The conspiratorial ruminations of Christopher

 Quelle Chris' Shotgun & Sleek Rifle is one of my favourite albums of the last few years, and remains criminally underheard by people who don't spend their days perusing the hip-hop blogosphere (and even pretty underheard by many people who do). Anyway, he's got a new album coming out in five days via the ever reliable Mello Music Group (who recently put out Uptown XO's excellent Colour de Grey, amongst other things), and to whet our appetites he's dropped some visuals for one of the preceding singles, 'We Eat It'. Him and Cavalier rap about hydrogenated oils and the sedation of convicts via pills and other such things that may or may not be true over a mournful horn sample and some skittering, barely audible drums. It's great and if you don't like it you should feel bad. Anyway, I'm gonna let the track speak for itself. Be sure to cop the album, Niggas Is Men, coming out March 19th.

Lindo Strikes Thrice

There's a new Freddie Gibbs song out, which essentially means that it's a national holiday in my household. Whenever there's new Gibbs, I sit down to listen to it with hopeful anticipation, only to be consistently impressed. The man never disappoints. Anyway, here it is:

Sadly, it feels like a horrible case of deja vu. This is the third time in the last 9 or 10 months that I have heard that sample flipped, and they've all been boringly similar. When I first heard it, on Action Bronson and RiFF RaFF 'Hot Shots Part Deux', I thought it was stunning. Where the fuck did they find this shit? The floaty vocals and slinking bassline make it perfect fodder for a great beat, and it was no doubt found by some seasoned crate-digger in a sidestreet charity shop.

Turns out that the song in question came courtesy of Wanderlea, "a Brazilian singer, and former co-host of the historic TV show Jovem Guarda", according to English-language Wikipedia (I couldn't be arsed to Google translate the Portuguese Wiki, so that is literally all I know about her). It is called 'Lindo', and it's clear upon listening why so many producers are drawn to it: it is, after all, amazing.

But, when I heard it for the second time on 'Lupin III', a cut from Philly rapper GrandeMarshall's very accomplished debut tape 800, I was already beginning to tire of it. I'd rinsed that Action Bronson song (the second great Bronson/RiFF RaFF collab of 2012), and there was no way any other flip of the sample - or one released with that song so fresh in the memory, at least - could live up to 'Hot Shots'. That said, I still loved GrandeMarshall's tape, and the relative brevity of that particular song made its' familiarity utterly forgiveable. In fact, the less polished flip of the sample made it somewhat endearing, if far too reminiscent of recently-released superior track.

So, whilst I look forward to any new Gangsta Gibbs, I can't help but feel somewhat underwhelmed by 'Sing For Me'. This Sean Momberger beat certainly isn't up to the same standard as similar beats he's rapped over recently, both on the Madlib-produced 'Thuggin'' and 'Shame' EPs and the more soulful cuts from Baby Face Killa ('The Hard', 'Krazy', 'Tell A Friend'). It's still great to hear him Bun B his way around what is undoubtedly a gorgeous sample, but there comes a point when oversaturation turns into a major problem. I sincerely hope that this sample is left alone for the next few years, just so I can return to these songs without that sinking feeling that I've heard it all before a hundred times (*cough* Joey Bada$$ *cough*). And, more than anything else, I hope that Madlib digs deeper into those crates than your average producer in order to come up with entirely new gems for Freddie to slay on their upcoming MadGibbs album. Although I think it's fairly safe to assume he will. After all, he is Madlib.