95 North. . . The Newspaper

J. Cole's most recent album,  KOD , arrived at an interesting point in pop music: Lil' Pump and the other lil's are dominating the headphones of teenagers, filling in a cultural void with blue hair, Xanax, learn, and generally ignorant behavior. Such is the long-told story of youth. 50 years ago the Beatles were wearing their mops, smoking marijuana, and perfecting the devils music. They said they were bigger than Jesus. People burned their records. Old timers complained about the hippies. Those hippies grew up, and complained about the gen-X kids who were fed a steady diet of malaise, Beavis and Butthead , punk rock, and Mad Magazine . Those kids grew up and had millennial's- a generation of spoiled, but poor kids who whiz through life on apps, killed the traditional music business, elected Obama, and deferred their student loans. J. Cole, born in 1985, is a millennial, and perfectly typifies the general experience of a millennial in many ways. His first album,...

AWW SHEEET. . . was my first reaction when I heard the opening swirls of an organ, deep bass, and snare hits that greet us on Noname's new single entitled " Song 32". More than anything else she's put out to date, " Song 32" accounts for her thesis statement on her name & places her identity in the music world at large. She's so far away from dropping in on Ellen, showing up at a Democratic candidates rally, or exploding on twitter. If you're into that stuff, the art that gets approved by mainstream pop culture like I am, "Song 32" will call you out for your bullshit and make you feel like you've been sleeping, failing to see the world from a critical lens. You know she's right. You know liberal savior Obama bombed Lybia. You know Nike shoes are the same thing as Walmart shoes, minus the swoosh. This anti-branding, anti-corporate stance, which is reflected in both her name and the title to this song, comes complete with refer...

Up here in New England, I'm pleased to report that we actually had a spring. The occurrence of this important, transitional season, has set the proper conditions for the birth of an excellent start to a summer 2019 playlist. Here we go: "Diddy Bop" by Noname Noname is a Chicago poet at heart. Melodic, spacey keys pair with sharp hits on the snare and flourishes from a synth/bass to create a unique sound, not far from 90's era Outkast, with a bit more shimmer & soul on the edges. Here, we get a sense of Noname's world, as the realities of family and community push themselves to the forefront- the borrowed 20 dollars, old air conditioners, the stays with cousins when the light bill went unpaid at home. Despite summertime struggle, those stars in your pocket (the unique talents and perspectives we all have) just might be plentiful enough for sharing.  "Return to the Moon" El Vy Humans first landed on the moon in the middle of t...

Sitting around the house- cold night- haven't posted since June. Here are some songs that have me feelin' some type of way right now: "Luna" by the Smashing Pumpkins: Ah, the melodrama, as Pumpkins lead singer guides us through a heavy, melodic haze steered by a a clean strummed electric. He poses a series of questions: what do we do for those we love? How do we express that love? Sometimes you gotta take a chance, and say it somehow. "Beautiful Loser" by Bob Seeger: Ain't we all beautiful losers? Wanting the wisdom of the elderly and the dreams of a young gun. Wanting to explore the world like Jack Keroac somehow paired with the domestic tranquility of an afternoon with the kids and the two car garage. Bob knows we can't have it all. Hear all about it here, served to us with the steak, eggs, and potatoes Midwestern rock of Bob Seeger. "Emaline" Ben Folds Here, Ben Folds does what he is good at: banging solo on the piano, find...

I've been on a hip-hop kick for a few months now, and since it doesn't seem to be abating I might as well discuss two songs from my two favorite rappers: 1. "Tale of Two Citiez": J Cole There's been plenty of chatter about our favorite curmudgeon J Cole's identity as a rapper rooted in boredom, tedious seriousness, and "eh-ness" . That's why we like him. Whether he's rapping about folding laundry, enjoying almond milk, or braggin' on his success and fame only to later chastise himself for doing so, J Cole is a relatable, reliable MC who makes his own beats, and yes, went platinum with no features . He's on a solo journey. Cruising the rap-sphere all alone, Cole often spins introspective tunes like "Tale of Two Citiez"- simple documents that chart his easily traceable, and relatable internal thoughts about growing up without much money and then having it. In typical Cole style, in the end, he asserts that what goes u...

Lauryn Hill, of Orange County New Jersey, still stands today as one of the greatest female rappers of all time. Her career, which started out with the famed super-group (featuring Wyclef Jean) the Fugees churned out deeply meaningful, soulful hip-hop in songs like  "Killing me Softly ", which explored emotional territory previously unexpressed in mass-selling hip-hop. The Fugees owed much of their success to Hill's talent as a singer, rapper, and musician. She's handy with the guitar, political theory, and theology, a triple-threat of sorts that armed her to compose songs that were confrontational, meditative, and most of all. . . true. Hill built on her success with the Fugees by cutting one of the most critically claimed and essential hip-hop albums of all time, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill , released in 1998 (the golden year of rap? Outkast's Aquemini   was released the same year). Fame did something funny to Lauryn Hill, like it does to so many ot...

With the recent release of this  video  posted by a mom in Tennessee, featuring her son crying in the car over incessant bullying at school, many have asked the same question that 11-year-old Keaton Jones asked: why do they bully?  A recent song entitled "Pray for Me" by rapper Brother Ali helps provides an answer: they bully because you're "different". They bully because they've been bullied or experienced trauma. And, yes, they bully because teachers let them. And parents don't know how to deal with it, despite their best intentions.  In "Pray for Me," Brother Ali documents the pain he still feels today over the bullying he experienced as a child due to his albinism.  Here, over a gospel-groovy hook and a jumpy beat full of slow steppin' vitality, Ali relives the pain he felt as a child along with an explanation of what the journey has been like for him as he's progressed through life.  He is certainly reflective- and make...

Black Star represented that rare moment in which two dynamically talented lyricists, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, joined forced to create a moving, poetic portrait of their life and times in New York City. The album, also called Black Star , was released in 1998 and tells the story from the other side of Rudy Guliani's New York. Sure, it's a long way from City Hall to city steps in Brooklyn, but the miles between are documented by Black Star with precision.  Perhaps the largest building built in this city of songs is the track "Respiration", in that it seems to somehow encapsulate the whole spirt behind the album like a thesis statement stapled to the door of landlords, politicians,  and corrupt city cops. The song starts with a minor chord guitar strum, building keys, and a quick story about tagging or spray painting a building, and a phrase softly whispered in Spanish (escuchela la ciudad respirado or "listen to it, the city breathing") before the song ...