Municipal Split Shorts Collective

- Matt Duelka

Give the drummer some.

The first record I ever purchased was Black Milk’s ‘Album of the Year’. I cannot tell you the reason why I did so.

The first record I can remember dropping the needle on was Black Milk’s ‘Popular Demand’. Was it actually the first record I had ever played on a table, maybe not. But there’s at least a 34% chance Black Milk owns some solid (record) firsts in my life.

I gave the drummer some.

For anyone that knows me, I have some strong opinions. And I’m stubborn, QUITE stubborn, about them. Whether or not they are 100% right? Not important.

Exhibit A -  I’m knee deep in a fiery  conversation one random college weekend, and the topic of hip hop music – or more specifically hip hop production – is up for debate. Sure, It’s easy to talk about J Dilla, Preemo, and Pete Rock, but I’m not always about that easy life.

Him - “Top 5 dead or alive…who you got?”

Hard to just list a top 5 on the spot, especially with someone I just met (‘I don’t know you like that, man.”). But I was feeling feisty and figured I could have some fun with it to see we could get some real discussion going.

Me - “I’d put Black Milk in there.”

Him – “Who the fuck is Black Milk? Nah bro, get out of here.”

Well that conversation ended quickly. I wouldn’t mind some more supported reasoning to the immediate dissension, but I quickly realized the fun I wanted to have just wasn’t able to be had with this one.

Black Milk was a protégé of the late J Dilla. A Detroit native, Black Milk didn’t try and mimic the Dilla sound though. He wanted his own path – but wanted to also memorialize Dilla through his music. Black Milk’s main asset were the drums. Boombastic at times, funky at others, always appetizing.

But is Black Milk actually a Top 5, Dead or Alive? On some days, why not?

I don’t hand out awards, no one lets me have that kind of authority. Because I generally don’t represent a majority opinion. But do have some words that might help sway the ones that do.

The record before ‘AOTY’ was a 2008 jam called ‘Tronic’. This was the album that shined a spotlight over Black Milk for me. At a time when popular producers were going heavy on popular music, Black Milk went heavy on what he knew (born from the Slum Village family) but took it up a level. Or maybe ‘Up’ is the wrong word. Black Milk definitely has his influences, but he’s his own sound – I won’t say better but definitely unique. I can always pick out a Black Milk beat out of a lineup.

It probably has to do with the hours and hours and hours and hours of time listening to Black Milk back in 2008, or specifically one of the greatest rap songs ever made (EVER?). Come at me if you want, but “Losing Out” by Black Milk featuring Royce Da 5’ 9” is a track that few have been able to match. I knew it after the first listen. It’s a battle track between Black Milk and Royce (A very well thought out, well produced, and very scripted battle track) but a verse vs verse nonetheless. And nothing against Black Milk’s lyrical prowess (he’s a good rapper, not the best, and definitely a better producer if we were to compare skill sets) but stepping up to Royce was never going to go well. You can only do so much against a rapper who has one of the best deliveries in the game today.

The sample, though, on the track is where Black Milk really stands out. Let Royce take the mic and run, don’t worry about that, Black. The way he speeds up the sample and cuts in the drums…yum. “You da real MVP.” I find myself humming and singing along to the sample more than I recite any of the bars – so you can call that a victory, Black. It’s from a song called “Let’s Talk About Me” by The Alan Parsons project. If you listen to the original, the first thought you should is have is “What in the hell was Black Milk thinking when he found this and said – Yep, this is gonna make this track SLAP.” But did it ever.

Got 'em talking bout Who's that rap dude that master soul clap move When messing with the boom bap boom

Along with “Losing Out”, the album included “Bounce”, “The Matrix”, and “Try” – a finely tuned herd of lively tracks that I just never got sick of. Less than 2 years later, when word of this album makes it’s way through the stratosphere, I was hyped. Without any overhype from any other source (well, besides the name of the album, of course), I wanted this album to be GREAT.

I get it, press play, and quickly realize this isn’t an overly confident Black Milk declaring this is the greatest album of the year (it was  most likely a double meaning, but moreso that this is an album about the last 365 days). But it could be?

I think every track had me saying “Oh, this goes” at least once. “Round of Applause” has a fantastic array of drum and horn fixtures. “Warning” makes you want to just swing your body around – back and forth – with a drink in one hand and a fist in the other. “Gospel Psychedelic Rock” is a top tier head bopper with a pleasant sing-along chorus. “Welcome” showcases a ton of Black Milk’s raw rapping ability. And “Black and Brown” really is just off the charts with the Danny Brown inclusion (they went “in” so successfully that the two of them recorded a joint album by the same name in 2011). And I can go on, but…

But you know, with “Losing Out” engrained in my membrane, I was searching for the “sequel” if you will. I wanted an all-timer. It’s a lot to ask for, but I’m a greedy bitch sometimes. I wanted a track that could walk up to the house that “Losing Out” resided in, knock on the door, be welcomed on in for a drink, and hold his own in a conversation. That’s what I wanted.

Track 5. Right in the bread basket of the album. Royce is back. Another Slum Village star Elzhi joins in for some fun.

“You can't take the heat, get yo' ass out the kitchen Matter-fact, take yo' ass back in there and wash the dishes”

“Deadly Medley” has entered the chat.

It’s a lyrical showcase backed by a foray of drums and a hard guitar riff. Instead of a battle, I’d call it more of a rap soiree. The 3 rappers each shine in their verse, and it’s even fair to say that Royce was OUTshined by the “Syllable Scientist” Elzhi. On his verse he left no-hinge un-blowed-off.

