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ettoregentili-blog · 6 years

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Girl de Lukas Dhont - Une critique

PRÉMISSE

En tant que minorité et groupe marginalisé dans la société, nous, personnes trans, nécessitons d'urgence plus de représentation.

Pourtant de la représentation tout court ne suffit pas.

Une mauvaise représentation est clairement non souhaitable, mais aussi facile à repérer.

Une incorrecte représentation par contre est très dangereuse, car elle passe inaperçue si elle n’est pas contrastée par une prise de parole de la part des personnes concernées.

Voici pourquoi je sens le besoin d’écrire cette critique.

PARTIE 1

À la première vision de Girl je n’ai pas tout de suite compris mon ressenti. Je n’aimais pas ce film et je n’arrivais pas à comprendre pourquoi, avec mes méthodes habituelles d’analyse esthétique. Ce film savamment réalisé et photographié, habilement joué, me dérangeait sur un autre plan.

J’ai d’abord cru à mon “hystérisme trans”, car non, il ne s'agit pas d'une mauvaise représentation. Loin de là.

Par contre, c'est une représentation incorrecte, et cela, sur plusieurs points. C'est avec toute évidence un film sur des personnes trans fait par des personnes cis pour des personnes cis.

C'est la même formule qu’on reproche au porno lesbien quand (trop souvent) il est fait par des hommes hétéros pour des hommes hétéros. La sexualité lesbienne est loin d'être correctement représentée dans ce genre de vidéos.

De même, c’est ce qui se passe dans le yaoi écrit par des femmes mangaka en quête d’un public de jeunes filles.

Ce type de représentation véhicule une image fausse, un fantasme. Si c’est assumé et si le public est averti, je n'ai rien contre cela : quand il s’agit d’art, l’expression de ses propres fantasmes est légitime. Mais à côté de ça, il y a besoin aussi des représentations correctes qui puissent faire le point. L'appréciation d’une œuvre par ses innovations artistiques n'empêche nullement un regard ultra-critique sur les messages transmis. L’art est imbibé de politique, et la solution ce n’est pas de la dé-politiser, mais d’apprendre à construire des critiques à plusieurs niveaux.

Je peux séparer aisément la qualité intrinsèque d'un film ou d'une œuvre d’art quelconque tout en dénonçant ses a priori. Ici, je ne me focaliserai que sur ces derniers, car Girl, c'est tout de même un bon film, avec des qualités esthétiques indéniables.

Mais son type de représentation ne passe pas. Il ne parle pas de ma communauté : Lara est un objet fantasmé, elle n'existe pas.

Il y a un souci éthique en amont. Ce film sur une personne trans possède un casting entièrement constitué de personnes cis.

Essayons une similitude avec une autre minorité discriminée : qu’est qu’on dirait d’un film qui parle d’une personne racisée interprété uniquement par des acteurs d’origine européenne ?

Il y a un nom à cela : c’est du blackface, et il s’agit d’une pratique éminemment raciste. Nous pouvons aussi prendre l’exemple de l'interdiction pour les femmes de jouer au théâtre à l’époque élisabéthain. Aujourd’hui on considère cela sexiste.

Conclusion de ce syllogisme : la démarche de Girl est transphobe.

Soit. Je suis arrivé dans la salle sachant cela, mais avec l’espoir qu’en dépit de ça, j'aurais été porté, par le jeu de cet acteur androgyne, à croire dans l’histoire d’une jeune danseuse trans.

J’ai été déçu.

Les rapports de Lara avec la danse, son futur de danseuse, ses désirs de carrière, le rapport avec son frère et son père, sa crise adolescente …. sont juste esquissés tout au long du film, car celui-ci se focalise sur le simple fait que Lara est bien une fille, et qu’elle est trans. L’évidence de la réduction du personnage à sa transidentité m’a frappé au visage. Elle ne parle d’elle que pour rappeler qu’elle est une fille. Comme si ce n’était pas assez évidente, comme si le public ne pouvait pas le comprendre tout seul.

