Category Archives: Queens

Album Essays, Hip Hop, Queens, The Big Apple

Get Rich Or Die Tryin

May 18, 2016 Thomas Malaickal Leave a comment

In 2016 with all of the technological advancements we have and how easy it is for a person to listen to a specific genre of music, we are in a great position to be able to witness and judge different types of music according to our own likes and dislikes. However, music is a great way for us to understand what an artist is trying to convey through his lyrics and beats. Gangsta rap was a style of music that personified the “thug” or “gangsta” lifestyle. Once a hardcore hip hop genre, it has evolved into a new distinct form due to the help of numerous artists and their change in their work because of the shifts in mainstream music. One such artist that attempted to bring out a last gasp for gangsta rap was 50 Cent. Curtis Jackson, or 50 Cent, with his album Get Rich or Die Tryin depicted his life of drug dealing and hardcore street life through his rhythm and lyrics. His album exemplified and sometimes even glorified the hard life that is involved in living in the streets and performing crimes.

After hearing the songs in the album and without doing any research on 50 Cent himself and about his life, one would assume that he was mixed in with the wrong crowd since his youth. He was born in the South Jamaica neighborhood in Queens. He grew up during the 1980s crack epidemic and started selling drugs at the young age of twelve. Tragedies and Jackson’s life seemed to go hand in hand for throughout his adolescence as his mother was murdered when he was eight years old and this caused him to live with his grandparents and practically be raised by the streets. The exposure of selling drugs in the streets along with other experiences with gang members and the police influenced his music. Along with an experience he had of being shot nine times also had a huge influence on the life he wanted to live. South Jamaica, in Queens, was designated as a poverty zone back in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. It already was put in a terrible disadvantage and it became worse as the crack epidemic hit in New York City as South Jamaica became a hotspot for the epidemic. Different gangs practically operated the neighborhoods. These disadvantages made living in this neighborhood hard and affected the youth that lived in this area at the time. In high school, 50 Cent decided to pursue a rap career and this was where he put out a small initial album which got him enough recognition to sign a contract with Dr. Dre and Eminem. In 2000, he dropped his first major album, and probably his only major album, Get Rich or Die Tryin featuring both Eminem and Dr. Dre.

The album itself encompasses what it meant to be living in the streets of New York City. 50 Cent himself talks about his experiences being a drug dealer in many of the songs in this album. Overall, the album reminisces his experiences during this dark time in his life and basically gives us an inside look into the mind of people who have to live this life. The hip-hop era that started in the end of the 1980s and the 1990s had a huge impact on the hip-hop scene and this album can be thought of as a product of this era of hip hop. The idea of being a “gangster” was looked as an exciting aspect after listening to this album. The thrill and danger can be seen as an exhilarating lifestyle that most people crave even though they don’t understand the real situation that 50 Cent had to go through. While growing up, kids my age always started speaking more slang and pretended to be a “gangster” because this lifestyle and culture was really appealing and it has become more prevalent as more artists bring that aspect into their music and art. During the turn of the new century, a portion of New York City music was dominated through rap and hip hop and this album was considered a huge success during it’s time due to its excellent beats, and lyrics that people started to enjoy and started becoming more mainstream.

However, the whole genre of gangsta rap deals with a lot more than what 50 Cent had in his album and the popularity of its album. In the beginning, rap was generally only taken seriously by young inner city youth who had similar backgrounds to that of the artist or could relate to the lyrics in any sort of way. In simpler terms, thugs listened to thug music. In my opinion, Hip-Hop always seemed to be a genre of music that emphasized trying to be ‘cool’ in the eyes of different people. 50 Cent did a great job trying to show how his life can be taken in a new and excited way through his lyrics and through his beats. After doing a little initial research on 50 Cent, it became a little clearer why the lyrics went into such great detail on different situations of street life. Even the album title and album cover picture depicts what it really means to put your life on the line to be successful in street life. It comes down to either you are going to make it big or your going to probably die if you are not good enough. The album also goes into people trying to pretend like they are “gangsters”. In the song, Wanksta, 50 Cent raps about different people that pretend they are about the street life but are actually pretending to be something that they are not. In his song Wanksta he says, “You said you a gangsta, but you neva pop nuttin’.”Through his controversial lyrics and his extremely enticing beats, he uses his art as a way to express his past life and struggles in New York City along with educating others about the rigors of the street life of New York City.

