Lagniappe Corner

the 13th donut in the bag

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LC Digging : Syringe’s Anti-World Will Make You Dream Of Electric Sheeps

In his book Social withdrawal–Adolescence without End, the Japanese psychologist Tamaki Saitō (斎藤 環), specialized in adolescence, studied the concept of hikikomoris. Compared to modern hermits, hikikomoris are young adults who decide to withdraw from social world, sometimes spending years without leaving their apartment.

No movie better depicted the identity crisis underlying this phenomenon than the master piece anime Ghost in the Shell. It tells the story of Major Motoko Kusanagi’s hunt for a mysterious terrorist called the Puppet Master, who turns out to be an artificial intelligence spreading into the internet. The movie was brought to prominence by its ending : while the spectator expects Kusanagi to defeat the AI and protect the social order, things take a turn. The Puppet Master convinces Kusanagi of her limitations, pushing her to abandon her physical shell to join him cyberspace. Like hikikomoris, Kusanagi chooses to leave the miseries of human society. Like them, she projects herself in a larger and more fascinating world : the internet.

Syringe, young and mysterious underground icon of the dark trap wave, may be a hikikomori. He might as well be Kusanagi’s and the Puppet Master’s progeny. In all cases, his music will plug you in for a trip under acid through the global data network. The mere existence of Syringe remains an internet maze of dead links and multiples aliases. Sometimes he vanishes, forcing his friends to call for help on social medias. Other times he exposes himself, on Tumblr or Youtube. His last work Anti-World doesn’t really help the listener to unveil the true identity of this kid with a voice beyond the grave. But if Tamaki Saito wanted to dissect a teenage brain, it would be a challenge to find a better subject.

Highlight track: Pissin Off;

Best suit for: a night-time wandering or a PlayerUnknown’s Battleground game;

If you liked: William Gibson’s Neuromancer.

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LC FOCUS : Jay-Z Certifications & Nebulous Schemes

So Jay-Z got a himself a platinum certification. In a week (*dubious emoji*).

How comes that “4:44”, an album exclusive to TIDAL, managed to get a platinum certifications (meaning, a million sells) within a week, when it took two months to Beyonce’s “Lemonade” to reach it ?

RIAA, the association in charge of the certification, explained to DJBooth : “Under the program’s rules, the artist needs to be compensated and there needs to be demonstrated consumer demand in the United States, either for an on-demand stream or a sale. A sale counts toward a certification if purchased directly by the customer or a business can purchase the album or song and offer it to fans who must take affirmative steps to acquire the album or song. Fans participated, took action and downloaded JAY-Z’s album offered by SPRINT.”

Summarizing : SPRINT bought 1.000.000 copies and gave them for free, each user download being acccounted for as a sell by the RIAA. The reason why they did so ? SPRINT CORPORATION acquired 33% of TIDAL’s shares in early 2017.

So basically, Jay-Z self-certified an album that nobody listened to, or even really cared about, just to promote a streaming service that nobody really uses.

Meanwhile, TIDAL is threatening to sue Kanye West for breach of contract if he ever promotes his work on another streaming platform. Just to remember, “The Life Of Pablo” was a TIDAL exclusive for two months, when “4:44″ exclusivity ended after one week.

I mean. Hov, come on. Just stop. It’s gone.

And leave Kanye out of this mess.  

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LC Digging: Jay Prince’s Late Summers For An Optimistic Summer

Europe woke up to the smiling face of Jeremy Corbyn, the leftist hero of the day. Looks like conservatism suffered another defeat, defying the pessimistic projections of a continent falling apart under the strikes of gloomy nationalists. Could it be that we are allowed to begin this summer 2017 with fresh confidence and optimistic spirit?

Starting with listening to Jay Prince’s last mixtape Late Summers won’t hurt. It’s filled with jazz chords, laid-back ambient, and heartwarming lyrics. There’s even a little bit of sax. Like Jay said himself “it’s been a long winter”. Way too long.

I’m more than ever anxious to see him perform in Paris again!

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LC Digging: ATL Freshmen Hoodrich Pablo Juan & Danny Wolf Team Up On ‘’Hoodwolf’’

Summer is coming back and you got tired of the gloomy, falsely depressed vibe everybody seems to be high on these days? 

