Elijah Blake - Drift

Elijah Blake has a very capable voice. It's not super powerful, but it definitely has a range. You'll recognize his tendency to stay in the upper portion of that range in Usher's "Climax" which he wrote. Blake doesn't have an extensive writing history. Aside from "Climax," there's a couple credits for Keyshia Cole and a feature for Rick Ross. Even before then he was already signed to Def Jam (eventually through No I.D.'s imprint) as an artist and managed by RocNation. In 2012, he released his first real anything Bijoux 22, a free 8-song EP. It was incredible. Not in years had a male voice made R&B music that was so emotionally significant. The songs on Bijoux were miles ahead of any romance equation that makes up Chris Brown and Ne-Yo songs and whatever hip-hop trends Trey Songz was adopting. The one song that fell into those categories was of course the one Def Jam chose to go with as a single. Close to two years later, this EP has over 40 plays in my iTunes. I really, really like it.

Drift, the first official release from Blake, one that follows Def Jam's EP first until you prove you're hot and then an album unreasonably soon after, is not quite as good as Bijoux 22.  It's a similar structure — 8 songs, including an awful one with J. Cole that was the followup to the awful one with Common. It isn't too sonically impressive. There's a clear distinction between the songs No I.D. did and the ones he didn't. If the writing on Bijoux was an A, the writing here is a borderline B/B+. "Strange Fruit" turns a blown opportunity of a song title into a mediocre club record. The centerpiece is "6," a tale of being physically punished by his father and the effects it had on his life.

The bad news is that this EP isn't making him a star the way it worked for Jhene and August Alsina. The good news is that Def Jam may not care about the numbers. It probably wasn't ever meant for radio, but it's really cool that "6" was the first single. In a perfect world, we see more of the last three songs of Bijoux in the full-length.

Book Club: Matthew Berry & Prodigy

Book Club (September 2014)

Fantasy Life: The Outrageous, Uplifting, and Heartbreaking World of Fantasy Sports from the Guy Who's Lived It by Matthew Berry
I absolutely love fantasy football. Love it. I can't get enough of it. Ever since I started playing when I was 14 years old, I've truly enjoyed playing the game and being a part of a group of people that understood how great it was. At that point, there were all sorts of online options but Fantasy Football has undeniably exploded over the last nine years in terms of impact and popularity, and so much of that explosion can be attributed to Matthew Berry.
I don't remember what year I first saw Berry on TV, but it was on one of ESPN's flagship shows like Sportscenter or NFL Countdown. All I could think was, "Are you serious? A full time fantasy analyst? Is this really necessary? Like, that's his actual job?" I don't know where it came from, but I remember not really liking the guy. Not for any particular reason, and I was maybe too young to realize he was doing I'd love to do for a living. But, yeah, wasn't crazy about the guy. I never started paying to play Fantasy until my senior year of high school, but regardless, I was always very confident in my own opinions regarding my team. So, aside from weekly rankings, I didn't really read any columns from fantasy analysts.
Then I randomly read the column in which Berry talked about his past as TV writer, specifically for Married with Children. I was blown away at that. I had no idea. It's strange for me to not realize he could have had a life before his latest job, but TV writing is something I've always wanted to do. And, you know, generally it's pretty cool. I had a whole new outlook on Berry and was really excited to dive into his book.
He really has lived an interesting life. He wrote for TV, sold a couple movie scripts and finagled fantasy's presence into online print, radio and eventually primetime television. But it's more than that. There's his childhood and how after moving to several cities, it was difficult for him to fit in. There's his want to make fantasy sports bigger and the constant rejection. There's also a very touching chapter on his personal experience with bullying in the context of the Richie Incognito situation. It's stuff anyone can relate to.
Then of course, there's the fantasy aspect. The book is filled with fan's stories of crazy fantasy scenarios, unlikely draft parties, embarrassing loser stories and even ones involving cheating, death, firings and divorce. The stories get to be a bit much, but they're necessary. Because as much as it seems so ridiculous and unnecessary to those that don't play, it is special for all of us that do. (I remember when I discovered an early posting of the pilot episode of The League on Hulu before I even realized it was a real TV show on FX. Was this show made just for me?)

My Infamous Life by Prodigy (of Mobb Deep)
I'm a couple years late in reading this. I'm honestly a little young to really, really be a Mobb Deep fan. Such a big deal was made of the stories in this book in Breakfast Club interviews and the like that I really had to check it out.
The whole book is written like a series of journal entries. They're more or less in order, but not really once you get further in the book. For such a prolific rapper, it's unfortunate that the quality of the writing here is so subpar. Prodigy's family history is truly unbelievable. All the Queens street stories are remarkable, especially for someone like me that grew up in nice suburbs. Those dudes were wild. What's funny is that the N.O.R.E./Capone stories that got brought up so many times in the Breakfast Club are literally maybe two sentences in this book.
There isn't a single event that jumps out that makes the book worthy of reading, but there's a lot included that I'm glad I got to catch up on. Reasons for going label to label, meeting Alchemist, what it was like to be a successful musician in the 90s, the situation with Jay-Z, joining G-Unit, why he ended up going to prison.
There's an interesting story about 50 Cent calling a meeting to reprimand and essentially disband G-Unit as we knew it in 2006. Prodigy also talks about his dealings with members of the Supreme Team, and I had no idea that's where the 50 and Ja Rule Beef stems from. He obviously talks about dealing with sickle cell and how he keeps healthy. There's his issues with religion, conspiracy theories and the time he witnessed a UFO. There's also cool tidbits like how "I Love You Baby" was actually a Havoc beat that he accidentally left in Puff's studio.

