theslushpuppy

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AT LONG LAST A$AP

Rocky’s debut mixtape ‘live.love.asap’ introduced the world to his affinity for southern cloud rap. Then when he released his debut commercial album ‘long live asap’ he proved he could satisfy the masses with mainstream success. ‘At Long Last Asap’ has rocky welding these two elements, all the while improving on his technical ability and lyrics. Its a tricky alchemy, but A$AP does it - this album is an overlooked masterpiece.

Holy Ghost - with an amazing rock sample, Rocky effortlessly weaves in and out of intricate flows on a track all about his internal conflict with religion. A perfect opener.

Canal Street - has Rocky reflect on his rough early days, to the other side of the success spectrum where he becomes the Rocky we know today, the fashionable charismatic rapper. This song features one of my favourite hooks thats irresistibly catchy.

Fine whine - At first I wasn’t a fan of this track, but after multiple listens its become one of my favourite A$AP Rocky songs. Coating his voice with the cloud rap style he used to adorn, the classic pitched down Rocky voice describes his bad drug and relationship habits. Its gloomy and self loathing, drowning in a muddy soundscape, then MIA and Future come in with beating drums for added toxic energy.

L$D - the lead single to this album that surprised all his fans - Rocky singing? On this track he wore his influences on his sleeve, where he trades in cocky lyrics, fast flows and banging beats for shoe gaze indie rock. A big risk that payed off, its one of his most successful songs to date, and you can understand why. The dreamy production is sublime and has rocky sounding angelic.

Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2 - Oh shit, open up the mosh pits. This grimy, incendiary beat begs to be blared loud. It’s an underground banger, nothing more, nothing less.

Jukebox Joint’s - 2 for 1. Two different but complimentary soul samples pieced together with a beat switch. Rocky effortlessly cruises through both with some great internal rhyme schemes, ‘Flacko, where your ass been? Heard you done with fashion, now yo' ass is acting” I'm tripping off the acid, now yo' ass is looking massive.’ In the next verse he says: ‘Call my Prada prior, cause it's dropping next fall, don’t you short the next ball, my closet like the met ball.’ These brags just roll off the tongue.

Pharsyde - the chorus from Joe Fox, delicately introduces us to the rumbling bass - the beat is dark and psychedelic, but rocky commands the song with his best performance ever. Of all time. It features intricate flows, laced with themes of violence, poverty and gentrification. Rocky is rarely this type of rapper, even though he should be because he does it so well. I love the opening lines to his second verse: ‘Gentrification split the nation that I once was raised in, I don't recall no friendly neighbours face on my upraising, back in my younger days or razor blades with gangs who bang and never stood a chance, some boys don't dance, but left 'em Harlem shaking.’

M$ - another banger, great production with dribbling drums and warped synths. Again rocky shows of his technical ability with comple flows and internal rhymes: ‘Me and Yams made the plan, then I paid myself and I gave myself advance, way before I became myself, I’d like to thank myself because I made myself the man.’ Later in the verse he’s skipping over the beat, bragging how ‘my neck is gold, the rest is froze, sex and hoes, best of both, girls and girls, perpetual, sippin’ slow, Texas throwed, comma, I'm about decimals.’

With these tracks and all the ones in-between, Rocky displays his artistry like a curator piecing his favourite sounds together - adding this and a splash of that. He doesn’t just utilise the cloud rap sound he came up on or follow mainstream popularity, instead he exudes his own distinct personality.

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Ethereal Electronic Gems

Listen to these low key tracks and vibe:

The Chemical Brothers - Wide Open 

Evenings - Friend (lover)

Little Dragon - Ritual Union 

Jamie XX - Sleep Sound

SBTRKT - Hold On 

[theslushpuppy]

5 Best 1975 Songs:

Milk - a single about cocaine abuse that never made it on an album, ‘milk’ features some of my favourite lyrics from Matty like “straight lines, they unwind you,” to his trademark conversational style like ‘she does a little thing with her eyes that says, "We're off soon;” and ‘she said, "I'm no fun if you've only a bottle of wine.” When the chorus kicks in I'm doing my best Healy impression shouting “now she's doing it all the time” over a killer guitar lead.

Give Yourself A Try - One of the best 1975 riffs, that shimmers in effects. Its an intoxicating rock song that calls you to your feet, or at the very least deserves a head bop. The lyrics also serve as a witty update on Matty’s life from his ‘spiritual enlightenment’ to how ‘whiskey never starts to taste nice.’ With all things considered, he’s telling us to ‘give yourself a try’ - we’re hearing some of the lessons he’s learnt, now go and learn your own, fuck it.

Paris - man I was pissed when they didn't play this at their Latitude 2016 set. Like ‘milk,’ well, like a lot of 1975 songs, it features characters abusing drugs; but with ‘Paris’ the mixture of the dream pop instrumental and Matty's sleepy delivery makes some of his best lyrics easily overlooked - “She had to leave because she couldn't hack it, not enough noise and too much racket.”

