“Tell Him What He Just Don’t Know…”
AUDIO By TSSCrew on April 12, 2009 at 5:55 pmWords By Jesse H.
I try my hardest not to be one of those folks who endlessly cries foul about the state of pop music. But sometimes on old jam comes on and you find yourself wondering where all the effort went in modern pop records.
Case and point — one of the catchiest pop songs of the year, Kanye’s “Paranoid” seems to have all of the essential elements of a good pop tune; instantly catchy, extremely danceable and sing-alongability to the stars. I’ll take a wild guess and say “Paranoid” probably took Kanye a few hours, maximum, to create. It’s a simple melody with a minimal loop of repeating synth chords and some whipping drums. Add Auto-Tune and that’s about it.
Now compare the thin weave of “Paranoid” to the density of a song like Michael Jackon’s “Girlfriend.” Listen to the way the King Of Pop throws in little extras to keep the melody unpredictable and the listener intrigued; the playful “woo-hoo” thrown in periodically, the free-roaming ad-libs, the charisma with which he whoops and even laughs whilst cooing and that’s just the vocals.
Then listen to Quincy’s perfect musical backdrop; there’s the jubilant bassline, the saxophone solo, the easygoing flutes, the skipping bells, the constantly-evolving synthesizers, and probably a half-dozen other musical touches my ears aren’t trained to hear. All of that packed into a mere 3:05 (a full minute and change shorter than “Paranoid”) and it’s easy to conclude that they just don’t manufacture pop the same way anymore.
Find a contemporary example of a song as effortlessly breezy yet unforgivingly dense as “Girlfriend” off a record that moved as many units as Off The Wall. It’s just not happening.
Kanye West Feat. Mr. Hudson – “Paranoid”
Michael Jackson – “Girlfriend”
Hell_Rell-The_Extermination_(Return_to_the_Grind)
Playaz Circle & DJ Teknikz – Ballin’ In A Drought
DJ P-Cutta – Street Wars Millionaire Vol. 23
Mr._Lif-I_Heard_It_Today
P.Diddy_ft._Usher-I_Need_A_Girl_(Full_VLS)
Beanie_Sigel_Feat._Melissa-Feel_it_in_the_Air-Promo_VLS
Posted in AUDIO, GENERAL, LOOSIES, MUSIC, STRAY SHOTS — Tags: 808's & Heartbreak, Kanye West, Michael Jackson, Mr. Hudson, Off The Wall, Quincy Jones
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36 Comments
http://limelinx.com/files/40ebadf50c5cf69eca728674d49fa17f
everyone’s fav asher. this is completely different.
you worry too much
-the glow
LOL
True…
However…
1st mistake:
Comparing Kanye the “pop” artist to MJ
2nd mistake:
Comparing Kanye the producer to Quincy Jones
Not much then, or today is fcukin’ w/those two cats.
ive always liked this song by mike but its not as good as paranoid, jam or not.
I hate that Michael Jackson song.
OED, I think that’s Jesse’s point, though. i.e. Not much is fuckin with those two in any way… not even our top pop artist is coming close on his best day. Sinatra, elvis, smokey, michael, prince… where’s our CURRENT best pop artist? It’s a shame.
Prince was on par Michael Jackson back then.
Current best pop star is Justin Timberlake, he pisses over all of the competition.
I hate that Michael Jackson song.
=============================================
:-/
Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad are perfect.
@TC, I concur about Thriller and BAD, they are both pop par exellence.
I like Off The Wall as well, just not this song, I always used to reach for the forward button when it came on because we used to rock cassettes back then, you know TDK style.
BTW, I always thought Michael Jackson should have alligned himself with Jam and Lewis when he was looking for a new sound. Teddy Riley was good, but his sound pallette was a bit samey.
LC, what up, sweetness…
That’s what I was getting at. I don’t think Kanye’s our best pop artist.
Kanye’s mediocre (at best- to me) as a pop artist. His 808 pop would probably compare favorably w/some mediocre junk from the 80’s or 90’s.
As a whole though, I agree completely.
Went to a spot last night, and the DJ threw on Stevie Wonder’s “Always”, and the lyricism and musicianship of that song (and others from that era) dwarfed anything else he’d played all night. That sh*t was straight poetry.
It was apples n’ oranges, ‘07 Patriots vs ‘08 Lions *ahem*..
Apples and oranges.
Comparing Michael, a crafted veteran of the pop music realm to a producer rapper who made an album singing.
I hate that Michael Jackson song.
=============================================
:-/
Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad are perfect.
—————————–
^
Get ‘em, TC… and take the phasers off stun.
Current best pop star is Justin Timberlake, he pisses over all of the competition.
==========================
As much as I dislike him on a personal level. Musically, I gotta agree 100%. Have heard very little from him that I didn’t like.
