Album of Tha Moment

Aight, so with Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 and Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II both droppin' September 8th of this year, it's been a strong year for rap albums so far. After Eminem's Relapse failed to impress many people (myself not included), the upcoming Relapse 2 is possibly a more highly anticipated album than the first one, expected to drop sometime before the end of the year. But now that we've spoke on the past and the future, let's focus on the now in rap.

Wale's highly anticipated and long awaited debut, Attention Deficit dropped this past Tuesday, and to get straight to the point, if you're a rap fan that doesn't listen to the usual Gucci Mane and Young Money tracks, don't flock to whatever is the flavor of the month (like the whole "Jerk" movement), and is patiently waiting for real, subject based rap to resurface in the mainstream, you need to hear this album.

I been bumpin' this album faithfully (meaning at least one full play once a day) since it's drop date, and it's truly an album worth spending money on. The production is crisp from start to finish, with the exception of a couple beats that I just wasn't feelin'. Those two beats were "Mirrors" featuring Bun B, and "TV In The Radio" featuring K'Naan. That's not sayin' I don't like those songs, I just thought the beats were lackluster, and just not as sick as the rest of the album. That's personally my own gripe with the album, which isn't really a gripe because, Wale does his thing on every single track on the album.

I've read in some reviews that the large number of guest appearances (9 out of the 14 tracks have at least one guest) can be somewhat of a distraction, but that fact did not matter as much to me. I did find the Gucci Mane cameo on "Pretty Girls" questionable, but hey, if you know me, you should've expect that. For the most part, each guest appearance compliments its respective track, especially on tracks like "Shades" (featuring Chrisette Michelle) and "Diary" (featuring Marsha Ambrosius; possibly my two favorite tracks on the album); since I couldn't imagine Wale constructing his own hook to lace such beautiful songs.

The album falls right into what is the perfect length for a rap album by my personal definition (14-16 songs). Every track has a meaning, which varies heavily from track to track, a rare combination in today's rap. He goes from spittin' about a typical Hollywood girl obsessed with looking like the modern celebrity in "90210" to the differences in shades of black people in "Shades", to the diary of a young woman in "Diary"; all topics which virtually NO mainstream rapper is hitting in their music. Each track is filled with at least one memorable line like "It's ironic they call me a fresh breath no joke/ you see them boys signed me to the "Scope"/" commenting on himself being signed to Interscope.

With all that in mind, I remember stating that The Blueprint 3 was what all modern-day rap albums should sound like. After hearing Attention Deficit repeatedly, I'm convinced this is what a modern-day rap debut album should sound like. You can hear the album in full, here.

~Trufe

Music of Tha Moment

So, check it out. I think I have a somewhat moderately expansive iPod, as well as an overall moderately expansive taste in music. Also, I like sharing my interests, as well as parts of my overall life with others, seeing as how I just feel I'm an interesting person. Thankfully, you'll learn a bit more about me personally when the documentary Louder Than a Bomb drops in 2010. But this particular post, in contrast to the "Artist You Should Know" segment featured here on "Tha Moment of Trufe", is just to let you all in on what I've been diggin' lately as far as music goes. Hopefully, you like it, if not, you're prolly a Wayne fan (no lol).

First and foremost is a new track by The Game entitled, "Champion".

I don't know about you, but I get more than a lil' bit of my songs from video games, and this track is one of them. This is the opening track from NBA 2K10, and I was feelin' it from the moment the beat dropped. The Game on this track displays more lyrical creativity than we've seen from him in recent history, naming possibly every NBA team without ever speaking about basketball in the two verses. The beat itself is simple, albeit hypnotic simultaneously, and personally left me wanting to know who produced it. The only possible downside is the usage of the dreaded autotune on the hook. The autotune effect has taken a bit of a blow in terms of popularity since the release of Jay-Z's "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)", but The Game released "I'm So Wavy", a diss track aimed at Jay-Z (for whatever reason) shortly after the release of "D.O.A.", in which he said "D.O.A. nigga? Please. I love 808s & Heartbreak, nigga "Love Lockdown"'s my shit", so I'm sure the usage of autotune was an indirect "fuck you" towards Jay. But that's a blog post for another day. Rating: 4.5 of 5. On to the next track, shall we?

