The 37th Chamber 12.10.08: Track 1 - Intro

Posted by Patrick Robinson on 12.10.2008

How many times does your listening experience get killed by a dead weight Intro track? Rappers talking about getting haircuts? Leave that on the studio floor! Give me "Be" any day

I have no depth perception. I keep hitting the garage door as I come up the driveway and there's now multiple red dents, much to the immense annoyance of my family.

I can't help it though, I keep getting too involved in the music I'm listening to at the time, although thankfully, Common seems to have brought me temporarily out of the Miami rap scene.

Anyway, I've decided to write Christmas cards to some of my regular customers at work as they've started giving me PRESENTS, usually in the form of money or in one case, a movie voucher. It's not much, but considering most of these folks live in three room apartments by themselves and survive solely on a Government pension to get by, it's a lot for them.

I also find my inexplicable Shawty Lo fascination declining as I started listening to his album yesterday and it's…not fun. The production was horrible and he isn't as funny when you've got to listen to him for like, 4 minutes straight. Stick to the guest spots Mr. Lo.

Believe it or not, I'm also looking forward to Soulja Boy's album, just because I have some faith that it can't possibly be as bad as his first album. If not, well I get the chance to rip on his album for a second year running. Just in time for the Year End Awards too.

Also, how different is Sean Garrett's rapping voice to his singing voice?

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

"co-sign.

My friend looked at me crazy when I tried to explain it to him... I forget which Madden it was (I think '04) but it had this song by Thrice on it, I'd NEVER check the band out but since I heard them through Madden, it aided my chances in digging them

... and Little Brother can do anything.
Anything." - Joe

As much as I hate 50 Cent, he was responsible for putting me onto Game initially, given Game had a brief freestyle track on the G-Unit Radio Pt. 5 mixtape I think it was. After that, Game mixtapes started popping up everywhere, but yes, I can claim I started listening to him because of 50.

Video games are an outlet I forgot about. Games such as the Need For Speed series, particularly the Underground editions had a decent blend of both hip-hop and rock influenced tracks. I started listening to T.I. after I heard "24s" on the first Underground edition that came out.

The second one had a track by Styles Of Beyond, who are affiliated with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park (and Mike's side act of Fort Minor), so I got into them through that game too. Madden is definitely a series that has brought out some fresh artists. I think Spider Loc had a track on one a couple of years back, and Bishop Lamont as well.

"Check out Hot Dolla's and Clinton Wayne's back in forth feud from this year I'll refer you to dubcnn.com look in the archives August-September I think....then Clinton Wayne's Regal Musik" - Ramirez

Ah thanks for that Ramirez. I've got dubcnn.com saved as a bookmark on my browser, but I don't regularly go there anymore. I'll start checking it out from now on. What kind of style does Clinton Wayne have?

"Love the column, best on site, but were you slightly high writing this column:

"Rakim will always be the Best Rapper Alive, probably even when he dies"

"There's another name on the tip of my tongue that was discovered through the Internet. Oh wait, it was Paul Wall."

Stoned times?" - Guest#2677

Thanks! Leave a name when you comment though, it's easier than referring people to as a number haha. Anyway…I haven't touched the stuff for many years now thankfully, but yeah, it's not Paul Wall is it. I think I got confused by the hype factor in that there was a decent amount of buzz for him before his album came out. WHY, I'll never know, given he's basically got two topics to rap about and an extremely limited vocabulary.

But Rakim, yes he'll still be the Best Rapper Alive, even when he's no longer alive. Unless Nas can stop with the controversy surrounding an album for ONE release, and then follow it up with a decent offering, Rakim's still going to be the best that's ever touched the mic.

Though that's not to say that someone's going to come in and blaze a trail one day, but at this point in time, and this stage of hip-hop's life, it doesn't seem terribly likely, given it keeps getting suffocated by the Gucci Mane's and Shawty Lo's of our day.

"Hey, what do you think about Charles Hamilton? I think dude can be Big... BIG." - Joe

I've got a mixtape to download thanks to CJ by Charles Hamilton, along with ones by Asher Roth and B.o.B. who have all been named in XXL's who to watch list for 2009. I think I'll plug that mixtape into the New Years Resolution program. Sadly, it looks like the only way I'm going to get around to finished 808s & Heartbreak is that too. More on that later though.