J’ai bien apprécié la scène où elle rappelle à son père que le fait qu’elle soit une fille trans ne signifie pas forcément qu’elle soit une fille hétéro, elle peut très bien être lesbienne ou bi, et à 15 ans ne faire que se questionner sur sa sexualité. Pourtant, cette scène est encore un énième discours de Lara pour n'affirmer, au fond, autre chose que « je suis trans, je suis donc comme les autres». Lara ne parle pas beaucoup dans le film, et quand elle prend la parole, c’est pour déclarer cela. À mon sens, il s’agit d’une pure justification. Je ne me rappelle pas une seule fois où sa prise de parole est relative à sa carrière artistique, à ses hobbies, à ses amis, ses amours. Ce sont ses proches qui s'intéressent à sa carrière, qui la poussent à exprimer ses désirs. Elle occupe son temps de parole pour justifier son identité, lissant sa complexité en tant que personne.

Ce personnage, déjà aplati pour son auto-affirmation en tant que trans avant qu’en tant que personne multi-face, est en plus complètement absurde en tant que personne trans en transition.

L’isolation complète de sa propre communauté m’interroge. Comment est-il possible qu’une personne autant en détresse, ne ressente pas le besoin de se rapprocher des membres de sa communauté ?

Moi-même, je n’ai que des amis cis. Pourtant, je chéris ma communauté. Je connais les noms de tous les personnages public trans, je sais reconnaître les DJs, photographes, comédien·ne·s trans qui circulent dans le monde de la nuit que je fréquent. De temps en temps, je participe à des manifs, des groupes de parole. Grâce à internet et YouTube, j’ai pu me faire une bonne base de culture trans. Ce sont aussi des façons de soulager le sentiment d’être seul au monde qui est commun à toute minorité. Le sens d’appartenance à une communauté est une stratégie de survie (coping mechanism) de base.

Pourquoi on ne voit jamais cela dans le film ?

Lara est représentée comme étant une sociopathe. Elle ne possède aucun sens communautaire, elle n'a pas envie de se faire aider même quand elle subit de le harcèlement, elle ne fait que vivre d'une façon masochiste, à se plaindre de son sort et à s'auto-mutiler.

À mon sens, cela revient, de la part du scénariste/réalisateur à se dérober de toute responsabilité en tant que personne cis privilégiée. Si Lara est hystérique, masochiste et sociopathe, elle l'est en dépit du fait qu’elle soit socialement acceptée par l'entièreté de sa famille et de son école. C’est beau de voir dans un film, pour une fois, un milieu qui ne soit pas forcément hostile à une transition. Par contre cette acceptation ne se reflète point sur le comportement de Lara. Sa souffrance semble être intrinsèque à sa condition de personne trans, alors que la souffrance des personnes trans n’est pas du tout due au fait d’être trans, notre souffrance est la souffrance provoquée par le monde qui nous entoure.

Au contraire les personnes cis adultes dans ce film sont toutes accueillantes et bienveillantes, ce qui est a priori une représentation très salutaire, alors qu’ici cette bienveillance devient l’excuse pour adosser à Lara elle-même l’origine de son tourment.

Cela signifie proposer un vécu trans où la souffrance ne dépend point de la société, mais où elle est une de nos caractéristiques de base.

Certes, mon vécu est plein de douleur, mais celle-ci ne découle point de moi. J’ai souffert que mes parents ne comprennent pas mon « je suis un garçon » ; j’ai souffert que mes amis garçons refusent de jouer avec moi «parce que nous ne jouons pas avec les filles» ; j’ai souffert de voir la puberté aux œstrogènes faire des ravages sur un corps d’enfant androgyne que j’aimais beaucoup ; je souffre des « madame » qu’on m’adresse de défaut juste en jugeant certaines de mes caractéristiques physiques. Je ne souffre pas à cause de mon corps en soi, je souffre du regard cisgenre qu’on pose sur lui.

Ça, c’est un vécu trans. Pas celui de Lara.

Lara, quinze ans, est sous bloqueurs hormones. Elle n’aura pas à passer une puberté qui la rendra dysphorique : le rêve de toute personne trans. Elle est en train de vivre une unique puberté, une puberté féminine, grâce aux pilules d'estrogènes qu’on la voit assumer. Mais elle réagit envers son corps androgyne comme si celui-ci était fondamentalement déforme : ça ne colle pas.

Sa vie est tout ce qu’une personne trans pourrait souhaiter. Pourquoi ne pas représenter ça ?

Pourquoi ne pas représenter sa rage adolescente en tant que rage adolescente quelconque ? Son malaise serait légitime en tant que malaise de jeune adolescente.

Il n’y a aucun sens de lui faire jouer le genre de malaise que pourrait éprouver une femme trans de vingt ans qui se retrouve à transitionner contre le déni de sa famille et en ayant précédemment acquis les caractéristiques physiques d’une puberté à la testostérone.

Lara est dans la position hyper privilégiée du passing béton, et ce fait est complètement effacé de la construction du personnage.

Girl ne remet pas en question un seul instant la rhétorique du « naître dans le mauvais corps » qui au fond signifie « ah, c’est tellement dur d’être trans, j’ai tellement de chance d’être né·e cis, je ne voudrais pas vivre ce que Lara est en train de vivre ».

Je ne supporte pas qu’on me dise ça. Ce n’est pas vrai. Si la société ne nous discriminait pas, si elle ne rendais pas si difficile notre transition, nous serions aisément des personnes épanouies.

Je ne supporte pas qu’on fasse une œuvre de dé-culpabilisation en disant « de toute façon les personnes trans souffrent quoi qu’on fasse, même si on les aide et on le supporte, ça ne change rien à leur mal-être ». Ce n’est pas nous qui devons changer, il faut avoir pitié d’eux·elles ».

Je suis trans, oui, et je ne suis pas fait pour souffrir.

#girl #lukas dhont #2018 #film critique #trans #transidentité #cannes 2018

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deadcactuswalking · 4 years

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 06/02/2021 (Fredo’s Money Can’t Buy Happiness)

This is an odd, scattered week - a slow one thankfully for the day after my birthday - but we do have a bigger album bomb than I expected from Fredo, even if “drivers license” is still at #1 for a fourth week, blocking EDM remixes of sea shanties because of course, it’s the UK after all. Let’s just get back into REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Rundown

Now, I predicted last week that Fredo would have two songs debut high up on the chart from his most recent album, Money Can’t Buy Happiness, and the pre-release single “Back to Basics” would rise to the top 10. That didn’t exactly happen, as “Back to Basics” actually dropped out of the chart off of the debut for being one of the lowest-performing Fredo tracks, or at least less successful than the three songs that debuted, as that’s all the UK Singles Chart allows. Speaking of drop-outs from the UK Top 75, they’re all mostly inconsequential, made up of recent debuts like “Wellerman” by the Longest Johns and “Bad Boy” by the late Juice WRLD and Young Thug. In terms of notable drop-offs, we do have some arguably premature falls for minor hits, like “champagne problems” by Taylor Swift, “Body” by Megan Thee Stallion, “Lonely” by Justin Bieber and benny blanco, and, finally, “Diamonds” by Sam Smith. This is a slow week outside of the top 40, so we just have some spare oddities to cover outside of the drop-outs. For our fallers, we have “34+35” by Ariana Grande fading its remix boost at #14, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #30, “SO DONE” by The Kid Yaoi at #52, “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo at #54, “Lo Vas A Olvidar” by Billie Eilish and ROSALÍA at #64 off of the debut and a couple real crashes at the tail-end of the top 75, those being “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper at #71, “WAP” by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion at #72, “Notorious” by Bugzy Malone featuring Chip at #73 and “Dynamite” by BTS at #75. This may explain the otherwise inexplicable returns for songs that are always clinging onto the back half of the chart, like “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac at #74, “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran at #70 and, incredibly, “Mr Brightside” by the Killers at #68, the highest it’s been in a while (and that’s a feat considering how long it stays on the damn chart). For gains, we’re really not picking up much traction here. Sure, “Baby Shark” by Pinkfong is back at #73 for some reason, but otherwise we just have middling songs with middling gains, like “Martin & Gina” by Polo G at #61, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #59, “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles rebounding to #44, “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S making a surprising and scary gain to #42 (and I’ll admit, I’ve warmed up to it quickly), “i miss u” by Jax Jones and Au/Ra clawing back in the top 40 at #39, “Friday” by Riton, Nightcrawlers and Musafa & Hypeman dopamine re-editing itself up to #24 (Please don’t make this a hit) and finally, “Streets” by Doja Cat continuing its rise up to #12. Oh, yeah, and “Skin” by Sabrina Carpenter is down to #41 off of the debut but everyone’s forgotten about that song considering how big “drivers license” still is, so yeah, let’s just get to our new arrivals, because we do have some interesting things to touch on this week.