Clap the matic; I'll flip like an acrobatic Slap fanatics with murderous rap mechanics I'm worth pay, pockets go green like it was Earth Day That's why I blow cake like it's my birthday

Black Milk also utilities a great sample in his foundation of the beat, Blackrock’s “Yeah Yeah”, and even though the way he flipped the sample on “Losing Out” I enjoyed a lot better, the overall feel of this track’s production seems more polished. And not just this song – the entire album. I could literally listen to this song forever.

Black Milk took the time to step his game up and deliver an incredibly well-rounded album of the year candidate with ‘AOTY’. He also was able to deliver a second all-timer for me. Two top tracks in top consecutive albums.

But is Black Milk actually a Top 5, Dead or Alive? Quite possibly.

After ‘AOTY’, Black Milk gifted us with eight more albums/EPs. Eight. Sure, sure, sure, quality over quantity, but none these albums fell short, or were released just for the sake of it. ‘No Poison, No Paradise (2013)’ infused a more jazz/soul vibe and also incorporated more live band elements than the previous works. It also was an album that had a linear story to tell – no shuffling allowed. ‘If There’s a Hell Below (2014)’ showcased more of his production, and definitely let the songs breathe more – instead attacking the drums with rap verse after rap verse. His production should generally always take front and center to his rapping – but this album it was more apparent. ‘Fever (2018)’ gave us his most eccentric array of influences – taking pieces from funk, jazz, electronic, and well, DE-TWAH RAW (That’s Detroit raw in French). It’s a modern-day George Clinton raw funk feel – a guttural Tribe Called Quest vibe. More thumping bass guitar than banging bass drum.

I saw Black Milk in 2018 at a half Record Shop/half Music Venue in Brooklyn (of course). He was on his ‘Fever’ tour. I was in the second row and yelled to play “Losing Out”. He looked at me and said “Well without Royce it ain’t that hot” and I respected that from him. He played it anyway and it’ll live as a top concert going moment in my life. He performed with a live band and he had 3 keyboards and one small drum to himself. He conducted the “orchestra” for the entire set. No guests came out. It was the best show I saw that year.

- Elizabeth DeLong

I'm 5'2". I'm not built for general admission concerts/music festivals. Sometimes I want to sit down. I don't like being pushed around by other short people also vying for sightlines. I don't like the fullness that seems to last days longer in my ears, compared to others'. When I was a tween I asked to go to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas spectacular and just about died. It was three hours of sensory overload. Constant lasers and distorted guitar. Don't know how I didn't see it coming. At the very least, I had a seat the whole time, but I couldn't hear for days.

In 2010, with 10+ years to forget about TSO, my boyfriend (now husband and fellow Splitshort-er) brought me to CMJ Showcase Duck Down Records 15 Year Anniversary Tour at Le Poisson Rouge (now known as LPR apparently). The show didn't start until after 10pm, I couldn't see a thing, and I fell asleep standing up somewhere between 2 and 3am.

Sounds like I should be disqualified from writing an album review (if you can call it that), let alone Big Boi's ‘Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty’ in its entirety. So, I'll keep it brief and mention two tracks that I like. Is there a word for someone who likes an artist but only for their catchy singles? In a somewhat similar vein, I also walk into stores and buy entire outfits off a mannequin because it’s easy and must look nice to the masses. That kind of marketing really works on me I guess. Very rarely do I listen to albums top to bottom, and I for sure haven't done a deep dive into Big Boi's discography aside from a burned copy of ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below’ from my friend's CD binder (Thanks, Anna). Like everyone else in 2003, I thoroughly enjoyed "The Way You Move" and "Hey Ya!" so I think it makes sense then that I gravitated to "Shutterbugg", the lead single off ‘SLLF’.  Turns out I really like the vocoder (or talk box?). I put it on our "Must Play List" for our wedding. "Shutterbugg" is followed by "General Patton," and given my history of sensory overload, I shouldn't make it past the first 10 seconds. There are horns and opera and then you get blasted with bass and Atlanta rap. It is glorious. 

- Tim Shea

Imagine being there. Imagine being there for the first single. ‘I'm losing my edge……’

Imagine having that song speak to how you felt about the current landscape of nightlife and music and parties. That was in 2002. Imagine being that fucking old. James Murphy is that old. He's older than that actually. He's seen everything. And he's seen it before you and I. So much so that he has made a career out of what he has seen. His first single came after kicking around the scene for over a decade, and it simply spoke to how jaded and experienced he was. Eight years and three albums later, in 2010, he still was the IT BOI. Much was made of how it was his and his band’s (LCD Soundsystem) last album. The act had been around for less than a decade, and at its climax, warranted a live studio session and a farewell tour chronicled in both album and movie fashion. 

We now know there was a lot left in the tank.

In the fall of 2010, I was driving from Rochester,NY to Boston,MA to visit my girlfriend, with a brief layover in Hadley,MA to sort out my pickup truck’s bed cover. My good friend was riding along to see her better friend, but we both were lamenting over the fact we never found ourselves at a house party where only LCD Soundsystem was played. But maybe I had, and I didn’t realize…. (Granted, I drunkenly danced around to “Daft Punk At my House” for some silly project for a roommate years before, but the genius and glory of Murphy was lost on me until ‘This Is Happening’).

