Bobby Ray had a great performance. In the place of hypemen, he has two soul sisters performing with him. He had a good acoustic track too. I immediately downloaded his mixtape after the show, and it's the best thing I've heard in a long time (that I've immediately liked). His ability to cross through any genre is only overshadowed by his voice. Awesome stuff!
Cudi was spectacular, his light show really augments his performance- a performance that should've been headlining.
It spared us some of Asher atleast. Not a fan. Even the song(s?) I enjoy sounded like shit. The crowd was 99.95% in his favor though, people were dancing on the balcony. Jim and I just stood at the bar trying to laugh at his bad comedy or trying to enjoy the people-distorted songs. I guess on paper a marijuana leaf mascot and an Uncle Sam costume sound good.
The overall mood was good, very different than a venue full of indie scenesters. It was just a bunch of people looking to have fun. College fratboys and tall gangstas were able to unite. With the underground hip hop artists, people come together against the mainstream because they know what they're creating is better music and want it on the radio and in media. With indie scenesters they come together to keep their favorite musicians from being mainstream because that would make them suck. It's inspiring to see creativity that wants to break through, and it's depressing to try to hold on to your bands. It was the reason I stopped going to shows years ago, the people were just frustrating to be around.
At a Campfire Music/Mix and Match show, AND at a Kid Cudi/Asher Roth show, I found a complete respect for Kanye West- a living, current, mainstream producer. That mainstream-indie respect is something you don't find in a certain other musical genre (and it's not like either genre is well represented on the radio, if "represented" at all).
In We Hit & Run's 2008 In Review Part 3, we experience Anthony Saunder's last shows in studio, the second peak of We Hit & Run as a broadcast, Sha's cringe-inducing final confrontation with Anthony, and the ultimate pay-off to Kevin's 9-month set up for the Victory Show.
Penis Restoration!, Rocky Movies Discussion!, Anthony Roast!, Lil Zaro!, Scarecrow!, Jim from Jim & Them!, Houshmanzadeh!, Love Goes!, Shorty K!, Jake from Jim & Them!, Casey and Brian of CB Radio!, Dont Let Them Forcefeed You!
Charles Hamilton is the anti-hero of XXL's "Freshman Class Of Hip Hop". He doesn't play nice and he isn't built to get along with people. The whole "Freshman Class" metaphor works perfectly- where Charles Hamilton sits at his lunch table, and the nine other guys are a cliq across the cafeteria. Actually, at this point, Charles is eating lunch in the bathroom.
Bloggers have found every and any reason to turn on Hamilton, finding new excuses to dismiss what they're not accustomed to.
In an industry where even the show-openers have their hype-men shouting "I'M THE GREATEST"- why would Charles' ego be an issue to people? Rap is filled from top to bottom with outspoken, conceited, over-confident narcissists. Charles is a "soap opera" rapper, keeping listeners and blog-readers consistently intrigued. He's the WWF in 1997, losing the ratings war but providing the greatest product of entertainment.
He hasn't even released his first proper album, and C.H. has already set the standard in hip-hop as the greatest rapping.
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Pride.
In order to be a great rapper, it is necessary that you be embarrassed to be a rapper. Hip hop is in a rebuilding phase, and anybody who does youtube videos with Soulja Boy, rather than youtube disses of Soulja Boy, cannot top the list. There have been cats who've dipped their toes in this water, trashing auto-tune or writing entire tracks about the subject... but these phonies can be spotted hugging T-Pain just a couple internet clicks away. If Charles had his finger on the "drown hip hop" button, he'd push it.
Charles frequently refers to himself as a musician, avoiding that derogatory-in-the-2000s term "rapper"- whether it be in his music ("I'm not a rapper / I'm just a musician" - C.H. Just A Musician and "I'm something like a rapper / But kinda not" - C.H. Twitter 16) or in any of dozens of videos found on youtube.
The true potential of Charles Hamilton can be heard in "Sat(t)ellite" (The Pink Lavalamp) and "Stir Of Echoes or Sleeping Beauty" (Sonic The Hamilton)- it's in these tracks where Charles stops calling himself a musician, and really becomes one.
[x] Charles Hamilton
[ ] Anyone Else
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Originality.
"Sonic The Hamilton"? "Super sonic philosophy"? Hard-ass city-folk who blog from their public library can call it "nerdy" and "soft"- but so does Charles, and he says it with a pink tie on.
Charles sings his own hooks, using a vocal style completely unheard in hip hop.