NEW ARRIVALS

#66 – “Higher” – Clean Bandit featuring iann dior

Produced by Mark Ralph, Grace Chatto and Jack Patterson

Well, they made a song with 24kGoldn, and that was awful, so... I guess it’s Puerto Rican emo-rapper iann dior’s turn. They might as well remix “Mood” while they’re at it. Instead of Mabel filling in for the singing where 24kGoldn couldn’t on “Tick Tock”, however, we have honestly a less charismatic singer in iann dior playing all the parts, without a rap verse to speak of. Okay, so this could work if he just fills in the spot of generic anonymous singer, and it fits exactly within that mold if he wants to, even though that’ll take away any of the character he had – not that any of that character was likeable or interesting, but hey, baby, he is not your dad, so maybe he’ll blend in well with Clean Bandit’s decreasingly unique production. This is a tropical EDM track where iann dior’s non-existent range and raspy, uncaring tone zaps the energy out of the touches of steel drums and orchestral stabs. This drop is nothing more than a vocaloid loop, and a pathetic one at that, with iann dior’s really gross falsetto proving that Auto-Tune can’t really fix bad singing, not that it needed to be proven. The lyrics here are nothing to write home about, wrapping a love song with ocean metaphors probably just so he can say “I’mma get her wet, oh, baby, then slide”... Gross. There’s like zero build-up to this drop at all as well, so there’s no stakes, no climax, and hence not a good EDM track. Come on, Dan Smith of Bastille wrote this, can’t he get the lead vocal? At least it would sound competent.

#63 – “Grown Flex” – Chip featuring Bugzy Malone

Produced by the Fanatix

Ah, my favourite duo. Apparently this is from a Chip album that I didn’t even know existed, thankfully because it’s 21 tracks, over an hour, with two consecutive Young Adz features. “Grown Flex” is another collaboration with Bugzy Malone, probably here because of the video and the sample of iconic UK bass tune “Heartbroken” by T2, one of the most popular songs in that wave of EDM and a pretty damn great song. It has been sampled before by people like DJ Khaled and Drake but no-one’s made a better song, so maybe these formerly feuding Londoners can make a good song with this sample as the base? That isn’t a question actually, but if it was, the answer would be no. They pitch up the (honestly ahead of its time) vocaloid loop, and put an obnoxious UK garage-adjacent drum loop over it that’s barely on beat with all of the chiptune sound effects distracting from Chip’s also off-beat flow. The chorus is really awkward, with him being off-beat and uncredited female vocal backing vocals with entirely different vocal processing coming in and sounding equally janky. This beat isn’t broken inherently, it could work but it’s too shrouded in these two rappers void of personality. Bugzy Malone is here but his rough tone does not work on this beat, regardless of how much he wants to pretend there’s any melody to his drawl with the Auto-Tune and multi-tracking. He’s still somehow the best part though because, yeah, this is just... incredibly awful. The production is onto something by the end with the horns coming in but they immediately fade out and eventually it just abruptly cuts to some pointless chiptune beeping sounds that have been there the whole time but play alone right at the end for no reason. This is aggravating, I know I’m pretty much nit-picking but there’s nothing of substance to pick apart here anyway. This is pure incompetence and a butchering of a good sample... that they should be allowed to use freely, though, by the way. Abolish copyright law.

