The 37th Chamber 08.27.08: You're So Special To Meeee

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 08.27.2008

Don't you hate buying an album, only to discover a Special Edition comes out a couple of months later? What about those bonus DVDs, does anybody actually watch them?

I didn't think it was possible. I honestly didn't. SOMEHOW, I managed to get even SICKER than I was the week before last. So, this month so far, I've suffered from; fever, throat infection, chest infection, sinus issues, dry/mucus cough, aches, conjunctivitis (that was the icing on Friday's already mucus ridden cake) and a complete lack of coordination. Although that last one may actually be my fault given, I trip on something everyday at work without fail.

So current health status: 60% given I had a fever at work, I'm on a roll baby.

I think it's a combination of what's being labeled as a 10-day virus that's plaguing Sydney at the moment and my inability to see a doctor. Not because I don't want to, but when you work 9-6 from Monday to Friday and 9-2 on Saturdays, you don't want to do ANYTHING on Sunday except rot brain cells in front of the Wii shooting ZOMBIES! So it's a matter of finding time really, cause you know, those zombies are just asking for it.

Anyway, I'm feeling inspired, there's my Ice Cube review up if you haven't read it yet, there's Game's L.A.X. hopefully going up tomorrow as well and another album I expect to be amazingly horrible if I muster up the courage to punish myself in that manner.

I'm also due to upgrade my mobile at some point in the near future and thinking of getting a LG Viewty because it's free on the mobile plan I'm on at the moment. I don't really need camera functions given I've got a 10MP SLR so it's mainly for the touch screen which is a novelty to amuse me when I'm bored.

But for now, let's get down to business!
*Cue music*

Reader Feedback
(May be edited for spelling, grammar etc.)

"All those "classic" albums you mentioned though do carry a fine balance of all three. That is what makes a classic album, balance. Something that most albums lack. Nowadays albums have way to many club tracks. Some artists refuse to create something catchy and light-hearted that everyone will enjoy, thus opting to keep it complex, Talib Kweli heres looking at you kid! Or it's too street, and that's what many don't understand!" - Kurruption

I personally wouldn't list The Eminem Show, GRODT and The Black Album as classic only because I think they're still a bit young. I'd take The Marshall Mathers LP over The Eminem Show as I'm a bit of a Stan for "Stan", "Bitch Please II" and "The Way I Am", but it does have "Kim" which can be extremely off putting and certainly isn't a song you can listen to at any point.

GRODT I wouldn't call classic just because "Like My Style" and "Poor Lil Rich" annoy me, the Tony Yayo appearance doesn't help things either. However, get rid of those, remove ‘the line' from "21 Questions" and possibly get rid of "High All The Time" and it's definitely a street classic. CLASSIC, classic though, probably not, because there's not much to appeal to those who aren't fond of gangsta rap, well more thug rap really.

Talib Kweli I think needs to be tricked into making a mixtape his actual album, as every mixtape he's done seems to be miles better than his actual official studio work. If you look at his solo work though, he's always done better with one predominant producer behind him. The Reflection Eternal album and just recently, the Liberation album with Madlib are much better than Beautiful Struggle (although I don't know why that album is disliked as much as it is) and to an extent, Eardrum.

"The problem is rap artists put themselves in a box and never try to go beyond their self imposed boundaries.

Artists who are versatile and don't limit themselves tend to have longer careers. while strictly street MCs or party MCs become one hit wonders. Look at LL Cool J, Kanye, Beastie Boys, Jay-Z. They also don't take themselves too seriously." - rey

The flip side to that coin is that often when an MC becomes TOO comfortable, we demand they move outside their zone and try something new. Of course, this then leads to some cases of complete abstract such as Common's Electric Circus, or Mos Def's The New Danger. I think pushing the boundaries of their rapping style and content should be a goal with each new album a rapper releases, but not so much as they break those boundaries. I know that's one of the main criticisms people bring when they talk about Canibus though his last album did show a desire to rap about something other than lyrically annihilating other rappers. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'd pay good money to see Canibus rip someone to shreds.

