A YEAR AGO: HABITS & CONTRADICTIONS

A year ago Schoolboy Q dropped one of the best mixtapes in a while, Habits & Contradictions to largely good reviews. To be honest, I just knew of Q like late last year and after hearing, "There He Goes", I was like who is this kid?! Already knowing Kendrick and Black Hippy (which both Kendrick and Q are part of and knowing of Jay Rock since one of those XXL Freshmen covers), I decided to check out the solo works of the individual members not named Kendrick. So I got Ab-Soul's Control System and just this month Q's Habit & Contradictions. I gotta say I love his work. So if you haven't heard it (even after a year), download it or whatever! The opening track, "Sacrilegious" is a killer and features an uncredited Kendrick (at least I think that's Kendrick) singing somewhere in the background!

MIXTAPE OF THE MONTH: FOLARIN

Y'all ever wonder why an artist's album can't sound like their mixtape?! Case in point: Wale! His newest mixtape tentatively titled Folarin (one of his Yoruba names, need to check out what that means and I'm Nigerian, albeit a non-Yoruba) is a near masterpiece. I say near, cause only time will tell. It's definitely some notches way ahead of his last mixtape The Eleven-One-Eleven Theory, which I liked also.

Here's the download link to Folarin, click HERE!

ALBUM OF THE MONTH JANUARY 2013: VICIOUS LIES AND DANGEROUS RUMORS

Kicking the new year into high gear, I give you the number one album of 2013 thus far; it's called, Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors. If y'all don't know Big Boi by now, y'all ain't goin' never know him. One half of the mighty Outkast, I suggest you get your copy of Sir Lucious Left Foot's 2nd (or 3rd, if we're counting Speakerboxxx) offering. Ya dig?

MY FAV MOVIES OF 2012

This year brought us the promise of big blockbuster movies as well as some real out non-superhero entertainment, but if we have to be honest, this was the year of superheroes; returning, rebooted as well as new. Enjoy the list of my best movies of 2012… and feel free to disagree!

1.) THE AVENGERS

Starting with the words of Jay-Z in his “So Appalled” verse, where he references Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, “Where do I begin this?” I had geek orgasms just watching the trailers leading up to this movie and finally it came (double entendre)… a week after its worldwide release and I had to hear about the movie’s plot from someone else. Aaargh! Nevertheless I carried my trusted wallet and headed to the cinema the next day and oh boy was I excited. Really, where do I begin this? I’m even writing a story as you can see. To break it down, let me just write my favourite line from each character:

Thor: He’s adopted.

Loki: An ant has no quarrel with a boot.

Nick Fury: (To Loki) Ant (To control board which will drop him 30 feet in the air) Boot!/ Let me know if real power wants a magazine.

Dr. Bruce Banner: You want to know my secret, Captain? I’m always angry!

Tony Stark/Iron Man: Since when did he become Phil? ...His first name is Agent.

Captain America: It seems to run on some form of electricity.

Hulk: (After pounding Loki) Puny god!

2.) THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

So is it better than The Dark Knight? Sort of, it had ambitions that were clearly not manifested! There’s a reason why The Avengers will take top trophy above TDKR, because the former’s storyline was linear: defeat Loki. TDKR, like its predecessor is not linear, but compared to it The Dark Knight has a very linear story: defeat The Joker. TDKR plays like two plots in a movie, which it is. The first half is a war movie; the second half is a super-hero movie. This is where the fault comes in. Nolan has turned the super-hero genre into more than just campy action. Yes, the original Spider-man franchise was the campiest of them all, but it was good and well layered (we’re omitting Spider-man 3 here, but it too was good, better than the present reboot), but what do you expect from Spider-man, he’s a fun guy. Batman isn’t. The guy lives in a mansion all alone with his man servant Alfred and eschews any form of social life. The Avengers are party animals each thinking they’re better than the other. Since Batman has no one to show off against (The Justice League does not exist in Nolanverse) he beats up bad guys and goes home to Alfred. TDKR however is less about Batman and more about Bruce Wayne as evident to the story. This leads us to the two genres in the movie.

