6A - Wednesday, October 31, 2012T c a h o
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Glasper's 'Black Radio'
remixed in 'Recovered'
By ADAM DEPOLLO
For the Daily
Arriving on the heels of Feb-
ruary's critically acclaimed
Black Radio,
jazz pianist
Robert Gasp-
er's new release Robert
Black Radio
Recovered - Glasper
The Remix EP Buck Radio
offers a fresh
reinterpreta- Recovered -
tion and re- The Remix EP
examination of Blue Note
five tracks from
the February
release - and a new tribute to J-
Dilla.
Black Radio featured an amal-
gamation of styles - not strict-,
ly jazz, R&B or soul - and a
stunning list of guest features,
including Yaasin Bey, Lupe
Fiasco, Bilal, Lalah Hathaway
and Erykah Badu. The remix EP
picks up where Black Radio left
off, adding contributions from
?uestlove and the Roots, Sol-
ange Knowles and 9th Wonder,
among others.
Glasper's original release cre-
ated a smooth, soulful ambiance
by way of his piano which, when
not busy soloing, provided open
and airy jazz-tinged riffs. These
proved best when accompany-
ing the sultry vocal stylings of
Erykah Badu on "Afro Blue" or
in contrast with Yaasin Bey's
staccato, fast-paced rapping on
"Black Radio." However, Black
Radio stumbled a bit in terms of
sonic quality: The bass often felt
overpowering, and the tracks in
general seemed a bit muddy, with
the exception of Glasper's piano
(which, for the most part, was
clean and crisp).
The Remix EP has generally
remedied the sonic shortcomings
of its predecessor - with the
exception of the original track
"Dillalude #2" - creating a much
crisper texture, particularly
A
WARNER BROS
Martin had a dream, Kendrick had a dream ... Meek Mill has a dream.
Meek 'Dreams on
BLUE NOTE
"Capture me like one of your French girls.'
by way of the bass and drums.
Unfortunately, this cleaner sound
comes atthe expense of the piano,
which is often overpowered by
the percussion, and falls into the
background.
In terms of content, the EP
pulls the songs more toward
the hip-hop spectrum and away
from jazz and R&B. This can
most clearly be seen on "Let-
ter to Hermione," which now
features a verse by Black Milk,
and "The Consequences of Jeal-
ousy," which, in remix form, has
something of an '80s throwback
vibe (not unlike the work of
Theophilus London). In general,
the remixes feature much more
sampling, more hip-hop drum-
beats and a less prominent role
for Glasper's piano.
The original track, "Dillalude
#2," works off of the same con-
cept. Glasper's jazz touch is more
clearly evident as the song breaks
down into a dark, sensuous piano
and bass riff, and at the end of
the song, where he works a sub-
tle paraphrase of J. Dilla's "Fall
in Love" instrumental into his
outro.
When you collect the amazing
group of musicians and produc-
ers featured on Black Radio into
a studio together, magic is bound
to happen. When you get even
more amazing musicians to take
those same songs back into the
studio and put their own spin on
them, even more magic should
be expected. This is clearly the
case with Black Radio Recovered.
We can't wait
to see the third
incarnation.
The work by ?uestlove et. al.,
for the most part, has remedied
the sonic shortcomings of the
EP's inspiration, while add-
ing new flavors and colors to an
already stunning musical expe-
rience. Strict jazz fans will prob-
ably prefer Black Radio to this
new EP, but even for such picky
audiences, the homage to J. Dilla
features enough of Glasper's
piano prowess to make this new
release worth a listen.
Bottom line: The work done
by Glasper and his collaborators
here is worthy of the same praise
received by its predecessor, and
in some respects, improves on the
original product.
Some 'Nightmares'
found on most
recent release
By JACKSON HOWARD
For theDaily
Upon signing with Rick Ross's
Maybach Music Group imprint
in 2011, Meek Mill seemed des-
tined to fill
the role of the
label's in-house
"street" rap-
per. Meaning-
less guest spots,
uninspired
and somewhat
worthless mix-
tapes added up
Meek Mill
Dreams and
Nightmares
Warner Bros
from.
Meek stays true to his roots
on his debut album, Dreams and
Nightmares. The record's main
flaw is summed up in the title -
the album has dreams (the party
songs) and nightmares (the hood
songs), and really nothing else.
