Gramatik - Live in Times Square

The magic of Times Square at night.
The millions of lights.
The tourists with wide eyes.
The yellow cabs flying past.
This was the atmosphere waiting in line at the Best Buy Theater to see Gramatik, the best producer to come out of Slovenia since....well....ever.

After filling my lungs with city air, an exxxtra long escalator took me deep below the cityscape into the blue-lit depths of the Best Buy Theater.  After waiting in the coat check line for half a millennia (FIX THIS BEST BUY!), I finally made my way into the theater. Ornate glass chandeliers hung from the dark, open ceiling.  A general admission/standing area stretched 50 yards out from the stage, while the back end of the venue had movie theater style seating.

But you don't care about that.  You came here to read about the music. You wanna know about Gramatik.  How'd he do? How was the set?
Don't worry baby birdie. Daddy's gonna feed you... Imma feed ya some FUNK.

Opening artist Goldfish set the precedent.  The electronic duo hailing from South Africa took the electronic scene in a whole new direction, tossing in elements of jazz, funk, that 'big-band-swing' sound and even rock.  Dominic Peters set up his samples and looped them, only to come to the front of the stage and blare funky melodys on a baby alto sax.  Synth player David Poole added to the samples with jazzy solos and blues chords.  At the end of the set, Poole danced alongside an upright double bass and made the crowd scream as he played the bass line from "Play that Funky Music" by Wild Cherry and then "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes.

This left the crowd reeling in anticipation. Gramatik is up next....Finally! Gramatik is up next!

And then the moment came.

Accompanied by synth/ trumpet player Russ Liquid and "imaginary friend" Slow Magic, Gramatik laid down a dubstep-heavy set, somewhat to the disappointment of longtime fans hoping to hear funk and blues.  For those longtimers, Gramatik had something special lined up: a 20 minute rendition of Stevie Wonder's Superstition.  With Russ blaring Stevie's famous horn-line (with ease, might I add) Gramatik and Slow Magic turned the song from funk to a dance, then to a chill downtempo and then right back into a climactic funk feel.


This, however, was not the highlight of the show.  Gramatik introduced Mr.Tibble to the crowd, a thin man in a black vest and red button down, crowned with a black bowler hat. With no idea who this vocalist was, I stopped for a second of cynical judgment. But even my impossible standards were blown away.  Using a vocoder, Mr. Tibble 'auto-tuned' his voice to the solo he played on small synth, much like a voice-box for a guitar (popularized by back in the day by Peter Frampton).  His bluesy, electronic robot voice added a killer melody over the top of the lowtemp beats and jazzy chord changes.  Towards the end of the show, Mr. Tibble came back onstage to move his body in a way that made Chris Brown look amatuer.  Not only could this guy sing, not only could he bang out a bluesy solo, but damnnnn could he dance. Think Michael Jackson moonwalking into a hip-hop/ street performer/ b-boy danceoff.

Oh! And of course: Gramatik's rendition of Stairway to Heaven by Zeppelin was KILLER!

All in all a great set, although a little grimey and dubsteppy at points, the funk still cut through.  Check out the videos and thanks for reading.  See you at the next show!

Vaski Live At Toads 06/28/2014

On Friday, June 28th, Toads Place of New Haven CT opened its doors to a small, young audience.  Most standing in the crowd with me were not old enough to wear the house wristbands used to buy beers, and several even seemed young enough to have their parents waiting outside in the car.  Those of us who were old enough to know what an N64 is seemed to have never heard EDM music before. I found myself dancing alone and wondering if the admission price of $30 was worth it.

Vaski, an EDM DJ from Minnesota, played an eclectic mix of genres in a poor attempt to find the audiences' funny bone and shatter it.  He played songs as grimey and intense as Roll Da Beats by Rusko, followed by upbeat, pop-esque songs like IDGAFS by Dillion Francis.  It seemed that Vaski was unable to judge his audience, instead giving up and putting on his personal pandora account.  The 'covers' he 'performed' were even uncut, without the slightest 'Vaski styling'.  Anyone can make a playlist....anyone can press play on iTunes.  Where is the Vaski I saw last year that opened for Excision at the Oakdale? Where is the Vaski that melted my face with his progressive, grimy dubstep? Where is the artist that I became quickly obsessed with?  I guess I may have backed the wrong horse here. Or does the future hold more for this artist?  Time will tell.

