"a universal language"?: the cultural semantics of busta rhymes' "arab money (remix)"

to post this ridiculous video any fewer than six times would be an act of disrespect. it might even be racist.



to achieve the best effect: start video 1; after ten seconds, start video 2; start subsequent videos at 10-second intervals; when video 1 ends, start the process again. we're through the looking glass here, people.



t.i. shows up towards the end. as t.i. is on house arrest for buying a machine gun in a pub car park, presumably this is what t.i.'s house looks like.



acorn: "let me exchange the currency 'cos it's all foreign". does acorn look sad to you? like a really deep, existential sadness?


at first i was confused and a little nonplussed. then i became angry, then hungry. after that, diddy turned up, and i started to feel nostalgic and rather warm. i did the pointing dance a couple of times, but i wasn't grinning enough to make it work. after it was all over, i went and had some yoghurt.



where is spliffstarr?

si

songs called 'yes' > songs called 'no'

transexual prostitute 'yes':
manic street preachers - 'yes' (live at the astoria, december 1994)
pour out a little liquor for the astoria. dead with the mystery jets and the black kids on the front of the venue. shameful shit.

idiot savant 'yes':
lil' wayne (feat. pharrell) - 'yes'
this is the best neptunes thing since 'nothin' by NORE.

mcalmont & butler 'yes':
mcalmont & butler - 'yes'


that's that, then.

Tha Carter III and the decline of western civilisation

People are all pretty excited about this. But hey, blogland, let's get some damn perspective on this mother.

In GMS' house (and this is GMS' house), the Carter III means A.P., Sara and Mother Maybelle. Here are three shots of fiyah from the OG Carter Family. To quote Status Ain't Hood: "Boom. We're in banger territory":

Carter Family - 'John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man'

Carter Family - 'The Cannonball'

Carter Family - 'Carter's Blues'

At school, I learned all about <>. Thanks, Mrs Ashbolt!
As far as I can tell, though, things are mostly > these days.

TO WHIT:

Carter Family > Shawn Carter > Dwayne Carter

That's right. The Carter Family were so nails, they let the black sheep of the family, Jimmy, be President of the USA.

Shawn Carter, known to his mum as Jay-Z, got to be president of Def Jam, who sell records (though not as many as they used to).

Dwayne Carter, Lil' Wayne to his 'father figure', got to be president of Cash Money records. But then, I'm president of this blog. No-one's the president of me! QED.

Each of our three Carters substantiates the theory of pervasive late-twentieth-century decline, spiritual, moral, social and economic, a trend which I won't bother to describe or explain.

Hence:

Johnny Cash married into the Carter family in the hope of having a biopic made about himself. But:

American Recordings > American 2 > American 3 > American 4 > American 5 > Neil Diamond

Numero deux: Jay-Z's not a businessman, he's a business, man. Accordingly, his musical output has been affected by the post-9/11 malaise affecting the US economy. Hence:

In My Lifetime vol. 1 > In My Lifetime vol. 2 > In My Lifetime vol. 3

He's still better than Wayne, though. Listennnn!

Jay-Z - 'A Billie' (more here)

As for Dwayne, our Carter number three:

Tha Carter > Tha Carter II > Tha Carter III

For "post-9/11 malaise" read "credit crunch".

And before we forget:

>

>

There we have it. A blogger who likes Illmatic. I feel all secure again. Do throw some <> action in the comments section, though. I love a bit of it.

New Orleans as Hellespont redux? Continuity and contiguity in the poetry of Lord Byron and Lil' Wayne

"For me, degenerate modern wretch,
Though in the genial month of May,
My dripping limbs I faintly stretch,
And think I've done a feat today."
Byron, 'Written After Swimming From Sestos To Abydos'

"I'm pro'lly in the sky, flying with the fishes,
Or maybe in the ocean, swimming with the pidgeons,
See, my world is different."
Lil' Wayne, 'Ride 4 My N****s', Drought 3

This week, GMS was interested to read the following quote, from bumfluff-sporting anticon nerd-rapper Sole:

“When I was living in Spain, I’d read Byron all the time, and his rhyming was just ridiculous, like seven syllables. It’s not like I traced rap back to Romantic poets, but I started thinking of rhyme as something more than just clever ... [Lil' Wayne] did this one mixtape thing, The Drought 2: it’s, like, him rapping for two hours. He uses his New Orleans drawl to make shit rhyme that you never think would.”