#62 – “Ride for Me” – B Young

Produced by Mike Spencer and Pacific

Since everyone seems to have forgotten how to actually make music this week, at least we can always count on B Young... okay, no, but at least he’s given up on trying to be a rapper or R&B singer at this point, as a lane of generic guitar-pop probably would work best for the guy’s voice. I mean, we have an acoustic loop here that sounds like it’s jacked straight from a Shawn Mendes demo. At least the incompetence here is charming, with his rougher vocals being a pretty nice contrast from the otherwise kind of ugly mixing, especially on the flat percussion. I do like the lyrics here, as he’s simply love-struck and enjoys the company of this woman, for more than just sex and appearances. He just hopes that things don’t change and the relationship lasts forever. Sure, it’s shallow but it seems genuine. Sure, there’s some drug references and him being pushy to ask her for no make-up, though it does come off as just enjoying her presence instead of any stuck-up preference, especially since he offers his tracksuit and they end up watching some crap Netflix original film. Yeah, this is just a sweet track if nothing else. Since I did do a full song review for his song “Jumanji” years back, I feel a weird sense of almost parenthood for this guy, like I’ve seen him grow and finally he’s made a good song, even if it’s a bit out of his wheel-house. He’s never not been genuine, just only now that’s given him some more likeability, even if it’s just to make a cute love song. He sounds like a good boyfriend, and that’s really the appeal of the song, so, yeah, good job. I’m honestly kind of surprised.

#60 – “Gravity” – Brent Faiyaz and DJ Dahi featuring Tyler, the Creator

Produced by DJ Dahi

This is the most frustrating song I’ve heard this year so far, I’m almost fascinated by it. Before we get into that, I’d like to say that it’s good to see Brent Faiyaz finally debuting a song relatively high, and this is DJ Dahi’s first ever credited UK Singles Chart entry, although he’s produced top 40 hits before for Kendrick Lamar. Faiyaz has been a bubbling artist in R&B for the past few years, and honestly he might have had the most successful career off of the three artists that propelled themselves off of the back of “Crew” with GoldLink and Shy Glizzy. It was a minor hit that ended up producing no rising stars until around five years later, where we have a genuine hit potentially coming from the guy who sung the chorus, of course with some help from Tyler, the Creator. I do think this song is good but owes a lot to that to the production and charisma of our artists, as I can pick this apart way too easily for my taste. This beat is good, with some incredible guitar work from Steve Lacy as he would always deliver, but feels very aimless, especially with the pointless air horns in the background that if anything distract from Brent Faiyaz, who needs room to breathe. I mean, he’s an R&B singer, of course he does. The beat takes certain left turns during the verses that seem like meanders and if it’s not deflating any of its groove for the sake of guitar loops, it’s got this really tense percussion that does not work for the content or performances here, which are both pretty checked-out, especially Tyler, who’s as stiff as always but without any really interesting lyrical moments or a shift of flow. It’s one of his worst verses in my opinion, and he really goes in one ear and out the other with how short it is, which surprises me because of how Tyler usually either steals the show or meshes really well with his collaborators. So, our two performers are mostly checked-out with little to no chemistry, and the beat is awkward and unfitting for the content, which is about them being brought back down to Earth by their loved ones, hence the name, despite their travel habits due to touring – which isn’t a thing that’s happening right now at all, so maybe this’ll be a slow burn hit before it can really resonate. If we listen to these lyrics more closely, we also don’t get the sense that Brent Faiyaz is even likeable here, as we have no reason given for this woman to not feel uncomfortable that he’s paying little attention to her. Instead, Faiyaz just comes off a dismissive ass to this undeserving woman who is reasonably upset at the lack of time spent with him. It’s never made clear that she’s pestering him, so I honestly don’t get how Faiyaz wants to frame this. It doesn’t help that Tyler has the opposite reaction, longing for his partner when he’s on tour instead of feeling annoyed by her, but ultimately with no interplay so this means nothing. Oh, and if the songwriting weren’t janky enough, the chorus is barely catchy and covered in pitch-shifted multi-tracking that takes any of the focus off of Brent Faiyaz, who’s constantly crushed by backing vocals, being pitched down for no reason with unnecessary censor bleeps when they both swear freely at other points in the song. This type of maximalist production works but only when there’s any grandiosity to make it feel warranted, and if there isn’t that, the gunshot percussion is out of place and there ends up being a lot of empty space. There’s nothing smooth about this, and that’s frustrating as you’d expect these three to bring a really relaxed tune with some great 70s soul vibes and... I mean, that’s obviously what they’re going for here, but it is painfully over-produced and ultimately immensely disappointing. I can see people enjoying this a lot but no, this doesn’t work for me at all. Sorry.

