Today is the eighteenth issue of "Paper Chat New Album". The album I want to talk to you about today is V.O.B's first solo album "L.O.O.P". As the most recognizable Rapper among the new generation of Boombap musicians, V.O .B this solo album a bit late, and his last album was the group album HipHop Utopia with Double C.
To be honest, I think that combination album is more general. The lyrics are not very delicate and elaborate, more vernacular, the content is Also Out this, step on that. The theme of the album is four big words, "I love HipHop", which is indeed a bit cheesy. Although the overall arrangement and control tasted right, it did not give me a memory point.
So for this new album, I have great expectations, and I hope that this album can give me a refreshing feeling. But after listening to it, I was a little worried, how to write this?
There are two reasons for the worry, one is that BoomBap itself has nothing to evaluate, and there is no room for aesthetic discomfort in this aspect of the arrangement, that is, the drum group plus Loop, and everyone fights whether there is a sample that people can hear and say that they are good.
The second point is that, aside from the content and narrative music, Boombap music listens to more of a "feeling", Flow this thing, in fact, can not play too much tricks. This "feeling" refers more to the timbre, tone, detailed emotions, and even the Daily Image, Personal Charm, and Past Deeds of the Rapper, which will be substituted into the song.
A very simple example is Eazy-E and Dr. Dre. In fact, I think Dre's Rap foundation is more than E, but because Dre is a pseudo-G, everyone remembers more about his identity as a producer, and selectively ignores the existence of "The Chronic".
E's music, more of a certain historical significance, and because of this and his real G identity, his reputation on the street is very loud, and even his son can rely on the fame of his long-dead father to eat a bowl of music rice.
The biggest aura that BoomBap music provides us with is comfort, and the adjective of comfort is inherently very vague and very personal. Under the condition that there are no very special technical characteristics and extremely shocking classical sampling, the reasons that affect everyone's discomfort with a BoomBap shu are basically more metaphysical and subjective.
So for The rapper, whose technical style of VOB is more mature and traditional, but is not within my liking range, when it comes to some songs that I am more insensitive, I can't give a relatively reasonable and convincing reason, I can only say: almost meaning.
Let's talk about the album concept of this album first. I have to say, this name is good. Loop means loop, not only Boombap and HipHop, all music is inseparable from Loop, but the name is not the same, rock and metal for guitar melody loop called Riff.
BoomBap is one of the most important musical styles for Loop, because the arrangement hierarchy is relatively simple, and Loop has become the most powerful way to provide rhythm. This album dares to use the name of Loop, presumably with great confidence in sampling and rhythm, and of course it is.
As a pure BoomBap album, of course every song perfectly embodies this point of Loop. However, the album description of this album is a bit redundant, the whole sentence "All life is reincarnation", but in all the lyrics, there is no discussion of some life philosophy and reincarnation.
In terms of singles, this album is still no pressure for me, cutting out Intro and Skit, in fact, there are seven songs, a B-Box as an accompaniment Cypher, an 80s arrangement, counting, five similar styles also have different emotional emphases. Although they are all BoomBap singles, they are small in size, rich in elements, and not like the previous album, which still does not sound boring or stressful.
Let's start with my favorite single, starting with Intro's Everthing Just Like A L.O.O.P., which is a party music for Scratch, with a small number of low-fidelity vocals that match the accompaniment of the little side.
I have to say that this accompaniment is really riotous, Jungle's tambourine has a very strong sense of delay, and the previous saxophone's riot is really an unexpected match, under the strong sense of rhythm of the playing way, the addition of the saxophone adds more originality to the whole. A large number of Scratch performances cut vocals and create a sense of wow sound, and if this song can expand the arrangement point, it will be more suitable for the DJ hot scene before the performance.
The second favorite is "Everyone Get BoomBap", which is slightly offensive and critical. Probably to mock those five-year fans, except for Trap is the Old School, for me, who firmly supports music classification, this song is right in the middle.
And this song is very rigorous to give an 80s accompaniment, very low-fidelity, the drums are primitive and crisp, the melody of the wind music is also very engaged, showing a very jumping and very entertaining original HipHop accompaniment. If this song uses the East Coast accompaniment of a more golden age, the taste is not right, and I can't tell the difference between the golden age and Oldschool, so how to scold people.
At the same time, such 80s accompaniment is actually rare in Chinese rap, because the Hook part is relatively boring, interactive but has little significance for the single as a whole, and the studio version will be very lengthy. So the song also cleverly raises the performance mood to eliminate this problem in the Hook part. At the same time, the flow of this song is also more fun, and the acceleration of some sentences is very elastic, which reminds me of the technical characteristics of Twista. I have to say that the basic skills of VOB are still solid.
The third favorite song is "Old Day Jazz Night", this song is a bit of a national egg Type, jazz samples that do Loop without a melody line, a rounded electric drum, a flow arrangement of a large section of Break is also a bit of that meaning, only a little bit of 808 is missing, which is also one of the main differences between New Boombap and other Rappers in the late stage of the national egg.
The jazz element of this song did not surprise me, mainly a molded piano melody, which is more tender and dull. Mainly in the Rap paragraph can give a performance mood that wants to match, the soft accompaniment is easy to do, but the soft tone and Type are not easy to control, and it is not easy for the two northern men to do this.
There are also some singles on this album that I feel slightly flawed, such as "Underground Crew", this song is a more serious golden age arrangement, the drums are not that old-fashioned, but this song is still that interactive Hook, to be honest, this is almost interesting.
Because the arrangement itself is not the kind of old and rudimentary entertainment, after feeling enough of a wonderful Flow in the Verse section, it is a bit boring to listen to this Hook. While this kind of interactive Hook is very common and not a problematic way in itself, it seems a bit confusing to me.
The second track is "Circle", cypher with B-Box as an accompaniment, this B-Box is obviously significantly faster in Double C. Although there is no software assistance, the flesh ear is enough to hear that the rhythm has not changed, and the BPM is much higher. I think this is a bit beyond the meaning of the album's Loop, in my understanding of the Loop and the composition of the complete repetition of the same method, before and after the speed is not the same, how to count the Loop.
Of course, this song has no mix, it is a direct recording of the play of Skit, and it does not need to be too real. This kind of gameplay is the most real and street, there is no gorgeous accompaniment after the climactic Flow, is the purest Freestyle, in the current Cypher environment, the most serious things have become a clear stream.
The first impression I presented to this album was the original. The arrangement is correct, and Flow mature can also incorporate some small skills and some personal characteristics. But it is very original and orthodox, and it also means that there is nothing new or characteristic about this album. For example, Kigga's last album "The North", the album as a whole maintains the same environmental and emotional tone. P.O.E.'s lyrics are sharp and the content is explicit and authentic. In comparison, they are all more characteristic.
Although I am a loyal dog in the West Coast, I still think I understand Boombap a little. This album seems to me to be above passing, but not excellent. Just like V.O.B age, it will take time to grow and precipitate...