Oh. My. God.
The US Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
63 years later, four men on hands and knees push hurried breath into the rotting corpse that is hip-hop. Taking turns, each turns the pale, blue body to a healthy hue. Lately, there have been few hip-hop albums that generate excitement and been met with critical approval. The last four, arguably:
Tha Carter III, Graduation, American Gangster, TI vs. TIP
And as I woke up this morning, the four titans of wordplay, the four princes of double-endentres, the four kings of rap, the four horseman that can alone save hip-hop marked their beginning.
One song. One verse apiece. Devastating on their own accords.
Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and T.I. teamed up to make one of the most unique, infectious hip-hop tunes of the year, "Swagga Like Us." For those that scream out debates over which rapper destroyed the track best is forgetting the point. These are the highest selling foursome in the last year teaming up to tackle the raging apathy that has struck the music populace.
The debate is pure fuel to what they are trying to do, infect the scene with fire. It, sadly, is up to cheap ploys like this to get people's attention. But I suppose if you want to get some attention, this isn't a bad way to do it.
"No one on the corner has swagga like us," serates through the track over and over again. The sample of MIA from "Paper Planes" sounds fresh, but the synths weight the track down so the subtle nuances are near non-existent to void. I could do without the rockets taking off after every verse. I wish it would have had a grittier feel instead of the polished gleam that oozes from the production, but that perhaps is more telling than the lyrics.
These men are at the top of the game. There is no hustle. There is no hunger. You can feel their bloated bellies sucking all the wind out of the quips. That being said, it is Jay, Kanyeeze, The self-proclaimed best rapper in the world, and Mr. TIP.
After the disappointing offerings from The Game and Young Jeezy, Paper Trail and Blueprint 3 might be the most important albums of each of their careers. Graduation set Kanye's legend. Jay has been on the downward spiral - who would've thought one of the best of all time would need a solid album to cement his purpose in the music scene? And T.I. could come through as the hip-hop hero uniting fan boys and critics like no one else can.
This song will no doubt be chopped and screwed to several verses that will ultimately be better, but there is no bigger draw than these four names at the moment. Cop and it and bounce to it a couple of times.
Check out Paper Planes Remix: Bun B and Rich Boy as well.
For the record: T.I. murders everyone on this track.
Best line - "How it feel to wake up and be the shit and the urine/Tryin to get that Kobe number, one over Jordan." - Mr. West
Honorable mention goes to Weezy for "I require what I desire I got stripes/A-did-as/Mami scream papi no mas/Run up in your shit just me no moss/Running this shit like I got four thighs."
This. Is. Truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment