CLOSED- 2018 BTT- Arrest the President v Pick Up - Games

mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

the beats and production on the cube track is just lacking, has nothing to do with age

Fischman
RockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMaster

Gender: Male
Location: Land of Enchantment

Gowi wrote:

the beats and production on the cube track is just lacking, has nothing to do with age

While I might not agree, I appreciate the consistency of that statement.

babyBlueSedan
Used to be sort of blind, now can sort of see

Gender: Male

Yeah to be clear I agree with pretty much everything he's saying here, I just don't think it makes for a very compelling song. A lot of these observations are pretty surface level, and while "Arrest the president, we got the evidence" would be a semi-OK protest chant, it makes for a pretty lame chorus. If a younger rapper released this I'd still consider it pretty heavy handed, but like Skinny said it's kind of funny to hear someone who started rapping in the 80s talk about vape pens.
_________________
And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

Anyway, for me I was into the Ice Cube track until the worst execution of a chorus happened to a rap song. It's not the words or the message, it's just pure lazy. If you want to say something like that, you have to put some umph into it and that was a boring execution.

The DJ... idk I was just bored with it.

Abstain.

Also was 2017 just a better year or am I not giving these songs the benefit I should? I mean no offense, but few of these songs really have made me want to check out the album.

mickilennial
The Most Trusted Name in News

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Location: Detroit

sethmadsen wrote:

Anyway, for me I was into the Ice Cube track until the worst execution of a chorus happened to a rap song. It's not the words or the message, it's just pure lazy. If you want to say something like that, you have to put some umph into it and that was a boring execution.

The DJ... idk I was just bored with it.

Abstain.

Also was 2017 just a better year or am I not giving these songs the benefit I should? I mean no offense, but few of these songs really have made me want to check out the album.

you are not giving them the benefit.

also, a lot of them aren't even the standout tracks on their respective records; i think a lot of people wanted to take chances (or actually liked their cuts better) and get more exposure.

Skinny
birdman_handrub.gif

Fischman wrote:

I'm really surprised at all the ageism here.

If nobody had never heard of Ice Cube and didn't see him performing the song, would anybody know that it was a 50 year old? And why does it matter? Does reaching a certain age mean you are no longer allowed to be disillusioned and you no longer allowed to protest? Does anyone complain when Dylan or Neil Young come up with a new song with a social message?

And it would seem obvious that the current President should be the most viable target of such, far more so than any President past.

It's corny as fuck for a 50 year old man to moan about vaping through the medium of rap. That isn't ageist. There are rappers Cube's age who are still great (particularly E-40, Masta Ace, DJ Quik); Cube is not. Hell, Ka's only three years younger than Cube and is arguably the best rapper in the world right now. This song is full of trite, lazy, often meaningless rhymes, delivered with a clumsy flow over a beat that sounds like a cheap, marching band ready version of early 2000s radio rap (think 'Ante Up' or 'Lean Back'). It's not just stale, it's rotting and stinking out the place. I love Ice Cube; that five-year, five-album stretch from Straight Outta Compton in '89 through Lethal Injection in '93 remains one of the greatest periods of consistent artistic inspiration in hip-hop. Hearing him resort to tired, hackneyed, years behind the times crap like this is sad. There is simply no longer a place for him in contemporary hip-hop, which has moved on without him. That said, I'm not arguing he shouldn't continue to make music, rather that this is a terrible choice for a tournament like this - I must have heard, with no exaggeration, over 1000 better rap songs than this released in 2018.

I don't even like DJ Koze, but the choice here is simple.
_________________
2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

Fischman
RockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMaster

Gender: Male
Location: Land of Enchantment

Skinny wrote:

Fischman wrote:

I'm really surprised at all the ageism here.

If nobody had never heard of Ice Cube and didn't see him performing the song, would anybody know that it was a 50 year old? And why does it matter? Does reaching a certain age mean you are no longer allowed to be disillusioned and you no longer allowed to protest? Does anyone complain when Dylan or Neil Young come up with a new song with a social message?

And it would seem obvious that the current President should be the most viable target of such, far more so than any President past.