Hoodrich Pablo Juan and Danny Wolf got more of that scorching Dirty South for you. “Hoodwolf“ gathers 11 tracks of plain repetitive anthems for young and hard-working entrepreneurs. Guarantee without auto-tune or catchy melody. You can almost smell the burning asphalt of Atlanta sidewalks.

The duo’s alchemy recalls Wacka Flocka and Lex Luger, a direct source of inspiration for Danny Wolf, the 20 years old producer with a candid face.

Trivia: Danny was born in Mexico City and crossed the American border when he was 10. Until recently, he lived in Atlanta as an illegal immigrant. He entered Hoodrich Entertenainment as a PR intern, meanwhile working on his own productions. In only three years he made a hard reputation that allowed him to work with old figures (Migos, ILoveMakonnen, Ferg) and newcomers (Uzi, Lil Pump, Smokepurpp). You can be sure you will here his name a lot in the future.

You can stream and download the mixtape here.

More : The Danny Wolf Interview - No Jumper  

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Auto-tune prehistory

In 2009, Jay Z predicted the death of auto-tune, upsetting its self-proclaimed king, the Floridian T-Pain. Almost 10 years after, T Pain’s career collapsed, but his creature conquered rap music.

The popularization of Auto-Tune will be remember in history of hip-hop as a major schism. Rarely an instrument divided the audience so completely. The audio processor popularized by Cher and Daft Punk helped merging rap and pop music (and therefore digging the grave of R&B singers), but will always be looked down upon as a murder weapon by some.

Apparently tired of sitting on his never-released collaboration with Lil Wayne, T-Pain followed the zeitgeist : he just dropped the thing for free on his SoundCloud. It comes straight from 2009, when both of them where at the top of their game. Archaeological.  

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Grand Paris

Located on the heights of Paris suburb, the Fort Mont-Valérien weights on the capital with its painful memories. Between 1941 and 1944, this fortress was used by the Nazis as a prison and place of executions, where more than a thousand members of the resistance, from every origins and social classes, were shot down. 

This heavy past is the setting of Nakk Mendosa’s last video, a remix of Fianso’s “Tout l'monde s'en fout”.

Along the side of his daughter, Nakk reflects on the the difficulty to stand up for his ideals, as a responsible adult and father. 

On the ground of tragic events, the video is a short moment of breathing, so welcomed in a time of exhausting quarrels.

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LC FOCUS: Youtube Channel デーモンASTARI

I don't quite remember how I ended up watching the video clip of this baked kid mumbling about suicide over a midi song. I probably just liked the anime background, before the heady melody got stuck into my brain. Ever since, YouTube channel ASTARI has been a bottom less pit of gems. I dive back into it every time I feel confident enough to endure the distress, partly because of misplaced curiosity, and partly to challenge my own sanity.

If emo trap was a cult, then ASTARI would be its sanctuary. Its preachers would be named ITSOKTOCRY, Lil Lotus, Night Lovell and OmenXIII, chanting canticles like Murder me slowly, idk how to kill myself, Run Home or Drop Dead.

Have a glance at their work, and you might quickly be convinced that each one of those kids is about to shoot up the school. But I remember a time when playing Dungeon & Dragons and listening to heavy metal characterized me as a sociopath. If growing old means to regard new generations’ creativity as a threat, I’d rather just stay the immature person I am.

In a world where social medias feed peer pressure and generate new forms of depression, ASTARI is a priceless refuge for misfits. Like Marylin Manson said  in his days :

It is no wonder that kids are growing up more cynical; they have a lot of information in front of them. They can see that they are living in a world that's made of bullshit. In the past, there was always the idea that you could turn and run and start something better. But now America has become one big mall, and because of the Internet and all of the technology we have, there's nowhere to run. People are the same everywhere. Sometimes music, movies and books are the only things that let us feel like someone else feels like we do. I've always tried to let people know it's OK, or better, if you don't fit into the program. Use your imagination – if some geck from Ohio can become something, why can't anyone else with the willpower and creativity?

You can follow the links below to enter this weird and kind of beautiful dimension:

https://www.instagram.com/daemonastari

https://twitter.com/astari

https://soundcloud.com/astvri

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/astvri

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TOUGH GUYS

I’ve been a listening to rap for quite some time, and its persistent homophobia has always been my biggest issue with the genre. Hopefully things are slowly changing. With artists like iLoveMakonnen, Young MA, Shake070, Mykki Blanco or Kaytranada, LGBT community is getting more and more represented at the forefront of rap music. Although there is still a long way to go, as proves Migos’ reaction to iLoveMakonnen’s coming out.

