We couldn’t begin to speak of the week in local rap without speaking first of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis could we? They began the week atop the iTunes sales charts (they are currently hovering at #8), debuted at #2 on the Billboard chart, found their way onto the radar of identifiable publications likeGQ and Rolling Stone, and for all intensive purposes, became the talk of the Town once again. Okay, my $0.02 here: The album’s okay (high points like “A Wake” and “Same Love” are very high), but it has many of the same issues that Mack’s 2005 classic The Language of My World had. There are a fair number (more than TLOMW) of tracks that really shouldn’t have made the cut, or songs that have promising aspects (“White Walls” for example has a great hook/breakdown and an enjoyable ScHoolboy Q verse), but can’t hold up beyond that (the rest of “White Walls” is boring). I feel like Mack also has more trouble meshing with Lewis’ dance-focused production than he did with Budo’s more traditional steeze (though I understand their logistical reasoning behind wanting to go sample free this time around). Beyond his occasionally overdone inspirational speaker bit, though, Mack is still the captivating speaker he has always been, and he occasionally hits the nail on the head. Worth a listen, at least so you know what everybody’s talking about.
Ryan Lewis, Macklemore
Moving on:
Genre-bending favs Champagne Champagne quietly dropped some product on us this week. Swine? My Brother… is out now on French label Platinum Records, and it’s streaming on/is for sale on the label’s website. There are a couple of older joints on there (“Bird Lives” w/ THEESatisfaction, and “Tropical Trina” gets an acoustic reprise) that hold up well. Several of the new jams – which you may have heard them drop live before – are also winners, such as “Fishin With New Edition” and the Don’t Be a Menace…-referencing “Swine”. “The Breaks” (which seems to be the song they’re pushing as the single) isn’t my favorite, but I guess I had to find something to complain about.
