Nine Inch Nails

Listening to that sucked so much I'm not even gonna spend a long time on this. It was really weird music (which I like weird different stuff most of the time) but that just sounded like poppy bull crap. It sounded really heavy pop bass and the drums were kind of good I guess. The singers voice wasn't really impressive at all. Then I heard Nine Inch Nails on the radio later and again I wanted to barf. 1 out of 10 for me.

Paul's boutique Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys is a group I haven't really gotten into yet. But Paul's Boutique was pretty badass. Some of te samples used are so advanced and it sounds like an album way ahead of its time. The bass is so much more powerful than that of NWA and Public Enemy, also the fact that they play real instruments is more impressive. Ill need to listen to it again so I can catch the lyrics more clearly.

Frank Ocean: Nostalgia, Ultra

Frank Ocean is the future of R&B and hip hop. I already wrote about his Grammy award winning album "channel ORANGE" but now I'm writing about his first album/mixtape that might be better than channel. I'm talking about what got him discovered by many big names including Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Usher, and more. I'm talking about "Nostalgia, Ultra"


"Nostalgia, Ultra" is a collection of songs which I think describe Frank as a person. It contains covers, originals, remixes, badass beats, guitars, orchestras, meaningful lyrics everything I would want in an album. This isn't a typical R&B album. R&B most of the time is based around love and Frank tends to step away from love often in many of his songs.

 The album starts with the sound of Frank putting in an album in a cassette player and the album is underway. Right away you here illuminating tones of a guitar playing and you think, "Wait, did I accidently put on a Coldplay album?" But no, it's Frank Oceans cover of "Strawberry Swing" by Coldplay. Which I didn't really find a good song until Frank did it. Coldplay seems to agree with me since they produced it for him and said, "Hey, when you do it that good, consider it yours man."

Next is the hit song "Novacane". Frank really told a beautiful story in this song. The sounds of a drum with futuristic tones cue in a genius with the lyrics, "I blame it on the model broad with a hollywood smile, stripper booty with a rack like wow. Brain like Burkley. Met her at Coachella, I went to see Jigga, she went to see Z-Trip. Perfect." and continues to tell stories of how he met a girl who is like a drug and numbs the pain for him. This girl gives him drugs of all sorts (probably pain killers) and it's just a great story of a girl in the porn industry and Franks relationship with her.

In the song "We All Try", every person is able to pick out a line or two they believe in as well. This ballad shows Franks struggle in faith in all things. He doesn't know what he believes in, but he believes in something. I think everyone has this conflict within themselves in their lives at one point. Really a great song.

Another little snippet of a Frank Oceanesque skit on this album. And it really got my hopes up. I thought "Is this guy gonna sing Radiohead???" Then you just hear this girl he trying to impress say, "What's a Radiohead?" and changes the track as Frank sneers, "What ever." But it's cool because he transitioned into another really fun and good song. This is definitely the more poppy side of Frank Ocean as he sings about how he sings to get at girls. At least he's honest about it. And what's different it doesn't seem as if he's bragging. Just telling the conversations he's had about this topic and how he's tried to lie about it and be truthfull about it and it never pleases anyone. Fun Song.

I'm just gonna skip to another great song because I'm running out of time here. "Swim Good" You hear the classic BOOM CLAP BOOM BOOM CLAP. And what's amazing about this song is that Frank really is a melody genius. No one I've heard since Stevie Wonder has made melodys just flow so naturally like that. Pharrell Williams calls him the "Black James Taylor". Really a beautiful song. I still don't fully understand the song cause that's just how complicated it is.

Now this album has a lot of great stuff but I just named my personal favorites. He has songs of how he is secretive, covers of The Eagles and a remix of MGMT's smash hit "Electric Feel", he makes it into more of a sexy nature thing with "Nature Feels". And ends off the album with a beautiful ballad "Pyrite." I'm not giving anymore away. Listen to it. You won't regret it.

Tyler, The Creator

I know, when people think of Tyler, The Creator they think of a rapper who just wants attention and does stupid shit and says the most innapropriate stuff. But I see a rapper that has a lot of potential to have a long career.

First off, his lyrics are kind of repetitive. He says shit about fuck this and fuck that and he's a fag. But he's a human diss machine. And that's something we haven't seen in rap since Eminem. And also I like how he stays true to what he does, he doesn't really care who he's around or what station he's or even who he's around. And he's not a rebel because of drugs and shit. He stays away from that because he thinks it'll distract him from his music. "While ya'll smoking doobies, I be in my bedroom scoring movies" (a lot of his music inspirations comes from film). Also his no limits dissing is awesome to listen too and other artists react and that's what he wants from them. He wants the big names in music to come out of their superstar shell and become human. "Rihanna haircut, Somebody tell Chris Brown to fuck me up" and "I'll beat the fuck out ya bitch anonymous Ike Turner" are lines that people did not take kindly to. How he got his name out in the world is through his diss track "Yonkers"

Second is his production skills. The beats he makes on his albums are just rediculous. He learned from the great Pharrell Williams and Pharrell said himself, "That guy is crazy, literally and he already is better than me." Tyler said in an interview that he thinks, "I'm a better producer than a rapper. Hopefully I can become a better rapper but I don't want to stop producing. I'm learning guitar and shit so I can have more harminous sounds and shit that make this bitches swoon." On his first album Goblin, the beats were awesome. And also he showed hints of a real artists in songs like "She" and "Nightmare". But still a lof of room for improvement. Now on his second album Wolf, his production skills have grown incredibly with more piano hooks and appropriate bass use. And also on Wolf his rhymes got more sophisticated, although he was still the human diss machine who will drop the F-Bomb at any time. His track "Colossus" is a perfect example of his growth in rapping. I think 2 major lable albums in and he's doing this??? This guy might change hip hop for the future.