Makonnen addressed all of this in a touching interview with Fader, in addition to confirming Drake is just an asshole, and Mike Will Made-It is a man with a vision.

I must confess I never really paid attention to Makonnen, until he recently opened up as gay. I am aware this new sympathy can seem inappropriate, perhaps contradictory: being gay is nothing exceptional and shouldn’t give rise to comments. Of course, sexual identity is not a proper reason to listen to any artist. But we can’t deny his positioning shed a new light on his work. 

Makonnen built his image on being a tough guy, and there is no reason why he wouldn’t do so : that’s the life he had in Atlanta. “When I was really in the streets selling dope you was on the goddamn TV screen-acting ” he replies to Drake. Makonnen is showing to the world something maybe obvious, but so rarely depicted : you can be tough and be a queer.  

Migos seemed a bit confused by that statement. To those who think the same, here follows few good examples :

OMAR LITTLE (Michael K. Williams) - The Wire

When it comes to badass character, you can’t do better than Omar. He’s like Baltimore’s Robin Hood, with a shotgun. Forever in my heart. 

“GAY” PERRY VAN SHRIKE (Val Kilmer) - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

If you’re a bad guy, Perry is the type of motherfucker you don’t want to come across. The private detective likes to pretend he’s a selfish man, but you can be sure he’ll never leave justice undone.  

JOHN “SONNY" WOJTOWICZ (Al Pacino)- Dog Day Afternoon

Many ignore, but Dog Day afternoon is an important queer movie. Based on a true story, it shows how Sonny resolves to rob a bank to pay for the sex-reassignment surgery of his transwoman lover.  

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Natural born poet

Chief Keef may have disappeared from the mainstream, but he remains a prolific and versatile artist. He recently released a surprisingly radio-friendly banger. The dancehall vibe could look like a rehash of the current caribbean trend, but let’s face it, Sosa just does it better.

With this song, he tries to convince a crush he’s worthy of her trust. I extracted 5 lines that prove Keef is a natural poet and a model lover.

LINE 1

“Girl you look fine like wine” 

The ultimate compliment. A good wine is a complex, rare thing. It’s a matter of balance between acidity and sweetness. It’s a ballet of deep, rounded and intricate flavors. And it gets better with age. 

LINE 2

“Baby I respect you and love you if you let me I do not take you as a dumb dumb” 

Chief Keef is not the regular frustrated guy, looking for an eye candy. He also desires a partner to share ideas and opinions, being aware that a healthy relation is based on physical and intellectual attraction.  

LINE 3

“I'll wear you out like my Louie

Squeeze on you like my tooly

Stir you up like a smoothie

Clean you up like my jewelry”

Here, the conjunction of prosaic images is explicit, in every acceptions. It’s disturbing, but hey, love makes you do weird shit sometimes.

LINE 4

“I just picked you up some Roses in the lotus”

According to Buddhists, the rose lotus, also called Nelumbo, is a sacred flower that represents purity and devotion. And Lotus is also a sports cars brand, which means the girl will get romantism *and* adventure. 

LINE 5

“But they be still tryna fuck with me

When it comes to them I act like I'm rusty”

Glory Boy assures that he’s willing to make the big jump into monogamy. To avoid betraying his soulmate, he’s even willing to fake impotence. That’s how far he’s ready to go.

BONUS

Chief Keef recently exhumed an old collaboration with Gucci Mane. As expected the result is a weird, messy, boiling trap anthem. Just the right energy for your morning subway ride.

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Joker lullaby

In ancient Greek cosmology, the universe was conceptualized as an orderly system, where every existing thing was just right in place, with Earth it its center. The world of DC Comics is different: it’s a big mess where infinite Earths coexist in one physical space, separated by differing vibrations, and frequently rebooted by cosmological crisis. Connoisseurs refer to this as the Multiverse.

Among the Multiverse, each Earth has its unique rules and specificities. In one of them Superman is a villain. In another Bruce Wayne parents are still alive. In another last, all superheroes are actual hippies.  

