Catching up with 4/4

Just as I suspected, the pummeling torrent of equally emphasized beats that infiltrated R&B and hip-hop in a big way last year shows no signs of breaking. We're only a quarter of the way done with '08, and I've already collected eight tracks of 4/4 bumpin'. I considered assembling these into a mini-mix, but I think I'll wait and just do another year-end mix a la The House of R&B. In the meantime, here are some tracks keeping the trend alive:

Mariah Carey - "I'm That Chick"

Out of all of the tracks that are part of this mini-retro-movement, this is my favorite. It’s already one of my favorite Mariah tracks of all time, and I can’t believe that it wasn’t the first single from E=MC² (rumor has it that L.A. Reid was pushing for it to be the lead-off, and Mariah pushed back, wanting either “Migrate,” or what it actually turned out to be, “Touch My Body”). More than any other R&B track to jump on the 4/4 trend, this is unabashed disco and for that, it feels like a sly sort of retribution (now that she's back on top, she can boogie again like Glitter never happened). Lyrically, it’s braggadocios enough to sound like Mariah wishes she could rap it (“I’m like that oowee ya fiendin’ / To blaze up and taste me / Got flavor like ice cream /  ‘Cause I’m that chick you like,” Mariah accurately boasts).

She performed this at the party for The Hills’ premiere, and I’m not sure if it was her band or the mixing, or what, but the low-end of the track ended up being turned way down in the version that hit MTV.com. I corrected that in the video above using a loop from the intro to Ne-Yo’s “Because of You” (Stargate produced both tracks, and I’m pretty sure that the scratchily textured 4/4 used for that track has been recycled for this one, it’s just a bit faster on “Chick”). My re-pump, if you will, is much more akin to the song’s sound on the album (which I’ve heard and like and will obviously go into in much greater detail, come release week), and it really lifts the song, I think. I decided to upload not an MP3, as I originally intended, because, after all, L.A. Reid has blogs by the balls, and I don’t want to jeopardize all of this for something as dumb as that. I can’t blame him for being so protective – this shit’s a gem.

Danity Kane "Sucka for Love"

Danity Kane's second album, Welcome to the Dollhouse, breezes by too quickly to let a little thing like personality get in its way. Its heightened pulse allows it to compete in the ever-dancier realm of R&B, and makes the album a less important and impacting incarnation of Britney’s Blackout. Call it Brownout. The set’s most exhilarating offering and first single, “Damaged,” sports a 4/4 stomp that sounds less like the descendant of a sweaty dancing box in Chicago, and more like the product of a marching-band tantrum. “Sucka for Love” is more conventional, and despite its decently catchy hook, it’s more track than song. That's probably the point: the hotter the production percolates, the easier it is for the DK girls to evaporate into it.

I miss the days when you didn’t have to watch a TV show to have to distinguish between vocalists (why do all roads of nostalgia lead back to En Vogue?). Danity Kane's four or five or six or however many members are nobodies by design (what, you expected personality from something the steadfastly vapid Diddy engineered?). That’s underscored by the fact that the group’s collective name is the most individualistic thing about it.

Estelle - "American Boy"

will.i.am rarely gets the respect he deserves as a producer, but as long as he keeps on turning out addictive, genre-busting tracks like “American Boy,” that’s bound to change. Originally a mostly instrumental track from his own Songs About Girls (there it was called “Impatient" and slightly faster), “American Boy” offers the breezy beach house vibe that Janet served with “Rock With You,” but this one actually has a chance to be a hit (it’s No. 1 in the U.K., as of last week). Estelle, an otherwise unexciting Brit R&B singer (imagine!) turns in a cute and flirty performance, but it’s Kanye doing his best Fast Eddie that makes this track. Finally, he makes good on those Chi-town roots!

Kanye West - "Flashing Lights (Instrumental)"

And speaking of Kanye, how amazing is “Flashing Lights”? I sort of wrote off Graduation immediately, perhaps out of self-preservation -- my life could only benefit from never again having to hear the obsequious “The Good Life” (after all, the only sign of hit-desperation more pronounced than including T-Pain on your track is interpolating a Michael Jackson song – “The Good Life” does both). However, there are some good tracks, including the pummeling “Flashing Lights,” which in instrumental form sounds almost like a Southern-fried cosmic disco track (dig the strings!). When the beat ceases in the middle of the track, the silence becomes the loudest thing track has to offer – it’s a concept even simpler than the addictive nature of the 4/4 stomp, but just as beautiful. 

