Media Jag Mo!

Today I discovered a mainstream Hip-Hop artist who is from Chicago, but I have been totally unaware of, named Lupe Fiasco. The way that I stumbled onto this artists is rather unusual: I was reading the Joey Comeau the write of the very funny web comic A Softer World and me mentioned that a new album by The Roots was going to “replace the Lupe Fiasco that I’ve (Joey Comeau) been playing over and over.”

Let me tell you a few things about Joey to put this into a bit of perspective-
1. Joey is a white Canadian writer. (If you want to read some of of the things that he has written besides ASW you can do so by (and you SHOULD do so) by clicking here or here.
2. Joey is a chess player.
3. Joey is a huge nerd. (I don’t think that Joey would mind being called that… but just in case by some chance he (a) reads this, and (b) does not like being called a nerd by some blogger who he does not know… I want to say that I mean “nerd” in a good way!)

The fact that this the kind of guy who is talking about a Hip-Hop artist made me very interested so I got one of Lupe’s albums (The Cool) and I’ve got to say that I’m really impressed.

Unlike most popular mainstream Hip-Hop which is horrid expression of entitlement, and other poisonous ideas (fuck TI), Lupe is the type of Hip-Hop that is filled with ideas about how the thug lifestyle does not lead to any place worth going.

“The Cool” is described as a concept album.

Fiasco has returned with his second offering, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool. A largely conceptual tour-de-force, the album’s title is inspired by a standout track from Fiasco’s debut, a hustler-turned-zombie epic also called “The Cool.” This time around, Fiasco introduces three new characters - Michael Young History (The Cool before his death), The Game (a male personification of a hustler’s damaging influences), and The Streets (a female embodiment of an urban area’s corrupt allure).

Even though “The Cool” is filled with thought inspiring lyrics, something that I expect from indie rap , it is very unlike indie Hip-Hop which often lacks the degree of catchiness, and powerful danceable beats.

Lupe has managed to make fusion Indie / Mainstream powerhouse and turn it into commercial success with out falling pray to the traps of a overly “traditional” thugish image of the mainstream, or the inaccessibleness of the indie that has lead many others to success in both those respective sections of the Hip-Hop universe.

Hip-hop music, once a platform for creative expression and friendly competition, has, sadly, become a popularity contest. With record sales down and ringtone dollars up, rookies searching for that “one big hit” seem solely concerned with being deemed “cool.” Lyrics have side-stepped, giving way to dance-instructing “rappers” more concerned with sparking the new “Macarena” than being hailed as an MC.

On the outside looking in at such followers is Lupe Fiasco. Rather than conform to music industry standards, Fiasco (born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) has trail-blazed his own path to critical acclaim. Possessing head-spinning wordplay and a topical range more akin to the underground than the mainstream, the 25-year-old lyricist has proven that talent can still make waves in the rap game.

Born and raised in the seedy, confrontational West side of Chicago, Illinois, Fiasco grew up like the regular urban survivor. What wasn’t common, however, was the means by which he carried himself. Comic books and literature of all genres cluttered his bedroom floor, and a skateboard replaced your typical drop-top Cadillac. Influenced by the Californian gangsta rap of artists such as Spice 1 and Ice Cube, Fiasco gradually grew leery of such negative messages, gravitating toward the dazzling lyricism of the likes of Nas and Jay-Z.

I would add that by including references to comic books, and zombie movies Lupe has also managed to tap into lots of the same things that the DJ Z-Trip has done to reach a very particular type of consumer (in addition to the type who would normally buy a popular Hip-Hop album) that I call a Type A consumer. What are Type-A consumers? They are geeks who have a large disposable income and blow it on things toys like TiVo’s and media that they find interesting… like comic books and zombie movies. Appealing to this demographic is something that is a damn good idea because they have money, and thus will buy T-Shirts, and other related merchandise.

The fact that Lupe has created this strange mix of Will.i.am’s sound, meets Rob Zombie’s influences, meets freezepop’s hipster geek techish references, AND not alienated the main Hip-Hop demographic is something that people who run record companies should take a good look at, and learn from, if they want to survive.

Another example example of the sorts of subculture bridges that Lupe has been able to build can be seen / heard in his song Kick Push, which is about a (black) kid growing up in a rough neighborhood in Chicago who gets his hands on a skateboard. Anyone who watches things like the X-Games, or spends some time getting to know people on Chicago’s west side, can see that this is not a common sort of story for the black youth there. However, Lupe has created a compelling story about a way that a kid was able to find an identity in something athletic, yet not mainstream.

In addition to this Lupe is a fucking smart guy, who knows how to tap into powerful bits of pop culture from the past like the Miles Davis album “The Cool”. Lupe’s intelligence is very evident in this interview (the clip is part one of a two part view. If you want to see th rest… I’m sure you know how to use YouTube.)

The same razor sharp intelligence can be seen on this inter view with Tavis Smiley

The point I’m attempting to make here is that even if Hip-Hop is “not your thing”, or if it is your thing you need to take a few moments and check out Lupe Fiasco, because you will not be disappointed.

