Music's 3R's 8.25.09: Blueprint III, MTVs Hottest MCs List, Paula Abdul and Favre, More

Posted by Aaron Titan on 08.25.2009

This week, we take a look at Jay-Z’s upcoming third installment in his Blueprint series, the next release by death metal titans Slayer, MTVs 2009 Hottest MCs List, and more!



Greetings

Hello all! After auditioning for 411Mania recently, Ashish and crew gave me the thumbs up to write for the site. I will be assuming all responsibility for the Music's 3'Rs from here on out. I'm very excited to share news and views on 411Mania and can't wait to get started, so let's get all the formalities out of the way, OK?

The Column

For those unfamiliar with the 3'Rs concept, here's the breakdown. I will be reporting and commenting on happenings in the music world and categorizing all the hoopla into three sections: the Right, the wRong, and the Ridiculous. The Right will feature news, albums, and announcements music-related that I'm personally stoked about. The wRong will be the bad versions of all three of the aforementioned. The Ridiculous is the worst of it all, that which makes good ol' Mr. Titan shake his head in perplexing amazement.


The Right


Blueprint III: Jay-Z announced the tracklisting for his upcoming September 11th release, The Blueprint III, on his website this week. In case you haven't seen it yet, check it out below:

1. "What We Talkin' About" (featuring Luke Steele of Empire of the Sun)
2. "Thank You"
3. "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)"
4. "Run This Town" (featuring Kanye West and Rihanna)
5. "Empire State of Mind" (featuring Alicia Keys)
6. "Real As it Gets" (featuring Young Jeezy)
7. "On to the Next One" (featuring Swizz Beatz)
8. "Off That" (featuring Drake)
9. "A Star is Born" (featuring J. Cole)
10. "Venus vs. Mars"
11. "Already Home" (featuring Kid Cudi)
12. "Hate" (featuring Kanye West)
13. "Reminder"
14. "So Ambitious" (featuring Pharrell)
15. "Young Forever" (featuring Mr Hudson)

Needless to say, I'm really excited about BP3. Say what you will about Kanye West – trust me, I do – but the fact that he's producing this album is a good thing. I'm a big fan of most of his self-produced material (most of 808's & Heartbreak, not so much) such as Common's Be, his tracks on Talib Kweli's Quality, and more recently Lil' Wayne's "Let the Beat Build" off of Tha Carter III. Though, isn't it quite ridiculous that the guy who stole T-Pain's gimmick and made an entire auto-tune album has his name on the production credits of a song called "Death of Auto-Tune?"

Nevertheless, let's keep this story in the Right section. I've heard "D.O.A." and "Run This Town" via YouTube and really liked both tracks. I also got hold of a leaked track this past summer called "Jockin' Jay-Z" that was rumored to be on BP3, but it didn't make the cut I guess. Judging by the bitchin' album art and the stuff I've heard off of it so far, Jay-Z is looking to drop yet another masterpiece.








New Slayer: Slayer's drummer Dave Lombardo (the best drummer I've ever seen play live) said in a recent interview that the group's new album World Painted Blood will drop sometime in October. I got a chance to hear the first single "Psychopathy Red" when I attended this summers Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. Sounded great to me! Typical Slayer awesomeness… If you're a metalhead and have never seen Slayer live, you should really catch them whenever they start touring in earnest behind this album. This summer marked my third (and favorite) Slayer show, and I thought they were truly the best band on the Mayhem bill, even though Marilyn Manson closed out the night.

I get the feeling that this album will trump 2006's Christ Illusion, but we'll just have to wait and see. The second single, "Hate Worldwide," was recently released through Hot Topic.




Queens of the Led Fighters: Rumor has it that the new supergroup Them Crooked Vultures will release their debut album, Never Deserved the Future on October 23rd. The three Vultures are Queens of the Stone Age's frontman Josh Homme (guitar and lead vocals), John Paul Jones of the mighty Led Zeppelin (bass, keys), and Foo Fighters mainman Dave Grohl (drums and backing vocals). They played their live debut at Chicago's Metro at a midnight performance after Lollapalooza came to a close a few weeks ago. God damn, this is gonna' be some fun shit! I'm a huge fan of all three bands and seriously can't wait to hopefully see Them Crooked Vultures in concert sooner than later.




The wRong





Where's the Hot MCs?: MTV is assembling their 2009 Hottest MCs list. Honestly, though the game is improving, I've found it hard to agree with their entire top 10 list for the past several years they've done this. Last year, they had guys on there such as Young Jeezy and 50 Cent. My problem with Young Jeezy is that I couldn't tell you the name of one of his songs. If he's that hot, shouldn't some of his music have trickled into my ears at some point? Hey, maybe it's my fault, as my car radio is out of order.