 I probably didn’t even really like the album that much on the first listen. Unrelenting kick drum, cowbell that was ironic and unurinic all at once, synths stretched to the MAX and the rambling musings; how could you not understand my lack of immediate infatuation. I might have even preferred Kid Cuid’s Remix/Cover/Taker of the opener with Chip Tha Ripper at some point that summer. But, eventually, I wisened up, realized Cudi was the only one who thought he was more talented than his fans did, I figured out ‘You wanted a hit’ wasn't about LSD, and began to  appreciate the greatness of the ‘..Happening’. And thank god there was a glittering back catalogue to fall into once I was hooked. 

“Dance yrself clean”, “Drunk girls”, and  “Home” are all still better than most noise today. Everything else from the LP is acceptable croony filler, but once one gets it, one knows they are all necessary. It’s not his (their) best album (I’m not really sure what is tbh, the cantankerous may say ‘45:33’ or ‘Fabriclive.36’), but it sticks just as much as the two albums before it and the one to follow. 

As I was saying, ‘...Happening’ was to be the end of LCD Soundsystem. And Jimmy made an effort to move on. Special Disco Version (a collab between Murphy and Pat Mahoney) toured the circuit and even created its own immersive sonic experience for select shows. I was there in Asheville, and at the Roots Picnic and on Govn’rs Island, and was quite upset about the show in Cambridge being sold out (how are there some many people who are cool as me???????). Murph Dog wasn't satisfied with sharing old and some new obscurities with the masses. He even lent his services to the other great indie group at the time for their ‘Reflektor’ album. 

Fuck - to call LCD’s rise meteoric gives too much credit to meteors.

Shit - I’m burnt.

‘This is Happening’ was and still is a great record. It didn’t really need to happen. I mean, that’s a guess on my end, I didn’t listen to ‘Sound of Silver’ until after 2010, but that was a great album as well. Anyone who paid attention to the eponymous must have been over the moon with the “Nike Mix”, “Fabric Mix” and the 2nd studio offering. I can’t imagine they were sitting there like “well, yeah but where do we go from here?...” - unless they were fucks.

I’m starting to categorize albums as ‘great’ if they don’t leave me wanting more. If the album met and exceeded expectations, whether in real time or in retrospect, it’s selfish and close minded to just want to know ‘how are you gonna blow my mind next’. Like, ‘Darkside of the Moon’ is great, but the fact that it came after ‘Meddle’ and before ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Animals’ is fucking jarring. Expectatiosn become so high some times and artists have to really be other worldly to put out something that satisfies and mystifies at the same time. 

That's LCD for me.

2010 could have been it. The DJ gigs gave me a sense of the energy of the shows I never thought or knew about. I was all set. But. He. Ran. It. Fucking. Back. Some internets were very hurt in their softy feels ‘cause “they just couldn’t…..” But when an artist has reached the level of “new output is better than no output” that's the win win all around. I saw LCD Soundsystem during the American Dream Tour and it was great. It wasn't teenage-illegal-warehouse-in-Brooklyn great but as a 30 year old, it was a proper ‘CHECK’. The fat guy in the t-shirt did not let me down.

- Time Shea

The album cover for ‘There Is Love In You’ caught my eye at first. The positive reviews also encouraged a listen, but when I gave it a go it really ensnared me. Pitchfork soon put out some video of a live show he played in NYC shot through some cheap red and blue 3D glasses -- this furthered my love for this new brand of electronic music. The video is gone, it seems, but the show itself is still on his bandcamp, Live at LPR New York, 17th February 2010.

 I didn’t go to this show, obviously, but my own personal immersion into the music in my cold Rochester bedroom led to gleeful earworms whilst midnight sledding on the campus of my graduate school. The doobies played a role in this unlikely pairing but I still can’t not think of saucering down the back hill of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. (For the record I wasn’t studying to be a priest or whatever happens at divinity schools, but Four Tet has helped music become a spiritual experience ever since this album).

 Keiran Hebden had been around for over ten years, playing in bands, inventing FOLKTRONICA and playing live bleeps and bloops alongside a revered free jazz drummer. When listening back to his previous work, I certainly found it pleasant but not nearly as warm and resonating as ‘TILIY’. In addition to his previous exploits, he was also a very busy DJ around London (and probably the world). This album was his effort to make music for dance floors, and I’d say, it still works. Love Cry is a 9 minute song that could probably be twice as long and I wouldn’t mind any extra second of it (I still feel like “ah fuck its over?!” when those strings twinkle in). The choppy vocal samples and loops have become his trademark; no one else finds those hypnotic chants quite as well as he did and still does.

 Prior to 2010 most of his music was probably best absorbed in bedrooms or on couches but since then he has churned out some of the most accessible dance music at an alarming rate. I didn’t know much (and still don’t) about the electronic music genre and scene in 2010. Daft Punk, Justice, DJ Shadow, some Steve Aoki/Kid Cuid remix, whatever Diplo told me, you know the standard college stuff. ‘TILIY’ pulled me in like Pink Floyd did 10 years before. To my wife’s chagrin, “Electronica” as Spotify calls it, is what I still listen to the most. Four Tet has put out 4 proper studio albums since, all different enough to stand alone but all with his familiar touches, paired with his dozens of singles under various monikers -- his catalogue has something for your parents all the way down to your infant.

-Danny George

I believe Toro Y Moi to be the artist that most embodies chillwave music. He may not have had as great popularity as Washed Out (Ernest Greene, who he attended University of South Carolina with) as chillwave artists go but he has generated much more music and done a bit more to cement the genre in its place. But as quickly as chillwave came on, it went away. Chaz Budnick (aka Toro y Moi) has morphed into almost more of an indie artist at times, electronic artist at others -- he has expanded his horizons and you can’t blame him. Chillwave is great but limiting and when it is done, it is done.

