BEST OF 2012 - #10 - BIG BOI "VICIOUS LIES AND DANGEROUS RUMORS"

I'm definitely a big fan of Big Boi.  Ever since I started listening to OutKast (I was turned on to them when Stone Gossard played one of their songs on a Pearl Jam radio show).  He's a really interesting and underrated MC. But more than that, he has an interesting musical sensibility.  I think in OutKast, Andre 3000 got most of the credit for that. But if you listen to Big's two albums (Sir Luscious Leftfoot was one of my favorites of 2010).

His new one, Vicious Lies And Dangerous Rumors, came out late in the year and made me shuffle my year end list a bit.  I'm not mad, it's a great album.

There's some cool funky party jams, which I guess we'll always expect from him. I like "In The A" (which features T.I. and Ludacris) and also the new wave-y jam "Mama Told Me" with Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child. "Apple Of My Eye" is also a very strange, and very cool song. Then there's also a song called "Thom Pettie" that name drops "Free Fallin'."

But the ones that stand out to me are "She Hates Me" and "Tremendous Damage," which are both pretty revealing.  "She Hates Me" seems to be about his marriage.  When he says "Forgive me if I raise my voice, I won't raise my hand/But one thing I will do baby is raise my lil' man." What a line.

"Tremendous Damage" is about his father, a Vietnam vet, who passed away recently.  Not your average subject matter for a hip-hop song.  That's why I like Big Boi, and why (to me) he stand out above the pack of MCs.  Musically, he always looks for something a bit funkier and more creative, and lyrically he goes to different places.

Like everyone else, I hope that Andre 3000 wises up and agrees to an OutKast reunion.  But if that doesn't happen, Big Boi's second act is turning out to be a very strong one.

BIG BOI'S SIR LUCIOUS LEFT FOOT... WORTH THE WAIT!

One of my favorite albums of the year so far is Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot... The Son Of Chico Dusty. For those who are unfamiliar with the story of the album, it was sort of due to come out two years ago.  Big Boi, like his group OutKast, is signed to Jive Records. Jive, apparently, didn't know what to do with it.  I read that Big Boi said that the last straw was basically when they asked him to cover a Lil' Wayne song! How insulting. So he ended up taking the album to Def Jam (a weird choice, as they don't seem to know how to handle "left-field" hip-hop records, The Roots' How I Got Over is exhibit A).

I don't know how the album has done, commercially.  I wonder if Jive was right - it isn't the job of a major label to put out "art," it's their job to put out stuff that's going to sell, even if they know it's bad.

Still, this album has some catchy songs.  "Shutterbugg" is a total hit!  Actually, I may not be the right person to decide if a hip-hop track is a hit in 2010. But it is a great song.  There are many others, including some with some pretty big name guests (which seems important these days, big guest lists): "Night Night" features B.o.B. (who I don't really "get"), "Shine Blockas" features Gucci Mane (a big current artist, apparently) and "Tangerine" features T.I. *I* don't care about the guests, but the songs are all really tight. Another song, "Follow Us," features what sounds like a rock band, Vonnegutt, who I don't think I'd like, but the singer serves this song well.

It's too bad Jive didn't let Boi use his collab with Andre 3000 and Raekwon, "Royal Flush." I guess I can't blame them - they are waiting for a new OutKast album, why should they give away the group's first new song in years.  Anyway, it doesn't matter - it's been on iTunes for years (and it even lists Sir Lucious... as the album). As far as I'm concerned, it is on the album, it was just a single that came out two years early. Anyway, check out Boi's album, it's a great one, and it makes me look forward to OutKast's next one even more!

TODAY ON OUTQ: HIP-HOP: THE ROOTS, EMINEM, BIG BOI AND MORE

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am-ish, I am a guest on the SIRIUS XM Channel OutQ; I talk about new music on The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick. Today, I'll be talking about some recent hip-hop releases.

I've already written about The Roots' How I Got Over.  It's one of my favorite albums of the year, and the title track is up there as one of my favorite songs this year.  I also have a track from the Roots' upcoming collaborative album with John Legend, Wake Up, which I'll be writing more about.  It's covers of socially conscious soul tunes from the '60s and '70s.   Another one of my favorite albums this year is Big Boi's long awaited solo debut, Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty.   It's amazing that Jive Records thought that this didn't have any commercial potential: Big Boi signed to Def Jam for the album (which is also odd, as they don't seem to be able to handle more "adult" or "arty" releases, such as How I Got Over. I'll also be talking about one of Larry Flick's favorite albums of the year, Eminem's Recovery. I've never been a huge fan of Eminem's (although I enjoy his SIRIUS XM channel Shade 45), but I definitely recognize the man's skills.  And there are some great songs on Recovery.

