I know “Fuck You” is supposed to be the song of the summer, but this beat is outstanding, Kanye sounds great, and Rick Ross is held to only about 12 seconds — exactly how long he’s capable of being entertaining. Top with Justin “Bon Iver” Vernon, and I’ve listened to this song like half a dozen times this morning.
But someone should really put out a version with Jay-Z’s verse removed. Then it would be a reasonable four-minute song, and you would only lose Jay reading lines he obviously wrote in his sleep. “Everybody wants to know my Achilles’ Heel. Loooooove,” really?
When I saw that Scott Kaufman and Jeremy Osner had participated in a meme to post the first thing you ever ordered from Amazon, I thought that sounded like fun and that I would join in.
When I learned that the first thing I ever bought from Amazon was Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, I thought that was pretty fitting.
When I realized that this meant I would have two posts in six months, and that they would both be about a band with no significant releases since my first Amazon purchase seven years ago, I felt a little silly.
If you aren’t already, I highly suggest following Dave Segal’s I Love Rap. I’m so jealous of Dave’s ability to pull out these random cuts that pretty consistently knock.
I’m providing the music for a wedding reception this weekend, and the groom said something the other day like, “Todd, you have so much enjoyable music by people I’ve never heard of, it’s amazing.” My response was, “… Yeah, it’s not that impressive. Read Pitchfork for like 10 minutes a week and you’ll know more than I do about everything.” But, as someone who actually kinda-sorta tries to know a thing or two about rap, I feel comfortable saying that Dave’s knowledge is considerable.
Anyway, while I’m blogging, here’s one relatively obscure track* I can play for you. OutKast & Slimm Calhoun’s “High Schoolin’”:
The words to this song have nothing to do with my high school experience, but from the opening bar I’m immediately back in 1999. Because I lived at least half an hour from anything worth doing and didn’t drive, my high school experience was to some extent defined by time spent in passenger seats, and by the music we played in the car. I had this song on a mixtape that I played constantly in Allison’s beat up Chevy Nova. Fortunately, I did not develop the same lasting attachment to the Rage Against the Machine on the same tape.
*It’s possible that this is a throw-away track from a weak soundtrack, and I’m just biased because my love for pre-Stankonia, “two kids from Georgia” OutKast knows no bounds. Let me know in the comments if so.
Although I hope everyone has heard about this internet phenomenon already, it’s too good to risk not sharing it, especially now that Todd has revamped the blog. So whether this is a friendly reminder or an earthbreaking revelation, get yourself over to Blogotheque for the Final Fantasy (aka Owen Pallett) running through the streets of Paris with his violin, or Beirut cramming their ensemble into a dimly lit cafe. Just go to the full listing and check out the episode with your favorite band. My personal favorites:
Let me know your favorites in the comments – there are far more videos than I’ve had time to sift through myself.
Marathon runner and ESPN.com Page 2 contributer Jeff Pearlman has what he claims is “the greatest 26-song running playlist of all time.”
Twelve weeks later, I present to you The List To End All Lists. It comes from hundreds of hours of research: digging through Internet sites; speaking with musicians and athletes; combing through songs ranging from Dio’s “Holy Diver” (solid) to Jeff Beck’s “Space for the Papa” (too long) to Hanson’s “Where’s the Love?” (surprisingly good).
I like some of the choices a lot (“Lose Yourself,” “All These Things that I’ve Done”), and some less so (“New Sensation”? I’m supposed to run to INXS?), but clearly we can do better. So I’d like to ask that everyone contribute his or her own top five running songs. Mine below the jump. (more…)