Pop Music I Like
This is the second installment of the “Justify my bad music taste to Wendy” project. This time, we’ll be dealing with a variety of pop, hip-hop, and rap music, and trying to pick out the songs that are more than just a catchy tune, but truly classic. For the entire series, please see:
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Ciara
From her debut album Goodies comes “1, 2 Step,” the smoothest club song I heard in ‘06, and “Goodies” and “Oh,” two slower, sexy ghetto ballads. Her new album Evolution has “Get up” with Chamillionaire, definitely the hottest track of 2007. Her voice isn’t bad, too. |
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Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott has produced too many albums to list here; the major attraction to her music is its unique variety and excellent production. In no particular order, here are my favorite tracks: Gossip Folks, I’m Really Hot, Teary Eyed, Work It, Get Your Freak On, Lose Control, and Pass That Dutch. |
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Mariah Carey
Oh I love everything!! Charmbracelet, Merry Christmas, and the Emancipation of Mimi are my favorite albums. In order, I love Yours, One & Only, Your Girl, Hero, All I Want For Christmas Is You, My All, and Breakdown. |
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Robin Thicke
I’ve only heard “The Evolution of Robin Thicke,” but I like from it the songs Got To Be Down, Would That Make You Love Me, All Night Long, and Wanna Love You Girl. |
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Lil’ Wayne
With a cameo on Destiny Child’s hit song Soldier, Lil’ Wayne got popular. Choice tracks: Stuntin’ Like My Daddy, Fireman, Like a Dboy, and Hustler Music. It’s not the lyrics, but the delivery of them that’s unique here. Imagine how the internal rhymes of “And I don’t even need a G pass I’m pass that / I’m passing em out now and you can’t have that” run. |
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Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Do they rap? Are they singing? Listen to No Way Out, Can’t Give It Up, Playa, Wrong v.s. Right, and their cameo on Frankie J’s Priceless and get back to me! |
That’s all for now, gentle readers. There’s at least three more posts coming, though, so stay tuned!
Classical Music I Like
My girlfriend Wendy sweetly decided to make a shopping list of my “music interests” on Facebook, which is definitely a bad idea because my taste in music is rather pop. So, to try and justify some of the stuff I have listed there, for every artist on Facebook I’ll post the albums/tracks I like. If you’re lucky, I might even give some reasons! For the rest of the series, please see:
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Frédéric Chopin
Waltz in C sharp minor, Fantasie Impromptu, and Nocturne For Violin And Piano. There’s not much more heavenly than Chopin’s piano music; at once simple and complex, it’s the kind of music that soothes and terrifies. |
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Dmitri Shostakovich
Any of his symphonies make great listening. I had the pleasure once of hearing the Borodin Quartet perform some of his work live at Cornell University. |
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Eliot Fisk
A classical guitarist, he is most famous for his translation of Paganini 24 Caprices into guitar pieces. Another great album is The Best of Eliot Fisk, his greatest hits. |
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Andrew Lloyd Webber
Think of Me, and the title theme from The Phantom of the Opera are my favorites, but this composer also did the theatre music for Evita, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and others. |
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John Williams
The movie-theme scorer or the world-famous classical guitarist? We’ve had enough of the guitarists for this list–it’s Mr. Movies! My favorite work is the themes to the three original Star Wars movies–the Imperial March, the Cantina Song, the Rebel Theme. Dark, brooding, sometimes soft. |
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Josh Groban
Closer is the album I like. Good songs include My Confession, Si Volvieras a Mi, and The Prayer. |
iTunes Duplicates, Triplicates, and Quadruplicates
If you thought having a few duplicate files was bad, imagine the hell of a quadruplicate U2 album:
Missy Elliott, Marry Me Please!
I’ve decide that I want to marry Missy Elliott. See:
That’s reason number 1. Number two–she makes killer music. Oh, and did I mention that I’m Elliott Back? Missy Elliott? Mr. Elliott Elliott? WOOOOOOO!
Rapping Wrapping Rap Gift Paper
This designer came up with idea of printing wrapping paper with rap lyrics on it:
Interestingly enough, someone in his comments just doesn’t get the idea that simple is better:
But let me tell, you you’re doing it wrong. Your about page says you’re into graphic design, but there are no images. Wrapping paper, gangsta wrapping paper, especially, is supposed to be fun and colorful. You should do paper designs by theme, not just copying old (copyrighted) lyrics. So, draw a sheet that has a bling theme : gold chains, diamonds, big stupid rings that say BLING, stuff like that.
This wrapping/rapping paper is awesome, and well executed.
