Minority Report

Minority Report: Steve’s top music picks

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Published Feb 23, in Columns, Entertainment, Minority Report

The Roots

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single consumer, in possession of a moderate fortune ($10?), must be in want of good music. In the world of Biebers and Gagas and Waka Flocka Flames and Lady Antebellum (I actually know nothing about this group. There’s a reason this column is named “Minority Report.”) accessing good music seems damn near impossible. However, you should not fret. Black Steve is here.

This week in Blackness, I shall impart to you some very important news that is related to your soon to be favorite hip-hop super-groups, Slaughterhouse and Money Making Jam Boys. Alongside burgeoning Alabama emcee Yelawolf, who you may have heard on Big Boi’s song “Your DJ Ain’t No DJ,” a dicey track from his latest LP, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, a few weeks ago Slaughterhouse signed to Shady Records. This was a very big step for them because talks of signing to Shady had been in the works since late 2009. Composed of the very talented, yet relatively unknown rappers, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, Crooked I and Royce da 5’9, Slaughterhouse lives up to its name. By this I mean that they receive live animals and they murder them in ways that Upton Sinclair can not even begin to fathom. That was a joke. They just make good music. Nevertheless, I do think it is worth pondering how successful they can be when their name and their logo (a pig with its legs tied about to be slaughtered) is so inherently violent. People like the Wu, but there’s a difference between the discipline of martial arts and the brutality of factory farming.

Nonetheless, I have digressed. You are here to hear about the music and I am here to convince you that what you hear in a college newspaper column titled “Minority Report” is worth hearing. Hear, hear. To celebrate their newly forged alliance with Shady Records, Slaughterhouse quickly released an EP featuring 6 hot tracks. Because our time is short, I will discuss two songs. You can check out the other 4/6ths of the album later. As far as content, the standout track of the EP is the song, “Move On (Remix),” a vaguely melancholy song in which each member of the group discusses his own personal story and current understanding of “the hip-hop game.” Despite being 8 minutes long, it’s a very involved song and if you have any interest in seeing what direction they plan to send hip-hop to, listen. If you don’t like it, just move on. Although “Move On” has the best content, the most impressive display of wit occurs on the song “Fight Club (Remix),” which, of course, references your favorite angst ridden Chuck Palahniuk novel. “One rule, no rules.” I can’t really quote any of the lyrics because to really appreciate them you have to experience them sonically (Also, lots of profanity and innuendo that would never get printed in our “prestigious” publication), but I assure you, if you listen to the song and find yourself unimpressed, I will give you a full refund for this newspaper.

On a visceral level, when I heard the moniker, “Money Making Jam Boys,” I felt a slight wave of nausea. It’s just so generic and lame, honestly. Nevertheless, when I heard the music I was a fan. MMJB is composed of Black Thought, leader of the legendary Roots Crew (The Roots are currently in the house band on Jimmy Fallon), Dice Raw, a veteran rapper and frequent collaborator with The Roots, P.O.R.N. (I tried to find what this stands for, but my google search was very unsuccessful and “interesting.”), STS (Sugar Tongue Slim), and Truck. They recently released a mixtape entitled “The Prestige” and hot damn, it is prestigious. Unlike most free mixtapes you will encounter, it does not have those annoying DJ “audio watermarks” and it has genuinely good production. Ranging from the playful “International Playboy” in which the five hip-hop experts nonchalantly display their ability manipulate the nuances of language all the while still being cool “playboys” to more serious songs such as “Money Make the World Go Round,” in which they bitterly discuss the power of money, the Money Making Jam Boys live up to their name. They jam as hard as possible. And they make mon- well, the mixtape was free, so they’re not really making any money. Yet! This mixtape is essentially an announcement to the world. “We are here and we are talented.” After listening, I don’t really even think I have a choice. When they release some studio produced music, I’m now obligated to pay for it.

