Tag Archives: Jay electronica

I need your help

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It’s a brand new year everyone. Time to shake of the dust of 2015 and let your hair down.
If you don’t know, this blog is a one man show. I wake up, write whatever it is i’m gonna write then post it. Why? I have no idea. Some of you seem to like it and it definitely gives me something to do in the mornings before I eat.
Anyway, a big part of the blog (i refuse to call it a website) is give and take. For many of my reoccurring columns, I need you guys to participate. So, this post is basically a call to arms. In order for the blog to work…I need you guys.
Okay? Cool. Now , here’s where you help me.
I need things.
If you have any of the following things, you can email them to me at phatfriendblog@gmail.com of leave them in the comments section.

1)Ask Dr. Tony questions
If you got some problems in life that your shitty friends and family aren’t helping you with? Why not ask me? I’ll be honest and offer a new perspective. They can be about anything. Also, it’s always anonymous so don’t worry about your privacy being jeopardized.

2)Answers for questions
As always…i need these. Be creative. Be weird. think outside the box. And ask me literally anything. I’ve rejected maybe 3 questions over the last 6 years and only cause they were asking me to talk about other peoples personal lives.

3)Any ideas of things I should write about?
You think you got an idea that might work? throw it my way. Or, how about are you a person who’s into some weird shit that wants to be interviewed about it? Let’s talk. past interview subjects have been girls who fucked riff raff and guys who sucked their own dick. So, you know…I’m open to suggestions.

4)Demos
I write demo reviews. I need more to review. There are rules though.
1)The header on the email must say “Demo review”
2)If you’ve already submitted, DO NOT submit again. You had your fun now it’s other people’s turn. This includes producers working with new rappers.
3)Send me ONE SONG. Pick your song that is your favorite or the one that best exemplifies your music and shoot it over here. I’m not going to listen to your whole ep.
4)This time around, I’ll only be accepting songs that can be heard via a link. So, no loose mp3′s or myspace pages. I want soundcloud, bandcamp or you can even upload it to an upload site (like divshare.com, hulkshare ect…) that allows the songs to stream. Basically, the streaming part is crucial. If this is something you cannot do, you probably shouldn’t be sending me music in the first place. I also accept youtube video links but, seriously, how you gonna have that be your only form of streaming music online. Soundcloud is free. just sign up and put a song up there.
5)Demo MUST contain original production. I don’t want mixtapes of you rapping over other peoples tracks. I want actual songs. About once a week, I review something only to find out it’s some rare madlib track the person jacked. If you send me something, I want it to 100% be made by you. Sampling is sampling but taking another person finished rap beat and calling it your own is not okay.
6)budding producers: don’t just send me some random beat you made. I want a finished product. If your shit is called “Untitled beat” I will throw it right in the trash. If you made a beat but it’s just drums and a loop, i don’t want it. i want something you’d consider a song that can stand on it’s own. A rap beat with a subtle change does not a song make.

That’s about it for the rules. But there’s more…You must also accept that I will be reviewing your music honestly. I don’t know you. You aren’t my homeboy. I may write some shit you don’t wanna hear/accept. Just know it’s possible you will not be happy with the review. Butthurt responses will be clowned on properly. Trust me, I’m as familiar with internet criticism as any person who makes music for a living. It sucks but it’s part of the deal. After all, you’re sending me your music so I can review it. what else do you expect? By submitting, you’re pretty much agreeing to possibly being let down.
It should also be noted that , genre wise, I’m a rap guy. I like rap music. This can work both for and against you people sending me rap as I will be highly critical of it but there’s also a chance I might actually like it. If it were up to me, I’d ONLY review rap demos. Where as with other genres (particularly instrumental music and electronic type shit) I don’t really listen to that kinda stuff. Feel free to send it but just know my ceiling of enjoyment for that kind of music is typically pretty low. Ironic, I know…but it’s the reality of things.

That’s about it. This blog is a labor of love but I’d be lying if I said i wasn’t running out of content. If you’re a faithful reader or even a casual reader…throw me a bone so I can keep this going. If nothing else, i give you something to read while taking a shit and that has value in this world, goddamnit.

Is it too late for Jay Electronica?