Failure - Lupe Fiasco (unfinished)

Lupe Fiasco, real name Wasalu Muhammud Jaco, can be considered a prince of the modern hip-hop royal court.  Introduced to the world by none other than Jay-Z, Fiasco has changed his approach from the 'thug-life; get high; Money-Over-Everything' rappers of todays modern scene to a more graceful and educated form of lyricism.  Fiasco (who is a devout muslim) uses his words to preach tolerance and social justice, and has thus been donned a leader of the 'conscious rap' movement, which advocates anti-profanity, intellectualism and social consciousness.

In the song Failure, off the album 'The Cool', Lupe shows off his talent for witty lyricism, double (sometimes triple) entendres and clever punchlines.   Almost every line in his poetry has a double meaning or hidden message. The piece samples a track by Idris Muhammad called 'Could This Be Heaven', which was released in 1977.

Lupe received critical acclaim for this piece, having broken a 'record' for the most triple entendres in a single song.

Here is a line by line analysis of his words: (analysis in red)

It's mean, so just
Now let me put the streets down like steam rollers

Lupe starts off with a construction theme about tearing down the streets to rebuild them as his empire.  He embellishes this theme throughout the song

With the cats that push 40 ounces through the hood

Comparing drug dealers to 40 oz beer sales

Like king cobra, see me sling soda

King Cobra is a beer that comes in a 40 oz bottle

Cause the extra four in the split is mix

the drugs in this analogy is cut with 4 oz of something else

(It's really 36)

40 - 4 = 36 ; suggesting that there is really only 36 oz. of real booze in the 40 oz.
much like drugs are cut

Used to buy toasters and clips

What drug dealers buy with their profits (toasters are guns and clips are bullet clips)

You can tighten your circle or boa constrict

Another snake reference (King Cobra)

While you was lightin' your purple I was over the scripts


Lupe is a devote religious man; he states he was studying while others were smoking marijuana

See, I couldn't walk the walk


Couldn't really talk the talk


Had to get my talk to properly explain my walk


He needed to be able to explain his actions poetically, lyrically (and man, did he learn how!)

Cause this lack in talk had my walk lookin' off


Now I'm over the limp


At a younger age Lupe could not 'walk-the-walk' or 'talk-the-talk'

Watch how they mugs drop when they see my Verbals able


(that's the Usual)

Reference to 1995 film 'The Usual Suspects', in which the main character, who walks with a limp, goes by the name Verbal

Later in the film Verbal drops his mug in slow motion and looses his limp (hence the previous lines)

When I was po' I was low,

When Lupe was poor he owned Polo shirts

Now me and my chops cop purple label

Now he is rich so he rocks that Ralph Lauren


It's Ralph Lauren on the rap noreat?



Nigg*s brown-nose, they are like alf to him

Alf had a brown nose....duh.


Runners and interscopers not as styled as him


Please don't interscope


It's gonna be a whole lotta IV-ing and respiratin'


If I lean out this window with Irene


Nigg*s as tall as Yao Ming

Will LUP emperor 


It's the foundation, I-beams and the antennas


It's so sears-ious every time I write my john hancock

Sears tower verses the John Hancock building


Like, you could damn near see Detroit (I see you)


Nigg*s is scared of heights (see you)


This is saran wrap and aluminum foil


Some potpourri a little machine oil


I stack my paper and throw off my cents


This is top flo', better look out below


Pennys from heaven is the same as a semi from the sect


And I reign supreme



(reign; rain)

Turn your umbrellas upside down


Did you even catch the change in theme?

This is were Lupe shows his real genius.  At this point the lyrics have changed from the 'construction/ 

building blocks' theme to a 'skyscraper empire' theme.  During the first verse Lupe has climbed out of 

the streets and now sits on the top floor, raining (reigning) pennies (change in theme) down on what he 

has built.


(this is gangsta)


Lupe to the F to the I to the A to the S to the C to the O


From the west side of the C to the H to the I CA to the G to the O


(this is gansta, man)


This is gansta, man


Lupe Fiasco; from the west side of Chicago


Verse 2



And them nigg*s ain't watch


Known from him regime, gangsta lean


Hats on tilt like his sneakers ain't drop out the vending machine


You gotta put more money in


And I shake nigg*s up everytime I drop a bar


It's horse in the Porsche, bricks in the box 


Like more money them every time I cop a car


You see I'm a roller, right?


