New Hip Hop: Lil Wayne’s “How to Love,” Pete Rock & JK Soul
Think: Campy acoustic guitar pop with a sub-rattling bass thud
What is going on with Tha Carter IV? Never one to keep things predictable, Lil Wayne has bounced about club bangers, Maybach replicas & Russian teen-pop sampling crawlers thus far, only to follow everything up with an auto-tuned, acoustic guitar bass-ballad. “How to Love” is interesting, even if only because it’s hard to put a finger on it: is the song tacky pop nonsense or is it a representation of Weezy’s maturing growth as a full-blown songwriter? Lil Wayne, we might never understand you…
——————————————————————————————————
Think: “Symphony 2000” with a heavier lyrical emphasis
From producer extraordinaire Pete Rock‘s new collaborative album with Smif N Wessun comes “That’s Hard,” which also features the mammoth Sean Price and Styles P. For a track that would do well to stand on its own as an instrumental — would this not be heavy under the supervision of someone like RJD2? — this Monumental feature is lifted under the unique transitions between each of the showcased MCs. Then again, it’s not like this is the first time an artist has ever used the “cooler than the other side of the pillow” line. Still fly though.
MP3 Pete Rock and Smif N Wessun eat. Styles P & Sean Price “That’s Hard” [Download Mirror]
——————————————————————————————————
Think: Funky, soulful boom bap
Internationally, especially in countries where English isn’t the primary language spoken, it’s a bit humorous to explore how kitschy various American-reaching selling points are at times. Yet when coming across a Slovenian turntablist who performs as JK Soul it’s tough to know where exactly the line is drawn: an unlikely name for anyone — European or not — “Soul” seems a calculated choice of moniker to make an easily defined style known even before the music starts. Interestingly enough, however, a track such as “A Love Has Died” offers just that: tight boom bap driven by a piano, horn and soulful vocals. For more Soul (with a side of additional European kitsch), his new album Dinner with Fat Beatz drops June 3 via Fat Sound Records.
yup the Pete Rock is hard.
Has that collab been in the works awhile? I recognize I don’t pay too close attention to Pete Rock news, but that seemed like it came outta nowhere.