MGMT- "Electric Feel"

This is another track I discovered while playing NBA 2K10 (I'm tellin' y'all, video games be havin' great music nowadays), and once again, I was hooked from the second the beat dropped. I have no clue who MGMT is, but after hearing this song, I was definitely interested in learning more about them. At first listen, I don't even know what their music would be classified as, as far as genres go, but who cares? This track is HOT! From the vocals, to the flutes, to the hook;it seems like everything just perfectly falls into place, making an aspiring artist like myself wonder what type of magic has to happen in the studio in order for a song like this to come about. If you're not familiar with Murphy's Law, it's the belief that everything that CAN go wrong, DOES go wrong, and I really feel that whatever the opposite of Murphy's Law is, that had to have taken place when this track was being composed. Rating: 5 of 5. On to the next one.

Clipse feat. Cam'ron and Pharrell- "Popular Demand (Popeyes)"

It's been a while since we've heard from Clipse, and I'm sure to the casual rap fan, they've faded to the background. To the true rap fan tho, Clipse ain't never went nowhere, and I'm personally excited to hear their new project after their last album Hell Hath No Fury" went undeservedly unnoticed. That shit was CRACK! But again, I first heard this track like a week ago, and I immediately was drawn to the classic hip-hop sound to it. If the sick Neptunes beat didn't hook you, I'm sure the verse from Pusha T did. Then came the second verse. From Cam'ron. G; what the fuck? Cam'ron?! Of all people to give a cameo to, you give it to Cam'ron?! I ain't even gone stunt, I used to like Cam, I really did. But the rap game has evolved since he dropped "Oh Boy!"and it seems like his lyrics didn't get the memo. He still does that wack shit, where he forces unreasonable amounts of syllables to rhyme, which result in bars like, "the ghetto na belt on the hip (or WHATEVER the fuck he said)/ I keep it Pharrell with the Clipse". Like, are you serious, dude? Like, you really in the booth with THAT shit on your notebook, and actually spittin' it? Hey, to each his own, I guess. Malice did just enough to stop listeners from strangling themselves following Cam's verse with his final verse, but that doesn't make up for a questionable hook from Pharrell. Rating: 4 of 5. On to the last track we go.

Consequence feat. Kanye West and John Legend- "Whatever You Want"

This track actually dropped a while ago, but the video was just shot a little over a month ago. Still, this track is not getting the airplay it deserves. Most of you may not know who Consequence even is, but simply put, to me, he's an underground emcee striving to be mainstream. Which means he has more lyrical talent than most mainstream rappers, and that's why you don't know who he is. But the Cons is taking on a different sound with this track, and I must say, it works. The Kanye West produced beat is yet another snare-less beat, similar to "Homecoming" and "Love Lockdown", which somehow, never seems to fail Kanye. Over the course of the track, Kanye and Consequence alternate, each spitting four bars in between a four bar hook, which only repeats the phrase "whatever you want, want, want...", etc. Then comes John Legend with a bridge offering soul that only John Legend can deliver; all of which is delivered over an intoxicating beat, which I feel is IMPOSSIBLE to not dance to. My only "con" with the track is its length, or lack thereof; the song is only 2:37. This is understandable, to a certain extent, taking into account the short verses and the fact that you never want to give too much of a good thing, but I'm sure fans of good music will have this track on repeat, resulting in astronomical amounts of plays in their iTunes library. Rating: 4.5 of 5.

That is all, my Trufe-seekers. Till next time, PEACE!!

~Trufe

Who's Real? Who's Fake?