Sometimes you need to rock.

With that in mind, 2010 saw the debut of his first album: ‘Causer of This’. I always think an artists’ first work is their most pure and this marks that for Toro. His later work, ‘Underneath the Pine’ is probably his best work that embodies chillwave for most people but I like the prior album better. ‘Anything in Return’ is good as well but he begins to move off of chillwave in that album.

Tracks that stand out to me in this album: 

“Blessa”: Toro has a knack for intro songs. In all of his best albums -- they are fire. “Blessa” is no exception. In it we see the ins, outs and flows that are chillwave with light vocals taking a back seat, though present, making way for consistent beat at the forefront.

“Minors”: Flowing straight from “Blessa”, a hard hitting flowy chorus followed by Budnick’s light airy vocals. Not as flowwy/grabbing as “Blessa” but they go together well and give that good chillwave vibe perfectly.

“Lissoms”: It can be described as a spastic flowing groove of sounds -- whirly gigs and whimsical beats -- amalgamated into a groovy chillwave song. This is the song if you’re in your chillwave vibe you fall into and your body just starts moving.

“Thanks Visions”: The intro to this song is fire. I’m not sure there is a more formal chillwave song that has a better intro. This makes way to Budnick’s vocals intermittently repeating and a great drop on the chorus that is carried out through the latter half and end of the song. Fire.

“Talamark”: Again, love the intro to this song. One of the most classic chillwave notes is present in this song. An echo/derivation of the vocals is laid over any empty space especially during the chorus. Take a listen on this track then listen for it in other tracks.

-Matt Duelka

Progression. That’s a good place to start in 2010. I did a lot of ‘progressing’ leading into ’10. I’ll give a lot of credit to the college experience (not so much the college itself) for the shape and calcification of my being. Since ’10 – minor progressions, but the details have been important. More fine tuning of who I should be. But before we get too into 2010, I need to talk about 2008 (a MAJOR progression the likes of a King Crimson album) because without 2008, there is no 2010, and certainly no 2020.

[So, briefly, here it goes.]

As a current 33 year old in 2020, rap music takes up a pretty calculated 93% of my musical intake. In 2008, not so much. More like weird metal, emo pop-punk – regular 20-year old white boy stuff. But I WAS 1 year into being a ‘urban music’ radio DJ (What? Why? How?)  and my crash course had been hitting quite the peak. Classics and hot-off-the-stove EmCees were covered but anything in between – was very much all or nothing.

“Yo, you see the new Gucci tape dropped?”

“Wait, who? Gucci? Is there a new album out? I didn’t know it was getting released?”

“C’mon. You didn’t see the new mixtape drop on Nahright?”

“Nah what?”

“Man, catch up.”

And I did. The internet is a deep ocean of untapped resources, until you start “tap, tap, tapping it in”. Gucci’s 36 mixtapes in 6 months were something to behold, but to me was pretty flat – all temporary ear candy but nothing that held water. I was 14 pages in – searching Nahright.com, 2DopeBoyz – and felt I was now in a 400 level classroom. And then came a banger – Wale ‘A Mixtape About Nothing’.

I was smitten. The tape basically Batman punched the life back into me and I considered uncovering this gem, a passing grade into rap graduation. Hours were now spent uncovering quality tapes and collabs that I could talk about to whomever who keep listening to me. In ’09 I took over the reins on the Rap Radio airwaves. My musical trajectory was skyrocketing. Rap music should have been my major.

[Ok. Now 2010]

Internet. Internet. Blog Site. Search. Blog Site. Search. Download. Listen. Share. Refresh. Internet. College is in the rear view. Career is in a holding pattern. Retail for the time being. New music is what’s up.

“When you’re young, not much matters.”

Oh what’s this?

“When you find something that you care about, then that’s all you got.”

Is this from that movie…?

“When you go to sleep at night, you dream of *music* “

You have my attention.

KICKIN’ INCREDIBLY DOPE SHIT (K.I.D.S.)

A white 18-year old kid from Pittsburgh comes out with a ‘KIDS’ movie sample and then just. Goes. In. Like, bangers from the gun. Heavily KIDS influenced, heavily sampling dope beats (Lord Finesse took a little offense to that, but we’re past it), but that’s what a mixtape is about! Get your ears and eyes focused. Someone is looking to get on the map.

Progression. It’s what got me here so far, but it’s also what this kid, Mac Miller, was after. Mac put out this album specifically to show people what he could do with his words. Not to say that he had A LOT to say, but he wanted to talk, and tell people about what he knew (not making up a persona just to sell a rap to the streets). Drugs, drinking, ladies, and having fun. “Kool-aid and Frozen Pizza” ain’t trynna be anything that it’s not.

Mac Miller was a fun ass High School graduate putting out fun-ass rap tunes for people to smile to. Whether a banger or a smooth ride, I found a good time in this tape from beginning to end. It was different, definitely. Not to say ground-breaking, but it’s hard for me to put a doppelganger to his flow. I remember someone trying to tell me it seemed like he emulated Drake’s delivery – slow yet catchy. But something about Drake always has me thinking he didn’t really ‘flow’ in any way, and just spoke to you ‘in a rhythm (a rhythm I cannot actually describe)’. Mac had a delivery, a great one. And it was simple, yet smart. He just really understood who was listening, and who he wanted to get across to. I assumed as a 23 year old retails associate, I was smack in the middle of that venn diagram.

