― chaki, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Momus' Boccacio reference is spot-on, but his De La Soul reference is not. Barman casts himself as an antihero; De La cast themselves as Everymen. Prince Paul aside, this makes for a big difference. As for Barman's flow, it has an earnest breathless quality that sometimes does it for me, sometimes not -- but hey, if I can sit through Timbaland's spottily-delivered banalities to get something out of the production, I can sit through Barman's spotty delivery to get at the (very, very) good bits.
I am completely unsurprised that Momus is pro-Barman, seeing as Barman is basically the Momus of hip-hop.
I can think of a few very interesting ways for Barman to slice up and explode the "this is just a gag on hip-hop" perception, but I doubt he'll do any of them, and probably with good reason.
― Nitsuh, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I've only heard one track, the one that puts his spin on "Big Poppa," and I thought it was funny. I only heard it once, though.
― Mark, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Momus, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Not necessarily. I certainly don't; then again, I'm not disgusted with him per se.
Unspoken But Present Suspicion in this thread: that Monsieur Barman's work is 'meant' to appeal to a group of people who otherwise would ignore/not pay attention to hip-hop in general, and who likely will not explore what he is referencing/building off from. I don't hold to this point of view myself.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― ethan, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
mark, i think comparing the "wanna battle" thread to barman is sorta spot on, except for the fact that we don't go so far as to make records. for which gods should be thanked.
chaki's points sound like precisely the ones i'd use to deride barman, so there you go. and the lyrics fall straight into tom's warning about quoting "clever" and/or "deep" lyrics.
barman strikes me as a practical joke gone too far at the expense of the audience. but not far enough to make us wonder if that's the point.
― jess, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
As far as having that same background and approach to hip hop, I prefer what artists on the Slabco label have done. Land of the Loops for instance... Peter hook base lines, Coldcut/Negativland style plundering, child-like female vocals, singing sad love poetry. Subtle but ultimately very catchy too.
― Brian MacDonald, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
I think the Donne comparison is quite a good one, actually. He should jack in the hip hop and become some sort of modern Earl of Rochester - it'd be a better use of his talents...
― jacob, Wednesday, 30 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Eminem's verse on Biggie's "Dead Wrong" is more or less what I think Barman could be doing if he were willing to think beyond the immediate rhyme. ("There's several different levels to devil worshippin': horses' heads, human sacrifices, cannibalism; candles and exorcism, animals, havin' sex with 'em; camels, mammals and rabbits/But I don't get into that, I kicked the habit.")
― Douglas, Wednesday, 30 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― gareth, Wednesday, 30 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 17:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 18:02 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 21 January 2003 18:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― phlar, Saturday, 23 April 2005 20:19 (eighteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― Dan I. (Dan I.), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:50 (eighteen years ago) link
― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 23 March 2006 23:56 (eighteen years ago) link
plus also, hating him seems so silly. and i'm 4 years late with this, but ...
I think any serious look at him has to reveal that he's essentially just pushing at the limits of exactly what kinds of content we expect from hip-hop, what we expect to be said.
... nitsuh otm.
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 24 March 2006 00:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Monday, 8 May 2006 22:24 (seventeen years ago) link
-- chaki (chak...)
^^^ CHAKI APPRECIATION THREAD
― -+-+-+++- (ooo), Monday, 8 May 2006 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link
― that's so taylrr (ken taylrr), Monday, 8 May 2006 23:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― city of gyros (chaki), Monday, 8 May 2006 23:56 (seventeen years ago) link
phlar
― phlar
― buzza, Saturday, 29 January 2011 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
curly wurly!
― smang a goon (get it on) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 29 January 2011 18:40 (thirteen years ago) link
had no idea he put out another album
― just sayin, Sunday, 30 January 2011 12:07 (thirteen years ago) link
phlar― phlar, Saturday, April 23, 2005 4:19 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 03:55 (five years ago) link
Push Barman to Open Old Wounds
― underqualified backing vocalist (morrisp), Wednesday, 5 December 2018 04:00 (five years ago) link