Quick Hits, Vol. 199 (Bun B, U.S. Girls, Asleep at the Wheel, Above the Law)

Bun B - Return of the Trill.  Half of the classic duo UGK, out of Houston.  With Pimp C now dead, this is all we get, the solo tunes.  I was actually listening to some UGK the other day, and I don't know if its my favorite rap song ever, but "International Players Anthem" is up there.  And "The Corruptor's Execution," very similar to another song I need to review soon, is greatness as well.  Bun's solo stuff uses very similar beats, lots of snare, some bass, a little guitar lick here and there, and his flow is still great.  Instead of leaning on Pimp C in these tunes, he brings in a bunch of good collaborators - Run the Jewels, Big KRIT, Slim Thug, Lil Wayne, Giggs, Yo Gotti, 2 Chainz, TI - even Gary Clark Jr. on two tracks.  In fact, that track, "Blood on the Dash," is a cool one, telling both sides of the story of a guy getting pulled over by a cop, both of them nervous about each other and what is about to happen.  Well done story. The top track (604k streams) is one with Leon Bridges and Gary Clark Jr., a bluesy tribute to Pimp C called "Gone Away."  But I'm going to give you the T.I./Big KRIT collaboration, "Recognize," with 571k streams.

You know, that one is all right.  This album is kind of like that, each song is pretty all right.  None of them are really sticking with me, but I just generally like all of them pretty well.   "Traphandz" and "KnoWhatImSayin" are good ones too.  "Myself," the RTJ song, sounds very much like a RTJ song, with a very RTJ beat and the usual flow from Killer Mike and El P.  Even the kind of out-there reggae-tinged "Rudeboi" with Lil Wayne is pretty cool sounding.  "U A Bitch" has a couple good verses - the one where he goes after big pharma companies is pretty well done.  I'll keep this one.

U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited.  What the hell is this?  My recollection was that Rolling Stone said it was punk or noise rock or something that would be attractive to me.  Instead, this keeps making me think of Lana Del Rey re-making the Grease Soundtrack.  It's poppy (but like weird art pop, dream pop, whatever pop), vaguely rocky, and generally terrible.  Maybe the best tune is the Talking Heads-esque "Time" but even that one isn't great.  her voice is highly annoying to me.  The top streamed tune is "Rosebud" with 1.7 million streams.

Comments are disabled for that video.  I wonder if they just do that for their videos, or if people were merciless about this music?  Rolling Stone loved it, I'm sure Pitchfork said it was the album of the year, but this one is out of my head.

Asleep at the Wheel - New Routes.  The elder statesmen of the Austin City Limits experience, finally releasing new music!  Woohoo!  A handful of covers, and then a bunch of new tunes.  I wanted to hate on them re-making Guy Clark's "Dublin Blues," because that song is a damn masterwork, and on first blush I thought this one wasn't very good, but on repeat listening, I've decided that I will allow it.  They also do a cool tune with the Avett Brothers, paying tribute to Willie's effect on the rest of us all. Good one.  None of the songs from this album crack their top ten most popular - deservedly, most of those popular tunes are from the Bob Wills tribute Still the King (which is great) - and most of these tunes have been streamed like 4k times, so I'll give you the most streamed, the one with the Avetts.  "Willie Got There First," with 54k streams.

I could curl up and sleep in the voices of the Avetts.  Just warm and cool and perfect.  Good tune, acknowledging that he already did everything worth doing in country music.  "I had such a good idea for a song!  But Willie, he got there first."  I'm good letting this album go though.  Nice enough, but nothing too remarkable.

Above the Law - Livin' Like Hustlers.  What in the hell?  How have I missed this album all these years?  Not sure if I've talked about this before, but I recently finished reading a great book that was all about the rise of West Coast rap (Original Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap by Ben Westhoff).  And as part of that discussion, Westhoff brought up this group, saying that they were creating and crafting the G Funk sound right at the same time as Dr. Dre, but Dre's version of it took off before their version could.  What is up with that?  This album is a damn jam!  How did the world just ignore it at the time?  Maybe it was more popular than I know, but I certainly never heard any of this before now.  It samples N.W.A., these guys were signed to Eazy's label, and Dre was involved in production of the album.  So weird that it never blew up at the time though...

Well, that might not be entirely true.  One of these tracks - "Another Execution" - sounded super familiar, and my brain finally put the pieces together to lead me back to UGK's "The Corrupter's Execution" (discussed above in the Bun B piece).  What is up with both of those songs being out there?  This album came out in 1990.  The UGK song was released in 1999 as part of a soundtrack to a movie called The Corrupter.  The samples are the same, and UGK steals some of the same bits (like the "why why why?" and the sound of the chorus.  And while UGK is obviously paying homage to the original of the song, I gotta say the UGK flow kicks way harder.  Great beat though.

One other random observation before I get to the actual music - the names these guys chose for the nom du rap?  Freaking horrible:  Cold 187um, KMG the Illustrator, and DJ Total K-Oss.  WTF, man.  No wonder you couldn't compete with Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy E.  Cold 187um?  Seriously.

Their top songs on Spotify are from a later album (that is not very good) like the generic West Coast-East Coast let's-all-get-along anthem "We're All in the Same Gang."  The top track from this album is "Murder Rap," with 787k streams.  Weird to me that "Another Execution" has so few streams.

That high pitched sound, which makes me think of Kill Bill (or one of those old school kung fu-based movies) when someone starts to kick ass, is kind of annoying.  But overall the track is solid - sampling Public Enemy and doing some good scratching.  I also LOVE IT when one of them uses the word "nerd" in his rap.  Makes me laugh every time.  "NERD!"