The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - 7
E 1 CMUSIC COLUMN
The signs are
on the wallfor a
Bieber demise
We hope that's a gord. ODD FUTURE
Lone'Wolf' Tyler back
with less offensive album
Rapper grows up
with emotional,
narrative lyrics
By ANDREW ECKHOUS
DailyArts Writer
He's the man who earned
fame for chewing up a cock-
roach, shouting homophobic
slurs and gen-
erally just stir- B+
ring shit up.
But Tyler, the Wolf
Creator was
only 20 years Tyler the
old when he Creator
catapulted Odd Future
to stardom,
and his public
profile and immediate popu-
larity put him squarely in the
spotlight. Unsurprisingly, crit-
ics and advocacy groups alike
derided Tyler as a homophobe,
misogynist and proponent of
rape.
Tyler is an odd bird, though.
While he tosses gay slurs
around pretty regularly, he
was extremely supportive of
Frank Ocean when he came out
as bisexual, and the DJ in Odd
Future, Syd tha Kyd, is a lesbian.
People know him as an anger-
filled rapper, but he also spends
much of his time addressing his
loneliness and vulnerability in
his raps. He's a man of contra-
dictions, and this depth of per-
sonality is on full blast on Wolf;
his newest release.
Last year, in an interview
with "Spin," Tyler expressed
the urge to grow up a little bit:
"Talking about rape and cutting
bodies up, it just doesn't interest
me anymore. ... What interests
me is making weird hippie music
for people to get high to." Did he
achieve this goal, though? Not
quite.
Tyler goes 30 seconds without
offending anyone on the album's
first song, but, in quintessen-
tial Tyler, the Creator style, the
first two words he utters are
"fuck you." Admittedly, 'Tyler
spends much less time describ-
ing his perverse fantasies this'
time around, but not too much
else has changed. If you were
offended by him before, you'll
likely still be offended, just this
time you might only dry heave,
not puke.
Surely there are people who
only like Tyler for his NC-17
lyrics, but others appreciate
the candidness with which he
raps. He's never been shy about
his lack of a father, emotional
issues and what seems to be at
least a mild case of depression.
His rap is his therapy, which
becomes even clearer consid-
ering that he plays a therapist
character on quite a few of his
songs on Wolf
"Pigs" encapsulates this side
of Tyler. Half-misplaced anger
and half-unresolved emotional
issues, the song mixes a narra-
tive about a bullied boy getting
violent revenge with candidly
depressing lines ("I got 99 prob-
lems, and all of them's being
happy"). The boy in the song,
Wolf, is the main character
throughout the album and may
as well be named Tyler. He has
no father, few friends and a
twisted sense of what life is like.
Wolf also gives listeners
insight into Tyler's new life
as a celebrity. On "Colossus,"
which is essentially his version
of Eminem's "Stan," Tyler tells
the story of his meeting with an
obsessive fan. Like Tyler, the kid
p
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And
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gets bullied and has emotional
problems, but adores Tyler to the
point of infatuation and worship.
The song will sadden you, but it
illustrates what Tyler has come
to represent for some people.
He seems reluctant to accept his
crown as king of the freaks and
just wants a little bit of privacy.
Tyler produced the entirety
of Wolf, and it contains a fairly
consistent tone throughout.
His attempts to mix his influ-
ences and create something
new gives birth to a uniquely
unhinged sound, something that
can only be described as a vision
quest through Tyler's dement-
ed psyche. "Jamba" sounds
like N.E.R.D meets New York
boom bap, and slower songs like
"Answer" and "Slater" showcase
Tyler's love for jazz and jazz-
fusion. And one can never ignore
the influence of angry rappers
like Eminem and D12, as Tyler
does his version of their abrasive
beats and lyrics periodically.
