Will.i.am - "Songs About Girls"

(actually, anti-hack isn't really what i was trying to say; that sounds like i want polow to be just another auteur, when really it's the miserly hackwork of auteurs, the endless cynical branded rehashing of a once-breakthru formula, that i'd rather he avoided, because that's what he's done so well so far. he's kind of like an amazingly great b-movie director, with an absolute faith in the crafting of whatever picture he's being paid for, (notice how his one production tic - waitaminutemotherfucker - is also usually an um, narrative device, 4 want of a better phrase) but with an auteur's serene stately disdain for whatever else is going on around him at the same time i guess. anyway.)

there is nothing wrong with finding some samples annoying because of how they call upon the original. it isn't a blanket statement about sampling, i love 'mo money mo problems' and i hate 'come with me' but saying that the obviousness x tackiness of the zeppelin 'sample' is bothersome vs. the effectiveness of the Diana Ross sample doesn't mean i'm making up some thesis or set of rules about whether or not samples will work in a song

i haven't heard that song that samples body language yet so i don't know what to think of it but i think 'stronger' was weak shit.

It's much better than "Stronger" by a wide margin, and I like "Stronger".

rtc: Deadpan? I don't get that at all. He's pretty animated throughout, and this feels genuine in a way that a lot of his BEP stuff doesn't. Besides, a "real music, yo" statement album from Will.I.Am would be unbelievably horrible.

i wouldn't have bothered sampling 'body language' - just rip it off with your own copy easy enough just to rap over

I was surprised at how will.i.am didn't take this opportunity to develop an ego. It's sort of a nice thing not to have when you're producing songs for other people, but with an album like this, with very few guests, the man could have left some serious footprint.
I think that the low expectations I had for this have probably positively affected my appreciation. As a continuous flow of an album it does work well, but it is pretty much harmless. Well, except for some of the lyrics. Some are PAINFUL. And not even in a consciously ridiculous way.

Also, why isn't there a thread solely dedicated to Polow da Don? There should be.

Make one.

i wouldn't have bothered sampling 'body language' - just rip it off with your own copy easy enough just to rap over

It's not quite as simple as that. He adds quite a bit into the mix.

Yeah as much as I hate to even want to hear this record, the stuff I've heard does have me pretty curious. It's interesting how of all the outside production he's done since the last BEP album, he got a lot of press for doing straightforward hip hop (The Game, Nas), but also did pretty adult R&B (John Legend), BEP-style obnoxiousness ("Fergalicious") and a lot of wannabe Neptunes-circa-2001 type shit ("I Love My Chick," that hilarious outtake from the Game album). He seems like one of those guys who's more versatile and talented than he is creative or even likeable, but that still might make for a good album.

i think i fronted on it at the time, but his too short & snoop record was pretty good too.

'stronger' is better than 'get yr money' though. (cough cough this is easier than saying something as annoying as "'stronger' needed to be as shitty as it was to be any good")

rev: well, i'm not hearing will's genuine animation. guess we need more people?

good job Preview of the Matrix 12 you won our contest to describe the worst album of the year with as many dorky music crit reference points as possible

― and what, Thursday, 20 September 2007 16:52 (1 year ago)

posting in an epic thread

his new single would be cool, if he wasn't actually on it