First of all TDKR had the potential of being better than The Dark Knight, as a matter of fact it was until the second half when the Nolan brother realized they were writing a super-hero movie and decided to change back from the war drama that was the first half and the better half, I might add. There’s less Batman in the first 45 minutes of the movie, he only appears once, but I swear you won’t notice if it wasn’t for those attentive critics who decided to point it out, before I saw it. The fact that we don’t miss Batman or ask, “When do we see some action?” proves the Nolan brother’s ability to turn the super-hero genre into more than just action and explosions. The problem is when they revert to it. Don’t get me wrong, the action scenes are great, especially the beginning, where we see Bane, who is just equally as good a villain as The Joker. When the story goes back to super-hero action, there are lapses. I want to know where that well was and how Bruce Wayne made it back to Gotham undetected from Calcutta or wherever he was?

And then we have to talk about Bane. People kept saying he was not The Joker. Of course he wasn’t, but this guy beat the shit out of Batman in the comics. Bane actually carries the movie, when Bruce Wayne is locked down in the well. This is credit to Tom Hardy who is made to act with his eyes and muscular movements like attempting to break the Bat (Watch to find out if he does). People complained Bane was not as charismatic, did we watch the same movie here? Bane was funny, yes, unintentionally, but funny nonetheless, “He has a very lovely, lovely voice.”

And we have to talk about Anne Hathaway’s performance as Selina Kyle. If ever there was a role to separate her from being the cute little girl from The Princess Dairies franchise, it was this role. She kicks ass, starting with the man himself, Bruce Wayne. The girl was taking no shots, no losses.

Alfred has perhaps the movie’s most touching moment, but I won’t delve into that. Suffice to say, some people will be talking about another Nolan movie (Inception) when discussing the end.

3.) SKYFALL:

Bond redeems himself for the dismal Quantum Of Solace with the 23^rd movie in the franchise and Daniel Craig’s 3^rd outing as the beloved spy. There’s a lot of build up to the movie’s pivotal point: the meeting of the new villain, who has quite a lot in common with Mr. Bond. Also for the first time since Craig’s first outing in Casino Royale (or in any other Bond movie for that matter) Skyfall delves into the past of our super-spy like no other movie with the 3^rd act being the penultimate moment of the movie from where the title comes from. This particular Bond  movie could’ve worked well as a television series, ‘cause you feel like you just watched a Bond trilogy in one go with each act being a movie onto itself.

4.) ARGO:

Beautifully written. Beautifully directed. If  you still don’t respect Ben Affleck as a director, Argo fuck yourself.

5.) PROMETHEUS:

I can write a whole thesis on Prometheus and what I think it means; theories about life and God and so on. Really I can, but I will save you the anguish and tell you I quite enjoyed this movie despite initially not wanting to watch it in the first place, seeing as I’d never seen any of the movies from the previous Alien franchise, yet I found Prometheus, (which is the prequel to the Alien franchise) quite nice. Shouts out to Michael Fassbender, brilliant as the robot David… at least he didn’t show his wang in this one.

6.) THE ARTIST (Winner for Best Director, Best Actor and Best Picture at the 2012 Oscars):

Like the movie, I won’t say much!

7.) THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2011)

I usually hate remakes, reboots and series turned movies especially remakes of foreign films by Hollywood, there are exceptions to the rule like the reboot of X-Men, Christopher Nolan’s Batman or the 80s series 21 Jump Street being a movie, which brings me to Dragon Tattoo. Director David Fincher is an absolute genius. After directing The Social Network (an original movie), he remade the Swedish (and original) version of Stig Larson’s The Girl… for Hollywood and it is amazing. Word is he shot it scene for scene, except with a minor change at the end.

8.) THINK LIKE A MAN

I’m surprised to say I actually liked this movie. Well written and well acted.

9.) SAFE HOUSE

Two things keep Safe House from being another movie with the same plot: 1.) Denzel Motherfucking Washington and 2.) It’s the first movie where Ryan Reynolds doesn’t remind you of Ryan Reynolds. That’s an achievement and honestly the story’s quite superior for its genre, but still formulaic.