#45 – “Dancing on Ice” – Yxng Bane featuring Nafe Smallz and M Huncho

Produced by Don Alfonso and Quincy Tellem

Oh, Jesus Christ, these guys again... and Yxng Bane, I guess. So, you know what the deal is with this UK ‘trap-wave’ type stuff, right? There’s a vaguely interesting synth loop drowned out by cheap percussion and crap bass mastering, as well as awfully processed vocals from everyone involved. They can trade verses, but more often than not don’t say anything that doesn’t embarrass themselves. You get a sense of really toxic masculinity, misogyny and materialism without any charm in their delivery, inflections or wordplay – which is usually non-existent. Here, it’s not any different. Yxng Bane has some good melodic flows – and I really like his line about his Rolex Presidential Watch being discontinued but since he’s “going Donald”, he wears it anyway – but he also threatens... presumably the listener with gay conversion therapy in the first line of the verse, so all good will’s lost. Nafe Smallz sounds better than usual but his nasal flow is still whiny and insufferable, and M Huncho is here to waste time and sound bad doing it, although he’s probably the least worst sounding vocally out of these three clowns. I misread his line about his rucksack being heavy as “nutsack”, and that’s all the positive engagement I could claw out of this. I ask this every time but honestly, who listens to this?

#21 – “Ready” – Fredo featuring Summer Walker

Produced by Mojam

Much like the end of a Morrisons sweet aisle, past this point, it’s all Fredo. Admittedly, I didn’t end up listening to the record but I have heard a select few songs, this being one of them, and I’m not really a fan. I do like the eerie loop but it seems a bit unfitting for a triumphant flex song emphasising a rags-from-riches narrative, especially since the mix really crushes both Fredo and Summer Walker in this blend of boring skittering trap percussion and the ambiance, making her hook impact a lot less. Fredo’s verses are pretty damn heartfelt, I’ll admit, and I really like his lines about pleading with God that he should be let into Heaven. In fact, Fredo’s bars are pretty consistently great, focusing on how his criminal past in the streets of London refuses to escape him despite his efforts to make it out using rap, and by the end, he sounds pretty defeated when he says, “Yeah, I’m lonely, but that’s just a player’s life”. Honestly, for a song that initially builds itself up to be a triumphant flex song, it ends up just being kind of sad, and that’s fine, more fitting for the instrumental but it really makes the hook feel even more out of place. Ah, well, the song’s fine, really, just a blend of ideas that never really stick the landing together.

#18 – “Burner on Deck” – Fredo featuring Pop Smoke and Young Adz

Produced by RicoRunDat and Yoz Beats

Now this is what I want from Fredo. Now, this is posthumous in Pop Smoke’s case but it’s far from an unexpected feature, as whilst this is one of his first UK drill collaborations, Pop Smoke was known for his pioneering of the New York style of London’s grittier, more menacing drill music, and even named Fredo and Young Adz as some of his favourite rappers. Okay, so he had questionable taste – I mean, Young Adz? - but Pop Smoke felt more of a connection between New York and London beyond just instrumentals, with a shared slang, street culture and arguably most importantly, inequality. This is all cited from a Complex interview, by the way, but you can tell even from his music what a great respect he had for British hip-hop, especially considering his main producer, 808 Melo, is from London. The song itself is pretty great too, relying on these spacey synth loops that build up with more eerie keys before finally crashing into an intense drill beat, with all artists sharing the Auto-Tuned hook, but Young Adz probably shining the most in how he plays off of Pop Smoke’s deeper, rich voice with his nasal whine. The lyrics may be generic gunplay and flexing, but the delivery saves it for me, with Fredo enthusiastically shouting out Gorillaz of all people, and the chorus being way smoother than it would usually be for a drill track, as well as being really catchy. Pop Smoke absolutely kills it here, going with his typical stiff, fast-paced flow for a verse that is really short but just as powerful as he usually delivers. You can tell this was made for this track as well from the interplay on the hook and him shouting out Young Adz in his verse. Fredo pretty much completes the second verse by chiming in and showing more of the charm I enjoy from him as he mentions coughing the bar before he coughs for basically an entire bar. It caught me off-guard at full listen and it still leads in perfectly to the oddly-mixed sombre piano that comes in for the final hook. With a better mix – and even then, it kind of works without it – and maybe some extended verses from both London and New York drill artists, this could bang even harder. Maybe for a remix, this beat could bring the best out of Swarmz, DigDat, AJ Tracey, Hardy Caprio, Tion Wayne, Fivio Foreign even... I could go on, this could be a great posse cut. As it is, it’s still pretty damn good, and again, rest in peace to the late Pop Smoke.

