"This is anti autotune, death of the ringtone, this ain’t for itunes, this ain’t for sing alongs" - Jay-Z, D.O.A.

Jay-Z’s first released single from The Blueprint 3 (listen to it here) does so much more than take shots at the rise of the auto-tuned voice in hip hop.  It drops bombs on an entire sector of the music industry that has been producing music that betrays a recession of creativity.  Hopefully, H.O.V.A.’s new album will prove to be the stimulus package that averts a creative Great Depression.

Now, I think auto-tune, like all musical technologies has its place.  Kanye West used it wisely on 808s and Heartbreak, turning his voice into a series of staggering icicles that reflect both the coldness and sharpness of loneliness when a relationship hits an iceberg.  And I enjoyed the first few singles from T-Pain and Lil’ Wayne simply because of the sheer fun of hearing bright and shining auto-tuned harmonies coated like frosting over a hearty beat.  I use auto-tune myself.  As a musician and songwriter who doesn’t have the time or money to spend on perfecting my voice, I enjoy the subversiveness of auto-tune and how it allows me to be creative on my own terms.

But I agree with Jay-Z—the industry has stuffed too much of this sugary stuff down out throats.  His critique could have come from the best writers at Pitchfork or Rolling Stone, although these publications might feel comfortable with challenging the mas

So tatsy, but not very nutritious

culinity of rappers who use auto-tune (“All ya’ll lack aggression put your skirt back down, grow a set man … you boys jeans too tight”).  At the heart of his critique is the idea that the bright melodies that auto-tune are turning rappers away from one of their key duties: to use their voice and words to establish a solid beat.  Sloughing off this important duty, rappers and producers have been able to produce a slew of mediocre songs, which have moved hip hop away from its roots.  So who better to lead us forward (while looking backwards) than the Sinatra of hip hop?

Jay-Z also aligns the rise of auto-tune with the over commercialization of hip hop, using auto-tune as a symbol for the ringtones, itunes, and other “sing a longs” that have made a lot of money by jumping on the coattails of the hip hop that Jay-Z helped reform during the late 90s.  Although making money has always been an important facet of hip hop, these methods of generating income saturate the songs with an irony that all but paints over the gritty street realism that Jay-Z’s work has brought to the table.  So let’s put away the candy, say Grace, and have a moment of silence for autp-tune while we wait for the release of The Blueprint 3.

Lyrics:

“Only rapper to rewrite history without a pen,
No ID on the track let the story begin, begin, begin” (chorus)

This is anti autotune, death of the ringtone, this ain’t for itunes, this ain’t for sing alongs,
this is Sinatra at the opera, bring a blonde, preferably with a fat ass who can sing a song, wrong,
this aint politcally correct, this might offend my political connects,
my raps don’t have melodies, this should make jackers wanna go and commit felonies, ahh
get your chain tooken, I may do it myself - I’m so Brooklyn.
I know we facing a recession, but the music y’all making going make it the great depression.
All y’all lack aggression put your skirt back down, grow a set man.
Yeah this just violent, this is the death of autotune, moment of silence.

(Chorus)

This ain’t a number one record, this is practically assault with a deadly weapon,
I made it just for flex and Mister CEE I want people to feel threatened
stop your bloodclot crying, the kid, the dog everybody dying, no lying,
you boys jeans too tight, you colors too bright, your voice too light
I might wear black for a year straight, I might bring back Versace shades
this ain’t for z100, Ye told me to kill y’all to keep it 1 hundred,
this is for hot 97, for Khalid we the best’n,
yeah this is just violent, this is death of autotune, moment of silence.

(Chorus)

This might need a verse from Jeezy, I might send this to the mixtape weezy,
get somebody from BMF to talk on this, give this to a blood let a crip walk on it,
50 thou to style on this, I just don’t need nobody to smile on this,
you rappers singing too much, get back to rap you t-paining too much.
I’m a multi-millionaire so how is it I’m still the hardest here,
I don’t be in the project hallway talking about how I be in the project all day
that sound stupid to me, if you a gangsta this is how you prove it to me.
Yeah just get violent, this is death of auto-tune moment of silence.

la da da da hey hey hey, goodbye
hold up
the only rapper to re-write history without a pen
no i.d. on the track let the story begin
this is anti auto-tune death of the ring tone
this ain’t for itunes this ain’t for sing a longs
this is sinatra at the opera bring a blonde
preferably with a fat ass who could sing a song
wrong this ain’t politically correct
this might offend my political connect
my raps don’t have melodies

"The Third World deserves freedom of speech just like everyone else. We want to fight the battle to say what we want, whether to be serious or just make fun of ourselves. Thats what 'Worldtown' is about, that's what 'Paper Planes' is about. It's what people in the third world live through." - M.I.A.

