mixtape maestro (2.0)

So what in the hell is really going on with Missy?

From ‘96 to ‘06, the rapper/ singer/ songwriter/ producer/ “hee-hee”-ist was the life of the (hip hop) party, consistently freaking our inner-spirits with her seemingly endless gifts of visually-stunning music videos, amazing lead singles, WTF rap lines (Who could forget “Beep beep/ Who got the keys to the jeep?/ Vrooooom…”?) and nonsensical mouth-noised catchphrases. But not since the manic electro-hop romp “Lose Control” has Elliott given us anything truly noteworthy.

Yeah, those two singles from the Step Up 2 soundtrack were okay, in a watered-down-”Work It” sorta way, but the sporadic guest raps and leaked future album material she’s been serving the past few years have felt increasingly uninspired, too focused on lame references to her booty jiggle and not attentive enough to the “next level” ish that’s so sick it would leave our mouths dry and our brains a pile a mush.

Our concerns are further heightened with her most recent leakage, “Rather”, a fairly ordinary R&B ballad (!!) in which she urges a boyfriend to stay at home with her and watch a DVD instead of going out doing all kinds of debaucherous things with his friends (?????).

It’s not necessarily a bad record, rocking a fine acoustic guitar groove and highlighting her still-buttery smoove singing voice, but it’s definitely better fitted for protogees Tweet (what ever happened to her?) or Jazmine Sullivan, not for the “Supa Dupa Fly” rap diva who has kept us waiting for a bonafide Y4K club-rocker for far too long.

While we’re just gonna go ahead and assume that this is a late-in-the-tracklisting album cut and not the first taste of a maturing Missy preparing some sort of Mary J Blige-like full-on R&B album, we still must vocalize our pleas: for the sake of female rap, Miss “Misdemeanor” PLEASE give us something new (and hip hop!!) that’ll rock our collective socks off.

DL: “Rather” (alt)

Uncategorized missy elliott

Missy Elliott and producer Danja help guide Ciara back to her electro-crunk & b roots on (the somewhat under-performing) Fantasy Ride’s second international single “Work”, an overtime-working futuro-runway strut built on club-aimed inspiri-chants (“You better shake that thang like a donkey/ And go hard for it bitch, you better work…”) and one of those manic galactic grooves any normal, non-Ciara person would probably find difficult to keep up with on the dancefloor.

But while it provides a much better artist-to-track fit than Ride’s previous singles, the slightly limp midtempo ballad “Never Ever” and the underwhelming FutureSex leftover “Love Sex Magic”, “Work” has a little too much going on, never really quite gelling as a comfortable whole.

The out-of-breath 4/4 hook slams and there’s a certain charm in Ciara’s sassy, L’Trimm B-girl-isms, but that’s about all to note that’s completely positive here.

Firstly, the lacking of a second sung verse only makes us wish that Ci-Ci would’ve omitted the opening verse altogether and just spent the whole time doling out double-dutch raps as the differing vocal performances on the verses presented here feel odd and disjointed.

Secondly, Missy (sporting a wacky Mad Max mullet in the accompanying video) unfortunately re-reminds us that her best creative days might really be behind her after contributing another one of those pedestrian, hype-woman guest turns she’s been fancying for over a year now here (Lines as elementary as “hee-hee-how” or “Beep Beep/ Who got the keeps to the jeep?” feel like Bob Dylan penmanship in comparison to the uninspired drivel she’s recently been dishing).

And thirdly, Danja’s ever-mutating production annoyingly teeters between genius, mad scientist studio wizardry and an over-the-top, overwhelming mess the track’s entire length, never once allowing us the breathing room to decide whether it’s the former or latter.

Yeah, it’s nice to hear Ciara attempting to return to a sound where she excels and, again, “Work” is perhaps the most instantly gratifying single released from Fantasy so far, but the overall lack of focus presented is hard to easily ignore, and that nagging sense of disappointment ultimately dulls the whole listening experience.

Ciara ft. Missy Elliot- Work It from LowKey on Vimeo.

Uncategorized ciara, crunk & b, danja, electro-R&B, fantasy ride, female rap, missy elliott

In response to the suddenly revived blog interest in The Gossip’s years-old cover of Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody”, here’s a couple other not-so-new, but still impressive, indie-dressed remakes of old R&B hits that are equally deserving of some re-pimping:

Rio En Medio “Let’s Groove (Earth Wind & Fire Cover)”

Coming off of a mid-to-late-’70’s peak commercial period that produced such R&B classics/ deathless wedding reception staples as “Shining Star”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Boogie Wonderland” and “September”, Earth Wind & Fire were no doubt left more than a little frustrated as the turn of the decade saw their big band disco/ funk style feeling increasingly dated.

