Quick Hits, Vol. 187 (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Smokepurpp, Dr. Octagon, J. Cole)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Sex & Food.  Super tasty psych rock.  I liked their last album (2015's Multi-Love) quite a bit when I listened to it prior to 2015's ACL, but I think I like this one even more.  It jumps between a chilled, blissed-out sound, to real deal rock and roll, to fuzzy, funky stuff, sometimes all in the same song.  I've been going back to it for days - I don't want to stop playing the album.  The best tunes are "American Guilt," "Everyone Acts Crazy Nowadays," "Major League Chemicals," and the funky track currently at the top of their streaming list, "Hunnybee."  But as a rock and roll-first kind of guy, I'm giving you the rawk.  This is "American Guilt."

So much fuzzy, ominous swagger.  Gimme that all day.  Although that video creeped me out.  Screw you, flies.  Very good album, might be up there for my favorite thing of the year.

Smokepurpp - Bless Yo Trap.  I mean, I know, man.  You're sitting there judging me, wondering where the hell I dug up this guy or why I even tried out this album in the first place.  Well, it's because I have no clue what I'm doing.  Your instinct is correct.  But, in my defense, I thought I knew what I was doing.  SpaceGhostPurpp was featured on one of the good old A$AP Rocky mixtapes, and when I saw this guy's name, I was like "oh, cool, he made a whole album, I'll check it out."  This is how I ended up listening to this terrible album a handful of times.  Because I'm not intelligent enough to recall the difference between the different rappers who use purpp as part of their name.  Shockingly, one of the songs on this thing is a legit hit with 17.8 million streams.  I'll never understand the world we live in...  Here is "123."

As with the rest of this album, the beat is pretty good, even if it sounds like a lot of other current beats.  But the lyrics are bad.  Just bad.

Dr. Octagon - Moosebumps: an exploration into modern day horripilation.  I'd like to formally offer an apology to Rainbow Kitten Surprise for saying that they were the worst album namer.  What the holy hell is this about?  I couldn't find out the story in an eight second internet search, so we'll just assume that the person naming the album is actually an AI program tasked with killing us all.  This group is Dan the Automator and Kool Keith, and I remember a fraternity brother crate digging for used CDs at Hastings in college and being crazy pumped when he found a Dr. Octagon disc in like 1996 or something, but at the time I had no clue what he was talking about.  I was probably proudly clutching a Toad the Wet Sprocket disc at the time.  Anyhoo, this is a new disc from these dudes, and its not my bag.  The top song is the first one on the album ("Octagon Octagon), and being that it is weak, I suspect that people are coming to try the album out and can't even make it out of the opener...  So I'll give you the second most listened to track, the boom bap classic sound of "Area 54."

54k streams.  So not exactly unheard of, but also pretty low for any current rap track.  Like the fact that the garbage Smokepurpp some has more like 34x more streams - this song isn't great or anything, but its probably better.  Right?  This album isn't terrible, but I've been reluctant to write about it because I just don't want to hear it anymore.  Not a good sign.

J. Cole - KOD.  J. Cole is an interesting phenomenon.  On the one hand, I generally like my rappers to use a little intelligence and say something in their raps.  And Cole does that much of the time.  On the other hand, Shea Serrano hates his guts (yes, that is three separate links, and there are maaaaany more where those came from) and if you read his critiques on the lyrics (corny, basic, boring) I can buy into many of them.  Quick aside, in case you don't want to go read those links (which are, to be fair, somewhat long), this line from Serrano, which hits it right on the head:

If J. Cole wants to make a song about, say, riding a bicycle, he will call it "Bicyclez" and there will be lines in it like, "I always wanted a bike when I was a kid / Never got one / I got one now / Just rode 5 miles on it / Cole!" If J. Cole wants to make a song about the hardships of growing up in the underclass, he will call it "Hardship" and there will be lines in it like, "When you don’t have money / Life is hard / I have money now / Still can’t cover up the scars." That’s what he does. And it’s not good. 

He apparently makes his own beats, which is interesting, and he also stays away from collaborations (no shitty Chris Brown hook on here, or guest verse from Cardi B or Drake).  This one isn't the top song, but it is the one with a real video, so you get "ATM," with 18.2 million streams.

Pretty good - although the chorus shoutout is just basic.

But despite my general agreement with Serrano, I have to say that some of the lines on this album, some of the stories, are freaking good.  There isn't a real theme, more like a list of all the bad things in the modern world and noting how bad they are - money, Internet, drugs, alcohol, etc.  Brutal at times, such as the lines in "Once an Addict" where he is rapping about his mom's addictions (avoiding going home early because she'd be jacked up), or Internet addictions ("Photograph").  The bit in "Brackets" about where his tax dollars go is also interesting: 

Yeah, I pay taxes, so much taxes, shit don't make sense
Where do my dollars go? You see lately, I ain't been convinced
I guess they say my dollars supposed to build roads and schools
But my niggas barely graduate, they ain't got the tools
Maybe 'cause the tax dollars that I make sure I send
Get spent hirin' some teachers that don't look like them
And the curriculum be tricking them, them dollars I spend
Got us learning about the heroes with the whitest of skin

You know, the guy spent the time to come up with rhymes and lyrics that actually mean something.  I appreciate that.  But my biggest beef with the album is with the beats.  Almost all of them are sparse and weak - great that he makes his own, but is it a felony to make some that actually bang?  This is like my critique of Common the other day.  Why can't conscious rappers do their smart lyrics over fun beats?

This post is turning into an essay.  The top song is the title track, but the best song, by a million miles, is the last song on the album - "1985," which uses a tight Tribe Called Quest-style basic old school beat and lets Cole go off on the young garbage rappers of the day to tell them to get their shit together.  I can't find a YouTube video of the song, so you've got to just go find it on Spotify and listen.  And also read the lyrics. 

You coulda bought a crib with all that bread that you done blew
I know you think this type of revenue is never endin'
But I wanna take a minute just to tell you that ain't true
One day, them kids that's listening gon' grow up
And get too old for that shit that made you blow up
Now your show's lookin' light cause they don't show up
Which unfortunately means the money slow up

...

Just remember what I told you when your shit flop

In five years you gon' be on Love & Hip-Hop,

Apparently a guy named Lil Pump reacted to this track by clowning Cole for dissing a 17 year old.  I'm so confused by what is going on and refuse to go down that rabbit hole.  I know it makes me a crotchety old man to enjoy an older rapper (although Cole is probably like 30) telling the younger generation how to act, but I do like it.  But this doesn't even feel like a diss, feels more like a guy who is honestly trying to help reset their priorities.   AND this is a truly good track.  The beat is tight, the lyrics are good, everything is right...  I won't save the whole album, but that one track is good stuff.