AC/DC: “Anything Goes” I swear, the next critic that complains about every AC/DC song sounding the same should get a clip in the teeth. Formulaic or not, you just can’t argue with the combination of sandpaper-like vocals, bluesy power chords, animated lead guitar, thudding eighth notes on the bass and metronomic, no-frills, no-fills drumming that just makes you just want to bang your head and rock out. It’s genius, and it’s worked since 1974. And yeah, yeah, I know these guys are hurtling toward retirement age. Who cares? They still rock! Spot On!

Asher Roth: “I Love College” Gotta love that “I’m nice right now” spoken intro. I also somehow think that the drunken stutter immediately afterward is real. If that’s the case, well, perfect! The funky instrumentation is superb - especially the wah-wahed lead guitar fills - and I must give Asher props for doing his own thing and not trying to jump on any particular bandwagon. The somewhat literary tone to these accessible lyrics show that Mr. Roth has a knack for observation and storytelling on par with Ray Davies and skillfully captures the mood of a campus bash vividly enough to remind me of the stories my brother told me about his days at Vassar. Spot On!
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What has hip-hop become? We’re in an age where the roots of hip-hop have been lost and forgotten. We’re in an age where Youtube rules hip-hop because everyone is trying to learn a new dance.

Soulja Boy is to blame for that, but he does deserve respect. Soulja Boy is 19 and made his own beats from his dad’s computer and recorded his own songs. He came up by himself and has left his footprint in hip-hop. There are songs that irritate me more than the overplayed dance songs. Songs about making ridiculous amounts of money drive me crazy. America is in the middle of one of the worst recessions ever. No one is making unimaginable amounts of money like those rappers; we’re all unimaginably broke. We can’t make it rain in the strip clubs like they do or pop bottles all night long. Read the rest of this entry »