Rap is considered a mainstream drama today but it is completely different from the original gangsta drama that was presented decades ago. Today, rappers like Drake and Macklemore have become hugely popular with their affective rap. They do not talk about hardcore street life or try to encourage it. As oppose to earlier rappers like, Ice Cube and Dr.Dre, they were fixed on getting their message across to public. Rap groups like the N.W.A. had collisions with the authority’s numerous amounts of times, but that didn’t stop them from sharing their rhymes and lyrics with their fans. While his thuggish ways distinguished him in the world of gangsta rap – helping to produce millions of record sales and generating media attention that in turn produced more record sales – since the unsolved murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, hip-hop culture and the music industry that continues to profit from it has changed. It has moved on from the sensibility that unchecked violence in the music has no consequences in reality. That’s not to say that drugs, violent crime or gangsterism has been completely eradicated either in our communities or in the music of hip-hop, but we have certainly moved on from the unchecked celebration of it, and some of the very same folks who were bangin’ in the 90s are helping to save young people in the streets today. Rappers like Ice-T and Ice Cube are currently television and movie celebrities because of this new trend that takes away from gangsta rap. Ice Cube and other like him play pivotal roles in trying to bring awareness to the youth of today of not living a life that they lived in their youth. Recently, Ice Cube came out with a movie called Straight Outta Compton which beautifully depicted the struggles they had to go through in a time where segregation was blatantly obvious and it was extremely difficult for them to express their issues with society. They know have strong voices when it comes to racial or segregation issues and have become huge influences to kids in the inner city and try to help them from that lifestyle.

As a last gasp of relevancy, 50 Cent’s album shows how this genre of rap has evolved into something much different than how it started out. He can be declared the last gasp because many of the albums put out today are nothing like Get Rich or Die Tryin as they do not need to show thug life or harshness anymore. Today 50 Cent has merely become just an afterthought in terms of celebrities and famous rappers. His name only pops up here and there for different controversies that he finds himself in and he hasn’t put in an album of quality since this album which gave him his fame. His album and fame demised because of the aforementioned change in rap style. 50 Cent lacks what artists like Drake and Kendrick Lamar bring into the market and this is why he is considered just a mere afterthought. This is extremely surprising after his album sold 12 million copies and the album made Rolling Stone’s list of the top 50 albums of the decade and became one of the most commercially successful rap albums of all time. Though 50 Cent’s decline was due to himself and all the controversies that he got himself into, it also speaks volumes of the decline of gangsta rappers like him in today’s age. Recently, he was even got taking a video of a disabled airport employee who he had thought was high and putting it on his social media. Along with social controversies, he filed for bankruptcy recently to keep himself safe from lawsuits that have been filed against him. This has much relevance when we talk about his decline because it has much to do with it.

Get Rich or Die Tryin was in a sense the last gasp of gangsta rap before it completely diminished from mainstream music. It was an excellent example of what gangsta rap was because of its violent lyrics and hard beats. It exemplified the life of inner city youth and how living in the streets was something hard to deal with but somewhat cool. After a short decline due its extreme violent themes, gangsta rap came back but only to decline once again after new artists like Drake and Kendrick Lamar changed the landscape of rap was and the possibilities it could bring in terms of the lyrics they sang. 50 Cent has become a mere afterthought after his album brought him to the top. A generation of gangsta rappers have now been silent in their rap game as a new era of rap emerges.

Album Essays, Hip Hop, Queens

Time Is Illmatic: Nas and the Broken Queensbridge Projects

May 15, 2016 maxkulchinsky Leave a comment

Not a single word, or even sentence, can truly embody the significance of Nas’ Illmatic purely because it means so much, to so many people, on so many levels. It is an album—of both great historical and cultural importance—that screams New York City and more specifically Queens and the Queensbridge projects, a public housing project concentrated with poverty and crime. Illmatic put Queensbridge on the map and brought to light the issues looming the area for years. One of the most impressive and even immaculate aspects of Illmatic is that it is Nas’ first record; it is his first offering as an artist, and serves as his first portrayal and declaration of self and artistry. This album’s role in Nas’ career and life makes its intentions and purposes all the more interesting. Finally, on a personal level, Illmatic is an album that helped shape me as a music fan and person altogether. I first came across this classic record at the beginning of my initial adventures in the discovery of music, and specifically hip hop. I was a 12-year-old kid and I was infatuated with the works of contemporaries like Eminem, Jay-Z and Kanye West, and naturally while digging deeper, I found one of their greatest inspirations—Nas. After my first few listens of Illmatic, I was convinced of the record’s conciseness and importance to the genre and culture. With all of these ideas and realms of significance of Illmatic in mind, one may begin to understand the greatness and importance of the album as one of the greatest hip hop, New York City, and just flat out outstanding albums of all time.

