InsidePulse’s Hip Hop Essentials: Bonus Material
Since our Hip Hop Essentials feature is essentially (giggle) done, I’m going to give you a bit of insight from my perspective.
First off, I’m really satisfied with how things turned out. I think that everyone did an amazing job and that our respective tastes were pretty well showcased.
That said, it was an insane ordeal.
For some reason I thought that the five albums that I had in mind to cover wouldn’t be selected by anyone. I know, that’s pretty arrogant of me. But I didn’t really think that anyone shared my taste.
I was way wrong. I had my toes stepped on plenty.
I think that pretty much everyone stepped on my toes, except for Aaron Cameron.
First off Michaelangelo takes It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. I was cool with that, that was to be expected. It wasn’t really one I was counting on, but I’d have liked to have it.
Next up was Greg Wind, who took The Low End Theory and Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space. Sure they weren’t the albums I would have picked, but my personal restriction was to not use an artist or group that had already been used. I really wanted this thing to be unique.
But it was Mike Eagle who really crushed my dreams. He picked up Resurrection and Midnight Marauders (both of which I had hoped would still be available). But he also picked Stakes is High and Do You Want More?!!!??! two albums that I knew I had on lock. No one else would have ever picked those albums, in a million years. I like to think of them as under the radar classics.
Aaron didn’t come anywhere near anything I had planned on using.
Nick Salemi had some really excellent choices, but only The Infamous had made my mental rough draft.
Michael Chadwick picked two albums, Liquid Swords and Hard to Earn that I’d really hoped wouldn’t be picked and one album Enta da Stage that was in the back of my mind as a potential alternate.
Thus when all was said and done I was left with, well this.
Music Videos?
I’d been hearing (and by “hearing” I mean reading in various magazines) about how Beck, Fiona Apple, Kanye West and the White Stripes all had videos out. In fact not only did they have videos out, but I was actually interested in seeing them. Thus I vowed to watch VH1 until I saw them.
Unfortunately VH1 only plays videos in the wee hours of the morning. Fortunately that fits right in with my nocturnal schedule. Thus here are my thoughts on the videos.
Beck – Hell Yes
This video slays me. What’s nutty is how like a month ago I was reading Time‘s “Best Inventions of 2005” issue and they actually wrote up the robots used in the video. Anyway, this video completely occupies my attention whenever it’s on. It’s got the best robot action since Bjork’s All is Full of Love and the best choreography since Daft Punk’s Around the World. Those robots are sick! This video gave me faith in the medium again. My favorite move is the pseudo pop-lock.
(No joke; I just put VH1 on that the video’s just started. Talk about kismet. Break time!)
Fiona Apple – O’ Sailor
This was my favorite song on both versions of Extraordinary Machine, so I was pumped to find out it was released as a single. I’d seen her perform it on Leno, but the video is dope. I always find it cool when a song you love gets a video. Sure the clip is weird and occasionally creepy, but who doesn’t love dancing emotionless characters?
The White Stripes – The Denial Twist
I’m a sucker for videos directed by Michel. And when you’ve got Michel and the White Stripes you’re usually guaranteed some kind of magic. This video is no different. Whenever I watch a Michel video, I try to dissect it and figure out how he did it. But this video is so insane. The distortion is nutty. The video actually distracts from the song (which is one of my faves on the album.) The surreality of the clip almost takes you out of it. But it’s cool if only for the Conan cameo.
Kanye West – Heard ‘Em Say
My best friend told me this was a Plimpton directed clip, but I’ve only seen the Michel version. And frankly, I expected more from Michel. It’s kind of a tame video by his standards. I’m guessing it’s because he’s not as acquainted with Hip Hop. But this video was basically a double letdown. First it wasn’t animated, which I was really looking forward to. Secondly it just didn’t seem on par with Michel’s usually work. I actually liked the Pepsi commercial more than the video.
I also jumped to BET for a spell and caught…
Little Brother – Lovin’ It
I don’t really know how I feel about this video. It’s cool to actually seen Little Brother, but I kind of feel like they’re trying too hard. I’d much rather see them take the approach taken by The Roots, than to try to make a generic rap video. I’m tired of party atmospheres. I’m tired of clique shots. I wish they had tried something different, like they did with the album. It’s kind of sad that while the album makes a statement, the video stays as cliché as anything else on the airwaves.
Festivus
It’s the last “new” Bootleg of the year! And man what a blowout. He riffs on rappers and “reality tv” and Ed Lover’s celebrity.
Jeff has a special announcement about The Swindle Sheet. He’s also got the best Foxy Brown joke in awhile and a reference to Aaron Cameron’s celebrity.
KDP ponders the publishing of his book(s) and coins the term “50 Cent serious.”
Gloomchen makes the case for Phil Collins.
DP is full of holiday cheer. Actually he bashes new Christmas songs and dumps on bad videos.
Kwanzaa
Phil finishes up his second part of the look back at 2005.
Five Albums on Heavy Rotation Right Now
1. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
2. Feist – Let it Die
3. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
4. Seu Jorge – The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions
5. Ryan Adams – 29
