In Heavy Rotation (November 2016)

What I've come to appreciate about doing "In Heavy Rotation" is how I can go into a month planning to listen to one set of five albums.  However, between putting off giving my take on certain projects, being pleasantly surprised when others are released, watching TV and getting ideas for picks or hanging around folks whose musical palates exceed their foodie tendencies, it forces me as an avid music lover and constantly-evolving human being to 1) always remain open to change and 2) adapt to said change as deemed necessary.  Also, I've learned to go with the flow, i.e., instead of trying so hard to ensure I have a balanced representation of hip hop and rock, male and female artists or Black folks and everybody else, simply share what speaks the most to me in that particular month.  After all, it is my blog series, so that means I don't always follow the rules--even when I set them myself.  With that said, it's time to unveil some of this good music I've been bumping...

AS SEEN ON TV/THROWBACK PICK OF THE MONTH: CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL, Green River (Fantasy, 1969).  As cool or smooth as many folks would consider me, I also possess and consistently gravitate toward a certain level of grittiness.  Perhaps this is why I've always respected the rockabilly swagger of Creedence Clearwater Revival, who might be the roots rock answer to Maze featuring Frankie Beverly because their sound is nothing like their roots.  (CCR is from El Cerrito, California and played in a Southern rock style while Maze began in Philly before moving to the Bay Area and sounded more like a West Coast band.)  After watching a commercial on TV advertising a greatest hits album of theirs, I found one of their most heralded albums, Green River.  At under 30 minutes of running time, the album does what lead singer/lead guitarist/principal songwriter John Fogerty summarized in a 2012 Uncut interview and "get[s] to the point a little more quickly than that [acid-rock, 45-minute guitar solos]."

Reminiscing on childhood "anecdotes" and infusing youthful imagination by renaming a California creek while making the listener believe it's somewhere along the Bayou, "Green River" is one of those "back down memory lane" songs done in vintage CCR form: "Well, take me back down where cool water flow, yeh/Let me remember things I love/Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite/Walkin' along the river road at night/Barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight."  The greatness of "Sinister Purpose" is its melodic pairing of Fogerty's voice with the guitars as he reels off these insightful lyrics: "When the sky is gray/And the moon is hate/I'll be down to get you/Roots of earth will shake/Sinister purpose/Knocking at your door/Come and take my hand."  However, it's the successful combination of pace, musical discipline and lyrical integrity in "Bad Moon Rising" which steals the show for me.  Written after the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated and "the times seemed to be in turmoil", Fogerty delivers simple shots with as much profound impact as the  "forecast": "I hear hurricanes a blowing/I know the end is coming soon/I fear rivers overflowing/I hear the voice of rage and ruin/Don't go around tonight/Well, it's bound to take your life/There's a bad moon on the rise."  Green River epitomizes the importance of listening to artists beyond compilations: you're bound to find gems when digging deeper and you seek to find even more.  OTHER NOTABLES: "Commotion" and "Cross-Tie Walker".

AGAINST THE GRAIN PICK OF THE MONTH: TWENTY ØNE PILØTS, Blurryface (Fueled by Ramen, 2015).  Prior to discussing the dopeness of TWENTY ØNE PILØTS with one of my dear, dear friends, I already had an introduction to them and didn't realize it: "Heavydirtysoul" played ad nauseam while spending countless hours building my Ultimate Team in Madden NFL 16 last year.  However, I overlooked how this was the work of the Columbus, Ohio duo and wasn't reacquainted with them until being put on to the ska-inspired sleeper hit "Ride"--a song which my friend said made her want to smoke weed if she actually smoked weed.  From there, I stumbled upon "Stressed Out", did my own research and found Blurryface.  In an explanation to MTV News regarding the album's concept, lead vocalist/keyboardist Tyler Joseph said the character Blurryface "represents all the things that I as an individual, but also everyone around, are insecure about."  That breakdown not only reminded me of my own plight as an artist with multiple canvases, but also raised my level of intrigue into this particular album.

In the gear-shifting "Message Man", Joseph takes shots at those who judge a song purely by its style and those who slight him for his methodology: "Release me from the present/I'm obsessing, all these questions/Why I'm in denial/Please use discretion when you're messing with the message, man/These lyrics aren't for everyone/Only few understand".  Although "Ride" is one of the biggest hits from Blurryface, it's also one of the best because of its sentiment of overcoming the easiness of dying with the difficulty of living with purpose:

I'd live for you," and that's hard to do/Even harder to say when you know it's not true/Even harder to write when you know that tonight/There were people back home who tried talking to you/But then you ignore them still/All these questions, they're for real/Like who would you live for?  Who would you die for?/And would you ever kill?