A perfect example of his originality can be found in "Every Charles Hamilton's Ex-Girlfriend's Worst Nightmare". Not only does this mixtape act as a script for his entire life of failed relationships, but it does so with real names and an entire disappointment in one's self. The kid sacrifices himself for his creative work in every way. "I don't rap / I just blog on beat".
While the competition is touting their "swag" (the silliest new term in music), Charles has an entire track spotlighting his lack of "swag". While industry hopefuls and commercial giants alike are bragging about their money, Charles is wearing an outfit that costs less than his headphones. He can still be found recording music at his high school's studio. Even his self-produced MTV Cribs shows a mostly rap-clicheless lifestyle.
[X] - Charles Hamilton
[ ] - Anyone else.
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Sampling.
Charles Hamilton SAMPLED MICROSOFT. There was actually a few opening lines for this category that would've been equally effective. Here's the set:
It can continue as far as Mortal Kombat characters and Jim Carey movies and Steve Urkel and entire Sonic The Hedgehog zones, but I think the point has been made. The most important part of the point is that he (for the most part) does his own sampling, not ashamed to use another rapper's voice to drive a song.
[X] - Charles Hamilton
[ ] - Anyone Else
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LyricalAbility.
Here we go, something tangible. Well, not really. Hip hop is full of ghostwriters ("They pray to a ghost because they really can't write" - C.H. Beetlejuice), existing almost as a Jedi-Padawan cycle... where young rappers can only break in by handing up their best work.
There are freestyle "cyphers" and "battles" online where Charles allegedly loses. If you're telling me the following stuttering, grown-up Rugrats character outperformed C.H., then you're in company with people who spell "you" like "u"..
"Sonic The Hedgehog [pause] you cant fuck with me dog"
vs
"I leave hearses dead."
Charles has chocked up a portion of his hate to people not understanding his rhymes- an argument cemented by the pages of ridiculous comments to the above video. C.H.'s Blondie/Rapture line is a prime example. People want to hear about how best you are at being the best- references, phrasing and melody have become secondary.
[X] - Charles Hamilton
[ ] - Anyone Else
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He won't get the girl, he gets punched by the girl he settled for, and he believes God is a girl.
He drops a lot of names that he never seems to really associate with- Eminem was featured on a track that was Charles and a robot, and the ghost of a dead rapper executive produced Charles' ever-allusive first album.
While some people use all of this to fuel a phoney hatred, any reasonable person can credit it as pure inspiration- a stargazing kid getting thrust rapidly up to the stars.
Charles may be missing a mentor (see Kid Cudi's Kanye West, Drake's Lil Wayne), or a quality controller, but this is a g.o.o.d. thing. As a result of him making such an impact on his own (via the internet), we get the real C.H.
And if he ultimately fails, it will only make him greater--
Michael Jackson memories range my entire life, from carrying that garbage Dangerous album around on a portable karoake machine when I was six, to singing "Wanna Be Startin' Something" as pillow talk to Alyce Packard.
I remember living at 3500 when M.J. turned into an ice breaker for Anthony Saunders and I. I remember dedicating "PYT" to Alyce the first time we ever hung out as my attempt to "WOO" her (and changing the lyrics so her name was in the hook DID IT).
I remember when I started the very first "REAL KID RADIO" live365 station, we had a Michael Jackson marathon to celebrate his acquittal.
I would "Youtube" this guy for hours, specifically putting in "1981" and "1987" for the Victory and Bad tours. His voice during the Bad tour was unbelievable, and he didn't lipsync a damn thing.
For all of the cheese, and tragedy, and the utter GARBAGE that came from his inspiration of 80s and 90s music- the guy means so much to so many people. His songs, though responsible for the crap that came later, were spectacular. Even if he himself didn't write his best tracks.
For reasons like that, I can't call him a genius (like so many are doing). But his voice was the second best I've ever heard, and his songs always seems to have been playing through major highlights of my life.
The only ex who has seemingly disappeared off the planet is Katy Boom. I'm convinced she moved to another country and just continues to pay her American phone bill years after the fact.
I feel offtrack.
... still, after all these years.
Though I think it started as a not-caring-about-whatever-track-you're-on.
Lives don't always end like a perfectly tied-up series finale. Some them end like Freaks & Geeks. We need a treehouse museum dedicated to the Kevin Scampoli universe, or a .info
.info's are always the go-to websites for fanpages. elviscostello.info and glassjaw.info were the benchmark sites for their tributed band. wehitandrun.info carries on in that image.
