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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Kanye West

  • The SonicClash Mini-Review: Keri Hilson

    keri

    Keri Hilson’s debut has been one of the more anticipated recent releases in R&B. The beauty has made a name for herself as a songwriter, and a cameo on Timbaland’s hit “The Way I Are” raised her profile and set the stage for her first official album, In a Perfect World…. Having already spawned three hit singles, my curiosity was piqued. I had to find out what Keri was all about.

    I could’ve done without it. Perfect World is a mixed bag. Hilson has a pleasant singing voice. It’s a thin but deceptively versatile instrument very much like the voice of fellow R&B diva Ciara. The fact that Hilson writes her own material should vault her over the anonymous singers that share her style, but her songwriting is no great shakes. Unlike fellow soul singer/songwriters like, say, Ne-Yo (who co-stars opposite Hilson and Kanye West on the current hit Knock You Down, one of this album’s highlights), Hilson’s pen game is generic, and she hasn’t mastered the one art every great songwriter knows-melody.

    My other issue with In a Perfect World…? Everything sounds super-canned. I have nothing against synth-pop, usually. However, the best of that sub-genre usually has some feeling behind it. Keri Hilson? Not so much. Even Aaliyah had an air of concentrated cool that permeated her records. This album has no soul, and I would think that the average person looking in the R&B section for an album would be looking for some kind of soul, right?

    Keri Hilson’s definitely a talented lady, but maybe just not as talented as the press and hype machine would like us to believe that she is. In a Perfect World…sounds like it was focus-grouped into oblivion, tailor-made to fit onto pop and R&B radio circa 2009. The end result is listening to something like “Loose” or “FutureSex/LoveSounds” with all the character sucked out of it, which leaves you with danceable beats and not much else. And danceable beats alone do not make for a good album. So, ultimately, in a perfect world…, you’d be best off leaving this album in the rack at the record store.

  • First Listen: Jay-Z “Death of Autotune (D.O.A.)”

    jigga

    So it seems like Jay-Z has been teasing (threatening) us with music from “Blueprint 3” for forever. First there was “Jockin’ Jay-Z”, then there was the Obama song, then there was “Swagga Like Us”, which, if y’all remember, was originally supposed to be on Jay’s album, not T.I’s.

    Anyhow, Jay has returned yet again with the intriguingly titled “Death of Autotune (D.O.A.)”, and if I can say one thing, it’s that the production-provided by No I.D. and Kanye West, is definitely on point. This is a real hip-hop beat. The problem, as has become shockingly apparent of late, is Jay-Z’s rhyming. This is a dude who considers himself the best of all time, right? Over the course of the past couple of albums, Jay’s rhyming has gotten increasingly lazy. Truthfully, he’s got more of the eye of the tiger on this track than on anything I’ve heard since “American Gangster”, but from a skill standpoint, this is still kinda lukewarm. Maybe Jay needs to rethink that whole not-writing-any-rhymes thing down now that he’s hitting the big 4-0. His rhymes are definitely not as sharp as they once were.

    But here’s the song, you judge for yourself…

  • The Top 100 Songs of the ’00s, #96: “The Eraser”

    eraser

    Back in ’93, who’d have thought that the guy who made “Creep” would turn out to be one of the most forward-thinking artists of the next decade and a half?

    Anyway, for my money, “The Eraser” brought Yorke back to accessibility after the art-rock freakout qualities of Radiohead’s “Amnesiac” and “Hail to the Thief”. Not to say it was necessarily pop friendly (nothing that comes out of the Radiohead camp is), but “Eraser” was certainly easier to listen to than anything his band had made since “Kid A”.

    The album’s title track is sort of druggy, sort of spooky. Yorke sings (well, actually, he kinda mumbles) in that pinched falsetto over a gurgling electronic beat garnished with piano. “The more you erase me/The more that I appear”…just sounds ominous in that “Every breath you take/I’ll be watching you” kinda way, the song has a little freak-out breakdown towards the end, and the result (like the rest of the album) is a slightly offbeat but quite enjoyable listening experience.

    Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell Williams (as CRS or Child Rebel Soldier) heavily sampled “The Eraser” for “Us Placers”, which wasn’t released as a single. If it was, however, it would have placed on this list. So, let’s just throw that in as a bonus. Neither of the songs has an official video, but thanks to YouTube and some very creative minds, check out unofficial clips for both songs.