Determined to stay relevant in a genre that was growing more and more dependent on an electronic-based sound, EWF managed to score one last great hurrah with 1981’s feel-good “Let’s Groove”, a post-disco disco epic carefully crafted to reference the band’s previously winning sound while given enough of a slightly futuro-funk sheen to as not appear completely “old-school”.

Last year, wispy voiced indie-folk chanteuse Rio En Medio (aka New Mexico-born Danielle Stech-Homsky) released a stupefyingly brilliant recreation of the dancefloor favorite that found her using nothing but handclaps and circuitous layers of doo-woppy mouth-noise in place of the original’s extravagant instrumentation.

Try not to get lost in the dizzying delight of the most “groove”-iest musical art project you’ll ever hear.

DL: “Let’s Groove (Earth Wind & Fire Cover)” (alt)

Peggy Sue “All N My Grill (Missy Elliott Cover)”

When it comes to that mind-blowingly “next next level” rap shit, everyone knows that Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott is the one to seek out; but the “supa dupa fly” diva’s R&B side dishes rarely ever get as much shine, even though they consistently deliver interesting, buttery smoove renditions of the oft-generic form.

On her underrecognized 1998 treasure “All N My Grill”, Elliott’s silky vocal slides alongside lightning bolt-like strings stabs while demanding “If you want me/ Where’s my dough?/ Give me money/ Buy me clothes” to a deadbeat old lover she’s well aware doesn’t have the funds. At one point she even emerges as a possible influence of Sasha Fierce when she urges the reconcilation-craving homeboy to “show me a ring”.

In the hands of Peggy Sue (via the enjoyable “indieghetto” online series), the combination of a downbeat acoustic folk reading and vocalists Rosa Rex and Katy Klaw’s moody, back-and-forth soul wailings strip away Elliott’s hood-toughened confidence for a tender vulnerability, adding some striking emotional depth to a track that had initially carried it’s appeal solely on the surface.

(Other “indieghetto” highlights include Alan Pownall tackling “Single Ladies”, Ayah Marar taking on Bobby Brown’s “Don’t Be Cruel”, Paloma Faith & Paul Weller doing Nelly’s “Dilemma” and La Shark’s kooky reimagining of Ja Rule’s “Always On Time”)

DL: “All N My Grill (Missy Elliott Cover)” (alt)

Uncategorized '90's, 80's, alan pownall, cover song, earth wind & fire, indie folk, indie pop, indieghetto, live performance, missy elliott, peggy sue, rio en medio

The Tapemasters crew recently unleashed the twenty-sixth installment of their The Future In R&B mixtape series, and as usual, it’s jampacked with the hottest in today’s urban/ soul. But amongst the usual suspects found within it’s tracklisting, the two that stand out the most at face value come from a couple of 90’s R&B stars who’ve saw their respective commercial footholds slip a couple notches in recent years. Might Ginuwine and Brandy have the fire necessary to re-claim their positions in the higher reaches of the singles charts?

First up, we have Ginuwine’s “Get Involved”. Set to be the second single off his forthcoming sixth album, A Man’s Thoughts, the track finally delivers what fans have been waiting for for years: a reunion between the stage-sliding, hip hop-soul Lothario and the “dynamic duo” who helped put him on the map way back when, Timbaland and Missy Elliott.

And from the instant it hits the speaker, the track burns, rocking a sweaty disco groove that peaks into an ecstactic delirium for the chorus as Gin, Tim and Missy all threaten to release their inner-freaks on the public. Yeah, it’s a bit sad to hear Ginuwine barely registering on a track in which he’s credited as lead, but who’s really concerned about minor gripes like that when we are gifted with Missy treating us with yet another one of her silly, but always in-demand, gabbledygook-filled verses (“Yeah you know I’m a freak-a-deek-leek/ Heavy D, tweet-a-deet-didda-a-deet-dee…”) and get to hear one of the best R&B forces of the late ’90’s side-by-side again.

DL: “Get Involved” (alt)

For Brandy and her cut “Decisions”, a slow-burning duet with the Midas-touched Ne-Yo, the results are equally as pleasant.