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It’s rare that old rap heads get excited about new rap nowadays. It’s even more rare when that excitement is a rapper who might actually be relevant in todays musical landscape. When I first heard Jay Electronica, my initial reaction was “What’s up with this corny name?”. It sounded like an EDM producer from a third world country. But when I heard the raps, I felt something I hadn’t in a long time. There was something about Jay’s voice, flow and lyrics that took me back. They made me get the same feeling I would , back in the day, after I would buy cassettes at Disc-o-rama on west 4th street. I’d come home , Throw down my book bag, put a tape into the cassette player and just let it run. While it played, i’d meticulously go through the liner notes. Reading the production credits, looking at the artwork and checking the shout outs to see who this group/rapper knew. This was a time when i was a teenager and everything was exciting. Especially rap music. Flash forward 20 years and it’s a different story. I don’t listen to albums like that any more. I can’t. I got shit to do. At best, I’ll throw it in my Ipod and walk around with it and catch he whole thing over the course of a few weeks. Even then, I’ll get 20 seconds into a track, decide I’m not into it and skip it. Between aging and technology, it’s simply a different ball game.
So, when I heard Jay Electronica (this was probably 5 years ago at this point), it hit a nerve. He was a rapper who was clearly from my era of rap fans (IE he was old) BUT he had an edge that didn’t make him sound like a revivalist. One song in and I wanted to know everything about him. Since liner notes were not an option, I turned to the internet which is like liner notes for earth. A little research and I found Jay had a few mixtapes (which I quickly downloaded). He had enough material to really dig into. One would almost think , at that point, you were dealing with a prolific artist. And that’s a funny concept once you get familiar with Jay Electronica.
Since that time, it would appear Jay has hit a wall. Not of creativity but of production. After dropping stellar mix tapes and loose tracks in short period of time, he finally got the attention he deserved. Puffy, nas and Jay-Z all were knocking on his door. He did songs with two of them eventually. Word was he signed to Defcon records. Then word was he signed to The Roc (Jay-z’s label) and that’s where the trail went cold. Electronica started to become the Andre 3000 of underground rap. Every fan begging for an album…or even a song, but nothing. Every now and then, out of nowhere, he’d drop a song that would remind us all of why we desperately wanted new material but, as quick as that song would come, he would vanish into thin air with only a faint promise of “The album drops soon, guys…”.
There was even gossip going around. He was with Erykah Badu AKA the hip hop baby factory but then he was supposedly having an affair with a married woman from the insanely rich Rothchild family. There was talk of him being a drunk and having a terrible work ethic. All the while, he was supposedly working on his solo album “Act II: Patents of Nobility” for Roc nation records. There was even a leaked tracklisting that may or may not have been real. Then I heard that the album was done, Jay-z loved it, but was sitting on it cause it didn’t have any hits. Which seemed counterproductive to anyone familiar with Electronica’s music. He’s not a guy who makes hits. He’s a tried and true rapper. Trying to milk him for success isn’t in the cards for him. He’s a dude who will much sooner have 20,000 devoted fans than 1,000,000 people who’ve even heard of him, like one song but really have no opinion o him outside of that.
So, with all this push and pull, Jay’s fans are seemingly left in a strange position. It’s like an abusive relationship. We love this person but they just keep disappointing us. For every gentle kiss on our forehead, there’s a back handed slap to the face and the door slamming behind them that follows it. My question, for fans of Jay, is it too late? Can he still make an album that you want to check out? Personally, I’m a forgiving person and , more than anything, the quality of the songs he’s released has no waned. He may drop one song a year but I’ll be damned if that song isn’t great.
So, last week, a new song of his leaked “Road to perdition” and, surprise, it’s really good.
Here that it:
Road to Perdition
http://www78.zippyshare.com/v/OrWNPEb1/file.html
Also, I put together a folder of some of my favorite songs of his so, to the uninitiated , this could be a good starting point for you:
http://www78.zippyshare.com/v/cw02YdXU/file.html

But I ask you, Is it too late for this guy? Answer the poll (you can pick more than one answer, btw)…

Which song do you prefer?

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I’m always a proponent of old rappers doing good. In the last few weeks 3 legends and one highly regarded old rapper who still hasn’t released an album, released duets that I think deserve some attention. In this corner…
We have Black Thought and Pharoahe Monch. This is a cut off of Monch’s New album “Psdt”.
Monch is pretty much every rap nerd and rapper from the 90’s favorite MC. If not favorite, he’s top ten easily. There is no denying his skill set. While his solo albums never really had the same impact as his work with Organized Konfusion, there’s no denying his place amongst the upper echelon of rappers. Black thought is right there with him. Now, truth be told, he’s not a rapper I particularly love. I think he’s kinda boring BUT the dude is as skilled as rapper as it gets. It’s a moot point. He’s got every base of technical rapping down to science. Here’s the track:

