Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Creamtastic Nashville, Wake the Fuck up!: Classic Kanye
Posted by Adam Gold on Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 12:03 PM
It turns out we have a budding Kanye in our midst with local rapper Classic and his group Preppy Punk Thug. I stumbled across this video on YouTube in which Classic lays out a diatribe of how he's the local hip-hop scene's messiah. He was less than thrilled when he lost 101.1 The Beat's "Grind 2 Shine" contest to Mt. Juliet's Squints, whose style is deemed by Classic to be "ridiculous wack". At first Classic comes off as fairly affable until he takes a sharp detour towards Kanye-ville by proclaiming himself the "Jesus Christ of this rap shit when it comes to Nashville." He claims that he's not just "being cocky," but rather "just being honest." This is where it starts to get good. For the next three minutes he rails on and on--with all the hip-hoppin' bravado of a Cash Money Millionaire--about how he's the best thing we Middle Tennesseans have got and repeatedly uses the "y'all are crucifyin' me" line.
This made me realize how far from the ground my ear is in regards to our current local hip-hop scene. I haven't heard of Classic or Preppy Punk Thug, and by video's end I was sold enough to head over to their MySpace page to check out the beat jamz.
I surfed over in hopes of finding some revelatory quality that would open me up to a burgeoning musical underground that has left my honky-ass behind. Looking for a game of catch-up to play, I really wanted to like it and--with the first track, "Where'd You Get Your Swagger" setting the lyric "where'd you get your swagger? Jackin' off my dick" to a keyboard line that reminded me of Talking Heads' "Naive Melody" (just barely)--at first I did. However, my enjoyment turned from earnest to ironic as I took a listen to "Into the Sky," which has a cringe-worthy tone-def chorus that reminded me of how much more I enjoyed the video Jack Silverman showed me yesterday by local artist RAYZER BLADE:
As you can see, my first blind foray into Nashville's hip-hop underground has not gone well. I now ask you, the reader, who's the dopest MC in Cashville?
Also, in Kanye West news, the rap superstar has added another snafu to his list of ego-bruising blunders with an SNL performance this past weekend that was marred by an epic Auto-Tune fail. As made clear by footage of the performance, Nat King Cole he is not, but he's still far from P. Diddy territory. I actually kinda liked it in all its bizarre flatness. Unfortunately, NBC is clamping down on all YouTube users who try to upload a decent quality video of the performance, which explains the crappy version that I'm posting. It's the best I could do. Check it out!
Comments (17)
Showing 1-17 of 17
ha. the african american gentleman next to RAYZER BLADE is none other than Rob Dee. not that anyone should know that, but i've worked with him on a number of different projects and actually edited one of his videos.
like
dislike
REALLY?
THE DUDE IS A BLACK AMERICAN. HES NOT FROM AFRICA.
LETS PUT AN END TO THE MORE OFFENSIVE SO CALLED POLITICAL CORRECT TERMINOLOGY YALL.
ITS STARTS HERE.
Did this just become the EIB network? You know what's more annoying then political correctness? People who complain about political correctness.
WHY ARE YOU COMMENTING HERE?
DONT YOU HAVE SOME JAM BANDS YOU NEED TO GO POST ABOUT?
Lyrics and vocals aside, the 2 songs Kanye played on SNL had really cool beats...he's no Jesus Christ of Nashville Rap, but I did like the effort.
what failed with the auto-tune? that was just user-failure, not auto-tune failure. if you can't even sing CLOSE to the pitch you are trying to hit, the software can only do so much.
On youtube you can also watch the rehearsal footage for this performance where everything is working just fine. The difference is obvious. What seems to be going on in the final performance is that the auto-tune isn't even on, however, the guide vocal still is.
i can hear the autotune in there. it sounds to me like they went for more of a 25/75 mix with some tube distortion. i really doubt it was any sort of failure, or they would have fixed it during the hour or so downtime between the two songs.
i use autotune all the time. he's definitely not too off pitch for that to have fixed him. i mean, it sounds just fine on the record, anyway.
i totally disagree. some autotune i can handle. even with some of kanye's tracks (flashing lights). love lockdown just sounds terrible to me and i feel like it's clearly b/c kanye is a no-talent ass clown. if i'm wrong, that's cool. i choose to believe this and my ignorance will always win.
Hey, this guy is good. He's been rapping since middle school...he went to elementary, middle, and high school with me. Classic needs to get discovered!
Mr. Gold,
Just to inform you the lyric you quoted, "Where'd You Get Ya Swagger? Jackin' Off My Dick," would just HAPPEN to be MY LYRIC... considering that's MY SONG with Classic you are referencing.
I felt that I just needed to CLARIFY that. And the song CONTAINING the lyric you quoted... Happens to be having a video shot for it. Although, it may not compare to the GREATNESS of Sir Razor Blade's, it is still expected to showcase the song's quality properly.
And yes... Mr. Sniffles... or... Squints (Sandlot reference?) did in fact win the competition... But, the fact is... More caucasian people from Mt. Juliet and other rural are listening to 101 than actual intelligent Hip-Hop listeners.
So, check out the MySpace: www.myspace.com/theamericankiller...
Vile Nation (including Classic) Presents: The Red Tape COMING SOON!!!
I hope to hear from you again soon, Mr. Gold.
Thank you for your time...
- AK
Ha if you want to hear good Hip Hop you need to check out the winner Squints. Then check out SCUM and all of Show and Prove Ent. These cats up here suck badly. Yeah Classic is different if Kanye was never born. Rayzer Blade is very awful. AK sorry dude you just don't cut it.
wow! yall give it up for kanye jr!!!!
this is the kid squints
THE WINNER OF 101.1 GRIND 2 SHINE 2!
I CANT HELP BUT LAUGH AT LIL HOMIE...
bless his heart he is tryin so hard to be kanye and kid cudi..yall dont mind him
yall holla at me for an interview nashville scene
be sure to request "poppin rubberbaNDS" AT 101.1 THE BEAT!
Cuzn are you serious lol 4real. YOU R actually for real. You lost to him so i don't even have to say that he's better than you. But, listen to your verses your not even ok. Your a very lousy rapper honestly i listened to your stuff. And Hip hop Jesus!!!!! WTF Go to My page and tell me again you better Myspace/blaze314 check me out check my homies out ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Mutha FUCKA
AND IF I SEE YOU IM BEATIN YOUR PREPPY PUNK ASS DONT TALK SHIT YOU CAN'T BACK UP HOMIE.
This post was from a long time ago...but since I just saw it let me say that after just listening to the music of Squints I will say that DUDE, you can't rap! The flow SUCKS and the lyrics are wack. It's just bad.
On the other hand, I just went to Classic's MySpace and he is pretty bad too. Not nearly as horrible as Squints but...bad nonetheless.
Nashville's hip hop scene needs a kick in the ass. Anyway, some actual talented Nashville MCs are:
Count Bass D
Vinyl Jones (of KnapsackHeroes)
Coffee & Bonafide (of Grits)
Spoken Nerd
and (I guess) Young Buck
Oh and The AK is right...true hip hop fans don't listen to 101.1. Nashville radio sucks.
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