Jon Hernandez is the main author of hiphopanonymous.net, an underground hip-hop blog with mainstream commentary that kicks ass now and takes names later.
Atmosphere – God Loves Ugly
Slug?s lyrics and DJ Ant?s beats have been described as the closest to emo hip-hop will ever get. “Fuck Earth-composed emo?” Atmosphere is from a planet that has prodded the wackos and mutilated the cows to figure out that thing called emotion. Slug preaches to our souls and it?s damn scary, but he?s managed to gather an almost cult-like following. Bands like Atmosphere don?t get groupies? they get psychos. On God Loves Ugly Ant throws down harder beats, Slug?s rhymes are more pissed off and altogether the album raps from the strange-ugly-confused-weird-nerd child within us all. Quite simply, it is pure genius.
Radiohead – Hail to the Thief
Radiohead has always had albums that require more than one listen. I was a fan of the repeat button with OK Computer. I remember first listening to Kid A and thinking it was the strangest album I had ever heard in full. But after keeping it in my headphones for a week, I found the sounds to be revolutionary. This year Hail to the Thief was leaked on the net before it?s June 10 release date so the bootleg was an unfinished product? Big Deal. I keep playing it because it is a divine mix of those two previous albums. At some point when Hail to the Thief was being made, Thom Yorke was so sick of the fame and the spotlight he became depressed (as if that never happens to rock stars). After taking another rocker?s advice, he turned off the light in his hotel room, crawled under a table, covered his ears, and told himself, “I?m not here. This isn?t happening.” I am not sure why some musicians have odd ways of coming up with songs, but if Yorke needs to suck on a pacifier, wear diapers, and bang on the rails of his crib to make music, that?s cool with me.
Black Eyed Peas – Elephunk
A few weeks ago the Black Eyed Peas were on tour. When they took the stage, hordes of teenaged girls screamed, squealed, and some even knew the words, thereby passively labeling the group as teen pop stars. How in the hell could a once underground hip-hop group come to this? They?ve been on tour with Justin Timberlake and Dirty Christina, that?s how. Having Timberlake, Travis Barker of Blink 182, and Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach featured on their third album Elephunk just adds fuel to superstardom. I?ve also heard BEP emcee will.i.am is hosting his own freestyle impromptu show on MTV, but I hate that channel, so I?ve never seen it. So for the album, I?m just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
