Image via Complex Original
The MTV Video Music Awards go down tonight in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center and the place will be packed with crazy live performances, the new KAWS Moonman, and more.
And while the world is waiting in New York City for something crazy to happen tonight, this past week has had its own sort of insanity, all leading up to tonight's festivities.
We watched Drake and Kanye get serenaded by Pia Mia, a friend of the Kardashian clan, and learned Coolio was selling his entire catalog to really kick off his cooking career. Juicy J's Stay Trippy was streamed in full on his site earlier this week, but the only way to access it was through a stripper game. Plus, Drake's Nothing Was the Same album art set Twitter on fire, and Kanye West appeared on Kris Jenner's talk show and revealed a photo of North West.
All that and more in What The Hell Just Happened in Music This Week?
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The influential critic Albert Murray passed away earlier this week.
Date: August 18
Writer and cultural critic Albert Murray passed away earlier this week at the age of 97.
His importance to the story of American cultural criticism is difficult to overstate. At the time he released his first collection of essays, 1970's The Omni-Americans: Black Experience & American Culture, he was attacking two dominant American views of the relationship between Black and White culture. White Americans had treated black art as a kind of outsider exotica, even when embracing the music; meanwhile, the new cutting-edge approach from post-war Black American intellectuals revolved around a kind of Black Nationalist separatism, espoused by writers like Larry Neal and Amiri Baraka.
Murray's book made a bold new argument about the nature of race and culture in America. To quote this 1996 profile of Murray by Henry Louis Gates, the argument made by Murray in his first collection, as well as subsequent books like his Jazz history Stomping the Blues, was simple. Says Gates:
"In its bluntest form, their assertion was that the truest Americans were black Americans. For much of what was truly distinctive about America's 'national character' was rooted in the improvisatory prehistory of the blues....
"For generations, the word 'American' had tacitly connoted 'white.' Murray inverted the cultural assumptions and the verbal conventions: in his discourse, 'American,' roughly speaking, means 'black.' So, even as the clenched fist crowd was scrambling for cultural crumbs, Murray was declaring the entire harvest board of American civilization to be his birthright. In a sense, Murray was the ultimate Black Nationalist."
Murray wasn't the only one espousing this particular argument. He and Invisible Man author and literary legend Ralph Ellison, a longtime friend (the two attended Tuskegee University at the same time), had forged many of these ideas together (some of their correspondence was collected in a book called Trading Twelves). In fact, Ellison's 1964 book Shadow and Act, which collected essays he had written, laid the groundwork. Ellison said that although there had clearly been a history of segregation and disenfranchisement, American culture was pluralistic and had been intrinsically black from its beginnings. Murray's essays in Omni-Americans pushed this argument further; because of how Africans had been so violent dislocated, forced to fend for themselves in a pioneer society, being forced to adapt and survive had made black Americans the archetypal Americans.
[The difference between Ellison and Murray, in Murray's own words: "[In Ellison there is] a certain amount of explanation of black folks stuff for white folks, which I refuse to do. He would say certain things which I wouldn't say."]
There was a patriotism and—yes—a conservatism to these philosophies. Murray disciples like Stanley Crouch would extend those arguments in ways that would alienate fans of hip-hop. But the primary thrust of his vision—that black culture isn't a piece of American musical DNA, but the very essence of it, the basis from which all American popular music springs—is an idea to which we are all indebted. This is one of the long-lasting legacies of Albert Murray, and the basis for our understanding of American culture.
"The omni-Americans are the Americans," Murray said in a 1996 interview with American Heritage. "My conception makes Americans identify with all their ancestors."
Rest in peace. —David Drake
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Fan Fiction: Drake has dinner with Kanye West and the Kardashians.
Date: August 19
7:30 PM at the Kardashian residence
Drake, Kanye, the Kardashians, and friends sit around the dinner table, sipping wine and waiting for food to be served. They make small talk about Drake recording his album, Kris' upcoming show, and the weather in California. Kanye looks disinterested. Drake is awkward but more charming with each sip of his peach spritzer.
----------------------------------
"Yeah, it's good you guys got a reliable nanny," Drake says, talking mostly to Kanye but going out of his way to briefly make eye contact with everyone at the table. "Nannies are great—just the whole idea of a nurturing person who has your back. Someone you can trust. I always had issues trusting people, but when it comes to nannies, it's just like, it's not just in their job description, it's in their blood."
Kanye's face looks like he just took a shot of cheap vodka. It's scrunched up and pained. He says nothing.
Drake finishes his second glass of spritzer and excuses himself from the table. "Where's the restroom?"
Kylie Jenner directs him. "In the hall, second door on the right."
