Rock&Rant-Quick rants about music.
By Eddie J., Contributing Writer

So, anytime a hip-hop/rap or R&B artist who may or may not have some kind of credibility as a lyricist releases a new record, these click-bait "X Amount of Writers are Credited on ____'s New Album" articles always seem to pop up. The purpose is usually to subliminally invalidate the artist's skill-set and fuel debates on whether they're talented or not. It's been done with Kanye West (The Life of Pablo had 103 writers), Beyoncé (Lemonade=72 writers) and now Drake (Views=81 writers). That sounds like a lot of Pablos, views and gallons of lemonade, but hold up! There's a little technicality to be mindful of. Not even half of the individuals listed did any literal writing. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if no more than 10 people actually assisted. Let me explain...
 
Often in hip-hop/rap and R&B, there's this cute thing called sampling that happens, where portions of a song by someone else are mixed in. When this is done, the song and its original writers typically have to be cited for legality's sake (e.g., "This song contains replayed elements from 'You Tried It' by Tamar Braxton"). Those few of us who still buy physical copies (and read liner notes) and others who frequent Wikipedia, see these sample lists. The remaining majority who don't are prime takers of the click-bait and pass it along to the other fish that such and such artist doesn't write their own rhymes or can't stand on their own.
 
Take Drake's "U with Me" (featured on Views) for example. It contains samples of "What These B*tches Want" and an interpolation of "How's It Goin' Down," both by DMX. Breaking this down, "What These B*ches Want" was written by Earl Simmons (DMX's real name), Mark Andrews, Tamir Ruffin and Phillip Weatherspoon. "How's It Goin Down" was written by DMX and Anthony Fields. When you remove those names from "U With Me" in the credits, you have only Drake, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Dave Goode and the producers: 40, Kanye West, DJ Dahi, AxlFolie and Vinylz. 13 writers just went down 8.
 
This brings me to my next point: also in hip-hop music, producers are almost always included as songwriters in the notes. This is probably in part to how hands-on producers are in creating the music or melodic ideas the artist uses. Taking into account how limited credits are in showing the true extent of each person's contribution, a "producer" can be a composer, someone who programmed the drums, or made with the chorus melody that the song was developed around. In that case, it makes sense to consider this kind of work "writing." However, this doesn't mean that Drake, Nicki Minaj or Kanye West are sitting in a room full of 10 other people taking different bits and pieces of lyrics to make a song. These times are occasional, and rarely involve more than 2 or 3 people tops, which is the average amount of writers on a song in any genre.
 
Finally, some rappers are simply best at their primary job of rapping and need to bring in help for choruses, hooks and catchy moments in their verses. Just because one can receive points on a song for doing this, it doesn't mean the artist they worked for is lacking talent or capability. It's assumed that hooks are easy to form, but it requires a particular skill. It's fairly uncommon in the realm of hip-hop/rap that artists can come up with great hooks naturally because their focus is choosing a topic, inventively approaching said topic, punch-lines, voice inflections/delivery, rhyme structure/pattern and verse variation. It may take a village for your favorite song or album to be made, but that never has anything to do with how good or bad the artist is at lyricism or overall. So feel free to take this red pill with a tall glass of lemonade, and enjoy the views.

Album Review.
Likes: Black Skinhead, I Am a God, New Slaves, Blood on the Leaves
Dislikes: I’m in it
Overall: 5 tracks strong, 5 tracks creating West’s weakest moment

Kanye West & religion have always had an interesting relationship. In underbelly media, he’s been accused of being a part of a devil worshiping cult. His 2006 Rolling Stone magazine cover was considered blasphemous because he was wearing a crown of thorns, and now it’s assumed he’s likening himself to Jesus Christ, as the title of his new album, Yeezus, joins Jesus with his nickname, Yeezy (hardcore fans of pop singers aren’t offended; on Twitter, it’s standard to show how awesome you think your queen diva is by remixing her name with God or Jesus). Those who are hot under the collar are about to drip in sweat; the religious references don’t end there. On “I Am God,” West boasts about how he “brought real rap back” and addresses haters who criticized him in the beginning for miniscule things, like his “preppy” look and focus on college life. Speaking of having conversations with Jesus, his life being “in the hands of God,” and making alignments to Psalms 82:6 in the Bible (“I said, ‘You are gods, you are all sons of the Most High’”), he debunks presumptions he thinks he’s God and interjects that he was created by God to preserve hip-hop. Other mentions are heard on “Black Skinhead,” where he not only approaches religion, but racism and social ignorance. These are themes continued on “New Slaves,” that also discusses use of materialism and attainment to manipulate and control the oppressed, and how the oppressed doesn’t open their eyes long enough to acknowledge and fight it.

“Hold My Liquor,” “Bound 2” and “Blood on the Leaves” adds to West’s ongoing commentary on how his bad relationship behavior precedes the side of him that wants to settle down. “Leaves” (a sample of C-Murder, Snoop Dogg and Magic’s “Down for My Niggas” and the jazz classic “Strange Fruit”) is particularly interesting because it seems to be an account of how fame accentuates relationship drama and he attacks former Jay-Z groupies: “I don’t give a damn if you used to talk to Jay-Z, he ain’t with you, he with Beyonce`, you need stop actin’ lazy.”I found the sample of “Strange Fruit” to be awfully, and almost disgracefully, misused. “Fruit” was music set to a poem about the constant lynching of African-Americans in U.S. history. How that correlates to fame and failed relationships, I don’t understand. It would’ve been better applied to “New Slaves.”

Although Yeezus begins with conversation-provoking tracks, it falls on a less inciting note. Some of the lovelorn material sounds like watered-down, less endearing and sincere versions of what’s heard on the previous albums My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy & 808’s & Heartbreak. Not helping the lag is the production. West is still a star of the art, but what normally attracts listeners to his concoctions-bright, flowing melodies or the intense and thematic- is not present. The music of Yeezus is made of strangely arranged effects & synthesizers. Another turn-off is the heightened sexuality. The graphic “I’m In It” is pornography on wax. Other rough lines are strewn throughout the album. 2 developing patterns in West’s discography are the dismal and dark and abrasive sexual content. I believe artistically, West is at a crossroads and a big change is coming. Time will only tell what the shift will look and sound like.

In observation of West’s anti-corporation rants this era, while I agree with his point that the laws of business and commercialism can often stifle or interrupt an artist’s freedom and creativity (an aim made by thousands of recording artists over the years), I find West’s position and attack on other mainstream, corporate-friendly artists (which included biting the hands that helped his career exist: he lyrically criticized Jay-Z for being featured on Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie” and implied he wasn’t cool with Beyonce’s Pepsi sponsorship) to be hypocritical. Wasn’t he just in a television advertisement for MTV with his current girlfriend, Kim Kardashian, one of the biggest product-pushing celebrities there is? Wasn’t your image and music featured in a NBA promo? Let’s not forget your past product endorsements for cell-phones and vodka.*Kanye shrug*

As I said in my review for Demi Lovato’s Demi, self-titled albums released after a debut are rarely ever worth the declaration. Only half of this record is deserving of the title of Yeezus. The rest is, ironically, West’s weakest moment.

Album Review.
Likes: New Day, Welcome to the Jungle, Murder to Excellence, No Church in the Wild
Dislikes: That’s My Bitch
Overall: Some weak parts, but features intriguing lyrics & unique production


Ever since the release of Kanye West’s defining debut, “College Dropout,” on the Jay-z founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 2004, fans have insisted the pair record a collaborative album. After 7 years and multiple features on each other’s projects, they granted the audience’s request with “Watch the Throne.” Considering the style of the production and some of the pensive lyrics, the rappers were definitely looking to create a classic album.

“Throne’s” production is somewhat thematic and is the perfect mix of today’s and yesterday’s sound, blending futuristic synths and elements of electronica with traditional hip-hop rhythms and some classic 60’s & 70’s soul. Most of the album is lyrically adequate, but there are some feeble points. For example, “Lift Off” has a great hook and attractive production, but the verses are painfully short and barely noticeable. Another weakness is that there are one too many songs in which the rappers singly boast about their success and assets. Granted, boasting is a central tenet in hip-hop, but multiple tracks of just boasting can get redundant and tiring. Also, I’m personally over West’s womanizing lyrics that seem to now have a stronger recurring role on his projects. (ex. “…I said look you need to crawl ‘fore you ball, come and meet me in the bathroom stall and show me why you deserve to have it all…”)

Reminiscent of West’s “My Beautiful, Dark, Twisted Fantasy,” the more meaningful lyrics address the societal turmoil of the black community and discuss the ugly and rewarding parts of fame, while taking time for personal, inward reflection. On the endearing and intriguing “New Day,” West and Jay-z speak to their unborn sons. Jay-z vows to be better parent than his absentee father, and West makes a mockery of what the media has found to be his missteps and lists what he finds to be valid mistakes. All in all, I predict that “Throne” will be well revered and that another collaborative record is in the future. Good album.

If I have any additional commentary on an album from a societal, cultural or fan perspective, I usually save it for a separate article, but since I don’t have too much to say, I’ll go ahead and include it here. Hip-hop and I have love-hate relationship. I see its value as a genre, but there are many things about the culture and the music that I do not agree with. As a woman and feminist, I will never find it appropriate to refer to a woman as a bitch. Most rappers proclaim that when they use the word “bitch,” it’s not in reference to ALL women, just those that are promiscuous or deceitful, but as usual, the rappers contradict themselves. On “That’s My Bitch,” Jay-z and Kanye are speaking of a respectable woman of substance that’s their companion. As a woman of color, I ask and I plea: when do I get to be referred to as your friend, girlfriend or wife and NOT your “bitch?” As a man of color, when will you give yourself and your male counterparts a title of something more exalting than a “nigga?” When? That is all. 

Yearly CD purchases have decreased steadily over the last decade, due in part to internet piracy. Music piracy is now so rampant, albums are leaking online long before their official release dates, ultimately affecting sales. Jay-z & Kanye West’s collaborative record, “Watch the Throne,” successfully hit the market on the planned date of August 8th without any mishaps, however. How did they avoid the leak? Well, according to RollingStone Magazine, having an exclusive release deal with ITunes and department store Best Buy was the key. Industry insiders have concluded that leaks tend to happen because copies of the finished product are stolen from manufacturing plants during shipping. “Throne” was released on Itunes August 8th and will be available at Best Buy on August 12th. By making the album initially available on Itunes only, no shipping is involved. If sales improve as result of this type of release plan, record labels are likely to mass implement it. While this plan seems like a dream come true for the industry, some fans and independent retailers oppose the design. Fans are concerned they may not be able to purchase physical copies if a specific store isn’t available to them and independent retailers won’t be able to sell and profit from anticipated albums. As a consumer, what do you think of exclusive release deals?