Big Baby Gandhi
Smart Dumb Kid's Progress
By Xgau Apr 6, 2012 4:05AM
Big Baby Gandhi: Big Fucking Baby (free download)
Like his patron Heems, this Bangladeshi-American is from the part of Flushing "where the smart kids act dumb and the dumb kids act dumb." He just acts dumb in a smart way. You could say his lo-fi debut favors degraded rhythm samples and soprano voices, only from the boat-rocking "Been Around Ya Girl" to the deep-soul "Summertime Thing" to the Indian-children's-song-plus-keyboard(???)-loop "Woof Woof" you'd be missing a lot. The flow seems effortlessly idiomatic, only not South Asian idiomatic, whatever that would sound like besides Heems. The rhymes bespeak a brainy slacker with an analysis underway, only he's watched so much porn and heard so much hip-hop that he's dumber than need be about sex. Here he's all "she's chokin' just hopin' to provoke a nut," there he's telling her he was only kidding about that handjob. Figure by now he's here and there both. He is a kind of famous rapper, after all. A MINUS
Big Baby Gandhi: No1 2 Look Up 2 (free Greedhead mixtape)
"Terrorist with no turban/Lyricist with no sermon," he admits he'll be proud to graduate from college and with the help of two resourceful young beatmakers I never heard of cleans up his production like he's ready to go pro. But for all his "Get $$$," he hasn't quite managed it yet. He's still a kid getting his thoughts together one surprise rhyme at a time, weeding out enough sex and dope to make room for a holy Bollywood "Long Ass Intro," a law-abiding uncle who kept him out of the army, a joke he jacked from Fall Out Boy, and other evidence of grown manhood. A MINUS
137Comments
Apr 8, 2012 12:05PM
There's enough residual Catholic in me to feel the need to program some vaguely Easter-themed music this weekend. So while the closest we came to attending any kind of mass was the big Easter brunch I cooked for the family, we've got Bach's St. Matthew Passion playing in the background. Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Players. Really quite lovely.
Apr 8, 2012 9:59AM
28. Freddie Freeloader - Miles Davis
29. Lonely Woman - Ornette Coleman
30. Driva'man - Max Roach w/ Abbey Lincoln
31. This Here - Lambert, Hendricks & Ross
32. Hate & Beard - Eric Dolphy
33. Song For my Father - Horace Silver
34. The Sidewinder - Lee Morgan
35. Nice Work If you Can Get it - Thelonious Monk (It's Monk's Time version)
36. Welcome - John Coltrane
37. Country Preacher - Cannonball Adderley
38. Funky Doo - Eddie Harris
39. Theme De Yoyo - Art Ensemble of Chicago
40. Conference of the Birds - Dave Holland Quartet
41. Honky Tonk - Miles Davis (Live at Philharmonic version)
42. Rocket Number Nine- Sun Ra
43. Silence - Keith Jarrett
44. Down San Diego Way -Arthur Blythe
45. Sleep Talk - Ornette Coleman
46. You're My Thrill - Shirley Horn
47. Novette Number 1 in D Flat Major (Movement 3) - Moondog.
So, yes a tad long, but I meant it as something he could listen to and step away from as he works long hours at his job usually with headphones on. Plus, if he were not so obsessive with music I would have trimmed it down considerably. Thanks again everyone for your input.
-Blair
Apr 8, 2012 9:52AM
To everyone who gave me pointers on creating a jazz playlist way back on the Childish Gambino posts, I've finally created an introductory list for my friend.
1. Snake Rag - King Oliver's Creal Jazz Band
2. Big Butter and Egg Man - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
3. Singin' the Blues (Till My Daddy Comes Home) - Bix Beiderbecke/Frankie Trumbauer
4. Black and Tan Fantasy - Duke Ellington & Orchestra
5. Hotter Than That - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Seven
6. West End Blues - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
7. Rockin' in Rhythm - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
8. Blue Again- Louis Armstrong
9. Tiger Rag - Art Tatum
10. Queer Notions -Fletcher Henderson
11. A Sailboat in the Moonlight - Billie Holiday & Lester Young
12. Begin the Beguine - Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
13. Dizzy Spells (live) - Benny Goodman
14. Cotton Tail - Duke Ellington & Orchestra
15. I Like Em Fat LIke That - Louis Jordan & HIs Tympany 5
16. Koko - Charlie Parker
17. A Night in Tunisia - Charlie Parker
18. Dexterity - Charlie Parker
19. Manteca - Dizzy Gillespie
20. Tempus Fugit - Bud Powell
21. Jumpin' With Symphony Sid - King Pleasure
22. I'm An Old Cowhand - Sonny Rollins
23. What is There to Say? - Bill Evans
24. In Walked Bud (live) - Thelonius Monk
25. Better Get Hit in Yo' Soul - Charles Mingus
26. Take Five - Dave Brubeck Quartet
27. Giant Steps - John Coltrane
Apr 8, 2012 9:46AM
Apr 8, 2012 8:41AM
Last night I was so tired I practically fell asleep posting and as I got into bed realized I'd missed a chance to sign off, "Good night, Irene."
