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Pop Rock Nation

Author: GG

  • Sound Dialogue – The Legacy Of LL Cool J

    Money Mike and I received some good feedback on our first Sound Dialogue which was focused on the comeback of the New Kids On The Block. This time, we’ll focus on the career and legacy of LL Cool J.

    LL Cool J recently released his 13th album (he includes his greatest hits album) titled Exit 13, which is the last album on his current contract with Def Jam. We started with the new album.

    GG: Before we get into LL’s career, I wanted to get into his latest album, Exit 13. First off, what did you think? I know you haven’t listened to it more than a few times, but give me your initial thoughts. And second, where does it rank in his catalog?

    MM: I’m still digesting the album. I think it’s okay in spots. There are about 3 or 4 songs that I really like, but overall it’s on the bad side of average. He hasn’t made a consistently listenable album since “10”, and that was six years ago.

    GG: Why do you think that is? Obviously, he’s a legend in the game. Is it hard for him to find what it was that made him so great back in the day now that he’s famous and successful? And not only in music, but other forms of entertainment. Why else can’t he stay relevant?

    MM: Plain and simple, he’s Hollywood. No matter how many times LL goes back to Hollis, Queens, he’s not the same kid who made “Rock the Bells” or “I’m Bad”. He’s a financially stable 40 year old man, and he’d probably do a lot better being himself than trying to act like he’s the same guy who made “Mama Said Knock You Out”. He’s trying too hard to keep up with the Joneses instead of just creating good music.

    GG: If LL came to you and said, “Money Mike, I need some help. Help me find the sound that I need to find and help me conceptualize my 14th album.” What would you say to dude?

    MM: Listen to Mama Said Knock You Out again, because that was the pinnacle of his career. Back then, he was hungry and worried about falling off and losing his career both for his ego and for his livelihood. Now he’s stable. He knows that if his album flops, he can go do a movie or a TV show or write another book. The loss of his street cred would be a blow to his ego, but it wouldn’t end his career.

    What he really needs to do is write about his life and stop trying to be current. Write about being a husband and father. Write socially conscious songs. Stop writing about jewels and being in the club, not only because the topics are tired, but because that’s not the life he lives. He has to be true to himself and stop worrying about having hits.

    Photo by Saquan Stimpson/monstershaq200 0

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  • Friday Throwback – Show Me

    During the late 80s, the freestyle movement was in full effect. Have we ever written about Stevie B on this site? Hmm, if not, we need to do so immediately. Anyway, part of that movement was a group of three young women who called themselves “The Cover Girls”. Angel Clivilles (yep, she married the C&C Music Factory dude), Caroline Jackson, and Sunshine Wright were the originals, but since then, it’s been like a revolving door of females who have joined the group. They might still be around in some form or another as today, freestyle concerts are the new oldies concerts. Though my favorite song was We Can’t Go Wrong, (that video is kind of boring) I’ll show Show Me, which was the title of their first album, and actually charted in the top 5 on the dance charts.

    – Look at that hair.

    – I wonder if J. Lo stole some early fashion trends from The Cover Girls. In fact, if someone told me that J.Lo was one of The Cover Girls, I would believe it.

    – Two of the girls are wearing stretch pants. Nice.

    – The woman in the middle is Angel who isn’t a part of the group anymore, but calls herself “The Original CoverGirl”. (That’s the way she spells Cover Girl.)

    – I’m still unsure as to what the point of this video is.

    – Not biker shorts, but biker skirts?

    There’s your trip back to 21 years ago for the day.

  • Sound Dialogue – “The Block”

    One of the best things about being friends with Money Mike is that you can discuss music with him and he never gets sick of it. More importantly, he rarely has an ego about his music knowledge even though he’s forgotten more about music than I’ll ever know. I’m sure we’ve been in some petty arguments, but never because he simply had to showcase his knowledge about something. Thus, we decided to take that style of conversation and turn it into a column. Here’s your first edition of Sound Dialogue where we’ll look at albums, topics, or whatever else we want to chat about music wise and give it to you here. This time, we tackle the New Kids On The Block’s comeback album, The Block.

    GG: Why now? After 14 years, why did the New Kids On The Block come back now? What’s different about 2008 than say, 1998?

    MM: Your guess is as good as mine, because it doesn’t really make sense. If they were looking for a hit or the quick money, they would have done it ten years ago when Backstreet & *NSYNC were popular. Then again, at this point in time, they have the whole pie for themselves.

    I also think that enough time has passed that there’s a certain nostalgia for them. People don’t see them as a joke anymore.

    Photo By Alan Light

    GG: Do you think they fit into today’s pop music landscape? Is there a place for the New Kids? The whole guy group thing has pretty much died down unless your last name is Jonas.

    MM: With the difference being that the Jonas Brothers actually play instruments. You know, the landscape is so wide open right now. It’s more of a production style that works as opposed to any particular kind of artist. So I guess that if they have the right production, they have as much of a chance as anyone, and it looks like that’s what they went after with this album.

    GG: Speaking of the production, what did you think of it? They utilized many “hot” producers and one can argue that the music is actually overproduced.

    MM: How about “very” overproduced? The album almost sounds robotic. The instrumentation is almost completely electronic and the singing is covered in a ton of effects. It’s not like these guys can’t sing. There wasn’t pro-tools and auto-tune in the Eighties.

    GG: I want to get into the auto-tune stuff in a bit. But first, let’s talk about some of the songs. In my opinion, I think the best songs on the album are the ones in which they just sing in harmony with catchy hooks featuring pop style production that is simple and blends with the harmonies. For instance, “Single” with Ne-Yo isn’t a barn burner, but it’s the perfect song to reintroduce the New Kids. You mentioned the electronic instrumentation. One of my major complaints about the album is an over abundance of that style, and less of a smart “radio” style song in the same vein as “Single”. Why do you think they didn’t go more of that route?

    MM: I don’t necessarily know that that’s the route Top 40 radio is in right now. I agree that the more melodic songs like “Single”, “2 in the Morning” and “Stare at You” are by far the best songs on the album, but I’m sure someone at the label convinced them that the sort of amelodic club bangers were the way to go.

    GG: Do you think they’ve gone the right route single wise? “Summertime” didn’t seem to catch on, and really, there’s only one chance to make that first impression from a 14 year lay off. I loved the song myself, but it might not have been the big single to get people to perk their ears up. I really like “Single” as well, and if you can’t rise up on the charts with Ne-Yo, who can help you with that? Don’t say Chris Brown.

    What did you think about the choice of the first two singles, and secondly, what do you think will be the third single?

    MM: I think “Summertime” was the right look, and while it wasn’t a huge hit, it did hit the Top 40 and has been downloaded almost half a million times. I honestly don’t know that they’re capable of expanding beyond what their target demo initially was. I mean, it’s not like cats on the street are suddenly gonna switch off from Lil Wayne to New Kids on the Block.

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