Tuesday, June 1, 2010

JAM OF THE MONTH: May 2010

Good morning, internet!

You probably know this, but I've been meaning to add a Jam of the Week/Month feature for longer than I care to admit.  I'm 3 levels past scatterbrained with the memory of a fruit fly, so some shit gets lost in the brain cave.  Anyway...here we are.  I know this site can be hard to follow with my rapid-fire approach to things...SO, I figure I'll start some nice wrap-up bits to tie things up kinda neatly at the end of the week/month.  And when my favorite solo artist drops a new jam for the first time since I don' know when, it's as good a time as any to start.

So let's kick this off with the choice you already knew was going to happen
Jam of the Month for May 2010Kanye West - Power

The "21st Century Schizoid Man" sample is so perfect in this song, because 'Ye is all over the place:  Sad that the public sees him as a world-class asshole.  Frustrated by the canyon-sized gap between his self-image and the way everyone else sees him.  Laughing at the idea that he's somehow in the wrong for being who he is, and most of all angry that the world-at-large seems to be demanding some sort of mass apology, instead of offering him the one he feels he deserves.

The song is a complete mess...in a great way.  It's loud, its chaotic, Kanye's verses and flow ramble and rarely hold any single form for more than a few bars at a time.  With a lesser artist, I would just assume that "Power" was a hack job by someone who couldn't handle such a heavy beat, but everything Kanye has ever done, said or recorded has been so deliberate and carefully crafted, I have to assume that the tempest was exactly what he was after.  And he got it.  Amazingly, the version of "Power" that we've been listening for the past few days is unfinished, unmixed and not yet mastered (very common with Kanye leaks).  I, for one, am hoping that the album version remains as close to this as possible.  I think any added polish would only ruin the perfect mess that's been made.

Below, check out the other nominees for Jam of the Month. . .

The Roots - Dear God 2.0
T. Hemingway ft. Versis - Slow Down
Kele - Walk Tall (the winner until Kanye showed up)

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