I'm getting married this week, to my girlfriend of the past 6 years, Jennifer, and a couple of weeks later we're going off on a nice long honeymoon. So I'll be taking a little break from both Government Names and Narrowcast for the next month or so (although I'll be keeping up with my paid writing for Noise and Idolator in at least a limited capacity during that period). And really I'd probably have to take a vacation about now even if this wasn't happening: I've spent the past year and a half straight working a full-time desk job, writing at least 1000 words for pay almost every week, and blogging daily, and basically burning myself out, especially lately leading up to the wedding. I still love doing all this stuff, I just haven't felt like there've been enough hours in the day for a while now. Hopefully disappearing from blogging for a few weeks and cashing in all my PTO at work will do me some good and I can come back for the summer all rested and refreshed, and switch shit up and try some new things. I might pop up here and there to post something I feel like saying at the moment, or a flyer on Gov't Names (and maybe a couple bigger things I'm planning if I have the time), but for the most part GN and Narrowcast won't be updated regularly until probably mid or late June. Those of you I'll see this weekend, I hope you have a great time at our wedding, everyone else, I'll see you later.

"Bye Bye (Remix)" by Mariah Carey featuring Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupri
On the posthumous remix of Aaliyah's "I Miss You," Jay-Z took a generic R&B breakup ballad that had taken on a poignant context, and made it even moreso with an uncharacteristically heartfelt, sincere verse directed at the late Aaliyah herself. The original "Bye Bye" shoots for a poignant tribute to unnamed lost loved ones, and still lands as bland and calculated, especially with Jay on the remix and Jermaine grunting in the background. Jay's double-time was no less awkward on "I Miss You," but it's almost too aggressive for the beat here.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C-

"Can't Help But Wait (Desert Storm Remix)" by Trey Songz featuring Rick Ross
Time for another comparison to a semi-classic Jay-Z remix! DJ Clue gives Trey's hit almost the exact same makeover the Trackmasters gave Mya's "Best Of You" for Clue's Backstage soundtrack, except with the drastic downgrade to the beard that hip-hop has aligned itself with (unsuccessfully) avoid seeming gay. If you think you've already heard a remix of this song with Plies, you're right, but this one seems to be official, too. Go figure.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C+

"Customer (Remix)" by Raheem DeVaughn featuring R. Kelly
When I wrote about DeVaughn's The Love Experience a while back, one of my main criticisms of the album was that, if I may quote myself, "the bland metaphors of songs like 'Love Drug' and 'Customer' are reminders that there are worse ways to liken everything to love or sex than the broad, ridiculous but sometimes inspired way R. Kelly approaches that formula." Turns out R. himself made a similiar connection in a more favorable light, stating affectionately on this remix that "this song reminds me of something I would do," in that tone that you just know means the only way he knows how to flatter a peer is to compare them to himself. The song has actually grown on me a lot in the past couple months, although more as an album track than as a single, so I was kinda primed for the remix and surprised by how right Kells sounds over that beat. For the most part, though, it's nothing special, with R. generally still weirdly obsessed with biting his latest stylistic descendant The-Dream (the whole "you should tip us" bit), filling bars with borderline nonsense ("ya-aah, you be screaming ya-aah"), and setting a new high/low for holy-shit-is-he-kidding controversy-baiting insanity ("if you thirsty, I got some good good lemonade").
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: B-

"Drifter (Remix)" by Shawty Redd featuring Snoop Dogg
Considering that Snoop took the original "Drifter" as inspiration to collaborate with Shawty Redd and make the similiar "Sensual Seduction," it's pretty much redundant for them to get back together and make a remix of the former track. Shawty Redd's singing has always been the weak link of the track (his voice is almost as unpleasant when Autotuned as Lil Wayne's), he probably should've let Snoop sing it in addition to rapping.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: C

"Love In This Club, Part II" by Usher featuring Beyonce and Lil Wayne
Make no mistake, this is a remix (Wayne even declares, as annoyingly as ever, that "it's the remix, baby"), but the subtle "Part II" distinction makes Billboard chart it as a seperate entry from the original "Love In This Club," which should score him a 2nd big advance hit for his new album where a mere remix's airplay would otherwise be counted towards the first version's numbers. You'd think the addition of R&B's alpha female to make this a duet would be enough, but perhaps Ursher realized that his rival Timberlake already did the same thing with the "Until The End Of Time" remix and had to one-up him somehow, and of course the ubuquitous Weezy was the answer. His verse on this is awful. Worse that the most stomach-turning groaning wheezing moments of "Lollipop," even. I really hope most of the songs that make it onto Tha Carter III were recorded before the syrup fried his brain and destroyed his voice.
Best Verse: n/a
Overall Grade: D

Rich Boy f/ 334 Mobb - "Supafly" (mp3)

As I've said a couple times lately, major label rappers' mixtapes have been better than the major label rap albums coming out so far this year, mainly because most of those mixtapes are being treated like independent albums, with mostly original production. The only one that really exceeded my expectations, though, was Rich Boy's Bigger Than The Mayor. Like a lot of people, I took a primary interest in his self-titled debut because of the involvement of ascendant super-producer Polow Da Don, and chalked up the moderately enjoyable album to the work of a great exec producer molding an otherwise one-dimensional MC. And while Rich Boy doesn't totally step his game up on the mixtape or go further into the conscious territory of "Let's Get This Paper," Bigger manages to be a better overall listen than Rich Boy even without Polow's magic touch, which bodes well for his next album.

