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September I •
7.2010
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
11
CurT@!N$’s
Dissertation pleases
Wu Tang Fans
Lance Dixon
Staff Writer
ldixon2012 @ gmai 1 .com
66/^urT@!N$” is not
V-^your typical rapper.
That isn’t in the over-gener
alized “we are not the same
I am a Martian” way that
seems to be popular these
days. He legitimately has
followed a path that most
hip-hop artists have not trav
eled.
Most artists don’t have
a major label deal, get co
signed by Kanye West and
are asked to open for 50 Cent
only to drop music com
pletely and work at a clothing
store. CurT@!N$ did just that
and returned to the game on
his own terms with his own
label (High Society Life).
This “Brooklynite” contin
ues to be a trendsetter with
his latest project, a series
called “The Dissertation.”
This series is a collaboration
with the Black Scale brand
that includes a special hood
ed sweatshirt and t-shirt.
The first entry in this series
is called “The Wu-Thesis”
and CurT@ !N$ does the Sha-
olin soldiers proud. If you’re
looking for the more popular
beats from the group’s debut
such as “Protect Ya Neck,”
“C.R.E.A.M.,” or “Method
Man,” you won’t find them
on this tape. CurT@!N$
chooses mostly lesser known
beats to craft his dissertation
on the Wu and delivers with
a style reminiscent of Joe
Budden but still unique.
He picks beats from Ghost-
face Killah’s “Ironman’
(Fish, 260), GZA’s “Liquid
Swords” (Shadowboxin’,
Hell’s Wind Staff/Killah
Hills 10304) and Method
Man’s “Tical” (Release Yo’
Delf) among others. The
mixtape is only 10 tracks
yet despite its short length,
CurT@!N$ focuses on song
quality in each song.
Throughout the mixtape,
Curt@!N$ laments the
sad state of his Brooklyn
neighborhood and that ef
forts to bring in new busi
ness (The Gentrification)
are ultimately falling short.
One of his most masterful
bits of wordplay is found in
the song “Crown Heights
11213” where he references
the Bible in a metaphor for
the drug game: “If it wasn’t
no caine we wouldn’t be
able, even Noah pitched
two birds out...and brought
back the green.”
The mixtape has fea
tures from Dom Kennedy
(2 Sports Cars) and Diz Gi
bran (Get It), and ends on
a humorous note with the
track “The Message.” The
song ends with audio from
01’ Dirty Bastard’s infamous
speech at the 1998 Grammys
when he claimed, “Puffy is
good but Wu-Tang is best!”
The mixtape is a great ad
dition to any hip-hopf fan’s”
library and especially for any
die-hard Wu-Tang Clan fan
that wants to hear a new voice
over some classic tracks. The
mixtape can be found on just
about any hip-hop blog site
and on CurT@!N$’ website.
Bryson Green: AUC Artist Spotlight
Taylor Williams
Associate A & E Editor
taylor_antonio_williams@yahoo.com
W hat is the first thing that comes
to mind when someone men
tions Oklahoma City? Most people
would say Kevin Durant and probably
stop there. Morehouse student Bryson
Green is trying to change this. A ju
nior business marketing major from
the aforementioned city, Green is on a
mission to put his city on the map.
Inspired by Kanye West’s smash al
bum “Late Registration,” Green start
ed producing his own beats during his
sophomore year of high school. Green
makes heavy use of sampling, just as
West often does. It started out as just
a hobby for Green and some of his
friends.
“It was just a little thing I did; I would
let my boys freestyle over the beats I
made” Green said. “I was heavy into
sampling. I started to rap over some of
the beats I made and I saw myself im
proving and I said, ‘Why not?”’
At that moment Green became se
rious about his craft. In Oklahoma
City, Okla., there isn’t much of a mu
sic scene. This fact alone would deter
most artists from trying to make it big,
but Green used this to his advantage.
“Oklahoma is like a little pocket in
middle of America, it’s not the Mid
west and it’s not the South, it’s the
castaway city, we have no regional
sound,” Green said. “It allowed me to
build my own palette.”
Green noted that his favorite al
bums during middle school were “Ste
vie Wonder’s Greatest Hits,” “2pac’s
Greatest Hits,” and Eminem’s “Mar
shall Mathers LP.” Green’s diverse
musical tastes allowed him to build his
own sound and grab a little bit from
everywhere.
After high school, Green originally
had plans of attending Columbia Uni
versity in New York. He wanted a wid
er audience for his music and to be a
part of New York’s music scene. He
soon changed his
mind and decided
to attend More
house College.
His mother has
been there every
step of the way.
“My mom is one
of my biggest he
roes; she [is] really
supportive of me
and my dreams”
Green said. “I told
her I wanted to do
music and she was
like ‘let’s get it.’”
Green’s love for
music has allowed
him to explore dif
ferent genres and
pull something
away from all of
them, making his
sound one of a
kind. He takes real
life experiences
and uses them as
inspiration for
his songs to cre
ate something
he calls “Reality
Rap.” On a track,
entitled “What
ever,” Green talks
about his strug
gles of becoming
a rapper, finding
success, and ad
dresses some of
his doubters.
“One day I was in the studio and I
just locked myself in the booth and I
just started spazzing, it was the first
record where I found my area” Green
recalled. “I say on the track ‘the top it
seems so far, but not on this night,’ it
wasn’t about one night but like a sea
son of our lives. Once you get to the
top there is a drop, but it is all worth
it in order to get to the top. It’s about
really having a drive and not being
afraid to fall.”
