Five Songs (and then some) I'm Loving This Week

This installment is gonna be weird 'cause I've found my inner rap-hound. Unfortunately, I came to the rap party late, but I first realized what I was missing in 2002 when a girl I worked with played Ludacris for me. I was so shocked I couldn't speak for a long time. Anyway, I've been trying to keep my mind open to rap and hip-hop that I might like, but it's hard because I'm just not exposed to it. I don't listen to the radio and I only watch MTV2 an hour a week, and that's only Subterranean which comes on Sunday night/Monday morning at midnight. Anyhow, I've discovered DJ Danger Mouse, and way late I've discovered Jay-Z.

This also isn't going to follow the five songs format I usually use, because there's just too much stuff, and I'm not sure I can break it into five songs.


HOW I LEARNED TO GET MY HEAD OUT OF MY ASS AND ADMIT I LIKE RAP

First we have The Beatles. Western Civilization's first Hip-Hop band. Heh Heh. Just kidding. But they do lead directly to DJ Danger Mouse.

The Beatles Self-Titled Album, AKA The White Album was released in 1968. I've heard most of this, but never the whole thing--despite being a fan. How lame am I? This record is one-half of DJ Danger Mouse's The Grey Album.

The second half is Jay-Z's, The Black Album. This record is from 2003, and is supposedly his last record before retirement. I've heard of him and I've heard of this album because I have ears, eyes and I use them. Unfortunately because I can't accept that I actually like some rap music (years of self-conditioning convinced me that I wouldn't like it), I may be aware of a rap song or artist, but chances are I won't hear it unless it's by accident. However, I've found that the songs I like, I love--same with hip-hop. I'd never heard Jay-Z, but because of DJ Danger Mouse, and my friend Stephen who gave me The Grey Album, I've discovered my love for both Jay-Z and DJ Danger Mouse.



Another rap artist I know I love is Missy Elliot. I've been tearing up "Get Ur Phreak On" lately. Today I found a video for another song, though. It's called "Teary Eyed". It doesn't make me want to "tear it up", but it is dramatic to the point where it makes me want to tear something up. Especially the video. Oh, the video is almost painful.

That's all the rap I have today :) Maybe next week I'll have more. I do have a few more regular Lola songs. Unfortunately it's all streams and videos. I know--I suck. Some people like that (heh). I just downloaded about fifty new songs--I just haven't had a chance to listen to them.

The next song is a stream, but it's a lovely song, so it's worth it. It's called "Starless Nights" and its' by Tenenment Hall. If I find an mp3 I will post it.

Retroactively, we have a video for a song I love. It's called "I've Got A Feeling"and it's by Ivy. This song has been around for a few years, and obviously the band's been around longer. I've always read about them and I knew the name, but I'd never had the opportunity to hear anything. They've been popping up in TV Shows lately (If you want to get my attention, appear in a TV show) and I decided to do some investigating. I found quite a bit, but this was one of the most prevalent songs I found. If I find more songs, I'll post them.

As an extra, I'm going to post a song that I'm absolutely in love with. I'm not making it part of the "Five Songs" 'cause I just posted another of their songs two weeks ago. However, I think this song is so awesome that I'm making room for it. It's called "I've Got You and You've Got Me". I posted this mp3 directly because it's on a page with a hundred other mp3s and it didn't seem fair to make you sift through the other songs (though everyone should know the magic that is control-F).

Lastly, this isn't a song, and I'm not even sure how I feel about the music, but their name is awesome.

BAND NAME OF THE YEAR: They Shoot Horses Don't They. The music is...unusual. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the music, but it sounds like animals are dying.