August 2009 Archives

ATG sizes it all up.

Speaking of Cudi. Uh, yeah. You know, I'm ALWAYS for rapper's pushing boundaries and experimenting creatively. In fact, I still defend Electric Circus to this day, despite the fact that it gets me dagger stares in hip-hop debates. So why am I so cynical about this album?

Maybe it's the hideous artwork, or the awful subtitle (Man On the Moon: THE END OF DAY in stores Sept. 15th), or maybe it's the general feeling that Kid Cudi tries so fucking hard to be DIFFERENT that he just ends up looking like a clown.

This blog is not about sports, granted. But ATG used to write these previews during college and we think you'd agree the NFL is infinitely more interesting than Kid Cudi.

More importantly, hip-hop, over rivaling genres, is woven with American sports into a two-way, perfectly symbiotic establishment. Michael Phelps shares his affinity for Lil Wayne during his Chinese medal bonanza, then he introduces a Weezy performance at an awards show, then Lil Wayne writes a song about Phelps.

Rappers praise. Athletes listen. Most involved with either love the other and lines are crossed.

There's the justification. Also, I need to switch gears and stop writing about Jay-Z.

Moreover, if you're like the minds behind ATG, you're burning for kickoff extra hard right now. Maybe it's the way things ended last year for Cowboys fans, the brimming excitement behind extra-compelling preseason storylines, the lack of faith in baseball's modern era, the lack of American hegemony in soccer, the fact golf is more interesting when golf balls are neon colored and putts avoid windmills and dinosaurs, or that football provides the most thrilling competitive action available on my off-brand HD TV, but I'm fucking jacked.

ATG sizes it all up.

I could count the number of times I've walked out of a movie on one hand. Not only do I avidly avoid suspected cinematic stinkers, but I generally hate leaving anything unfinished. Usually, if I find myself parked in front of a particularly bad waste of celluloid (Shrek 3, The Taking of Pelham 123), I'll just doze off and catch up on some shut-eye while I wait for the third act resolution. Halfway through District 9, though, as my brother and I gathered our half-eaten, over-priced snack foods, arose from our seats and prepared to exit the theater, I have to admit that I felt pretty good about it. 

ATG sizes it all up.

Joe Budden could do with a warm glass of shut-the-hell-up.

Rather than his forceful, personal, honest Mood Muzik mixtapes or his strong-suited pair of LPs or his ambitious lyrical capabilities, one of the decade's most compelling, volatile personas is defined by petty skirmishes with bigger names.

Without further ado, we give you our second mixtape: Prelude to The Blueprint 3, a careful collection of the god emcee's most definitive leaked tracks and guest features from the past year. In anticipation of the biggest rap album of 2009, Prelude was designed to whet appetites while shedding some light on Jigga's state of mind. It sounds like Jay's been sounding: clear, confident, seasoned and a little political - all with swag on levels heretofore unheard of. Its compositions feature a handful of bracing and aggressive samples, hinting forays into alternative genres like jazz, synth rock and world music.

Guest features include: Kanye West, M.I.A., Nas, Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Coldplay and more.

The Blueprint 3 will be released on September 11, until then, we hope you enjoy Prelude. Tracklist and download after the jump. 

ATG sizes it all up.

It makes sense that as we watch the music and persona of Kanye West drift into the outer reaches of the popular stratosphere, ripple effects would start to emerge. But I can only imagine what it was like to watch the pale, shirtless, "free spirits" midway through the interpretive dance of "Robocop" depicted above...