So it might be a rover, right?


But every time I drop a 'r' get off the streets


It's over, aight?



drop the 'r' from rover = over

Better being ahead like overnight


Like rollers, right, she the chauffeur, right?


So I keep her sober


She don't get fed-ex like overnight


I am dole the might


All that gas can't help, but Solar might


So just call on son (sun)


Drop a 's' pick up a 'o', you know (u no) , put it all on one (uno)


Then brace yourself like overbite


For that quiet nigg* that relocated down south


Comin' back to floss, nigg* get your molars right


Fix your grill


No plaque but a whole lotta cheese


This the drill, mr. Chill gave me the green light 


Like yo the knife


So ima force my will like the force I will


Of course you will


Take my time but wait behind only pertains to that Porsche grill


It's snakes in the hood, gotta watch for that cobra bite


Let me see, there's snakes in the hood


A bird, a horse behind the grill 


Some gator on the seat and a fox behind the wheel


No it's not noah's ark (ark), It's just a flower's start 


This is Lupe to the F to the I to the A to the S to the C to the O


From the West side of the C to the H to the I CA to the G to the O

Verse 3



For achiever, my procedures proceed at all cost


With no breather


I'm all walk, rain, snow, a fever


I'm all coughs, comin after your teacher


I'm on the ball like FIFA, Feva, Lupe, Diche, 


Long live the leaders


I remember I ain't have sneakers, it was welfare


Comin' up for air like whales there


Fila's, but now I'm well here 


I'm Shamu with twelve pair 


And nigg*s wanna take me back to zero like tear, fair


Well, my scale's clear


Your 'see' world is Braille here


I'm Bumpy Johnson, I stick to the streets


Keep my dawgs out in front of me 


See what I'm sayin'? and I push keys wonderfully

Watch The Throne Tour Review

Kanye and Jay-Z

by Chris Chhoeun

“You are now watching the throne!”

All night, these words bellowed through Mohegan Sun Arena. Jay-Z and Kanye West, arguably the two biggest rappers in the industry today, refer to themselves as rap royalty and on November 18 in Uncasville CT, the duo put on the type of show that only kings could produce.

The two truly are the top dogs at what they do. From the start, they showed how they are masterminds when it comes to sampling other artists in their own music.

Take Michael Jackson’s “P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing)”, for instance. The DJs played a short of it, which led into Kanye’s “Good Life”. The song “D.A.N.C.E” originally written by Justice proceeded before Jay-Z broke into “On to the Next One.” Mind-melting.

While waiting for the show to begin, the audience was serenaded with soul and Motown tunes from the 1970s; tracks that Jay-Z and Kanye handpicked themselves.

Appropriately, the music of Al Green, Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye were featured here. Both rappers have said this music was very influential to them early on, and it was right that this music would set the stage for their performance.

A whole two hours after the doors had first opened, the lights went out, and West took the main stage and Jay-Z appeared the back of the arena.

The openers, “H.A.M” and “Who Gon Stop Me” featured both on top of cube-like platforms that slowly raised them several feet above the concert floor. Separated by the length of the entire arena and a sea of screaming fans, Hova and Ye furiously spat verses at each other for two tracks before finally backing down.

Leading into the next track, a recording of Otis Redding belting out “Try a Little Tenderness” entertained the crowd while larger-than-life sized American flag slowly dropped on the main stage.

Jay-Z along side with Kanye burst onto the main stage together for the first time of the night to perform the soulful “Otis”. A second grand entrance.  Blazes of fire shot out of the stage on the downbeat of each bar as the two went head-to-head in front of a sold out crowd.

Dull moments were hard to be found during this particular show, for each rapper took turns in performing the biggest hits from each of their catalogs.

After a few more songs from Watch the Throne, Kanye took the stage solo, reviving old singles from earlier in his storied career. He relentlessly blasted through “Flashing Lights”, “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and “Jesus Walks”.

“Hard Knock Life”, “Izzo”, “Empire State of Mind” and “Dirt Off Your Shoulders” were all hits from the Jiggaman’s repertoire.

