Robert Christgau's Music Criticism Blog - Expert Witness - MSN Music

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-so​ng-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

 

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137Comments
JeffC77
Apr 6, 2012 5:22PM
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1. Just heard two full songs off the new Dr. John. Very promising.

2. Bombino is coming to Asheville next month. Stoked.

3. Life is sweet, sometimes.
Liam Smith (DJ Protagonist)
Apr 6, 2012 3:51PM
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On a slightly more bathetic note, tangentially musically related, most of you may not have noticed the passing of Jocky Wilson, a Scottish darts player.  He has a small footnote in the history of rock and roll, because when Dexys Midnight Runners sang their version of "Jackie Wilson Said" on Top of the Pops, some genius put a picture of Jocky on the wall behind them.  http://bit.ly/yzlqOa​
RIP Jocky, and Jackie.  Dexys are back in business though, new album next month. 

More on Jocky Wilson here: http://bit.ly/HkEcnf​
Liam Smith (DJ Protagonist)
Apr 6, 2012 3:38PM
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Looking forward to these, and to the Serengeti records in the last link.  I love Serengeti's laconic drawl.

I'm glad to see there's a link to the right to mark the passing of Barney McKenna, the last surviving original member of the Dubliners.  RIP.  They were a big hearted band - another of the original members, Ciarán Bourke, suffered a stroke in 1974 and they continued to pay him until his death in 1988.  Sad to think all the original members of the two big Irish ballad groups of the early 60s - the Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem - are now gone.  http://music.msn.com​/music/article.aspx?​news=716362&affid=10​0055


Cam Patterson
Apr 6, 2012 2:53PM
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I wrote something nice about Tom Hull's Recycled Goods column and The Cheese Chronicles, but got pushed down by THE MAN. Those of you who know me on FB can read it over there. Those of you who can't, read Tom's column.

Not. Milo. Miles.
Apr 6, 2012 2:17PM
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Well, No1 2 Look Up 2 and The Kenny Dennis EP helped me decide if I wanted to set the mood today as grubby frisky (BB Gandhi) or funny sportif (Serengeti). For now, going with the funny.
kevin john
Apr 6, 2012 9:48AM
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Oooh I was on Big ****ing Baby last year. And yeah the p0rny moments kept it off my top ten. Still, watching so much p0rn doesn't automatically lead to dumb thoughts on sex (bows) and it'll be a paradigm-shifting day when a rapper proves that.
richbogich
Apr 6, 2012 9:14AM
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Oh, man, these may be the most satisfying obscure rap the Dean has unearthed this year. I was sucked into the rhymes and rhythms on first listen as they flowed out of my iPod on my walk on Philly's crowded urban streets from the train station to work. Good griity rap via headphones has a way of enhancing your surroundings as you walk, and I was connecting with everybody who walked by. BFB showcases the pure simple joy of this music: matching smart rhyming poetry  against variety of smart beats, like the opener,Gandhi mandhi mandhi, using a seductively slow soulfully jazzy canvas. Or Go 2 sleep, frantically railing against his insomnia, dreaming of the rich life, sniffing coke and panties, winning grammies, getting rich and having kids and nannies(white ones just to turn the tables), or Summertime thing, where he paints the ideal jaunty summer day, mostly filled with oral sex.
Jason Gubbels
Apr 6, 2012 9:13AM
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Have yet to hear the albums, since they're currently finding their way onto my computer. But that No1 2 Look Up 2 cover is hilarious - sort of a Paid In Full for the lo-fi crowd.
jeff melnick (jmel64)
Apr 6, 2012 8:52AM
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John: I just found the second one easy at the website of prefixmag

Hope that helps...


John Smallwood (jcsmall63)
Apr 6, 2012 8:33AM
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Can't wait to check these out, and the price is right. I admit to be download challenged at times. I found links of BBG's Facebook page and was able to get the first one. Second one is proving to be a hassle. Not sure whether it's me or the website.
Robert Christgau (Xgau)
Apr 6, 2012 8:03AM
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Typo fixed. You guys give me too much credit--almost everything I put up here seems to have a typo. And BTW, I tweaked the first review for spacing reasons too.
JeffC77
Apr 6, 2012 7:52AM
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Xgau: I think this may be an error in the first review: "you'd be be missing a lot." (Unless it's a reference to a lyric?) 
Bradley: I thought that at first, too, but then I noticed the cover with the big initials on it and figured it was probably a pun.
same thing backwards - patrick
Apr 6, 2012 7:52AM
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Vote or die! Deadline is Sunday April 8, 8 PM East Coast time to send your ballot for the 2003 singles poll. Send your list of 20 favorite singles from that year to:

mysteryf
at
yahoo
dot
com

Results will be posted on Tuesday's EW thread.
Bradley Sroka
Apr 6, 2012 7:46AM
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Xgau: I think this may be an error in the first review: "you'd be be missing a lot." (Unless it's a reference to a lyric?)
JeffC77
Apr 6, 2012 7:07AM
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...and I hereby vow to spend Easter weekend getting caught up on BBG, s/s/s, and the latest Serengeti.
Cam Patterson
Apr 6, 2012 6:26AM
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I see that #Guapicana is trending on Twitter right now.
You Too Richard
Apr 6, 2012 5:44AM
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Emperor X, Withered Hand, Serengeti and now this. thanks for coming back and bringing these talents to light.
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about the blogger

Robert Christgau

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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