“DAMN. is an album that captures not just the frustration of an artist but the collected thoughts, worries, pain, and fear of a generation. The hope is that we ultimately come together in a triumph of persistence in the face of certain doubt. This album may have been Kung-Fu Kenny’s introduction, but it was Kendrick the philosopher rhyming to us all along.”

Albeit, The Heart Part 4 didn’t make the cut for his fourth studio album titled DAMN., but the loss of the track is understandable once you take a dangerous, lustful, brash, and introspective journey through the world as Kung Fu Kenny sees it. If you were disappointed by his two previous releases, To Pimp A Butterfly and Untitled Unmastered — he artist dabbled in space funk, and jazz-tinged melodies — then you’ll be in for a treat since this is effectively the evolution of the gritty 20-something we last saw on Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City.

“Hail Mary, Jesus and Joseph/
The great American flag is wrapped and dragged with explosives/
Compulsive disorder, sons and daughters/
Barricaded blocks and borders/
Look what you taught us.”

Across the entire album, there’s plenty of dynamic assistance on the boards from producers such as Soundwave, DJ Dahi, Mike Will Made It, and virtuoso Ricci Riera who built the beats. TDE’s label head, Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith also brought in the likes of The Alchemist and 9th Wonder on the team. Their talents make an album coming together make for an album that’s already an instant classic for fans of real hip hop.

DAMN., for the most part, is an incessant jab masterfully thrown from a boxer who knows he’s the best — but wants other rappers to try their luck for his own amusement. Lamar also jabs at targets that range from the likes of Geraldo Rivera, his Fox News cohorts, top rappers, and anyone who dares to touch anyone he loves. With an almost-breathless flow filled with multi-syllable rhymes, he lays down verses that drip with venom towards anyone who dares to challenge his claim of being “the greatest rapper alive.”

On ELEMENT., Lamar betrays a scathing perspective on his last musical venture, and particularly, anyone who mistook his kindness for weakness: “Last LP, I tried to lift up black artists / But there’s a difference between black artists and wack artists.” With LOYALTY. we see KDot linking up with pop princess Rihanna over a beat laid by hitmaker DJ Dahi. This track emphasizes the merits of placing your faith in a higher power over the pursuit of earthbound baubles. However, Kid Capri reminds us all with a booming voice that could be from God himself that “What happens on Earth stays on Earth!”

The album’s last song DUCKWORTH., is a true-life tale of how the butterfly effect of something as innocuous as giving out free food to gain favor can very well save one’s life. With chopped vocal samples of electronic band Hiatus Kaiyote, 9th Wonder crafts a schizophrenic landscape for Kendrick to take us on a journey of fate.

Long ago his father, who worked at a fast food restaurant, had his life spared by TDE boss Top Dawg when the eatery was knocked over. Kendrick makes the album come full circle in the style of Usual Suspects. We are given a rundown of events that very well could have ended with Lamar losing his father, and falling into gang life. The gunshot heard at the end of the album takes us right back to square one where the album began. Effectively, the album began with Kendrick being killed by what we can believe as bad fortune of his own, only to survive at the climax of the album due to the good fortune of his father.

DAMN. is an album that captures not just the frustration of an artist but the collected thoughts, worries, pain, and fear of a generation. The hope is that we ultimately come together in a triumph of persistence in the face of certain doubt. This album may have been Kung-Fu Kenny’s introduction, but it was Kendrick the philosopher rhyming to us all along. DAMN., is exactly what we need right now, an album where a rap god with limitless creative talent reminds us all that he is still just a man.

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The heroes of this sometimes true, mostly fantastic hip-hop origin story are many, but ultimately, it’s the story of four neighborhood kids led by gifted wordsmith, Ezekiel “Zeke” “Books” Fiuero (Justice Smith), who pines for another neighborhood friend, Mylen Cruz (Herizen F. Guardiola) while ably aiding her quest for disco glory. When the four meet mysterious graffiti legend, part-time underworld boy-toy, and aspiring super DJ Curtis “Shaolin Fantastic” Caldwell (the incomparable Shameik Moore), Puma-kicking-Kangol-tipping-record-scratching fireworks erupt, and the Fantastic 4 Plus 1 are born. With a little help from Grand Master Flash, who’s revered as much like a Kung Fu Grand Master as a DJing one, the crew sets out to take over not just the Bronx, but the world, despite the forces of poverty, organized crime, and disco working against them.

Luhrmann co-created the show, along with Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Stephen Adly Guirgis. Luhrmann also directed the Shaolin-Fantastic first episode, in all its frenetic, majestic, fluorescent glory. It’s the same type of glory I saw when I first fell for Baz, with Romeo + Juliet – perhaps the only Shakespearean production I’ve ever really loved. And The Great Gatsby is my favorite book of all time, a sacred text, somehow made all the more magnificent and telling in the modern hands of such a master visionary. Both source materials are iconic pieces of art, treated with passionate understanding and vibrant expression, and made all the more vital by Baz. That he has given the origins of hip-hop such legendary light is a testament to those funky forces who lived it, those who soared above the graft and poverty all around, who rose from the ashes of a world on fire, and created something bold and new.

