Culture Greyhound

Music, Movies, Television, etc. Pop culture reviews for the short-attention-span Internet age.

The Lonely Island – Turtleneck and Chain

SNL’s Digital Shorts peeps are back with a sharper, funnier, and musically more enjoying album than Incredibad, if that was even possible.  While there were many highlights and instant classics on the trio’s fake-rap debut, there was a strange amount of filler.  But Turtleneck and Chain sums things up in less than forty minutes with all gold, save for a weak Santigold track near the end.  Duets from Akon, Snoop Dogg, and the one and only Michael Bolton (best song on the album for sure) keep things fresh and funny.  Bonus points for the album cover.

Rating: 8

Wiz Khalifa – Rolling Papers

Take a gander at that artwork and the title of the album and I don’t have to tell you what Wiz Khalifa likes to rap about, or for that matter, how he raps.  Wiz scored big with “Black and Yellow,” and the easy-going flow he mastered there is evident here.   The boy loves to smoke, and the general attitude here reflects that.  Stoner rap has had its ups and downs, but Khalifa is all about mood, rather than content.  The beats and hooks are big, the flow is chill, the lyrics, ….well….. Still, there’s a lot to take in here, most of it great, if you don’t count the Sublime-lite filler that is “Fly Solo.”

Rating: 7

Tyler the Creator – Goblin

What a mess.  In his defense, that’s probably exactly what Tyler the Creator wanted his second, breakthrough album to sound like, and he succeeds.  Many rappers have employed the use of shock to stir the pot – Eminem immediately comes to mind – but once the raping and homophobic slurs leave you desensitized, what’s left here?  A jumbled confusion of poorly conceived concepts, lazy beats, and phoned-in, overly-repeated, blatantly offensive-for-the-hell-of-it phrases.  Goblin runs about a half-hour too long, and while I get what he’s going for, the whole thing becomes tiresome, uninteresting, and frankly juvenile.  Save for a few tracks (which show this kid has serious lyrical potential), this album is borderline unlistenable.

Rating: 3