I’m a sucker for a ‘Boom Bap’ sound (just say it enough and you’ll get it) and even though Mac isn’t a definition of the style, there’s a lot of that east coast flare in there (especially with the samples he chose – definite *eye emoji*). I also had a pretty intimate experience with the movie laced into this mixtape. I wrote an 8 page final paper on the movie (more specifically, the last line of the movie, which he so happens to use on the last track, with tunes of Elliot Smith slowly fading out to close up shop on the tape). So you have to believe that my intrigue and HOPE for this tape from the get go was at a 17 out of 10.

“Get ‘Em Up” had me nodding straight out the gate. Mac, if he was trying to showcase some wordflow talent, had me at least glued to see if this would get better with this track. By now I’m cranking the volume up a few notches and thinking I might have found something. Again, this isn’t groundbreaking, but no 18-year old should be (SHOULD BE). But Mac didn’t need to deliver complex lyrical stanzas in and out of classic Pete Rock beats to make an impact. I’m on my feet. I want to hear more.

And then we transition to “Nikes on My Feet” and, you see what I did there? This was as tasty of a track as you could have hoped for. Not knowing anything was a good way to go into this, because the unexpectedness of a Nas sample on this Pittsburgh kid’s mixtape was a treat. And it could have been a more ‘World Renown’ tune – including the all-familiar bass line and chorus -- but he chose a piece within “The World is Yours” and went in, to further push the “this is what I know, and this is what I’m gonna rap about” bit. “I don’t know about Nas’ life in Queensbridge, but I know about these Nikes on my feet” is what I imagine he said while thinking up this song. And if you can’t tell I was sold by now, well then, I’ve wasted a thousand words on you.

“Cream cheese and a bagel. Have a glass of milk and an Eggo. Rocking PJs and no shirt. I smoke weed, eat yogurt.”

Progression, right? There was a time where “The Spins” would have intrigued me because of the Empire of the Sun portion – ala Gorillaz with Del tha Funky Homosapien. But now I’m sitting thinking, man what a compliment they are to Mac Miller. He’s still the star of the track and in 2010, on the festival circuit, this made the KIDS bump, bump, bump. Even walking down the street 3 weeks ago, I was re-listening to the tape and couldn’t keep from trotting, singing, and just enjoying myself. Banger. In 2010, this is what I NEEDED. I wanted a song that just got my blood racing and FUCK did this song do it. Being that Mac might not have been heralded by the rap world right away, a track like this made sure he at least meshed between a few crowds, and I’d say the music festival demographic was probably an ideal spot for him. That’s where I found myself as well. At least, as a 23 year old. Because, again, we are still progressing.

We move into “Paper Route” and “Good Evening” and we’ve moved away from booming and banging, and now we are cruising. We got the radio on, or we got the headphones in, and you got your head nodding along. BOP BOP BOP. Going back to Mac’s intention for this tape, I feel like these tracks are in the realm of Mac puppeteering his way along, showing the world how he could move swiftly and intelligently – yet simply and endearingly – through a track.

For anyone who ever blog, probably heard my name Hip-Hop's underdog, you wanna win the game I'm sick of hearin' how music change never be the same And these dudes who think they everything and never pick a lane Call yourself a vet, but haven't won a single game Mad, every girl got my name imprinted in her brain Boy, I'm a beast, match the style in bars Find me smokin' weed where the wild things are

For anyone who doubted he’d be able to cut it on the rap scene, I’d say that verse was a slight flex, in retrospect.

As much as “The Spins” was able to bring thousands of folks off their grass stained tight jeans and onto their feet during a July summer on Governor’s island (I saw it happen in person) – “Knock, Knock” was the jam of the album. This was the tune that made Mac be able to stand tall and say “This tape was worth it.” This followed me through many-a-car ride, too many drunken after parties (not at hotel lobbies – but more so at post-collegiate apartments with unfortunate furniture choices), and just being the soundtrack to my walks through the Manhattan summer. I have a soft spot for over the top “epic” sounding choruses that you can blast on better than average speakers, and this fit the bill. It’s hard for me to find a song that defined “Fun” for me more, in 2010, than this song did.

It’s hard to imagine 2010 without this entering my life. Because it was fun. So very fun. And it brings great thoughts just writing about listening to this album back then. Great weekends, and epic tabletops, and the content we were able to create! Even if most of it only lives in our heads, it was worth it].

And then it ends, like it began. “Jesus Christ, What happened?”. The movie ‘Kids’ brings us back and we fade out. Of course, I would “bring it back” many a time in that day. It became a fixture on the playlists, a constant on the headphones. I even slipped a few songs on the retail store speakers.

But we all PROGRESS. We all want more eventually. And do I mean more, like “that wasn’t good enough – give me more!”? No. I mean. We want more, like, I’m changing, and so is everything around me, what do you offer me now? A better job? More money? More substance from the ones you spend your time with? And with that, you also tend to want more from your music.

So ‘K.I.D.S.’, even though I have thrown it on the que recently and been able to jam along, I can’t keep it on the podium that it was prominently placed on in 2010. For what it represents, it will forever be held high, but it won’t be the same as the first experience and I don’t think that was ever the plan. Do tracks still SLAP, sure, but they weren’t meant to be ‘timeless’. It was meant to live in the moment and do what it needed to do. Mac made it known this was a proving point for him. This tape was meant to show he belonged.

And so as we all need to do, we PROGRESSED –

               Blue Slide Park

               Watching movies with the Sound Off

               GO:OD AM

               The Divine Feminine.

You can say what you want about those albums that proceeded, but you can’t say Mac Miller was stagnant.

“Yo, I listened to them and they just weren’t what I expected.”

“Well what did you expect”

“I wanted K.I.D.S.”

“But you got K.I.D.S”

“Yeah, but I wanted it – well – again.”

“I don’t think he did.”

‘K.I.D.S.’ was never meant to sustain, and Mac moved on from it like he should have. He had more to prove. Could he have continued to make music for the festival crowd? Sure? Would he have been successful? Probably. But even though I don’t even pretend to know him as a person – it’s obviously not what he intended to do. Because even though the albums I mentioned above may not have caught the listeners’ attention like ‘K.I.D.S.’ did, you could see the progression that Mac was going through.

[Can we jump to 2018? Good.]

Even though you may have found your footing, there are always ways to improve your steps. At this point it isn’t major adjustment after major adjustment, but more like “Hey, those shoes didn’t work because of the minor shape difference in the heel to toe ratio, maybe these slightly less aggressive ones will be better” (IYKYK). Mac Miller put out ‘Swimming’ in ’18 and to say it’s his best work is an understatement, but to also say that “This is a throwback to his most comparable work to date, ‘K.I.D.S.’“ would be a catastrophic failure in comparison. Through the steps he took in with minor adjustments on his other studio albums, Mac developed a sound that was unlike anything that was produced on ‘K.I.D.S.’, BUT, without ‘K.I.D.S.’, ‘Swimming’ never exists. Weird how that works.

I used to rock epic rap anthems like it was them or nothing. I needed to hit be hit hard or it wasn’t hitting enough. But I learned that there was a different way to be ‘touched’ by hip hop. I learned, what I define as ‘asymmetric’ beats – where a song may not have a chorus, or a looped sample, or anything typical of a conventional or traditional track. My ears were genuinely intrigued by the angles that existed within the songs, and I started to see the beauty of them. I wanted rappers who could also take a rap track, and put a live band to it – Let’s hear some live ivory tickling under them verses, huh!? – OR maybe have a rapper croon a little bit? Why not. Why they always gotta be so hard? Lets get sensitive (but please – no Drake).

So ‘Swimming’ did that – all of it. We got Mac pouring his heart out. Where ‘K.I.D.S.’ had bangers and catchy choruses and classic samples – ‘Swimming’ had live bass (Thundercat! Woot!), off-kiltered bars, singing and swaying, and stuff I didn’t imagine Mac had in him. But they were as visible on this album as the tattoos on his sleeve. I mean, I’m FULL SEND on The Foreign Exchange, Tyler The Creator, Black Milk, yadda yadda yadda, and Mac is now RIGHT THERE in the conversation.

SIRS AND MADAMES WE HAVE PROGRESSED!

Mac and I didn’t have tickets on the same trolly train of progression, but we both got here. Maybe he saw it coming -- I definitely didn’t plan this Musical fandom path for myself. Maybe Flying Lotus had something to do with it?

I think it has a lot to do with getting from the prove yourself phase to the phase you actually want to be in. We all have to do it at some point. We all have to be in a spot that isn’t exactly where we’d like to be – but without it we can’t get to where we WANT to be. The problem is, how to convince others that this is the right way to go. Not to say “Everyone, please follow me – this is the right AND ONLY way this will work”, but more like “Hi everyone, this is the right way for me, can you please join in helping me proceed and giving me the confidence to move onto the next chapter of this progression.” To be honest I wasn’t following along with him fully – a mix of not understanding and not believing he would get there. I feel like I made it through to where I wanted to be a little sooner than Mac did – but when “Swimming’ came out – I knew we both made it. Or you could assume we both made it. I assumed we both made it.

But then it was over. In September of 2018, Mac passed away. And it fucking sucked. As happy and fulfilling as his music made us – made ME – feel, it’s hard to believe he wasn’t anywhere close to feeling the same. Malcolm McCormick should have been with us for a long time, and because things just don’t work that way, he won’t. ‘Circles’ eventually came to us in 2020 – and recorded entirely while ‘Swimming’ was, so everyone got to witness the feelings again that they did with ‘Swimming’ and remember, unfortunately, how we won’t be able to continue to feel like this again.

-Matt Duelka

Nobody gets to where you need to go without someone there to show you the way. Anyone who tells you otherwise, well, fuck ‘em.

I had a dude, a guy, a mentor if you will, that saw some potential – as small as it may have been – and decided I was worth the trouble. I mean, I wasn’t. BUT NEVERTHELESS, HE PERSISTED.

It’s 2007 and I’m prepping for a radio show during my junior year of college – a classic rap song, some indie dude I came across that might be good, yeah that’s the stuff. I’m pretty oblivious to what’s trending and any artists that have gained traction amongst the internet’s graces – but I like what I know and that’s what I’m gonna play.

“You gotta play this tonight”

*Throws CD at me*

That’s the dude. Anything he said I took as gold, so I scratched a few songs I thought were slappers (they definitely weren’t) and scribbled the ‘Promo Only’ CD into my 2am to 4am set.

“Listen to it first. It’s all fire. This kid is gonna be a game changer.”

I got some time. So I loaded that disc into the 1997 boombox in the corner and began an impromptu lesson on rap.

“Bllllluuuuuuuuuu-uuuu-uuuuuuuuu”

Tuggle was my guy -- DJ Tuggle. First time I met him was when I went to go see about becoming a radio DJ. He said “I just did an interview with Method Man. Fuckin’ A, man.” A few weeks later I was sitting in the staff room, meeting all of the radio DJs. I told them my favorite rap album was Atmosphere’s ‘God Loves Ugly’. As stupid as that was, I think I earned some points for not just going with ‘Illmatic’ or ‘Ready to Die’. Many years and rap debates later I asked Tuggle to DJ my wedding. He asked “You sure?”. No one could have made that night better than he did.