In the other corner…
We have Jay-Z and Jay Electronica. Now, if you’re dipshit, you think Jay-z sucks. I’m speaking in the all-time sense. I’ll be the first to admit that Jay hasn’t made shit in a while that I loved but to deny his legacy is short sighted and , simply, flat out wrong. You may not like his topical range (People that claim this have obviously over looked his huge collection of introspective songs he’s done over the years) but his track record is impeccable. As for Jay Electronica, he’s a guy I’ve been touting for years now but he’s also a guy who can’t fucking put an album out. I’ve heard rumors as to why…one being that his album is finished but won’t be put out cause it lacks any sort of radio singles. If that’s the case, it’s pretty annoying…but he’s not the first or last to fall victim to that kinda shit. Anyway, this song is them rapping like Migos over a dope track. Also, Jay-Z disses Drake. No clue why and I honestly don’t care. It’s a good song though.

So, which do you prefer? which of these all 35 plus year old rappers do you ride for? I have a feeling I know who’s gonna win this but , hey, I’ve been surprised before. Get your vote on…

Yay or Nay? This new Mac Miller/Jay Electronica song

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Hmm…Something weird is going on with Mac miller. I’ve never been a fan of him and I don’t see that changing anytime soon…but something is evolving with him lately. First he does a drugged out song with Earl (This joint) and now he does this strange song with Jay Electronica. You can say one thing for the kid, he’s got good taste in rappers and enough money and/or connections to make songs with them happen. Wait, that’s two things. anyway…
So, the weirdness that’s going on is that Mac has been doing this thing where he raps with really good rappers and ends up trying to sound like them on the track. While this is a little corny of him, it’s also made him a much more listenable rapper. Only problems are that
a)He’s still Mac Miller
b)His flow may change (for the better) to suit whatever rapper he’s paired with but his actual rhymes are still pretty worthless.
That said, at least he’s embracing getting weird, which I always support. I don’t know the kid at all and don’t wanna speculate but it sounds like he’s doing a ton of drugs and that’s changing the way he approaches music. Honestly, it’s worked for others…might not be the worst idea for him.
Oh, did I mention the elusive Jay Electronica is on this? I’m a big fan and him killing it is not shocking. This one is right up his alley and he seems to be right where he wants to be on the track.
So, I’m curious, what do you think of this song? It definitely caught me off guard. Also, please be honest and don’t take my opinion on this song as I’m leading you. I’m actually curious if , perhaps, this song is just straight up good and I’m being too hard of Mac miller. If you like this (or him), don’t be shy. Perhaps he’s turned a corner and I refuse to admit it. It’s not impossible.

Jay Electronica mix

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I don’t suppose a somewhat hip hop themed blog can exist nowadays without having some sort of Jay Electronica mixtape. Well, I’m not different in a few ways.
For one, I’m a huge fan of the guy. In a time when 95% of the new music being made is complete and utter bullshit and/or the work of hacks, J.E. brings something that all of us old heads can appreciate. Good rapping. Non-pretentious yet original sounding rap music. To me, He’s like a blend of MF doom and Nas but from the south No, he’s not going to change rap music as we know it, but he is gonna at least push it in the right direction going forward. Hopefully to a place where talent, thoughtfulness , creativity and intelligence are no longer frowned upon by the majority of hip hop listeners. Unlikely, but we can hope, can’t we?
Secondly, We’ve all got our favorite joints and what some other blog may love, might not be my shit and vice versa. I just wanna put in my two cents.
It’s always funny for me to come across people , who are still somewhat engaged in today’s hip hop scene , who hate on this dude. It blows my mind , really. When asked why , they usually shrug and list of other mc’s out now equally worthy of praise. The problem is, those mc’s they’re listing are usually mediocre at best and won’t be around in a year. When i first heard of him, like many others, I was extremely put off by his name. It sounded like a Euro house DJ to me. But once I gave the dude a chance, I was a huge fan. Hopefully, if you’re in the same boat as I was, this little mix will help sway your mind.
So, here’s a bunch of songs by Jay that I love. I omitted “Exhibit C” cause everyone knows that song by now and there no point to really put anyone on to that.
Enjoy:
http://www.mediafire.com/?q1ljlp1h4l31fxq
1)Exhibit A (transformations)
2)Departure
3)Exhibit B (feat. Mos Def)
4)Retro Electro
5)So what you sayin’
6)Bitches and drugs
7)Something to hold on to
8)Dealing
9)Dimethyltriptamine
10)Extra extra
11)My World (Nas salute)
12)A prayer for Michael Vick
13)Eternal Sunshine
14)The ghost of Christopher Wallace (feat. Puffy)