Despite receiving critical kudos, Brandy’s last album, the mature and pop ballad heavy Human ended up being a major under-performer, it’s overt distancing from the day’s R&B trends perhaps a major factor in it’s lack of mainstream success. But if “Decisions” is to be looked as a precursor to her next project, she shouldn’t have any problems winning some of her old masses back.

Over a backing track that will cause more than a few people to have flashbacks of Ciara’s slinky “Promise”, Brandy and Ne-Yo rely on the old angel on one shoulder/ devil on the other gimmick to express whether or not they should hook up with one another, despite already being in relationships with other people. “You got a good man on your side and you know that he don’t deserve it,” the (still-)enchantingly smoky-voiced Brandy internalizes, only to completely change her stance a breath later: “How can a man get hurt when he don’t even know that it happened?”.

It’s difficult to think of the teenybopper that once trilled about “sittin’ up in her room” now having grown-up infidelity thoughts (we know, we know, it’s been over ten years…), but throwback “Moesha”-era fondness aside, we’re completely digging this (and privately hoping that Ne-Yo will be employed further on the next album).

DL: “Decisions” (alt)

Uncategorized '90's, brandy, ginuwine, missy elliott, ne-yo, R&B, timbaland

Clive Davis dumped her cause he didn’t know how to properly market her smooth-and-edgy style, G Unit couldn’t find much to do with her but make her their resident hook girl and go-to video eye candy. Yet R&B never-was Olivia pushes forward while in between record deals, opting on creating her own buzz with the Missy Elliott-featured “Cherry Pop”.

Never one to forget the old-school musical memories of her childhood or get her mind completely out of the gutter, Elliott whips up a sexy, ’80’s-era R&B skater jam romp, enticing Olivia to sing about the needs of her lady parts like some former member of Vanity 6. Edging TMI territory as she searches for a man to keep her satisfied ’til her “well is dry”, Olivia embraces her nasty side, fleshing out the role she played on 50’s similar-minded “Candy Shop” and pushing the no-holds-barred personality we saw on her 2001 breakout “Bizounce” back to the forefront.

Elliott, who seems to have run out of fresh material, is still getting mileage out of the same self-booty-smacking rhymes (“‘Cause my jeans fit to my crotch/ Taste like whip cream on top”), but when it comes to raunchy fun we would expect nothing less from her.

A sassy funkster that finally seems to set Olivia’s career back on the good foot (even if it’s well past time Missy find something else to focus on), “Cherry Pop” delivers the “tasty” goods.

Uncategorized 80's, female rap, missy elliott, olivia, retro, sex jam, sex-rap

Mary J Blige disciple Keyshia Cole is back to dole out more advice to her female brethren on her summer new single, “Let It Go”, warning her peeps not to waste their time with men who’ve lied in the past even if their heart is telling them that they can’t leave him yet. Cole, who spent a majority of her platinum debut, The Way It Is, stuck in one-sided relationships has the perfect voice to embody the role of the long-suffering girl constantly picking the wrong dudes. Her emotive alto crackled on the edge of hoarseness on several occasions as she painfully focused on presumed fairy tale romances that always seemed to turn sour right when she figured he was the one. Young women reacted strongly to her inability to escape all the hurt and pain, and when a good man finally did come around, on the striking ballad “Love”, she could barely contain her excitement, resorting in probably one of the more nuisanced vocal interpretations of the four letter word ever.

Closer to reaching Mary J’s post-No More Drama mantra of “love yourself first or you can’t love anyone else”, Keyshia tries her best to convince another female that it’s no use trying to hold on to a man who can’t keep his eyes, and groin, from swaying in someone else’s direction. “It ain’t where he at/ It’s where he wanna be”, she sings, even going as far too admit that he’s been trying to talk to her on the side as well.

That the song could find some use with the familiar midtempo strains of Mtume’s timeless ’80’s jam “Juicy Fruit”, re-popularized as Biggie’s “Juicy”, is a miracle, though not the first time Cole breathed new life into an obvious sample (remember her last album’s “Never”, which basically milked the entire instrumental of “Never Too Much”?). Girl power cameos help round out the number as Lil’ Kim drops another strong verse (she needs to drop a new album now!!) and Missy Elliott, as usual, keeps things fun by adopting Melle Mel’s chuckle and Paris Hilton’s catchphrase (“That’s hot”) while endorsing her big-boned lady lumps (“He ask how I do that that/ Fit jeans over baby fat”).

Download: “Let It Go” (Amazon)

Uncategorized 80's, female rap, just like you, keyshia cole, ladies anthem, let it go, lil' kim, mary j blige, missy elliott, mtume, R&B, soul sample