After watching Kodak Black’s video for the single Too Many Years, one idea struck me. What if our Earth was the one where the Joker is a young boy from Florida, trying to wipe his personality disorders through rap music? With the help of PNB Rock, he attempts to overcome prejudices, and proves it ain’t that easy to be a supervillain.

Remains one question: on this Earth, where is Batman?  

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New York, Florida

Birthplace has always been essential to rap music. Compton, East Point, Queensbridge are just few of the many rap cradles made famous by their most gifted children. The rap fan is also a cartographer. But rap mapping is getting quite complex with time.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie grew up in the Bronx, not Atlanta or Toronto - nowadays it’s not common. But those who expect some sort of old school revival will soon be disappointed. His funky, cheesy synthesizer and carefree groove evoke more the Gold Coast (where the young boy spent some years on probations) than Gotham.

Florida, this is where Kodak Black comes from. Pompano Beach to be more precise. But you won't find any sunny bass in his sound. He prefers a more sticky, sweaty trap : the kid is a fan of Lil Boosie, Baton Rouge's finest.

On Drowning (Water) the two top-notch freshmen team up on a mournful melody, that looks like nothing else, except maybe that good old Scott Storch’s piano. 

Conclusion : it's a whole new world out there.

Bonus : 3 reasons why A Boogie is going to blow up

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Mastermind

An unknown, inhabited planet hosting the memory of a lost civilization. A starry sky, enchanting gate to another dimension. The setting of The Weeknd’s last clip is a pure tribute to 80’s science fiction. No wonder, considering Daft Punk is featured on the single.

5 years ago, to the day, Jean Giraud passed away. The comic book artist, also known as Moebius, left behind a collection of masterpieces (l’Incal, Arzach) that defined the iconography used in the video. 

Not only was Moebius a genius of comic books, but his contribution to the big screen, as screenwriter and designer, is enormous. In 1981, coming out of his work on Alien, he designed the unforgettable set and costumes for the movie Tron : 30 years later, Daft Punk will produce a thrilling soundtrack for the (poor) remake.  

To celebrate the mastermind, I listed below three movies that every starboy should watch. 

The Time Masters (1982)

A film directed by René Laloux and designed by Mœbius. It’s the story of a young boy, lost on a desert planet full of giant hornets, and the journey of the space pilot Jaffar to save him. It’s charming and disturbing at the same time : everything an animation movie should be.    

Heavy Metal (1981)

Moebius was famous for his work in the French cult magazine Metal Hurlant, first issued in 1975 (the magazine later got an American edition, Heavy Metal).

In 1981, Heavy Metal : The Movie gathered a collection of short-stories influenced by the magazine. Even if Moebius wasn’t involved in the production, the last story Taarna is directly inspired by his comic book Arzach. The result is flawed, but has a unique madness.  

Jordorowski’s Dune (2013)

It was a legend going on the internet. The tale of a time when Star Wars didn’t even exist yet : a team of brilliant minds once tried to adapt on screen the greatest book of science fiction, Frank Herbert’s Dune. Jodorowsky, H.R. Giger, Moebius, Chris Foss and Dan O’bannon were about to make the paradigm of all sci-fi movies, but Hollywood studios junked it up. The movie never came on screen, but its legacy changed the face of cinema.

Jordorowski’s Dune is the documentary that explores why the disaster was in reality a miracle.

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II is always better

If you were a young movie-fan in the 90’s, with a peculiar taste for action flicks, then Shane Black was your official dealer. From Lethal Weapon 2 to Last Action Hero, the genius screenwriter laid with stories made of moral codes, chivalrous attitudes, and cool punch lines, the foundation of the grown up I would become. I can’t say it went *that* well, but still.

Buddy films were Black’s signature. Movies about how to overcome differences, a much more satisfying spectacle, than, let’s say, big robots destroying random buildings. Recently his fantastic The Nice Guys proved that the genre was still relevant. Even more: necessary.

In Black’s filmography, The Last Boyscout remains my favorite movie to this date. It contains hundreds of cult dialogues. Let’s take this scene where Bruce Willis, playing Joe Hallenbeck, finds himself in a dark alley with a gun pointed at his head. The dialogue goes like this : 

Alley Thug: Wrong place, wrong time. Nothing personal.