Props for mentioning the Beastie Boys too. A lot of people don't realize that they helped pioneer the sampling era as well as a more carefree brand of rap in a time when gangsta rap was on the rise. Licensed To Ill is an extremely satisfying listen if you haven't heard it already. I have a copy somewhere but I can't seem to see the actual CD…which is worrying as I think my sister's friend is ‘borrowing' CDs off me.

"If Dre were still working for Suge or Eazy, they wouldn't have that delay after 900 promises.
Lil Wayne- I'm no fan but I have to give him props on the numbers. 50 and Jay didn't even go double with their last albums. Nas was going double plat 10 years ago but was getting the complaints of selling out, Wu hasn't even gone platinum since The W came out back in 2000. Eminem will move units if he actually puts out something.

Nas doing 316,350 with the lack of promotion he did for his album (Radio, MTV and BET) is still pretty good. I wish more mainstream artists took the "to hell with sales" approach when making an album and let their true talent shine." - _

The thing with Wayne is that he's still selling ridiculously consistent numbers. The week ended 08/10/08, he sold 67,000 copies, the week later; he sold 61,000, which is less than a 10% drop. Given the album was released over two months ago, that's a damn accomplishment. Kanye managed to go Double with Graduation but took four months to do it, whereas Wayne did it in less than two. I actually predicted about 400,000 first week sales for Tha Carter III, oh how I was wrong.

It saddens me that Wu-Tang aren't selling anywhere near what they used to, and even as solo artists, only Meth and Ghost are seeing any form of success. Maybe if they got together, made some stupid-ass dance, and called it "The Wu Dance" or something they'd sell. Of course, I'd catch a plan to New York and slap them in the face after…then run like hell. Raekwon's not the kind of guy to take something like that peacefully.

"Gallagher admits he was wrong, stfu." - Chungles

He admits he was wrong, only to save face and even then you can read between the lines that he doesn't even consider Jay-Z or hip-hop as legitimate still.

"Them rock n roll haters are just mad that more people like hip-hop then that loud ass noise. It is more diverse except for in undercover racist ass Boston, it set the realist story, and the beats are hotter. Shit most people that like rock can't dance for shit. A lack of rhythm" - hiphopking

Heh…I can attest to that last bit. We took a friend to a party once, and he was a hardcore rock fan and when they actually threw on a rock set…well, the ‘Crank That' dance looked like ballet by comparison.

Another thing I can't stand about SOME rock fans, is that they develop an extremely elitist view and put down other genres. It's not ALL rock fans, just some, and I can imagine that you know at least one person like that. You know, the one that won't listen to ANYTHING except rock to the point of leaving the room or dominating the radio in the car. There's nothing wrong with favoring a genre, but when you actively put down other genres, that's when I want to cram a pencil up your nose. I'm not a violent person by nature; I just enjoy the mental image of people running around with pencils in their noses.

Just before we move on, a couple of weeks back we were talking about dream collaborations and another struck me, Canibus and RZA. I may have already mentioned this actually; the last few weeks are a mucus-y blur.

The Rant

I hate Special Edition CDs.

Let me rephrase that, I hate Special Edition CDs that are released at the same time (and I have no idea of their existence), or six months after the original release. Case in point, 8 Diagrams had a Special Edition version out in the same week, but the store I went to didn't have it. So I bought the ‘plain' copy and get less-cool cover art, fewer tracks, and sense of pissed offed-ness, then discovered the week after, there was a Special Edition available.

Sometimes when they're re-released they can actually make a significant impact, particularly if there are new tracks included that people actually LIKE, instead of random remixes or a dance/trance version.

If you look at Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad it's been released in THREE different types. The standard, deluxe and (OH MY GOSH!) Reloaded editions. The standard is self-explanatory, the deluxe version had the aforementioned dance remixes and the latest, the Reloaded version, comes with three extra tracks ("Disturbia", "Take A Bow" and "If I Never…").

If you were a die-hard Rihanna fan, and bought the standard copy when it came out then discovered there was a ‘Deluxe' edition only for the ‘Reloaded' version to come out a year later. Is it possible for people to have bought all three copies? I think so given the sales figures.

