Scribbler's Late AF Post of the Week: In Heavy Rotation (August 2016)

Whereas I went from a "Black Music Matters" in June to mainly "White Boy Wasted" in July, the August edition of "In Heavy Rotation" has its own swagger.  Not only could many of these picks be interchangeable, but most of them are from artists who I like and respect, but I'm nowhere near the head of their fan clubs.  However, that's the marvel of music: there's always an opportunity for an artist to change your mind or make you more of a believer in their work--especially if it's evident they have the talent and charisma to keep your attention for the majority or the entirety of a project.  So enough talking, let's get to the tunes...

HOMETOWN HERO OF THE MONTH: KAE-9, The Hawthorne EP (MGM, 2016). This brother and I go back to 2004 when I was sitting in on a studio session with members of the F.C.C. (F----n' Crazy Crew) who my alter ego produced for and he absolutely killed Lloyd Banks' "On Fire" beat.  Since then, I have watched him mature from one of the youngest and hungriest members of the crew into an independent artist and lyricist, appreciating the growth behind each of his projects.  His latest effort, The Hawthorne EP, falls in line with what he's done for the past ten years.  On the catchy "Know Me", he cleverly weaves in and out of this head-nodder with lines like "Bruce Leroy when I kick this sh--, I got the glow/I chase that rainbow until I got that pot of gold".  Paying homage to one of my favorite rappers and producers in the late, great Pimp C, the cruising-with-the-windows-rolled-down-ready "R.I.P. The Pimp" finds Kae-9 reminiscing on his initial connection with the Port Arthur, Texas legend via "Choppin' Blades" from UGK's Dirty Money album:

I ain't even understand how to chop on blades/But I learned a ho and ho and that b---h don't get saved/And your pimpin' ain't no pimpin' if you don't get paid/But you only learn that lesson after you get played, yeah/I had to learn the game courtesy of Pimp/No father figure, so I learned the sh-- from watching him...

The highlight of this four-track EP is "The Otherside".  Fueled by BeatsInMyBackPack's air-tight production and sampling of Erykah Badu's "Otherside of the Game", Kae-9 kicks off the project with his signature energetic delivery and drops the hottest set of lines that I've ever heard him spit: "So root for a real n---a, got roots of a real n---a/Light skin, but best believe that I'm still in the field, n---a."  As I was on my way to work and heard those lines, I had to slow my roll, stop the music for like a minute or two and process how potently dope those bars were.  That's when you know you've got something special on your hands.

AGAINST THE GRAIN PICK OF THE MONTH: RIHANNA, ANTI (Deluxe) (Westbury Road/Roc Nation, 2016).  There's one simple reason why Rihanna qualifies as an "against the grain" pick: I'm not the biggest Rihanna fan in the world, so to listen to an entire album of hers is a push for me.  Don't get me wrong, she makes a lot of singles that I enjoy, but I've never been motivated to listen to an entire album of hers.  However, one of my good friends and fellow music enthusiasts said that ANTI has been in heavy rotation for her and I have always trusted her taste in music.  Interestingly enough, many of the songs that appealed to me were her singles.  Pairing old school influences of Prince and Al Green according to producer Fred Bell, "Love on the Brain" places Rihanna at one of her most passionate points as she croons the following in the chorus:

And babe, I'm fist-fighting with fire/Just to get close to you/Can we burn something babe/And I run for miles just to get a taste/Must be love on the brain/That's got me feeling this way/It beats me black and blue but it f---s me so good/And I can't get enough/Must be love on the brain, yeah/And it keeps cursing my name/No matter what I do/I'm no good without you/And I can't get enough/Must be love on the...brain...

The edgy "Kiss It Better" continues the back-and-forth, hard-fought love theme while specifically speaking to makeup sex:

Been waitin' on that sunshine, boy/I think I need that back/Can't do it like that/No one else gon' get it like that/So why argue? You yell, but cha take me back/Who cares? When it feels like crack/Boy, ya know that you always do it right...

As soon as the drums and synths flooded my ears on the masterfully-arranged "Same Ol' Mistakes"--which is the same production as Tame Impala's original, "New Person, Same Old Mistakes," from their universally-acclaimed Currents album--I was sold.  Assisted by echoes and airy effects and keeping her delivery simple, Rihanna has one of the most impressive performances of her career on wax as she peels through the lyrics:

I can just hear them now/"How could you let us down?"/But they don't know what I found/Or see it from this way around/Feeling it overtake/All that I used to hate/One by one every trait/I tried but it's way too late/All the signs I don't read/Two sides of me can't agree/Will I be in too deep?/Going with what I always longed for...