10.) PROJECT X

I felt a little injustice was done to this movie comparing it to Superbad (actually I see the comparison to be honest), because really it stands out on its own as one of the baddest teen (and really, adult) movies I’ve seen.

11.) CABIN IN THE  WOODS

Joss Whedon appears on our list for the second time, this time as a producer and a co-writer for this slasher movie that makes fun of the horror genre.

12.) CHRONICLE

Not at all what I expected, instead Chronicle is a very realistic view of what it might be like if humans actually had super powers.

13.) PREMIUM RUSH

Very simple story: deliver a message before a crazy villain gets his hands on it. Yes, it’s a storyline that’s been repeated, but try it with a bike messenger and a villain who’s a police officer.

14.) 21 JUMP STREET

Yes, Johnny Depp makes a cameo and he shows us how much he detested the character that made him a household name and pin-up/teen idol. Depp was so concerned by the popularity of his character that he thought it would harm any chances of him being seen as a serious actor. Well Depp, we’ve taken you seriously over the years and you’re still many a women’s idol, which makes his cameo not only perplexing, but somewhat justified and I’m sure it was his idea to do what he did! He’s that crazy! Just watch the movie!

15.) THE IDES OF MARCH (2011)

The problem with political thrillers is they tend to start off slow, like take in case The Ghost Writer, but once you settle in they get quite good. Case in point George Clooney’s The Ides of March starring pretty boy Ryan Gosling and Clooney himself. This time the war takes place largely within the same camp, kind of like The Ghost Writer, but this doesn’t involve espionage, just some real background political wrangling and gasp, a scandal, like they never is one in these types of movies. Wondering when someone will make a movie titled Lawan-Otedola.

16.) THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Good, but not so amazing. I like this new spider-man, but it was too soon. We are possibly the only generation to have two spider-men, two batmen (played by four different actors) and if you’re old enough, one and half super-men. The half is the disaster that was Superman Returns. Of course I’m not counting TV super-men here, because Tom Welling would kick Brandon Routh’s ass any day, just the ones on the silver screen. While this new spider-man captured the angst of Peter Parker being a teenager it never measures up to Raimi’s first spider-man movie and Raimi did condense so much of Spidey’s history yet he was able to make a better movie, sorry Webb (I’m referring to the new director who really is called Webb). So it’s settled, Raimi’s Spider-man> Webb’s The Amazing Spider-man.

17.) TED

If you’ve ever wanted to watch a Family Guy movie without the cast of Family Guy, well you’re in luck. Everything you’ve come to expect from MacFarlane is here: his mockery of faith, unnecessary flashbacks, references to 80’s pop icons and so on. My only problem with Ted (yes, I know it’s a talking teddy bear) is that the movie seemed to drag on in some scenes, pretty much like some Family Guy episodes.

18.) DRIVE (2011)

Some people hated this, some people loved it. Released last year, Drive starring Ryan Gosling as… well, a driver; a stunt-driver and part-time getaway expert to be precise, who gets mixed up in some shit he shouldn’t. You know how it goes.  Driver meets girl, driver decides to help girl’s husband who just got out of jail (only God knows why) to pull off one more heist and that there is the basic story. Sounds stupid, but somehow it works, except if you were one of the many who complained. There are many Twilight-like moments, where characters stare at each other. The only difference here is I didn’t feel like tearing the screen apart.

The How-Did-They-Go-Wrong Movies of the Year:

DARK SHADOWS:

Johnny Depp? Check! Tim Burton? Check! Great source material? Check! Success/ Er… Pause! How did this go wrong with such a great source material? Sure, the movie had its moments, but they were far between and I believe someone could’ve written a better script than what was handed in. Tim Burton still works his magic, but failed to wow audiences and ultimately the box office. Johnny Depp doesn’t do much, but play weird. He’s used to it, but Jackie Earle Haley and Michelle “I’m back” Pfeiffer put in stellar performance and a little credit to Chloe what’s-her-last-name?

