Itunes Top 50 11/18/06 25-21

25. Jibbs- Chain Hang Low

PAS: Much like DJ Unk, this is a song that you figure will be really great when the remix drops. Jibbs is a better rapper then Unk or Young Joc. Almost to the point that I am kind of looking forward to Jibbs dropping verses on other peoples good beats.

TKG: So earlier I was writing about 2006 being the year of Snap and Hyphy. Escapism not being attached to romanticized stories of gangsterism or claims to richness but instead based on just the adult decision to act "dumb". One could try to make a sociological point about how St. Louis and Harlem's response to this development has been infantilism and using camp song/double dutch songs. These are places where adults can't escape through being silly...are unwilling to escape through being stupid. Sillyness is only the provence of youth. I guess you could make that claim. I really don't have anywhere near the skills to argue that point but it amuses me to put it out there. I really like The Puppies "Hokey Pokey" and "B.I.N.G.O."...both really are 90's Bass classics. I'd go as far as to claim that both Puppies full length albums are pretty much as good as 90s Bass albums go. I mean they didn't have the lyrical sophistication of the Splakk Pack but they didn't have the filler tracks either. For song built around children chanting I don't think Chain Hang Low will hold up as well as the Puppies...but I blame the St. Louis production.

24. Justin Timberlake- SexyBack

PAS: This is actually probably my least favorite of the tunes on this really good album (I think All Over Again may be a crappier song, but I really grew up on Jodeci, so fake Jodeci appeals to me.) I can see why it was a single, as it is really danceable, and I can't exactly describe what I don't like about it, but it just kind of bugs me. The entire premise of bringing "sexy" back is pretty preposterous. Like our puritanical society needs Justin to return us to the bygone days of sexy.

TKG: I like SexyBack. Like it a lot. About a year or so ago, Huey Freeman called Timberlake, Omarion, Usher and some other folks to remind them that Michael Jackson was a singer and not an actual genre. Unlike the other victims of Huey's calls, Timberlake hasn't taken Jackson as a genre. Instead his genre seems to be 1982-1983 pop R&B. While Justifide really was built on him studying Michael Jackson, his second album is about really studying Prince. I'm hoping that his next one will be built on studying Chaka Khan and not Hall and Oates. As going from Off the Wall to 1999 to H2O would be sad.

23. Bow Wow Featuring Chris Brown and Johnta Austin- Shortie Like Mine

TKG: Ok you listen to this and you're left even more impressed with Brad Paisley's craftsmanship. The conceit of this kind of a " I love my girlfriend" tune is that it's about a "specific" girl. Its not a tune about loving all bitches. It's about being an actual romantic who cares about a specific real individual woman. Female listener hears this, buys the authenticity of the woman and goes " I wish I could be his girlfriend". There is nothing here that makes me believe that this song is being addressed to an actual woman. Nothing in the Chris Brown sung parts that make it sound like a "specific " girl. And the Bow Wow parts are even more generalized. Rap is all about details. It's not enough to say "nice car", rappers will tell you about the details of the stitching on the seat covers. Details make you believe in the expertise of the narrator. Bow Wow provides no details. "Cute Face, nice size"...real general. What does that mean? I mean I know what the Leaders of the New School think is a nice size because Busta explains that "there are lots of type of fat" and exactly which one appeals to him. I know Project Pat likes legs like rhinos and labia that look like a a moose's mouth. What's nice size for Bow Wow? He used to be Lil' Bow Wow, can he handle a moose's mouth?...Would that be the wrong size for him? Bow Wow gives me no details and I'm left thinking he's an unreliable narrator. I don't think he really has a girlfriend. This song fails.

PAS: Is it possible that Bow Wow has been as famous as long as he has without ever actually getting any tang? This song is describing his "Canadian" girlfriend. I almost feel like asking him if the pussy goes vertical or horizontal.

22. Jim Jones- We Fly High

PAS: I DJ Karaoke and I had a couple of Filipino guys yelling "Baalllinnn" over some GW Sorority girls attempt at "Only the Good Die Young." I felt like yelling back "I don't accept you guys rapping. Here I'll let you DJ, you can scratch up this tune, either that or do a pop lock." I am glad Jim Jones isn't more popular among the whites, as Dave Chappelle really ruined about six months of work.

TKG: I try to exclusively date women with some access to meds. Week after Camron got shot at H2O, I was out drinking with a bunch of hardened Howard nurses who were bitching about how much he screamed: "there was six year old with a bullet in her belly...guts hanging out. She didn't scream. but Camron gets a surface wound and it's a hot mess.". Supposedly he spent most of the night in the hospital yelling at his entourage for leaving him out to dry. I tried to figure out who that entourage consisted of. "Who was he shouting for? Was he yelling at Freaky Zeeke?" ""Sheist Bub?", "JR Writer?" "Who?" BAAL-LIN!

21. Michael Andrews- Mad World

PAS: A smarter man then me could write an entire "Tipping Point", "Long Tail" pop sociology book about a Tears for Fears cover from a five year old indy film soundtrack, ending up as a top 25 Itunes song due to an appearance in a video game commercial. Feels like that must personify something about 21 century culture that could be catch phrased into something that you could give corporate marketing speeches about. All I need is a catch phrase.

TKG: I guess the word would be "auxiliary". As really this exposes some of the silliness of the whole project. We no longer have a Top 40 pop music culture. The music that makes up the collective unconscious is music distributed as auxiliary item... Putumayo soundtracks for hemp bracelet stores, Starbucks exclusive tracks, Evanascence tunes for montages at the end of teen dramas, video game commercials, etc. Music labels are no longer built around making music. Music making is auxiliary product for labels that sell other things. Not sure wether music industry represents the future of all art distribution..Who knows. My big question is does this Andrews guy do any Human League covers? Cause "Being Boiled" would be really great on solo piano.