For the first three minutes of "Goner", the musical journey is poignantly calm as Joseph builds the drama in his quest to defeat Blurryface as he croons, "I've got two faces/Blurry's the one I'm not/I need your help to take him out/I need your help to take him out/Though I'm weak/And beaten down/I'll slip away into this sound/The ghost of you is close to me/I'm inside out/You're underneath."  Then in the final minute, he rides a wave of sudden intensity as he screams, "I'm a goner/Somebody catch my breath/I wanna be known by you/I wanna be known by you."   Not only is it an ideal ending to a well-executed conceptual album, but that along with the entire album is the beginning of taking down my own Blurryface once and for all.  OTHER NOTABLES: "Stressed Out" and "Not Today".

SOCIAL MEDIA PICK OF THE MONTH: DE LA SOUL, and the Anonymous Nobody... (A.O.I./Kobalt, 2016).  Truth moment: although I was a fan of most members from the Native Tongues hip hop collective, I wasn't the biggest De La Soul fan.  Don't get me wrong, I have always respected them as legends and 3 Feet High and Rising as well as Stakes Is High are classics IMHO.  However, I'm simply not the first to run to the mountaintop and sing their praises like many friends of mine who are admittedly bigger hip hop heads than I am.  Nevertheless, when I saw numerous posts about their first full-length album in twelve years, and the Anonymous Nobody..., I was drawn to an album which manifested what they've always possessed since the beginning: unparalleled range as a hip hop act.    On the soulful, uptempo first single, "Pain" (featuring Snoop Dogg), Posdnuos appeals to the audience's common experience with the struggles of life:

Let me see how many palms go up high/If you've ever felt the world had you licked/And what you waving side to side/To symbolize needing help when the sand pull you under quick/Big Mama said "the Devil's up to no good"/But we can heal it on a Sunday with a good book/Or we can kill it on a Monday with a good look/Make it part of the campaign to withstand pain...

With a mixture of part masterful matador, part epically majestic entrance and part Newport-smoky jazz club, the dopeness of "Royalty Capes" mixes the aforementioned musical styles with a touch of spoken word and a few simple bars from Dave best summarizing the bold imposition of their will on the hip hop kingdom: "Androids read raps off iPhones/I choke the blood out of felt tips/Heavy weights up to the front if the belt fits/The wealth is like ivory toothpicks."  Driven by a wicked guitar combo from Patrick Bailey and Joshua Lopez, my personal favorite in "Lord Intended" (featuring Justin Hawkins) kicks butt and takes names from the opening tap:

Yo, there's a fire in the kitchen, it's like nine cooks/The Kool-Aid got spiked with porcupines, look/Rode into Rigo, this ain't a fast track/Your tickets ain't straight, TSA your a-- back/NASDAQ...IBM/The big honcho on the block, b---h, I be him/The rock mega death, we gonna kill the Kane/F--k everyone, b---h, bring everything...

Even if you're like me and not heading up the De La Soul fan club, and the Anonymous Nobody... is one of those albums which has something for everybody and if you still have a gripe, then you're simply too insatiable of a listener.  OTHER NOTABLES: "Trainwreck" and "Whoodeeni" (featuring 2Chainz).

PERSONAL PICK OF THE MONTH: A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service (Epic/SME, 2016).  Even the De La Soul lengthy hiatus couldn't top the unceremonious split of one of my favorite hip hop groups of all time, A Tribe Called Quest.  However, after the hip hop world was shaken by the unfortunate passing of Phife Dawg earlier this year, we were relieved at the news about him, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White (who hadn't been an integral member of the group since People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythms) getting together for their first album in 18 years before his passing.  The end result is their refreshing sixth album, We Got It from Here... Thank You 4 Your Service.  On the ear-grabbing "Kids...", Andre 3000 (who ?uestlove said "would be the most welcome move in music prolly since [Johnny Gill] joined [New Edition] or maybe [Dennis Edwards] came to the Temptations" if he joined ATCQ) dropped rhythmic poetry as if he naturally belonged in the fold:

I'm well aware all that sh-t is fantasy/I double dare y'all to f--k your Plan B/That's demeanor, momma's mannerisms/That mean, don't mean to get vulgar, but it's some/Hoes in this b---h like a box of donuts/It's cold out in this b---h, standing on the corner/Condolences to n----s that got erased/I pour out some liquor on a cop's grave/Mmm, digital church bells/Ringin' 'cross the street, sure work well...

