A lot has happened since 1999. And I’m not just talking about stapling my pants cuffs together or giant tubs of gel from WalMart. It has been, in fact, a good decade since the mighty Afroasiatic living legendness known as The Neptunes burst into the scene with their unique sounds such as “vwooo vwwooo” and “joip joip” and let us not forget “cvkrt purgjkqwzxb.” Ahhhh, the onomatopoeic memories.
Okay, the true music nerds (no pun intended) at this point will note that it has in fact been actually FIFTEEN years since the very first Neptunes beats hit the radio, but the fact that these guys have music older than Miley Cyrus is truly a testament to how long they’ve soundtracked our lives.
In light of all this, the nice people at Blind I have been gracious enough to present the internets with Decemvir: A Decade of Rare Gems and Unrelease Material, with 2-discs worth of the hottest Chad & Pharrell shit you’ve never heard! I certainly hope there’s more “yawmp yawmp” than “jvoo jvoo,” but I’ll be all right as long as it doesn’t contain any of the cuts with “opwoe opwoe” I’ll be all right. As they say…indulge!
The homie Jose Vadi’s MJ shrine at his home in Oakland.
Man, shaaaaaaaame on all the people going around telling folks that they weren’t “down” enough with Michael Jackson and his music to mourn/pay tribute. YOU CAN’T BE UPPITY ABOUT POP MUSIC. Take your ear-snobby-backpacker ass home. With music being a universal binding force, and with MJ being the biggest musician in the universe, this moment of homage is one of the few pockets in history where we as humans are engaged in a worldwide conversation…and the soundtrack for this conversation can’t get any better.
Here’s a comprehensive list of the mixes that have come my way over the course of the past few days. Friends and sure-hitters on top, since I haven’t had a chance to check every single one out, but in case you’re curious…SPOILER ALERT: they all have Michael in them.
Oh, and I highly doubt we’re done paying our tributes. You know what they say…don’t stop till you get enough, neeneeneeneeneeneeneenee…
So, when Kanye produces a track called “Death of Autotune” after dropping an album that’s completely in autotune, isn’t that kind of like joining PETA after starting a chinchilla coat company? Wait, are there such things as chinchilla coat companies?? Why the hell would you wear a chinchilla???
We definitely don’t have anything against autotune (Thr33 Rings is hellllllla fresh!) but this new track from Hova is a refreshing call for music to return to the stuff of classics, and away from trendy ringtone raps.
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Pharrell expressed similar sentiments during an interview with Billboard editor Bill Werde recently, where he also predicts an incoming influx of talent over vanity:
GREAT. Thanks for the heads up guys, right after we all invested in botox for our eyelids and autotune for all of iB4the1‘s vocals.
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