ETHOS

By Chloe Wayne

I don’t really have much to say except…

1. Barack Obama > Hillary Clinton – So, Barack’s won the nomination. I suppose I should be more enthused than I am. Well, when I really think about how historic a moment it is, I can understand the hullabaloo. I mean, what if you were a five year old? I can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up with a Black president.

But for the most part, I’m completely turned off to anything that has to do with the election for awhile, until stuff really gets down to the wire. I mean, we all know what’s going to happen in the next few months…Barack’s camp will say McCain is too old and that he will be George Bush, III. McCain’s camp will say that Barack’s promise of “change” holds no weight and that he has no experience…and if that doesn’t seem to work, they will surely spew whatever dirt they can find his way. Wake me up in October.

2. Los Angeles Lakers > Boston Celtics – This is going to be epic. Enough said.

3. Wale’s Mixtape About Nothing > Lil’ Wayne’s Tha Carter 3 – If it weren’t for my penchant for catchy pop-R&B tunes– a la “Comfortable” and “Tie My Hands”, featuring Babyface and Robin Thicke, respectively– I really would not be playing TC3. “Dr. Carter” is the only gem on here, refreshingly creative and real: “And that was called recyclin’…some say it’s bitin’, but I say it’s enlightenin’“.

For something as obsessively anticipated as this record was, pshhhhhh, I would want my money back…if I had paid for it. I mean, it’s not a bad album, per se. It’s got a bunch of catchy tunes, some slick lines here and there, and the club joints are quiiite fly (my roommate blasts “Lollipop” all day everyday, and I’m still not sick of it). But lyrically, and holistically, the man does not deliver. One asinine reporter wrote that it’s the “first pure hiphop classic of 2008″– are you kidding? A friend of mine put it aptly when he said, “I will not be playing this come November.”

The other Mr. Carter outshines him on their collabo…And what happened to the version of “La La La” released last summer? There’s nothing on this disc that goes as hard as “I’m Me” from The Leak released at the end of last year (which I think was on Weezyaveli under a different title, no?)…I was itchhhhing for a classic verse or something as instantly infectious as “I Feel Like Dying” to smasshhhhhh on all the Weezy haters, but I was disappointed. Oh well.

Am I the only one who thinks the album art is better than the album?

Now I don’t have much room to talk about how fly Wale’s latest tape is, but trust me…it’s SO FLY. This release, unlike TC3, certainly lives up to the hype…he is a monster on the mic, whether he’s talking about women (”The Manipulation”…though I can’t tell if he’s serious), freestyling (”Wale rap like he read a thesaurus / I’m the reason the atheists could scream for the Lord…y’all ni**as in the closet like priests at confession / my words touch youth like priests that confessin’” ), or tackling issues of white supremacy (”The Kramer” – favorite track on the tape). And I could go on naming why every other track is ridiculous, but I won’t. Dude is one of the few emcees these days with skills that more than match his swag, and he has so much impeccable material out already– I can’t wait until his first release!

Now I wish I had watched more Seinfeld back in the day to better understand everything he did with it as a concept album. Wait, it’s not even an album…ridiculous.

4. Cannonball Adderley’s solo on “Flamenco Sketches” > all of the above – Yo, I wish I could read music…this has been stuck in my head all day…no dis to Wale.

5. Los Angeles > everywhere else – It’s good to be home.

EDIT (June 16, 2008): So I just found out that I was missing a track from the leak of TCIII that I received. …”Misunderstood.” The one track missing is the one where he samples my girlllllll!!!! I guess that’s what I get for not purchasing the album. “They’d rather speculate before they informate” – hahahaha…I can’t lie though, the album has certainly grown on me since I wrote this post.