Despite being long-time friends and working together since Jay-Z’s 2001 release “The Blueprint”, stylistically the two are very different. Jay’s huge stage presence and over-zeal mixed with Kanye’s highly emotional and energetic character combined for the perfect one-two punch.

All senses were engaged during this show. It wasn’t all showgirls and flashing lights; a big highlight coming when Kanye, atop a Rihanna-red cube rising 30 feet above the ground, sang an auto-tuned “Heartless” and “Runaway”.

The charisma of them both, particularly Jay-Z, was domineering. Some might view them as overly self-confident, yet this Mohegan Sun crowd simply could get enough as the rappers repeatedly roared, “You are all witnesses of history. You are now watching the throne!”

No opening act. No guest appearances. Not even a full band. There was no need for all of the former. Just two of hip hop’s greatest, in their prime, microphones in hand, storming the stage.

It was the show of the decade. If you’re on the west coast, I highly recommend you catch the second half of the tour.

Gambino: No Longer Childish

By Ryan Walsh

It was a hot, sweaty night at the House of Blues, and the air was thicker than the rims of the Ray-Bans that littered the crowd. Funnyman Donald Glover had no jokes for the hipster masses this evening. 

The seriousness with which Childish Gambino took his performance was a sharp contrast to his shenanigans on NBC's Community. His set list was a gradual progression of songs from all phases of his career, highlighting the evolution of his own style. The majority of songs on his Camp tour were from his upcoming album of the same name.

Despite the fact that the majority of Gambino's earlier work did not originally include a full band, Gambino performed his earlier work accompanied by a full band as comfortably as the originals. The presence of live instruments created intriguing reinterpretations of crowd favorites like "Freaks and Geeks". In his homage to Adele's "Rolling in the Deep", Gambino enlisted John Legend to rerecord Adele's original vocals.

Although his time in the rap arena has been relatively short, Gambino's dramatic background transposed well into showmanship. In his song "You See Me", Gambino recited a chain of unrelenting references with a synthesis of stimuli both audio and visual. Against a backdrop of his own lyrics, Gambino assaulted the mic, spewing at a speed comparable to Twista and Busta Rhymes. Gambino is quick to flex his verbal skill to confirm that he is indeed "a black star/ in a black car/ with a black card". 

What separates Gambino, however, from other punchline rappers is his ability to use finesse over the English language to convey lewd messages. Language like "She's an overachiever, cause all she do is suck seed," is infinitly more resonant than a crude oral sex reference.

While Gambino has by no means abandoned his infatuation for whiskey and Asian women, his new album CAMP begins to explore deeper emotional issues. Gambino's style has evolved from reciting a string of cultural witticisms  to using these references to bring an unparalleled sense of realism to his stories. Gambino is definitely not the first rapper to explore teenage struggles and holes in the familial infrastructure, but Camp's untraditional, non-hood approach to these issues are easily accessible to the suburban youth comprising his fanbase.

 In his song "L.E.S.", Gambino illustrates a story about his drug-addicted uncle jeopardizing the safety of his family by stealing drugs. Rather than reveling in drug dealing and being hardened by the street, Gambino recognizes that these are scary issues. Gambino also conveys the emotional stresses of his mother working two jobs to put him through school at NYU. Throughout the myriad of experiences in the song, the listener can't help put identify with these real-word, accessible issues, both hood and not.

Gambino riddles these anecdotes with analogies that tailor to the twentysomethings who bask in Gambino's cultural references. By telling stories we can identify with in a manner we can identify with, Gambino earns his spot as the top rapper for the suburban youth. Let's be honest, I can identify a lot more with E.E. Cummings than doing PCP. Gambino recognizes that. 

POWER - Kanye West

Rollingstone voted Kanye's 2010 release My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy the #1 album of the year.  The hit from album, POWER, was called a "contemplation on fame and obsolescence," by Spin Magazine's Chris Martins.

The tune samples King Crimson's 1969 release 21st Century Schizoid Man , off the album In The Court of The Crimson King.  Kanye plays off this theme repeatedly (see lyrics explained below.)
The song also samples Afromerica by the funk band Continent Number 6, and It's Your Thing by funk band Cold Grits.

The music video for the song (link above) has caused a lot controversy, with supposed Illuminati symbolism.