"My guess on Lil' Wayne's I Am Music Tour is that 50-75% of those shows will be no-shows on Weezy's part. You heard it here first." - nastrodamus

I would not be surprised in the least either. For someone claiming to be the Best Rapper Alive, he's not making it easy for his supporters with the constant no-shows.

To be fair though, I'm not sure what I'd be more pissed off about. A no-show, or a really half-assed one. Given I've only been to two live concerts, and seen one by accident (as in it wasn't planned), I can't really comment on a no-show or a half-assed show as they were all spectacular (yes, 50 had his moments).

If you were a rapper and did no-show for whatever reason, you'd want to make sure that the follow up show was the best you'd done, or of that caliber otherwise you've no-showed and then half-assed a follow up show. Way to lose fans.

Anyone with experience of a no-show or half-assed show want to comment?

"So while Wayne and T-Pain are on tour what's EVERY OTHER RAPPER gonna do for songs cuz those two no talent auto tune hacks are in every fucking song saying the same thing they do in every song... and that is why rap is dead" - fuck ringtone rap

Oh my God you're right. NO WAIT, there's still Akon for people's hooks. Great…another three months of nothing but Akon hooks to look forward to. Heaven forbid someone finds Nate Dogg's phone number on their iPhone, or whatever phone seems to be attaching itself to rappers these days.

With Keri Hilson and Keyshia Cole gone too, everyone's going to turn to CHRIS BROWN or more hopefully, Ne-Yo for their R&B hooks. If they want a female voice though, there's always Mariah's Nick Cannon-marrying self or Cassie if someone remembers she's had more than "Me & U" in her career.

You know, if this tour extended beyond the planned mid-January finish, it could potentially be the most disastrous or beneficial tour for hip-hop.

If we want auto-tune for our tracks though, we could call up Snoop Dogg. "Sensual Seduction" was a stupid-fun track after all.

" "Coming soon in 2009, Metrosexual Rap!"

Let's be honest as much as I love hip-hop some of it is very, very and I mean very gay. From glorifying prison life, to focus on fashion (Gucci man? Really?) to shit like dudes telling other dudes they got swag (Props to Styles for speaking the truth). And that phrase "no homo" which is being used terribly wrong. (Can you believe some dude said "no homo" while talking to a girl? Yeah me neither)

I have this theory that there are gay rappers making gay things okay in the supposedly homophobic hip-hop community. Go watch this Cam'Ron interview on YouTube where he sounds gay as hell defending "no homo" phrase like he thinks of gay shit all day. I mean if you really look at things that are seen as gay they are pretty much glorified in a lot of mainstream hip-hop. Coincidence? I think not."

There's a website I used to read where someone made a list of the most ambiguously gay lines in hip-hop. Some of them were pretty funny. I think I'll pull up a couple:

"Yeah, you may have more cash than me, but you don't have the skills to eat a nigga's ass like me"

Disappointed to say, that's my favorite MC, Canibus from "Second Round K.O."

"Only thing he ever clapped was his hands, he'll get duct-taped, butt-raped the Michelin man!"

That's from the inventor of ‘no homo' himself, Cam'Ron in a freestyle a couple of years back.

"Determined niggas make it, Kickin down the door and we burnin niggas naked"

Jadakiss – "We Gon Make It". Thanks Jada, why did you have to mention nakedness?

Hip-hop does have a reputation for being homophobic as I mentioned a couple of weeks back, though I suppose your theory could be true. It does seem that rap is becoming a bit more flamboyant with each passing year. I mean, in 2005 we were knocking the emo-rockers for dressing like 12 yr old girls and wearing make up and tight jeans…list goes on.

What happens in 2006? Jim Jones and the ‘no homo' crew start wearing tight jeans, Versace scarves…Suddenly it becomes acceptable for grown men to dress like teenage girls at a Fall Out Boy concert. It wouldn't be so bad, but Dipset do have a tendency to rap about guns and drug running etc. I don't know about you, but I couldn't take a cocaine dealer wearing skinny jeans seriously.

Seriously, ‘no homo' may just be the stupidest phrase in hip-hop.

"Forgot to mention, that if you listen to a lot of rap songs now, they all say the same thing in some way.

