The Raw Addict, 9.20.09.: DESK-CLEANING
Posted by Phil Watts, Jr on 09.20.2009
I’m still here. This week, I go over the news that I let slip over the past few months.
Hello, everyone…
First of all, I think some apologies are in order.
It's been a long time since I've posted something here…and it's been even longer since I was a consistent contributor here. I've been going through so much lately, from computer problems to health problems, job problems, being too broke to buy the latest albums like I used to, and having a severe case of WRITERS BLOCK. I've been so out of the loop that if 411mania was a paying job, I'd have been laid off a long time ago. Hopefully things have slowed down enough that I can crank out some columns again.
Now, enough about that…let's get down to business…
A whole lot of interesting things have happened since my absence. Therefore, I am going to dedicate this column to going over them.
THE DEATH OF BAATIN
When the Slum Village was gaining lots of buzz with FANTASTIC Vol. 2, no one had any clue that we would lose two of those three people years down the line. On top of that, we'd lose them both to ailments that doctors still can't make heads or tails of.
When a lot of people saw that Slum Village, they usually just take one glance at the cover, see the one guy in the turban, and say, "MAAAN---they some CONSCIOUS NIGGAZ! I ain't wit that conscious shit!!" Unbeknownst to them that the Slum Village is was anything BUT conscious…and that the guy in the turban was the nastiest, freakiest one!
FANTASTIC 1 & 2 had many hilarious moments, most of them involving Baatin. From hoggin the mic in "Fat Cat's song" to getting on some serious freak shit in "Keep It On" (what exactly were those lines that got edited out?), getting on "2U4U" saying some dumb shit like "I want your CLIT in a SPECIAL WAY" and repeating it like it's DOPE, to the SV and some group called 5 ELA competing in a "who can come up with the most ig'nant, Nig-tastic lines" contest. It was one of the things that made the FANTASTIC series entertaining.
It's sad that things haven't been the same since the original trio split. That's not to say that the records sucked without J-Dilla and Baatin--in fact, the last SV album (creatively titled SLUM VILLAGE) was ill as fuck! It's just that the vibe couldn't be duplicated.
Between all of his personal problems and and everything else, Baatin was working on a solo album during the past few years of his life. I've only heard 2 songs, which were both tight. I really hope there was more from him.
THE RETURN OF MAXWELL
One of the unsung heroes of modern R&B is back with his first album in 8 years.
I wasn't too happy about his last joint, NOW, which despite two great standouts, "This Woman's Work" and "Lifetime", the album as a whole is pretty EHH. BLACKsummers'night is pretty much the opposite--an album that's well put together, but doesn't have THAT SONG that really sticks to you. It doesn't have a "Wonder" or a "Somethin'" or "Fortunate" or anything that stands out. It doesn't really say, "EIGHT YEARS IN THE MAKING" to me. It's good to know that he's still got it, but hopefully the next one will be a little more memorable.
By the way, this is supposed to be part one of a TRILOGY of albums. The first one being BLACKsummers'night, with the follow-ups being blackSUMMERS'night and blacksummers'NIGHT.
THE RETURN OF WHITNEY HOUSTON
When it comes to falling from grace, Whitney was pretty much up there with Michael Jackson. Both were on top of the world, sold millions of records, packed millions of stadiums, and influenced countless artists. But soon, after all the legal problems and things that they had no business getting involved in, they went from being on top of the world to being the butt of jokes.
It's weird how all the sudden, the media is treating her like she was all innocent and how it was Bobby Brown that corrupted her…but as the saying goes, "It takes two to tango" ("KISSMYASS!!!!!!!") She should be thankful that she was given the opportunity to restart her music career. After all, what happened to Michael Jackson this past June could've easily happened to her.
As for the comeback album itself? EHH. I remember when they dropped her single with Akon months ago, which got no response whatsoever. Aside from the ballsy move of doing a straight-up DISCO joint ("Million Dollar Bill", my favorite song on the whole album), much of the release is in harmless/inoffensive/middle-of-the-road territory.
Songs like "I Don't Know My Own Strength" doesn't help. There's nothing wrong with making songs that reference your own personal drama (see Marvin Gaye's HERE MY DEAR), but it would've been much better if the lyrics didn't read like something out of a self-help pamphlet.
If I had my way, Quincy Jones would come out of retirement, call up the whole gang (Rod Temperton, Patti Austin, Louis Johnson, Herbie Hancock, the Tower of Power horn section, etc.), and help the poor girl out. Now THAT would be a COMEBACK!
VAST-AIRE VS. EL-P
File this under "BEEF BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE THAT SHOULDN'T BE BEEFING"…that is if that what you want to call it.
Long story short, Vast Aire gets fed up with his former group, the Weathermen, and his dissatisfied with El-P's handling of his projects and other shit. The death of Camo Tao didn't exactly help matters. In response, El-P just tells Vast to get over himself.
Looks like COLD VEIN 2 is out of the question.
Now a lot of people will find all these guys to be completely irrelevant right now, but their whole sound will always be a huge part of what I like about Hip-hop. While everyone else is simply TALKING about ‘taking it to the next level' and ‘thinking outside the box' and all those other buzz-phrases, these guys were already there. Whether it was during their thankless years with Rawkus Records or as Def Jux Records, all these artists were way ahead of their time.
It's just sad that they've all been reduced to this.
RAEKWON SNUFFS OUT JOE BUDDEN…
…or actually RAEKWON SENDS UNDERLINGS AND WEED COURIERS TO SNUFF OUT JOE BUDDEN. Either way, it's a really bad look…for Raekwon.
He should've a) let Method Man fight his own battles (remember--Joe called out Meth), or b) left Joe Budden to reflect on the fact that all this started simply because he got bent out of shape over a stupid list that was done by a magazine that's on its last leg…meanwhile, Rae would put that same energy to better use by promoting ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX 2!
OB4CL2 is Raekwon's best effort in years…and Processed Beef is not a good way to promote it.
M.O.P.--JACKIN' FOR BEATS!!!
Danz and Fizzy have returned with THE FOUNDATION, their first album since WARRIORZ. However, the return has come with some controversy.
Back in September 2008, MOP, Joe Buddens, Termanology and Big Shugg came down to Sonar in B'more and me, my man Esco and Keon went to the show. I pass out beat cd's to Term, Joe and during MOP's show I give it to Laze E Laze's son (some young nigga) who's the hype man. Now, fast forward to September 2009 and I'm listening to MOP's Foundation album on my way home from work and when track #9 "Rude Bastard" comes on....it's MY FUCKING BEAT! Not the same sample, the SAME BEAT! Drum programming, sample, chops...the whole damn beat! Then my man Mills does the knowledge for me to see who got credit for the track on the album and it says "produced by Fizzy Womack/Lil Fame"! So...I don't get a check, I don't get credit...I don't even get co production credit! And I'm not looking for no "feel sorry for me" or none of that hoopla...I'm just asking for cats to forward this email to ANYONE who ya'll know loves hip hop so I can @ least get credit from my peers for this track. Ya'll ALL know I've been grinding @ this beat thing for YEARS and for my first placement on an album to be a jack move...it just ain't right...but it is what it is...like I said do me this justice and @ least let the hip hop heads ya'll know that your dude Kil gave MOP THAT heat...not no fucking Fizzy Womack…(from Kil Beats of Omni)
In the words of Diamond D, "You must be new, little man--what the fuck you expect?!"
I see wrong on both sides. Kil made the first mistake by handing out the beat-tapes in the first place. I remember a story of Pete Rock working on the concept of a beat when he got a visit from Q-Tip. Months later, Tip would use some of the concepts that he heard during that visit, and would use them for the beat, "WE GOT THE JAZZ", in which Pete still holds some resentment for. BOTTOM LINE: Unless they are paying customers, DON'T GIVE THEM SHIT!!! Don't hand out nothing; don't play no new material around them; don't do NOTHING!
When Fizzy saw the mixup in the credits, he should've made the phonecall to Kil right then and there. Screwed up credits are nothing new (the fact that Epic Records screwed up the credits of BULLETPROOF WALLETS was one of the reasons why Ghostface left the label). Fizzy should've let everyone know the moment the CD's went to press. By finding out about the mishap this late makes him look suspect. To think that MOP has been in the business this long…you'd think that they would have a better handling on their own projects by now.
Thankfully, both Kil and Fiz recently settled things before it got ugly.
KANYE AT THE VMA'S
…and everyone's SURPRISED?!
Everyone talks about how Kanye should be banned from all further VMA‘s, but as far as I'm concerned, Kanye couldn't have found a better home than MTV. With Music TeleVision spending less attention on music and more attention on constant drama, Kanye is just merely filling the quotient. If it weren't for Kanye, no one would remember anything about this year's MTV VMA's.
Everyone who's actually looking for MUSIC has long since stopped checking for MTV years ago. (FUN FACT: Taylor Swift's success had absolutely NOTHING to do with MTV, since MTV DOESN'T PLAY COUNTRY!!)
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MUSICAL OUTRO
This is probably the last time we ever got anything remotely close to a Native Tongue colabo. Judging from the opening line, the Tongues were just patching up their quarrel with the JB's. This track led me to copping the JB's RAW DELUXE album, which was pretty decent (and deserved a little more attention than it got.) It's sad that we never got a full Native Tongues project with all the key players (The JB's, Tribe, De La, Black Sheep, Latifah, Monie). The possibility of that happening these days is even LESS likely, as most of them aren't seeing eye-to-eye, especially Baby Bam, who currently harbors bitterness towards both Pos and Tip. And the less said about Bam's current wardrobe, the better.
By the way, this track was co-produced by Grand Master Roc Raida of the World Famous X-MenX-Ecutionerz…and one of the latest we've lost. He died of complications from injuries he suffered from a car accident.
"I am sorry 2 say that on this day at 2:05 Sept 19th we lost another incredible life...Dj Roc Raida died 2day my personal Dj is gone... I just wanna thank everyone 4 ur love and support and ur prayers...We will never let ur name die Roc...We love u and will 4ever miss u...RIP." (Busta Rhymes' Twitter)
