mixtape maestro (2.0)

If Mariah had really wanted to boost sales and some chart longevity from the mostly public-ignored Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (rather than quickly move on to it’s guest-laden, all-remixes sequel Angels Advocate), she would have been smart to unleash set highlight “Ribbon” as an official single: it’s seducing, slow-motion flow and chopped-n-screwed hook saw Carey and co-album collaborators The-Dream and Chris “Tricky” Stewart at the peak of their combined powers, and felt like a serious R&B smash waiting to happen.

Alas, she didn’t…but all is not lost, as the diva has only upgraded the track’s future hit potential greatly under this new Advocate revision.

It’s addictive hook sadly doesn’t make it’s first appearance until the track is half-way done, but it’s hard to fuss about that too much when the remix’ front-end is loaded with great turns at the mic from Ludacris (who, curiously, makes much more of an impact littering uzi-fire rhymes and animated vocal tricks atop “Ribbon”‘s crawling midnight groove, than he does on his own oh-so-paint-by-numbers recent material) and Dream (who, as on “My Love” and the “Touch My Body (Remix)”, continues to prove to be one of Carey’s better duet partners [especially on the fade-out here], despite the huge gap in vocal ranges between the two).

Angels Advocate arrives, exclusively through Target & iTunes, March 30th.

DL: “Ribbon (Remix)” (alt)

If any other rapper touched the mic with some nonsense like “I beat it up like Harpo”, it would likely register as an instant FAIL. Have those same six words delivered via the slippery flow of Snoop though, and the cornball line magically ranks as yet another one of Mr. Dogg’s genius, casually tossed-off poetics.

Beyond that lyrical niblet and a brief shout-out to True Blood (making the HBO vamp soap that much cooler), not much else in Snoop’s verbal contribution to “Gangsta Luv” (the first single off his December-due tenth LP, Malice N Wonderland) really merits a double take, but don’t let that dissuade you: just hearing the man’s familiar drawl supported here by the summer-toned breeziness of Tricky Stewart’s synth-stabbed and bongo-accented production and a decent, if a bit paint-by-numbers, hook from The-Dream is all that’s needed to make this sorta-“Beautiful”-rewrite a welcome addition to the MP3 player library and easy fall-season radio success.

Mariah’s twelfth album, the recently leaked Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, may house much of the twinkly keyboards, echoed syllable hooks and silly lyrical turns that have lingered in her previous work with dominant Angel songwriting/ production team Chris “Tricky” Stewart and Terius “The-Dream” Nash (not to mention, the stuff they’ve crafted for themselves and others), but having those quirks on hand don’t at all prevent this collection from ranking as one of her most maturest albums to date.

Having little interest in the sample-based, cookie-cutter R&B-pop thrills of her past, Angel looms heavy with a mostly mid-tempo tracklisting that more often than not finds her dwelling in the depression of post-break-up heartache or selling a sassy kiss-off to a no-good boyfriend. Even the small number of relatively upbeat, “happy” numbers carry a denser musical tone beneath them, causing one to think that Mariah spent some time dipping back into her own catalogue, re-realized what a gem 1998′s under-appreciated Bone Thugs N Harmony collabo/ single “Breakdown” was, and then opted to record an entire album based around the track’s nocturnal-soul vibe.

If we had to pick one as an immediate favorite it would have to be mid-album cut “Ribbon”, a molasses-flowing bump & grinder that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Dream or R. Kelly album. It’s one of the few instances on the disc in which she’s celebrating love, capturing her completely lost in the charms of her lover and on the verge of a near-breakdown when she’s forced to be separated from his touch for the smallest bit of time (“It’s been about twenty good minutes since I kissed you/ Come back boo/ I miss you/ Wish I had twenty million hours to caress you/ And undress you/ To be continued…”).

It’s a puppy love sentiment we’ve heard her wax on plenty times over in the past, but here, when supported by a boudoir-ready groove and a chopped-and-screwed-styled hook that awesomely co-signs her ecstasy with demonic chants of being like a “ribbon with a bow on it”, sounding a bit more grown-up when giddy in love goes a long way.