A Change Of Heart - I was going to put ‘robbers’ or ‘the city’ on the list, but since ‘change of heart’ references both in a sort of sequel to their lyrics I thought I’d be economical. This woozy electronic track has some of my favourite production from them, where the interlude sounds like a choir of adorable robots.

I Always Wanna Die Sometimes - a gut wrenching tale of pessimism. It builds cinematically, then ascends with a soaring string arrangement and heavenly vocals. It sounds like 90’s britpop, but with 1975 lyrics: I always wanna die, sometimes. Delicately simple, and oh so relatable.

[theslushpuppy]

Lullabies 

Songs to drift asleep to:

The Velvet Underground - Pale Blue Eyes

Devendra Banhart - Won’t You Come Home

The White Stripes - We’re Going To Be Friends

Mazzy Star - Fade Into You

Ariel Pink - Baby

Cigarettes After Sex - Dreaming Of You

Outkast featuring Norah Jones - Take Off Your Cool

Elliot Smith - Behind The Bars

Beach House - Wildflower

[theslushpuppy]

Skepta - Konnichiwa 

The soundtrack to my first year of sixth form, I would blare this constantly. Like many, I was introduced to Skepta with the mainstream success of ‘that’s not me’ and ‘shutdown.’ From there I delved into his previous works, (blacklisted and microphone champion need a shout out) realised what i was missing and was absolutely hyped for Konnichiwa. When it dropped i wasn’t disappointed, its literally banger after banger.

Lyrics ft novelist: “CALM, CALM LYRICS FOR LYRICS CALM” Skepta started out clashing other grime MC’s in freestyle battles. ‘Lyrics’ has him in his element, recalling his hey days of going “lyrics for lyrics” and how he ascended into the biggest artist in grime.

Corn on the Curb: There really isn’t anything like skepta production. The drum sample is eerie, the synth lead sounds like a lorry reversing on mars, and the 808’s are muddy and sticky. Skepta is doing his thing, talking about being the king and kicking down doors. His flow switch ups make the song dynamic - I love the line “i don’t wanna like I don’t want a follow, diss me today, link me tomorrow.”

Crime Riddim: Using a genius sample of an iPhone ringtone, Skepta tells us about the day in the life of a London dealer, and features one of his best hooks. I’m living the dangerous life vicariously through his no nonsense lyrics.

It Ain’t Safe: This song makes me want to hold up a Premier convenience store. Its murky, harsh, and well, grimy. It features that particular rumbling bass common in Skepta production, whilst A$AP Bari recites how you shouldn’t cross anyone in this neighbourhood. Skepta is barking at us - I love the lines ‘packs, I sold, had them buzzing on the road, crack residue in the buttons on my phone, black leather boots when I run into your home.’

Ladies Hit Squad: My favourite beat on the album, its like some sort of underwater dream, a party in Atlantis. At first I wasn’t a big fan of A$AP Nast and D Double E on this record, but after multiple listens i’m now singing along to ‘the swag swag’.

Detox: My favourite song on the album, I can’t tell you how many tines i’ve listened to this over the years. Featuring the BBK crew, they all colourfully reminisce of their lives as teenagers, the wild parties, the dreams of success. The production boosts every verse, and Kkepta commands each one of his crew members like the captain of a ship.

[theslushpuppy]

Snail Mail (Lindsey Jordan) for The Last Magazine

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Outkast - She Lives In My Lap

From Andre 3000’s the love below. This song is eclectic, electric and hectic. Theres layers upon layers of varying sounds from the atmospheric swirls, to synth notes, to the glorious electric guitar. It charts Andre’s fixation on the perfect girl that he’s got running in circles over his commitment issues.

[theslushpuppy]

5 Best Vampire Weekend Songs:

Hannah Hunt - whip smart lyrics about a cross country road trip thats really a metaphor for a failing relationship. Lines like ‘I walked into town, to buy some kindling for the fire, Hannah tore the New York Times up into pieces’ symbolises attempting to reignite the flame of their relationship, as if using kindling, furthermore using New York Times as kindling is a double entendre on their times in New York together. I also love the chorus ‘though we live on the US dollar, you and me, we got our own sense of time’ which translates to how time is money but now their time is spent separately, also intelligently ‘U.S.’ could also be an abbreviation for us, as well as ‘sense’ also meaning ‘cents’ which fits in with the time is money metaphor. Not to mention that the instrumental at 2:40 is gorgeous.

Obvious Bicycle - all about losing hope and feeling lost in life, I'm sure we can all relate to this at some pointing our lives. Amazing production with a pounding drum sample, Ezra’s high pitched vocals for the chorus telling us to listen is heavenly. I love the line ‘you ought to spare your face the razor because no one’s gonna spare their time for you’ its poignant and tragic and is exactly the type of thing you tell yourself when you wake up and don’t give a shit.

White Sky - a complete exercise in the brilliance of Ezra’s vocals, its backed by plucking synths and dribbling drums.