Although the seven-syllable thing puts Byron in the Kool G Rap bracket, maybe this Solo chap has a point. They're hated-on by straight-laced middlebrow moralisers and homophobes alike, but are they two peas in a pod? GMS puts the flamboyant rhyme-happy libertines, self-publicists, counter-cultural icons and victims of pretentious critical deconstruction head-to-head:

Romantic cult of personality

J. McGann, 'Byron, George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron, 1788-1824, poet', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:
"Byronism made an impact, too, on the images assumed by some of the more outrageous rock stars of the 1960s. The fast rhythm and excesses of his life that became synonymous with Byron are now recognized as part of the pattern of celebrity. The continuing appeal of this glamorous aspect of Byronism reflects the intense cultural interest in the individuality of the self that lies at the heart of Romanticism."

Lil' Wayne, 'I'm Me', The Leak EP:
"B***h, I'm me, I'm me, I'm me, I'm me
Baby, I'm me, so who you? You're not me, you're not me
And I know that ain't fair, but I don't care
I'm a motherf**kin Cash Money millionaire
I know that ain't fair, but I don't care
I'm a motherf**kin Cash Money millionaire."

Post-modern cultural authority

McGann, 'Byron':
"Byron's afterlife in popular culture was a crucial factor in his re-emergence after the Second World War in the high-cultural venue of post-modernism where parody, satire, wit, and an ethos of irony regained cultural authority."

Ryan Dombal, review of Drought 3, Pitchforkmedia.com:
"While introducing his revamp of T.I.'s "Top Back", Wayne clarifies, "T.I. is the king-- don’t get that shit twisted/ And me? I am the best rapper alive." The difference-- divine right vs. tireless politicking-- is spelled out through Wayne's regional-poaching as high-art stumping."

Intoxication as a locus of the divided self

Byron, MS fragment rel. to 'Don Juan' canto I:
" ... I write this reeling
Having got exceedingly drunk to-day,
That I seem to stand upon the ceiling."

Lil' Wayne, 'I Feel Like Dying', Carter III Sessions:
"Swimming laps around a bottle of Louis the 13th
Jumping off of a mountain into a sea of codeine
I’m at the top of the top but still I climb
And if I should ever fall, the ground will then turn to wine
Pop, pop, I feel like flying, then I feel like frying, then I feel like dying."

Related.

Political engagement

Byron, 'When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home':
"When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combate for that of his neighbours;
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on his head for his labours."

Lil' Wayne, 'Ride 4 My N****s', Drought 3:
"I got the 40 cal. tucked in my P.R.Ps.,
What do you expect? I'm from New Orleans,
The majority of my city is riders,
They tried to make a brand new map without us,
But the tourists come down and spend too many dollars,
And no matter how you change it, it will still be ours."

Conclusion

i asked somebody who knows, and they told me that erudition is more important than a good conclusion with these sort of things. so let's just enjoy the music. and poetry.

Lil’ Wayne is available for weddings, discos…..

No thank you, Lil' Wayne

Lil’ Wayne is available for weddings, discos, bar mitzvahs and corporate events. Wayne is a seasoned karaoke performer and bong-addled comedian. Wayne provides his own PA, and will play all your favourite hits from your favourite decades – from the 1960s to the 1980s! Who remembers the Beatles? Lil’ Wayne does! Who remembers Heart???? Lil’ Wayne does!

Heart, 'bout to get that paper

Lil’ Wayne featuring Heart – ‘Something You Forgot’ (from Tha Carter III Sessions)

(to quote Derek Smalls: “This is our power ballad. We invite you to feel the power”.)

