Rage Against The Machine [Epic, 1993]metal for rap lovers and opera haters ("Wake Up", "Know Your Enemy") *
Cardi B: Invasion of Privacy [Atlantic, 2018]Because she's smart enough to know the difference between a mixtape and an album, she earns the right to treat this official debut as the one that counts--no filler, no throwaways, no riding her smash, no withholding her smash either. Musically and lyrically, every track is thought through, with debts called in and incurred. The Noo Yawk accent she's right to lean on is so blunt that she's not a truly fluent rhymer, so she does well to pull in Chance's flow, Migos's trickeration, Pete Rodriguez's clave. And lyrically, her aim is true. "Write a verse while I twerk / I wear off-white in church"? Tell it, sister. "Only thing fake is the boobs"? Ca-ching. "Pussy's so good I say my own name during sex"? Car-di! ATaylor Swift: Red [Big Machine, 2012]So if Stephin Merritt can make a big deal out of 69 love songs, why can't Taylor Swift make a fairly big deal out of 16? His being formally savvy in his pop-polymath way and hers being formally voracious in her pop-bestseller way? Need either deal be autobiographical? One hopes not in both cases, although verisimilitude has its formal aspects for bestsellers. Swift hits the mark less often than Merritt--65 or 70 percent, I'd say. But one could argue that the verisimilitude requirement forces her to aim higher. I like the feisty ones, as I generally do. But "Begin Again" and especially "Stay Stay Stay" stay happy and hit just as hard. That's hard. A-
>>129823781Reminder that this guy's wife fucked multiple other dudes in his bed and he just accepted it.
>I'm le smart and mature because i listen to le opera
>>129823781Him moving to scissors, bomb, asterisk was such a downgrade from the prior full grade system.
>>129824055The sexual permissiveness of boomers never ceases to amaze me.
>>129823781I hate commies, but it's a good album. Know Your Enemy is my favorite track, since Morello shreds on it.
>>129823781>1992Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!>2021Fuck you, do what they tell you!
>>129824425>Him moving to scissors, bomb, asterisk was such a downgrade from the prior full grade systemHe was getting lazier the older he got and just couldn't be bothered to write actual reviews half the time.
a reminder that christgau don't give good grades for politics or projection>>129824055it happened once and was a cheating. stop projecting cuck fetishist