Although Gucci Mane and Yo Gotti and Shawty Lo are all over the mixtape with guest verses, my favorite collab is by 334 Mobb on "Supafly." 334 Mobb (who are, in the parlance of Trendsetting P, "EXTRA DICK RIDER"), are a group from Alabama that got a little buzz a few years ago before Rich Boy, I remember back then when Ethan was repping them really hard, and getting hyped when they got signed for a minute and then it never panned out, just like I get hyped whenever someone from Baltimore gets signed for a minute and then it never pans out. So it's been nice to see them keep popping up now and again, singles in my inbox here and there and now on my favorite track on one of my favorite rap releases of the year so far.

Once again, my questionable judgement is in high demand, and The Unstoppable Nuklehidz have asked me to be a judge at their 295 Heat event at Sonar on May 16th.

Some of my new stuff over on the City Paper's Noise blog @ http://noise.citypaper.com: The Club Beat with Dukeyman, I talk about the new series of Baltimore Club Classics records that I had a small role in the origins of. On the show review side, I posted about my latest judging experience at the Word War 1 @ 5 Seasons (congrats to the winner), and also reviewed PenDragon and Profound @ Suite, Soul Cannon/Grand Buffet/J-Roddy Walston and The Business @ The Ottobar (I was so wrong about those guys), Carla Bozulich's Evangelista @ the Velvet Lounge, and Thee Lexington Arrows/Fishboy/The Up Set/Markitect @ the Charm City Art Space.

My 13th Corporate Rock Still Sells column for Idolator went up today, and I have to say, it's by far my favorite installment of the series that I've done to date, probably the happiest I've been with something I wrote in a while. The comments section is getting to be pretty fun, too.

Albums:
1. Evangelista - Hello, Voyager
2. Raheem DeVaughn - Love Behind The Melody
3. The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely
4. Rich Boy - Bigger Than The Mayor
5. AZ - Undeniable
6. Sloan - Parallel Play
7. Grand Buffet - King Vision
8. Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV
9. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: 4th World War
10. Sheek Louch - Silverback Gorilla
11. Blake Leyh - X-Ray Yankee Zulu Tango
12. Young Dro - I Am Legend
13. Fabolous - Gangsta Grillz: There Is No Competition
14. Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
15. The B-52s - Funplex
16. various artists - The Wire: " … and all the pieces matter"
17. Lil Boosie - Da Beginning
18. They Might Be Giants - Here Come The 123's
19. Grand Buffet - Escape From Anthony Baboon's Nautical Playhouse: The Sample-Based Remixes EP
20. Flo Rida - Mail On Sunday
21. R.E.M. - Accelerate
22. Re-Up Gang - We Got It 4 Cheap Vol. 3: The Spirit of Competition
23. Fat Joe - The Elephant In The Room
24. Webbie - Savage Life 2
25. Rick Ross - Trilla

Singles:
1. Paramore - "That's What You Get"
2. Wes Fif f/ B.O.B. - "Haterz Everywhere"
3. Sara Bareilles - "Love Song"
4. Jordin Sparks f/ Chris Brown - "No Air"
5. Cherish f/ Yung Joc - "Killa"
6. Atreyu - "Falling Down"
7. Ryan Leslie - "Diamond Girl"
8. Nine Inch Nails - "Discipline"
9. Alicia Keys - "Teenage Love Affair"
10. Lupe Fiasco - "Hip Hop Saved My Life"
11. Nelly f/ Fergie - "Party People"
12. Snoop Dogg f/ Too $hort and Mistah F.A.B. - "Life Of Da Party"
13. John Mayer - "Say"
14. Ace Hood f/ T-Pain and Rick Ross - "Cash Flow"
15. John Legend - "Show Me"
16. Chingy f/ Amerie - "Fly Like Me"
17. Ludo - "Love Me Dead"
18. Jesse McCartney - "Leavin'"
19. Mike Jones f/ Hurricane Chris - "Drop & Gimme 50"
20. Webbie f/ Lil Phat of 3 Deep and Lil Boosie - "Independent"
21. Janet Jackson - "Luv"
22. Missy Elliott - "Ching-A-Ling"
23. Chingy f/ Ludacris and Bobby Valentino - "Gimme Dat"
24. Timbaland f/ Keri Hilson and Nicole Scherzinger - "Scream"
25. Coheed And Cambria - "Feathers"