THE RAVEN:

This movie was bad, sooo bad, but I love movies that have great concepts. The Raven is a fictional account of the last days of writer Edgar Allan Poe. The problem here is the story itself, it involves a killer. In real life Poe died in a park confused, supposedly mumbling the name, “Reynolds”. The real life murder aspect of it is that Poe might have been killed for something that was popular during his time, where people were made to vote for a certain candidate by being coerced and then killed off after. This movie takes a different approach that involves a killer mimicking Poe’s stories, where people die in weird fashion as described by the author in his books. What’s interesting though is I couldn’t help watching actor John Cusack who plays Poe, thinking Robert Downey Jr. would’ve been perfect for this. The problem however is that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, which Downey portrays in the recent movie franchise, is based in part by Poe’s detective character C. Auguste Dupin and we really can’t have Downey playing everybody. People would be out of jobs.

2012 MUSIC: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

It’s that time of the year again, another list by yours truly. This year saw the return of Pop music and not that Katy Perry/Rihanna music, but that genuine 90s/early 00s pop music as well as some much needed story-telling missing in rap recently. I present to you my year end list of singles and albums and in-betweens:-

MY TOP TEN SONGS OF 2012:

1.     Call Me Maybe- Carly Rae Jespen

2.     Payphone f./ Wiz Khalifa- Maroon 5

3.     Turn Up The Music- Chris Brown

4.     Some Nights- Fun.

5.     Adorn- Miguel

6.     Gangnam Style- Psy

7.     Mercy f./ Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz- Kanye West

8.     Like To Party- Burna Boy

9.     Senrere ft. Taymib- Ajebutter 22

10.  Somebody That I Used To Know ft. Kimbra- Gotye

If you have a problem with my number one pick, call me… maybe! Or just tell me I used to be somebody that you used to know, abi?!

Throwback record of the year: We’re In This Together by Nine Inch Nails.

If you saw The Avengers trailer: the song playing in the background. Released in 1999, this seven-minute opus still kicks ass today (a little retro, of course), fit for a movie of disgruntled superheroes who have to work together… I guess they’re in this together now (haha, dry humour). They should use Every Day Is Exactly The Same for The Avengers sequel, hehehe!

Best Use of A Sample: Memories Back Then- T.I ft. B.O.B & Kendrick Lamar.

This record samples Gotye’s Somebody That I Used To Know, yet surprisingly didn’t make T.I’s latest album Trouble Man. Probably didn’t clear the sample on time… or at all.

Best Guest Verses of the year:

1.)  Kendrick Lamar on A.S.A.P Rocky’s Fucking Problem ft. 2 Chainz, Drake & Kendrick Lamar./ Kendrick Lamar on T.I’s Memories Back Then ft. B.O.B & Kendrick Lamar.

2.)  Pharaoh Monche on !Mayday!’s Death March (Remix) ft. Pharaoh Monche & Stat Quo.

3.)  Method Man on Wu Block’s Pull Tha Cars Out ft. Ghostface Killah, Sheek Louch & Method Man.

4.)  2 Chainz on Kanye West’s Mercy ft. Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz (won him a BET award, which I predicted by the way)

5.)  Terry Tha Rapman on Tuface’s Bother You. This song was a so-so mid-tempo track, but the standout part about it was Terry’s verse. It’s the only part you’ll most likely remember when the song is over (no diss to Tu Baba, I dey hail o! I’m just saying.)

The How-Was-This-Not-A-Single record of the year: Pull The Cars Out-Wu Block. Meth killed his verse.

Finally breaking through pop record of the year: This Is Love ft. Eva Simmons- Will.I.Am.

For years Will.I.Am has searched for the perfect pop hit as a solo artist. As a member of The Black Eyed Peas, he’s had millions, but not so much on his own until he dropped this little gem featuring Dutch singer Eva Simmons. Finally!

Redemption record of the year: Breathing- Jason Derulo.

Last year Jason Derulo sampled Robin S’s Show Me Love and ruined it (in my highly regarded and respected opinion) for his single Don’t Wanna Go Home. We sure wanted him to go home when he dropped that, but this year he redeemed himself with the all original Breathing. I like and I forgive.

Most overlooked Pop record of the year: Masquerade- Nicki Minaj.