“This kid is from LA. Could be the best rapper ever some day.” Maybe he didn’t say that. But he wanted to. Tuggle knew his shit.

I’m sitting in the staff room listening to ‘Below the Heavens’ by the rapper Blu (produced by another southern LA guy named Exile). FLOORED. Literally, jaw to the filthy, dusty, hasn’t-been-mopped-in-years ground. It wasn’t a typical west coast jawn, though. Exile learned by listening to LA-based Madlib, and Detroit’s King of Beats J Dilla. Blu found Exile while collabing with Aloe Blacc (who was in a group with Exile called Emanon). Blu has said to be influenced incredibly by Common – trying to be a calm and composed -- yet compassionate rapper. Exile saw him perform and loved the style – the two meshed. ‘Below the Heavens’, now, is a way to know if someone knows their shit about rap music. It’s a classic, should be a globally acclaimed masterpiece, but only the folks who know what’s up know how good this album is. So now I’m a Blu STAN, stalking his updates for any bites on new music. Singles and collabs here and there (‘Johnson&Johnson’ – a joint album with Mainframe -- was a solid taste to hold me over) but I needed a bigger plate of Blu to keep satiated.

[Quick break of the 4th wall – I may be cheating because the mixtape I am about to talk about actually came out in 2009 on Blu’s Myspace, but then eventually became an album sometime between 2010 and 2011. I can’t recall, but I wanted to write about it, so here I am, and here we are].

As one does on the internet, one gets lost in the searches, and ‘next’ and ‘next’ and you’re on page 14 with 9 tabs open at 3:30am and you don’t know why you haven’t given it a rest. But that’s when you most likely will come across gold. I can’t recall exactly, but it’s 2009 and I’m probably 10 Busch Beers in and there’s a link on a blog with not much to it.

‘Download BluHerFavoriteColour.mp3’. Sure. Let’s see what the dude is up to. Maybe it’s a new single, maybe he’s on a new track with Exile. Worth checking out.

[Download. Open. Check length] 31mins long. Huh. No tracks, no explanation. Just a 31min track drop at 3am on a Friday. Welp. Here it goes.

[7 plays through on loop later0.

Yeah. I have no idea what this is, but please, give me more.

Blu released ‘Her Favorite Colour’ on his Myspace. Just randomly threw out it there and, artistically, it was one of the inspirational things I had listened, or absorbed, in quite a while. Since ‘Below the Heavens’ had come out, Blu seemed to be evolving. As I mentioned, ‘Below the Heavens’ was a classic. But it was a rapper and a producer doing a thing really, really f’n well. All of Blu’s stuff after that seemed to want more. I compare it to what Phonte (Little Brother, Foreign Exchange) said about a lot of fans complaining that Foreign Exchange’s albums that followed their first one (‘Connected’) weren’t in any way the same, even though ‘Connected’ was also a classic album. Phonte basically said ‘Connected’ was what it was but they could never just do a ‘Connected 2’. They had to move on because they succeeded in what they wanted to do -- but in order to progress as artists, they needed to evolve themselves into something different musically (their future albums’ sound, he has said, is more of why they formed Foreign Exchange in the first place – not just to be a rapper and a producer, but more than that). Blu wanted to do more and ‘Her Favorite Colour’ was his foray into that.

Blu seemed to take sounds and techniques of producers he worked with, but also what he did mostly was want to emphasize his childhood in his music – utilizing gospel-esque sounds and old jazz with a lo-fi mood. At this point, we all knew Blu could rap, so this tape seemed to be a test in the waters of ‘why not?’…what did he have to lose?’

The tape was birthed not just from his inspirations and childhood tunes, but also from a severed relationship which I could only assume, but definitely have no sources to confirm, was the relationship consistently mentioned in ‘Below the Heavens’. Sucks it didn’t work out, but glad something positive could come out of it.

[Billie Holiday “Am I Blue” Horn Solo] “I used to have…”

As is with some other mixtapes, I originally expected some interesting but already very produced beats (maybe renditions of other popular rap) with just Blu rapping over them. But the cover art (or better yet, Thumbnail art?) spoke to me a little different. It was telling me this was something more than a 50 Cent type deal. And from the gun this tape had my eyes open and ears peeled to the speakers. You think you get the jest of what artists are gonna do – or what they should do in order to showcase talent and get you to listen to their jams. Even though this tape isn’t monumental, and the production value isn’t top tier, it takes a lot to be SURPRISED these days, and this was something that even Left Field didn’t have on their radar.

I have to admit, it took me a few days of constant listening to even UNDERSTAND what the tape was. There were no tracks, I couldn’t tell if there were interludes or parts of songs. You couldn’t, and still can’t, pull a few minutes from that tape and try to sell it as a single, or “Hey give this a listen what do you think?” It’s 31mins or bust.

Sure, I’ve probably hyped this tape up to ‘Da Drought 3’ levels, so sue me. But it made an impact for numerous reasons. The first would be the simplicity of it all. Blu took old era jazz, and instead of turboing up a Thelonious Monk piano riff, he cut and lo-fi’d the hell out of it. But I was still sitting in the jazz club. And it was me and the 30 others who were rifling the internet for something different. I’ve got a cheap gin martini, cigarette smoke everywhere. That’s the vibe. Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald HAUNTED this tape. Their voices eerily present – I can feel it in my bones. But it’s not sad. Like, I’m not in my feelings. There’s a definite broken heart involved, but nobody is crying.