Wolf won't convert anyone
who is easily offended, but Tyler
has grown a lot from his last
album, and it looks like he might
be more than just a flavor-of-
the-month fad.
my last column, I waxed presses it against the glass.
oetic on the dominance Bieber touches the glass in the
f Justin Timberlake. And same place, and then sprints
hough I don't usually uIs- away, tears streaming down his
pop, I have to admit when face. Hollywood, I think you
st is know where the next Oscar
of his paydirt is.
- and But it didn't stop there: It
same also came out that Bieber has
n top since been banned from an
world. Austrian nightclub for smash-
ing paparazzi cameras. I mean,
h I if I had a pet monkey hanging
n't ELLIOT out with me, I'd probably feel a
yself a ALPERN bit rebellious too, but he should
rlake _______know he's in the spotlight. He
sseur, needs to quit ... (place sun-
fi- glasses on head, Roger Daltrey
a fan of the guy himself. screams intro to "Won't Get
ung even more when a Fooled Again") monkeying
read my JT column and around.
ted, "Jeez Elliot, Tim- Ultimately, the events
e? You might as well just (which, I repeat, all occurred
about Bieber." Ouch. But within one week) seemed to cap
e me think ... I never write off an already rough year for
pop. So why not make it the artist. It looks like every-
a row? thing began with his publicized
here to talk Bieber - but break-up with Selena Gomez,
quite in the same way I and the tabloid-frenetics try-
Timberlake's mounting ing to document his affairs,
ements. When I made my but does anyone remember the
hallenge accepted" face last time the singer actually
ugged away to research made headlines for his music?
bster, it took only a few The only one I remember from
es to witness a pattern this year was his "extreme"
ing. displeasure at the fact that
in Bieber is beginning his Believe wasn't nominated for a
lbeit hilarious, spiral into Grammy.
al obsolescence. To be clear, I'm not evena
solutely agree that celebrity-gossip follower. I can't
oni is still one of the name a single Selena Gomez
opular performers of the song - in fact, I actually had
n era, selling out concerts to look up the name of Bieber's
using tweens to swoon most recent album. But I do fol-
se. I'm sure there's still low news, and for some reason,
itude of fans ready to the Bieberini makes headlines
cash at anything with every time his birthday isn't up
ung star's name on it. But to his standards. It's gotten to
n(-child) is completely the point where Bieber-bashers
it. like me get material from The
Huffington Post's most read
articles.
"And thought liko joke
Lree fiascos
about the scrawny munchkin,
i one week I have to admit I'm concerned
about him. Think of all the teen
Bieber's idols of the past decade - how
many have dignified themselves
!eping busy. in their transition to adulthood,
especially after beginning a tab-
loid headline-fueled descent?
Let's compare him to, say,
week seemed to culmi- some other pop success story,
n already rollercoaster no one in particular - oh, how
r Biebster - first, the about Justin Timberlake? When
roke that the Bieb-man was the last time you remember
ely getting prosecuted JT punching paparazzi and
tting at a neighbor. walkingshirtless through air-
might be expected for port security? How many capu-
star, but the neighbor chin monkeys does Timberlake
portedly a father of three seem to be smuggling on his
ned that Bieber was tour?
ng around the residential None. Because he's not a
orhood at over 100 mph. child, and he probably real-
ike to think that, if I were ized that even before his solo
d maybe consider cool- career took off. Fame can be
o at least the low 50s. But fleeting, but talent and poise
's alleged response? make an icon. And just like all
t the fuck out of here! I'm of the other tween pop-idols
fucking kill you!" Cue before him (Lindsay Lohan,
Miley Cyrus, Hillary Duff), the
n, word from Germany maturity to achieve lasting fame
d that Bieber's pet mon- just doesn't seem to be there for
hich he tried to smuggle Bieber.
-h security) would be So unless you're a Belieber
tined in the country or a hardcore sympathizer, take
urther notice. I can only a few tips from me: Pull up a
e the heart-wrenching chair, kick back and watch the
where Bieber sits on entertainment unfold.
