Album review: Slug & Murs – Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez

As part of my music/content aggregation, I’ll start giving you a heads up when I write elsewhere and it’s somewhat noteworthy. I don’t think I’ve announced on HaterPlayer before but I started writing a bi-weekly hip-hop column for indie rock blog, Jezebel Music. A friend from school became editor of the blog and asked me to contribute. It’s been interesting in a few different ways like for one, sorta having a deadline. But mostly, it just gives me license to regurgitate ideas that I hear from smarter hip-hop bloggers/writers. Have a gander, leave a comment (which I guess is like a rarity outside of my preferred blog circles):

Wow, so I guess I missed the part where writers, critics, hipsters, and hip-hop heads stopped giving a shit about either Atmosphere, Murs, or Aesop Rock. I found this out as I was in the process of reviewing Felt 3: A Tribute to Rosie Perez. The album is the latest in a series of collaborations between Slug of Atmosphere and Murs in which they choose one producer for the whole album (this time around, it’s Aesop Rock) and loosely dedicate it to a bodacious cult favorite celebrity woman (the first two were tributes to Christina Ricci and Lisa Bonet). It really screams “Gimmick!” But you’d think with all this gimmickry on its side, the project would make some blip on the critical and collective radar and I’d be able to steal ideas from a bunch of other reviews of the project to write my own review, like I usually do. But no, all these critics and writers had to be selfish and leave me to form an original opinion. Those bastards!

All three artists must be painfully aware of these shifting attitudes towards their music. But as it turns out, Felt 3 isn’t a last-ditch attempt by these three former critical darlings to regain the love and adoration that is now gone. Instead, the album is a series of “Fuck You’s” to haters of all varieties.

Murs Watches Ugly Betty

Murs discusses the Asian fashion takeover (I see you, all you Air Forced out Filipinos!) and advises the youth to watch Ugly Betty to stay off the streets. Stuff like this makes me really, really wish that Murs For President turned out good.

One part of a series at White Men Can Blog (who inexplicably have a show on Power 106). Via Straight Bangin’.

2008 In Review: Old Music I Heard

List season continues, for better or for worse (no Pharcyde).

One of the better things that blogging has done for me is that it’s motivated me to go school myself on older music. I got into hip-hop, like REALLY into hip-hop, not a hell of a long time ago (shouts to my sister’s boyfriend, who used to slang bootleg rap CDs on the side and remains freestyle champion of Woodcrest Clairemont) and ever since, I’ve been playing catch up so I could stop fronting like I know everything and well, actually know everything. It’s an arduous journey, wrought with furious Megaupload waiting, intense message board skimming, gut-wrenching removal notices, and long hours in the blistering lukewarm of my bedroom. But what can I say? I’m a soldier.

Here’s some great, older-than-’08 hip-hop that I discovered for the first time this year that I think I’ll carry with me in 2009. It’s very South- and Bay-centric, which is a testament to how vibrant those regions are musically but is also an indication of unhealthy levels of CBrap worship. My apologies for flooding your playlist even more than it probably already is around this season, if you frequent any of the other umpteen blogs that are putting together year-end lists. Again, in no particular order, except by memory. Because trying to impose order on life is meaningless I’m lazy. Kris Kross’ll make you ……

Bonetism > Baduizm

I stayed home on Friday night and watched TV. This makes it sooooooo worth it. I’m glad to know Chris Rock was sprung off Denise Huxtable/Lisa Bonet too. I wonder what would’ve happened if she had had a fetish for rappers like Erykah does. Would we have had more Electric Circuses and Love Belows or more Felts? Oh, we can only dream …

DOWNLOAD: Lisa (Never Easty On My Nextel) | Bonet (Cement Angels) | Dirty Girl

Murs For Vice President

Did you really want this to be the face of your new president?

Sorry Murs, but I just can’t see myself voting for you. Murs’ latest effort definitely invokes Barack Obama’s current presidential campaign pretty much because they’re both black. But the album falters because, while it means also to evoke the same feelings of hope and change as Obama, Murs simply isn’t Obama. Obama is a great preacher because he’s extremely intelligent and his speeches are very precisely nuanced and he deals with issues in very complex ways. These are just not Murs’ strengths.

Haiku De Rap, vol. 1

As we move into the fourth quarter, there are gonna be some weeks where too many high-profile albums drop. This past week was the first taste of it with releases from T.I., Murs, Madlib, Termanology, and Heltah Skeltah clogging the line-up. Obviously, I’ll never have enough time every single week to draft a complete breakdown of every single record that comes out. So I’ma get all Reggie Miller for the last quarter and shoot the lights out … 17 syllables at a time. Here are five records summed up in haikus:

Bars wait after bars
Showers with big naked men
I’m innocent dawg!

Vote Or Die

The second black president. After Eric B. of course.

Murs is making an in-store appearance at backpack heaven/hole-in-the-wall (I know, bonus points, right?) Access Hip-Hop in PB next Saturday, October 4 @ 3PM. What’s crazy is that he’s not just doing an in-store because he happens to be in town doing a show. There’s no show at all. He’s here solely for the in-store, solely to promote his new album, solely to meet you face-to-face and exchange numbers with you and become your best friend and shit.

Murs For President comes out on Tuesday. Get a real copy so you can meet Murs without fear of getting smacked by him.

The spot:
Access Hip-Hop
1537 Garnet Ave.
San Diego, CA 92109