Drake walks to the hall, opens the first door on the right and sees it's a closet. "Ugh, I'm terrible with directions, y'all. Don't worry, I won't piss on your coats!"
He enters the bathroom, takes care of business, then slowly opens the door and pokes his head out, looking ashamed. "Guys, don't look."
"What do you mean, don't look?" Kanye asks, clearly irritated that someone has directed him to do something. He takes a big sip of wine and swishes it around his mouth, because he wants to appreciate all the tannins fully and intensely.
"I mean... I dribbled," Drake answers.
Kanye cracks up and tries to keep from spitting his mouthful of wine. He raises one finger while holding his other hand over his mouth. He composes himself enough to swallow.
"You serious, man? You're a grown ass man, how're you still pissing on yourself, man? Damn, man."
"I think it's all the hookah I've been smoking," Drake replies quietly. "It's just like... I don't know, it just can't be good for me. I know I should stop. I wanna stop. But all the other rappers are always blowing smoke in their Instagram pictures...and I read that the tobacco in hookahs—shoosha, or shisha, or something—it has less tar, and less nicotine. So I can't get addicted, and it won't hurt my lungs as much. So I made a pros and cons list, and it was close but..."
"Man, sit down." Kanye is annoyed.
"But it came down to the different flavors," Drake continues. "And there's this one that's like hibiscus and mint, and it's hard to even believe that this could possibly be unhealthy because..."
"The fuck? Stop it, man. Nobody would've noticed you pissed on your pants anyway, they're black pants. I don't know why you pointed that out and made shit all weird. Just be cool man. And don't use words like 'dribble.' And stop it with the damn pros and cons lists. You're a grown man."
"Kanye, be nice," Kim chimes in. "He's our guest."
Kanye looks at Kim as if to say, "But you heard him say 'dribble' right?" Drake sits down and clumsily plays with his napkin, folding it into a sloppy rendition of one of those swans you get at Chinese restaurants. He swims it across his plate, then looks up at Kim.
"No Kim, he's right. I'm cool, I'm cool. I appreciate the advice, 'Ye. You're a lot older and cooler than me. You always have been. Probably why people don't get you, 'cause, like, people just aren't on your level. I'm just over here, like, average dude, still peeing on his damn self." A wave of confidence suddenly rushes over Drake's face. He laughs. His gums are showing, but he looks handsome. You can tell he just had his teeth whitened, and his gums look immaculate. "Like, sure, I sell tons of records, but Kendrick's the real rapper, and you're the real artist. Shit, I'm not even a rapper, really." He shrugs and reaches for his spritzer. His arm accidentally brushes against the arm of the girl next to him. "Oh, I'm sorry baby."
Kanye senses that he's being dissed, that the tables have turned, but it's such a weird, roundabout insult that he's not sure how to respond, so he does what he's comfortable with and starts telling people to do stuff.
"Ayo Kylie, can you check the thermostat? Make sure it's on 67 or 69. No evens. Kris, your hair looks great but you've got a couple strays in front, you might want to check that out in the mirror. Hey Pia Mia, you sing right? Why don't you sing something for us?"
"What should I sing?" Pia Mia asks, like she's been waiting for the request her whole life.
"I don't know, something cute. How about Drake's new pop song?"
Kim pulls out her phone to record, Kanye laughs to himself, content with his little jab back at Drake, and Drake carefully considers how to act in this situation. He decides to go with the I'm-cool-and-having-fun look, and he pulls it off well. The dribble on his pants is dry, and the whole table is comfortably awkward as Pia Mia sings "Hold On, We're Going Home." Soon after she finishes, dinner is served—orange glazed seitan, which is a wheat gluten meat substitute, also known as imitation beef.
#JustARegularFamilyDinner —Jacob Moore
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Juicy J streamed his album and it involved strippers, of course.
Date: August 20
Juicy J's career renaissance has been several years (and many many bandz) in the making. Finally, after flooding the market with mixtapes and creating a fan base for his ratchet antics, Juicy's third album, Stay Trippy, is finally upon us, set to be released in two days. This marks his first album since 2009's Hustle Till I Die, and his first solo album on a major label.
Of course, fans have the opportunity to grab an advance listen of the album on Juicy's website. And of course, even this showcases the flair the Memphis legend has with ratchetness. The album can be streamed by playing a computer game. The game is simple enough: Throw cash at strippers, earn more strippy cash for doing so, and use this cash to unlock more songs from Stay Trippy.
But that wasn't all Juicy did to keep the momentum for Stay Trippy going. During the week, he decided to offer a $50,000 scholarship to "the best chick that can twerk." While Juicy has since deleted the tweet, it has certainly caused hysteria. If you think young women (and men) have too much dignity to twerk for college scholarships, you must not be old enough (or young enough) to remember how much college costs.