Although I haven't listened to other albums in her catalog, ANTI is not a bad starting point as it continues Rihanna's streak as pop music's reigning bad girl who can still show her soft side from time to time.  OTHER NOTABLES: "James Joint" and "Needed Me".

PERSONAL PICK OF THE MONTH: SCHOOLBOY Q, Blank Face LP (Top Dawg/Interscope, 2016).  By now, you should be aware that I'm a huge Kendrick Lamar fan; on the flip side, I haven't been as big on ScHoolboy Q.  That's not to say that I don't fool with him because 1) he possesses more grit than Kendrick and 2) Habits and Contradictions and Oxymoron were both enjoyable albums; the problem is I never had the urge to double back and listen to them.  Nevertheless, when Apple Music sent me an email about brand new music and Blank Face LP was part of the mix, I was still excited to hear it.  Sounding like MC Eiht's "Streiht Up Menace" meets Jay-Z's "Can I Live", "JoHn Muir" (named after where he attended middle school) portrays a grown man's hustle through a young man's experience:

Bellin' through the mothaf----n' street, John/Tryna get this mothaf----n' weed off/Gang injunction tell me where we can't go/Shoot me in my back because my afro/Heard I got a stripe on my record then it's true/Cops effin' at my record, never told 'em what I knew/I was in my n---a car garage, yeah, I'm tryna shoot/I was out here sellin' dope at 14, what it do?/I was out here f----n' hoes at 14, what it do?/I was ditchin' class, fifth grade, yeah, I'm Groovy Q/Ain't no biggie when the small n---a rob, gimme loot/Pop a n---a on his mom's porch, kill his brother too/N---a lost his first fade nine years after school/N---a tryna get the Js, blue Chucks sick as flu/Runnin' from the crash unit like my name was State Farm/On my n---a's handlebars tryna get our groove on, yeah...

With the feel of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Posse on Broadway" mixed with Eazy-E's "Boyz-n-the-Hood", "Dope Dealer" (featuring E-40) finds Q getting gangsta off the break: 

I got a sack of blue faces but my AR black/I got two b-----s in my whip and they gon' hold my strap/I put the knife to the coca leaf and turn that crack/I put the nine to your coconut and pull that back/I see that motherf----r shinin', snatch your whole damn throat/I got a strike in every pocket of my old a-- coat/I use to fly around your city n---a no ID/I get a half and I'mma flip it, gotta go O.T...

Perhaps the best segue for the next section, the star of the show is "Groovy Tony/Eddie Kane" where Q is grimy, but Jadakiss does lyrical damage per the usual:

[Blank Face] Exactly what I'mma have when the cops come/Body language's the same as when the shots rung/Holding a thirty-eight and a shotgun/Real n---a, we all know you are not one, nah/Running with the rebels, it's a three-man weave/With the Lord and the devil/Really all I need is a pitchfork and a shovel/If I can't proceed, then I resort to the metal/(Blank Face) Getting high watching NBA League Pass (Who with?)/With your family at the repass/(My condolences) My heart's getting colder/When I hug your mom and look over her shoulder, you notice I got the/(Blank Face) I heard nothing, I ain't seen nothing/I ain't in the middle with nothin', no in between nothin'/Eff y'all for ever hating me/As I sit there while they interrogate me, I'm starin' at 'em with the (Blank Face)...

Containing a smorgasbord of trunk rattlers and street anthems, Blank Face LP is the first of four solid studio albums in ScHoolboy Q's catalog that left a more lasting impression on me.  OTHER NOTABLES: "TorcH" and "Black THougHts".

