Workin For The Weekend

This past weekend was uneventful due to the Snoop concert being postponed and massive amounts of rain drenching the tri-state area. The rain basically forced me to stay in. I could have gone out, but I also could have tried saw my off arm with a spork. There seemed to be no point in doing either, hence I stayed in and got some work done. I had quite a few DVD’s sitting around that I finally got around to watching and I even got an album listened to. This is a very good thing because my mailbox damn near exploded today. Not only did I have five new singles, a full length album and a DVD in the mail the UPS just guy just dropped off two more full length albums for me. I’m sure this sounds like a heck of a perk to some, and, let’s face it, it is, but at the same time everyone wants me to have listened to these joints the second they arrive. This means I’m spending the next few days doing interviews and listening to albums. Thankfully I can watch Mets games with volume down and a CD on. That doesn’t work so well for other kinds of programming, but I’m a Mets fan so screw other programming!

Lemme do a quick rundown of what’s been in my CD and DVD players in the past 48 hours.

Scratch: All The Way Live - Man I really wanted to like this DVD. It features Jazzy Jay, Z-Trip, The X-ecutioners and Mixmaster Mike all very impressively cutting and scratching. The main problem with the DVD, however, is that the visuals just aren’t that good and no matter how active the DJ’s are and how dope their scratches sound, for the most part it’s not thrilling to watch. The X-ecutioners has some fun theatrics but when I think of great DJ DVD’s DJ Shadow’s most recent effort comes to mind. The visuals he had on his big screen were fantastic and blended well with the music he was spinning and creating. The funny thing is Mixmaster Mike even used a record from that Shadow performance in his Scratch performance. The highlight of the entire DVD, for me, was seeing the street artist, Shepard Fairey, do his work and the extra featurette which was all about Fairey and how he did his work. Really great stuff that was actually quite inspiring.

4th Avenue Jones’ EPK - I love 4th Avenue Jones. Their latest release, "Stereo: The Evolution of Hiprocksoul" is on repeat in my car’s CD player. The EPK was short and sweet, the way I like to my EPK’s. It featured the video for "Stereo" and small bios on each of the group’s members. And yes Ahmad, you will always be remembered for "Back In The Day," but it’s gotta feel nice to have a song that had that kind of impact on people.

Disco D - Episode One - I got about halfway through this DVD when my PS2 suddenly refused to read it. After cleaning it off I realized there was a HUGE scratch on it. I’m actually surprised it played at all. From what I saw Disco seems like a cool dude and I look forward to interviewing him tomorrow.

Prince Paul - Itstrumental - I think Prince Paul is a genius and Itstrumental just strengthens my argument. I fell in love with this album almost instantly and that’s a rarity for me. Paul’s production stylings are unique and musically stunning. It also doesn’t hurt that he has one track with two Last Dragon samples (nothin’s better than hearing Sho’ Nuff and Vanity in the middle of a record!) and another with MC Paul Barman. This one’s definitely a top ten album of the year nominee.

The Singles - Tony Yayo’s "So Seductive" should be renamed "So Regular" as, with the exception of a killer beat, there is nothing in this song that separates Yayo from any of his other G-Unit counterparts. Yayo’s being billed as the lyricist of the crew so I’m hoping there’s better songs to come being that there wasn’t even a simile or a metaphor in the entire song. If this is his best effort then his album will prove to be a massive disappointment.

Nivea’s "Parking Lot" is just awful. The song is about fucking in a McDonald’s parking lot. I’m sure it was brought up as a joke in a meeting like "hey Nivea, why not talk about gettin it on in a Mickey D’s parking lot?" And her people said "yeah, that’s a great idea," and before the higher ups could say "we were kidding" the single was done. Seriously though, a McDonald’s parking lot? That redefines cheap whore. I mean one time I saw two people gettin it on in a diner parking lost (either Majestic or Colony. Gotta love Hempstead), but Mickey D’s? C’mon! Of course, this could also be a ploy to get some money from Mickey D’s.

Charlie Wilson’s "Charlie, Last Name Wilson" was the hottest song out of all the singles. This dude can sing and the subject matter of being single was taken in an interesting direction. I wasn't sure about this dude when I first heard him on Snoop’s album but if he keeps hittin us with songs like this one I’m confident he’ll go far. Then again, he could end up the next Anthony Hamilton, a dude who creates great music that the masses ignore. Here’s hoping for the former rather than the latter.

R. Kelly is now "Trapped In The Closet" and this single is billed as chapter one of five. Do we really need another long story about infidelity? I think R’s an amazing talent but I just don’t get off on the story songs.

I also received a random rock song, Day of Fire’s "Waste Away," which sounds like a song that will get rotation on Top 40 stations.

Right now I’m listening to the advance of Natalie’s album. So far it’s not too bad, but I haven’t heard her voice waver much from the way it sounds on "Goin Crazy." I’d like to hear her try another octave. I’m scheduled to be interviewing her on Thursday so maybe this will come up in the conversation. And is it just me or does "Goin Crazy" start the exact same way as S Club 7’s "Never Had A Dream Come True?" (And nobody better shit on me for knowing S Club 7, who jacked the hook for that song from Dru Hill’s "We’re Not Making Love No More")

Fantasy Update: Derrick Turnbow rocks! Three saves and a win last week! Not much else to report on ‘cept I’m starting to get ticked off at all the wack offers I’ve been getting begging for Derrick Lee. Yeah, he’s awesome, that’s why I drafted him. Get off his nuts, you’re not getting him!

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