Reflex Reaction: Urban? What’s urban?

I want your reaction, here. Leave a comment and for any/all of the songs, write your reaction to the song – keep it brief! (Extra points if you use exactly 10 words) After a few days, I’m going to publish the most evocative/impressive/amusing comments here. Be sure to leave your name.

Prize Alert! The best comment(s) this week will win a brand-new Jarhead DVD with dogtags! (Hover your mouse over the image below to see!)

Nomisong is this week’s winner! He will be getting a brand spanking new copy DVD of Jarhead with promotional dogtags! (Psst, email me, man!)
The best reactions follow:

chill hip hop // california groove
One Self – Bluebird from Children of Possibility (2005)

  • Gangsta femme Frante-style neo-soulster formula throwback from 93.~Nomisong
  • Dj Vadim follows the trend and learns to make money. ~Moka
  • digable planets on a magical pimped-out carpet ride in space. ~Jilly

    • grime // montreal bounce
    Lady Fury – Too Much Drugs in Ur System (Ghislain Poirier Remix) from Ghislain Poirier – Bounce Le Remix (2006)

  • UK-Dizzee-MIA-grime sound gets diluted across the Atlantic.~Nomisong
  • Staight up bumpy ride of aural heart palpitations.~Runman
  • A mile-wide track compressed to two feet; EQ please, producer.~Pope Easier Rhino I

    • baltimore/philly club // dancehall remixed // electro-baile
    Sizzla – I’m With The Girls (DJ ABCDEFG Remix) from Hollertronix – #3 EP (2005)

  • Urban sports car commercial soundtrack mashed with cheese pop toasting.~Nomisong
  • Clever blend of a cool old toon, a metromome, and a ribbon typewriter.~Runman
  • The boy has balls. He samples a famous song about a gay man forced to leave an non-understanding home life in a small town (Small Town Boy) and used it as the base for macho self-confident swaggering. Self-denial perhaps?~Will

    • Posted by Paul Irish on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 under reflex reaction.

    26 Responses to “Reflex Reaction: Urban? What’s urban?”

    1. Eli said on March 15th at 7:40 pm :

      One Self: snap, crackly pop: a potent and melencholy masterpiece of chill.

      Lady Fury: One quote: “Yeah the whole world knows you got herpes.”

      Sizzla: This stunk (imho). Too techno for rap, too rap for techno, and too boring for my harddrive :)

    2. alex said on March 15th at 9:51 pm :

      MO fire, sizzla spends so much time wi da girls, you’d think he could role a smokin joint. booty bass, shake that ass bitch— now there’s a song beggin to be remixed

    3. Runman said on March 16th at 1:17 am :

      One Self: Neenah Cherry trips the light fantastic with the sultans of swing.

      Lady Fury: Staight up bumpy ride of aural heart palpitations.

      Sizzla: Clever blend of a cool old toon, a metromome, and a ribbon typewriter.

    4. Claire said on March 16th at 8:05 am :

      one self: on the sidewalk at sunrise, in six-inch heels and smeared mascara, smiling after one of those nights

      lady fury: ass-shakin showcase

      sizzla: DJ Anti-Bass Caught Delivering Everyday Flow Garbage

    5. cJw said on March 16th at 8:12 am :

      bluebird: crackly is a good thing…? definitely a chillish tune; kinda diggit.

      too much drugs: count me out; I prefer beginnings/ends; loop is bland.

      with the girls: dancy, moving, just unique enough but with trite lyrics. (also in danger of teh boring looping)

    6. lorezsky said on March 16th at 12:49 pm :

      oh, dear. you always get a toy when the quality of the cereal sinks. the definite nadir of your otherwise consistently fantastic postings. please, please, please (cue in JB wringing hands) do not proceed on the path of error. repent, redeem, repost.

    7. Paul Irish said on March 16th at 1:15 pm :

      Lorezsky, I knew posting this that its not nearly as accessible as the other stuff I put up. Also, the target audience for this kind of music is pretty narrow, I admit. But I, myself, am a huge fan of it, hence my own enthusiasm. Thanks for your comment – I’ll be thinking of it in my future posts.

    8. joeydaglasses said on March 16th at 5:32 pm :

      Lorezsky, thats pretty harsh. in my opinion, this truely shows the opposite. it show, how much Paul and this site, is WIDE ASS OPEN. i commend him on this move.