To paraphrase half mainstream rappers in at least one of their songs:

"Fuck women, I only roll with my niggas"

While I understand the gold diggers and hoes and shit like that stuff like but damn they act like they treating other dudes better then women?" - Colin

Well, the age old saying does go "Bro's before hoes" which has gotten me in trouble many, MANY times from friend's girlfriends (saying it in front of them is never a wise thing to do). Although once you get into a relationship, you tend to start reversing the order a little.

ANYWAY, I think the increasing importance being placed on your crew these days is causing this kind of attitude. Honestly, I think if more rappers had an outspoken (not loud, but one with an opinion on things) female in their crew, they'd probably get into less trouble. Unless you're DMX, whose wife at one point was trying to out crazy him with the traffic violations.

"Great to see Bone Thugs back, but it's too bad we gotta wait for Dream's album. His first one was a hot album. Hopefully, we can expect the same." - Fred Richani

It'll be good to hear Bone Thugs instead of BTNH Lite like we have been over the last few years. I just hope they can keep it together for a couple of albums this time round.

Actually that news bit had some more tracks listed as part of the set list that BTNH performed at the concert. They listed "I Tried" as a ‘classic' Bone Thugs track, which makes me believe that the term ‘classic' now refers to anything that isn't outright brain-dead rap. Seriously, "I Tried"? That had AKON on it for crying out loud AND the song isn't that old! Classics should be at least 10 years old to mellow like a fine wine.

Before we go on, I have to mention that these new headphones I bought the other day ROCK. They only cost me $30, but the quality is outstanding. I'm hearing things in my music that I've never heard before!

The Rant

When an artist is in the process of making an album, the A&R (Artist and Repertoire) department of the label acts as a liaison between the label and the artist. The A&R's generally determine if they think the tracks are marketable as singles, choose a lead single with the artist, the follow up single etc.

The A&R's along with whoever's name is attached to the "Executive Producer" title on the back of the CD also generally determine the order in which the songs appear on the CD.

You may not think that it's necessarily an important matter, as music is music no matter what order it's presented in, but sometimes it can significantly change the listening experience of the customer.

Consider J. Holiday's CD that I reviewed for the site. The problem with that album was that some of the songs didn't really suit the image that "Bed" presented of J. Holiday. In fact, basically the first half of the CD had more hip-hop, specifically a merging of gangsta rap and R&B themed tracks. What happened was that I had this perception of J. Holiday as someone who was an R&B singer, along the lines of "Bed", so hearing the first half of the CD was basically a let down in terms of expectations.

If you have an album that's being marketed as a party rap or club rap album, and then proceed to drop two or three slow jams at the beginning of the CD, the listener is sitting around waiting ‘for the real show' to start.

Akon's latest CD is another good example in that the first half of that album is in the same vein as "Right Now", faster, I think they're calling it Euro-trance themed tracks. Actually that seems to be ‘the sound' in R&B now. Rihanna had "Please Don't Stop The Music", Ne-Yo had "Closer", I'm sure I'd think of more if I wasn't listening to Obie Trice.

Anyway, Freedom then turns into a slower affair once you make it past the half-way mark. I can understand wanting to show a different side, but the main criticism I'm taking away from reviews, and comments on reviews of the album, is that the slower half really kills the pace that the album had built over the first half of the album.

I mentioned in my review for Common's album, which should be up around the same time as this, that The Neptunes produced 7 of the 10 tracks on the album, and Mr. DJ produced the remaining 3 (you may know him from his work with Outkast). The way that the Mr. DJ tracks, which were slower and bouncier than The Neptunes' frantic beats really helped break the album up. It was like, you got hit by a couple of hectic tracks in a row, but then had a moment to catch your breath before plunging right back in on the very next track.

What I was originally going to rant about was opening tracks on albums. How often do you check an album to discover that the lead single is the first track on the album? Possibly after an Intro track.

Speaking of Intro tracks, I think the stupidest thing a rapper can do is name their Intro track, "Intro". You can't make it a single, and many times we've found that the artists best work ends up being on the "Intro". JUST CALL IT SOMETHING! What's worse is rappers just talking about NOTHING on the Intro. If you're talking about the creative process that went into making the album, or introducing the next song, then ok, that's fine. But when you're talking about smoking weed or getting a haircut, no. Leave that shit on the studio floor.

I can't believe I'm going to quote J-Kwon, but on his debut album, he mentioned that rappers often waste a hot beat on their Intro track. Dammit, that happens more than you initially think!

