Skip to main content

Album Reviews - Lupe and Mumford







Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album – Lupe Fiasco
See my full review of this album on HypeGirls.com

Below is an excerpt:


‘…Food & Liquor II…’is more a prompt for realization than a call for celebration. With rappers showing us daily how they blow money and live charmed lives, it’s easy for us to forget that there are still ghettos, kids are still killing kids, and the things we allow – even the nonchalant ones like calling each other ‘bitch’ and ‘ho’ and celebrating men who do the same – are doing more harm than good.



Babel – Mumford & Sons

I’ll admit I’ve been putting off listening to 'Babel'. The problem is, I knew I would like it. And because I’m trying really hard not to go to concerts until I’m well on my way out of debt, I have to fight to dislike new music just enough not to pay to see the songs performed live. Also, there are some Mumford... songs I don’t think I could see live without bawling. Another story.

‘Babel’ is much of the same thing from Mumford and Sons, which is actually a good thing. The new installment is less mellow than the last and more of a hootenanny (much like their cover suggests). But of course they saved room for a few balladesque offerings. The arrangements are planned with care and the harmonies are expressive. Much like the Chili Peppers, Black Keys and the like – if Mumford and Sons continue creating music with the same basic recipe I think they will hit home runs from now until forever. 

Only two this week. I've been recovering from Vegas. Check out my previous post to learn why. 

*


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cold War Kids iHeart Radio Album Release Party - My Quick Opinions

I've seen the Cold War Kids twice now, and my favorite thing about seeing them is they love to let people see them for free in Los Angeles. A free show is always the right idea. This time I got to see them at the iHeart Radio stage in Burbank, California. It's a very cool space, and the staff is super nice. Part of this iHeart Radio streaming party was a line of questioning from iHeart Radio personality. It was cool to hear lead singer Nathan Willett talk about his love for Los Angeles and desire to use their new album, LA Divine,  to set the record straight about the city's perception. He told Billboard the album is "the best version of what [they've] always done," and I agree. There's nothing particularly outstanding about the new album. There's no new, adventurous sound. The freshest thing about LA Divine is the effect the tumultuous year that was 2016 had on the lyrics. For example, Nathan told an amazing story about an art piece in New ...

Mrs. without the "r."

Of course I'm a feminist. Not that that needs explaining, but I absolutely believe in equal treatment and opportunities for both sexes.  But being a feminist doesn't mean I burn bras every Tuesday night. I still adhere to a number of not-so-feminist-friendly traditions. For example, I hate taking the trash out. That's a "man's" job. I take the trash out when I must, but if I can ask Jersey Mike to do it , well that's just 10 times better. Typically, for me, a man's job is any job I don't want to do.  Maybe that's not quite a tradition (more me leaning on societal norms to feed my laziness). But there's one tradition that, growing up, I always thought I'd be fine:  Taking my husband's last name.  My mother kept her maiden name when she married my father. She was born a Shute and felt that shouldn't have to change just because she found a cool guy to spend her life with. Growing up it wasn't confusing for me u...

The music died with Prince today

Today I had a breakdown at work. Like a damn fool.  I had a horrible night, woke up exhausted, and decided to remain unplugged until I got to work. I wanted to take the morning slowly.  I arrived at the office, sat down in my first meeting and heard "I'm just so sad about the news. We're going to write a few things about Prince today, Doriean are you able to do that?"  So I'm sitting there like a dumbass asking "What happened?" Then it hit me. Maybe that wasn't the flu that caused Prince's plane to land suddenly last week. Maybe something was really wrong.  Because he's gone.  So then I'm listening to my assignments, trying to wrap my brain around selecting the best Prince songs (impossible). I'm talking like nothing is happening but tears are streaming. My editor asks if I need a minute and I run to the bathroom and bawl like an infant.  I've been trying to listen to music all day. But nothing compa...