Nasir Jones was 21 years young when he recorded his debut album Illmatic in 1994. The record truly came from Nas’ experiences living in the Queensbridge housing projects in the early 1990s. It was a rough public housing project in an inner-city filled with crime, drug abuse and a lack of hope to break the cycle of violence and inescapable poverty.

So as more and more blacks moved into public housing in Queensbridge and more and more crack was being distributed throughout the area, it was more and more likely for blacks to wind up addicted to crack, and/or dead or in jail as a result. Once parents fell victim to these hardships, it created an environment for their children and their children’s children to do the same. On Illmatic this cyclical lifestyle takes the form of stories about Nas’ kinfolk from the neighborhood including “the mentions of his friend Willie “Ill Will” Graham’s senseless murder, wars with police and references to legendary gangsters like Alberto “Alpo” Martinez, Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols and the Supreme Team.” These stories are told through anecdotal references on tracks like “Represent” or in the form of letters to imprisoned friends like on “One Love.”

Though Queens is currently undergoing serious gentrification in neighborhoods like Astoria—which demands rent in the ballpark of Manhattan and other expensive areas— Queensbridge is still very much the ghetto it was in the early ‘90s. While listening to the record, one could imagine a youthful Nas looking out the window of public housing, into the streets he called “the fucking dungeons of rap,” perhaps witnessing a robbery or an arrest. With this perspective and desire for an improved, morally sound life, Nas wrote poetry and raps, and began to take music seriously.

Nas aimed for Illmatic to be not just a debut record, but a record with lasting inspirational power. In 1994, he told The Source magazine, “This feels like a big project, that’s gonna affect the world.” Many, if not all of the ideas and beliefs related to gangs, crime, and the inner-city expressed throughout Illmatic ring true today. That is truly why the record is so special and important. Though not a single song or record can change a place or group of people, it can certainly aspire to do so. An album like Illmatic can inspire both the residents of a rough neighborhood like Queensbridge to try and break the cycle of poverty and crime, and expose the issues of a particular neighborhood to those who do not live with those issues everyday.

Since Illmatic is such a culturally reflective and important record—and was such a well received one at its time of release, and still today—it has served as the greatest curse to Nas’ long musical career. It is a debut album that set up decades of shortcomings for the MC. For example, it is near impossible to come across interviews in which Nas is not asked about Illmatic, it’s influence on hip hop, his career and how he feels that his best work came so early in his career. One particularly interesting answer from Nas on the subject came during his press run for his 2006 album Hip Hop is Dead. Pitchfork asked Nas if he wished Illmatic was not as great of a record as it was so people would stop comparing it to his subsequent works. He responded, “I could never wanna wish that…I want each album to say something different and be accepted better than the last one but I don’t have any point to outdo any particular album of mine.” Imagine how it feels for Nas to have achieved something so incredible and special with his first album, to only continue missing and disappointing people for many of the next 22 years of his career.

Despite the onslaught of antics and mediocre music he has made over the years—including ironically titling one of his albums “Hip Hop Is Dead” at a time in which Nas’ relevance and influence was fairly questionable in hip hop, and titling another album “Nigger” solely for shock value, only to make it an untitled album before release—hip hop fans and the culture as a whole still embraces and loves Nas, mostly for his very first record, which released 22 years ago. On one hand, all of the disappointments and failings of Nas’ career since 1994 make Illmatic all the more special because he will never be able to make an album as good as it again. He will never again be able to capture the same energy (dare I say vibe?) of Queens and New York City at the time. And at the same time, DJ Premier, Q Tip and other contributing producers will sound dated trying to recreate the sounds they crafted with Illmatic. So when he raps, “I dropped an ancient manifest of hip-hop straight off the block,” Nas is not lying. It is a self-predicted and fulfilled prophecy; he dropped a piece of rap mythology on his first try, and it was for the better of the music. Illmatic represents what many music enthusiasts refer to as “the golden age of hip hop,” having conventional, but excellent production and strong complementing lyrics.

