Ice My Styrofoam

Lil Hyfe, Kleet da Banga, Lee Majors "Pour Up"

I've made a point of complaining about Southern rap's influence on post-Hyphy Bay Area rap a lot on here. To recap: Lil Wayne or Gucci Mane tend to sing the hooks on most new mixtape joints, and they don't even know it! I'm referring, of course, to the practice of taking a somewhat compelling Lil Wayne couplet, slowing it down, and sidestepping the process of actually writing a song. This reminds me of hipsters who take pictures of other "artistic-looking" people in low-light situations, or Roberto Bolano's celebrated novel Savage Detectives; instead of actually having to make art, you can just show off your association with an artist in a form that resembles art, and pass it off as same. Am I making sense here?

My problem with this practice is that it stifles the creativity that we all love so much in Bay Area rap. It lets Southern artists who aren't even aware of the fact that they're singing these hooks define the song. Then, rappers are let off the hook - so to speak! - for actually having to say anything, and you're left with utterly nihilistic rap. Which isn't always a bad thing. It's just not that interesting.

What I like about this song posted above is that it takes elements of Southern rap - the recreational abuse of codeine syrup - and made it into something uniquely Bayish. I'm not sure Texas rappers would rap about how they just end up falling asleep when they drink syrup. But Lee Majors and two relative no-names would.

They add a nice cartoonish, self-deprecating Bay Area touch to a song that's about an otherwise completely borrowed subculture. Even Lee Majors doesn't ruin it, which is incredibly rare.

Keak Da Sneak "Don't Make Dollars Don't Make Sense"

Keak Da Sneak is continuing on his constant task of never really thinking of a new title for a song, but only referencing things he has said in the past. It's nice to hear from the guy again. He's been lying low for some time now. This song is serviceable, but nothing amazing.

Menace, Lil Wayne, Mitchy Slick "Blood Ni--az"

I think there's something seriously wrong with the levels on this song, not just the mp3. I also totally think Lil Wayne got sneak dissed on the third verse. Though I like his verse the best, probably for all the jokes he makes about gang culture ("oops I mean the boupe"). It would be easy to get into a conversation about what the difference is between actually being a gang member and using that to build a rap career, or having a rap career and picking up tenuous gang affiliation in the process, then using that to seem more authentic. I suppose it comes down to whether it comes off that you're promoting the organization - if you can even call the bloods gang an organization, it seems their lack of organization is what leads to all this confusion - or using the organization to promote yourself. I'd say everyone in this song is doing the latter. So what's the point?

Young L "Young L-E-N"

Noz at Cocaine Blunts (or as I like to call it "Cocaine, Blunts") posted this track with this one statement as commentary: "Rap production is anything but stagnant." It led to a ridiculous amount of discussion in the comments, which you should check out if you're into that sort of thing. I agree that the beat is crazy, but I just wonder when Young L is going to tire of his solo stuff.

Let me put it this way: what if Jerry Seinfeld were the only character in Seinfeld? He would be quite unpopular, and I think he's running into that wall these days with his new show. I'll leave it at that (except that continuing with this comparison: Lil B = Kramer; Stunnaman = George; Uno = Elaine)