Dreams and Nightmares is more
of a polished mixtape than an
actual album, filledwiththe same
gritty street tales, booming trap
beats, three Ross guest spots and
head-scratchingly stupid lines.
The title track starts off the
album perfectly. It begins with a
calm,piano-ladenbeat,withMeek
lazily rhyming about his journey
to stardom ... and then bam! The
real beat comes in. "Hold up wait
a minute /Y'all thoughtI was fin-
ished?" Meek yells to the listener,
almost offended, and then goes on
to absolutely demolish the track,
barking out lyrics with bombastic
energy.
The album then plays out
expectedly, with mixed results -
there are the dreams, laced with
money, women and alcohol, and
there are nightmares, filled with
drugs, guns and the hood. The
album sits at a solid 14 tracks, but
it feels a lot shorter, considering
that many of the songs are carbon
copies of one another.
One of Meek's strengths has
always been his storytelling. On
"Traumatized," the better of the
two street tales on the album,
to little-to-no label support for
his debut album (if it would ever
be released).
As time passed, however,
something incredible happened
- Meek Mill became a rap super-
star. He was no longer the MMG
back-up plan - he was the future.
By 2012 he was on tour with
Drake, signed to Jay-Z's manage-
ment team and featured Mariah
Carey songs, all while remain-
ing the very same corner boy.
This is Meek Mill's appeal: He is
the voice of the streets, a ghetto
superstar. And though he has
made it big time, he definitely
hasn't forgotten where he came
he viciously swears to kill his
father's murderer, and vividly
recounts growing up in the hood
with just his mother.
"Believe It," featuring label
boss Ross, is vintage MMG
head-splitting trap music. It's
something that Meek was born
to do, and the two work off each
other like Shaq and Kobe in their
primes (Yes, Ross is obviously
Shaq). Rozay brings his A game,
and comes close to outshining
Meek simply on the basis of his
ridiculous chorus: "I gotta bad
bitch in my Chevy / Sellin' Miley
Cyrus in my brand new Monte
Carlo / I got that Justin Bieber
please believe it / A quarter mil-
lion hangin' on my collar."
Best of all is "Amen," the first
single, featuring Drake. The
song, with a buoyant piano loop
and an infectious chorus, strikes
the perfect balance between pop
hit and hood anthem, arid Meek
sounds perfectly at home.
Some dreams, though, can
turn into nightmares.
"Maybach Curtains," featur-
ing Ross, Nas and John Legend,
had the potential to be a classic
track, but instead became a com-
plete mess. Legend is out of place,
the beat sounds cheap and the
song as a whole is utterly cheesy.
Meek follows the trend of rappers
buying a Nas feature in order to
appear serious, and, unsurpris-
ingly, ends up getting completely
outshined - hearing the two rap-
per's verses back-to-back is like
watching a high school basketball
team play the Miami Heat.
On the first track, Meek raps,
"Double M / Yeah that's my team
/Rozaythe captain/I'mthelieu-
tenant." Dreams and Nightmares,
then, is a success for Meek, as
he has finally risen from the
unknown private he was two
years ago. Only his next album,
however, can prove if he has what
it takes to move up to captain.
PREPARE FOR A NIGHTMARE ON ELM TWEET
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RELEASE DATE- Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle
Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Nichols Lewis
ACROSS 4 Arizona neighbor 41 Emmy winner 59 Slinky's shape
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breather e Cats. or Prot. 43'"Sbane" strAler e.g.
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creature 8 Name as a 49 The "X" in XFL, 63 River of Flanders
15 Tangled or source so some thought 65 Car starter:
disentangled 9 Keenan's actor 51 Homemade pistol Abbr.
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security pass 10 Bulls org. 55 Awestruck 67 Milne's absent-
17 Like Napoleon 1t Smidgen 56 "The Alienist" minded Mr.
on Ciba 12 Puts in auhrClb 6Itegnwi.
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19 Elementary stepsisters 57 Nobelist Wiesel enero
20 Teacher's 14 Bassoon, e.g. ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE:
answer book 20 Small racer
21 Guitarist Barrett 23 Cheers from tiers S O L I D P A C T O W E D
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25 AEC successor 26 Count (on) S E A B I S C U I T M X I V
28 Labyrinth dweller 27 Forensic H o P Q E E N L O PE S
31 Elusive loch detectives, briefly A S T O U N D A M I N 0
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