Kanye in the City of Gods

In the wake of going insane all over his Instagram account over the past week or so, the self-proclaimed genius Kanye West has released a new song collaborating with Alicia Keys and Fivio Foriegn. The song is titled, The City of Gods, in reference to the infamous New York City. The track actually has a very surprising amount of pieces that contribute to the New York City theme. The most obvious detail being that both Fivio Foreign and Alicia Keys are both artists from the big apple. Kanye also pays tribute to the New York drill subgenre with this instrumental. The sliding 808 bass gliding around staggered hi-hats sounds like something straight off a Fivio track. However the sweeping vocals from Alicia Keys add an incredibly anthemic quality to the mix. Also littered in the instrumental are ad libs from none other than Playboi Carti. It seems Kanye is giving a slight nod to his hit song from last year, Off the Grid, which also featured both Carti and Fivio. The song’s opening with Fivio’s verse makes him sound excited and hungry, however the verse is nowhere near the same level as his staggering, seemingly never-ending verse on Off the Grid. However, Kanye carries through his verse with enough memorable bars for an entire album. While he flows through the end of the track, he references his collapsing marriage, his repaired relationship with the industry titan Drake, purchasing the Chicago Bulls and hanging out with Micheal Jordan. However, my favorite line is “This Ye, I’m so focused, throw on a mask, no COVID I’ma turn your life to a meme, let Justin LaBoy post it”. Even with all of the claims of genius, not even Kanye is above dropping an eye-rolling line.

Hip-Hop Halftime Show

The Halftime Show for the 2022 SuperBowl finally decided that instead of using the hot new popstar of the hour for the biggest musical TV performance of the year, they decided to cater their show more towards Gen-X-ers and Hip-Hop fans. Five artists were selected from the Mount Rushmore of 90’s Rap and R&B. Many classic throwback songs were performed in an anthemic, scaled up interpretation only appropriate to the SuperBowl. The tracklist included Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg’s The Next Episode, Tupac Shakur’s California Love, 50 Cent’s In da Club, and Mary J Blige’s No More Drama, and Family Affair. In Da Club was a pleasant surprise, certainly fitting into the theme of Old-school rap songs with major pop appeal. After Blige came the lineup’s biggest outlier, Kendrick Lamar. Lamar is the youngest artist of the show. I suspect he was chosen to bridge the gap between generations, but also because he already has plenty of classic material. He surprised many fans by opting to perform some of his earlier material, instead of his newest mainstream hits like HUMBLE or DNA. He was introduced with his timeless track, M.A.A.D city, which quickly morphed into the equally powerful Alright. Kendrick Brought an unbelievable amount of energy and stage presence. While watching, I couldn’t help but think about how Kendrick could probably hold down a superbowl halftime show by himself alone. After those two songs, the second biggest outlier of the group, Eminem emerged. I had predicted the use of the song, Forgot About Dre, but the quick turnover into Lose Yourself took me by surprise. Lose Yourself is undoubtedly one of the greatest arena crowd songs ever made, so the decision to include that song was probably a no-brainer. Overall, I thought the change of pace with the show this year was much needed. It was beginning to feel like each halftime show was getting more and more forgettable. This performance breathed new life into the show and I hope in the future this performance proves that the SuperBowl halftime show can actually be interesting and unique, and that people actually do react positively to artists that aren’t super pop-radio friendly. Overall, a massive step in the right direction.

The Slow Rush Part 2

Tame Impala has released a new companion album to their 2020 project, The Slow Rush. The record is titled B-Sides and Remixes, and there are three new tracks with four remixes of tracks from the original Slow Rush. This new album gives us a whole hour of new music, which is about the same length as the original album. The Mastermind behind Tame Impala, Kevin Parker, collaborates with several new artists as they remix his songs, including Maurice Fulton, Blood Orange, Lil Yachty, and Four Tet. However, my favorite tracks off the project are the new Kevin Parker original B-Sides. The album opener, The Boat I row, is actually one of my favorite songs from the Band’s entire discography. Pretty much all of the B-sides on this record remind me of Beach House, if Beach House was more low-fidelity and the songs were more structured. The remixes to me feel like filler, and I could take them or leave them. While it is interesting to hear some of Parker’s songs reimagined, the novelty fades quickly and many of these remixes are far too long to reasonably hold the listeners attention. The Lil Yachty remix stands out for being by far the worst track on the entire project. His rapping is as bland as ever and his attempts to deliver falsetto vocals impersonating Kevin Parker are even worse. This track is the only one on the album that feels like it is truly a waste. However, the original song, Patience, is a high point as it closes out the record. I feel like it was wise of Parker to start off and close out this project with his best material. Patience is catchy and easily danceable, with the many psychedelic flourishes that Tame Impala became famous for. Definitely a worthwhile listen for fans and anybody dying for new Tame Impala.

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