Not as much movement on the albums list since last month as I'd hoped, at least partly because there's been a bunch of albums I've wanted to hear that I haven't had the time/money to check out yet (The Roots, Prodigy, Jonathan Richman, Parts & Labor, etc.) The Sloan album isn't out til June but I've been streaming it off the Yep Roc website and enjoying it. A lot of mediocre rap bringing up the rear (mixtapes > albums, at least for the past few months) but I wanted to expand out of the top 10 just to be more comprehensive of what I've been listening to lately. I'm still weirdly unenthusiastic this year about singles this year, especially big ones. I surrendered completely to "No Air" and started screaming along with it on the radio every time, but I'm very very slowly warming up to "Love In This Club" and "Bleeding Love," etc. Ace Hood only gets a pass on the Khaled-rap overload because of those insane Runners drum fills.

1. "The Whitest Kids U' Know"
I never watched this show on whatever random cable channel it's on and still haven't, and for a long time that was because newjack sketch comedy shows are generally something to avoid in my experience, and the stupid name didn't help. But a friend sent me some YouTube links and a whole lot of their stuff is on there, and hey, it's not bad. Still as hit and miss as any sketch show, but some pretty funny shit.

2. "ego trip's Miss Rap Supreme"
I keep wanting these ego trip shows to be good, but I never got into "The (White) Rapper Show" and this one just seems boring to me so far. Like, the rap nerd pandering doesn't quite grab me enough on its own, as as reality show trash isn't just not as entertaining as, say, "Rock of Love."

3. "Rock Of Love 2"
Speaking of which! A very uneven season with ridiculous highs and some boring lows, but I still do enjoy watching those bickering sluts. Shame that there was that long stretch of the season where Kristy Joe was the only particularly attractive girl yet and the whole show momentarily was just about the other girls hating her.

4. "Reaper"
This show has really been consistently good lately, I think I was actually underrating it earlier in the season. The whole running plot with the demons played by a couple guys from "The State" turned out to be way more enjoyable than I generally want anything involving "The State" to be. Even the irritatingly Jack Black-esque character named 'Sock' has turned out to be pretty consistent comic relief. I'm starting to get anxious about it getting cancelled, since it and "Aliens In America" are the only 2 shows on the CW that haven't been renewed for the fall yet, those are the only shows on the network I give a shit about and I'll be pretty mad if the same thing happens as when "Veronica Mars" was the only CW show I cared about.

5. "The Riches"
After all my bitching and moaning about this show losing the plot after the first few episodes, the 2nd season has turned out to be pretty good. I just hope the finale this week isn't some more lame cliffhanger shit.

6. "American Idol"
I don't even know who I'm rooting for anymore, just that I'm rooting against Archuleta. David Cook and Syesha are alright, I guess, and I like Brooke but her and her nerves just have got to go at this point. The added entertainment value that Anthony's Travolta comparison gave Jason Castro should keep me cracking up for as long as he's still around, though.

R.E.M. - "Horse To Water" (mp3)

I was generally much more excited about that other comeback album by Athens alt-rock icons, but there was enough genuine curiousity mixed in with my cynicism about the "best R.E.M. album since the last good one" hype surrounding Accelerate to want to check it out. I grew up with 90's R.E.M., and very gradually went back and checked out the early stuff beyond the two big Document hits, so I have no particular nostalgic attachment to overcome to give the new stuff a chance. New Adventures In Hi-Fi is one of my favorite albums of theirs (definitely at least top 2 or 3) and I generally liked Up, too, but like most people my tolerance for the post-Berry era sharply waned and I hated most of Reveal and have still not, as far as I know, heard a note of Around The Sun.

Of course, all of those points of comparison are kind of red herrings, since Accelerate is, seemingly by design, aiming to be more in the lineage of Green or Monster, the latter of which being probably the last bygone era most fans would like them to revisit (well, second-last: hopefully they won't be exhuming Pat McCarthy anytime soon). The problem, of course, is that that point of comparison is even more damning than you could expect: Monster actually had at least a few really good songs, and Accelerate doesn't once really reach that record's heights, even if it's not quite as aesthetically misguided. Hell, I'm not sure I even like any of these songs as much as the first track on Reveal. The big ugly stomp of "Horse To Water" is kinda cool, though, it brings me back a little bit to the jagged, off-kilter vibe of "Feeling Gravity's Pull."

Blogging is a shameful, unclean habit that I wish I'd never fallen victim to, and now I fear I'm becoming a bad influence on my friends, because my homeboy (and director of my acting debut) Mike Bartolomeo has started Billion Dollar Cranium to get out some of his movie buff knowledge and opinions. So far all the horror flick talk is pretty awesome, though, so I'm glad he joined me in this terrible, unhealthy hobby.

