During the ringtone rap era, labels would repeatedly sign acts with a local-turned-crossover hit. In some cases, the label would force a second single out of the artist and hope it would match the success of that initial hit. In even more cases, that initial hit would run its course and the album the artist was promised would end up shelved after the label decided it could do no more with him.
This is what's so amazing about Sage The Gemini's story. He could have easily become "the guy with that 'Gas Pedal' song." Not only did he follow up the bass-heavy hit with "Red Nose," Sage was able to parlay his hit songs into the start of a serious career, a feat few Bay representatives can claim to have conquered. Even IAmSu, his HBK cohort and the leader of the region's youth rap movement, has yet to earn even a fraction of Sage's accolades.
Remember Me's release is a victory in itself, considering the history of artists from the under appreciated region, but let's be clear. This shit has some bangers on it. Sage has a gift for writing hit songs. "Gas Pedal" and "Red Nose" will continue to dominate mix shows for the foreseeable future, but then you have "Bad Girls," "Just A Kiss" and the infectious, sure-fire hit "Go Somewhere." Every one of the HBK kids makes an appearance, but this is very clearly Sage's album. He commandeers nearly every hook and produces half the album.
It's easy to call this a fluke. To dance and sing along to Sage's music and still contend he won't be around next year. To pretend that all his success is still not as significant as some of his competition's. He's already gone from one to two to three to potentially four-hit wonder. A successful career really isn't all that farfetched at this point.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Film School: The Grand Budapest Hotel
I've never been the biggest Wes Anderson fan. Not in the sense that I dislike his movies, but I guess I've just never been absolutely infatuated with them. To be fair, I was probably too young to properly appreciate Tenenbaums, and Moonrise Kingdom is the only other one of his movies I've actually seen.
I'm almost surprised to say, though, that I absolutely loved The Grand Budapest Hotel. Obviously the story was a captivating one. The movie was incredibly funny – with some unexpectedly shocking dialogue from Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe's characters – and romance wasn't the main part of the plot, which for whatever reason I enjoyed. The main focus, instead, was the lovably uncomfortable companionship between Ralph Fiennes' character M. Gustave and his apprentice Zero.
The pairing of the two starring actors was an interesting decision. Fiennes is an enormously talented actor with a distinguished resume. Tony Revolori, who plays Zero, on the other hand just seemed like any random kid. He seemed to mumble more than I did when I was a teenager — maybe I could have been an actor. His finest moments on screen were him chastising Fiennes' character for flirting with his girlfriend, but he was no show stopper. Saoirse Ronan, who played Zero's girlfriend Agatha however, did a marvelous job – considering she had maybe 10 minutes of total screen time – as the worrisome but confident pastry chef that helps Gustave and Zero resolve their quandary.
Anderson's cinematography and compulsively technical camera approach is second to none, but the film's Eastern European location made an even bigger impact on the final product, in my opinion. The snow and the mountains are one thing, but there's a character to the stone pathways and century-old buildings that give off a sort of authenticity. It almost makes me want to move to a place like this.
I'm almost surprised to say, though, that I absolutely loved The Grand Budapest Hotel. Obviously the story was a captivating one. The movie was incredibly funny – with some unexpectedly shocking dialogue from Adrien Brody and Willem Dafoe's characters – and romance wasn't the main part of the plot, which for whatever reason I enjoyed. The main focus, instead, was the lovably uncomfortable companionship between Ralph Fiennes' character M. Gustave and his apprentice Zero.
The pairing of the two starring actors was an interesting decision. Fiennes is an enormously talented actor with a distinguished resume. Tony Revolori, who plays Zero, on the other hand just seemed like any random kid. He seemed to mumble more than I did when I was a teenager — maybe I could have been an actor. His finest moments on screen were him chastising Fiennes' character for flirting with his girlfriend, but he was no show stopper. Saoirse Ronan, who played Zero's girlfriend Agatha however, did a marvelous job – considering she had maybe 10 minutes of total screen time – as the worrisome but confident pastry chef that helps Gustave and Zero resolve their quandary.
Anderson's cinematography and compulsively technical camera approach is second to none, but the film's Eastern European location made an even bigger impact on the final product, in my opinion. The snow and the mountains are one thing, but there's a character to the stone pathways and century-old buildings that give off a sort of authenticity. It almost makes me want to move to a place like this.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Noteworthy Songs (Feb/March 2014)
I thought I would do different versions of this kind of post based on genre, but my overall song selection wasn't all that varied this time around. These are songs that were released in the last month (or in the case of "Fireflies," that I just properly discovered) that I thought were worth discussing.
YG feat. Tee Cee - "Meet the Flockers" (My Krazy Life)
There are people that will try to convince you that YG's album is too simple to actually be good. They are stupid. Don't listen to them. My Krazy Life is terrific. Never has a song had me wanting to set up a home invasion before. Not only is "Find a Chinese neighborhood 'cause they don't believe in bank accounts" the hardest rap line ever, it should require a proper investigation by multiple publications to see if this trope still rings out.
Ty Dolla $ign feat. Wiz Khalifa & DJ Mustard - "Or Nah" (Beach House EP)
DJ Mustard's whole M.O. is to get people to have fun. There's a happiness factor to all of his music. The "Or Nah" beat on the other hand is downright haunting. Mustard has done some interesting stuff in 2014, but hopefully this marks a transition for him as a producer beyond just going from 3-note melodies to 4-note melodies. Ty does what he does best (and does it well). And Wiz comes through with potentially his only guest verse in history that has been worth listening to.