For someone who dropped more pop records than actual rap records this year, it’s amazing how this song got overlooked. Thanks to Adidas who used it for one of their commercials featuring her, Big Sean and Jojo Simmons (you’ve probably seen it on MTV), this song got some attention. The song is actually better than all those songs she made videos for except for maybe Beez In The Trap and I Am Your Leader.

Most overlooked Rap record of the year: Driving By- Wu Block feat. Ghostface Killah, Sheek Louch, Masta Killah, GZA & Erykah Badu

The sample is crazy and the beat is slow enough for when driving by.

Most underrated Naija songs of the year:

1.     Anamachi Kwanu- Ill Bliss ft. Phyno.

2.     Subsidy Blues (Unnoticed Occupy Anthem)- T.R.P, Bilzee & B.B.P.

Ok, I’m putting this here, ‘cause I’m on the first (and arguably the best) verse of the song. You know how I do. Download here..

ALBUMS/MIXTAPES AND EPS OF THE YEAR:

1.     GOOD KID, M.A.A.D CITY- Kendrick Lamar: Dre stopped working on my album to work on this. Can’t hate! Dear children, who listen to Nigerian rap albums, don’t be confused. This too is a rap album… it just has story-telling! You know, where people actually say something!

2.     LIFE IS GOOD- Nas: Also known as Resurgence of the year. Nas had the album of the year… then Kendrick showed up!

3.     KANYE WEST PRESENTS G.O.O.D MUSIC CRUEL SUMMER- Kanye West: The half-baked group album better than any group album out this year or the past few years for that matter. I’m looking at you MMG and YMCMB!

4.     A LOOSE QUARTER- Joe Budden: What can you say about a guy whose album sounds like a diary of his life? And you know his life is the shit! Ask twitter!

5.     BLUNDERBUSS- Jack White: Nominated for album of the year for the 2013 Grammys. I still can’t help, but wonder what this album would’ve sounded like if it had been done like it was initially supposed to. White was suppose to record with RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, which would’ve been off the hinges, because White has never recorded digitally (that’s right Children, people still play instruments). Although RZA was supposed to play guitar alongside White, you know they would’ve done something digital, considering RZA is also known as Bobby Digital (little inside joke for Wu heads). Nonetheless Blunderbuss is still a great album, however in my opinion it’s not that great when stacked up to previous White projects, particularly with his O.G band The White Stripes or The Raconteurs, but we’ll settle for this. The Grammy committee has too!

6.     ON THE HOUSE- Slaughterhouse: Not to be confused with the album, Welcome To Our House. On The House was the prelude to the sophomore and Shady debut album of Slaughterhouse. Only problem… it sounded better than the album. This might be because it was recorded after the album and clearly some songs should’ve made the album, but I’m guessing sample clearance became an issue. How else do four album worthy songs end up on a mixtape?!

7.     EMPIRE MATES STATE OF MIND- E.M.E All Stars: This deluxe edition (there was no other edition by the way, who Banky wan do wayo for?) was not bad at all. I just had a problem with the way the singles were promoted, but we’ll get to that. Banky did something smart here, he overstuffed the album (22 songs) so the wack songs and album fillers were buried among the manageable to the great. That’s smart. Now back to the singles. Having listened to the album from track 1 to 245, I can tell you I would’ve promoted the singles in a very different order. They would’ve been in this order: 1. Reppin’ Emeazzyyy. 2. Change. 3. Can’t Stop Us. 4. Get Down Tonight. 5. Baddest Boy. 6. Sun Mo Mi. In this order, we would’ve been introduced to the lesser known members of E.M.E much quicker rather than watching a video where their names were posted with their faces. I’m a bit disappointed Banky didn’t have enough faith in the non-dance tracks to promote them, considering they were very good in my opinion. For a Naija album, I rate this 4/5 (I’m feeling very gracious here, you know me, I’m an everybody-hater). One more thing, Banky finally addresses his big head on Can’t Stop Us (“The head is as big as the one your kele gave me”) So Banky has a spine? Who would’ve thought?! (P.S. Is X.O Senavoe a part of the group and why does he sound the same on every record? I don’t mean his voice, mumu. I mean his rapping sounds the same on just about every track, IMO.)

