Hip-Hop Wisdom: Lil Wayne – “Seat Down Low”

Wordsworth Media and Weezy F. Baby Productions present:

Weezy Wisdom: An Educational Adventure

Hip-Hop Wisdom is usually a pretty simple bit. Someone says something real funny or real smart, and you get to hear it. But today you’re gonna learn something. The line, from “Seat Down Low” on Da Drought 3, is:

I am so so New Orleans
Like 1825 Tulane

“You gotta be from New Orleans to know what the fuck I’m talking about,” Weezy says as the synthified horns from the Mannie Fresh beat (originally from T.I.’s “Top Back”) fade out. Well now you don’t. Here’s the quick rundown, straight from NOLA-area comedy singer and online nostalgist Benny Grunch:

Rosenburg’s Furniture Store at 1825 Tulane Avenue absolutely won the radio and TV promo spot lifetime achievement award. The simple address, sung in a kindergarten child’s voice with no accompaniment, is totally indelible. You can’t forget it, ever. “Eighteen Twenty Five… Too- lane”

Hear the original jingle after the jump — 1,024 times more adorable than when Wayne sings it.

MP3: Lil Wayne – “Seat Down Low”

Beck’s Poignant Mumbling on “Youthless”

On Beck’s new album, Modern Guilt, the stalwart songwriter’s observations about aimlessness and melancholy are as simple and understated as his singing voice; at times they’re even passive. In “Youthless,” a lament of lifeless exurbs and “logo towns,” he sings:

And this life it goes by fast
You’re treading water in the past
Trying to re-animate something that you can’t understand

Buried in the bridge, these throwaway lines come off as placeholders for the song’s structure that never got rewritten. But Beck’s marble-mouthed delivery also makes it easy to overlook his more poignant imagery:

Hang your clothes on a chain link fence
In a junkyard say amen

This is his distopia. Wire coat hangers become industrial fencing; all other possessions are an undistinguishable mass of litter. And Beck, an insomniac who needs “a teleprompter for my life,” can barely summon the voice to tell it.

MP3: Beck – “Youthless”

Registry of Lyrical Offenders: Nas’ “Hero,” Still Better Than Billy Joel

The lead single of Nas’ new Untitled is “Hero,” in which His Illness proclaims himself hero for championing provocative hip-hop — specifically the (stymied) attempt to title the new record Nigger. Here’s his rundown of the saga, with linkage by us:

I’m hog-tied, the corporate side
Blocking y’all from going to stores and buying it
First L.A. and Doug Morris was riding wit it
But Newsweek article startled big wigs
They said, Nas, why is he trying it?
My lawyers only see the Billboard charts as winning

“L.A.” is L.A. Reid, chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group, and Doug Morris is CEO of Universal Music Group. The album’s US release has Doug Morris’ name edited out — likely at Universal’s behest, judging by Morris’ low news profile.

But here’s the stumble that landed Nas in our registry. Inducting himself into the musical revolutionaries’ hall of fame, he lists these contemporaries:

Try telling Bob Dylan, Bruce, or Billy Joel
They can’t sing what’s in their soul

Dylan-yes, Bruce-mmhmm, ok, and — WHAT? BILLY JOEL?? LIKE, “UPTOWN GIRL” BILLY JOEL? AND “SHE’S GOT A WAY” AND “JUST THE WAY YOU ARE”???

Ahem. After my ears stopped bleeding I remembered that Joel was involved in a flash-in-the-pan embrolio in 2007, when he wrote “Christmas in Fallujah” — which he released with unknown Cass Dillon singing because Joel was too old. (I know what you’re thinking, and no, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” doesn’t count. That was actually the beginnings of Billy Joel’s aborted historical fiction novel, written between 3 and 5 AM one night over a pitcher of vodka-Fresca.)

Nas, we recommend you either pick up Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits or go see Movin’ Out. Probably go with the first one.

MP3: Nas – “Hero”

MP3: Cass Dillon – “Christmas in Fallujah”

The Black Ghosts Channel Mark Wahlberg

Even for verbally obsessed people like us, listening to poetic, slow-growing music can get tedious. Whether it’s a crowded city bus or too-hungover Sunday morning, there are lots of times we just want to throw on some instant gratification. Comfort food — or even junk food — for the ears.

I often look to electronic and dance music for my comfort listening, and lately that niche has been filled completely with the self-titled debut from The Black Ghosts. It’s packed with highlights, beginning with the opening track, “Some Way Through This.” Shivering strings, trip-hop percussive tics, and a new wave vocal line are all dressing on what is essentially a crunk beat. The bass drops on the one and stays there.

The rub? A closer look reveals another hip-hop similarity — lyrics that mimic rap’s aggressive posturing:

If this house was on fire would you tell me your desire
If my hands were ’round your throat would you tell me what I need to know

The lyrics mostly lean toward the emo/pop side of things, with a sensual bent a la Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World.” But the singer’s shift from achy crooning to violent demands reflect a lover lashing out. Boy, if I had a nickel for every time that happened…

MP3: The Black Ghosts – “Some Way Through This”

Worth 1000: Never Had a Friend Like Me

(thanks to Sorry I Missed Your Party for the pic)

MP3: Aladdin Soundtrack – “Friend Like Me”