    9. bsquared said on March 16th at 6:45 pm :

      “Bluebird” – MC 900 FT Jesus made baby with Lil’ Kim

    10. Paul Irish said on March 16th at 7:14 pm :

      haha. thanks, joey. :-)

    11. Jilly said on March 17th at 2:24 pm :

      one self – “bluebird”:

      digable planets on a magical pimped-out carpet ride in space.

      lady fury – “too much drugs in your system”

      “shut the hell up, you hyper demon-child! i can’t think.”

      sizzla – “i’m with the girls”

      beyonce-booty-popping real fast with a fat blunt in my hand.

      (the hyphenated words, i consider one word lol)

    12. Moka said on March 17th at 2:56 pm :

      One self: Dj Vadim follows the trend and learns to make money.

      Lady Fury: Sleep saviour for driving safely back home after last call.

      Sizzla: mix the best of two worlds: dancehall rhytm, electro synths.

    13. fums said on March 17th at 8:49 pm :

      One self: Salt n’ Pepa ‘Heven or Hell’ with modern subject and feminin voice. Cool.

    14. siebe said on March 19th at 5:34 am :

      What is Urban? I wrote an essay last year, unfortunately in Dutch, but perhaps some readers are able to figure it out. Here it is:

      http://www.siebethissen.net/Kunst_en_Theorie/2005_Wat_is_Urban_Culture_(My_Adidas).htm

    15. jimbobwoof said on March 19th at 12:31 pm :

      One Self – da bling
      Grime – durrrrrr, just plain blong
      baltimore/philly club – tell me why?

    16. orbital sentry said on March 19th at 9:41 pm :

      Oneself- mid-90’s flow dubbed over mid-80’s porn funk gets introduced to innovation.

      I smell a wedding!

    17. nomisong said on March 19th at 11:46 pm :

      Let the 10 word poetry styles begin:

      One Self – Gangsta femme Frante-style neo-soulster formula throwback from 93.

      Lady Fury – UK-Dizzee-MIA-grime sound gets diluted across the Atlantic.

      Sizzla – Urban sports car commercial soundtrack mashed with cheese pop toasting.

    18. WhirledGirl said on March 20th at 3:58 am :

      urban my butt.

    19. cork-host said on March 20th at 8:34 am :

      Sizzla – “I’m with the Girls”.
      The boy has balls. He samples a famous song about a gay man forced to leave an non-understanding home life in a small town (Small Town Boy) and used it as the base for macho self-confident swaggering. Self-denial perhaps?

    20. cork-host said on March 20th at 9:24 am :

      One Self – Bluebird.
      Almost timeless. I can hear 20s jazz combined with 70s guitar and noughties urban. This is afterglow music, from whatever you’re after. Or the music cue for the camera to pan away from the couple falling in to the bed. A little clichéd but some clichés are worth keeping.

    21. cork-host said on March 20th at 10:14 am :

      Lady Fury – Too Much Drugs…
      UK grime in sound and accents. My Lady, I think you have a problem : Timing.

      You combine a little Lady Sov with a bit of the Streets. Your wordsmithing is good. Your storytelling is good. You chose a cold Germanic sounding techno sample that’s unforgiving, which in your case is bad.

      It’s sounds slightly too fast for you. It sounds like you are missing your cues by tenths of second or even less, but you end the line too late.

      The technology to correct this is available. Either go for it again or try different backing. You can do better than this. It’s the old school report card. “Must try harder”.

    22. Garrincha said on March 21st at 2:40 am :

      One Self : Can we kick it ? Yes we can. We can kick it wicked. It’s just that sometimes we need to be reminded that we can…

    23. thomas said on March 21st at 4:57 pm :

      Songs to wear pants to.

    24. Pope Easier Rhino I said on March 21st at 9:30 pm :

      One Self – Slinky-fabulous, although I can’t decide whether the whole thing’s pitch-shifted.

      Lady Fury – A mile-wide track compressed to two feet; EQ please, producer.

      Sizzla – I shudder to think what it sounded like before remixing.

      P.S. If human-interface design was taffy, blogger’s comment-leaving mechanism wouldn’t have to worry about getting fillings, let’s put it that way. I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to post this.

    25. Runman said on March 28th at 7:17 pm :

      Hey Paul, I’m needing another aurgasm fix.
      I keep on knocking, but there’s been no one home now for 2 weeks.

    26. freelurving said on March 4th at 10:35 am :

      one self: we can kick it, agreed garrincha… super relaxed and nice casual flow. convertible ride down pacific coast highway with the waves in the background? sounds good to me.

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