Kylie Minogue featuring Mims - All I See

And speaking of Kanye, again, how much does Mims sound like him on this re-purposed track from Kylie’s X? Even worse, he takes Kanye’s biggest flaw as an MC (the tendency to repeat the meter that goes duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-daaah…duh) and pummels it even further to the ground. Has it reached hell yet? The good news is that thanks to the rapper’s guest spot, the R&B essence of this track is fully noticeable. I listened to X once and it didn’t stick out (frankly, nothing did), but with Mims driving things home, Kylie sounds like some pretty young anonymous thing on R&B radio who has a minor hit or two in her (paging Cheri Dennis?). So maybe not being fully noticed is the point. But whatever, this track is lovely, and if nothing else it makes sense for Kyle to be implicitly pointing out the bridge between dance music and today’s R&B, as she never gave up 4/4 even when so many others (even Madonna) did. Her disco needs her, and she's finding clever ways to provide.

Trina featuring Missy Elliott - "I Got a Bottle"

This track isn’t always 4/4 (only half the time: every four bars it switches from pounding to a broken up, typically Southern stroll, which makes it, I don’t know, 4/4 ½?), but when the pounding ceases, it just makes you want it more. Trina’s delivery is like the faces of so many people that I have to look at repeatedly for work and otherwise: when someone who previously didn’t starts looking attractive to you, you wonder if you just didn’t notice before, or if you’ve become so acclimated to their face that you can now only judge that person against him or herself. You wonder if the standard of beauty has somehow become irrelevant or so lopsided that it might as well be irrelevant. So yeah, I can’t tell when Trina is rapping well or just rapping well for Trina. With Missy running this the track mostly just makes me excited for her upcoming album, which, if Timbaland’s ongoing obsession with 4/4 continues, should sound like Studio 54 painted in Glo-Stick fluid, with any luck.

O'Neal McKnight featuring Greg Nice - "Check Your Coat"

 

Originally released last year to little fanfare, “Check Your Coat” was recently revamped with a few energizing verses from Nice & Smooth’s Greg Nice, who sounds like he hasn’t aged a day. He’s the perfect compliment for the smooth McKnight, whose self-assuredness suggests that he knows he’s destined for stardom – I hope so, too. I hope this track ends up with a slow-burn popularity akin to Cassie’s “Me & You,” because I love it, bass-line to bass drum. Sure, it’s a little silly, a meta banger that’s named after one of the least essential parts of a good night out, but shit, even if O’Neal was singing about “Hit the Urinal,” or “Pick Gum Off Your Shoe,” he’d have me sold as long as the accompanying track were this electric.

Ne-Yo - "Closer"

For the first four bars, you wonder if you’re headed into a riff-heavy uptempo like Destiny Child’s “Bootylicious.” Then the 4/4 drops in and, for the next four bars, you’re in hands-in-the-air house territory. And then the verse starts and all gives way to a guitar, plucked to power-balladry. The separated elements eventually come back together, braiding and untangling on this, the most complicated track of Ne-Yo’s career thus far. Who could have predicted that the man responsible for the so-adult-it’s-tired treacle of “So Sick” just two years ago, could turn out some of the most sophisticated, marketable pop of his time. This track doesn’t top “Because of You” for me in terms of unadulterated love, but I’ve never admired Ne-Yo’s balls more. This being the lead single from his third album in two-and-a-half years, Year of the Gentleman, it’s as though Ne-Yo’s bent on evolving as rapidly as possible. Advancement is becoming his aesthetic. If he’s come so far in two years, expect him to be virtually superhuman in two more. (Thanks to my boy Reed for the heads-up on this one.)

Comments

[Alli]

Hi Rich!

Have you seen and heard THIS:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=c2pLa6H7KYg&feature=related

I dig! And I dig you.

xoxo
Alli

[MissNee]

closer is pure gold. I'm a house head through and through and that track gives me the goosebumps i get when i hear really good house.

long live 4/4

[Sarah]

Really liking "Check Your Coat". That and Mariah Carey will definitely be in my collection.

[T]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO. 'All I See' is basically the worst song on X--it sticks out like a sore, R&B thumb in a hand of electronica and dance. How can you not fall in love with 'In My Arms'? It's so fun and summer-y and the beat is just insane!

[Zan]

Poor Cheri Dennis. Her album was held back forever. I loved "Portrait of Love". It felt like a Shalamar song to me. I saw that O'Neal McKnight video on MTV Jams and I nearly fell out of my chair when Greg Nice started his verse. I got a warm and fuzzy 1992 feeling. Ya know, sometimes he rhymes slow, sometimes he rhymes quick.