Just a few words about cyberpunks--not sure if everyone already knows all this, but they were very rock and especially punk influenced. Bruce Sterling in his intro to Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk anthology observes that many cyberpunks "are in love with style, and (some say) fashion-conscious to a fault. But like the punks of '77, they prize their garage-band esthetic. . . Like punk music, cyberpunk is in some ways a return to roots."
In that collection, Pat Cadigan's "Rock On" is worth checking out, though it would take me a while to say what it's about. But Sterling in his later Zeitgeist has a smart Spice Girls subplot (about pop and marketing), and William Gibson used to namedrop Steely Dan.
And now back to my Easter breakfast, listening to, guess what, Patti Smith doing Easter.
Just a few words about cyberpunks--not sure if everyone already knows all this, but they were very rock and especially punk influenced. Bruce Sterling in his intro to Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk anthology observes that many cyberpunks "are in love with style, and (some say) fashion-conscious to a fault. But like the punks of '77, they prize their garage-band esthetic. . . Like punk music, cyberpunk is in some ways a return to roots."
In that collection, Pat Cadigan's "Rock On" is worth checking out, though it would take me a while to say what it's about. But Sterling in his later Zeitgeist has a smart Spice Girls subplot (about pop and marketing), and William Gibson used to namedrop Steely Dan.
And now back to my Easter breakfast, listening to, guess what, Patti Smith doing Easter.
Apr 8, 2012 8:09AM
Apr 8, 2012 7:27AM
Apr 8, 2012 7:01AM
Apr 8, 2012 6:28AM
With an attempt to avoid the complexities of gender identification, which others know much more about than I do, nonetheless I do believe that as a general rule
the dangers and limitations of straightforwardness and sincerity
<<<<<<<<<< the dangers and limitations of a lack of straightforwardness and sincerity.
The former opens us up to emotional pain. The latter saps our soul.
And since that has little or nothing to do with music I'll make amends by noting that the 50th anniversary presentation of To Kill A Mockingbird was on TV last night. In doing research about that I discovered that Brock Peters, the actor who played the accused Tom Robinson, sang with Harry Belafonte and Randy Weston. And even better, provided the voice of Jack Johnson on the Miles Davis album "A Tribute to Jack Johnson".
That connection is worth knowing.
Please return to your previous topic.
the dangers and limitations of straightforwardness and sincerity
<<<<<<<<<< the dangers and limitations of a lack of straightforwardness and sincerity.The former opens us up to emotional pain. The latter saps our soul.
And since that has little or nothing to do with music I'll make amends by noting that the 50th anniversary presentation of To Kill A Mockingbird was on TV last night. In doing research about that I discovered that Brock Peters, the actor who played the accused Tom Robinson, sang with Harry Belafonte and Randy Weston. And even better, provided the voice of Jack Johnson on the Miles Davis album "A Tribute to Jack Johnson".
That connection is worth knowing.
Please return to your previous topic.
Apr 8, 2012 6:26AM
A pretty funny piece by a "sci-fi guy" taking on an assignment to predict the future (the year ahead) for Wired magazine: http://goo.gl/wa8JF.
EDIT: Whoops, make that Wabash magazine (not Wired), if that makes any difference.
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EDIT: Whoops, make that Wabash magazine (not Wired), if that makes any difference.
There’s a problem creating posts right now. Please try again in five seconds.
Apr 8, 2012 6:12AM
Speaking of Chris Monsen, my archival efforts pale into insignificance compared to his marvellous 1984 project
Awesome! Chris is more of a jazz guy, but I hope he doesn't overlook the pop stuff, because 1984 was a phenomenal year for top 40 music.
Speaking of which, check out this proto-Choice Cuts list in the Additional News section of this 1984 Consumer Guide - pretty decent place to get started on the wonders of that year's pop music: tiny.cc/b63fcw
EDIT: That Turkey Shoot CG also includes albums by Irene Cara, Laid Back, Re-Flex and .38 Special that all contain at least one good-to-great single. Plus an actual good album by Hanoi Rocks.
