Ab Soul - Nibiru

Written by yours truly and originally published at Passionweiss

Ab-Soul stunts with the ancient gods and turns his on Mesopotamian swag. Each TDE member is releasing a new song this week and he follows Jay Rock’s “YOLA” with raps about aliens, pyramids, and conspiracies. If you’re not part of the hip-hop star-gazer society or you don’t wear a lab coat over your Wu Forever shirt, you probably didn’t know “Nibiru” is named after a concept in Babylonian astronomy. It’s something obscure about the highest point in the sun’s path around the earth, which I can barely understand and I doubt Soul fully grasps. His real name is Herbert Anthony Stevens IV though, and that would make an excellent alias for a spectacled professor who spends his time in dusty libraries reading books longer than the Bible.

A Middle-eastern female vocal repeats during “Nibiru” and it sounds similar to the classic Ofra Haza loop on Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid and Full” (Coldcut Remix.) This is a unique track and its subject matter guarantees you won’t be hearing it in a club or car sound system any time soon. Soulo spits enough spiritual and paranormal references to make Jay Electronica assume the lotus position. The black lipped one also mentions wacky conspiracy theories about the Illuminati and fallen angels, which the unemployed and underage will enjoy debating in the Youtube comments section.

Like he hinted on Control System earlier in the year, which featured the Kabbalah’s Tree of Life as cover art, Ab Soul is clearly interested in the esoteric. That makes him 100 times cooler or geekier depending on your feelings toward Aleister Crowley and sun spirits named Marduk who throw lightning bolts.

Future - Welcome 2 Mollyworld

Written by Jimmy Ness and originally published at Passionweiss

Welcome 2 Mollyworld is the astronaut kid’s foray into recording under the influence of serotonin hog Molly, also known to white people as MDMA. It's mostly a collection of popular material and remixes, but DJ X-Rated seizes five new tracks, all of which are more listenable than Diddy’s aimless boasting on “Same Damn Time remix.” The best of the bunch is “Double Cup and Molly” with its solid hook and R&B sensibilities that made Pluto so good. Future inexplicably begins with the phrase “Codeine Miley Cyrus,” which I’m sure the party girl would appreciate. 

“Hard” is also the shit and while the thumping bass sounds similar to his previous work, he’s in a zone where the majority of his verses sound fresh. The three other tracks aren’t particularly special, but it’s enough to subdue auto-tune addicts until Nayvadius Cash (yes, that’s his real name) releases Future Hendrix.

Despite boldly claiming he’s the MDMA rap pioneer, Future walks in the jaw-clenching company of known love-drug enthusiasts Danny Brown and Jackie Chain. The latter dubbed himself “a pill-poppin animal” and claimed he hadn’t slept in weeks on January’s After Hour’s mixtape. As long as we don’t see a trend of thugs hugging it out and succumbing to suicide Tuesday, I don’t mind if my music is on that Ringwald.

Roach Gigz - Going Off

Originally published at passionweiss

by Jimmy Ness

For better or often worse, 2012 is the year of the white rapper. Roach Gigz joins the ranks of the chosen few who rhyme without catering to college bros, performing at the Gathering of the Juggalos or sounding like this. The San Francisco native was named “Roach” after the Caucasian character in Next Friday who feeds weed brownies to his dog, and for this effort he deserves a baker’s dozen of the finest space cookies.

“Going off” is simple and direct. Gigz rhymes over a mechanical beat and drops a few bars. But this isn’t a rappity-rap song by a mean-mugging street poet. Roachy Balboa is a versatile wordsmith with a sense of humor. He rhymes “I got neck two times, like a fat face” and chubby fans get their feelings hurt. With his official debut, Bugged Out coming next month, the lyrics also introduce Roach to those who aren’t part of his core Bay Area audience. We learn he’s a hippy, had a kid too early, likes Spanish girls and owns two houses. Gigz would also like to date Nicki Minaj. She would probably be terrible dinner company and speak in cartoon voices the entire time, but whatever man. 

The video is equally uncomplicated with Roach as the central figure, stop motion editing and few distractions other than some ladies and his son’s juicebox. Gigz might look like Baby Bash, but he rhymes well enough to help Kid Rock become a distant memory. The white rap OG MC Serch would be proud.

Novembre hasn't broken up

Just a little update because I know a lot of people have been coming to this site after wondering why the band Novembre has been so quiet lately. Vocalist and guitarist Carmelo Orlando said recently that the rumors they have split up are false. He also said Novembre are revealing some "unexpected news." I have no idea what that means exactly, but the good part is the band hasn't gone anywhere yet. If you haven't read it already, check out an old interview here. Remember I wrote it about five years ago so don't judge the quality too harshly!