Unlike your humble author, M.I.A. has been busy lately.  After having a baby and gracefully getting through an interview with the man-child known as Bill Maher, the British-via-Ceylon hip hopper officially endorsed a British Euro Parliamentary candidate.  While the independent Jan Jananayagam promises to help get aid to the war torn Tamil people, M.I.A. offers all of Jananayagam’s supporters a free song to get them pumped for the election.

First, lets talk about Bill.  One would think that Mr. Maher would try to explore more deeply the topics that M.I.A. succinctly dished out to the ever-intelligent and ever-eloquent Tavis Smiley.  However, Bill did what he is best at and proved, once again, that he is one of the worst liberal talk show hosts out there.  After complaining about the general ignorance of the American public (although he made an exception for his viewers, his viewers were the exact same people that he was belittling), Bill revealed his own egotistical unawareness.  First, he made some vast generalizations about minority issues around the globe, clumping all minorities into the same boat and claiming that they all have similar problems.  This is the exact myth that scholars like Mohanty hope to rectify.  Bill hasn’t been keeping up with his reading.  Then he betrayed his lack of preparation for the interview by making the assumption that the Tamils have been the majority in Sri Lanka, and who are now being walked over by the minority Singhalese—a false statement that M.I.A. graciously corrected.  But enough about Bill…  The only redeeming aspect of the otherwise dumbfounding interview was the emotion that M.I.A. revealed as she discussed her family’s (as well as other families’) attempts to escape the long standing violence on the island.  But M.I.A. is not someone who simply gets emotional about the suffering of thousands—she gets political.

Following in the footsteps of other hip hoppers, most obviously the ubiquitous Will.i.am, M.I.A. voiced her support for a minority candidate who promises many changes.  Unlike Will.i.am, M.I.A. didn’t settle for re-using her candidates slogans or simply gathering Britain’s youngest and hottest celebrities to make a bland and stupefying music video (I do have to admit that Will.i.am’s video was at least pragmatic in that it got a lot of people pumped up for Obama, and it was a little bit touching).  Instead, M.I.A. has penned and recorded a completely new song, and if a rough draft of one of the song’s verses is reflective of the quality of the rest of the song, this new tune should fit in perfectly with her catalog.  Here’s the lyrics, which appeared within a poster for Jananayagam that was published on M.I.A.’s blog:

“so u wanna hear about my politics?
well i can show u things that can make u sick
theres a saterlite above me thats takin picks
the people from the east hav started sendin migs
and im sat in America doin twitts
and the armys lookin at me like im a bitch
but im thinking bout the babies lyin in the ditch
thinking if they had a kite fone u ll see the shit”

"This woman is a G" - M.I.A.

As usual, M.I.A. manages to dish out a variety of issues as she simultaneously manages to reveal the connections between these issues.  Instead of simply informing us of the political candidate she is in favor of, she decides to build a lyrical bridge between her current life and the life of her homeland.  She is disgusted by the amount of media attention that is focused on her (and other celebrities), and she is even more sickened by the lack of media attention that has been focused on the fatal violence that has rocked Sri Lanka.  Knowing that powerful nations and their media outlets are not going to challenge the Sri Lankan Army’s convenient ban on journalism, she hopes to become that “kite fone” in the sky, looking down on “babies lyin in the ditch.”  She also hopes to get a candidate elected who promises to send aid to those ditches.

Hip hop has always been a political force, but M.I.A.’s move is one of the “harder” (to use foreign policy lingo) demonstrations of hip hop’s power in recent memory—“harder” in the sense that it is being directed at one candidate and one specific issues.  This hard power mixed with the soft power, which is constituted in the many communities that hip hop helps to form and to connect all over the world, suggests that the music genre may become more of a political force than rock ‘n’ roll was in the post World War II era.  This is a pretty grand claim, which will take decades to judge.  Luckily, we can all watch the results of the European parliamentary elections tomorrow.  Even if Jananayagam loses, the song should leak sometime soon.  More to come…