8.     AWAY AND BEYOND- Tuface Idibia: I suppose this should get a mention being the best contemporary (read: non-dance) album I heard out of Naija.

Notable mention: Scorpio Season- Nelly. Miss the old Nelly? You know the one on the first two or three albums? Well take away a few songs on this mixtape and there he is, like he never left.

Excluded due to its December release:- Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors- Big Boi.

Due to being released in December, I won’t include this album in the chart, but Big Boi’s 2^nd solo album (3^rd, if you include Speakerboxxx is the most experimental album I’ve heard this year and if  I had to put it on the list, I’d put it in third place ahead of  Kanye’s Cruel Summer. It certainly will be album of the year so far as of January 2013, so find a copy and listen. Abdulnasir says so!

More Miscellaneous mentions:

Best New Artist: Burna Boy

Artist Of The Year: King Kendrick Lamar/ a.k.a Benz is to me just a car/ that means your friends have to be up to par/ ‘cause my standards are pampered by threesome tomorrow.

Controversy of the year: This year’s Headies Award.

I think the Headies committee needs to make up their mind on whether the fans should vote or the committee should vote, but splitting the voting between both groups doesn’t make sense (so if I go up against Ice Prince and win the people’s vote, the committee can just come and give it to Ice Prince? I go kill person). Either be like the AMAs and MTV awards and let people choose (with a few awards chosen by the committee like say Video of the Year, since they all look the same now) or be like the Grammys and let a select committee of industry insiders pick the winners and more importantly the nominees, because that was another complain this year. One other thing that irks me about the Headies is they shouldn’t have to ask people to submit their music to be considered for nomination. That’s just crass. It’s the Headies, not an upstart awards. By now they should have a group of music insiders who suggest people to be nominated and considered (not just in Lagos o, we Abuja people count) and not for the artist (or their management) to submit their music “for consideration”. That’s just plain stupid and like I said only upstart awards can get away with that.

This year’s complaints ranged from those who were nominated to those who won. As one person put it, “I didn’t have a problem with the winners. I had a problem with the nominees.” One other person wasn’t so nice, “I feel like they picked their winners; then built the categories and nominees around them.” These are actual quotes, I’m not dramatizing.

As far as the awards themselves are concerned, I don’t have much of a problem with the categories. I do wish however they will introduce a Mixtape of the Year award cause I think Eva would’ve won (based largely on impact) and because I plan to drop mine (fingers crossed) next year and I wouldn’t mind some sort of validation of my skills as I plan to win… unless that short black boy (a.k.a bonehead) M.I decides to drop Illegal Music 3, then the Headies committee is just going to give it to him.

And seriously how did SDC lose Best Rap Album of the year? That’s the one I really didn’t get, everything else I can live with. Although to be fair to the Headies (and those who voted Ice Prince) on this one, SDC had arguably one of the worst promotions for one of the best albums in a while.

I’m also not so sure about TY Mix as producer of the year for the simple fact that Naeto C’s “Ten Over Ten” sounds similar to Chidinma’s “Kedike” (which he both produced) and not in a producer-trademark kind of way. Where’s the range? Also I think Femi Ojetunde got overlooked as far as nominations are concerned, except if Tuface’s album didn’t fall into the specified time period, then I understand. But I also think he might be overlooked next year, because he doesn’t make the typical afro pop music of the day. Just saying.

I was also a bit confused trying to figure out the difference between Next Rated, Rookie of the year and Hip Hop World Revelation, because they kind of sounded like the same award with different names. Next Rated I got to know was for new artist w/out an album (Davido rightfully won in my opinion), while World Revelation is for new artist with an album (Wizkid, who should’ve won Album of the Year rightfully won this one too). And they need to stop calling it Hip Hop World Revelation, ain’t nothing Hip Hop about Wizkid. Since we’ve sorted that little bit out, there’s one more confusing bit: isn’t Next Rated and Rookie the same then? These people are confusing!

Peace, see you next year… or next week, I’ll drop my favourite movies of the year.