TI
ii
A longtime book lover takes an
up-close look at e-readers
By MAX RADWIN
Daily Arts Writer
I consider myself an avid
reader, if not a shamefully pre-
tentious one. I'm very choosy
about which authors I read in
my down time and which books
by those authors I ultimately
end up committing to. This also
means that the mode by which
I choose to read the stories I do
is, in a sense, as important as the
stories themselves, which is why
I was so shocked to have recent-
ly found myself reading from a
Nook, Barnes & Noble's e-reader
tablet. As a traditionalist of sorts
- if reading books can even war-
rant such a title - the thought of
sitting down without the physi-
cal pages, but instead a piece of
hardware, always seemed like a
distant impossibility. But at least
now my dislike for e-readers is
justifiable. I can fairly say: "Yes,
I tried it, and I don't like it."
I didn't go out and buy an
e-reader - I wasn't that curi-
ous. My mother bought a new
computer, and I guess Barnes
& Noble was trying to dump off
some of the soon-to-be-obsolete
models on people naive enough
to invest in an HP laptop, so it
was just lying around the house.
It was break, I needed to read a
book for extra credit (which I the reading experience consider-
really did need) and I didn't have ably. I was a more comfortable -
an actual copy of it at my dis- and faster - reader because of it.
posal. I didn't feel like driving to On the other hand, when I had
the library, and I didn't want to finished the book, I felt sort of ...
buy it either. But as my mother incomplete. I couldn't put the
informed me, a copy of it came book back on the shelf (a shelf I
free on the Nook, which she had have been expanding for years,
registered and installed but had and which I pride myself on
never actually used. Sure, why greatly), and I needed that clo-
not? sure. Instead, the text fell into
an obsolete, virtual nothingness:
It became a file on my computer,
Nooks are OK not a physical emblem of the
knowledge I had culminated
but pages from being with and owning it.
Is it going too far to say that I
are forever, missed that temporary relation-
ship that develops between the
outer contours of a book's bind-
ing and my hands? The texture
To be honest, it makes read- of the pages as I turn them?
ing a book a lot easier, but only in The smell of the book while I
the laziest possible sense. Instead progress through it? I say no;
of adjusting your position as the and these little details seem to
weight of the book shifts from the carry a greater weight than I ini-
front of the book's binding to the tially anticipated. Who would've
back with each turn of the page, thought that there were so many
you've just got one unchanging physical factors at play in such
piece of square tablet, so once an interior, mental activity?
you've found a comfortable posi- There are environmental fac-
tion, you really don't have to move tors that comelinto play, too, which
until the book is finished. This are potentially worth consider-
seems like the smallest, most ing in light of one's own intimate
detailed and nit-picky complaint reading preferences. The carbon
about the state of the book that footprint left from the production
one can think of, but it changes of one e-reader or tablet is equiva-
lent to that of 100 books. But if
you use a Nook, Kindle or iPad for
an extended length of time as is
intended, they easily become the
cleaner option. The conversation
almost becomes moot; there are
other, more impactful pieces of
technology whose environmental
impact is more relevant and press-
ing to its expansion and develop-
ment - tablets might not be one
of them.
I don't know whether e-readers
are a fad or the way of the future.
There's talk that Amazon wants
to put, somehow, the Kindle in
your car; Barnes & Noble Inc.
has landed new content-licensing
partnership deals with Viacom
and Paramount, among others, in
an attempt to expand their Nook
Video library. But these devel-
opments point less toward an
enhanced reading experience and
more toward a consolidated tech-
nology, something that functions
more like a computer or a smart-
phone than as a true e-reader.
Even if e-readers remain
prominent as their own entity,
and continue to get more glam-
orous, user-friendly and porta-
ble, I don't see the physical book
ever falling into total obsoles-
cence. My books may get dusty
over time, but they'll never go
out of style.
This
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le of the glass with a
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y on the other side. The
y extends a paw and
Alpern is Beliebin in love.
To interrogate him, e-mail
ealpern@umich.edu.
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