My analysis is highlighted in red.



I'm livin in that 21st century  
(hinting towards sampled theme)
Doin something mean to it    
Do it better than anybody ever seen do it  
(Kanye believes he is the best rapper alive)
Screams from the haters,
Got a nice ring to it       
(Kanye enjoys the 'haters' criticisms)  
I guess every superhero need his theme music  
(hinting at Keenan Ivory Wayan's comment on rapper KRS-1: "Its my theme music, every good hero should have one.")

[Chorus:]
No one man should have all that power,
The clocks tickin I just count the hours
Stop trippin I'm trippin off the power
(21st Century Schizoid Man)


The system is broken
The schools closed the prisons open
(possibly stating that during budget shortfalls public schools often loose funding first while prisons loose funding last)
We ain't got nothing to loose motherf***er we rolling
Huh, motherf***er we rolling
with some white skinned girls
and some Kelly Rowlands
(Kelly Rowlands is the 'darkest' skinned member of 90s pop-trio Destiny's Child)
In this white man's world
I'll see you in the morning
Huh I'll see you in the morning
This is way too much, I need a moment

[Chorus:]
No one man should have all that power
The clock's tickin I just count the hours
Stop trippin I'm trippin off the power
Til then f*** that the world's ours

(21st Century Schizoid Man)


F*** SNL and the whole cast
Tell em Yeezy (what Kanye calls himself) said they can kiss my whole @$$
more specifically they can kiss my @$$hole
(quoting '99 Problems' by Jay-Z)
I'm an @$$hole, you n****s got jokes
(Taylor Lautner of SNL joked about Kanye's MTV Video Awards stunt in which the rapper interrupted Taylor Swifts acceptance speech; Kanye is 'joking' back)
Your short-minded n**** thoughts is Napolean
My furs is Mongolian, my ice brought the goalies in
(a fashion statement followed by a hockey pun...)
And I embody every characteristic of egotistic
Ya know, he's so f***in gifted
I just need time alone with my own thoughts
(time alone is a reference to Kanye's year long seclusion in Hawaii following the Taylor Swift incident)
Got treasures in my mind but couldn't open up my own vault
My child-like creativity, purity and honesty
Is honestly being crowded by these grown thoughts
Reality is catching up with me
Taking my inner child, I'm fighting for custody
With these responsibilities that they entrusted me
As I look down at my diamond encrusted piece
Thinking
(With the amount of jewelry Kanye has this could be interpreted as his necklace depicting Jesus on the cross, or it could refer to a diamond encrusted firearm, in which Kanye wonders if ending his life would solve his problems; again, no one man should have all that power....)

[Chorus:]
No one man should have all that Power
The clocks tickin I just count the hours
Stop trippin Im trippin off the power
Til then f*** that the world's ours

Colin Powell, Austin Powers
Lost in translation with a whole f***ing nation
(This is a reference to Kanye's televised blurt "George Bush hates black people," in which he was standing next to Mike Meyers, who plays Austin Powers; Kanye has said in interviews that the public mistook his message that day)
They say I was the abomination of Obama's nation
Thats a pretty bad way to start the conversation
(After the Taylor Swift incident Pres. Obama called Kanye a jackass)
At the end of the day
Godd*** I'm killing this sh*t
don't need your p***y b*tch I'm on my own d*ck
I ain't on a power trip, who you goin home with?
How Ye doin?
I'm surviving
I was drinking earlier now I'm driving
Where the bad b*tches
Huh Where they hiding?
I got the power to make your life so exciting
(the echo of 'so exciting' it begins to sound like suicide; foreshadowing the outro about suicide)



[Outro:]
Now this will be a beautiful death
(I'm jumpin out the window, lettin everything go)
(Kanye is at the top, there is no where to go but down)
You got the power to let everything go?
(Kanye's ends the song by speculating what real power is...)


(21st Century Schizoid Man)



Kanye's piece refers to several events of the past year, mostly surrounding his own fame and celebrity stunts.  Kanye questions his existence and suicide, accurately embodying the title of the album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.  
Most rappers find power in jewelry, guns, drugs and a 'gangsta' lifestyle.  Kanye turns this piece into more than that, into a study of what it means to be powerful.  His conclusions define power as allowing your perfect image to be dismissed and work toward ones own goals.