NEW AMERYKAH, POLL 1 (4th World War)

The sirens at the beginning of "Telephone" cribbed straight from Donuts!

egggggsactly! god, i love this album. i highly reccommend the dil cosby suite album too; its really strangely moving.

dil cosby suite album?

sure. but so what? the main difference between the two, for me, being that SotT has at least ten GRATE songs on it; whereas, New Amerykah... has what esactly??? i mean, i keep waiting for the damn songs to sink in, but it just ain't happening. yet.

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― Ioannis, Thursday, November 13, 2008 5:47 AM Bookmark

I'm getting at this above, but a marked difference between Sign O the Times and New Amerykah is that the songs on SOtT are very discrete, whereas the songs on NA heavily rely upon each other for contextual clues and inferences, building upon each others' ideas. So, while both albums are very rich experiences, they operate in different ways.

Onomatopoeia of the police's shotguns: "BANG BANG" ["The Cell"]
Onomatopoeia of Erykah's shotguns: "BLLLLACK" ["Soldier"]

Little touches like ^^^ make this album.

dil cosby suite is the new madlib beat konduktah album, on stones throw...

I'll have to check that out, even though I'm not generally a huge fan of Madlib's solo work.

there's not a lot of erykah on there, just little glimpses and slivers, but she's there. makes sense, what with them working together, and both being friends of dilla's.

aaaarrrggg! see, this is exactly why i feel like i'm somehow being left out by not "getting" the damn thing; you all make it sound like it's the best album to come along since There's a Riot Going On (or Maxinequay maybe). still, truth be told, i'd much rather read what Rev has to say about New Amerykah than actually listen to it. (ok, preferably, i'd like to do both simultaneously...but whatever.)

Can I mention how much I love ?uestlove's drumming on "Telephone"? Between that and "75 Bars" and "Lay It Down", dude has done all my favorite drumming this year.

"I got love for my folks/ Baptized when the levy broke"

"MORE ACTION. MORE EXCITEMENT. MORE EVERYTHING."

^^^otm

"I got love for my folks/ Baptized when the levy broke"

and THEN the spooky backing vox come in

the sudden burst of emotion on "to my boys in iraqi fields/this ain't no time to kill", too

also the incredible amounts of righteousness and compassion in equal measure - "to my girls on prescription pills", you wait for the advice but it's just that tender "i know how you feel", but ultimately she's still got the shotgun on everyone's back

That whole bridge is incredible. It just keeps going and building higher through several points when it might end. Even though she repeats the mantra of "Get your money, dollar bill y'all", she warns to stay vigilant even once you've attained that Amerykan Promise, because this is Amerykah and it could all come crashing down at any moment, expecially with a little bit of help. And that shotgun on your back: not a threat; a promise. Btw, Erykah is quite good at the use of spooky background vox.

I'd never thought I might describe drum programming this way, but the unadorned, static beat somehow seems kind of......stoic.

here's a taste of "Real Thang" for all y'all Amerykahns:

i uploaded it upthread! http://www.sendspace.com/file/d94lbq

naughty

hmm, that's odd, Rev says he still hasn't heard it.

xp

yahhh, I think I just forgot to check it out earlier... this is alright I guess, seems kinda repetitive

Yeah, if this had been on the album, it would've been my last-placer. But it's still pretty good.

honey underrated

yeah, it's a total jam... ends the album on a real keepin' it positive note

No votes for honey???

This album is so fucking great, btw.

I adore Honey, but I think that for whatever reason it feels like a separate entity from the album as a whole. It really is a bonus track, in the truest sense of the word. So when I'm picking a favourite track, or thinking about New AmErykah at all, Honey just doesn't figure in.

re-poll. how did the first track not get a vote?

Alternate versions of "Master Teacher"

http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/2008/11/sara_bilal_georgia_anne_muldrow_breathe_new_life_into_badus_master_teacher.php

re-poll. how did the first track not get a vote?

'cause it's such a beatjack i'm guessing

who cares if it's a beatjack? the reason it didn't get any votes is because it fundementally functions as an intro

the part i love about that song the most is the dude in the background. makes me smile every time. the little girl at the end, too

I'm pretty sure that all those voices are Erykah's sped up or slowed down.

I wonder about that myself; I haven't heard the original Ayers track and had kind of assumed some of the voices had come from it, but maybe not.

Part 2 is apparently due Feb. 17--day before my birthday! 8-D

The backup voices ("Promise promise"..."Give you my eyes", etc) are on the original track, the rest is Badu being "THE MAN" and "THE LITTLE GIRL".

Matos:

Yeah, I figured I'd like Erykah's version better, and I do. Thanks, Rev!

thx for the info

Part 2 is apparently due Feb. 17

This news just made my Christmas complete.

I wouldn't hold my breath for that Feb 17th release, but here's hoping.... You can listen to her performing a snippet of the (reported) single "Jump in the Air... Stay There" here:

huh i can't believe i didn't realise the reason part 2 never came out was b/c duhhh she got knocked up.

'honey' is positioned perfectly on the album, i adore it. "all i gotta do, is add a lil' lemon..."

there should be an option for second-part-of-master-teacher. it deserves its own title.

the Seiji remix of Honey is lovely.

Yeah, I figured I'd like Erykah's version better, and I do. Thanks, Rev!

― Matos W.K., Thursday, December 25, 2008 2:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

huh? its basically the same thing

I like the overdubs and the way it leads off the album--and the album it leads off. I'm not being that serious anyway.

Man, The Healer and Soldier are still my favourites, but the brilliance of Telephone, which had previously been kind of impenetrable, has finally unfurled itself. Front half of the album is more immediate, but the back half may be more rewarding in the long term. Time will tell.

there should be an option for second-part-of-master-teacher. it deserves its own title.

I'm sure I voted for "The Cell," but part one of "Master Teacher" in standalone would've been a strong contender.

I am blown away that Deej has never heard of a remix before! That is new information!

if i heard a remix that only added some pitch shifted talking over the top, i would be like "hey that's a pretty lame remix"