Much like The Boomtown Rats, I don’t like Mondays. Most people don’t. After a couple of days to shake off the stress of the work week, you throw yourself right back into the fire again.
Hip-hop has long been criticized for, well…a lot of things. But the thing that made me a fan back in the hip-hop glory days of ’87 and ’88 was the emotion. Ultimately, the best music comes as part of an active listening experience in which you actually feel something. Whether it was Chuck D’s impassioned political talk or LL Cool J’s overblown ego, the best of hip-hop provides some sort of emotional outlet for the artist and provides an emotional response for the listener. It’s something that’s missing from a lot of today’s music (not just hip-hop), as everyone seems to be rushing to create what basically amounts to a temporarily ear-pleasing jingle.
Not to say I didn’t like Talib Kweli prior to this, but “Get By” was the song that turned me into a fan for life. His rapping is forceful, impassioned, and it speaks to everyone out there who keep their heads up despite life being a struggle sometimes.
“Even when the condition is critical, when the livin is miserable
Your position is pivotal, I ain’t bullshittin you”
One listen to this and I feel a lot better about facing everything that lies ahead. Thanks to Talib (as well as Kanye West and Nina Simone, whose “Sinnerman” gets expertly chopped up here) for this song. I’ll admit that I’m being completely selfish and posting this here for my own personal reasons (geez, Mike. Don’t you have a personal blog for this?). Hopefully those of you who have the Mondays (or any day when things just aren’t getting off to the best start) can get something out of this as well.
After taking a break to look at the mid-year charts, we’re back on our weekly grind. Here are this week’s Top 20 singles and albums, as compiled by the good folks at Billboard magazine.
Top 20 Albums
1) “Tha Carter III” -Li’l Wayne
2) “Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friends” Coldplay
3) “Camp Rock Soundtrack” Various Artists
4) “Modern Guilt” Beck
5) “Rock & Roll Jesus” Kid Rock
6) “Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 28” Various Artists
7) “Mamma Mia Soundtrack” Various Artists
8) “Good Girl Gone Bad” Rihanna
9) “T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight)” G-Unit
10) “Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles” John Mayer
11) “Here I Stand” Usher
12) “One of the Boys” Katy Perry
13) “Indestructible” Disturbed
14) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
15) “Spirit” Leona Lewis
16) “Last 2 Walk” Three Six Mafia
17) “Definition of Real” Plies
18) “Revelation” Journey
19) “3 Doors Down” 3 Doors Down
20) “Two Men with the Blues” Wynton Marsalis & Willie Nelson
Top 20 Singles:
1) “I Kissed a Girl” Katy Perry
2) “Take a Bow” Rihanna
3) “Lollipop” Li’l Wayne feat. Static Major
4) “Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis
5) “Forever” Chris Brown
6) “Pocketful of Sunshine” Natasha Bedingfield
7) “Viva La Vida” Coldplay
8) “A Milli” Lil’ Wayne
9) “7 Things” Miley Cyrus
10) “Bust it Baby Pt. 2” Plies feat. Ne-Yo
11) “Leavin’” Jesse McCartney
12) “When I Grow Up” The Pussycat Dolls
13) “Burnin’ Up” Jonas Brothers
14) “Dangerous” Kardinal Offishal feat. Akon
15) “Disturbia” Rihanna
16) “Shake It” Metro Station
17) “Closer” Ne-Yo
18) “Get Like Me” David Banner feat. Chris Brown
19) “Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)” Three Six Mafia feat. Project Pat, Young D & Superpower
20) “I Luv Your Girl” The-Dream
*Geez, looking at hip-hop’s presence on this week’s singles chart almost makes me ashamed to be a fan of rap music!
*Speaking of the Top 20 singles, it’s obvious from looking at it that there are very clear ways to get yourself a hit single in summer 2008:
1) Be a hot chick (or a group of hot chicks, in the case of PCD).
2) Be Chris Brown or Date Chris Brown (the Brown/Rihanna axis is responsible for 1/5 of this week’s Top 20 singles chart)
3) Be a terrible rapper, be a mediocre rapper with a lot of hype and charisma (Lil’ Wayne) or be an articulate, political emcee and sell your ass for a hit single (David Banner)
4) Be Ne-Yo (who has two entries as an artist and also co-wrote Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” at #2.
5) Have a Disney channel tie-in (Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers are joined by former teen titan Jesse McCartney).
*Geez, that top 20 singles chart makes you appreciate Coldplay all the more, huh? Is this really what radio plays these days? (I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to a Top 40 radio station in literally five years if not more).
*Wynton Marsalis scores his highest chart entry ever and Weeded Out Willie lands in the Top 20 for the first time since the Reagan administration. Let’s hear it for odd collaborations!!
*Who green-lit a movie based on a Broadway play featuring the music of ABBA? Seriously??!?! And Meryl Fucking Streep is in this movie!! If we do a Duran Duran musical, do you think we can get Dame Judi Dench?
*Hey, I don’t hate ABBA. After all, Swedes have a knack for great pop music. Plus, ABBA lend themselves well to covers, as this Erasure cover from my high school years will attest to.
*Think Fiddy has trashed his record company’s offices yet? I wonder what publicity stunt he’ll plan for his *next* album?
*Natasha Bedingfield has somehow finagled herself into a long-running Top 10 hit with “Pocketful of Sunshine” (a song I’m admittedly lukewarm about), and her album of the same name darts back into the Top 40 six months after it’s release, approaching Gold status. Hmm. Who’d have thunk?
*Also on the “he’s hanging in there better than I thought he would”, Jason Mraz. His third effort, “We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things” has hung around the Top 30 for 9 weeks now and is on pace to outsell his previous effort, “Aren’t I Just A Little Full of Myself” “Mr. A-Z”. “I’m Yours” is a cool little summer song, too.
*Finally, check out that Beck album. You won’t be disappointed.
New Kids on the Block have joined forces with their predecessors New Edition for a song called “Full Service” that will appear on NKOTB’s upcoming September release. Both groups are celebrating anniversaries this year: the New Kids are celebrating twenty years since the release of their breakthrough album “Hangin’ Tough”, and New Edition is celebrating their 25th anniversary as a group.
These groups share a lot of history. Both were formed in Boston, with the New Kids coming about only after New Edition had left writer/producer Maurice Starr’s camp in search of major label money. There’s been a bit of (rightful) bitterness on New Edition’s part because the New Kids were afforded opportunities that the significantly more talented NE guys weren’t- and we can probably correctly surmise that the ethnic make up of the two groups was responsible for that.
Anyway, I’m definitely looking forward to what Ronnie, Ricky, Mike, Ralph, Johnny, Donnie, Danny, Joe, Jon and Jordan will come up with (sometime N.E. member Bobby Brown did not participate in the recording session). If the New Kids and New Edition can settle their differences and work together, does that mean there’s hope for the Middle East?
