It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

though I bet we'd shred apart some noble-hearted scrubs "chuck d was a prophet" piece too

also look i've not heard my fair share of classic albums (rap albums even! check my involvement in the 1994 albums poll) BUT i feel extremely comfortable saying that one of the world's most read music outlets shouldn't be out here propping up rap criticism by someone who by his own admission only first loved a rap song two years ago. even an intern! there are plenty of interns NPR could hire that could've done this piece in a way that wasn't like the thoughts of a puppy examining a new chew toy.

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, July 18, 2012 4:37 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

no lie what the tone of the NPR piece reminded me of more than anything was
http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/ithacan/articles/0308/28/accent/2back_beat.htm

will admit i was thinking of the purpology people when i made my dipset comment

dude should have worked harder at it. there are all kinds of interesting things you could say about now -vs- then. i don't care if he's 19.

don't mock them. just call them cultured. (xpost)

does NPR have any interns that aren't bored and alienated by any music that doesn't precisely resemble the music they already listen to?

nope!

if they have any smart interns they're figuring out ways to work on pieces that don't have the word "intern" in the byline

in today's "ask an intern" piece, a 19 year old thoughtfully considers what joni mitchell means to their parents, and how it compares to the fanship of fiona apple.

yeah no this isn't a school recital, gimme TROLL

and i liked lex's thing. i'm all for killing any and all idols. for all the anarchy of the internet its funny how the moldy oldie canon stuff just gets reinforced over and over again. everything is being reappraised and reappreciated over and over. EVERYTHING ever made is underrated. apparently.

dude should have worked harder at it. there are all kinds of interesting things you could say about now -vs- then. i don't care if he's 19.

to be fair to him a majority of professional critics are guilty of saying uninteresting things and parroting lazy thinking most of the time too, and they have less excuse

haha okay now that I've read that piece I understand exactly why the Internet hates that dude, it's because he's a hateable fuck

being on some "rap must be smooth in order to be good" bullshit basically earns nothing but scorn and derision for me and it makes complete and total sense that he would think Drake is the epitome of hip-hop, basically I just want to hold this kid down and play Waka and Death Grips at him until his head explodes

if they have any smart interns they're figuring out ways to work on pieces that don't have the word "intern" in the byline

this is so OTM

yeah but i'm talking about this piece specifically. when you have that kind of audience and the opportunity to write something really good that you know a lot of people will see and you write what he wrote...i dunno, he should have gone for the gold. it was sloppy.

x-post

I mean fuck, "A Milli" would probably make him cry

I don't think it'd make a bit of difference if the kid had written a thoughtful, reflective, careful analysis of why Millions doesn't really sound so amazing to him/her really tho, the same olds who got their lives changed by that record, me included, would be all "You are dumb!! This amazing record" etc etc & they/we'd sound just like fuckin baby boomers only w/rap. The piece is really stupid but there's a fair bit in the response to it that's going unexamined imo

has anyone read any of the many 'you've never heard?' pieces before this?

http://www.npr.org/templates/archives/archive.php?thingId=126330958

lol, they've been doing these since 2009! guessing it just wasn't on anyone's radar until that emily white/lowery kerfluffle

"I don't think it'd make a bit of difference if the kid had written a thoughtful, reflective, careful analysis of why Millions doesn't really sound so amazing to him/her really tho"

it would have made a difference to me. i might have enjoyed reading it. i don't like cringing when i read stuff. i don't like to cringe.

from the loveless one (from '09) posted upthread

The guitars on Loveless, which for many are the most compelling element of the album, were hit-and-miss for me; I love the quality but not the quantity. The thick distortion, bends and subtle tremolo make for a truly mind-blowing sound. It's obvious that the guitars are what make the album. But I'm a big fan of space in music, and how what isn't played is just as important as what is. So for me, the constant barrage of guitar haze is too confining. Also, without some of that space, the music tends to blend together with only repetitive, and often grating, synth hooks to distinguish between songs. The ones that did stand out to me are the opener "Only Shallow" and "Come in Alone." I think I would like all of the songs a lot more outside of the context of the album as a whole, where they (and I) have more room to breathe.

that's just cuz yr old scott. kids these days LOVE cringe

i was 18 when i started writing for large-ish outlets and continued to do so as a college student, and i sure as hell had more gaps in my knowledge then and COULD have exposed my naivete or played up my youth but i was more interested in coming across as an adult who had an idea of what he was talking about it.

that loveless one reads fine! maybe everyone hates this PE review because it's poorly written!

stop shouting, mad guy

no lie what the tone of the NPR piece reminded me of more than anything was
http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/ithacan/articles/0308/28/accent/2back_beat.htm

Haha me too.

"The dashikis, baggy pants, giant clocks that hang around your neck, throwback jerseys — they’re all vibrant and different and fun."

vs.

"His hook over that yappy guitar, the service-academy beat that drops shortly afterwards, the bells on the top-end — it's all so viscerally pleasing."

stop shouting, mad guy

lol u don't know how to read!

I don't think it'd make a bit of difference if the kid had written a thoughtful, reflective, careful analysis of why Millions doesn't really sound so amazing to him/her really tho, the same olds who got their lives changed by that record, me included, would be all "You are dumb!! This amazing record" etc etc & they/we'd sound just like fuckin baby boomers only w/rap. The piece is really stupid but there's a fair bit in the response to it that's going unexamined imo

there is some truth to this but I ultimately disagree, because this idiot is a total dickbag who thinks hip-hop sucks unless it sounds like Drake

like, there is literally NO context within the hip-hop sphere for him to engage with what Public Enemy is doing, and furthermore instead of using that disconnect as the foundation of the piece he basically whines that the album isn't very smooth and then throws the interesting bits about the evolution of hip-hop in as a half-assed aside at the end, mixed in with a comment about he's "evolved" as a music fan

I mean, I read the Loveless one; that writer didn't "get" the album either, but somehow managed to write about it in a manner that didn't make it sound like everyone who DID get the album or who grew up with it or whatever must have deluded themselves into liking it because they didn't have the benefit of someone amazing like 30 Seconds To Mars to enjoy

no lie what the tone of the NPR piece reminded me of more than anything was
http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/ithacan/articles/0308/28/accent/2back_beat.htm

hahahaha yesssssss

being on some "rap must be smooth in order to be good" bullshit

I don't think he ever said that, though -- he just suggested that the smooth stuff was more appealing to him. I mean, you can't fault the dude for expressing a subjective opinion.

Now just because I appreciate and respect the culture, doesn’t mean I falsely (and lamely) try to emulate it. It has its place

wau

que you haven't seemed mad itt once so yeah i have no idea what croup's talking about unless he's joking

you can't fault the dude for expressing a subjective opinion.

lol, pretty sure this is 86% of ilm on any given thread

yeah i think he's joking, i am joking about him not being able to read as well, i am fairly certain he knows how to read. (i think.)

I think croup was joking due to Que's use of exclamation points

It takes a million of us to turn whitey black.

Stylus used to do an "On First Listen" column that was similar to this NPR intern exercise:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Astylusmagazine.com%2Farticles%2Fon_first_listen

quite a few of which I remember fondly while others I'll leave for enterprising young NPR interns to look for as influences.

yeah, i did an On First Listen about MC5. The problem with these kind of pieces is that it's pretty damn rare you hear some canonical thing for the first time and a light shines down on you.

especially if you're listening to it for the sole purpose of writing a critical appraisal

I don't think he ever said that, though -- he just suggested that the smooth stuff was more appealing to him. I mean, you can't fault the dude for expressing a subjective opinion.

dude said "I don't really know much about hip-hop but I love Rustie and Clams Casino" and then went on to blame Public Enemy for not fitting into that context, ending with "in summation, Drake rules"

the On Second Thought columns were more fun and required more thought: you had to at least demonstrate that you have an ear.

i didn't even like when the npr intern was like i haven't heard paid in full, etc either. you could have listened to it in the weeks you had to write this damn thing!

lil Kerouac ripping first drafts from his typewriter

dude said "I don't really know much about hip-hop but I love Rustie and Clams Casino" and then went on to blame Public Enemy for not fitting into that context, ending with "in summation, Drake rules"

He didn't "blame" Public Enemy, he just described his reaction to Millions. He said it left him "perplexed" but that he was glad he gave it a shot.

this board has countless threads devoted to ripping on revered albums, generational differences, not understanding stuff on the first listen, and while there's as much argument as can be expected in those threads there's probably not as much judgment or annoyance because people were just making conversation, not writing columns for a high profile media outlet, i really think the NPR intern angle is much more potent than just the content of what he's saying, which is occasionally lol but not especially aggressive or outrageous.

reading a bunch of these just made me say "ok yeah why am i reading what a 19 year old has to say again?"

someone needs to do a variation of this that says "NPR INTERNS ARE RUINING MUSIC"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bc/Home_taping_is_killing_music.png/220px-Home_taping_is_killing_music.png

also the "high profile" claim people are making is funny in that they've been running this series for 3 years and i'd be impressed if 2 of us knew it before this

true, true, that was news to me

serious question: how many of us read NPR's music stuff on our own? I don't unless it's linked.