Anyway, it's a common move to put the lead single, or most popular single as the opening track, as it gets the listener involved in the album before they even realize it. If you think about it, the casual listener isn't going to skip right to their favorite track before the CD has even started if it's the first one up, are they?

Opening tracks I think can make or break an album before the album is even over. If you start off with a droning, boring Intro, the listener is in a negative state of mind when listening to the next few tracks, and if you're reviewing the album, chances are you'd potentially underrate the first track right after the Intro.

Another serious problem is when you open an album with a really, really long track. People get bored when it's the first one up. Personally, I think Kanye's album may have been accepted a little better, had he not started out with a 6 mins 20 seconds song, the longest on the album, and one with the most sparse and slow beat. It completely killed the motivation I had for that album when I popped it into my car's CD player, as the remaining THREE MINUTES TWENTY SECONDS of the song is nothing but beat. ‘Beep…boop…beep…boop' if you've listened to 808s you know what I'm talking about.

No Kanye would have been much better off starting out with "Welcome To Heartbreak" as Kid Cudi's work on the hook tempers out Kanye's auto-tune vocals. It would have been a much easier way to let a listener into the new Kanye sound. Actually, that might not have been the best choice either, "Heartless" I think would have been, as the auto-tune isn't as prevalent on the verses.

At no point in a song should the listener say to themselves, "hurry up and FINISH already!" (that's what she said! Haaaa….no). If you find yourself saying that when you're listening to a song, or worse, the opening track for an album, you're already in a negative mindset when it comes to the rest of the album.

A perfect example of an opening track is "Be" off Common's album of the same name. Short, with only about a minute or so of rapping, with a vibrant beat, the track abruptly ends and leaves you wanting more. In that sense, you're eager to hear the rest of the album, you want to see if he's on that same vein as the opening track, and when it turns out he is, DAMN, it makes a good album.

"The Genesis" off Illmatic sets the tone for the whole album, and doesn't even feature any rapping, unless you count the sample used at the start of the track ("Live At The Barbeque", the first bars of Nas' music career). Instead, Nas, his brother Jungle and AZ start talking about smoking weed, counting money and the crap on the radio currently being played. In particular, it sets you up for tracks like "Life's A Bitch", probably my favorite Nas track of all time with one of the best guest verses of all time by AZ.

To bring the money side of things in, as an artist, you want to give your fans the best value for their money; otherwise, you're not a very good artist. If your Intro track is a couple of minutes long, and you have an Outro track that is a couple of minutes long, that's around 4 or even 5 minutes that nobody's going to listen to again, if it's just you and your friends talking about nothing to do with the album.

Apart from the first time I listen to an album, when I don't skip anything, no matter how terrible it may be, I rarely, if ever listen to an Intro track again if it doesn't add anything to the album. On short albums especially, who wants to pay money for time taken up by a rapper who simply likes the sound of their own voice?

Imagine Common's latest album for example. It's a damn short album, clocking in at just over 38 minutes, and if say, two or three minutes had been an Intro track, you'd have say, 9 real tracks, and the Intro. Nobody wants to pay $20 for an album like that. Thankfully, there's no Intro tracks, Interludes, Outros on Universal Mind Control (GO BUY IT).

T.I.'s latest album was another good example of a hot opening track helping the album. Lil Wayne's too actually. The high energy tracks get a listener pumped and excited for the album, exactly the mindset an artist should be aiming for, unless you specialize in slow music.

Anyway, this was a bit of a left-field rant this week, mainly inspired by Kanye's album, and my inability to motivate myself to listen to the whole thing. It's a disappointment, as I've been looking forward to that album for ages.

Oh well, there's a ‘new' Ghostface Killah album coming out, I think it's basically R&B style remixes of some of his earlier work, with possibly one or two new ones. Hmm…Ghost and R&B, not sure if I'll like that.

Song Of The Week

The Cool Kids – 88



My sister of all people got me onto The Cool Kids with this track. It bangs hard and really embodies the spirit of hip-hop in the late 80s. They've got an EP out called The Bake Sale, and whilst it's probably not the best they're capable of, it's worth a listen.

Before We Go…

Well I've got to sort my phone plan and whether or not I intend on buying Christmas presents for a couple of people…they owe me money. Maybe I'll do a UN and just cancel their debt instead.

Catch you tomorrow!