Mad Max

Every year I de-hype myself for Comic-Con. Unless you want to go stand in line for 8 hours, surrounded by what isn’t exactly the most hygienic demographic in the world, all you are going to see is some crappy Iphone video of things you already knew were happening. So every year I tell myself I don’t care about Comic-Con, and every year they put out something that makes me squeal like a six year old girl. No, it wasn’t the grainy cell phone video of Superman about to burn the shit out of Batman’s chin, nor was it Josh Brolin holding up one of those Hulk smash gloves, not even the pictures of anorexic Wonder Woman. Oh no, the thing that stole my heart was a man named Max. It has been almost thirty years since the road warrior went beyond thunderhome, and I don’t care what Tina Turner thinks. We need another hero.

                 

Missed it on a Monday

Sometimes there just isn’t enough time to listen or watch everything that comes out. Life is a zero sum game, and the time spent listening or watching one thing takes away from something else. So this is a place to catch up on those little blind spots where life got in the way of the important stuff.

I feel the need to preface this with the fact that I am a huge Gorillaz fan. In my mind Demon Days is about as close to the voice of God as we are going to get. They were my first favorite band and ignoring a few months, Plastic Beach was a rough time in my life, they have held that crown without too much serious competition. So it is with great shame that I admit that I hadn’t listened to D-Sides until about a week ago. Sure it is just a b-sides album, but that is like not looking at one of those DaVinci sketchbooks if you were like really into DaVinci or something just because he never finished them, I guess. All I know is that analogies are hard, and this album is sweet.

The first disc starts off with an industrial techno instrumental jam that will get you scooting around in your chair. It keeps this high energy going till it takes a more melancholy turn at “Hong Kong”, which despite it being the least Gorillazish song on the album is perhaps my favorite. While certain songs, such as “Bill Murray” and “Spitting out the Demons”, possess a bit of that distinct Gorillaz feel the album as a whole comes across more as a solo Damon Albarn album, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is definitely some great stuff to be found on the album, including an odd version of “Don’t get Lost in Heaven” where Damon channels his inner Bob Dylan, but it is undoubtedly not a cohesive project. It lacks a single rapper or vocalist besides Albarn, which may make sense due to its status as a collection of b-sides it is very opposed to the entire concept behind the Gorillaz.

The second album is a collection of remixes which I found to be hit or miss. There are definitely some standouts, including the technofied Soulwax remix of  “DARE”  and “Dirty Harry” sung entirely in Mandarin, which are definitely worth a listen. Most of them are forgettable at-best, and a couple I couldn’t even make it to the end. While Disc 1 has been on rotation since I first listened to it, I haven’t gone back to Disc 2 much at all. There is definitely nothing that jams like that Ed Case remix of “Clint Eastwood”.

While it lacks the collaborative nature that defines the Gorillaz it still stands as a pretty damn good album in its own right, especially for a collection of b-sides and demos. If you’re fan of Albarn the album definitely delivers, but it doesn’t quite scratch that Gorillaz itch. We'll just have to hope for the day Damon gets his shit together and calls up Dangermouse, and I’ll be damned if that isn't a dream worth fighting for.

NehruvianDOOM A Bishop Neru Project

                                                      

There are very few rappers that get me as excited as MF DOOM, and there is nothing that DOOM does that gets me more excited than a collab with a mashed up name that makes shuffling his songs near impossible. From Madlib to Danger Mouse the man has a history of collabs that stand the test of time. DOOM steps behind the board this time, providing production and hook work, while letting the 17 year old Bishop Nehru take the lion’s share of verse duty on the album. While the lack of an actual DOOM verse is a shame, I’ll be damned if Nehru didn’t deliver two super solid verses over one of the dopest beats I have heard in awhile. If every song on the album has comparable quality to this one we are in for a treat when it drops on September 23rd. DOOM clearly has serious faith in the young Bishop Nehru, and if this song is any indication that faith is well placed. Not to mention the trippy artwork has to be one of the coolest album covers in years, or at least since Pinata.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Apes prove their superiority and take over the world. It makes about as much sense as slow rotting corpses taking over or the popularity of Two Broke Girls, but god knows we have taken bigger leaps of logic. Summer blockbuster don't have to be big dumb explosion fests where nothing makes any  sense and one giant metal thing punches some other giant metal thing; you can in fact have your cake and eat it too. Hell this movie goes beyond even the thoughtful action movie instead choosing to balance elements from westerns, gangster films, science fiction and even political dramas. Although it never reaches the heights it seemed to be striving for it definitely hits more than it misses and has apes firing machine guns from horseback. What the hell else are you looking for?

 

The movie’s central plot hinges upon the upcoming clash between the dwindling human society living in the city and the expanding ape one that exists in the surrounding woods. Our foreknowledge of the eventual outcome casts a sense of hopelessness over the human story. In this way it acts as an antithesis of the classical western where the naturalistic tribal society is already doomed to be wiped out by the encroaching modern man before the story even begins. That same sense of inevitable doom hangs over the film, but it is the modern society that will be eliminated by the tribal one. It even has the white men learning the merits of the tribe by spending with a child and/or women. Hell at a certain point I was halfway expecting some sort of cross-species loving, looks like puritanical America struck again.