Now 50 Cent, while he's sold a lot of records and has been igniting some fire in the mixtape world as of late, isn't he supposed to have quit? He vowed to do so if Kanye West's Graduation outsold his album Curtis in 2007 (they were released on the same day). West not only outsold him, but by about 400,000 copies! He's hot, but not that hot…

To be frank, I'm not really high on a lot of the hip-hop/rap music coming out these days. MCs who still trip my trigger are guys like Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, and BlackThought of The Roots crew. If I had to pick this year's hottest MC, I'd have to say Eminem, as The Relapse has been spinning in my car pretty regularly since I picked it up in May.





Spirits in the Sky?: Billy Corgan is playing a string of shows later this month in California with a group of musicians under the moniker Spirits in the Sky. Most recently joining the fray is Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. Now I'm not down on this venture by Corgan and co., but he's still supposedly doing new Smashing Pumpkins music without drummer Jimmy Chamberlain. Chamberlain decided to leave Pumpkins 2.0 and Corgan has recruited 19-year-old drummer Mike Byrne as his permanent replacement.

Now, I caught the new Pumpkins lineup in college 2 years ago and it was pretty decent. I'll even go as far as saying Zeitgeist was a pretty fun album, but are the Pumpkins still the Pumpkins with no other original members but Billy Corgan? It doesn't feel like it to me. Why not record with this Spirits in the Sky lineup under that name? Yeah, it's all about the music and not the name, but still!

This is actually a pretty interesting debate as a lot of bands have soldiers on in somewhat similar fashions. I mean, Trent Reznor has always BEEN Nine Inch Nails, no matter who he tours with, but he does the majority of the recording for NIN albums and records most of the musical tracks himself, so he's earned that right and the general music public seems OK with it. Similarly, Billy Corgan does the majority of the writing and recording for the Pumpkins. For example, he insisted on recording pretty much everything himself on their 1991 debut, Gish, in order to achieve the sound he wanted, and dammit if that album isn't awesome. I just listened to it start to finish at work last week. Ne'ertheless, I can't help but miss James Iha just a little bit, so at least in this writer's mind, Billy Corgan ISN'T The Smashing Pumpkins.





We All Live in a Yellow 3D Submarine?: As reported by Mitch Michaels on our website, Robert Zemeckis, director of the upcoming CGI/3D flick A Christmas Carol, is in talks to remake The Beatles' Yellow Submarine film. If he gets the rights, it will be a 3D movie. While the visual appeal of this movie might be irresistible on opening weekend, what was fun about the original film was the witty banter by The Beatles…as voiced by The Beatles! Now, if they used the same soundtrack and voiceovers from the original movie, I may come around on this, but I'm still wary. Can't we come up with any original ideas anymore?

The tough part would probably be getting the rights to make the film in the first place, but lest we forget, Apple and whoever else has their fingers in The Beatles' empire came to terms on the upcoming release of Rock Band: The Beatles and the remasters box set (both being released on 9/9/09). The Beatles will also be available for digital consumption via iTunes on September 9th as well.


The Ridiculous





Paula Abdul vs. Brett Favre: Who teases the media more about coming back to something they weren't even really absent from yet? Well, probably Brett Favre (now a Viking), but still, is Paula coming back to Idol or not? There have been conflicting reports both ways. Supposedly, Paula was on the verge of being a new judge on So You Think You Can Dance, given her dancing background. Apparently, that offer was just a negotiation tactic to get her more money. Nobody's really sure what Paula's next move for TV domination will be, and really – does anybody really care?

I'm not a regular American Idol viewer, but this past May, I watched the finale in which Kris Allen won the title against Adam Lambert to see all the guest performers (such as the surviving members of Queen). I thought Randy, Simon, and Kara were well-spoken and charismatic; however, listening to Paula stutter through her impressions throughout the show was quite unbearable.

I called up my mom (an Idol fanatic) after the show and expressed my annoyance with Paula and she told me, "That's how she always is. It's really annoying. I hope they get rid of her before next season."

Well mom, looks like you may have your wish. They've already got some guest judges lined up for the audition episodes, including Shania Twain, Mary J. Blige, and Victoria Beckham. I mean, speaking from mostly and outsider's perspective here as a casual, intermittent viewer of the show, why is everyone so bent out of shape about someone who seems to struggled completing sentences – the bulk of the judges' jobs! Don't know, don't care!

Britney on Letterman



Yeah, not so much. I mean, don't get me wrong, bikinis are pretty sweet, but what is left to the imagination after the stuff she showed us all while getting out of her car a few years ago? And honestly, I didn't really find this that entertaining. Let's try to forget this a…REEEEEEEEEEEMIX!





OK, Chris Crocker, I'll leave her alone, but only because you lectured me to such a hypnotic beat!

Hasta Luego

Well that's a wrap for my first Music 3'Rs. See you here next Monday for more right, wrong, and utterly ridiculous in the music world. I appreciate any and all feedback! Cheers!