Tyler is really a great artist. He has a lot of room for improvement but I think when it's all said and done he's gonna have a successfull career. Odd Future maybe filled with a bunch of friends who fuck around and make music who people accuse for homophobs.... which doesn't make sense since Frank Ocean is in it. Tyler actually said in a song "I'm a homophob, but Frank is in like 10 of my songs??" His group Odd Future as a whole is seeing more and more success. People are discovering Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean is maybe the future of R&B. And you can always count on them being in the news causing some controversey.

Gnarls Barkley: St. Elsewhere

I didn't know what to expect of this album. Never really heard any Gnarls and the album cover is bananas. The more I look at it the more it fits the album. Futuristic rap with nowadays R&B. And I realized when you listen to the album full way through, the hits on the album really hit you hard and you realize how good of a song that is. Like "Crazy" really is a beautiful song.

And Danger Mouse and his beats really are the best part of this album. They match perfectly with Cee Lo's voice. I would qualify this album as hip hop. My favorite song on it is "Who Cares". Some of the lyrics that Cee Lo spits are awesome. "Everybody wants to be somebody, but nobody wants to be themself" That's like poetry to me.


Here is "Who Cares"

Hip-Hop in the 80's

I enjoyed how we didn't go through entire albums. I think hip hop albums didn't start really becoming good until Public Enemy and Beastie Boys came around. Although I do plan on listneing to De La Soul's "3 Feet Above The Ground" or something like that.

I like hip hop because it's so different. It makes me feel different when I listen to it. I love hearing the stories. And with hip hop you don't get the gist of what they are trying to say. With real hip hop, you get word for word every bit of their message.

My favorite that we listened to was Ladidadi by Doug E. Fresh. That's just badass how you can make so much sense just from saying the first thing that goes to your mind. And a nasty hook that was used by one of the biggest rappers ever? It was sick. I can't wait for the future and what we get into.

Parliament/Funkadelic/George Clinton

George Clinton made a sound that changed music forever. His band Parliament started out as a doo wop group called the Parliaments, but then due to legal reasons he had to change his band name to Parliament.

He's known for his flamboyance and electrifying performances on stage. And his unusual way of lyrics and attire he wears. But he doesn't wear that stuff to be weird or cause he thinks it's normal. It started with him trying to get attention. His band was playing their album, same old same old. In front of a very uninterested crowd. Then he decided to tell his background singers to start dancing more. Soon he stood up and was belting all of his notes. He progressed to putting on nothing but a sheet over his body and showed his dick and balls to the crowd while singing and dancing. Thereforth, the revolution of Funk culture began.

George's style of making music was "whatever felt right." Some would say he would be chilling dropping acid, say a line like "Nasty dog" then leave the room to make a song. And his process of life and his philosophy really connected with the other members of the band. Like on the Funkadelic album "Maggot Brain" (1971).  They were just about to start recording, but then George went over to guitarist Eddie Hazel and told him. "I want you to go in there, and play like you just found out your mother died. But then, find out she's still alive." And Eddie Hazel played one of the greatest guitar solos I've ever heard. If it's possible to know exactly the situation he's playing in, I knew it. If that makes any sense.

Also George added on key members into the Funk revolution. The James Brown band let go of bad ass basist Bootsy Collins. They say because Bootsy was a little too much for James. But he was perfect for George. George would think of what he wants his music to sound like, then Bootsy made it happen. Apparently, George has had that idea of heavy bass and drum influence for a long time. It's just he had no one who could perform it to it's potential. Bootsy could. Also George added on Junie Morrison on the keys and synthesizer. Which made the exact sound George had invisioned. Sooner of later George had a Funk army he could control. You hear it in songs like "Flashlight"

George Clinton also was one of the first to compose a concept album. After hearing Sgt. Peppers by The Beatles, he said "Sgt. Peppers had every thing I want in music. It had everything I hold dear to me and stand by. It was an album that truly made me love music and made me want to make music like it" And thus the creation of The Mothership Connection happend. George then started making most of his albums with a concept. "Mothership Connection" was about a group of people from space who came to our planet to Funkify out world and make us groove more. Also albums like "The Return of Dr. Funkenstein", "Chocolate City", and "Gloryhallastoopid". George was truly awesome.

George created a whole new sound. That is still sampled today. In all hip hop/ r&b samples. George says "P-Funk is still alive today. I don't know how, but it always finds a way to reach the ears of people in the earth"