mixtape maestro (2.0)

While nothing could match the heights that Snoop Dogg scaled when his lackadaisical delivery was paired with Dr. Dre’s G-funk beat terrains, in his late-career excursions, it’s been The Neptunes who have consistently provided the Doggfather with the material needed to remain just as commercially relevant as he nears closer and closer to age 40 and his twentieth year in the game, whether it’s through digitized updatings of the rapper’s old hood-boy bop (“From The Chuuuch To Da Palace”, “Drop It Like It’s Hot”) or radio-friendly ditties that paid tribute to his undying adoration for summertime soul (“Beautiful”) and sleek, ’80’s-era disco-funk (“Let’s Get Blown”, “Signs”).

For “Special”, the Neptunes’ lone offering to Snoop’s tenth album Malice N Wonderland, that hit-making chemistry is kept afire with the Virginian production duo lacing Snoop’s eased flow and Valentine’s Day promises with another one of their purrty, keyboard-dominant arrangements while Pharrell and (a suddenly everywhere) Brandy blissfully croon sweet nothings back and forth on the hook.

It’s a blatant “Beautiful” re-write and far away from the aggressive, undercover cop-spooking lyricism that Snoop became a household figure with so long ago, but of all the various ‘90 hip hop sub-genre detours Snoop (sometimes awkwardly) skips through throughout Malice, “Special” is the one where he fits in the most comfortably, not only because you could totally envision Snoop giddily vibing with the instrumental on loop as he rides through the streets of Cali, but the “grown man” way he praises Wifey (“I’m puttin out the blunt cause I see/ That I need you more in my life than I need a bag of weed”) carries this endearing grasp of authenticity and intimacy, sounding like something that could have actually been in his vows during his 1997 wedding (or 2008 vow renewal) to high school sweetheart Shante.

“Special”:

BONUS DL: Snoop Dogg featuring Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson “Signs (Siik Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized brandy, charlie wilson, justin timberlake, malice n wonderland, neptunes, pharrell, siik, snoop dogg, west coast rap

Taking quite a few steps back from the edge-of-campy fanged seductress role Shakira giddily portrayed on She-Wolf’s chaotic, attention grabber of a first single/ title track, follow-up single “Did It Again” finds the Colombian siren proving to be just as engaging as a vulnerable damsel participating in a casual sex-based relationship (with a married man) that she knows is no good for her sensitive heart, yet is just far too hot to easily break away from.

“I’m in trouble/ But It feels like heaven,” she confesses atop an atypically low-key Neptunes-helmed production sparked by tense staccato keyboard hits and marching band drums. But as much as she berates herself for once again getting involved with “one of those guys”, you know the ones “with the wandering eye” who quickly pocket their wedding rings once a sexy woman like her gives them an ounce of attention, she finds it oh-so-difficult to refrain from meeting him back in the hotel room for a second dose of their steamy sexcapades.

And who could blame her, when just hearing the erotic pants the duo’s carnal chemistry wills out of her, produces enough heat to inspire one to venture off into the night to find their own hit-it-then-quit-it bedroom partner.

Peep the video below, followed by Benny Benassi’s remix, a slamming electro-booty-stylized reconfiguration featuring Kid Cudi.

She-Wolf, drops State-side on November 23rd.

DL: “Did It Again (Benny Benassi Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized benny benassi, dance remix, kid cudi, neptunes, shakira, she-wolf

As proven on previous club banger singles “What It Is”, “Light Your Ass On Fire” and “Pass The Courvoisier, Part II”, whenever Busta Rhymes’ animated flow is matched with the Neptunes’ cartoon-ish digi-funk beats, a good time is about to be had. That golden chemistry is highlighted once again on the the two forces’ newest collaboration, Fast & Furious soundtrack cut “G Stro”.

Anchored in standard ass-shaking request banter, “G Stro” doesn’t really stretch the creativity of either Busta or the ‘Tunes too far (the beat could have easily come from the Virginia production team’s early-00’s heyday), but damn if the nimble bass groove, handclap-laden breakdown or Busta’s contagious mic presence don’t get you out of your seat.

DL: “G-Stro” (alt)

Uncategorized busta rhymes, make it rain, neptunes, pharrell

“Do you really think you’re better than the rest?/…Bitch, I’m the best!!” Weezy punctuates the final verse of his latest leakage, the Pharrell collabo “Yes” (props to the NMC). And while we would love to start off the new year not being as mesmerized by this shamelessly over-exposed mic king, we’re going to have to go ahead and agree with his conceited claim, at least for this tune.

“Yes” is a relentless barrage of handclaps, low-rumbling space-age grimace, and Chuck D-as-hype-man vocal samples that still gives Wayne the needed room to dish out more of his wicked one-liners, winding word-play and newly invented slang (We’ve adopted “panty pie” as our new term of the month). Even Pharrell, in an abbreviated intro cameo, manages to pull off a winning line about naming his ride “Tonto” (though let’s not confuse anyone into thinking that an In My Mind Part Deux is needed).

Our lone complaint: That Clipse weren’t allowed to murder this beat first.