Though Luhrmann relinquishes the directorial reins after Episode 1, and there is a bit of a drop in subsequent shows, his stamp is all over The Get Down, as he remains the Executive Producer. Nas is an EP, as well, and also dubs the raps for the grownup wordsmith, Zeke during flash forward arena shows, which serve to make the Fantastic 4 Plus 1’s origin story all the more epic since you know at least one of them “made it.” The raps also serve as story bumps before and after episodes, like a dope Greek chorus that catches you up far more eloquently than your typical “scenes from last week” fare. Nas’s stature also obviously serves to bolster the creative team’s hip-hop credibility, along with consulting help from the genre’s originators, like Kool Herc, Grand Master Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa.

One thing the show certainly doesn’t lack is music cred, not just of the hip-hop variety, but everything else that was popping in 1977. Indeed, it’s the music that glues this whole she-Baz-shebang together. But it’s more than just a great soundtrack; it’s a celebration of creation, no doubt, and the magical, mythical, world-changing forces that can unleash. Netflix just released the final five episodes of season 1, so do yourself a favor and get down with The Get Down. Your street cred depends on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usv442G6H8A

The post The Get Down: The Most Dynamite Time You Can Have Watching TV appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

“The album let’s us get to know its seven characters intimately, glaringly, scathingly. So that we know every frailty, fear, and desire. They are perfectly human, desperately alone in an imperfect world. But it’s the hypocritical world that gets even more laid bare.”

That’s especially true for you folks who aren’t woke, as the socially-aware kids are saying these days. Of course, odds are good if you’re down with the F24, you’ve already had some conscious coffee.

But regardless of how alert you may be, I can’t imagine you’re as woke as Tempest. And if you are, that’s awesome, way to see how the world really works. But still, I’m guessing you’re not quite as pissed about what you’ve woken up to. And even if you are, you couldn’t possibly articulate that dissatisfaction half as well as tempestuous Kate. (If you do, I know a good agent.)

To be awake in Tempest’s world is quite the haunting scenario. That’s specifically vivid in the world she creates on her mesmerizing Fall-2016 effort, Let Them Eat Chaos. The celebrated album frequently goes back to the theme of being awake, while poignantly illustrating all there is in this fucked up world to keep you up at night.

Tempest extends the waking metaphor via seven separate characters, neighbors and strangers in her lost city of London. They’re all alone, up way too late, at 4:18 in the morning, precisely.

“At this very moment, on this very street
Seven different people in seven different flats
Are wide awake, they can’t sleep
Now, of all these people, in all these houses
Only these seven are awake
And they shiver in the middle of the night
Counting their sheepish mistakes”    

The album goes on to get to know these seven characters intimately, glaringly, scathingly. So that we know every frailty, fear, and desire. They are perfectly human, desperately alone in an imperfect world. But it’s the hypocritical world that gets even more laid bare.

It’s poetry to be sure. As Tempest was a Ted Hughes-prize winning performance poet before dropping the second best album of 2016, according to the world’s greatest DJ, John Richards. But while the desperately delivered rhymes propel the album to greatness, the “post-dubstep bass” music drives those words all the way.

More than anything, though, it’s just damn good story telling. Tempest’s characters are as rich and alive as those found in any novel. Their travails just as illuminating. Indeed its her empathy that allows her to see so closely, so intimately. She seems to internalize every injustice in the world, and then venomously spit it out. It’s scary stuff, that will keep you up at night. But hey, at least you’ll be woke.

The post Kate Tempest Is Woke AF (at 4:18 in the Morning) appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

When rap first transitioned from underground parties to recorded music in the late 70’s, America was knee-deep in malaise era cars. Times were tough if you were an aspiring rhymer, and you couldn’t just pick up a new Porsche. Not that a sissy German car would have done to represent your flow on the streets. No, the first rappers needed something with style, bling, and above all, presence.

In 1979, it was hard to find something with more presence than Detroit iron. Masses of chrome, corduroy bench seats, and hoods longer than some modern cars – these rides had all an MC would ever need. And while Cadillac and Chrysler certainly had cars with class, it was the Lincoln Continental that was the first to be dropped in a hip hop record.

The year is 1979, Sugarhill Gang is the group, and Rapper’s Delight is the 7” single. While not the first recorded rap song, and certainly not the first ever performed, Rapper’s Delight was the first to brag about cars. In fact, the Sugarhill Gang could only wait till the second verse to spit out their love of the big Conti. Cadillac didn’t have to wait long to get into the rap game. A “sunroof Cadillac” is name-dropped a scant 2 words after the Continental.

It’s not hard to see why the Lincoln was the first car in rap. When new, the Continental was nicer than my current apartment, and handled almost as well. Miles of sheetmetal, steering like a cruise ship, and suspension that acted more like a waterbed – these 1970’s land yachts were end-all-be-all in American luxury. Today, Lincoln’s are still peppered into rap lyrics by Frank Ocean, Macklemore, Kanye and more. Whether this is out of a sincere love of boat-like Detroit steel or if they are simply keeping the tradition alive is not for me to say…

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