As for the album itself, it is everything you expect from the man who gave us "Bandz" last year. There is no introspection here, unless you're talking about Juicy trying to figure out how much "cash" he's made in his storied career. Or how much weed he smoked last night. Even the most unconventional song on the album, "The Woods," his collaboration with Justin Timberlake, is a love song dedicated to a "Trippy chick," and focuses on getting freaky.
Juicy's unadulterated ratchetness might have only spawned one commercial success with "Bandz" last year (no song has come close on the charts since), but at this point his grind as a solo artist has cultivated a loyal fan base. Between his legacy with Three 6 Mafia and his current affiliation with Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Gang (and Miley Cyrus), he should be able to muster up solid first week sales numbers with Stay Trippy. Now turn up! — Dharmic X
RELATED: Stream Juicy J's New Album "Stay Trippy" While Throwing Cash At Strippers
You can buy the rights to all 123 Coolio songs for the low. He's going to be a chef.
Date: August 21
Let’s talk about Coolio for a second.
Dude is out here putting his entire royalty situation on the line for a post mid-life crisis dream. He’s going to be a chef. He’s selling the rights to all of his shit on a website called The Royalty Exchange, where you can literally go right now (well, on August 28 actually) and purchase the rights to Coolio’s entire fucking catalog—that is, if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars. It wouldn’t even be that bad of an investment either, especially if “Gangsta’s Paradise” gets itself into some new movies. Right now, Coolio collects about $23,000 in royalties a year. At that rate, balling out in the form of buying all of Coolio’s songs will break even in about a decade, and you’ll just be some guy profiting off of Coolio songs in the late 2020s. Think about that for a second.
But of course, why wouldn’t Coolio just continue to profit off of his own work if it keeps making him money? He’s making a big move, so he needs that lump sum—and I support him fully.
Some time between Raekwon The Chef and Action Bronson, Coolio had a little cooking show called “Cookin’ With Coolio.” I learned from this show that he is the type to get eight or nine slices out of a tomato when he’s preparing the ingredients for a caprese salad, no bullshit. With a detail-oriented culinary mind on that level, one might be surprised as to why he hadn’t gone full chef even sooner. Regardless, this 50-year-old man is ready, he just needs the money from his music catalog to get the ball rolling. I personally think he should have gone with Kickstarter and just made the rights to his songs like the biggest of the donation thank-you gifts. And you could get the rights to one of his lesser known songs for like one thousand dollars. I have about a thousand dollars to my name at this moment and I would still make that purchase, if only for reckless stunting purposes. Fuck your chain!
The takeaway here is that dude is not trying to sit stagnant and continue collecting, he’s prepared to put it all on the line. That's admirable. Please support the cause. The guy already has a chef catchphrase—it’s “liberally.” As in, "Now I will distribute these chopped onions liberally on these eight or nine slices of tomato that I was able to get out just a single tomato." If you have the requisite commas in a bank account dedicated to fuckery, now is the time. If for no other reason than that a hairnet will henceforth be covering his tarantula hair. —Alexander Gleckman
RELATED: Coolio is Auctioning Off Music Catalog to Fund New Chef Career
Drake released the album art for Nothing Was The Same.
Date: August 21
Drake rules the early hours of the morning. He writes the types of songs that soothe adolescent angst and champion the conquests of early adulthood. He wins with equal servings of crew love and solo contemplation. In keeping, Drake's Twitter announcements typically come during his target audience's sweet spot: after midnight.
On Wednesday, Aubrey Graham broke step and announced a new date for his album, Nothing Was The Same, at the civilized time of 9:51pm. He took the opportunity to unveil his cover art, a composition that includes two unremarkable paintings by MTV: "It's something that Drake and I both thought would last beyond what you'll see on most album covers now." Nelson's as misguided as he is right. The real glory of the cover comes in the remarkably pedestrian conception of the end idea, an unusual tactic in a climate that apes Tumblr-ready versions of creativity. While his peers enter into awkward dalliance with the art world—hugging Marina Abromovich and vacationing with auctioneers—Drake keeps things, bizarrely enough, real. That is to say, he sticks to the traditional trappings of rap stardom.
Baby pictures, of course, are one of rap's great album cover cliches. Familiar territory draws visual comparison to Ready to Die and The Carter III, records that transcend the rap market through virtuoso articulations of the genre. That's where Drake wins. For every discussion of his softness, and for the mainstreaming of sensitive rap, he's firmly planted in hip-hop's most popular core. Nostalgia-driven dress (Coogi and Dada), coupled with old-guard luxury odes (Versace, Versace, Versace), do nothing more than solidify his positioning. Drake's unabashedly fond of rap's now uncool past, and undeniably successful in providing new twists of obvious troupes.