On a different, although somewhat related note…
Chris Brown – Flame Thrower (Produced by Danja)
http://www.limelinx.com/files/1d489628d4f8738ce5955cf51db05679
Kanye and others of this era share all of the diva-like tendencies of the Prince’s, MJ’s, etc, w/ not even half of the pedigree.
That’s one of my biggest gripes w/ artists today… You can say anything, and if you say it ENOUGH times, people will start inhaling that sh*t you smokin’…
I can’t recall ever having heard MJ, Marvin, Stevie, Prince, etc, etc, etc PROCLAIM THEMSELVES as the best. They let their work speak for themselves.
BTW, how are you OED?? A Happy Easter? The choir sang The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” at church today… so mine was kicked off pretty right and nice.
LC, I’m good, my friend…
I colored Easter eggs w/my daughter early this morning, so I was in a great frame of mind, & pretty much playing w/house money after that.
Who gives a fuck really??? That era is long gone, along with the hopes of timeless classics being released on the regular. Babygirl LC, whaddupp!!! I just bought this cd by an artist named Finale out of Detroit, shit is flames!!! You heard any of his material?
Yeah I know Finale, he got good diplomatic relations with artists here in the UK, he is a safe geezer. This is my fave track by him:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfeJxjnaleM
Who gives a fuck really??? That era is long gone
—————————
Flea, c’mon now, mayne…
There’s yellow droplets of water falling from the sky, and meteorologist Robert Kelly (who also does traffic and sports) is saying it’s rain.
How often do we sit around hoping (insert artist) delivers the next classic album, most often to no avail?
You’re a tech head, so you’re telling me that if someone were proclaiming a 100 watt amplifier the best amp ever, but you just recently had a discontinued one that smoked this new “great” model, no question, you’d be completely content purchasing the new one at an exorbitant amount?
It’s not complaining, per se, it’s just calling a spade of sorts a spade.
Michael Jackson- Butterflies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAa7z5QdL4M&feature=related
regardless of his private life, he’s STILL the GOAT!!
haters hate harder
I felt the Kanye/MJ parallel was relevant, because Kanye views himself as the MJ of the day.
In my original draft, I berated ‘Ye a little further for merely “dressing the part” of the modern day MJ. Remember when Kanye made “Late Registration” and he made an EFFORT to go from an already top-notch Hip Hop producer to an even better one, by bringing in a new perspective (Jon Brion) to evolve his sound? Whether it completely worked or not (IMO CD>LR), it was the fact that he put in the effort to progress his music that made LR such a great release.
Why doesn’t he display the same effort as a pop star? Its as if he wanted so badly to be at the top, and when we finally acknowledged that he was the producer of our generation, he just got lazy on us and turned into a gay fish.
BTW, does anybody have a download link to that “Butterflies” song?
N/m, found it.
@ OED: I hear you man, I just had to WOO-SAAAH there for a minute. I was at one of my ninjaz cribs and we were having the exact same argument, so I still had some left over angst. Not too sure about your tech analogy, but hear what you’re saying my ninja. One of my stupid ninjaz girlfriends said that “90’s r&b sucks in comparison to current r&b”, then all hell broke loose. Sheeeeeeeeeeiiiiiittt.
@ Flea
Gotcha.
Dag…. I thought the tech analogy was pretty good lol
Wooooooooo-saaaaahhhh
Good to see musical debates a’gwon worldwide…
Gotta go though….
Apple’s selling a new 120 gig iPod, so I’m gonna get rid of my 160 gig and pay $10 more for this new one.
(I keed)
…the charisma with which he whoops and even laughs whilst cooing
Dude, what did you write that with? A quill?
gw
@ OED: Ha Ha!!!
@ Greg:
All of my writing is done in quill before I read it aloud to my secretary.
With more and more music programs being closed and removed from public school systems each year … are we really be surprised that this generation doesn’t have as much musicality as those that preceded?
Wanna spaz one of today’s up & coming producers out? Ask ‘em if they’ve ever thought about taking up a music theory class…
Flea… yeah, Finale is a good guy and he was one of the first Detroit artists I really took to several years back. He works a lot with Invincible, and I think I spoke on him when I was writing about her album. I’ll give him some shine on the site… he certainly deserves it. I’m glad you found him!!
SC Damajah:
True that. But its encouraged on an even more subliminal level, too. I remember as a kid going to see Disney musicals. What the hell happened to those? That’s why I was upset when everyone acted like Finding Nemo was the greatest. It had nothing on those old sing-along classics that I was raised on.
And at the risk of sounding any less Hip Hop… I think I’ll stop there.
Both are good tracks
http://www.smissbeatzpresents.com
Both are good tracks
http://www.smissbeatzpresents.com
I just love your wording here….”the charisma with which he whoops and even laughs whilst cooing and that’s just the vocals”…lol perfection…thought you might appreciate that someone noticed.
J. Manning
Superintendent
http://www.SchoolOfILL.com