Quick Hits, Vol. 93 (A$AP Ferg, Bad Brains, Blink 182, Vince Staples)

This article about Vince Staples is cool.  I appreciate the dude for trying to be thoughtful and appreciate someone else's perspective.  These days, in the era of Trump and hot takes and instapundits and the mess that the internet comments section has created, I am refreshed by someone being appreciating of a differing viewpoint. That being said, "Norf Norf" is a damn jam, son.  That lady needs to respect.  His new album/mix-tape is cool as well (see below). 

And before we get to anything else, my friend Joseph just sent me this video, which is freaking amazing.  Good song too, but having these guys mouth off to each other and then go to town is soooo awesome.

A$AP Ferg - Always Strive And Prosper.  This album is all over the damn place.  His last disc had a damn classic on it with the weird-ass "Shabba," which has allowed me to crow "MASTAH BRUCE!" for several years every time I hear it.  I don't know that anything on here reaches that level of absurd coolness, although some of this is definitely absurd.  He's also got a massive list of guest stars on here, including Future, Missy Elliott, Skrillex, Schoolboy Q, Rick Ross, Big Sean, and many others.  I think the Schoolboy song might be my favorite, "Let it Bang," but the apparent hit is the one with Future called "New Level."

That beat right there was meant to be played before NBA games at maximum volume as the jumbotron shows video of Kahwi Leonard crushing inferior opponents with windmill dunks. I'M ON A NEW LEVEL!  I still find Future's delivery to be dumb sounding and annoying, but you can't deny the toughness of the track.  And then Ferg comes up with "Beautiful People," which is a gentle little Common-esque song that ruins the mood.  "Hungry Ham," the one with Skrillex, is decidedly weird.  And "Let You Go" is another shift into some sort of 90's love rap/ballad thing. I'm also so very tired of the Chris Brown hooks in rap songs.  When A$AP sticks to the banger rap, he sounds good.  I'll probably just save a few tracks from this one into my rap playlist.

Bad Brains - Bad Brains.  I know this is old stuff, but I never really listened to these dudes back in the day when they were making this music.  RS did a recent ranking of all the best punk music of all time, and so I've thrown a couple of those albums into my Q for a listen. This band is/was weird mainly because they tried to mingle hardcore with reggae.  Although, honestly, they rarely actually meld those two sounds, they just toss off a reggae tune in the midst of a bunch of thrashing, raw, punk tracks.  Back in the day, this only came out on tape, and I don't think I ever heard it until now.  I had heard their later album "I Against I" because the Living Colour people mentioned something about it being amazing, so I went and checked it out.  It is much more funky and polished than this older, rawer album.

Holy crap, I just recalled the band 24-7 Spyz.  Do you remember that band?  Likely not.  I have one of their CD's, which I likely either found in the Waterloo used bin or got for free from Dave at the Austin Access tv station when I used to roll over there for free music after midnight on weekends, but it is kind of awesome.  Man, I loved Living Colour back in the day.  I need to do a write-up on my love for Vivid and Time's Up.

Anyway, the most popular track on this album is "Banned in D.C.," which cranks out 2.4 million streams.

As you can hear there, and read from my words above, the word of the day is RAW.  No tinge of reggae in that track, that is just straight-forward pummeling and destruction.  I won't keep this album around, but it was a fun trip.

Blink 182 - California.  Man, I like this album a lot.  Nothing new from the old sound of the band, in fact, any of these songs could have been taken from the sessions for Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and I would not have been surprised.  Strong drumming, tight harmonic singing, quick blast songs, it sounds just like the old Blink.  And they still keep their boyish frat party vibe going, with two super short songs ("Built This Pool" and "Brohemian Rhapsody") that contain a juvenile joke and little else.  If you never did like Blink, then this disc will still be disappointing and boring to you, but as someone who enjoyed TOYPaJ back in the day, this sounds good to me.  The hit off of here so far is "Bored to Death," and I like it even though it has been on constant rotation on the radio.  Such a trademark sound, especially the chorus and the line "Life is to short to last long," sung as a throwaway line after the main portion of the chorus.  I assume you've already heard that song 80 times, so I'll bring you my second favorite track, "San Diego."

That video makes me want to vomit - the movement of the lyrics is unsettling to my eyes. But I dig the tune, and the nostalgic points making about jamming the Cure in the parking lot before a show. "Los Angeles" is also good, as is "California" and "No Future."  Another album that is fun, although you're not going to want to parse the lyrics and make a case for a Pulitzer.  But fun to jam nonetheless.

Vince Staples - Prima Donna.  The EP starts off with a messed up intro of Staples singing "This Little Light of Mine" before a gunshot cuts him off, and then segways straight into the Andre-3000 sampling start of "War Ready," which bangs a pretty tough ass track over a basic click/clack/thump beat.  I can't unpack all of these lyrics, but it sure sounds like this is the future battle anthem of the Black Lives Matter army.

"Heaven, Hell, free or jail, same shit
County jail bus, slave ship, same shit
A wise man once said that a black man better off dead
So I'm, war ready."
The rest of the album doesn't get much lighter, even if the beats do get a little more buoyant and excited.  I especially like the sound on "Prima Donna," which also features A$AP Rocky and this great, bouncing, bass heavy beat.  "Pimp Hand" is also a tight beat.  Speaking of Andre 3000, "Smile" sounds a lot like Andre's rap delivery.  I'm going to keep listening to this disc, I'm interested to keep unpacking what is going on in here.