{Originally published in Man of the Hour Magazine on December 5th, 2014}
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, ‘cause we here at Headphones are about to give you some more to be thankful for. We take a look at the most intense (and possibly best) album to drop this year, a new single from the new crowned prince of R&B, plus music videos of, well, varying degrees of quality. But let’s focus on the good here, fire up the iTunes and get ready to get your hands on the newest Headphones.
Album: Run The Jewels 2 by Run The Jewels
Routine readers of Man of the Hour may remember our coverage of New York Comic Con earlier this year, when Adult Swim invited our reporter onto a cruise which features entertainment from rap duo Run The Jewels, comprised of New York rapper El-P and Atlanta fishing expert and all around life guru Killer Mike. Recently, the team dropped their newest album, Run The Jewels 2, and didn’t charge fans to download this pack of killer tracks, before embarking on a tour to promote the record. Of course, a lot of attention was drawn to the team when Killer Mike gave an impassioned, off the cuff and fierce but measured response to the grand jury verdict in Ferguson, which hopefully more people might turn on to the best rap album since Kendrick finished up good kid in a M.A.A.D. city. Kicking off with a viciously spit intro by Killer Mike, the album launches into “Jeopardy”, an insanely, darkly intense opener where El-P’s angry white-boy bitterness truly shines. “Oh My Darling Don’t Cry”, a track we embedded from the Adult Swim cruise into our NYCC article (and whose stellar video we highlight below) whose crazy, hallucinogenic energy can’t be captured fully on record, no matter how hard they try, and the track benefits from a live performance (where El-P lets loose with full ferocity). “Blockbuster Night Part 1” charges in with a driving, angry beat that the countless garage-dwelling suburban “rappers” with ICP posters and lamentations of their middle class miseries wish they could handle, and El and Mike lyrically dances across it with grace.
“Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck)” heralds the return of the ever-intense political rap icon Zack De La Rocha, whose been sorely missed since Rage Against the Machine went MIA, and its good to see the man can still spit fire with the same fury as he did on “Killing In The Name” (now get back on the road with Morello, damn it, at least so he’ll quit making his own terrible protest songs). “All My Life” has some of the most interesting production on the record, and truly showcases Killer Mike’s brilliant flow. “Early” tells the harrowing story of Killer Mike’s arrest in front of his wife and kids, told from a first person view both defiant and repentant, and lead into “All Due Respect”, which sees Mike spitting even more fire on a fairly stripped down track compared to the rest of the album’s colossal beats. “Love Again”’s leisurely, funk-tinged beat create such a chill atmosphere you almost don’t notice you’re mellowing out to a song with a chorus of “dick in the mouth all day”, and special guest Gangsta Boo manages to balance out the fellatio-centric narrative. “Crown” functions as sort of a companion piece to “Early”s regretful reminiscence, packed with even more confessional, spiritual apology as Mike recounts in an Augustinian honesty his regret for the damage his drug dealing had done in a beautiful, near poetic lyrical flow. Then the album recharges with a new burst of furious energy and bitter angst in its closer, “Angel Duster”. Admittedly, the one weak track on the album is “Lie, Cheat, Steal” whose production is the only one that sounds close enough to what others have done to be reminiscent of those post-retirement Jay-Z albums we all bought but never really listen to. Even so, that doesn’t render the track insufferable but rather unmemorable, which is fine when sandwiched in between ten of the most exciting and inventive hip-hop tracks of the year. Run The Jewels 2 is hands down the best straightforward rap album of the year (at least if we count Broke With Expensive Taste as R&B, otherwise there’s some competition) and easily vies for the top spot overall.
Single: “Memrise- Frank Ocean
Ever since Channel Orange exploded onto the scene with its early-Stevie-esque tones and brutally honest confessional lyrics (and was robbed of a Grammy by some English folk fellows), everyone waited eagerly for the next track from the outlying Odd Future member and new king of R&B. Turns out it was well worth the wait, as “Memrise” showcases Frank’s smooth vocals twanged with a new influence, sounding less likeSongs in the Key of Life and more Sign ‘O’ The Times, which is alright by us. It’s a brief track, but a brilliant taste of what’s to come. We eagerly anticipate the rest.
Music Video:
Electronic: “Love Again ft. Ali Tamposi”- Cedric Gervais
Routine readers now this writer loves him some black and white, and this video’s brilliant utilization of the contrasting tones makes it the most fun monochrome music video to view in quite some time.
Hip-Hop: “Oh My Darling (Don’t Cry)”- Run The Jewels
It seems a sin to use the cliche of calling a video “triply”, but that seems the only adequate adjective to describe this enthralling clip that plays like a James Bond credits sequence filtered through the lens of Spring Breakers.
Pop: “You Suck”- Abigail Breslin
Frequent Redditors will note that child actress and Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) recently took to an AMA seemingly spontaneously, but allusions were made to an album she was working on. Of course, the music “careers” of young Jamie Lynn-Sigler and Alyssa Milano jumped to mind, and we braced ourselves for the worst (the latter of whom, of course, went “Straight To The Top”. Well, we got it. Admittedly, we feel slightly guilty making our pick of the week such god awful pop dreck, but we’ve spent so much time singing the praises of Taylor Swift, we felt we needed to showcase why. Teen girl pop music so frequently falls into the category of whiny and cloying, made manifest in this one attempt at singing stardom, that for it to be done right, to be conveyed in such an infectiously catchy and emotionally honest fashion is all the more impressive. This is not to suggest actors shouldn’t try their hand at music. After all, Who can forget “Reach”, the music video starring Katherine Bigelow and directed by James Cameron for Bill Paxton’s band Martini Ranch, or…you know, about halfway through that sentence, we changed our minds.
R&B: “Chasing Time”- Azealia Banks
Our last column had nothing but good things to say about Azealia’s debut album, and witnessing her video which pays tribute to so many before her, some with a glorious tongue pressed firmly in cheek, we’re settled now on the fact that Azealia Banks is just perfect.
Rock: “When Are We Waking Up?”- Mallory Knox
Even though this writer personally has a love-hate relationship with the band Mallory Knox (on the one hand, their music is bland, on the other hand they took their name from Natural Born Killers which deserves all the credit in the world), it can’t be denied the post-apocalyptic landscape, its rich visuals and stellar cinematography are a joy to watch.
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