The film aims to have a sense of moral relativism. Where there are no bad guys just competing factions and ideals. While for the majority of the film this holds true, neither the apes nor the humans could be considered the villains, there is definitely a villain, and he is more Dr. No than he is Tony Soprano. This is Caesar’s show, and he gets to be the hero. And every hero gets a villain to punch in the face. An evil villain isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when everything before that in the film is set up as this morally ambiguous clash between two rival societies attempting to coexist in a new world it feels like a cheap way to get the conflict started. The main theme of the film seems to be the ways fear can turn us into monsters, but being scared doesn't absolve you for being an asshole. As the conflict ramps up it feels if anybody would just stop and talk about this shit for five minutes everything would have turned out alright, but maybe that was the point.

The performances were good, furry and non-furry alike. Although whether that is due to the actors or some poor dude sitting in front of a computer in a Burbank basement I couldn't tell you. Overall this is one solid flick. Despite it not quite reaching the high bar it set for itself in the beginning of the film, it is still a thoroughly satisfying summer movie and one that tries to be something greater. That is perhaps the thing I love most about the movie; it feels so genuine. It is a big blockbuster sequel without any returning characters, save ones that are completely computer generated. It even changes genre. In a summer full of cheap cash-ins and movies that were clearly made in boardrooms full of shareholders Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is clearly trying to be something unique, and even when it fails you have to commend the effort. Unfortunately, there is one glaring flaw in the film; that being the complete lack of a shirtless Charlton Heston, but I guess that is just a sign of the times.

  

Personally, if you told me last year that YG’s album would be one of the best rap albums of the year I would have thought you were crazy. C’mon YG has had some dope music in the past, but I never thought his hardcore gangsta rap would be allowed on the radio. YG’s new album entitled “My Krazy Life” tells his life story of growing up in Compton running with the gangs, robbing houses, and of course YG bickin back being bool. For those of you not in the know Bickin back bein bool is a Blood phrase in which they replace the C in words for a B instead, for example instead of Compton it would be Bompton and so on. The music video shows what being a blood is like in Compton, and personally it scares the living jeeheebies out of me. YG and his gang of bloods are always strapped and they have the possibility of being shot at anytime or day by their rival gang the Crips. Its a very real way of showing a day in the life of a Compton Blood. And for all you young kids and little girls out there blastin bickin back bein bool and trying to sound hard its not just a jam to get down too; it really is a Blood’s lifestyle of complete thuggery that most of us have no idea of what it’s really like.

Taylor Bennett

                                                       

                                                

I kept hearing the name Taylor Bennett popping all over the place with people saying nothing but good things about him. So I took some time out of my busy summer schedule of working and seeing how many California burritos I can eat in a week to look into the rapper and I played the video New Chevy featuring King Louie as my first Taylor Bennett experience, check it out down below.

My first reaction was who is this rapper that looks just like Chance The Rapper, dresses like Chance, dances like Chance and even raps/sings like him.  His chorus sounds just like a typical Chance chorus with his squeaky raspy voice. Being a Chance The Rapper fan I dismissed Taylor as just a poor man's  Chance, but than I did some research and saw this pic of the two rappers.

Yup that's right Taylor Bennett and Chance Bennett are brothers! Who would have guessed? Taylor Bennett is the younger brother of Chance The Rapper and an up and coming rapper in his own right. It isn't very surprising that Taylor Bennett would share  Chance's Style since they both grew up together, but he definitely varies his style check out his older video of Speed Racer and his Remix of Goldie by ASAP Rocky.

Those are some of his older projects which display his versatility and unique skills that give you a Taylor Bennett vibe and not just “oh that's Chance’s lil bro trying to be like him”. His newest mix tape is about two months old and is entitled Mainstream Music check it out below.

If you want more of Taylor Bennett, like I did, check out this cool little interview down below and find out more about this young gun.

Long Live The New Flesh

Jimmy Johnson

I’ll admit that at first I thought six time Nascar champion Jimmie Johnson had been signed to OVO and was about to blow us all out of the water with a gangster rap album chronicling his rise to stock car fame. I was understandably disappointed to learn otherwise. Despite my now broken expectations I gave this other Jimmy Johnson a listen and was pleasantly surprised. The Toronto native raps with an aggressive energy over laid back smokey beats. This juxtaposition  provides a unique sound that could help him stand out amongst the increasingly crowded rap game. His style leads me to think that OVO is the perfect place for him to grow. That aggressive yet laid back energy can be found on his EP In God We Trust and his Sun Goes Down video. Check him out

Cozz

So apparently J Cole has his own label now. Poor Jay Z sitting there crying over photos of J Cole and Kanye standing there with their lunchboxes and backpacks on their first day of school and now they’re all grown up signing their own rappers. Dreamville has signed South Central LA rapper Cozz and for good reason. Dude can spit. He only has two songs out, I Need That and Dreams, right now. Most people grind their whole lives putting out tape after tape without any attention save for the occasional datpiff commenter, but this guy puts out two songs and gets immediately scooped up by a rising star. It sounds unbelievable until you listen to the man’s two songs. Solid beats combined with a versatile flow and raw emotion lead to a song that is infinitely bumpable. Both songs just drip with raw talent and it makes the wait for his upcoming album Cozz and Effect all the more unbearable.