Campus - this song is so evocative for me, I remember when I first started university and i’d play this every morning walking through campus, I mean, its the perfect song for it. Little did I know it would be creating some strange Pavlovian response where whenever I hear it now, I'm suddenly 19 years old walking around university.

Walcott - I love the instrumentation of this song. The happy go lucky piano leads to the layered violin bridge, then the explosive jaggedy guitar and beating drums. It sounds so delightful you wouldn’t realise its premise is essentially a spin off of ‘The Lost Boys.’

[theslushpuppy]

Kali Uchis - In My Dreams

This upbeat song was produced by Gorrillaz and imagines the trauma and difficulties of Kali’s life dissipating in dreams of paradise. Personal lyrics like ‘my mama's never on coke, this isn't my way to cope’ hints at her childhood anguish, and tragic coping mechanisms. The thought experiment meanders around all type of absolved pain in life like relationships where ‘he's never messing around, he's always holding it down, he’s my dream boy.’ The Damon Albarn bridge lends itself perfectly to both Kali and his band, with the line “the moments we are happiest, are the moments we don’t exist.”

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[theslushpuppy]

Childish Gambino - LES 

THE BEST Childish Gambino song, fight me. All about the the hipster girls of New York that are his kryptonite, clever word play is effortlessly on display over a melancholy violin sample. The opening line ‘A New York nine's an everywhere else six, timewise, the opposite goes for chicks’ is easily missed, but is actually a clever way of saying 9:00pm in New York is still considered “early”, as 6:00pm everywhere else is, however, a girl who is considered a 6 in New York would be a 9 anywhere else. When Gambino says “I’m a mess, that don’t rhyme with shit, its just true” its bloody genius in context of the verse. To quote genius, ‘from the start of the song, Gambino uses AABB rhyme pattern, but he breaks this patterns with the line “I’m a mess” which doesn’t rhyme with anything in the verse (it doesn’t even follow the lyrical beat). So he’s saying that the line doesn’t fit with the rest, he put it there only because it’s true.’

[theslushpuppy]

When Thugs Cry

Sad love songs from heartbroken rappers:

Travis Scott -  Impossible

21 Savage - Ball w/o you

XXXtentacion ft Trippie Redd - Fuck love 

Drake - Marvin’s room 

Lil Uzi Vert - XO tour life 

Who hurt these rappers? Idk but thanks.

[theslushpuppy]

Best Movie Soundtracks

Waves - what an unbelievably good soundtrack. I’ve never seen hip hop meld so well into a film. ‘IFHY’ by Tyler the Creator perfectively encompasses the feelings of the angry rejected teenager in the film. ‘I am a god’ by Kanye absolutely pounds the speakers as the main character speeds down the highway to reek havoc, the industrial bass adds to the intensity of the scene ten fold. ‘Ghost’ by Kid Cudi is playing at a house party where the main character, yes, feels like a ghost. Its a bit on the nose but the songs so good I don’t care. The film is also peppered in with amazing RnB from Frank Ocean to SZA. Wow.

Almost Famous - this 70s rock film features the best of 70s rock music. The southern rock classic ‘simple man’ by Lynard Skynard encapsulates the very complicated lives of the band members travelling the road on tour. ‘That’s the way’ by Led Zeppelin is my favourite Led Zeppelin song so thanks whoever put that in. My favourite scene in the film, in which the fragmented band are all on the tour bus with their crew, all come together to sing ‘tiny dancer’ by Elton John. It’s heartfelt and lends itself so well to an incredible song.

Juno - the Kinks, Belle and Sebastian, the Velvet Underground and Mott the Hoople. This movie has gems littered throughout, and the Kimya Dawson contributions with the Mouldy Peaches are excellent. ‘So nice so smart’ and ‘tire swing’ are cute yet poignant, and ‘anyone else but you’ is just plain adorable.

500 Days of Summer - the movie that put me onto the Smiths as a teenager, thank you. This soundtrack features the amazing ‘sweet disposition’ by the Temper Trap which perfectly accompanies the train scene. Regina Speckor provides two songs, one uplifting, one devastating both perfectly in sync with the scenes they score. Also Simon and Garfunkal and the Pixies? Come on now.

Adventureland - Just like heaven by The Cure, yes. Don't dream its over by Crowded House, yes. Unsatisfied by The Replacements, yes. Pale blue eyes by The Velvet Underground, god yes.

Submarine - if this movie was a baby, Alex turner is cradling it in his arms and singing it lullabies to sleep. Its perfect, every song is beautiful in its own right, but when spliced with Richard Ayoade’s amazing direction, its a match made in heaven.  

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Only a minute and 19 seconds? Really frank?

Even though I think of this song every time I put on my CDG jacket, its deeper than just referencing fashion like his peers. Comme des garçons translated means ‘like boys’, so when he repeats ‘feelings come, feelings go’ and shouts out the brand after, he’s really taking about lost love. Feelings come feelings go, like boys.