Kanye West has a crazy new song called "Power," which samples King Crimson's "21st Century Schitzoid Man." Amazing song, and I have that one. Also a new song from T.I., one of his first since leaving prison.  Also, music from two newer artists -- neither of whom I really "get," I confess -- B.o.B. and Drake. Tune in (SIRIUS 109, XM 98), call in (866-305-6887) and tell us what you think!

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: HIP-HOP

OutQ listeners know I like to flip the script. Last week, I discussed "outlaw" country music. Tomorrow,I'll talk about hip-hop.


I never bought into Jay-Z like most everyone else have. I have no great objection to him, I just have not often felt the need to pay to hear his music. That said, he has some great songs: I like "Can I Get A...," "Money Ain't A Thing" and his cover of Ice-T's "99 Problems." He was also great on "Swagga Like Us." But his new song, "Run This Town," featuring Rihanna and Kanye West, is great. Rihanna's cool, it's nice to hear her return with such power. And hopefully this will be the last we hear from Kanye for a while. I'm a fan of his music, but I think he needs a break from the limelight, and the world needs a break from him.


Kid Cudi is a protegee of Kanye, I don't know too much about him, but he seems to sort of come from the Native Tongues tradition. This song features Kanye and Common, and prominently samples Lady Gaga.


Lady Gaga is also featured on Wale 's "Chillin'." He's a protegee of the great UK producer Mark Ronson. Pretty cool song. It's interesting to hear so many hip-hop dudes into Lady Gaga.


T.I. was being hailed as "The Jay-Z of the South" at one point. I felt the same about him as I did about Jay: no objection, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen. After a while, I started to enjoy some of his songs. "Dead and Gone" with Justin Timberlake is great, and he killed it on "Swagga Like Us." This new song, "When I'm Gone," featuring Mary J. Blige, has a lot of weight. He's currently serving a year in prison.


Michael Franti has never gotten much attention in hip-hop, but just as I like "outlaw" country, I also like "outlaw" hip-hop. Not gansta, but guys who don't follow the same rules (or hire the same management companies or marketing companies) as the hip-hop stars. Franti got his start in a punk/hip-hop band called The Beatnigs who were on Jello Biafra 's Alternative Tentacles label. Then he had a sort of industrial/hip-hop hybrid group The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphopracy. Then he formed the more rootsy Spearhead, and they're sort of in the jam band scene. They're really political, but this is just a fun summer jam. I can't believe the guy has a hit single, like 20 years into his career! But good for him.


The Beastie Boys "Too Many Rappers" featuring Nas is the lead single from the Beasties' Hot Sauce Committee, which should have come out by now, but was delayed because of Adam Yauch's recent health scare. This song also gets some extra weight from Yauch's first lines: "I been in the game since before you was born, I'll still be MCing after you're gone." I'm glad that that's still true. No one takes the old-school hip-hop feel and makes it modern like the Beasties.

THE GRAMMYS: "NOT A BAD WAY TO SPEND A SUNDAY NIGHT"

It's the easiest thing in the world to complain that the Grammy Awards is a boring show. But I tend to like it, and I think this year's show was really well done. For the most part.

I was glad that Al Green performed, but I wish he got to do something from his new album, which got a bunch of nominations and won him two Grammys tonight. I like Justin Timberlake, but it would have been more appropriate for Al to have been backed by ?uestlove and the guys who played on his album, and maybe performed with Anthony Hamilton and John Legend. That said, I liked his performance. It turns out that it was a last minute addition to the show: two performances were cancelled: Chris Brown and Rihanna both pulled out the show right before it started. You can read about that all over the web at this point.

On a similar note, if Neil Diamond's new album is so great, why didn't he perform a new song instead of "Sweet Caroline." That was cheesy as hell, I don't know if a new song would have been any better though.

I don't listen to Carrie Underwood that much, but I liked her performance, and ditto for Taylor Swift (whose performance would have been better without Miley Cyrus). And how could you not be moved by Jennifer Hudson's performance. The Jonas Brothers looked a bit out of their league with Stevie Wonder. It was sort of cute that he played with them, though. U2 was great as always, that goes without saying. Kid Rock was good, I like that "All Summer Long" song. Am I the only person who never heard that Katy Perry song? I never did; it was pretty good. It sounds like her biggest influences are Gwen Stefani and P!nk.

I loved the Four Tops tribute with Jamie Foxx, Ne-Yo, Smokey Robinson and Top Duke Fakir. The Bo Diddley tribute with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, John Mayer and Keith Urban was a bit messy.