“Goooood Moorrrrrning…”

Ella’s sample on “Morning” is most memorable for me. The voice is great, but it’s not 100% the main reason why the sample and track stand out. More so because of how the music and how Blu splices movie dialogue over it – they juxtapose each other so well. And the fact that there is nothing BUT movie dialogue – but we will get into this one a little deeper in a little bit.

My favorite sample – well co-favorite —is Astrud Gillberto’s “Corcovado”’s sample on “Silent”. It’s 35 seconds long, no rapping, but the IDEA of what this track could become is what makes it incredible. I can imagine a 4 and a half minute SLAPPER of a track and I git GIDDY. Nothing about the 35 seconds should scream at you, BANGER, but to me, it’s a lovely and jarring coupla cuts of Gillberto’s voice, the piano is perfect, but the MVP is what I believe to be in-between breaths that Blu spliced in, very specifically. It’s flawless.

PHEW.

The other sample that shares high honors for a COMPLETELY different reason is Radiohead’s “You and Whose Army” on “Untitled(Loveu)2”. It’s mainly because – WHY THE FUCK IS BLU FLIPPING, LITERALLY FLIPPING, A RADIOHEAD TRACK. The answer is, because he fucking can. The lyrics on this one are split into 2 entirely different thoughts yet sewn together quite nicely. At first he’s LITERALLY explaining why he’s making this tape, and what you should be expecting from him (in comparison to other rappers).

“I plotted, planned it for a year or so Hoping folks hear Below And see I'm not the same as Lil Wayne They say I bond with the spiritual But hollar if you hear me though”

He also jumps in on his breakup, which is the MAIN arching theme of this tape – giving him an outlet to get what needs to off his chest. This “track” is also located towards the end of the 31mins so it could be a wrap up of everything he’s been talking about and what he wants everyone to know moving forward.

You can listen to this 30, 40, 50 times (which I did for the first 3 days) and you can solely enjoy the smooth offerings of the musical interpretations that Blu is delivering without focusing on the other things. To be honest, this tape was one of the first recordings where I actively searched for the samples used because they were so blatant, but also so alluring. It’s become quite the pastime over the last 10 years, and I HIGHLY recommend playing this game with all of your friends. I also am able to SEE the samples in these, and imagine CREATING the finished product, and get so inspired by it. If I ever dove into music production, I’d have this tape as my blueprint for what I’d want to create. I’ve never been as jealous of a recording as I was this one. Nothing too fancy, but able to alter the sound just enough to create a new atmosphere around it.

At some point, though, you need to stop and focus on the other, maybe MORE, interesting aspect of this tape (MORE!?!?!). Blu not only samples some stellar jazz tunes, but he also splices in movie clips from some fairly middle of the pack independent flicks that just you make say “Of course he did.” There was no Scarface, no Godfather clips. Pitfork said it best in their review – “Blu seems like the kind of rapper who’s really proud of his DVD collection.” I’m talking Punch Drunk Love, The Life Aquatic, and the best one in there was from Closer (best maybe isn’t the BEST word for this…).

Oh man.

I teased it earlier, but needed to time to warm up into discussing this. If you’ve never seen the movie ‘Closer” I highly recommend you do it. But not because the movie is that good (I actually don’t remember how good it was. It was probably okay. I saw it in the theatres while in High School. Maybe I was in over my head), but because this would make a lot more sense. On the track “Morning”, right after Ella welcomes us, if you didn’t know the movie, you’re immediately hit with an incredibly vulgar-for-no-reason interlude that lasts way way too long. If you did know the movie, you immediately know you’re knee deep in a vital part of Clive Owen and Julia Roberts’ relationship issues (maybe similar to Blu’s? I hope not). I was floored that a young rapper from LA decided this, THIS was the clip needed for his tape.

If you didn’t want to be happy for 2 hours, I’m sure you can find time to watch the flick, but otherwise this part of the 31min tape does hit a big plot point – and is easily the most memorable “track” for no other reason than you have to cringe the entire few minutes (yes, this goes on for minutes) the two are jawin’ at each other. Just haymakers at each other right smack dab in the middle of the tape. If it’s your first listen, it’s hard to get through, but as soon as you get used to it, you start to get the popcorn ready and await a Ali/Forman-size rumble. But, make sure you’re by yourself, because if your wife or in-laws are around, you’ll definitely regret it.

“It tastes like you, but sweeter.”

“What in the HELL are you LISTENING to?!?”

The marriage of the samples from both the music and movies really opened my eyes to what is possible out there. I mean, Blu took this project on his own, without any funding or help from others, and just put it out there for everyone to see – “hey, I know I can rap, I know that shit was dope. But look at this. I can do it all.” I was a 22 year old when this first entered my life, and I was trying to figure out how I could bring unique, fun, and meaningful content into this world. This project was something I looked up to – even to this day – and I don’t mean “I’m gonna splice up some movie quotes and samples and send it out like he did.” More like, I can try something a little weird and a little unconventional with the talents I have and see if the world takes it.

And to anyone telling me none of this is revolutionary – I get it. The ground didn’t shake, and oceans didn’t part when this was dropped. But it hit me, it was like a whack on the funny bone and I’m sure it did the same to others too. But if someone wants to splice some movie clips on eerie jazz lady vocals and lo-fi that shit up – HIT ME WITH IT, I’M OPEN. I’LL EAT THAT UP ALL DAY.