These Things Take Time

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Hawaiian Sophie

This crappy old-school joint from '89 features a little baby Jay-Z. It's pretty weird seeing him all wacked-out Hawaiian shirts.

Jay-Z is OLD (but still the best rapper alive)

The homie Casey reminded me of this video.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Jay-Z recreates his album covers!

THIS. IS. THE. DOPEST. COMMERCIAL. EVER.

Ooooooh child. Here is a just-released leak of another track, "Hate", featuring Kanye West. This track is dooooope! It's just basically Jigga and Yeezy passing the mic back and forth on some playground ish over a grimy beat. It reminds me of a futuristic"Brooklyn's Finest" with Kanye taking Biggie's spot. Listen to it here.

Scratch everything I said. All black everything. The Blueprint 3 is going to be tight!

Jay-Z "Run This Town" featuring Rihanna and Kanye

Dope video. Dope song. Love Jigga's cadence on this track. Kanye kills it on his verse.

I have to admit that my excitement for the Blueprint 3 has been tempered a little bit. As a self-professed Jay-Z scholar, you can pretty much tell how good a Jay-Z album is going to be by how many guest stars are on it. The formula works like this: the less guest stars on the album, the better the album will be. This has proven true time and time again. Jay-Z's classic albums feature little-to-no guest stars. Think about it... Reasonable Doubt (just Biggie, Memphis Bleek and Foxy Brown), The Blueprint (just Eminem), The Black Album (none) and American Gangster (just Lil Wayne, Beanie Segal and Nas)... these were his best albums because they showcased a hungry, inspired Jay-Z who had so much to say that he didn't even mess with padding his album with guest spots. Seriously, on The Blueprint, Jay-Z is practically talking over the WHOLE ALBUM, even the instrumental interludes... that's how inspired he was on that classic. When Jay isn't really feeling his creative direction and his confidence wanes is when he leans heavily on guest verses, to his albums detriment. I mean, dude is the best rapper alive... he doesn't need anybody else to shine.

But look how many guest stars are on the Blueprint 3! There's like 4 songs without some big guest star on it... which is a really bad sign for the quality of his album. I hate to say it, but the formula is correct. Also, the Blueprint 3 has been pushed back all year... the thing was supposed to come out last Christmas. That is another bad sign about Jay-Z's creative process... usually he pushes album release dates UP because he records his classics in a crazy-inspired two week marathon sesh. By pushing his album back 9 months and by leaning heavily on an all-star collection of guests suggests that the Blueprint 3 might have more in common with the mediocre Blueprint 2 than the best-hip-hop-album-of-all-time Blueprint.

I hope I'm wrong, but, as a certified Jay-Z historian, the formula hasn't failed yet. It's still going to be great... this is Jay-Z we're talking about after all. The guy cannot make a bad album (except for his AWFUL In My Lifetime Volume 1). Let's just hope that Jay breaks the formula on this one.

UPDATE:

Listen to the whole Blueprint 3 here.

Fantastic Mr. Fox trailer

Here's the trailer for the new Wes Anderson stop-motion animation movie, The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman! It looks really great. You could really tell it is a Wes Anderson movie (especially with his mainstays of Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman). I really hope this movie is great and that Wes Anderson has found his artistic mojo again... he's been lacking in inspiration for awhile now.

New Radiohead

Harry Patch (In Memory Of)

These Are My Twisted Words

"Forever"

New track from an upcoming Lebron James documentary featuring Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, Eminem and Drake.

In other Lil' Wayne news, he really wants you to stay in school.

Lil Wayne for Get Schooled from Get Schooled on Vimeo.

Karen O and the Kids: "All Is Love"

Here's the first single from Karen O's soundtrack to Where The Wild Things Are. Her backing band features the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Nick Zinner and Brian Chase, Deerhunter's Bradford Cox, and two Raconteurs.

I can't wait for this movie and this soundtrack!

Play as Kurt in Guitar Hero 5!

Dream come true! And I love the Daniel Johnston shirt.

UPDATE:

This is actually the worst idea ever. Kurt's ashes are doing 360's in the Wishkah right now. There is a special section in hell reserved for Courtney Love.

It's not so bad seeing video-game Kurt do a Nirvana song, but it is THE WORST to see him talk like Flava Flav.