My 180 Dark Twisted Fantasy

I have a confession.  I downloaded Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy almost immediately when it came out in the fall of 2010, and I hated it.  I downloaded the whole thing because I liked “Power” so much.  “Power” was on my workout, running, and party playlists.  I vividly remember running to “Power” on the National Mall, looking at the Capitol, and thinking that this whole city, that building, all these people, are seeking the power that Kanye is rapping about.  The people of our nation’s capital are fueled by it.  Needless to say, I was thrilled to listen to the WHOLE album.  My first listen was on a long walk I had to the grocery store.  I started with “Dark Fantasy” and quickly started skipping to search for “Power.”  Listened to it.  Awesome.  Then I ran into “All of the Lights”  — damn that track was tight.  Then, um, I hated every other song.  I remember getting impatient and skipping after only hearing a few seconds of a few songs.  Then, and I can’t really remember why I did this, I decided that I was extremely disappointed and hated the whole album.  I never even gave it a second chance.  Well, until I did.  But only after inexplicably hating the album for over a year, making fun of Kanye for being a jerk and crazy, really disliking Watch the Throne (which I still do), and agreeing with our President when he said this.  What finally pushed me to give it another shot was not the 2,456 Grammies Kanye won, or the fact that “All of the Lights” had replaced “Power” on multiple playlists; but it was my fiance hearing “Dark Fantasy” and “kind of liking it,” and my sister’s boyfriend (music producer) telling me over and over again how good the album was.  Fine.  I’ll listen to it again.  Here is what happened over the past several months, song by song.  And maybe the other dope boy will finally give this album its first real listen.

Ten Songs for Different Valentine’s Days

Happy Valentime’s Day, everyone!  Unfortunately, this year is one when I couldn’t take advantage of the great offers for roses from the vendors on the street corners.  I didn’t buy a heart-shaped box of candy and I’m not headed out to dinner with a sweetie.  But there’s no reason not to celebrate love.  Love is an amazing thing and, in fact, I think we should all celebrate St. Valentine every day.  So here are ten great songs for a wide range of different Valentine’s Days.*

Our Night With Grammy

The morning after the GrammYs, the other dope boy, my fiance, and I exchanged the following set of emails. 

Jules Winfield (JW):  Whitney Houston is dead?  Seriously, I don’t want to talk about her at all.  She did lots and lots of crack.  She had one of the best voices I’ve ever heard.  She did too much crack.  Can we talk about the rest of the night?

 

SoHo:  oh whitney…sigh.

 

JW:  I have a theory about Adele but I’d like to get your reactions before I explain — I think people like her more because she’s a little overweight.  This includes me.  But why is this?

 

Jonweberchicago:  (You realize that “JW” as an abbreviation for “Jules Winfield” is a little confusing with “Jonweberchicago”?)  I agree, but I think most people won’t articulate it like that.  My theory is that I think a lot of people are excited that somebody who looks a little different from the rest of the Hollywood crowd is making it big.  It’s similar to the American
Idol effect too.  Remember when that show first came out?  People were so psyched because it could be just a normal person who lived next door to you, but he/she had what it takes to be a star.  What’s your theory?  But on the real, Adele can just sing her fat ass off.

The love below (part 2)

I have a secret love that only my closest friends know.  I don’t think my parents know.  Very few colleagues know.  Most people would be very surprised to learn about it; some even shocked. Underneath the business attire, despite the fact that I’m a preacher’s kid, and even after 20+ years and two degrees in classical music, I can’t deny how much I LOVE Outkast.

In part 1 of this series, I broke down the highlights of ‘Kast’s debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik.  Part 2 is now long overdue.  Today I’ll be focusing on the incredible sophomore effort, ATLiens.

Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik was a unique and, I’d argue, better than average first effort.  But in the grand scheme of things, that album was just a talented 9th grader playing on the varsity team: it showed skill, promise and enthusiasm, but it was unproven.  ATLiens, on the other hand, which dropped in August 1996 (actually, on the other dope boy’s birthday.  Happy birthday, Versastylist.  You’ve already been helped), is all the proof you would need to trade as many prospects and future picks as it takes to move way up in the draft to take this future hall of famer.  This album proved what Andre and Big Boi were capable of: a huge learning curve over the previous 3 years and the potential to eclipse every other artist in the genre.

“If you don’t want to be challenged by your hip-hop, ATLiens is not the album for you; matter of fact OutKast is not the group for you. They refuse to be conventional in a world of formulaic mediocrity, which may make them harder to grasp but ultimately makes them that much better to listen to.”

Steve ‘Flash’ Juon

The love below (part 1)

I have a secret love that only my closest friends know.  I don’t think my parents know.  Very few colleagues know.  Most people would be very surprised to learn about it; some even shocked. Underneath the business attire, despite the fact that I’m a preacher’s kid, and even after 20+ years and two degrees in classical music, I can’t deny how much I LOVE Outkast.

Yes. I’m about to shout from the rooftops. I love Outkast, the trend setting, boundary pushing, multi Grammy® award-winning hip hop duo from the ATL.  Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000, and Antwan Patton, aka Big Boi, aka Daddy Fat Sax, aka General Patton.  I remember the first time I heard “Player’s Ball” (on a mix tape, I was 15) and buying my first ‘Kast album (ATLiens in 1998).  I remember taking the bus to buy Stankonia the day it came out in October 2000 and telling people how “B.O.B.” was different from anything I had heard before, never mind that they were singing about Shock and Awe three years before it actually happened.  (Some people think “B.O.B.” was the song of a generation; not quite true. That would come three years later.)  I was so excited to find out that I actually grew up in the SWATS that many subsequent screen names and email passwords included the five-letter acronym.