Gotham - S1E1

The idea of Fox's Gotham as an origins story for the entire Batman universe in fully serialized television formed was intriguing at first. Most of us are still pretty fresh off the high that was the Nolan movies. Marvel gave S.H.I.E.L.D. a TV show. This didn't seem like a half bad idea in comparison. Now I enjoy comic book flicks. X2, Raimi's (first two) Spiderman films and of course Nolan's trilogy are literally some of my favorite movies. And I'm familiar with the different Batman villains generally. But as I started watching the first episode of Gotham, I realized I just don't care. 

The show at its core is the story of two detectives working in a crime-ridden city in a corrupt police force. That in itself should provide for solid episodes of network TV. You add the Batman characters, and things can get more interesting. The episode starts off with the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, and obviously we've seen this before. You very quickly meet the Penguin, a young Poison Ivy and what I thought was the Riddler, but I may be mistaken. It's just not all that satisfying. Gordon is played by Mischa Barton's boyfriend from The O.C. He's fine. His partner, played by Donal Logue (who I think is great), is your typical good guy (or is he?) with problems – drinking, probably infidelity, etc. 

If you're running the show, are you trying to appeal to Batman fanatics or the people that watch dramas on Fox? I don't really fall into either of these categories. The pilot is a bit overstuffed with appearances of famous characters. While it sets up Gotham as a bad place, the police force as untrustworthy and Alfred as kind of a bitch, I don't see the show being all that entertaining. But I'll stick around for now.

Travis $cott - Days Before Rodeo

Travis Scott is culturally relevant because of how famous Kanye West is. Everything Kanye wears, everything he touches, everyone he meets, every musician whose music Kanye potentially, slightly enjoyed matters. Travis exists in this category. Once you remove this from the story, there isn't a lot left to get excited about.

Travis' history exists as follows: a Cruel Summer feature and a few Yeezus production credits. If his first mixtape Owl Pharoah solidified anything, it's that he really is an awful rapper. Take "Upper Echelon" for example, he raps like Shannon Sharpe does football highlights. His enunciation is muddled, his sentences are broken. Some words he used weren't even real words. You can legitimize his raps the same way you could trick yourself into thinking that Gudda Gudda's "got her nigga, grocery bag" line actually made sense, but ultimately nothing he says has much substance.

But hey, his beats are dope, right? Until you realize Owl Pharoah was almost entirely produced by other people, and his biggest production credit was someone else's beat. But the mixes are hot? It's safe to assume we can thank Anthony Kilhoffer and Mike Dean for that. Why were we supposed to like him again?

Days Before Rodeo is a step forward from the last project. Out of context, it honestly sounds good. Earlier this year, Travis helped out with A-Trak and Lex Luger's present day Atlanta-influenced Low Pros EP. Rodeo continues that Atlanta tradition. Featured heavily are some of the city's newest talents – Rich Homie Quan, Migos and Young Thug. Almost too obvious though is their influence on Travis' latest style. His autotuned delivery is literally an amalgamation of those three acts and also Chief Keef, Future and even Kanye. Not just stylistically but in terms of subject matter. There's all sorts of gun talk and drug talk here that we didn't hear on the last project.

The question becomes does the biting matter if the music is good enough? How do we judge something we're not supposed to like? Travis may have found his pocket vocally (the hook on "Don't Play" is great), but the mistakes are still there. Seriously, what the hell is he saying on "Skyfall?" His verse on "Sloppy Toppy" is like madlibs with phrases already heard on songs on the radio.

He's like Kirby, inhaling the talents of rappers that already made names for themselves but without it leading to any victories. Those other artists provide easy templates to trace, but he still has to fill in the rest of the picture and that's not something he's proven he can do. He's spent most of his career hiding his face, and maybe this is appropriate as the guy has no real identity.

Wiz Khalifa - Blacc Hollywood

If I were in high school, I'd love Wiz Khalifa. I'd listen to the first 45 seconds of a song, claim, "that's sick," and hit the skip button, all while listening through one earbud, doing something on my phone and having a conversation with someone. That's what the music he makes allows for. It's free. It's fun. It's not too serious.