It's corny as fuck for a 50 year old man to moan about vaping through the medium of rap. That isn't ageist. There are rappers Cube's age who are still great (particularly E-40, Masta Ace, DJ Quik); Cube is not. Hell, Ka's only three years younger than Cube and is arguably the best rapper in the world right now. This song is full of trite, lazy, often meaningless rhymes, delivered with a clumsy flow over a beat that sounds like a cheap, marching band ready version of early 2000s radio rap (think 'Ante Up' or 'Lean Back'). It's not just stale, it's rotting and stinking out the place. I love Ice Cube; that five-year, five-album stretch from Straight Outta Compton in '89 through Lethal Injection in '93 remains one of the greatest periods of consistent artistic inspiration in hip-hop. Hearing him resort to tired, hackneyed, years behind the times crap like this is sad. There is simply no longer a place for him in contemporary hip-hop, which has moved on without him. That said, I'm not arguing he shouldn't continue to make music, rather that this is a terrible choice for a tournament like this - I must have heard, with no exaggeration, over 1000 better rap songs than this released in 2018.

I don't even like DJ Koze, but the choice here is simple.

When you say "It's corny as fuck for a 50 year old man to.....," no matter what follows to complete the thought, it's inherently ageist as the justification for the slam is made based on the message not being age appropriate.

Now, if the music/message itself is "hackneyed," "tired," "lazy," "stale," then that may all be valid criticism and it should be left at that.

Skinny
birdman_handrub.gif

Fischman wrote:

Skinny wrote:

Fischman wrote:

I'm really surprised at all the ageism here.

If nobody had never heard of Ice Cube and didn't see him performing the song, would anybody know that it was a 50 year old? And why does it matter? Does reaching a certain age mean you are no longer allowed to be disillusioned and you no longer allowed to protest? Does anyone complain when Dylan or Neil Young come up with a new song with a social message?

And it would seem obvious that the current President should be the most viable target of such, far more so than any President past.

It's corny as fuck for a 50 year old man to moan about vaping through the medium of rap. That isn't ageist. There are rappers Cube's age who are still great (particularly E-40, Masta Ace, DJ Quik); Cube is not. Hell, Ka's only three years younger than Cube and is arguably the best rapper in the world right now. This song is full of trite, lazy, often meaningless rhymes, delivered with a clumsy flow over a beat that sounds like a cheap, marching band ready version of early 2000s radio rap (think 'Ante Up' or 'Lean Back'). It's not just stale, it's rotting and stinking out the place. I love Ice Cube; that five-year, five-album stretch from Straight Outta Compton in '89 through Lethal Injection in '93 remains one of the greatest periods of consistent artistic inspiration in hip-hop. Hearing him resort to tired, hackneyed, years behind the times crap like this is sad. There is simply no longer a place for him in contemporary hip-hop, which has moved on without him. That said, I'm not arguing he shouldn't continue to make music, rather that this is a terrible choice for a tournament like this - I must have heard, with no exaggeration, over 1000 better rap songs than this released in 2018.

I don't even like DJ Koze, but the choice here is simple.

When you say "It's corny as fuck for a 50 year old man to.....," no matter what follows to complete the thought, it's inherently ageist as the justification for the slam is made based on the message not being age appropriate.

Now, if the music/message itself is "hackneyed," "tired," "lazy," "stale," then that may all be valid criticism and it should be left at that.

Maybe you have a point. Correction: It's corny as fuck for anybody to moan about vaping through the medium of rap.
_________________
2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

On one hand, we have a hopelessly corny "It's Mueller Time" song with various tangents thrown in. A shame Cube didn't have better promotion - should have been a hit with the #resistance.

On the other hand, we have one of the best house tracks of the year. Easy choice.
_________________
Add me on RYM

Purplepash
ranker, rater, & music list maker

Gender: Male
Age: 54
Location: Western Australia

I first heard the Ice Cube song when my 19 year old son played it to me. I don't think he even would have thought or cared how old Ice Cube is, just liked the song on it's own merits. DJ Koze bored me. Going with Ice Cube here.