Devin the Dude

We’re majority rap today, which is totally ok with me. Hopefully it happens more often!

Devin the Dude, “Highway”

Here we find Devin in a rare contemplative mood, examining the sociopolitical origins of…naw, he’s rapping about women and weed. HIGHway, geddit?

De La Soul, “D.A.I.S.Y. Age”

Some seriously old De La Soul here, but still somehow sounding fresh. This was the proper album closer, although most versions of 3 Fee High And Rising have a second version of “Plug Tunin’” after it in the track list.

Was camping this weekend with no network access, so I deprived everybody of music. Sorry! It’s a shame there’s no other way to listen to music! Anyway, here’s your relief.

Outkast, “Take Off Your Cool”

Outkast, at the top of their game, was breathtaking. Up through Stankonia, they were just incredible. At then, 2003 saw them release Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, two solo records just packaged as one release under Outkast. And for the first time, they were really showing some cracks. Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx was outstanding, while Andre 3000’s The Love Below was uneven at best. He delivered the standout hit (“Hey Ya!”), but most of his album is frankly a mess, wandering around too much for me to truly love it. This song, a collaboration with Norah Jones, is a good example - it doesn’t really go anywhere.

Just missed “Scentless Apprentice” by Nirvana. I guess we’ll have to wait for another day for my indisputable Nirvana album rankings. Alas. Well, here’s today’s music, anyway.

Sleater-Kinney, “All Hands on the Bad One”

Sleater-Kinney is a little bit of a strange one. I always enjoy them thoroughly while they’re playing, and then everything disappears from my brain afterwards. Sitting here, I can’t really call up the tune for any of their songs, despite having listened to them a lot. I like them! I’ve listened to them a bunch! And yet, they’re still invisible inside of my brain. Strange.

Post-rock, rap, stoner rock, whatever the hell the Flaming Lips are…this is a good cross-section of the kind of music I listen to. Check it out!

M83, “Let Men Burn Stars”

Fitting alongside bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor in the “post-rock” bucket, M83 plays mostly instrumental music that always sounds like the soundtrack to something. In some ways, this stuff is kind of shameless emotional manipulation, but if you just ignore that and let yourself be manipulated, it can be fun. This is a bit of a throwaway track, though.