Playlist Picks, A Burger Buffet, And Honoring Some Hoez
Monday 5/4/20
Happy Monday, and here’s the latest playlist with some highlights below to help kick off your spring!
Playlist Picks: Suprisin’, Ridin’, & Chidin’
One of my favorite things that happens all too rarely in music is when a female artist known for her beautiful R&B/Soul singing voice flips the switch and proves she can hang in the hip hop realm. I mean, at this point I am fully stanning Beyonce’s gradual ascent into rap songstress, and this past week I was taken by surprise by the latest release from rising singer-songwriter Amber Mark, when she dropped an empowering bounce-trap anthem called “1894.” Mark is still fairly new to the industry—I first got hooked on her jazzy voice via her 2017 debut EP, where she belted her way through Brazilian-infused soul tracks like “Lose My Cool” and “Way Back”. Since then, she’s continued to put out soulful singles, but this latest track from her is a total left turn that’s left me exhilarated. Produced by Mark herself, the track starts with a confident twerk-inducing keyboard beat, and Marks spits bars with unforeseen attitude: “I’m not your average dumb daughter / Come at me, I come back harder / If I want sex, I’ll ask for it, this ain’t 1894 / Get out my way.” “1894” is Mark’s latest release as part of her “Covered-19” series, which has seen her release a cover or new track every two weeks since lockdown with a home-made video attached. The “1894" video has Mark rapping with swag on her roof, flanked by dancers in masks and quarantine-chic sweats. It’s a totally different vibe for Mark, and I’m totally here for it.
Coming off her debut album, the 2019 Princess Diaries, up and coming rapper Azjah returns with her first single of 2020, “Ridin Thrugh The City” and it’s her best work yet. Hailed as the “Princess of Compton”, Azjah (pronounced Asia) grew up there in the Wilmington Arms Housing Projects, where she attended nearby Paramount High School and started writing song lyrics, despite not knowing that she could yet rap. After listening to “Ridin Through The City” though, you’ll quickly realize that she most certainly can, what with her unique, angelic-sounding voice and “Body Party” inspired cooing in the song’s chorus. The West Coast influences are definitely evident here in the track’s laid back instrumentation combined with Azjah’s tough-girl bar delivery. Like its title, the song exudes highway blasting vibes, and Azjah is a name you should definitely start spreading throughout the streets.
If you’re ever nostalgic for quintessential late 80’s/early 90’s pop sound, then boy is this the song for you. Hot off the tails of her 80’s glam-rock influenced single “Apeshit”, Bree Runway returns with “Damn Daniel”, which is bubbling over with bold pop synths and cheesy percussion inspired by the 90’s sitcom theme songs. During this time of quarantine, Runway explains the song’s inspiration: ”I was binge-watching back to back shows of Martin and Fresh Prince and I love the music in those shows. I thought to myself, if I were a songwriter during that time and was asked to contribute a soundtrack for one of those shows, what would that be?” Well voila, we have as result “Damn Daniel”, whose name plays off of Martin’s catchphrase on the show, “Damn Gina” (and perhaps also the 2016 Damn Daniel meme). The song is brassy, playful, and humorous while being super-retro in sound in a way that will make you grin from ear to ear. Runway teams up here with equally cheeky rapper Yung Baby Tate, who together they kick back to talk shit about boys for the “ultimate bad bitches link-up”.
New Video Alert: Dai Burger Whets Your Appetite
Can you remember the last time you physically sat down with a bunch of friends and shared a meal together? I know I can’t. Well, Queens-based rapper Dai Burger’s newly released video for her 2019 track “Bite The Burger” will have you reminiscing and pining for those long forgotten days, and by the end you’ll find that you’re visually placing yourself in your own Last Supper painting. The colorful music video finds a royally-clad Burger in the midst of an opulent and indulgent meal surrounded by her equally-lavishly dressed peers, as they sit around smoking, drinking, and reaching into a platter of hamburgers laid out before them. The stark contrast of the fast food plates surrounded by typical queen’s court visuals—grapes, wine glasses, crowns, ruff collars, puffy sleeves, etc., is just plain brilliant. I mean wouldn’t you kill to see a classic painting of Queen Victoria or Elizabeth I with ketchup and mustard stains slathered across their Ermine furs?
