mixtape maestro (2.0)

In a recent interview with MTV News, Dre, one-half of production duo Cool & Dre, touched on something in reference to the rock/ rap / Auto-tune soul experimentations found on Lil’ Wayne’s Rebirth that hit us like the biggest of epiphanies: “It’s something Rick James would bug out on”.

After letting that lone line marinate in our brains for a few seconds, we realized that, on one level, Dre was right…there is an element of Rick James’ before-it’s-time combination of sex, rock, R&B and over-exaggerated funk vocals that can be heard in some of the Rebirth material we’ve heard so far. Now, don’t get us wrong, our semi-agreement with Dre’s statement is not necessarily saying we suddenly think this whole curioso release is going to be the genius, genre boundary-breaking affair Wayne seems to think it’ll be, but absorbing Rebirth in a Rick James-ian light definitely kind of redeems it’s questionable ambition in a way that we aren’t simply waiting for it to hurry up and be released so that Wayne can steer his sole attention back towards turning out “real” hip hop anymore.

Newest single (?) “On Fire” is upgraded a couple of notches from another instant eye-roller to…um, something slightly better than that, under this new train of thought. Built on a layer of electric guitar squawkings (apparently handled by Wayne himself) and a surprisingly hot sample of the very ’80′s-sounding Scarface soundtrack cut “She’s On Fire”, “Fire” may ride a thin lyrical sketch of how bad-ass a woman is (“She hot as hell/ Let’s call her Hell-en…”), but try thinking of a modern-day Rick being the inspiration behind it’s flavor, and suddenly, the song doesn’t seem so bad.

“On Fire”:

That other recent Rebirth leak “Da Da Da” though…let’s just say, it’s not as easy to defend, no matter whose sound the people behind it were looking to emulate. Hands down, it’s the oddest cut to emerge from the album so far, it’s decent moments (a snazzy bassline, a rapid drum loop and an appreciably clear rap verse) not enough to justify Wayne’s drunken wordless meanderings and overdose on vocal modulation.

“Da Da Da”:

Rebirth arrives December 21st.

DL: “Da Da Da” (alt)

On this “remix” version to “Can’t Stop Partying”, Weezer’s Raditude-housed attempt at getting some rhythmic radio love, one Grammy-winning rapper is traded for another has Chamillionaire bumps Lil’ Wayne out of the frame to showcase how much of a “rock star” he is.

Which is, whatever, especially considering that Cham doesn’t really offer anything here lyrically that your 10-year-old little brother couldn’t have penned himself. With a verse built on tired references to threesomes, bra dismantling and Patrón-sipping, Cham sounds like he’s giving a lesson in Party Rap 101. If Flo Rida or, hell, LMFAO had made the decision to barge onto this track, we probably would’ve gotten at least one clever line…and they don’t even have shiny Grammy’s to call their own.

DL: “Can’t Stop Partying (Remix)” (alt)

Weezer will likely forever more incite heated commentary from listeners on whichever album era it was when the band/ Rivers Cuomo officially “jumped the shark”, but you still have to kinda give it up for the boys for continuing to press on in the face of ever-present “why won’t they just retire?” balking, even if it’s a bit tough to disagree with that sentiment.

At least new single “If You’re Wondering If I Want You To (I Want You To)”, the lead cut from the band’s Raditude, is fun enough to temporarily distract you from pondering over the confusing entity Weezer has become over the years. It’s happy-go-lucky, “Walking On Sunshine”-like power-pop plodding making for a delightful three minute toe-tapper, “Wondering” also benefits from River’s umpteenth lyrical well-dipping into the gawky bliss of young love, it’s “boy loves girl” theme entertainingly speckled with references to “Slayer T-shirts”, viewings of Titanic, trips to Best Buy and meat loaf dinner with her parents (“I dug you so much/ I took one for the team”, Cuomo, a World’s Sexiest Vegetarian nominee, sings).

The same surprisingly likable results also emerge from the recently leaked, highly anticipated Weezer/ Weezy collabo “Can’t Stop Partying”, a brow-raising number co-written by Jermaine Dupri (!?!) that was originally heard in oddly somber acoustic demo form on Rivers’ compilation sequel Alone II: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo.