For me, personally, Illmatic is still an album to revisit on a monthly basis for inspiration and to return to purer, lyrical hip hop in the onslaught of noise and laziness in modern hip hop. This record proved to me there was more to rap than catchy hooks, pretty electronic beats and braggadocios lyrics—sorry Kanye, I still love you! I digress. Illmatic is an album with infectious and head nod-able beats that are some of my favorites ever. But on top of that, there are genuine, real, important lyrics that can change one’s perspective. In a way, hearing Nas say he is “straight out the fucking dungeons of rap” brings you to that place.

CLICK HERE FOR NAS’ VERY OWN ANNOTATION ON “N.Y. State of Mind”!

Though New Yorkers from the 80s and 90s will relate to Illmatic’s commentary on the state of the city during Crack Era, it is not just an album for that era or even for people living in the Queensbridge projects or similar circumstances. It is for all people, and particularly those looking to be uplifted. Refrains from “The World Is Yours” telling me that the world is mine makes me feel like it actually is, or could be. Similarly, I am a self-diagnosed insomniac, so the bar “I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death,” is pretty relatable. “Represent” is a testament to how truly terrible Nas’ upbringing was, given the constant violence he was surrounded by against his will, and provides some perspective to me of how much better my childhood was and how much smaller my issues are comparatively. Unknowingly, Nas brought white Jewish Long Islanders to Queensbridge for a walking tour, to show the inner workings and struggles of the neighborhood. This greater understanding is just the start of a conversation about differences in race and class that divides people within New York City and the entire country in general.

As stated earlier, it is not expected for a piece of art or music to change a group of people, a place or society as a whole. However, in this case, Illmatic makes an attempt to at least recognize what is wrong and needs to be changed in certain areas and facets of society. Because of this and the excellent level of artistry—both on a musical level from the numerous talented (and now legendary) producers and on a lyrical level from Nas—Illmatic is an album that has transcended New York City. It is an album that has also transcended the 90s, and more importantly, hip hop as a genre, which usually comes with negative connotations to certain groups of people. It is an album that speaks to and for an incredibly marginalized and suffering race of people, and calls out to those who are unaware of this to be aware. Historically, culturally, musically and personally, Illmatic is one of the greatest works of music of all time, and there is hardly an argument against this.

Bridge Over Troubled Water

May 11, 2016 delcastillokenneth Leave a comment

I did not know what to expect when I clicked that play button. To me, it was just another assignment to complete but soon enough, that very assignment turned into an experience. Listening closely to the voices of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel for the first time immediately captivated me into an emotional trance. I was taken aback by the beauty and power of music made long before I was born. How could I have ignored such a timeless gem for so long? I owed it to myself- no, owed it to them- to give the duo the proper recognition they deserved. One song after another, Paul Simon’s lyrics garnered my concentration and deepened my musical taste. I have never experienced such simple, catchy music with a lyrical depth confronting complex and serious issues. Any of Simon’s songs could either be listened to in leisure or with purpose and with such versatile music like this, it was no surprise that the musician rose from a national phenomenon into a global superstar.

I am only one among millions of people worldwide who are still transfixed by Paul Simon’s poetic compositions that reflects his signature dense and subtle style of intellectual music. This is mainly due to how Simon’s musical poetry is capable of transcending generations as timeless music relatable to anyone no matter the time period or geography. If today’s world is still captivated by the seventy-four year-old’s music, society in the 70s, during the peak of the duo’s career, was absolutely beguiled by their performances. Simon managed to capture the essence of New York City society during that time and used it in his works to reflect his life and culture. The landscape of songwriting was introduced to a fresh new style with Simon’s lyrics portraying the solitude and isolation of an outcast in New York City. This very music was responsible for bringing him to new international heights