Burger herself acknowledges the ridiculousness of it all, explaining the video’s inspiration: “This is the epitome of 'biting the burger.'" It’s outrageous, slightly ridiculous, but so well done you can’t help but enjoy. I self-selected and created the most unique cast of party goers to attend Burger’s Outrageous Dinner Affair." On top of the rapper’s own name and the music video’s visuals, the song’s lyrics are also chock full of great food references, including: “Bite the burger comes in veggie or in beef/Bedroom bully we got beef in the sheets.”
"Bite The Burger" comes off Dai Burger's album of the same name from December 2019, which includes several other great culinary-themed tracks including “Salty” and “Vitamin P”. Her previous EP from 2017 was called Soft Serve, and was even more food-heavy, complete with tracks like “Dolla Slice”, “Shake N Bake” and “Slurpee”. And Dai Burger isn’t in a food coma just yet, as she’s already busy at work on her next EP, which will be called Dessert and is set for release later this year. So be sure to save room for dessert, but for now start feasting on some of Burger’s main courses below!
Throw It Back: The Female N.W.A That Once Was
Without a doubt, one of the biggest and most influential rap groups to ever form was and still is N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes), who rose to their peak from 1987 to 1990 and produced the household names we still have today in the likes of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E, among others. The group changed the rap scene at the time by popularizing gangsta rap and bringing explicit lyrics and content to the forefront, all the while selling tens of millions of albums despite not getting airplay. While almost everyone knows about N.W.A (they’re in the Rock Hall Of Fame and had a mega-biopic released in 2015), what most people don’t know was that in response to N.W.A’s success, a female equivalent was formed in 1989, fittingly/demeaningly called H.W.A—short for Hoez With Attitudes.
H.W.A originally was a trio consisting of Jazz, Diva and Baby Girl, who came together in 1989 for indie label Drive-By Records to record their first album, Livin' in a Hoe House, which was released in 1990. The album was not a huge success, only making it to #38 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, but like N.W.A, the group became known for its explicit lyrics—this time sexually explicit—and were soon signed to Eazy-E's own Ruthless Records. While signed, they made a cameo appearance on Eazy-E's "diss" song to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, "Real Muthaphuckkin G's", and Diva was then replaced by another female named Go-Di.
While none of its singles charted, Livin’ In a Hoe House became a cult classic thanks to its vulgarity and became the group’s most successful album, single-handedly pioneering female sexuality and promiscuity in hip hop. In 1994, with Baby Girl also replaced (by Rick James’ daughter, no less), H.W.A released their sophomore album "Az Much Ass Azz U Want", which charted at #33 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart and #71 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart. The album was a critical and commercial failure, and even though the single "All That (Just a Little Action)" didn't take off, the music video received heavy airplay (that it's set in a strip club I’m sure helped) and Eazy-E appeared in the video himself. Nevertheless, in 1994, HWA persisted and released their third and final album\EP "I Ain't No Lady", which was also another critical and commercial failure after which the group subsequently broke up. Baby Girl released a solo album in 1997 on a Chicago indie label, but as for the other members, things went quiet. Apparently, according to some tweets from 2012, original member Jazz tried to reform a new H.W.A, though I can’t seem to find any new info or content released since. So, why is that N.W.A skyrocketed to success while H.W.A flopped into obscurity? Perhaps, H.W.A arrived to the scene too soon and the world in 1990 was not yet ready for the women’s sexual revolution in rap music. Lil’ Kim herself didn’t show up with Hard Core until 1996 and even then she was controversial and took time getting used to. Nevertheless, with songs like “Little Dick” and “Eat This”, H.W.A should be remembered as hip hop pioneers who introduced the inevitable and still persistent trend of raunchy, sexually overt and oftentimes female-empowering lyrics in rap music. So go giggle and blush and listen to some more tracks below!