Hip-Hop provided some of the best moments of the night: the "Swagga Like Us" performance with Jay-Z, T.I., Lil' Wayne, Kanye West and a very pregnant M.I.A. (who may have been lip-synching); T.I.'s performance with Justin Timberlake was great, and so was Lil' Wayne's. I didn't like Kanye and Estelle's as much, and Jay-Z joining Coldplay onstage was a bit goofy.

I liked seeing Paul McCartney, but again, "I Saw Her Standing There"? I think he should have done a new song. It was fun to see Dave Grohl playing drums for him though. Radiohead 's performance was interesting, and probably confusing to most of the crowd. Was the whole band there, or was it just Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood and the huge marching band?

My favorite performance was Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' medley of "Rich Woman" and "Gone Gone Gone," and I was glad to see them go five for five, winning all of their nominations, including Record and Album Of The Year. I loved Robert's comment that in the "old days," being at the Grammys would have seemed like "selling out," but "It's not a bad way to spend a Sunday night." I'm sure there's going to be a lot of bitching about "old" artists beating out the likes of Lil Wayne and Coldplay, and that the album wasn't as ubiquitous in the culture. Whatever: it was a mature but totally credible album that didn't pander that was released on an indie label. It deserved all the accolades it won (it also won a Grammy last year) and more. That's my final word!

NARAS DISSES SPRINGSTEEN AGAIN

OK, I'm going to sound like a middle aged New Jerseyite here, but for the second year in a row, the Grammy nominations have dissed Bruce Springsteen big time. There were some really good nominations: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' Raising Sand did really well, and the nominations will likely expose even more people to a classic album. And all the nominations for R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan will no doubt expose her to new fans, regardless of whether or not she wins anything (I downloaded two of her songs on iTunes tonight and liked them a lot). I am glad to see Adele do so well (I was shocked that she got more nominations than Duffy). I won't even complain about Lil' Wayne getting more nominations than anyone else - he isn't for me (although "Swagga Like Us," featuring Wayne, Kanye West, Jay-Z and T.I. is probably the best hip-hop song of the year, even I can admit that).

But "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" is a classic. I like Sara Barielles' "Love Song," but it is really that good? Is Jason Mraz's song "I'm Yours"? Who decides this stuff? Both were nominated for Song of the Year. "Girls..." is also an incredible production. But apparently not as good as Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love." "Girls..." did get two nominations in the rock category. I also felt that Al Green's Lay It Down should have gotten more nominations than it did, and in the top three categories (all of his were in R&B).

Ah well, Bruce will be fine, so will the Reverend Al. And I'm glad for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, they have my vote in every category they're nominated in.

KANYE'S "MUPPETS" ON ICE?

Kanye West was working on the "muppet" style show I wrote about with Seinfeld/Borat producer Larry Charles who recently said in an inteview that the show may not happen, because it is a bit too hardcore for HBO. I don't have HBO, but isn't that the channel where they had The Wire and Oz? Damn! Too bad, the clip I saw was funny.

I don't really dig Kanye's new song "Love Lockdown," that autotune thing is annoying. I'll still pick up his album though. I do like a new song featuring Kanye, along with Jay-Z, T.I. and Lil' Wayne called "Swagga Like Us," which samples M.I.A. Yes, you're still reading No Expiration and not "Hipster Hourly," you don't have to adjust your browser. I just like the song, what can I say.

PROPS TO "WEIRD AL" AND T.I.

Remember when people thought "Weird Al" Yankovic was a novelty artist who wouldn't last? Who knew that he was actually a novelty artist whose career would outlast those of many of the artists that he parodies?

I think he's about to hit a new plateau, seriously. He just did a new parody of T.I.'s "Whatever You Like." It's online just two weeks after T.I. released his version. I don't know why Al has just figured out that he can move this quickly in the digital age, but good for him. I think Al is hysterical, and by the way, not all his songs are parodies, only about half of them are. But the parodies are the ones that get more attention.

Anyway, T.I. was cool to let him do it: Al needs to get permission from the artist to do these things.

Speaking of T.I., I don't know much about his music, but I saw a cool interview with him where he talks about encouraging people to vote, but he doesn't want to tell them who to vote for. One reason is because he is working for the Hip-Hop Caucus, an organization that gets federal funding, so he can't be partisan. But the other reason is because he feels that, if you look at the country, look at the price of gas, looking at laws being passed, etc., and you can't decide who is the better candidate for you, you shouldn't be looking to rappers for guidence. Sadly, T.I. is going to jail in March for a year, but it seems like the trials that he has been through have at least gained him some wisdom.

What the world needs now is more young celebrites, and hip-hop artists, who are as clear thinking as T.I.

And guys who can "reach across the aisle" and make everyone laugh. Like "Weird Al."