Apr 8, 2012 3:49AM
Apr 8, 2012 1:43AM
I was going to whine about rap production again but yeah feminist sci-fi is a livelier discussion. Tiptree's short fiction is pretty great, especially "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" and "The Girl That Was Plugged In", which get at ideas about gender, among other things, more directly than authors from non-genre backgrounds usually manage.
I like Kelly Link's Magic for Beginners a lot for grounding fantasy in realism and good prose (turns out the former is more useful than the latter). I forget which I read first - Link or Carola's stories on her corner of Xgau's highly searchable website - but recall one reminded me of the other.
Finally, written by a dude, but George R. Stewart's 1949 Earth Abides is the ultimate Berkeley novel, both in geography and in attitude.
Apr 8, 2012 1:14AM
'I've always believed, the reason homosexuals are more inclined toward camp than heterosexuals is, that their life experience reveals the dangers and limitations of straightforwardness and sincerity earlier and more vividly.'
Wow, well said!'At least, Alex is back.'
Thanks, Liam!
'Hope everything is OK.'
Ditto!
Apr 8, 2012 12:27AM
Well I could go on and on about SF and Fantasy books, but I think I'd lose some a lot of people and wouldn't really help my cause. One thing I'll say is that I don't really differentiate between SF and fantasy, basically by definition SF is fantasy and it's need to draw such distinctions that makes it even harder for people to jump into the genre.
Also a shout out for Urusla K. Le Guin, I remember reading her Earthsea books when I was younger and really loved them. The other author I'll mention is Neil Gaiman, who I've finally started to get around to lately. If you have any vague interest in mythology I'd recommend American Gods, which I'm loving.
I could go on for a long time about my many issues with perceptions about these kind of books and culture in general, but I'm tired from Greek dancing and I'm not even sure if any of this makes any sense.
Apr 7, 2012 10:52PM
I started The Female Man many years ago, before I'd read much SF (still haven't read all that much), and I think I was put off by some of the ways the language worked. That still happens to me when I read SF sometimes. And sometimes I find SF writing cold, and sometimes too violent, I guess. But I like when it's about ideas, and I also like the sense I get that there is a community out there of SF people--writers, readers. Not sure I'm right about that, but I get the feeling.
Apr 7, 2012 10:35PM
Apr 7, 2012 10:33PM
Oh hi Carola. JockRothko gave me my copy of The Female Man for my 24th bday (I think?) which is partly how I know I like him. He also gave me a LeGuin book last Xmas but I haven't read much of it and I'm not sure what it's called anymore. I know it deals with gender though! That must be typical of her writing I don't always know these things. Anyway likewise thanks for the reminder to find my long lost trade paperback!!
The Female Man is such a weird read. I wonder if you fell off reading it around the time where it becomes really out there and somewhat incomprehensible. I ought to reread it to see if I can make anymore sense out of it. Have you read the short story it's based on? Same title and author I believe.
Apr 7, 2012 10:22PM
The quality 'soft science fiction' books from the New Wave of SF that have been mentioned make the point that, in addition to Jason's category of authors who have written SF but who are classified as literature (Vonnegut would be a prime example), there are a number of SF writers of literary merit who are still in SF ghetto (or at least in the SF section of the bookstore), and Dick is probably just the best known of these. Of these, I too can recommend Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness and Dick's The Man in the High Castle. I've had The Female Man sitting on the shelf by the exercise bike for years, and do intend to get it to it at some point. And I found Dhalgren pretty fascinating, but still ended up putting it aside after about 80 pages. One of these days . . . I also highly recommend Gene Wolfe.
Apr 7, 2012 10:12PM
Ok, finally got on. I just took The Female Man off the shelf and will put it on my bedside table.
I haven't read Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness in years but it stayed with me. It's about a world where gender is literally relative, so you become more or less one gender or the other according to the person you're with.
I also like Kate Wilhelm--a little hard to explain what she does, which is why I like her.
Did anybody mention Bruce Sterling? Psychologically realistic and funny SF, at least the stories that are set on earth.
And then Samuel Delany's kinda Joyceian nearly 900 page Dhalgren.
I haven't read Ursula LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness in years but it stayed with me. It's about a world where gender is literally relative, so you become more or less one gender or the other according to the person you're with.
I also like Kate Wilhelm--a little hard to explain what she does, which is why I like her.
Did anybody mention Bruce Sterling? Psychologically realistic and funny SF, at least the stories that are set on earth.
And then Samuel Delany's kinda Joyceian nearly 900 page Dhalgren.
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Starting in 1967, Robert Christgau has covered popular music for The Village Voice, Esquire, Blender, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He teaches in New York University's Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, maintains a comprehensive website at robertchristgau.com, and has published five books based on his journalism. He has written for MSN Music since 2006.
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