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjNgn4r6SOA

Within Simon’s arsenal was his flexibility towards adapting to other genres and styles of music. It would surely be an insult if one were to simply call the musician a folk rock singer as Simon proved otherwise time and time again of his versatility through his songs such as his titular hit “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. When listening to it for the first time, there is a sense of an uplifting beat that gradually grows to reach a climatic finish. A Catholic vibe rings through this gospel-inspired music as well. This was because Simon was partly inspired by the Swan SIlverstones, an America gospel music group. This very song became their signature hit of the album, praised for its spiritual essence that was captured by the piano’s melody and Simon’s harmonious lyrics. It was his first among many departures from the labeling folk art genre and ventures into new and different musical tastes (Rock Hall)

Another song that quickly rose to be just as popular, if not more so, was the first song on the second side of their album “The Boxer”. This was another homage and portrayal of New York City life in the sixties that the duo was already so accustomed to. A variety of different instruments were pitched and played in the song such as guitars, harmonicas, flutes and tubas (Janovitz). This combination of instruments collided to create a synchronized, powerful tale of a “classical New York Story of a small-town boy beaten down by the big city” (Village Voice). Important to note, the song was never recorded in one place as the duo endured a long, grueling, over 100 hours of production in several places from Nashville, Tennessee, to their home base in Columbia Records as well as Columbia University (Village Voice).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMrYvFTfIGI

The remaining songs on side two complete the album’s list. Known for its happy tunes and up-tempo beat (Bennighof 47), “Baby Driver” draws inspiration from the Beach-Boys like style and consists of pseudo words. “The Only Living Boy in New York” is another recalling to the city life and features the audio-visual effects “with its mix of strumming acoustic guitars, start-and-drop drums, and a far-off wall of harmonies”. Garfunkel recalls how the “aahs” recorded in the song came from them screaming in an echo chamber and having their voices lowered to a soft pitch (Eliot 39). In “Why Don’t You Write Me”, Simon continues the trend of experimenting with different genres by using elements of reggae music to which he would continue to use for his solo career. The only song in the album that was not written by Simon was their cover for “Bye Bye Love” by the Everly brothers and featured the audio effects of having the audience’s clapping during a concert recorded. Their last number “Song for the Asking” was meant to portray an accord between the duo in the hopes of a prosperous future together. Unfortunately, this turned out not to be the case as tension within the duo were on the rise to tear them apart (Janovitz).The album went on to immediately receive universal praise and quickly hit the top spots for billboards across the United States and parts of Europe. The incorporation of multiple genres such as R & B, gospel and jazz became a critical cornerstone for the album’s success and the positive reviews that followed. The Times in 1993 awarded the album a number twenty spot on their official “The Vultures 100 Best Albums of All Time” (The Times), while Rolling Stone’s Peter Puterbaugh was astounded by the “reassurance and solidarity that Simon wrote as a vehicle for Garfunkel’s golden tenor” (Puterbaugh) and gave the album a perfect rating. To little surprise, the album won a wealth of awards from the prestigious Grammy’s such as Album of the Year and Record of the Year. Despite the critical receptions, it was the mainstream popularity that boosted the album to new heights. Simon and Garfunkel stood in stark contrast to the traditional, blaring rock that swept through the country at the time, making them stand out as a unique group known for their New York City soul music.

Image result for simon and garfunkel the boxer

One question might rise from the duo’s reliance on reflecting so much of New York City through their album and that is whether the duo appropriated the city’s culture. The textbook definition of appropriation is generally defined as taking something for one’s own use without the owner permission. To say that Simon and Garfunkel are stealing from their own city for the intentions of profit and fame would a be a rather vague accusation. The duo was born and raised in New York and, as such, became a part of the very society they were portraying through their music. It would be a challenge for them to produce music notinfluenced by New York City than anything else of their own tastes. Rather than appropriation, this album stands as homage and appreciation to their home city. Just like how other New Yorkers want to show appreciation for their city, Simon and Garfunkel mean to do the very same through their own craft. The duo’s love for the city was proven countless times such as their significant 1981 concert within Central Park where they played to over a half a million New Yorkers. Their dedication to their birthplace brought New York together like a “big city suddenly sitting down on the grass” (Giodarno). If anything, Simon’s work could be described as a form of spatial appropriation with the City’s permission. When viewing appropriation from this, less negative standpoint, Simon was simply becoming a product of the mood and atmosphere of the cultural and physical space that he occupied while producing the album. The very same isolation and solitude Simon channeled through his album would continue when the duo split one last time after the album’s release.

https://vimeo.com/62293073