AZ - "The Game Don't Stop" (mp3)

Undeniable is AZ's seventh solo album, but the first one I've heard, which means I probably missed a lot of good shit from him over the years while I let Nas's "Life's A Bitch" and a few other guest appearances define him for me. And it never occurred to me before, but one of the first things that struck me when listening to the album is that he sounds a lot like Consequence. Same kinda high voice, similiar accent, same approach to dense internal rhymes that kind of pile up on each other, which makes sense since they came up in the same era, both alongside Queens legends (although AZ is from Brooklyn, I guess).

The other thing that struck me pretty quickly about this album is that it has a shitload of singin' on it. Like seriously, almost every song. It doesn't bother me, since most of the time the hooks are good and/or unobtrusive (even Ray J is less annoying than he was on the Styles P. album). It's just interesting how, without having any real obvious crossover attempts or even some mellow romantic tracks, AZ has made a pretty traditional hardcore NYC rap album that just happens to have a lot of R&B and melody in it, which might be him mellowing with old age, but then, not having heard his other albums, I have no idea if it's a new development.

Rich Boy - Bigger Than The Mayor
AZ - Undeniable
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Mike Doughty - Busking EP
various artists - Soul Spectacular! The Greatest Soul Hits Of All Time
The Replacements - Let It Be
K-Swift The Club Queen - Jumpoff Vol. 12
B.O.M.B. - Testers EP
Profound - Carpe Diem
Baltimore Songwriters Association - Songs From A Charmed City

Lil Boosie - "Tee Lady" (mp3)

The past couple years I've been pretty blasé about mixtapes, at least as they're used as promotional tools by major label rappers, mostly because there's only so much an MC can do with a gang of industry beats and no hooks or guests or concepts or anything. Despite all the Lil Wayne hype, even a really good mixtape is no stand-in for a solid album. But there's been a bunch of mixtapes so far this year that have gotten me paying attention again, mostly because they're coming from MCs who are a) between albums and not using b) dope enough that I'd listen to them flow over just about anything at least once c) probably not going to ever drop a truly great album anyway, so it's no loss when they go nuts on a mixtape. Lil Boosie's Da Beginning falls into all those categories, although it's not quite as enjoyable as a few other recent solo mixtapes by Rich Boy, Fabolous and Young Dro.

Da Beginning is easily better than the Webbie album, but not by much. Even with all the original production, not many of the tracks stand on their own as songs; turns out Boosie might be the rare MC who benefits from some guest MCs and hook singers around to distract from the monotony of his awesome but, admittedly, grating voice. The weirdest surprise of the mixtape, though, is that I like Boosie's soft R&B shit like "Tee Lady" and "Ain't Coming Home Tonight" more than his more hardcore material.

1. I Think I Love My Wife
Beneath his rep as the modern definition of a braying, foul-mouthed black comic, Chris Rock has always had this kind of sentimental, old-school approach to comedy that tends to come through more in his interviews, and in the projects where he has a role behind the camera (mainly Down To Earth and "Everybody Hates Chris"). This isn't quite in line with that, but it is a little more cerebral and old-fashioned than, say, CB4 (still his best movie for my money). I haven't seen the Rohmer movie it's a remake of, but it feels like Rock's attempt at a Woody Allen movie, except, unfortunately, it's as clumsily directed as Head Of State, and the funniest parts are yanked from Rock's and co-writer Louis C.K.'s standup material. Still, through all the plot contrivances and botched gags (the Viagra bit, the song cue at the end that I liked but would've work way better if the singing/lip syncing wasn't executed so badly), it ended up being a pretty clever look at marriage and fidelity that had some kernels of truth to it.

2. Conversations With Other Women
At first the splitscreen gimmick grated on me, and I thought it made the whole thing look cheaper than it really was. But gradually they used it as a storytelling tool in a way that really worked, and I liked this more than I wanted to, even if it was carried by some very actor-y acting by the two leads.

3. The Third Wheel
A really weird Luke Wilson/Ben Affleck comedy from back when Affleck was more bankable than Wilson but completely slipped under the radar enough at the time to be a pleasant surprised when caught one afternoon on cable. Kind of rambling and nonsensical in a strangely enjoyable way. Plus, it features Ben Affleck declaring "I always wanted to get my swerve on on my bike!" which I think is reason enough by itself to see it. Jay Locopo, who wrote the movie and plays the weird homeless guy Phil, apparently created a show produced by Conan O'Brien that's going to be on NBC later this year, so I'm kinda looking forward to that. I am kind of annoyed, though, by the part where one of the cast members lip syncs Young MC's "Bust A Move," which was a really weird thing for them to considering that almost the exact same thing happened in Dude, Where's My Car? two years earlier.