8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 9, 2006

ARTS


Worn soundtrack
provides bland emo

The last thing people think of when it comes to
Seattle is music. The Pacific city
is known for high suicide rates, Blue
Ray Allen and the Space Needle. Scholars
But in the early.'90s, they intro-
duced the world to grunge music Blue Scholars
with Nirvana's explosion/anthem Self-Released
"Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Around that same time, Seattle introduced its
first taste of hip hop with Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby
Got Back."
That's right. Seattle hip hop.
Sadly, Kurt Cobain killed himself and Sir Mix-
A-Lot is more known for VH1's "I Love the '90s"
than rapping. This left Seattle with a few indie-
rock bands and some kids in thick flannel shirts
trying to keep grunge alive. But through the
smells of teen spirit and love of big butts emerges
a storm of socially conscious hip hop unexpected
from Seattle. Where the hustle and the struggle
coincide, enter the Blue Scholars.
Consisting of an exuberant Indian DJ named
Sabzi and a visual Filipino MC named Geologic,
Blue Scholars resurrect a style of socially con-
scious hip hop introduced by originators such as
Pete Rock and De La Soul. Representing all who
struggle through manual labor and the blue-collar

Cosmopolitan introspection never looked so boring.

world, they speak with earnest, real affirmations
on their self-titled nationwide debut.
After putting out Blue Scholars only within
Seattle proper, they've received their long-desired
nationwide appreciation, and re-release the
album with new songs added to an already hearty
disc. The album takes Sabzi's eclectic beats and
rhythms of blaring horns and strumming guitars,
lacing them with Geologic's revolutionary, capti-
vating rhymes.
It contains a true variety of struggles, trying
to make the come-up, injustice, the future, con-
spiracy, politics and even a love song without
having to talk about jewelry, hoes, rims or grills.
At times, though, Geologic's voice doesn't com-
pletely fit the raw, turntable beats. But it's still
a voice that totally fits the subject material, and
does this well.
Throughout the album you can see the immense

pressures of political apathy. In "Blink," Geolog-
ic speaks of youths with no direction who join
the military to fight a war in a place half of them
can't even find on the map.
Sometimes the knowledge comes out directly,
"No Rest For The Weary," with the lines, "Hold
your head high soldier / It ain't over yet / That's
why we call it a struggle / You're supposed to
sweat."
At a time like this, when contemporary hip hop
has been overtaken by the dirty South (see Three
6 Mafia at the Oscars) and production and beats
are beginning to overshadow lyricism, this album
is a breath of fresh air. It's a humble style showing
that they're aware of their bona fide talent, but then
never descent into braggadocio.
Taking an alternate route from today's hip-hop
groups, Blue Scholars keeps socially conscious rap
alive with one DJ and one MC, and that's enough.

series, and what
do you get? That's
right, the second Various
soundtrack to Artists
"Dawson's Creek" Friends with
imitator "One Benefit (One Tree
Tree Hill." With Hill Soundtrack)
dependable pop- Warner Bros,
emo songs rang-
ing from Fall Out Boy to Strays Don't
Sleep, the soundtrack could probably
prove serviceable for any number of
teen-oriented, pre-college TV shows
and essentially becomes a collection
of album rejects.
If the soundtrack comes from a
show that has the ability to make
girls across the nation cry their
eyes out, it should be expected that
they've got the anthems to back up
those teary-eyed scenes. For intense
break ups: Mozella's "Light Years
Away" and Michelle Featherstone's
"Coffee and Cigarettes."
You can't help but dread yet anoth-
er sad song. It's almost impossible
not to see the different plots of the
show run through your head as you
listen to each song.
Not only do the songs themselves

mirror the show's melodramatic
plots, but they're so maudlin that
four minutes sound like nine.
And it's hard not to become
depressed after listening to these
"emo" songs for that amount of time.
The lyrics play on perpetual sadness
with typical complaints about com-
plicated relationships. It's been done
before and the numbers of people
who want to hear them are shrink-
ing. We can only listen to so many
of the same songs until we naturally
become bored and want something
new. Here, the emo song sounds like
an endangered species.
Really, the new "One Tree Hill"
soundtrack doesn't deliver anything
that can be appreciated by people
tired of hearing about relationship
drama and listening to their friends
drone on their livejournals.
If 'the album has any success,
expect it to fade just as quickly as a
kid's pithy puppy love.

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THE
EUROPA
FORUM

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The Fastest-Growing
International Business Conference in UofM
March 10, 2006
9.30am - 2.30pm
Michigan Union
presents:

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Keynote :

Q

Discussion.:
1. German Politics : The Winds of Change

Exploring Leadership in US and Europe

Thomas Morel
Business Director- France

Fred Hoffman
Director of State Relations

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2. Down the Road:

Turkey' Accession?

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