Ideally joining the forces of the original members as well as Consequence, who first got his claim to fame on 1996's Beats, Rhymes and Life, "Black Spasmodic" is one of the best crafted tracks to capture Tribe's essence.  Phife Dawg rode the beat with his "champion pen game" and delivered my favorite flow of his on the entire album:

You clowns be bum sauce, speak my name, it's curtains/Hamdulillah, my crew's back to workin'/Trash rap the dead, p---y kill the chirping/No more f--k boys, sit down, sh-- can only get worse/And how do you touch mics with flows uncertain?/Speak game dry, boy, that flow ain't workin'/Folks throwin' items, them vex and cursing'/F--k made me wanna see these n----s in person?/Third song in, motherf-----s dispersin'/Only to realize Donald Juice in the buildin'...

As fantastic as both "Kids..." and "Black Spasmodic" are, the pocket of "Mobius" is commanding.  Opening with inspiration from Prodigy's "Keep It Thoro", Consequence reminds folks why his cousin Q-Tip brought him along for the ride 20 years ago:

I break bread, ribs, hundred dollar bills/Dream about Bugattis and other four-wheels/They say Illuminati and other ordeals/Is how my lawyer got me to avoid a raw deal/And now it's more than it is for any other star/And that's enough to have you tearing up the mini-bar/I should probably get awards where the Emmys are/For how I deal with the path like Remy Ma/I get in the car like a sniper's on the roof now/But don't confuse how you see me have to move now/I got bars like the cypher's in the booth now...'cause ever since I had the Polo suit at the Grammys/I been spittin' at the camera like Trick Daddy...

Although I could ramble further, my homie with impeccable music taste said it best on his Facebook status: "Classic status: NAH. Wouldn't expect that after an 18-year hiatus. Worst album of the catalog: FAR FROM IT...Overall, the Tribe won. NOT BAD. AT ALL."  OTHER NOTABLES: "We the People..." and "Dis Generation" (featuring Busta Rhymes).

HOMETOWN HERO OF THE MONTH: KINGPEN SLIM, Life After Doubt (New Wave Co-Op, 2016).  Primarily because of the always-solid production from one of his longtime collaborators, JButtah, I have been a fan of KingPen Slim for the last seven years and counting.  Wen I got word of his long-awaited album, Life After Doubt, I rushed to listen to it.  Although it's easy to note the obvious inspiration of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death and Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt, the pride of Adams Morgan gave an even more thorough explanation regarding the album's inspiration on Late Night with Peter Rosenberg: "Everybody goes through doubts as adults, kids, the older people, whatever and doubt is one of the most crippling emotions that you can have and it's gonna hold you back from any form of success that you may really see in your brain.  You gotta let that go.  Life After Doubt is about me letting that go, moving on from it like 'let me do the raps that I wanna do'."  Simply from the interview, a fair assumption is to expect an album loaded with bars and dope beats...and you'd be right.

With a ferocious delivery on "Bad Guy" (produced by JButtah), he spits witty lines like these:

As I dwell through the depths of hell/At one step at a time, but the steps are twelve, follow/On my way to AA, need a triple A/I drag my balls in the ground, they hit into a triple play/Still I gotta let my nuts hang/D--k pic on the net 'cause I was tryna f--k fame/The broke rap 'bout money I feel is mundane/I'm the lion leaving the den and I'm untamed...

On the smooth and melodic "Life Don't Matter" (produced by Mark Henry), his cleverness is an advantageous tandem with his ability to dig:

See it's mind over matter (matter fact, matter fact)/Chi shut down Trump rally (I ain't mad at that)/B-More rolled on the pigs (I ain't mad at that)/Live from the lion's den (this my natural habitat)/Why you pokin' at the bear and runnin' instead of gunnin'?/Jumpin' through the jungle and hidin' instead of huntin'?/Cold winter, n---a, I was grindin' instead of stuntin'/My hood wanted chickens, so you know I fed 'em dumplings...

Among his many commanding performances on LAD, the indelible impact of "D'mons" is instant.  Over a masterful JButtah production which is essentially a nod to the latter part of his moniker, he speaks on a tug of war between right and wrong:

Page burns to flames as I write this/Pain turns to rage, I don't like this/Devil asked for a dance/My enemy is the DJ, the dance floor's a ring, I can't fight this/Black thoughts control/Never shiver even when a n---a caught in the cold/Mind, body and soul, all out for the blood/Straight hate, fall out for the love, you a demon...

In an already impressive catalog, Life After Doubt extends KingPen Slim's reign as one of the D.C. area's most respected hip hop artists because it exemplifies his ability to fuse the right amount of swagger with a palatable amount of substance and a mandatory amount of skill.  OTHER NOTABLES: "Still Family" and "Golden Future" (featuring JusPaul).

What mixtapes, EPs or LPs have been in heavy rotation for you?  Please feel free to share some of that dope music in the comments...it might make next month's cut.  Don't forget to return on Tuesday, December 26th for the last edition of "In Heavy Rotation" before we begin a brand new year!!!