Kanye West & Jay Z - Monster

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Nicki Minaj is one for three, but this is the one

Kanye West
Jay-Z
Monster
Bragging
#99 (Low)
Dec 9, 2010
Kanye West
Shawn Carter
William Roberts
Onika Maraj
Justin Vernon
Kanye West

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I never laid out the rule that a week would be reviewed top-down, so this week I'll start with the Low position, simply because it's the song that's having the most impact on the blog. Exactly like changing to a Stay, Walk, Run strategy, Kanye's “Monster” made me recursively add featured and guest stars into my listings for one reason: Nicki Minaj.

There's been a bit of recurrence in the featured slot before, but Nicki made me reconsider the whole system because, though she hasn't been the main name of any song I've reviewed so far, she keeps popping up and always gets some mention. She was autotuned and blank in the awful “Check It Out,” so much so that you'd never really notice it was her; she was my least favorite part of “Bottom's Up,” but I detected some interesting turns in her voice, changing characters from her normal tone to a dainty little girl to a growling beast.

The neat little turns I noticed in “Bottoms Up” live large in “Monster;” three MCs each get a verse, and they get some time to do what they do (the song runs longer than six minutes), but Nicki Minaj is the real monster of the track, a force of nature and a goddamned rockstar. Her verse starts slow, but she's already playing with character in the song; she employs Rastafarian accent at her convenience, sometimes for a line, sometimes just to hit a word. She writes her verse with smaller crescendos, ramping up with the music, digging in and raising intensity as the builds, and switching to her little girl voice when the beat backs off a bit, and then dropping into her growl to cap off a line. Her part has lots of little arcs that follow the music, but eventually builds to a scream and roaring “I'm a motherfuckin Monster!” I didn't really dig her in the last two songs; I love her in this.

The first two verses pale in comparison. Rick Ross in the first verse is solid and serviceable... since this is a brag track and everyone's declaring their monstrousness, you know someone had to pull out and show us his dick (it was bound to happen), but “Have you ever had sex with a Pharaoh? I put the pussy in a sarcophagus. Now she's claiming that I bruised her esophagus” is sort of amazing: even if it makes absolutely no sense*, that dude just rhymed sarcophagus with esophagus. Jay-Z's verse is done in that style where the rapper just can't seem to keep up with the beat-- he never hits the one, always seems to be lagging, and you can hear him struggling for breath in the gaps; I've heard other rappers use this style, so maybe my palette just isn't developed enough to appreciate it, but I don't like it. Regardless, neither of these guys make as much with the music as the lady who follows them.

Musically, this one's pretty good-- I'm not sure how much we're all supposed to be praising Kanye these days (and again: I'm a hermit, and  outside of Garfunkel & Oates, I have no idea where Kanye West falls on the current cultural barometer), but the beats are well written and dramatic, rising and falling within the song to keep its length from flatlining the whole thing. Bon Iver opens the song with an octave-synthesized voice that could just as easily be introducing Dr. Funkenstein and closes with a coda that might have appeared on an early 80's Prince record; neither of these things occur within the body of the song, but “Monster” begins and ends with stylized vocal melodies, both of which are pretty cool.

I have to admit, I'm sort of on the fence with this one... there are parts of “Monster” so good they're outstanding, but it's only bits and pieces, and I'm not sure how often I'd listen to a six-and-a-half minute song simply because I like the third verse. It's compelling, though; this is as close to Stay as a song I'm not actually keeping can get.
 

Walk

Stay with the song, walk away, or run like hell:

* the sarcophagus part, I mean-- I'm not so dim as to misunderstand the bruised esophagus.  [back]

Usher - Hot Tottie

Fairly important: the formatting on this post goes to hell in most feeds, and it will be best read at ericonthecharts.blogspot.com

At least Usher sounds like he belongs in a club

Usher
Hot Tottie
Hot Sex
#33 (HiMid)
Nov 11, 2010
DJBooth

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Usher! My man! So sorry for bailing on you back in October, but that “DJ Got Us Falling In Love” song had all the same problems Club Anthems I keep slamming up against have: it wasn't just bad, it was boring, and it because it was boringly bad, it was nearly impossible to write about.

Now, after that fucking terrible Taio Cruz song, I'm feeling much more Usher. This is an oasis of songwriting after the desert of suck that was Taio Cruz... but don't get cocky-- I skipped out on you before because that last song had the exact same problems as “Dynamite.” But we aren't listening to that now; now we are listening to “Hot Tottie,” and it's (literally) music to my ears.

Don't get cocky-- this isn't a great song-- but it announces itself right off the bad with massive, imposing bass, almost like it heard me complaining about the wimpiness of my previous “club” tracks. This bass sounds like it's ready to rock a club and get asses out on the floor. I wish I knew why that was so rare, but it's good that someone's got the good sense to make dance music that might actually make people want to dance.

It was actually a nice surprise to find a slinky, sexually charged bit of raunchiness instead of the standard “dance! dance! dance!” nonsense, too. I'm actually appreciating the break from stock club song structure: this tune slides along at a heated growl, and actually has the steamy energy to back its intentions up. Instead of blocky, raver synth and piano stabs arranged as stock pop progressions, we get a darker, minor key fluidity.

Some appreciation has to go to the lyrics, too-- it's kind of clever for the song to be about a bragging woman, and, while you're obviously game to get down to business, it's a little different for the guy to not be the instigator or seducer in these songs. Usually, it's the guy who's making all the claims and talking the girl into bed. I'm not blowing it out of proportion: it's not redefining gender relations or anything, but it's nice to have the story go a little different this time.

Okay, I've got to say it: I fucking hate the autotune. It's even a little worse here than in other songs because of all the soul-style vocal runs... these used to be a badge of a singer's skill, but it doesn't mean anything when it's been pre-programmed. It's just annoying... more annoying than a lot of autotune, and I'm usually pretty annoyed by it.

Also, I think the word is spelled with “d”s, like the California girl group The Hot Toddies. Maybe Billboard got the spelling wrong, idunno, I suppose that's just nit-picking, but... Usher, though I have to thank you for giving me a dance track that doesn't sound like the other generic club songs, and at least sounds like it belongs in a club, I can't say I really like the song.

It is better than so much of the bad I've heard, but being better than bad isn't enough to make me want to listen to it again.

Walk

Stay with the song, walk away, or run like hell: