Hi, everyone! I present the third edition of the Hot Take Hotline to you today! I turned to social media to ask you all for your hot takes on music and other topics, and not gonna lie, some really good ones this time around! Here's what I got, and my responses in full to all of them.
"YBN Cordae is better than J. Cole”
I’d say that’s right on the money. Even though I’ve said that J. Cole is slightly overrated, he still has a few jams that I’ll come back to once in a while. However, YBN is a little bit younger and has a new take on rap music that’s fresh and wholesome. His flows are usually solid and I think his production and writing are also really sharp. I plan on publishing a review of his debut The Lost Boy next month, and I’ve heard a few cuts from it already that sound really good.
“A lot of Lana Del Rey’s music sucks”
I wouldn’t say all of it, but yes, a majority of it is kind of dull. Ultraviolence and Lust For Live were both not very interesting to me, as it just sounded like the same old, sappy and reverby Auto-Tuned pop that has become an industry standard of today. I will say- one exception to her music is her sophomore LP Born To Die, because there is actually a good run of songs on there. I plan on doing a review on her most recent release, Norman Fucking Rockwell! before year’s end, so I’m hoping it’s a change in pace from her last few records.
“What is your favorite song of all time?”
This is such a broad question, so I’m not really sure how to answer it. There are so many songs that I could say are my favorites ever. If I did have to pick one for this, I’d have to say “A Day In The Life” by the Beatles. It might seem like kind of an unusual choice- because many of you know I’m not a big Sgt. Pepper’s fan. Regardless of that, you can’t deny that this song is just so forward-thinking and sonically well-crafted. It still holds up so well to this day! I’m more partial to the remixed version on Love, as it stays pretty true to the original while adding a few additions to give the song a little bit more enjoyability.
“The Beatles are not nearly as important to modern music as the Shaggs are”
From many of the bands I’ve interviewed, they cite the Beatles over the Shaggs. They tend to be a lot younger, so that’s not to say they haven’t had an influence on music at all. Visionaries like Daniel Johnston, Kurt Cobain and Frank Zappa have all cited the band as having some influence on their music. In fact, Zappa even said that their lone record, Philosophy of the World was one of his favorites of all time. Per consensus, it is actually regarded as one of the worst and most unpolished pieces of music ever made. There’s a funny story behind it, though… One of the contributing factors to that was because their father getting a palm-reading saying that his kids would become rock stars. So, he withdrew all three of his daughters from high school- without any music experience for that matter- and had them make a record. The result is one of the wackiest thirty-one minutes of music you may ever hear. Seems pretty weird, right? Take it for what it is, but that sort of “imperfect” style of music is shaping our generation of musicians. Like the younger bands I’ve interviewed, most of them make music out of a basement or an apartment rather than working in a studio. While none of them are in the predicament that the Shaggs were in, they make their music without striving for every part being perfect. They might use out of tune guitars, the drumline might not be entirely on beat but damn it, it’s honest.
“Lil Uzi Vert is a better lyricist when he talks about feelings instead of flexing”
I think that’s a pretty good take and one that I can agree with. I’d like to call “XO Tour Llif3” or “The Way Life Goes” off of Luv is Rage 2. Those are both super emotional songs (and two of Uzi’s top-five most popular on Spotify) that show off his more sensitive side. It’s a shame that not a lot of these modern rappers talk about that kind of stuff because those two tracks are prime examples of how to talk about feelings and emotions the right way. Whether it’s his struggles with touring, drug addiction, and women on “XO Tour” or his relationships on “The Way Life Goes”, Uzi proves that he can not only have a badass rap about being rich, but he can also tell just as good of a story on a sad song.
“Lo-fi remixes of popular songs are going to become one of the coolest new trends in music”
To understand a little bit more about this question, I did some research and listened to some of the more popular cuts from this subgenre. I came away kind of feeling “meh”. because some sounded really awesome, and others were duds. I think if these producers want to make a successful remix, the beat behind it has to be spot-on. For example, I actually reached out to Majora, the Soundcloud producer who created the lo-fi remix of “Magnolia” (1.1 million total streams and counting). That is how you want to make a successful remix. The beat was pretty well-matched with the vocal stem, and I have been listening to it so much recently. In addition, I was discussing the possibility of a possible collab on a track- so maybe you’ll see something on my Soundcloud with him down the road...
“In your opinion, what is the goal for music in this day and age?”
This is a great question, and it might be a bazzcast episode idea in the future(?). The goal for music in this day and age- for me, at least- is to progress each genre for the future. Variety is key. As we head into the new decade, we can’t keep releasing the same music year after year and expect to get anything different. I want to see music coming that is genuinely enjoyable and can come back to in the future. You're entitled to your own belief for what is enjoyable and what's not, but how can we keep being satisfied with the same pop music coming out each year that never progresses anything? Shifting gears, I'd also like to bring up one lost art that is the short-form/short-length album… it NEEDS to come back, as people’s attention spans just keep getting shorter and shorter. In my opinion, no album should be more than 45-50 minutes long. All of these indie musicians get that part right. They don’t want to bombard you with so many tracks in so much time that you’ll get bored with them. They release 10-11 tracks, coming in at around 30-35 minutes. I hate seeing Billboard rap/pop albums that could be as long as your average Hollywood summer comedy flick, and they don’t really hold up as well as time progresses. In fact, they're intentionally meant for not listening to them multiple times, as many are trying to get the most streams on five or six songs rather than the twenty or twenty-five tracks that are on them. Let’s get some great artists who can think smart for this new decade of music, I can’t wait to see what the future of music is going to hold!
So, do you agree with my takes? If not, feel free to reach out to me! I'm always down for debates and would love to hear your point of view on these topics. Thanks so much to you guys for reading this, and I hope you continue to tune in to bazzreviews content in the future!
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