Yeah, Cuomo still sounds mega-silly vocalizing some mocking rap star fantasy that has him downing Patron and E tablets while kicking it with his “deep posse” in the hottest clubs’ VIP sections (even if it can looked at as some sort of extension of “Buddy Holly”‘s awkward “what’s with these homies dissin’ my girl?” urban-speak), but we’d be foolish in denying the guilty pleasure glee that’s stirred up in “Partying”‘s newfound glossy pop production polish (perfect for Top 40 spinning betwixt similar goof-pop entries by 3Oh3! and Cobra Starship) and Lil’ Wayne goblin-grinning his way through lines like “Party like tomorrow is my funeral/ Gotta stop mixing alcohol with pharmaceuticals”.

Raditude drops November 3rd.

DL: “Can’t Stop Partying” (alt)

When it comes to Outkast, we’ve learned to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes down to their odd (and very frustrating) refusal to not just go ahead and give the fans what they want by recording a joint album (that’s non-soundtrack-related, thank you). So with that said, it’s not too surprising that Big Boi’s latest protogee would be the hip hop/ alternative band Vonnegutt, a Gym Class Heroes-esque act from Atlanta who have been slowly making noise within the blogosphere over the past year.

The band should really grab major on-line interest with this most recent creation though, a full-on cover of the Roots/ Cody ChesnuTT (whatever happened to him?) jam “The Seed 2.0″ that they’ve engulfed in a curioso electro-hop sound. Now nothing will be able to top the utter brilliance of the original (or, for that matter, the solo Cody record that inspired it), but Vonnegutt manage to pull off an interesting take nonetheless.

Look out for Big Boi to be featured on their next official single, “Here We Go Again”, followed by The Appetizer EP which is set to drop this Fall.

(Shouts to OnSmash)

DL: “The Seed 2.0 (The Roots Cover)” (alt)

A larger-than-life rap n’ rock hybrid that seemed to be fully aware of it’s future ubiquity from the get-go, Kevin Rudolf‘s “Let It Rock” cemented itself in the brains of millions with the utmost ease; thanks to it’s for-the-arenas fist-pumping air, head-turning Weezy grab and ginormous hooks (not to mention lyrics that apparently drew inspiration from Judas’ betrayal), the track turned the liner-note credit (his guitar skills have earned him spots on joints from Timbaland, Nelly Furtado and David Banner) into a major (at least, for the moment) pop star almost overnight.

So what’s next for the insta-sensation? How about a smart reprisal of what made him so big in the first place.

Like “Rock”, follow-up single “Welcome To The World” is another big, dumb and loud energizer fueled by heavy guitar and squelchy synths that doesn’t really register as coming from a human as it does a computer program based on “What the kids should like” focus group-ed data. Despite that un-attractive description, though, the song soars as a highly enjoyable guilty pleasure for the road.

“World”‘s lyrics may revolve around a woman’s crash down back to Earth after experiencing her fifteen minutes of fame (“So no more time spent/ And no more free shit/ In fact this free ride has reached it’s destination”), but that dour theme never ekes it’s way into the track’s musical display, a celebratory stomp that damn near orders the toes to start tapping. Pair that with the “rock & roll lifestyle” hurrah of featured guest Rick Ross (“I only came to party tonight/ New chicks, get my drinks up/ Every weekend we can link up”) and Rudolf sounds like he’s got another smash on his hands.

Listen to the album version below, then snatch up an alternate take that replaces “The Bawse” with Kid Cudi afterward.

DL: “Welcome To The World (with Kid Cudi)” (alt)

So this really is happening, huh?

From the moment “Prom Queen” made it’s initial leaking waves across the World Wide Web, you could almost feel millions of question mark keys being rapidly tapped on in response to Wayne’s latest wacky career move, typed outcries of “What the hell is he thinking?!?”, “This sucks!!” and “What happened to the The Carter IV” taking hostage of various comment sections damn near instantaneously.

Is “Prom Queen” horrid? Well…on first listen, definitely. But “Lollipop” wasn’t necessarily praised off-the-bat either, and it went on to become an un-ignorable pop phenomenon, earning kudos as one of the greatest records of the year along the way.