The cover's two side profiles, Drake young and old, balance the rapper's reverence for popular hip-hop's past and his command of its present and future. The genre doesn't need high concept. Instead, it requires a voice that speaks and defines the language of a generation. A language that offers cathartic escape from life's stresses, a noble, lighthearted self-awareness, and an admission that singular stardom requires teamwork.
In his admirable acknowledgement of Nelson, Drake sidesteps the oblique behaviors of DONDA. By employing original work, he takes ownership of his aesthetic and avoids the gross reaching of MCHG. By standing strong and giving fans another opportunity to do what they most love to do—poke fun at his #fails—Drake takes one step closer to the throne.—Nick Schonberger
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A$AP Ferg actually responded to the Kendrick Lamar "King of NY" claim.
Date: August 21
It’s been over a week of rappers feeling some type of way about K. Dot’s verse on Big Sean’s “Control,” and everyone from Papoose to Riff Raff has thrown in their two cents. The majority have been underwhelming and no artist actually mentioned on the song has responded. Most of Lamar’s peers believe he wasn’t dissing them, rather looking to inject some friendly competitiveness back into hip-hop.
A$AP Rocky was one of those artists who was named on the track and hasn’t responded except saying Kendrick must have been “smoking crack” for claiming king. The two rappers have a friendly relationship and worked together on Rocky’s hit single “F**king Problem.” Plus, it was much more of a diss to not be included on the list of rappers Lamar believes are worthy of his rhymes.
However. Rocky couldn’t keep everyone in his crew silent and A$AP Ferg decided to fire back.
While promoting his new album, Trap Lord, on Funkmaster Flex, Ferg used his freestyle as an opportunity to respond. “I’m the new 50 Cent, I will fucking Ja Rule you boy.” He went on to reference Sherane, Kendrick’s fictional female from his debut album, and took issue with Kendrick comparing himself to Tupac. “Makaveli from Harlem, how you want to be Pac?” Ferg asks.
The A$AP mob and TDE have a history of collaborating so it would come as a surprise if this went beyond the spirit of the sport. Either way, it’s good to just see someone rap like they were actually offended by what Kendrick said. Lyrical acrobatics are cool and all, but what’s better than a good ol’ fashioned diss? And what’s a king to a lord anyway? —Nick Sella
RELATED: A$AP Ferg Actually Responds to Kendrick Lamar's "Control" Verse
Kanye made his first live television appearance on Kris Jenner's talk show.
Date: August 23
The only way one can even remotely comprehend what the motherfuck happened on the episode of Kris Jenner's talk show that Kanye showed up for is to think of Breaking Bad.
Yes, Breaking Bad. Hear it out.
You know what the central conceit of Breaking Bad is: There's this nice guy, this chemistry teacher, and he eventually turns into a cold-blooded meth kingpin who goes around running guys over and shooting them in the face.
Watching Yeezy on Kris was like watching Breaking Bad in reverse.
The Dark Lord Yeezus did not show up. Not even remotely close. Kanye was behaved in the manner of, I don't know, say: Someone whose wife will withold sex from him unless he absolutely charms the everloving shit out of everyone in that audience and makes Kris Jenner look like Kris Winfrey?
Kanye talked about raising his children with Christian values, and then asked if he could say that on TV. Kanye talked about the potential horror of his child seeing her father mid-Taylor Swift incident, and how he regrets it. Kanye talked about being embarrassed—embarrassed—that he couldn't put the car seat in the car correctly.
Read that last sentence again, and then recall if you will that this is a person who on his last album:
- Compared seeing a woman's bare breasts to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
- Talked about putting his fist in a lady's vagine "like a civil rights sign."
- Had a conversation with Jesus Christ.
- "Sweet and Sour Sauce."
And so on. One can take all of this to mean one of three things:
1. Kanye's gone super soft since having a baby, and Yeezus is really an album about how fucking crazy it is to deal with a wife who is about to have a baby. Which is crazy.
2. Kanye was always like this, which makes Yeezus all the more impressive, and really, a concept album about the character Yeezus, who is really, truly fundamentally different than Kanye West.
3. Kanye West and Yeezus are the same person, like Jekyll and Hyde, and for being able to inhibit such distinct personalities, he's a fucking crazyperson.
Take your pick.
Also, Kanye showed a picture of the baby and she's cute, just like every other baby. Except for the ones, like me, who had jaundice. I looked like a banana with eyes. —Foster Kamer