From an alternate perspective, his music isn't very good. His music has incorporated more and more melody over the years and it offers some interesting moments, but his rapping is literally as basic as it gets. Blacc Hollywood is Wiz's third album, and the success he's had (and managed to maintain) allows him more creative freedom than is ever allowed on major label albums today. Still, nothing worthwhile really comes from it. Having Juicy J and Project Pat on a (kinda?) high profile rap album in 2014 is cool in theory, just not the execution. The Nicki feature is a waste. And you'd think having Ty Dolla $ign in your corner would lead to more than whatever this album's intro is.

Occasionally things do work out. "We Dem Boyz" is great. I've decided I know nothing about what will work at radio, but "You And Your Friends" is the one, like "Black and Yellow" status. In both of these cases, things come together. Again, they're free, they're fun. There ultimately isn't much Wiz contributes as an artist, and that's where the discussion around Blacc Hollywood should end.

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

On a flight to London last summer, I got bored and checked out my flight's poor selection of entertainment options, and the one I ended up enjoying the most was a one-hour mockumentary special called Alan Partridge: Welcome to the Places of My Life. Alan Partridge is a character played by English comedian Steve Coogan, whom after some Wikipedia-ing I realized I knew from the movie Night At The Museum. The special was so funny, I watched it again on my flight back (honestly, I was hoping there were more episodes and also, wtf Virgin, how are there the exact same movie options on flights going both directions?). Obviously he's English, and most Americans' familiarity with modern British comedies are Ricky Gervais and the Simon Pegg Cornetto trilogy. But forget subgenres for a second, this man is blatantly funny and very talented at what he does. That's not to say every Partridge project is a 10 – fuck if I know, I've only seen two – but you get what I'm saying.

Partridge is a (kinda) old, (kinda) clueless radio personality, and Coogan has had several different TV specials involving the character. Alpha Papa was the first project in this Partridge family to be released worldwide theatrically. Oddly enough, I went to the movies while in London (because I got bored, no really) and this movie was playing. Crazy thing is movies there literally cost 18 pounds. That's fucking 30 US dollars! For one ticket! Granted it was a Saturday night and it was easily the nicest movie theater I've ever been in, featuring leather recliners as the seats (literally) and coffee tables in between every two seats to hold the food you can order from the restaurant/snack bar outside. I ended up seeing Kick-Ass 2. Because I loved the original and wanted to, but I also saw a ton of ads for it while traveling in Europe. So much for all that ad money spent though because I was the only person in that giant theater except for this mom and her two teenage kids. It was uncomfortable for all of us and that was even before the movie started – if you've seen the movie, you know what I mean.

Anyway, Alpha Papa is cool. There's definitely some funny parts and it's generally ridiculous in an enjoyable way. It's about a crazy guy taking the radio station hostage, but it's also about corporations coming down on the little man/local radio station. I feel like it could have been funnier if it wasn't targeted at a worldwide audience and it included jokes about Wales and shit (lots of cracks at Irishmen though that I pretended to "that's so true" at), but that's probably slightly insensitive for me to suggest. I also technically wasn't paying so much attention as I just had it on in the background while I finished Byron Crawford's XXL anthology Writin' Dirty: An Anthology. But still, check it out if you get a chance. And if you fly Virgin Atlantic within the next 10 years, that same hour special will probably available as well.

Trey Songz – Trigga

Trey Songz has come a long way from being budget T-Pain for rappers signed to Koch to the place he currently holds in R&B today. He's had moments during that ascension to stardom in which he broke into the mainstream world – "Can't Help But Wait," "Say Aah," "Bottoms Up" – and he had some very special moments musically on Ready and Passion, Pain and Pleasure, but it's as if he's just settled into existing within the contemporary R&B realm since since 2011.

Chapter V wasn't all that. It was good enough for the mediocre state of R&B radio at the time, but there was nothing touching the likes of "Say Aah" or "Unfortunate" on the project. He was regressing creatively and maintaining the success and fame he attained previously. So, if things are working out well and he didn't have to work as hard, I guess you can't blame the guy?

He's a talented singer – something The-Dream isn't. And he's committed to R&B – something Usher isn't. There's room for some incredible music to be made. We've seen glimpses of it in the past. If he didn't want to be the superstar people imagined when he joined Jay-Z on The Blueprint 3 tour, that's fine. He can still roll out solid material.

Trigga isn't the most solid project possible, but it's a step in the right direction from the lull he's been at. "Cake," my favorite song on the album is absolutely ridiculous thematically – forget how the saying goes, I made this cake and I'll do whatever the fuck I want to it. Melodically, however, it's one of the most impressive R&B records I've heard in recent memory, so I was surprised to learn he wrote it entirely on his own. "Foreign" is also very impressive. "Na Na" is still garbage. There are plenty of the lazy moments here like the ones on the previous album. Some of them are slightly saved by appearances from Nicki Minaj and Ty Doll $ign. The Justin Bieber feature proves that R&B Bieber is actually boring Bieber.

He's maybe having trouble marrying creative excellence and commercial success (probably the audience's fault... hence "Na Na"), but at the very least we have our first above average R&B album this year.