Saturday, June 06, 2009
Jay-Z - "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)" (192 CDQ)
"I might wear black four years straight...."
OK, you already know what it is: "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)", the first 'street look' from Hov's Blueprint 3 album which is scheduled to drop on 9/11, the anniversary of the original Blueprint album and the attack on the World Trade Center, was just premiered by Funkmaster Flex and Mister Cee on Hot 97. The symbolism of that release date speaks volumes obviously while Hov had the internet going nuts tonight at one point commandeering 5 of the top 10 trending terms on Twitter! But hold on! What about the music? Well check it and you tell me:
Download: Jay-Z - "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)" [mp3 audio download links: zshare via Rap-Up | yousendit]
My thoughts?
The record is meh to me. I'm getting deja vu from when Flex n them were hyping up "Blue Magic" and "Jockin' Jay-Z." They dropped crazy bombs and rewound both a million times just like they did tonight. Two weeks later nobody cared or was talking about either of those records.
"D.O.A." is just like those tracks. The beat (by Kanye and No ID apparently) is OK - it sounds like a leftover from the American Gangster soundtrack sessions. Lyrically, Hov is on point I guess, but is he still moving the culture like back in The Black Album days when he basically put Stall & Dean out of business by endorsing the wearing of "button-up's" on "What More Can I Say"? Somehow despite his disses, I'm guessing kids are still gonna keep wearing their skinny jeans. After all, no-one wants to be emulating their trying-to-be-cool uncle's fashion sense and Hov is a lot closer to being that than he is the average 16 year old.
It was also telling to note how "Every Girl", the current autotune-powered anthem by Lil Wayne and his Young Money crew including the 'It' rapper du jour, Drake was the record that immediately followed "D.O.A." both times Flex and Cee blasted off on it tonight! I guess autotune ain't quite dead yet! Or maybe Flex and Cee know that, for all their bravado, the jig is up and were unintentionally heeding Itsthereal.com's hilarious tweet: "Good work, Flex. Everyone under the age of 22 has tuned out [from listening to "D.O.A.'] because they haven't heard Drake's voice yet."
And I can't help but feel that Hov already knows the battle is lost too. Check this line from the song: "I might send this to the mixtape Weezy" - is that him subtly acknowledging that Weezy, the autotune Rap King, is the #1 dude in the rap game now? Who knows? I guess it could be interpreted a few different way so I could be off on that one.
So what are the people saying so far? Well there were plenty of 'Hov smashed it, killed a few rapper's careers, is bringing real hip hop back' comments on twitter and Real Talk NY has a poll going that is overwhelmingly cosigning the song, but I was more struck by some of the comments by naysayers I spotted while watching the whole spectacle unfold via everyone's favorite micro-blogging service:
RT @DJWiLLGATES @KILLinemSOFTLY: "Jay-Z fuckin retire please!!!!! (U can't stop doin suttin u love, stop hatin)"
RT @starvingartist1 @MBtheREMIX PSA: "Believing in Jay-Z's power to kill auto-tune is like believing Bruno accidentally dropped on Eminem."
RT @FoxxFiles @TheIntriguing1 @youngsinick "Jay-Z is a 40 yo man who dresses like he's 21. Should I really care what trend he wants dead?"
Although the most telling tweet came from my long-time dude (pause), Combat Jack:
@Combat_Jack "Listening 2 Hot 97, waiting 4 new Hov, 11 yo son playin vid games ordered me to turn music down."
Obviously on some level Hov still matters 'cos I wrote more on this one song than I have for any 10 recent posts combined. But I mostly did that as a countervailing force to all the likely gushing hip hop blog fanboy posts about how Hov is bringing real hip hop back that are being written as we speak. When you cut through all that hype though, CJ's tweet about his son's level of excitement is probably the most true measure of Hov's status in the game in 2009! Come end of the year, I wonder which will have sold more: Blueprint 3 or the first major label release by Drake? Let the debate begin....
(And by the way: he even bit the Death of Autotune concept! Damn....)
Labels: DJ Mr. Cee, Funkmaster Flex, Jay-Z, Kanye West, No ID