Joe Hallenbeck: That’s what you think. Last night I fucked your wife.

Alley Thug: Oh you did, hah? How’d you know it was my wife?

Joe Hallenbeck: She said her husband was a big pimp lookin’ motherfucker with a hat.

Alley Thug: Oh, you’re real cool for somebody who’s about to take a bullet.

Joe Hallenbeck: After fucking your wife I’ll take two.

The joke kills the thug. Literally.

To get out of a dangerous situation in a buddy film, it’s all about the wit. You need to talk slick, and talk fast.

According to Dan Charnas, this performance is the very definition of rapping. No wonder rap music makes such a fitting format for perpetuating buddy films spirit. Outkast, Starlito & Don Trip, Run the Jewels, exemples are numerous.

Last year, coming straight from Bruxelles, Caballero & JeanJass offered with Double Hélice their own successful equation. Its sequel is now eagerly awaited.

Their last release is a classical ego trip (and a tribute to Birdman) that foreshadows a Double Hélice 2 even better than the first one.

As every 90’s action flick fans know, the second episode is always the best.  

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What it feels to be winning 

Talking about underrated songs, Good Drank stands up there. The easy listening track, produced by the pioneer Mike Dean for an Atlanta all star reunion of 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane and Quavo, wasn’t the strip-club banger everybody expected. Instead, it offered the smoothest possible soundtrack for a trip to the South, warm like a ray of sunshine on your drowsy face.

Forget the idea that pain and self-destructive behaviors are keys to inspiration. The heartful performance given yesterday by 2 Chainz and Gucci, with Mike Dean on the piano, and a classy choir replacing Quavo, proves it. Sometimes it just feels good to be winning.  

Because, despite of all efforts, Moonlight did get the oscar in the end.

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OTAKU IN THA HOOD

Internet is an open window on the world, yet we keep looking through an eyelet hole. What if we could just get lost and wander, despite of the language barriers ?

オタク (or OTAKU) IN THA HOOD is a series of short videos produced by Black File, a Japanese rap program. From what I understood, each episode dives into some rapper's everyday life, exposing their nerdiest side. A unique opportunity to visit messy apartments and take a glimpse at crazy collections, from sneakers to fishing rods.

My one and only year of Japanese evening classes doesn't allow me to understand a single word. But the good taste that country demonstrates for art, design and lifestyle is self-explanatory. 

If any Japanese speaker hears me: this is a cry for subtitles.

BONUS

If like me you are fascinated by Japan, take a look at the web show toco toco, by Anne Ferrero, that allows artists and creators to present their source of inspiration. And it includes subtitles. It's poetic, soothing, and I can't think of a better way to get through a Saturday morning hangover.  

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Monsters

Every man should learn to control the monster inside of him. Kodak Black, unfortunately, still has a long road ahead before reaching inner peace. Mixed up in a serious legal affair far from being over, the young man’s recent attitude shows a constant struggle between relapse and redemption. ‘’I’m too hood’’ he once said, half resigned.

In this masquerade, it’s never easy to separate the right from the wrong.

In his powerful last video, Kodak and his friends take part in an inverted rite of exorcism. Under the stars, the three little demons dance in front of shattered symbols of counterfeit virtue. By embrassing the darkness, they aim to purge Trump’s America off the seeds of hate.

It’s no redemption, but it’s life-saving.

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Real hustlers rap on flute

Japanese Edo period saw the disintegration of the feudal system. At that time, masterless samurais refusing to seppuku, known as ronins, were forced to hide. Many of them, to survive, joined groups of itinerant preachers called komusos, famous for hiding their face with a basket. The ronins couldn’t carry swords anymore, but the solid bamboo flute played by the monks, the shakuhachi, was very convenient to break the head of their enemies with a blow. Thus, for the first and only time, they turned a musical instrument into a weapon.

From soldiers to monks (and pimps), flute is the instrument of disguise and revelation. The sound of every spiritual journey. In that sense, Murda’s airy production on Get Right Witcha is the apex of Migo’s last album Culture, as it symbolize the merging of a whole movement into the maintream.

I tried to gather some exemplary uses of flute in rap, with the intent to celebrate the essence of that culture : a rise to recognition, motivated by ostentation as much as introspection.

Listen to my playlist on Groovemp3 here and on Spotify here.