I have led you to green pastures. One pasture has an entrance fee ($4.99) and the other is free , but I guarantee that at either location you will have a gay old time.

Floco’s Modern Life

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Published Feb 9, in Columns, Entertainment, Minority Report

Promo shot of Floco Torres

At approximately 2:52 p.m. every Friday afternoon, I feel it. By “it” I’m referring to that campus-wide anxiety “to do.” You know what I mean. You don’t really care what you do. You just want it to either a) not be homework or b) not be regrettable (if you withdraw from a class later in the semester, go ahead and include option” c” which is regrettable homework, a sad combination of options “a” and “b”).

On January 28th, this collegiate malaise was noticeably absent from my afternoon. In its place, I felt an unfamiliar and soothing calmness. Was I high? No. Was I really high? No. I had plans.

Actually, “plans” is a bit of an understatement. I had PLANS. I was set to go to a Floco Torres concert. Who is Floco Torres? That’s your first problem.

Floco Torres is Macon’s premier emcee. I was first introduced to him during the Bearstock of 2009 and have been a fan ever since. Unlike your favorite rapper (I assume your favorite rapper is Swizz Beatz), Floco is incredibly versatile. For his latest performance, departing from the spacey, eclectic sounds of his last album Psychadelphia, Floco mostly showcased songs from his upcoming album Floco’s Modern Life, his first album with his recently formed band, “Dope as Fuck.” I’m not sure if that’s the actual name of the band, but he said it and I heard it, so there you go.

Rather than jumping right into his new material, Floco opted to team up with his DJ and start us off with some of his older works. Slyly endorsing his album by donning an insidiously clever T-shirt that said “FML” on the front and “It doesn’t mean what you think” on the back, Floco began his set with “Runaway Girl,” a dreamy, somber song in which he wittily and reluctantly dismisses a former lover.

Although for many rappers such a subject often leads to misogynistic ranting, Floco avoids this path, making it clear that despite his regret at her decision to leave him (again?) he respects her wishes and respects her too.  A few songs later, he performed “I Want You to Hate It,” another of his “classics.” In this song, Floco details the paradoxical relationship he has with his haters. Although their hate is intended to derail his train, to their dismay, he ironically uses it to keep his locomotive running at full power.

His next song “Side Walk Talk,” which featured Jubee of fellow Macon group City Council, was one of his newer tracks. Although this song is also dedicated “to the haters,” the smooth collaboration of the summer jam-like instrumental with Floco’s wit (“Cuz you’re side walk talkin’, speakin so fast that we don’t hear you like an auction,/You ignore the cones and proceed without caution, not noticing the traffic jam that you are causing”) and Jubee’s faintly raspy yet dynamic vocals made the song a true treat and made it easy to forgive Floco for playing such conceptually similar songs back to back.

Following a very brief intermission in which the band set up and the members of crowd “adjusted” their blood-alcohol levels, Floco returned to the floor with his crew and from there the night ’twas but a dream. Whether they were performing rock remixes of Floco’s old hits such as “Beastie Flow” and “Hot Like the Sun”, a lyrical showcase and a catchy summer jam tune respectively, or performing newer joints such as “Give & Take” and “Bad Day at a Carnival”, they rocked. Hard.

My favorite part of their performance was the fact that the lyrics were discernible despite the fact that — well, a band was playing. If you had the misfortune of hearing Gym Class Heroes at the Bearstock of 2009, you might recall (to your acute displeasure) that the vocals were nothing more than a loud, grating murmur amidst an overly produced cacophony. It was kind of like listening to Linkin Park perform chopped and screwed covers of Glee songs in Arabic (that might be a compliment). Also, there was a guy waving a giant flag for some reason. Floco and his crew don’t do that. They give you the best of both worlds (rock/rap), not the B-sides to a Justin Bieber album (Bieb-sides?).

All that to say, look out for Floco’s Modern Life, due to drop within the next two months. Support (good) local music.