Zendaya - "Fireflies" (Zendaya)
This is officially my favorite song right now. I'm convinced Harmony Samuels is the best producer out. There's an interview online with him talking about giving "The Way" to Ariana Grande because they needed to make this white 20-something girl from Nickelodeon "cool." So what do you do with a black teenage girl from the Disney Channel? The rest of the album clumsily toes the line between pop and R&B without quite picking a side. With this song, Samuels flawlessly combines those two worlds. You have the dance buildup, the urban breakdown with the snaps and just the most perfect, slow-mo-dance-montage-worthy chorus. Whether this was a leftover Dawn Richard song (later beefed up by Samuels) or something she and her producer, Andrew Scott, worked on together with Samuels isn't super clear, but clearly this is a combination we need to hear more from in 2014.
100s - "Slide On Ya" (IVRY)
I spent four years in Berkeley and never heard of 100s until after I graduated last May, which is unfortunate because I would have loved to witness an artist grow literally from ground zero. "Slide On Ya" is more of the pimpish flavor 100s has delivered since last year's Ice Cold Perm, but it's probably unfair to cast 100s as strictly that type of rapper. His music is ultimately about women – dealing with them, sleeping with them, ignoring them, etc. While his music does have a flair for the theatrics (and expletives and misogyny), there is an aspect of his music that is entirely relatable. "Slide On Ya" is also the perfect example of 100s absolutely commanding the beat – a bangin' 80's-influenced one at that – with a flow reminiscent of DJ Quik, Too Short and a young Snoop Dogg.
Wiz Khalifa - "We Dem Boyz"
Over the last couple years, Wiz Khalifa has proven more and more how unnecessary he is to the hip-hop ecosystem. Even while he aligned himself with awesome young talent (IAmSu, Problem, Ty Dolla $ign), there just wasn't much worth listening to. Whether he realized his music was just plain boring or Su and Ty's music finally rubbed off on him properly, Wiz seemed to realize the power of melodic delivery on "We Dem Boyz." On paper, this shouldn't work at all. He repeats the same two phrases over and over. The whole song is (slightly) autotuned. It's produced by Detail. But the end result is absolute fire. It's a perfect mix of aggression and triumph. It's also cool because there's no bass in the entire song.
YG feat. Tee Cee - "Meet the Flockers" (My Krazy Life)
There are people that will try to convince you that YG's album is too simple to actually be good. They are stupid. Don't listen to them. My Krazy Life is terrific. Never has a song had me wanting to set up a home invasion before. Not only is "Find a Chinese neighborhood 'cause they don't believe in bank accounts" the hardest rap line ever, it should require a proper investigation by multiple publications to see if this trope still rings out.
Ty Dolla $ign feat. Wiz Khalifa & DJ Mustard - "Or Nah" (Beach House EP)
DJ Mustard's whole M.O. is to get people to have fun. There's a happiness factor to all of his music. The "Or Nah" beat on the other hand is downright haunting. Mustard has done some interesting stuff in 2014, but hopefully this marks a transition for him as a producer beyond just going from 3-note melodies to 4-note melodies. Ty does what he does best (and does it well). And Wiz comes through with potentially his only guest verse in history that has been worth listening to.
Zendaya - "Fireflies" (Zendaya)
This is officially my favorite song right now. I'm convinced Harmony Samuels is the best producer out. There's an interview online with him talking about giving "The Way" to Ariana Grande because they needed to make this white 20-something girl from Nickelodeon "cool." So what do you do with a black teenage girl from the Disney Channel? The rest of the album clumsily toes the line between pop and R&B without quite picking a side. With this song, Samuels flawlessly combines those two worlds. You have the dance buildup, the urban breakdown with the snaps and just the most perfect, slow-mo-dance-montage-worthy chorus. Whether this was a leftover Dawn Richard song (later beefed up by Samuels) or something she and her producer, Andrew Scott, worked on together with Samuels isn't super clear, but clearly this is a combination we need to hear more from in 2014.
100s - "Slide On Ya" (IVRY)
I spent four years in Berkeley and never heard of 100s until after I graduated last May, which is unfortunate because I would have loved to witness an artist grow literally from ground zero. "Slide On Ya" is more of the pimpish flavor 100s has delivered since last year's Ice Cold Perm, but it's probably unfair to cast 100s as strictly that type of rapper. His music is ultimately about women – dealing with them, sleeping with them, ignoring them, etc. While his music does have a flair for the theatrics (and expletives and misogyny), there is an aspect of his music that is entirely relatable. "Slide On Ya" is also the perfect example of 100s absolutely commanding the beat – a bangin' 80's-influenced one at that – with a flow reminiscent of DJ Quik, Too Short and a young Snoop Dogg.
Wiz Khalifa - "We Dem Boyz"
Over the last couple years, Wiz Khalifa has proven more and more how unnecessary he is to the hip-hop ecosystem. Even while he aligned himself with awesome young talent (IAmSu, Problem, Ty Dolla $ign), there just wasn't much worth listening to. Whether he realized his music was just plain boring or Su and Ty's music finally rubbed off on him properly, Wiz seemed to realize the power of melodic delivery on "We Dem Boyz." On paper, this shouldn't work at all. He repeats the same two phrases over and over. The whole song is (slightly) autotuned. It's produced by Detail. But the end result is absolute fire. It's a perfect mix of aggression and triumph. It's also cool because there's no bass in the entire song.
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