DL: “Yes” (alt)

Uncategorized lil' wayne, neptunes, pharrell

On his TIT-illating new cut “Punch Drunk Love”, Common leap-frogs away from the addicting, Bambaataa-influenced B-boy-isms of preceding single “Universal Mind Control” to get all “LL Cool J” on the ladies with assistance from pals the Neptunes and Kanye West

Heavy on near-eye-rolling lines like “You can call me Daddy/ I’m a put you to bed” and “I come from Chi-ca/ So in I go”, “Love” doesn’t really rank among Common’s lyrical best (though he does get a couple of clever points for “we exchange like students cause I study a-broad”) but it’s a fine sex-rap entry nonetheless, mostly thanks to the production’s lightly knocking, slow groove R&B stew and Pharrell’s very Teddy Riley-like, vocoder-enhanced solo towards the end. Plus, it’s always nice to hear a non-robo-voiced West anywhere these days, even if he is somewhat disappointingly relegated to just handling the hook duties here.

Still, for a better glimpse of Common-as-horn-dog, a re-listen to 2005’s sublime-and-sexy “Go” (also featuring an abbreviated cameo from Kanye) is recommended.

From Common’s upcoming, Universal Mind Control, due December 9th.

DL: “Punch Drunk Love” (alt)

Uncategorized common, kanye west, neptunes, pharrell, sex-rap

The sad aspect to Twista’s last album failing to make much of a commercial presence was that fewer people became acquainted with the lush album highlight “Lavish”, a collaboration between the speedy-tongued emcee and Pharrell/ Neptunes. The track sounded like heaven’s golden gates were opening, Twista and Skateboard P’s uzi-fire back-and-forth banter wrapped in a gorgeous blanket of cloud-soft pianos and synths. The two made for a great team, but the starry-eyed track never saw the light as an official single. Thankfully, they make up for that loss by hooking up for the stimulating first single off of the Chicago rapper’s newest album, Adrenaline Rush 2007.

As the Neptunes have taken a recent backseat to Swizz Beats and Timbaland as the season’s go-to-hitmaker (maybe because Pharrell’s ego was hurt after the dismal reaction to his heavily-hyped solo album, In My Mind), it’s given listeners time to miss their alt-minded, nimble blending of live instruments and computer-based constructions. Compiling signifiers of Chad and Pharrell’s classic catalogue, “Give It Up” takes the tribal bit from Nelly’s “Flap Your Wings”, the vibe of Mystikal’s “Shake Ya Ass” and tosses in some Kaleidoscope-era Atari key accents. Together, it makes this the latest urban cut to worship the percussive-heavy spunk of go-go, a genre that retains enough energy to keep up with Twista’s accelerated delivery.

The Dynamic Duo waste the lively track on trite multi-racial booty hooks (“Black girls wanna give it up/ White girls wanna give it up/ Spanish girls wanna give it up”), but the beat is so inviting and Twista makes nasty talk sound so good, that such eye-rolling subject matter can be forgiven.

Download: “Give It Up” (Amazon)

Uncategorized neptunes, pharrell, twista

Release Therapy was a decent enough album, but Best Rap Album Grammy worthy? Naw, that honor should have befallen Ghostface Killah’s much more impressive Fishscale. But even if Ludacris hasn’t quite figured out a way to construct a great album, when it comes to singles (and cameos), few can touch him.

“Slap” finds Luda in the midst of a bad day. Thankfully he avoids Daniel Powter piano mope, but he does trump the textbook seriousness of his “Brenda’s Got A Baby”-knockoff “Runaway Love” with a much more convincing look at the dark side of human nature, finding a way to embed his signature off-the-wall banter to offset it’s depressive content.

A slow-paced banger heightened with G funk whine and electric guitar riffs that bristle with the feeling of a man about to blow, Luda teeters on the edge of extreme violence as everything seems to be going wrong around him. As the song continues, his anger ascends in scope. He hates his job, his baby mama is irritating, gas prices are too high and someone just broke into his car (“How am I supposed to survive/ When I know that my stereo’s taken away?”). Wine might grow better with age, but your problems don’t and Luda’s battle with Father Time is getting the best of him (“I’m where I wanna be in my life/ But why am I so behind?/ Is it cause I’m wasting my time away?”) while an increased political awareness has made the future loom much more darker than ever. It’s enough to drive a man to drink, so how ironic that this yearn to slap random people is Luda’s most sobering offering yet. For those perturbed that Luda will always be more about style over substance, “Slap” convinces that a change is on the horizon.

“Slap” may bring about more versatility in Ludacris’ artillery, but we all know what we want from a Luda rap: songs advertising society at it’s most raucous and nasty. He delivers that on “Girls Gone Wild”, a relentless freaker that celebrates life’s wild size. The Neptunes produce an electrifying arrangement of spaced out funk over farting basslines and it’s nothing but a playground for the rapper’s acrobatic flow, slowing down and speeding up in an effort to get strippers as many dollar bills as possible. “You’re wetter than a storm/ Like you was takin’ X”, he sinfully rhymes, gleefully throwing Bill O Reilly a new bone to bust a vein to.

As effortless as “Girls Gone Wild” is pulled off, though, you can’t help but feel that Luda has little interest in such debauchery anymore. Tired of being looked at as rap’s go-to comic relief, look for him to focus more on “Slap”-type songs in the future. This shifting of the guard proves somewhat worrisome, given Luda is at his best when he’s giving us something fun to chant to, but as long as he entertains us every once in a while with his expert riotous anthems, he won’t feel the sharp pain of consumers slapping him across the face with diminished interest.

Uncategorized ludacris, neptunes, southern rap