[BryanB]

hey rich -

god that breakdown and bridge in "Im That Chick" is the best thing Mariah has ever done (well apart from "The Roof" a personal classic).

Have you been feeling any of the new leaked Michelle Williams? it's heavily influenced by disco and even has some 4/4 moments. you should check it out, you might like it. nice change of pace for her.

[Gwen]

I don't kno if you noticed, but "American Boy" sounds a lot like Kelis's "Til the Wheels Fall Off".

[Fendie]

Omg, makes me long to hear Zhane's old stuff.

[Reed Fischer]

Thanks for the shout, Rich!

Is that really Christopher "Flux-Capacitor" Lloyd in the "Check Your Coat" clip?!

[Bigpikchur.blogspot.com]

You would think that I've been coming 'round here long enough to not be lovin' you more every time you put up a post, but damnit, I can't help it. I love you more every. damn. time.

Closer is the one that I'm least likely able to sit still to, even if I was tied up. Not that I'm ever tied up...
Jules
House of Jules

[America's next top best friend]

So I'm a big Mariah fan from way back and I've gotta say, whenever she verges on disco or early 80s pop, it's like a total wet dream for me. Her cover of Cherelle off of Glitter is still on my regular iPod rotation.

I'm excited for the new album, but at this point, all the #1s and platinum records don't matter for me. She got a ton of flack for Glitter, and I agree with you, Rich, that she's at a spot in her career now where she can make fun music without worrying about being ridiculed. Mariah has a great sense of what is popular; she's paid her dues - we all know she can tear down the house with a ballad or gospel song, now she should just make what she knows is good, fun music.

And btw, I was looking at one of your older posts about an article by Sasha Frere-Jones on Mariah in which you extolled the cross-over sensibility of Breakdown. Well, for my money, Ms Carey has never sounded better than on the Missy Elliott-produced Babydoll, also off of Butterfly.

[loves kylie]

Yeah, "All I See" is one of the weaker songs on X. You need to love "In My Arms," "Wow," "Stars," and most of all, "Speakerphone," which is bliss.

Do appreciate the reference to one of Kylie's underrated camp classics though!

[rustyspigot]

Good lord. I'm liking Mariah, quite alot at the moment. Hmmm. That's new. And she's got those same damn backup singers from back in the unplugged days? That's cool.

I really need to see Glitter all the way through. I think I missed something.

[Honey B Fly]

I likes, I likes. I could swear that they sued someone and heavily denied that chorus you pointed out was not a part of a Mariah track and hmm, here it is. Naw, LA ain't letting nobody cut into his already diminishing paycheck. Waiting for Mimi to cut a deal with Live Nation like Madonna and Jay Z.

[Honey B Fly]

One last thing - Rich, funny that you bring up Estelle. I was searching the UK version of iTunes last week and heard some of the Soulseekers remix version of American Boy. I think you'll like it as well. Can't remember what site I heard the whole remix - might be floating around on YouTube (aka The Video Crackhouse)

[Medo]

"Touch Your Body" is Mariah's 18th #1 single by the way, heard that on the radio today. Only the Beatles have more (20).

Looking forward to her album and thanks for the stuff you've highlighted here, I like it all cept the Kylie track.

[Fendie]

Snoop Sexual Eruption!

[Trey]

"how amazing is “Flashing Lights”?"

SO amazing. This instrumental version like, makes my life.

[dave]

i'd reconsider your opinion on estelle ... girl's no r&b drop in the bucket. she rhymes & produces as well. check tracks "1980" (laid-back, feel-good) and "dance bitch" (funny hip pop track) and "just a touch" (catchy as hell). she's my new favorite thing.

[KT]

RE: Closer

at the opening, am i the only person who thought "Robert Owens?" the track goes way more anthemic than anything Owens ever made, but the imprint is undeniable.

[Adrian]

Love the mix! When do we get a Winston/Mimi collabo?

[Noel]

Also you can really get a good soul clap going with "I'm That Chick"

[thatsit]

i hate all of that!!! the only thing that i like it keeping up witht the kardashians!! whos with me? http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/kardashians/index.jsp?sid=nav-shows

[JH]

Estelle is reminding me very much of Pizzicato 5 at the moment, and I'm not sure if that's because of "American Boy" or just her hairstyle. Either way, she's lovable.

Glad you mentioned Kylie's "All I See" -- was totally not into on first listen, but eventually gave it a chance and discovered it's inherent prettiness. I wish it would be a hit for her, but, oh well.

[jtalia]

i love the colin munroe version of flashin lights

are you goin to the bigga 4/4 event? i mean theyr ganking your number