What A Wookiee!

I realize that this may be old news for some people, but it is new to me – Chewbacca will be in the next Star Wars movie. That’s pretty cool, even though I’ve pretty much resigned myself to the conclusion that there’s almost no way the next one could possibly be very good after having seen the last two. And that’s kinda sad – when I was a kid, I used to always think about how they would eventually film the scene in which Anakin becomes Darth Vader, and I had always imagined something very sad and powerful, but I can’t imagine that actually happening now. I guess this whole terrible prequel trilogy thing is as much a case of George Lucas going mad as it is about how some things are best left to the imaginations of children.

What’s My Excuse? Cartoons Were The Root!

If you’ve been reading this blog with any frequency lately, you have probably noticed that I haven’t been listening to very much hip hop lately. Well, I have, but none of it has been new. I went through some brief Wu and Outkast listening sprees in the past month, which was mostly just like revisiting old pals, not exactly the deepest listening experience. In a way, I guess I was just checking up on them – “Yep, they’re still fantastic.”

But let’s face it, Outkast and the Wu-Tang Clan are rarities in hip hop, keeping up quality with quantity over an extended period of time. Anyone who ever wonders why those two groups have so much credibility with white indie/rock leaning fans need not waste their time with half-baked ILM-ish cultural theories about why that is, it’s basically as simple as this: People like albums that they don’t have to do too much skipping around with, especially when they cost $18 at the mall.

For most artists in the genre, it’s all about singles, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Well, except for when labels seem to refuse to release the best songs as singles, of course. And this happens all of the fucking time – the most egregious recent example would be “Young Boy” by the Clipse, which is hands down one of the best songs that I heard last year in any genre. However, it’s been, what, four singles off of Lord Willin’ by now? For fuck’s sake, what is WRONG with their label? All of the singles that have been released off of the record have been decent, but they just aren’t nearly as poptastic and perfect, they don’t have the swagger and the hooks and the wit of “Young Boy,” and neither does any other mainstream hip hop that I’ve heard since January.

It is things like this which make me feel so utterly alienated from mainstream pop – I enjoy a lot of the music, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not experiencing things in the way that most people are. It seems to me that people are picking the wrong single all of the time – am I so out of touch with what contemporary American audiences want? I always thought it was about hooks, about catchiness. I want pop, really, I do. I love pop so dearly. I really love hip hop. Is it so much to ask for it to be, y’know, good? I understand where the conservatism of the rock audience and rock radio comes from, but I think I expect more from hip hop audiences than to just nod along and say “yeah, 50 Cent is pretty good, I guess…”

I’ve been keeping my ears open and ready for new hip hop singles, but I just haven’t heard anything too special. There hasn’t been much that I’ve heard that I’ve thought to be actively awful (though I’m definitely not crazy about 50 Cent), but it would be nice to tune in to Hot 97, BET, or MTV without feeling indifference or ennui. I admit that I haven’t been working too hard to find hip hop lately – my interests have been elsewhere, but I do miss it. I want some fresh new hip hop singles in my personal listening rotation, and I want your help.

Have you heard anything particularly good lately? Is there something I’m missing, and is it preferably not beardy backpacker stuff? I’ll take a pass on the Majesticons album, thank you. And let’s keep this limited to 2003, alright? I don’t need anyone recommending The Low End Theory to me, or going off on any “the only good hip hop is old school” bullshit rants, okay?

Anyway, let me know. I’m going to download the eight or nine songs that I’m not familiar with from OHHLA’s current Top 30 songs, but I’m not expecting too much. It’s a start, though.