Since Reloaded version came out in June, it jumped a whopping 930% in sales figures with 63,000 sold in its first week since re-release. As we did for Wayne's album above, from the week ended 08/10/08, Rihanna sold just under 44,000 copies, which dropped to approx. 42,000 copies the week after. That's less than a 4% drop! With "Disturbia" entering the charts, I can't honestly see the album dropping faster anytime soon.

Likewise, Chris Brown's Exclusive album had three versions. The standard, Deluxe and Forever edition. There is actually some difference here, as the Deluxe version's extra tracks are different to the Forever versions, so if you bought both copies, you wouldn't necessarily be as pissed off as with Rihanna's.

Of course, one of the main selling points of these Special Edition CDs, is the extra DVD you get. Often these DVDs include music videos that aren't necessarily going to be released on air, such as 50 Cent's Massacre Special Edition album. Other times you get albums that include concert footage or ‘Behind The Scenes', making of footage. For a rapper who would get next to no video play, or someone who puts on a good live show (Common, I know form experience does, even 50 Cent does…yes also from experience), an extra DVD with live footage would be interesting. If the rapper has a sense of humor, they can be particularly entertaining as well watching them clown around in the studio with their friends or the Producers.

But really, does anybody watch these more than once? Hell, I haven't even watched some of the ones I own once. I AM interested, but I'm more interested in the actual music. So, to me, a DVD with bonus live footage isn't always a selling point. Certainly not if I already have a copy of the album.

It's like on a DVD for a movie. There's two versions, the single disc ‘BORING' edition, or the double disc ‘SUPER SEXY!' edition. The double disc version comes with audio commentary from a bunch of people who aren't actually in the movie (Producers, director, key-grip, best boy etc.) as well as deleted scenes, not because they're too funny or vulgar, but because they ran too long. I own a copy of SUPER SEXY versions of movies and never watch the extra disc. I have with some, especially any movies by Kevin Smith, usually because he gives actually entertaining insight, rather than droning on as they do in other audio commentaries. Other movies though, you watch the deleted scenes and immediately, think "well, I know why it was deleted".

I've read a rapper's testimony that the Special Editions are for the "real fans out there", because the "real fans" are the ones that will buy the exact same album twice for the sake of an extra CD. No, the "real fans" get pissed off that it wasn't released earlier at the same time as the standard edition. To be honest, if I've got the choice between a standard and special edition, and the difference in price is nil or only a dollar or so, I'll usually buy the special edition. Why? Because I'm an idiot and convince myself that I'll watch that extra DVD at some point. Hey, it's on my to do list isn't it?! If a special edition of a CD is released months after I've already bought the album though, I'll just download purchase the extra tracks digitally.

The people that DO buy the Special Edition after the album originally came out, are the ones that didn't buy it to start with, and have been convinced by a new DVD or extra tracks, or the ones that have money to burn in that sense. I call those people, Lucky because they don't have to worry about paying phone, internet, or petrol bills.

If you think about it, in a kind of conspiracy theory manner, Special Edition CDs that come with extra tracks, not an extra DVD or anything, are actually killing the physical CD sales industry. If you already have the original version, and don't have money to burn, you have a couple of options. You can do something extremely naughty and download them, or you can purchase them online from somewhere like iTunes for a track-by-track price, rather than buying the whole damn album again.

Rihanna's Reloaded edition has replaced the original version on iTunes which makes a great deal of sense if you think about it. Someone downloading their music from iTunes doesn't want to download the original version, then realize they wanted the Special Edition, and have to search it out. It also gives people the ability to instantly recognize the extra tracks, and download them individually without having to download and pay for the entire album again.

Special Edition CDs: The scourge of the music industry.

YouTube Of The Week

Because I'm flaking out on the other aspects of this week's column, have a laugh at these.

First up, there's a remix (or Special Version) of an old classic



Now another excited kid, possibly a relation of the above



And finally, a Techno Remix of everybody's favorite response to "This is madness!", no matter what the context may actually be



Before We Go…

Alright, I promise that if by next week, I'm not 100% better and everything is back to normal, I shall film a small child kicking me in the groin and up load it to YouTube. Of course, that could well make it difficult to post the following weeks, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.