So, check it out. The world today, or at least the current generation, relies HEAVILY on trends. If somebody else ain't doin' some shit, most people ain't gone do it. I don't even know if most people even realize this fact; possibly becuz they themselves are too busy following trends to notice. But anyway, one of the biggest trends of today, and about-- I'd say-- the last four to five years, has been social networking websites.

First, it was Tagged, remember that shit? That was poppington in like, '05, don't stunt. At least, it was at Steinmetz. Then, came the dreaded MySpace, which EVERYBODY had or still has one of. And nowadays, I'd say the most popular site is Facebook. There were a few others that were kinda popular for a minute, like BlackPlanet and Hoverspot, but never gained the popularity of MySpace and Facebook. And of course, you can never forget about Twitter, which I feel is the dumbest shit ever created, BUT, with the idea of following trends being so trendy, a lotta people are starting to grab one. Once people find out about Google Wave, I'm sure that'll be the new craze also; just remember where you heard about Google Wave first, niglettes.

Getting straight to the point, I'm a frequent Facebook user, like a lotta people I know, and I have had Facebook for a while now. I joined Facebook in December of 2006, after getting invited MONTHS earlier, but declining to join since I didn't know what it was at the time. So, it's safe to say I KINDA SORTA followed a trend by joining, since I didn't actually join till I heard a little buzz about it, but keep in mind, in December of '06, MySpace was all the rave, so I was still being an individual in my own way. Point being, I've seen this site go through a lotta phases; from being an invite-only college site, to an invite-only high school and college site (when I joined) to being a site for ANYONE.

Nowadays, I use it to keep in touch with people slightly outside my immediate friend circle, as well as old friends (like grammar school and high school buddies), but I really think that most people are only on Facebook becuz the current social networking site trend is "MySpace is lame, Facebook is where it's at", or something along those lines. Basically, I'm starting to see a lotta the same people and trends that prompted me to stray away from MySpace popping up on Facebook, and it's really making me want to write a social networking website poem (a la Shannon Matesky's "My Space", albeit, an updated version) at the very least, and this blog post is pretty much nothing more than a brainstorm for that.

Simply put, social networking sites are a trip. If I had a dollar for every "ThIngZ dHat PisZ mE oFf oN FacEbOok" note I came across, I'd uh... have a few dollars in my pocket. If I slapped a bitch for every status similar to "I HATE FUCKIN FAKE ASS PEOPLE" that I've read, I'd have slapped more bitches than a lil' bit at this point. It's gotten to a point that a lotta people use these sites as an excuse to be someone that face-to-face interaction prohibits. I mean, I once read a status that said "man, people just upload anything to Facebook nowadays" or somethin' along those lines, and I could not believe that person was serious. It's crazy how some people only upload pics or type statuses for the approval of others, and it's crazier that it's gotten to the point that people are shocked, or think it's immoral when people upload things becuz THEY want to. I mean, that shows that that person portrays a persona online in which they don't have to be his or herself, yet these are, in most cases, the same people screaming that they hate fake people. Crazy when you actually think about it, right?

Maybe it's just the type of friends that have added me in the past that are like this. Maybe I should take into account the age of these people and realize that most of them are fresh off of MySpace, where posing in front of a camera and coming up with a screen name meant that online, you were that somebody you wish you could be in real life. What I do know, is that I have 874 friends on Facebook, which I have maybe added 1/4 of myself, meaning that similar to MySpace, people add people on Facebook just for the hell of it, or for the sake of a large number of friends. But the fact of the matter is, I joined Facebook becuz back then, people would really be themselves, since they used their real name, and didn't dress up their profile with a bunch of quotes that they don't even really live by. Nowadays, people settle for make-believe middle names, since Facebook in MOST, not all, cases doesn't allow fake first and last names cuz it's pretty much the closest they can get to not being themselves online. My only question is, when will we be comfortable enough with ourselves to BE ourselves? That is all. Poem coming soon (hopefully).

~Trufe