Lil’ Wayne featuring the Beatles – ‘Help’ (from Tha Carter III Sessions)

(I guess Dangermouse had Jay-Z rhyming over Beatles tracks, so …)

lil' wayne and the ukulele orchestra of great britain: together at last!

the bootleg of The Drought 3 that's currently doing the rounds won't settle any arguments over whether lil' wayne is or isn't the best in the game. but it's got plenty of the usual barmy similes, one-liners and croaky southern slang, with not too many useless skits or clumsy guest spots.

there's less of wayne's new jamaican accent than i'd expected, which is a shame. and while he still hasn't got round to covering 'cortez the killer' yet, here's his take on gnarls barkley. only nine months late:

lil' wayne - 'crazy' (gnarls barkley cover)

pitchfork referred last week to wayne's "sentimental-absurdist kurt vonnegut phase". SMH @ pitchfork, i think. are their writers competing for a spot in idolator's pick of the fork feature?

============================================================

linked tenuously by the concept of kerr-azy cover versions, here's the setlist for last week's ukulele orchestra of great britain gig. it speaks for itself, so no review. but if you ever get the chance, see these guys, and take your parents, grandparents and kids.

1. running wild (marilyn monroe)

2. silver machine (hawkwind)

3. misirlou (dick dale)

4. plagiarism medley: life on mars (david bowie) / my way (frank sinatra) / for once in my life (stevie wonder) / substitute (the who) / born free

5. hot tamales, they’re red hot (robert johnson)

6. ying tong tiddle ine po (spike milligan)

7. anarchy in the uk (sex pistols)

8. slave to the rhythm (grace jones)

9. the good, the bad and the ugly (ennio morricone)

10. theme from shaft (isaac hayes)

11. leanin' on a lamppost (george formby)

12. psycho killer (talking heads)

13. ricky don’t lose that number (steely dan)

14. miss dynamitee (ms. dynamite)

15. rock around the clock (bill haley)

16. teenage dirtbag (wheatus)

17. whistling solo

18. respect (otis redding)

19. g.w.f. handel medley: fly me to the moon (tony bennett) / i will survive (gloria gaynor) / memories / autumn leaves / killing me softly (roberta flack) / hotel california (eagles)

more fun:

ukulele orchestra homepage
lil' wayne drought 3 page

old school new school

the current glut of mixtapes and diss tracks made strictly for the internets in a matter of hours results in a lot of forgettable crap out there. but occasionally there's a danger of genius slipping under the radar. three up:

the game - 'soundscan'

this was overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of game's 100-, 200-, 300-bar diss tracks, and by the royal rumble of all remixes for 'one blood'. it's also dated by its initial focus on the first-week sales for lloyd banks' 'rotten apple' (yeah, i had to google that title). but worth remembering, if only for the first couplet - why did he need 300 bars when he can destroy banks that fast? plus i'm all in favour of people putting 'kingdom come' beats to better uses than jay-z did.

jim jones feat. stack bundles & j.r. writer - 'ballin' on xmas'

dipset are usually the embodiment of worthless over-production, and 'a dipset xmas' is execrable. but here they outdo themselves in boneheaded clownery, elevating the track into (intentional?) comic genius. if stack bundles never does anything else of worth in his life (and chances are he won't), his first verse will never stop getting played chez GMS. jones' ad-libs are as stupid as ever, and j.r. writer thinks it appropriate to make amends for "i grab a ho ho ho / and make it rain-dear" by doling out homophobic threats in a christmas song. priceless.

ghostface feat. raekwon & lil' wayne - 'run part. 2' (from the 'broiled salmon' mixtape)

no shortage of ghost and wayne in '06, but that's no reason to overlook this update of the best track on 'pretty toney', featuring both rappers, plus an above-par raekwon verse. wayne doesn't quite top jadakiss' awesome verse on the original, but good nonetheless. plus i like how he says "ayo ghostface". ayo wayne.

more fun:

captain's dead has queens of the stone age live in '05.

culture bully has ian svenonius interviewing will oldham.

buy game
buy jim jones
buy ghostface