Calendar Hung Itself"

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Rhymes: #7 Greatest Album of All Time: Atmosphere - God Loves Ugly

Yeah it's been a long ass time since I've done one of these posts, so I'm going to finally finish the countdown this month.

"You're so ugly. You're so ugly."
Those are the opening words to one of the most influential albums of my life. God Loves Ugly, a curious album title, for a curious hip hop duo. My first time hearing Atmosphere was "Lovelife" on some Pandora type website back in 2004. Sean and Anthony have since become one of my favorite musical acts.

But it all started with this 18 piece masterpiece. I was 15, I had never heard anything like Mr. Daley's abstract, emotional approach to rapping. Sure the battle raps are there (Onemosphere, Give Me, etc) but songs with such pain and vivid imagery, such as "F#&% You Lucy" and "A Girl Named Hope", this album was way over my head, and I wasnt ready for an album of this nature quite yet.

Years passed and I heard an Atmosphere song here and there, but one day once again my curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to revisit GLU. Once again, it wasn't the masterpiece that I had heard it hyped up to be. But a couple weeks passed, and my Junior prom came and went, and my date who I was currently crushing on, had just gotten a new boyfriend and I had felt something I had never felt before. Then "F&%# You Lucy" came on shuffle on my 2GB iPod nano, and all those emotions that I couldnt relate upon my first hearing of the album, all connected with me in a way that is beyond dope beats and clever lyrics.


Here is a live performance of "F#*$ You Lucy" I thought it was important to post a live version of this song because when I went to the atmosphere concert in May, it was one of the most unforgettable musical experiences Ive ever had.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

From Dwight Schrute's Beet Farm: Donny Wertz Can Survive



This is pretty much an inside joke, for those who do not know M*ch**l W*rtz, or his family, then you probably wont get it, but it is quite funny nonetheless. It is a parody of A Country Boy Can Survive by Hank Williams Jr. Eric Zirger on Guitar and Dylan Stretchbery on the vocals, both of which appear on my upcoming album (Shameless Plug)