-MJM

Today is a totally beautiful day in the Chicago-land area of Illinois, which is rare, as in I think we have like perhaps a dozen days like this in a year. (The rest of the year is either brutal heat that makes the inhabitants believe they are two kilometers from the sun, or so damn cold that the even the Vikings wold have said “Fuck that place yo.” And what am I doing on this day? I’m sitting inside a coffee house that give me free internet access so that I can pretend to be a cultural critic who has something of significance to add to the collective knowledge base of the entire human spices, (AKA the internet).

And why pray tell is the Media Jag Mo doing this? Because I started this day out by reading some Chuck Klosterman’s book IV. Thats why!

I don’t know why CK has this affect (effect?) on me but he does. I read his work and I think to my self “Damn it Media Jag Mo, you need to break into this guys house, and make him eat food that he hates until he reveals just how it is that he does this AMAZING, riveting, curious, interesting criticism that he does.”

But I don’t know where he lives. (Which is for the best.)

In truth I would much rather just hang out with CK for a few months and watch his “process” and somehow grok how he does it.

(side note: A very attractive woman just walked in and I had been looking at her for a few moments, hoping that she would look my way, because if she did I would NOT look away, because I have heard that not looking away when attractive women catch you looking at them makes you sexy… The reason I’m telling you this is because I have not totally lost my train of thought so this bit of writing might end up taking on a very different tone than is in the words above this side note. Now you know.)

I want to know this stuff, because in this day and age everyone is a critic, but almost no one is a very good critic. Good critics have the ability to make people look at the this ridiculous celebrity obsessed culture that has been created, and make people say things like “I should care more about brilliant writers like Helen DeWitt, and interesting scientists like David Deutsch than I do about sports stars like Alex Rodriquez, or entertainers like Madonna.

(Side note 2: Madonna is a very interesting person, who has managed to do some amazing things, such as be a larger than life pop star past the age of 30. For real, that is a bit more than kind of cool. However, I think that things that doctors do are even more cool. But what the hell do I know. Right?)

Anyway. The point is: I blame CK for me wasting my day, by making me want to become a powerful critic of pop culture, which lets face it, is the only culture that I have to be critical of.

(Side note 3: Take that personal responsibility!)

i.e. I’m a big CK fan and felt like geeking out about it, and using it a a vehicle to talk about the relevance of pop culture criticism.

Peace.

-MJM

This video was something I found when about the same time I was looking at all the cool Justice videos on YouTube. Justice had performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and after they were done Kimmel thanked them and his other guests and said that the next show’s musical guest would be a band called Datarock.

I thought that was a cool name and did a YouTube search for them, and found this…

I’m a fan of dance music, and of geek rock, so I love it when the two get combined to create something like this. In addition to that the huge amount of pop culture / technology references in the video were really cool IMHO.

I looked for some more info on them and found this image…

…Which made me think of the White Stripes. I think that if this band would listen to me (which I’m sure will not ever happen) I’d tell them to get a new look that will not put make them appear as though they are a copy cat sort of band.

Which is not to say that I think their look is bad, just that another band that became very well known beat them to that look. Know what I’m saying?

But back to the music.

If you liked the song in this video I’m willing to bet that you would like the rest of the songs on their album.

-MJM

So today I woke up and started to listen to the album Cross by Justice, because I needed something to get me going.

I love this album, it is one of the best examples of French Dance-House music that exists in this world. For real! This is one of those albums that makes people who don’t dane (I’m one of those people) dance, it is an album puts beats inside your skull, and for the rest of the day you find your self drumming them on your desk at work, or the dinner table. Hell, I’d even go so far as to say that it is up with with Daft Punk, and that is saying something.

As I went through my day I kept listening to Cross on my iPod, and at some point figured that it would be fun to search YouTube for some of Justice’s videos.

The first video that I watched was for the song D.A.N.C.E. and it was a really simple, but very cool video that involved people walking around in shirts that had all sorts of cool moving images and text on them. Not the best video ever made or anything, but a fun one to watch. The next video I watched was called JUSTICE V.S. SIMAIN–We Are Your Friends. I clicked on it and got to see this…

The two parts that really got me laughing were the people putting empty bottles around the one sleeping dude, and the cat flying through the air and hitting the chest of the guy who’s arms are taped to drapes. Made me remember my youth, when I could do things like that (and when people did shit like that to me). Funny stuff…. in retrospect… and when it happens to people on YouTube videos.

For real though, this video was really cool because it made me remember good times with friends. As a result of watching it I remembered a few random things that I might only remember a few more times in my life. Good stuff.

Also, reminded me of the four funniest words in the English language.
“Get it off me!”
I promise that if someone is saying that (and they mean it) that people are laughing.

Hmm…

Also, reminded me of the three funniest words in the English language.
“I’m on fire!”
Again, if someone says ‘em and they mean it… as in they really are on fire… and they don’t want to be… people are going to laugh like crazy.

-MJM