Tag: Hip Hop

Dear Music Industry, I Am Here To Stay. Join Me!

Dear Record Labels and Music Industry,  I am a solo musician with a range of competences but a focus especially on pop, alternative, and hip hop fusion: a genre I call ‘wambop.’ My debut album trilogy ‘The Divine Tragedy’ is rolling out right now — my self-produced EP ‘Born’ is already streaming, and my two … Continue reading Dear Music Industry, I Am Here To Stay. Join Me! →

Hip hop dies, Wambop rises: A review of five 31 March music releases

Hip hop is dying. A new genre, ‘wambop’, is being born from the fusion of hip hop, pop, and regional musical forms such as ‘K-Pop’ and Latin music (one need look no further than Young Miko’s excellent recent work). Today, on March 31st, five albums dropped. I would like to echo Pitchfork in giving them … Continue reading Hip hop dies, Wambop rises: A review of five 31 March music releases →

‘Expérgo’ (EP) by NMIXX: Ingenious, exhilarating pop — with signs of something new

I have reviewed NMIXX’s music before. Contrasting with (G)-ILDE’s dark themes and BLACKPINK’s balanced approach to the musical world and its palette of human emotions, NMIXX is unflinchingly positive. The opening song samples the folk tune ‘Frère Jacques’, with both cheek and respect for the original. The whole approach of K-Pop these days feels like … Continue reading ‘Expérgo’ (EP) by NMIXX: Ingenious, exhilarating pop — with signs of something new →

Donda: A track-by-track review

See also: my review of Kendrick Lamar’s latest album. I’ve decided to write up a complete review of Donda, the tenth studio album by Ye, the musical artist/producer/rapper formerly known as Kanye West. I’m going to open with my basic claim: this album is enormously influential but also extremely competent and creative on its own … Continue reading Donda: A track-by-track review →

Stuck in the middle: A class analysis of J. Cole’s ‘G.O.M.D.’ music video

Is hip hop just a euphemism for a new religion The soul music of the slaves that the youth is missing? — Kanye West, ‘Gorgeous’, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ‘Middle Child.’ This is one of J. Cole’s song titles, but it applies to the music video to ‘G.O.M.D.’ in an economic rather than a … Continue reading Stuck in the middle: A class analysis of J. Cole’s ‘G.O.M.D.’ music video →

A message for 2023: Stop imitating past greats, I want something new

I am getting tired. I hear the same music again and again and again. The charts are driving me crazy. Because I like this kind of music. In the shadow of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and The Fame Monster, the 2010s saw the reinvention of music through R&B (Anti) and alternative pop music (WHEN … Continue reading A message for 2023: Stop imitating past greats, I want something new →

Pop Album of 2022: ‘emails i can’t send’ by Sabrina Carpenter

I mean, as they say in Chicago, he had it coming. — Sabrina Carpenter, ‘emails i can’t send’ song outro It’s that time of year. Musical round-up of 2022 … So, the pop album (LP) of the year — drumroll — is: emails i can’t send by Sabrina Carpenter. An astonishing record in many ways, … Continue reading Pop Album of 2022: ‘emails i can’t send’ by Sabrina Carpenter →

From technique to artistry: The theory of music in ‘Whiplash’

Tropes of ‘music theory’ are as oft trotted out as are their counterparts in the department of ‘practice makes perfect’. But in the philosophy of Mozart’s time, Immanuel Kant already bridged these polar opposites of musical weather reports: the faculty of judgement, specifically concerned with aesthetic concepts of beauty and the sublime, bridged between abstract … Continue reading From technique to artistry: The theory of music in ‘Whiplash’ →

Drake just released an alright album? Well, um, no …

Drake releases too many albums that are too long. Or maybe he is just an artist seeing what works. I mean, maybe. Let’s see. The album cover to Donda by Ye, a cover which is much preferable to Drake’s recent choice in artwork across his albums in the 2020s. Her Loss opens with Drake declaring, … Continue reading Drake just released an alright album? Well, um, no … →