Like “Lollipop”‘s riff on sex jam R&B, “Queen” offers a fairly generic take on modern rock theatrics that somehow manages to become less grating in multiple listens, when you can start to slowly build an appreciation for it’s quite accessible thrashing abouts and the fairly decent song sketch waxing sorrow about the high school girl Weezy didn’t get that lurks behind all the metal hurrah. In comparison to the songs that can usually be found near the top of Billboard’s Modern Rock list, “Queen” is actually not all that bad and Maestro gets the sense that really soon, it could emerge as Wayne’s next Hot 100 leader.

Now is an entire album of this really needed? No, but it’s not like it would be the worst thing he could do. He saves that for the ear-bleeding (albeit down right hilarious) R&B ballad “Around The Way Girl”, a new mixtape concoction which can best be summed up as a drunken R. Kelly impersonation that suddenly takes a detour into the land of Paisley Park with it’s guitar solo and painful falsetto-sprinkled finale.

DL: “Around The Way Girl” (alt)

It was a respectable decision for the band to venture away from the dated rap/ rock hybrid sound and show a bit of maturity, but Linkin Park’s rap dalliances were an integral part of their wide-spread popularity, offering a welcome break from Chester Bennington’s ear-splitting rants even if Mike Shinoda’s depressing dialogue and squared flow felt middle-school rooted. Showing a much better range on the surprisingly-not-horrible Fort Minor project, it’s sort of sad that his rhyming input is barely utilized on Minutes to Midnight, especially with “Bleed It Out”, one of a handful of cuts with Mike in the starring role, being one of the album’s best tracks.

U2-sized epic guitar lines and driving 4/4 stomps make a driving backbeat for this continuation of the band’s efforts to exorcise past demons for a brighter new beginning. Shinoda works within simple rhyming patterns (“Yeah here we go for the hundredth time/ Hand grenade pins in every line/ Throw ‘em up and let something shine/ Going out of my fucking mind”), but his precision is deliciously on point, the perfect avenue for such an anthemic fist-pumper. In a nice throwback nod to their Hybrid Theory chemistry, Mike fluidly leads the way into Bennington’s throat-slicing hook (“I bleed it out/ Digging deeper just to throw it away”) and almost instantly you’re pulled in to the stand-by formula, reminded as to why they have soundtracked millions of teenaged youths over the years.

Even if “Bleed It Out” doesn’t appear to register as a full song (clocking in at less than three minutes), it’s the kind of aggro chant-along concerts open up with and a nice bridge into their new Rick Rubin-handled sound. Most importantly, and achieved in a way that doesn’t muck their current vision, it invites one of their more distinctive elements back into the fold, welcoming back the Linkin Park we know and love.

Download: “Bleed It Out” (Amazon)

The teaming of the hottest band of the moment and hip hop’s flashiest divo should’ve been more of a monumental moment than this. But Kanye West’s produced remix of Fall Out Boy’s Top 10 battlecry “This Ain’t A Scene…” never quite transcends the awkwardness of the union, leaving it a curious listen but an forgettable one as well.

On the original, Patrick Stump’s sturdy, R&B-inflected vocals comes alive with a funky new jack groove and spirited call-and-response breakdown with a ginormous that explodes in brash, speed rock fury. Such an inspired performance was given much more heft thanks to the lyric’s fiery anti-emo viewpoint, criticizing a sound that might’ve run it’s course.

Under Kanye’s fingertips, though, the song loses all it’s grand rock punch, reduced to a serious gospel-like sulk thanks to choir backup and downtrodden piano. This kind of style works for West’s introspective whining, but sucks all the joy out of a song whose kitchen sink arrangement was the key to it’s success.

While the band’s contribution falls to the wayside, Kanye drops another scene stealing cameo, offering a humorous hip hop opinion on the song’s odd context (“Now I don’t know what the hell this song is talkin’ about”) and the band’s obvious White-ness (“They ain’t Black when they get money they don’t ball out boy/ They just buy tight jeans til their nuts hang out boy”). It’s a neat “meta” twist that builds off of Pete Wentz’ self-aware poetry, but for a band who can do a lot when wearing tight nuthuggers, Kanye’s dull, constricting beat just doesn’t allow FOB enough room to do their stuff. Residing far on the opposite spectrum of “Walk This Way” in rap/ rock collabos, the “This Ain’t A Scene… (Remix)” is disappointingly DOA.