Green had many of other notable
tracks that my ears were lucky enough
to hear. He will soon be releasing a
mixtape entitled “Oklahomecoming,”
which will be free to the masses during
the week of homecoming. Until then,
Green’s music is available for down
load at Loveaffairwithfootwear.com.
“I believe music can heal, it crosses
every boundary. It’s about changing the
world,” Green said. “I’m going to use
it as a vehicle to change the world.”
questio.
13 so thirsty to be^
RUSfflWaster
weownspotlight @ morehouse .edu
1. Are you financial?
2. Or does she tell you that they're out at lunch all
day too?
3. What do you think of this year's MMW court?
4. Is it us or is she a little too SPACEy?
5. Or is it that she'^^Ltoo PRETTY?
6. Did you RUSH dHwSl||pn Monday?
7. How long did it tak§$|n to realize it was
cancelled?
8. Why is the class of
anyway?
9. Did you LEAD thej^ck to the BOA auditorium?
10. Is anybody even going to have a line this year?
11. How large is the autumn wind?
12. Have any of the 2014 kids been recruited by the
trunk boyz?
13. Why are they still violating the dress code?
14. What about that thing with the Fantasia bob cut?
15. A faCebook status, really?
16. Who's really on your team besides your "little
bros?"
a family that PREYS together?
hat we have a competitor known as
Topics"?
ow we have a MOLE in their
7
17. Soar
18. Did you
the'Tren
19. Did they.
organ izat
20. Who actually reads their paper anyway?
BONUS: Will you be at the general body meeting this
Thursday at 5:30pm in Nabrit McBay Lecture Room I?
Most Anticipated Albums of 2010
Bianca D. Alston
Staff Writer
balston3 @ scmail .spelman.edu
T hough the institutions of
the AUC have resumed
classes following a rap/hip-
hop chart-topping summer,
the influx of quality music
is expected to continue. The
2010-2011 school year prom
ises to be an explosive one
musically, with both break
out artists and old favorites
set to release new material in
the next nine months.
Following the certified
platinum album release of
her Young Money label-mate
Aubrey “Drake” Graham,
Nicki Minaj’s debut album,
“Pink Friday,” is due to be
released November 23 of
this year. The Trinidad bom,
Queens, N.Y. raised MC first
gained mass popular appeal
after tracks from her third
mixtape “Beam Me Up Scot
ty” received both BET and
MTV coverage.
Minaj has already released
two singles from the album:
“Massive Attack,” a collabo
ration with rapper/songwrit
er/producer Sean Garrett,
and “Your Love,” her most
successful single to date, re
ceiving both airplay all over
the country and earning the
number 7 spot on Billboard’s
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Chart. The third single from
the album “Right Through
Me” is scheduled to be re
leased closer to the album
release date.
Love him or hate
him, no one can deny Kanye
West’s place among hip-hop
royalty. Despite the contro
versy that constantly sur
rounds him, fans around the
world have been waiting for
West to release some mate
rial since his 2008 platinum
selling “808s & Heartbreak.”
Stylistically different from
his first three albums, 808s
received relatively good re
views from critics but faced
widely different ones from
his fans expecting that “old
Kanye” style of clever word
play and quick metaphors.
An incomplete version of
his first single “Power”
was leaked, forcing West to
quickly create a visual com
ponent he called “a moving
painting,” as opposed to a
music video.
Approaching the release
of his fifth studio album,
both fans and critics are cu
rious to see what West plans
to do. On a Ustream broad
cast earlier this month, West
stated that the album would
be released “sometime in
November.”
It was no surprise to fans
that the newly freed and self
proclaimed “King of the
South,” Clifford “T.I.” Har
ris, Jr. would quickly return
the studio to begin work on
his seventh studio album
“King Uncaged.”
T.I., who completed his
prison sentence just over
five months ago, has pushed
back the release date for his
album at least twice to focus
his energies on the debut of
his movie “Takers.”
While fans and critics are
still anxious to hear what’s
to come from him, they’re
slowly but surely losing in
terest. As of now, “King
Uncaged” has no official re
lease date despite a promise
of completion by the end of
the year. Collaborations on
the album have been said
to include his label-mate
B.O.B., Kanye West, Lady
Gaga and Trey Songz.
His first single, “Got Your
Back,” featuring singer Keri
Hilson, debuted No. 38 on
the Billboard charts and No.
48 on Canada’s charts. The
second single has yet to be
announced but most doubt
T.I.’s ability to continue to
make number one albums.
Last but certainly not least,
will be one of the freshest fac
es on a brand new record label.
Sure, the label was founded
by well known and respected
Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, but
the bar has definitely been set
high for Jermaine “J. Cole”
Cole, an up and coming rap
per who was the first artist to
sign a contract with the new
Roc Nation label.
Best known for his verse
on the track “A Star is Bom”
which appeared on Jay-Z’s
most recent album “The Blue
print 3,” J. Cole has since
worked with Wale, Mos Def,
B.O.B. and Talib Kweli on
other projects. He is reported
to be working with producers
No I D., Pharrell Williams,
and Salaam Remi for his de
but “Cole World” set for re
lease on October 26.
Other albums slated for
a late 2010 release include
Young Jeezy’s “TM 103,”
Trey Songz’ “Please, Pain
and Pleasure,” Ne-Yo’s “Li
bra Scale” and Kid Cudi’s
“Man On The Moon II: The
Legend Of Mr. Rager.” Keep
your eyes out for these highly
anticipated albums.
(jf Recycle The Maroon Tiger