Monday, June 08, 2009

Death of Auto-Tune: Wow, Jay-Z Is Looking Pretty Hungry

I've got more coming on this front, but here's a theme/narrative I'm not seeing in the hip hop conversation: Superstars being HUNGRY!

Eminem just returned after 4-5 years. Hungry. Real hungry. No matter how you parse the end results, dude is obviously on his grind.

Now, per this clip below, we've got Shawn Carter, Jay-Z, looking pretty damn hungry/earnest/eager to earn your respect.



These are two of the best to ever do it. Both talent-wise and as corporate entities. Skills and resources. And it's interesting to see how they play their cards.

Jay's been swinging and missing since Black Album, or at least that's the public perception. But he's clearly looking to return to his roots -- the release before this "Brooklyn Go Hard", was another east coast hip hop headbanger with little mainstream/autotune ambition, --so he clearly feels he just needs to go back to ill lyrics on hard beats.

But I think, per the video, he's clearly amped about the song-as-manifesto; rocking this song, at a Hot 97 Summer Jam, with T-Pain on stage, Kanye on co-production, if you go along with the spirit of it all it positions Jay as the sole steely [life preserver-ish TK TK TK] in a sea of pop-autotune-inauthentic-blahblahblah that's drowning hip hop.

What's being missed here in terms of relevancy (I think, I still have to turn it over a few times myself) is hip hop's unique position in giving us this window into passion's relationship to artistic product and subsequently commercial product and success. Which is to say: it's easier to spot an angry rapper, as opposed to an angry actor or politician or athlete through their product. Hip hop transmits talent/creativity more transparently, and this is part of its still not-fully-understood value. (?)

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous6/08/2009

    It would make sense for Jay to be hungry, he just paid 5 million so he could do whatever he wants in releasing his album. Who makes 5 million dollar albums? I don't know.

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  2. Anonymous6/08/2009

    He just need to go already. Look at the last couple of albums he had out since the Black Album....EPIC FAIL

    Beyonce starting to flop too...I mean damn they got enough money, so why do they feed us MORE bullshit?

    Ms. Sasha Fierce is RE RELEASING her CD...hmmm

    They both so damn tired..bitch this aint the 90s/early 2000 anymore. This isn't "Big Pimping" and the Destiny Child days.

    LONGEVITY will get you a long way [look at Bun B and UGK before Pimp died]

    These two shelf life is about to expire....he just need to stop, and YES...HE is the one responsible for bring Kanye on [who ripped the shit from Tpain WHO ripped the shit from the Troutmans]

    WTF

    Has Hip Hop came to this sad, sorry state? The more they talk about certain artists, the more I back away from them.

    That nigga Jay had at 986785780 billon dollar deal and thats not enough? Fucking ass.

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  3. Not liking auto-tune is like not liking sampling. Both can serve valuable functions, both have received backlash. I don't get the fuss.

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  4. this fits in the "blogging new rapping" theme, after listening a bit the title feels more like a catchy headline than real THESIS STATEMENT.

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  5. Anonymous6/08/2009

    The track is hot. Not sure if it comes clear in the live performance.

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  6. Anonymous6/08/2009

    Did Em use any autotone on his album? Did he announce that he "Was not going to use any autotone on his album"?

    His lack of ego goes unappreciated, because he's such a showy lyricist.

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  7. MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR AUTOTUNE! YES

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