Hear it below (you didn’t think we would have THE MAN catch us giving out a Mariah MP3 now, did you?), followed by a clip of Miss Carey-Cannon (looking all “Vision of Love”-ly) performing her surprisingly moving cover of Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is” on Oprah.

Memoirs drops September 29th.

“Ribbon”:

“I Want To Know What Love Is (Oprah Performance)”:

It was already lame that Eminem felt the need to drudge up his archaic beef with Mariah Carey on his most recent album. It’s just as lame that Mrs. Nick Cannon would be moved to respond to it, and not as a mixtape-only cut to satisfy the drama-loving blog-o-sphere (which would have been a perfectly fine move), but as the LEAD SINGLE of an actual album.

“Obsessed”, the first taste of Carey’s twelfth studio effort Memoirs of An Imperfect Angel, isn’t at all a “Dreamlover”, “Fantasy”, “Honey”, “It’s Like That” or “Touch My Body”, previous new LP jump-offs that felt like major pop events tailor-made for soundtracking good times for the next three months. Hell, it’s not even on the same level as comparably weaker lead single exercises “Heartbreaker” or “Loverboy”.

Most of that can be attributed to the fact that it’s central purpose relies far too heavily on chopping Eminem to size. MC may get some good digs in (“You’re delusional, you’re delusional
Boy you’re losing your mind/…Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex/ See right through you like you’re bathin’ in Windex”), especially with the cool and passive way she touches on Em’s much-publicized past with drugs and drops divaliicious one-liners like “You a mom and pop, I’m a corporation” and “I’m the press conference, you a conversation”, but all this would’ve perhaps been better served within a single verse, with the rest of the song tackling a more universal slant at dissing bug-a-boos. Spending over four minutes stressing on such a singular, and uncomfortably personal, topic quickly grows tiresome, especially once you’ve gotten past that initial first listen giddiness of “I can’t believe she just said that” excitement.

Aside from the lyrics, the production contribution from The-Dream and Chris “Tricky” Stewart (currently the Jam & Lewis to MC’s Janet) sort-of bores in it’s refusal to deviate from one main setting, which can best be summed up as a slightly more denser mimicking of their signature featherweight tip-toe pounce. It’s passable and radio-friendly, but in desperate need for some major musical switch-up to add a different dynamic.

To “Obsessed”‘s credit, it’s nice to see Carey putting on the boxing gloves and showing the public that she’s no pushover, and it’s possible that the combination of it’s gossip-rag targeting core and hype as a brand new MC single will aid in granting the track a big first few weeks on the singles chart; but giving the record the weight of something more than a simple album cut just doesn’t feel like the smartest move in the grand scheme of things. Hopefully, she’ll realize this and drop something with a bit more long-lasting appeal (like the “We Belong Together” Part 2 we didn’t get on the last album) as Imperfect Angel‘s release date nears.

Catch clips of the original and Gucci Mane-featured remix below…cause we don’t have the balls to go up against Mariah and her legal team.

Every once in awhile a new song emerges that smells like a season-long smash hit based on it’s opening seconds alone. Right now, that record is “Throw It In A Bag”, a collaboration between Fabolous and the ever-ubiquitous The-Dream that firmly plants the duo in their most successful element: female-friendly club jam territory.

The official lead single from Fab’s upcoming fifth (!!) LP, Loso’s Way, “Bag” busts out of the gate oozing summer banger attractiveness thanks to producer Tricky Stewart’s tip-toeing piano lick and trash can stomp, and once Dream enters the frame cooing “I know you ain’t over there staring at my girl” in that addicting featherweight chirp of his, it’s future platinum-certified status is basically a given.

The only question is whether any of today’s struggling, un-employed masses will cry foul over it’s slightly cruel, recession-proof bragging (the song centers on Fab’s endless showering of his girls with expensive gifts, with more than one reference to his dismissal of “price checks”) or if everyone will simply accept it as an ear-candy escape from their real-life troubles?

Loso’s Way is set for a June release.

DL: “Throw It In The Bag” (alt)