#3 – “Money Talks” – Fredo featuring Dave

Produced by Dave

At first, I was surprised this debuted at #3, which seems high for a British rap track, but then I remembered that the last time these guys collaborated on a single it debuted at #1 without an album attached, and it helped that “Funky Friday” is also a great song, admittedly something I didn’t think at the time. It does make perfect sense that this debuts so high, especially since this album was actually executively-produced by Dave, so given these guys’ track records together and alone, I did expect something great, and, well... okay, so instead of a drill beat as this pretty vocal sample would be fit for, as would the flows, we get a lightweight trap beat with odd vocal and bass mixing. Admittedly, the 808 slides here are pretty excellent, but that’s the only shred of intricacy I see here, which is usually commonplace in Dave’s production. There’s also simply not enough consistency or variety here to make it worth the four and a half minutes, with the chorus being awkward if anything. There’s less depth to the rags-to-riches stories here, with Fredo probably giving more commentary than Dave does, which seems odd but fitting for how checked-out Dave is here. There’s just a resounding lack of anything to this song other than a boring beat and performances that could be a lot sharper and interesting. Sure, Dave flexes his technical piano skill by the end but the beat had already run dry by about two extra minutes before that – this could have run through your second verse, Dave, or you could have added a bridge instead of repeating the chorus. I do like some of the lines here that are obviously more personal and introspective, like Fredo’s conflict with the justice system and Dave explaining how he got robbed when he was a child and to cope with the trauma of this, he started toting weapons. I guess the EastEnders reference is funny but it just reminds me of DigDat making a similar cocaine joke with arguably funnier source material on “Guten Tag”. Yeah, this could be a lot better but it’s not offensive and hey, it’s competent at least. I mean, it’s Dave, it won’t be anything less, just a tad disappointing. I mean, come on, “coochie freshly shaven, man’s got expectations”?

Conclusion

This week is so disproportionately male, huh? Ironically as I say that, none of the women represented here – in the form of soulless EDM production and boring guest feature – get Best of the Week, as that’s going to Fredo’s “Burner on Deck” featuring the late Pop Smoke and, yes, Young Adz, with an Honourable Mention to B Young of all people for “Ride for Me”. Worst of the Week will obviously go to Chip and Bugzy Malone for the pathetic “Grown Flex”, with a tied Dishonourable Mention this week going to both “Dancing on Ice” by Yxng Bane featuring Nafe Smallz (for being gross and offensive) and “Higher” by Clean Bandit featuring iann dior (for being remarkably inoffensive). Yeah, Brent Faiyaz and Tyler are safe there but that’s still a fascinatingly bad song, though I don’t think I’ll make any friends with that opinion. Anyway, here’s the top 10 for this week:

Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed and want more of my cacti-branded rambling, follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank. I can’t make any predictions for next week that aren’t depressing, but we may have to discuss death and politics next episode if a certain song gets renewed traction. Happy times. See you next week!

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neverwatchedtranformersg1 · 7 years

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05: Roll for it

Starscream is showing off his new leadership as they break into another human power thingy. Humans point guns at them, thinking it will somehow make a difference, like yeah lets fight the giant alien robots laser, and they call for help as they should have done at first.

Sonudwave is so fricking done.

The Bots come in and start kicking ass but Cliffjumper get his ass wupped instead. Prime takes down Starscream and Soundwave calls for a retreat. He then gets his ass wupped by Prowl and Bluestreak as Soundwave calls Starscream out for his shitty leadership skills.

Megatron calls all the way from Cyertron to say that Starscream is a shitty leader and tell them to attack the laboratory. Prety saying to keep doing what he was doing but now that Megatron says it everyhting thinks it is a good idea. Poor Starscream :-( Megatron then gets a ride back to Earth and everything is back to normal.

Is this what the kids call YAOI legs??

We got a new human! Yay! His name is Chip and he is in a wheelchair cause, you know, we need some diversities in the 80s.