SOCIAL MEDIA PICK OF THE MONTH: JADAKISS, Top 5 Dead or Alive (D-Block/Def Jam, 2015).  Now some of y'all might be thinking, "How is Jadakiss--only one of the best rappers in the game--your social media pick?!?!"  Quick explanation: in one of those "one gotta go" memes that featured Jada, Jay-Z, DMX and Nas, he got the boot and I got absolutely ripped for my choice.  Although he's bar-for-bar one of the best--especially on features as evidenced from the aforementioned verse--I haven't been as impressed with his solo catalog apart from The LOX.  However, after much convincing from his numerous zealots, I decided to give his Top 5 Dead or Alive album a shot and I'm glad I gave the Yonkers MC another chance.  "Ain't Nothin New" not only features a superb hook from Ne-Yo and candidly vivid bars from Nipsey Hussle like "once you off the stoop, it's through, you're no child", but also one of my favorite beats of the album from Beat Butcha, Buda & Grandz and four standout bars from Kiss:

Killers respect killers, soft n----s respect fear/Crazy 'cause I love it but I hate it that I rep there/Sad part about it is that I made it when I left there/Sorry to whoever anticipated my death here...

Fueled by menacing horns and a slow bounce from Arkatech Beatz, "Realest in the Game" showcases Young Buck's return to form, Sheek Louch with one of his best flows and Kiss making his "top 5 dead or alive" case with lines like "why you think all the real n----s love Kiss/'Cause the 'Gram got people so caught up with likes, they forgot what real love is".  At the end of the day, the track that had me like Jay-Z pulling his Gucci bucket hat over his face was the Swizz Beatz and Mark Batson collaborative production, "Jason", as Kiss blazes this monstrous production with a touch of social commentary:

If you ain't in the circle, for a square, I get you line/I know n----s is telling, I don't care about the time/Yeah I got weed on me, I don't care about the fine/From a hood where n----s don't give a f--k by design/Yeah, it's real life, it's not a rhyme/And remember, if you don't get caught, it's not a crime...

Out of his four solo albums, Top 5 Dead or Alive is my favorite because it feels like the most complete and makes a strong case for not only Jadakiss' self-proclamations as "one of the five", but also gives credence to his most enthusiastic supporters.  OTHER NOTABLES: "First 48 (Intro)" and "Cutlass" (featuring Ex.od.us).

THROWBACK PICK OF THE MONTH: SYSTEM OF A DOWN, Toxicity (Columbia, 2001).  During my ten-month stint at Tower Records in Northwest D.C., I met quite a few folks with diverse tastes in music.  One young lady was a huge Floetry fan, but on the other side of her palate was her infectious fandom for System of a Down and one good listen to the Rick Rubin-produced Toxicity sold me on the Glendale, California alternative metal band.  So when I was stuck at only four artists for this month's edition, one of my dear, dear friends came through in the clutch, mentioned this album during a music conversation and gave me the perfect closer.  Three of the biggest reasons I became a fan of System of a Down are their abilities to 1) flow between the sometimes-smoothness of alternative and the rough-and-tumble grit of metal, 2) change tempo without sacrificing the integrity of the song and 3) artfully stop and go.  The roller-coaster-esque "Psycho" manifests Reasons #1 and #3 as Serj Tankian calmly sings "So you want the world to stop/Stop in and watch your body fully drop/From the time you were a..." before the fantastically herky-jerky delivery of "Psycho! Groupie! Cocaine! Crazy!"  Conquering all three elements to various degrees is the rightfully-heralded "Toxicity", which musically sounds like a beast going from eerily calm to undeniably ravenous and confirms the lyrics that Daron Malakian said were about the struggle of suffering from ADD: "No, what do you own the world?/How do you own disorder, disorder/Now somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep/Sacred silence and sleep/Somewhere between the sacred silence and sleep/Disorder, disorder, disorder..." However, among so much greatness, the song that drew me to and connects me with Toxicity the most is the masterfully-constructed "Chop Suey!"  With acoustic and electric guitars and booming drums progressing into monstrously infectious movements to cement the song's foundation in the first 45 seconds, it is yet another genius mirroring of music and lyrics as the song cautions those who harshly judge others for their self-destructive ways:

Wake up (wake up)/Grab a brush and put a little makeup/Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup (hide the scars to fade away the)/Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?/Here you go, create another fable/You wanted to/Grab a brush and put a little makeup/You wanted to/Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup/You wanted to/Why'd you leave the keys upon the table...

In carefully listening to Toxicity for the first time in 12 years, it not only reminds me of why I've sung its praises to anyone who would listen, but it also resonates even more than when I initially became enamored.  OTHER NOTABLES: "ATWA" and "Aerials".

Whether it's old or new, what's been "In Heavy Rotation" for you this past month?  PLEASE feel free to spread the love with some dope albums in the comments--and don't be surprised if it makes the cut soon.  Don't forget to come back later this month for the next edition of "In Heavy Rotation"!!!