Wave Master Blog

The Future of Beef: Mash-Ups

MTV reported that Noel Gallagher, lead singer of Oasis, threw a typical hissy-fit when he found out that Jay-Z was the headliner of the Glastonbury Festival in England. Jay answered the question by walking out on stage with a guitar to an Oasis song and the entire crowd sang with/for him (thankfully - he is better flowing than harmonizing).

Opportunistic producers Cookin Soul (these fellas make good stuff) took advantage of the situation and IN ONE NIGHT turned out OJAYZIS - Jay Z vs. Oasis. 10 tracks, album artwork, and even a well publicized location for downloads on 2dopeboyz.com means over 10k downloaded so far and counting.

Now I am generally a fan of cross-genre mash-ups, but this sets the precedence for beef squashing in the rap game. Make a mash-up of the two opposing artists and make them work together without their consent. I love it. Not only are the beats strong, Jay and Noel's voices work well together, but imagining this concept as the future for all potential conflicts in the music industry makes me hopeful the premise of will jump to other areas like politics. It even makes another Presidential election seem palatable to me. I'm thinking "McObama Who's More Middle" would be a great political mash-up speech.

Play It Again Mr. Cab-driver

Last week I was in several cabs in a couple of cities, (Flat Creek, TN and Mudriver, OH - not really). Don't know how many of you are like me and like to engage the driver in some conversation? I often enjoy the discussions that follow, and only once have I had a conversation that I thought might end up in a bad place - like me in a dark ditch somewhere.

Two of the drivers were excellent fellows, both having been recently displaced by harsh economic conditions, and therefor eager to connect in some meaningful conversation about life. [Wonder how the service industry will change as the recession continues?] While we talked, and I mainly listened, they had classical music playing over their car stereos. It was calming and delightful, and reminded how much contrast there was between these rides and the usual audio invasion of talk radio or someone's cell-phone
participation. If I had not engaged the two men in discussion I would have simply sat back and listened. I did take a couple of phone calls during a 40 minute ride to the airport, but as he reached to turn the music down, I asked him not too.

If I owned a fast-food joint or barbershop I would play classical music all the time, the contrast alone would make customers remember my business.

Vampire Weekend

One of the Farmer's (if you don't know this isn't an "agricultural farmer", then that's another conversation) told me about Vampire Weekend recently, and I can't stop listening to them. These guys have a funky sound that just works for me...and apparently others as well. And others, more notably.

Their website is here, with some videos as well. Do yourself and download a couple of tracks from their debut album. Declared the new band of the year by Spin Magazine, one of the top 100 songs of 2007 with Walcot, and just rocked the SXSW with the most mentions in the blogosphere and buzz-worthiness. As a cross between Weezer and the African popular music, Congolese Soukous they have a fresh sound that I can mostly play anywhere, except for one of my favorite songs, Oxford Comma. Mainly because it sounds great and mentions Lil' John - without being anything near rap!

Ahh, the power of buzz! Still makes me feel all warm and gooey inside when it actually amounts to something substantial. Go Vampires - on the Weekend.