Bee, Spike and Chip are for some reason going into the Lab that Megaton plans to rob and we see that camera Decepticon again, Reflector I think it was.

That mo-fo.

But no Chip is apart of the anti-matter formal that they needed (how smart is this kid???) Bee agrees that Chip is very pretty cause he is and they give him a disc that allow Chip to talk to the MC-Brainiact from home for some reason and they go home.

That is till Laserbeak starts shooting at them from the sky but they get away and call in the attack. Bee and Spike leave Chip unprotected by himself at his home as they leave. An while that just happened, Megatron demands the Cons attack the lab right now before the Bots get there.

However Starscream is distracting the Autobots at another warehouse where they are getting jets for spare parts. Blue and Prowl try to take them down but they are outnumbered and are getting their robo butts wupped.

Meanwhile Megatron and the boys are taking over the lab so the science guy (Doctor Alkazar) send to it to Chip for safe keeping. Megatron says he will find out who soon and buys some time.

Back to battle, Prowl gets hit and just out of pure luck calls Chip Chase on the phone and asks for help. Like he hooks up the a random computer and thinks that will help him??? And it does??? Chip answers and says he is resuming control now.

And then he starts flipping like there is not tomorrow.

How the frick this kid is smart enough to hatch into an Autobot and take control of his body which is as complicated (probably more so) as a humans with an 80s computer is beyond me.

But he did it and he is awesome (sorry spike).

Prowl appreciates the help and they get the upper hand in battle. They hot wire a jet and fire at the Cons. The Cons escape and I really like how Prowl compliments Chip

“Chip for a human being, you make one heck on an Autobot.”

Aww!

So Megaton send his possie to Chips to get the formal but Mother-Loving Chip here memorizes the whole damn thing?!?!? OKay!?!? You do that?!?! And he rips up the disc.

Ravage still takes the kid cause why the hell not and they leave.

The Bots finally get to the lab where the Cons are coming back with a captured Chip in their hands and are told if they do anything Chip is doomed. The Autos wait outside to make a plan

Indoors Soundwave is trying to mind read?? Chip with his hands I guess?

But it works and now the Cons knew how to make anti-matter.

Outisde Mirage and Hound are invisible and turn into a rock and sneak into the lab while fucking Bee just flies over.

You suck at look out Rumble.

So Auto bots sneak in just as Soundwave enters the code into the Master Computer. Megatron is amazed and they make the matter. Chip is attacked by Ravage and they start filling up the cups.

Mirage and Hound make a distraction as Bee and Spike go to save Chip. The Bots leave with Chip and tow and are escaping. So Prime goes in and fucking rams the entrance.

Yeah frick you wall.

But there is no fight cause the cubes are made and Megatron throws one like an idiot.

Nice job numb-nuts, y’all all dead.

But naw only the Bots are hurt and they retreat leaving the somehow okay Cons. Chip for some reason say this is his fault when he was the one kicking ass half this episode. Wheeljack says he can help in a thing and we go back to the Cons for five seconds before we find out what that is.

The computer Tellatran found the Cons and that they are coming over to their base. The Bots go out to fight and start kicking the Con’s ass in the sky.

Megatron is quick to use the anti-matter on himself and Scarscream uses Gunatron to shoot the Bots. For a lack of trust it is always Starscream that uses Megagun. Wonder why that is. Though he does call him an “Anti-matter gun”. Like he has a name Starscream.

Spike gets caught cause he thought he could take a Con down and Chip uses a computer override thing that Wheeljack gave him that lets Tellatran have control over Skywarp.

Also it turns out if you leaves that anti matter inside yourself too long then you will explode as Megatron explodes taking out his anti matter cubes.

And so with that the Cons retreat as they go there butts thoroughly wupped if I do say so myself.

Chips is giving the love and recognition he deserves and he is somehow surprised by this. Boy please, you have done more in this one episode than any other human has down in the past 5 episodes. (sorry spike)

My boy.

Anyway Megatron is pouting and it is a happy ending! Yay!

Autobots I learned: 19

Decpticons I learned: 10

#autobots #g1 #neverwatchedtransformersg1 #decepticon #transformers #episode 5 #season 1

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