Updates are going to be few and far between for awhile.

How long is awhile?  About a year.

I'm bummed to have to write this, but I'm starting a Master's program in a few weeks.  Between attending classes and studying, I will not have as much time to keep an ear out for tracks to skewer and even less time to write about the songs.

Now, if I hear anything exceptionally bad I will be sure to share it here.  I do intend to keep my hobby of ripping bad songs going.  It's just going to be less consistent than it has been in the past few weeks.

If you hear a song and want to write about it, shoot me an email  todaysbadsong@gmail.com and I'll be happy to post your write up and credit you.

Good Tunes Thursday MC Lars - Indie Rocket Science

Anyone who has read my blog for awhile might think I hate rap music.  That's not true.  I just hate most of the crap that is on the radio these days.  I like rap that does something different.  And this mixtape is a perfect example.

"You can tell it's a mixtape because of the ridiculous echo effect on my voice!"

Starting off your mixtape with making fun of mixtapes.  With some artists that would just be a flop of a joke, but Lars is aware of both of hip-hop culture and his unique place in it.  While post-punk laptop rap isn't a genre that garners world-wide fame like, say Lil' Wayne's ridiculous rhyming, Lars is content to stay in his lane and experience niche success.

Guest appearances range from nerdcore genre alums MC Frontalot and mc chris to KRS-One, one of the godfathers of hip-hop music.

Content wise, it's all over the map.  A celebration of hip-hop? Check.  An ode to t-shirt sales (over Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow)? Check.  A alien abduction song, and then an Edgar Allen Poe referencing track? Check and check.

MC Lars isn't like anyone you listen to.  He's talented, lyrical, and hilarious.  I'm not good at reviewing albums, but I want to give my strongest recommendation for the Indie Rocket Science Mixtape.  I've been listening to MC Lars since the Laptop EP, when we played iGeneration on WVVS 90.9 FM in Valdosta.  It's awesome to have an artist who has been consistently putting out awesome material.

This mixtape is a perfect way to get into Lars, as it's being given away as a free download here. 

If you like it, be sure to pick up any of his albums.  His current release is Lars Attacks! Having just finished my initial listen, I will definitely be giving it a recommendation in a future post.

Shawty Lo - Pocahontas (ft. Wale and Twista)

"She poke that thang out like Pocahontas"

I HAVE A NEW FAVORITE STUPID SONG!

Just listen to this track.  The titular "Pocahontas" is a girl who looks half Indian, and by dancing, she can make it rain!  Get it?! Because Native Americans could perform ceremonial rain dances.  Except in this case she's talking about making it rain money. 

Isn't tasteless racism amazing?! 

Next!

"F*** high school, mother f***er I'm high"

What a wonderful role model.  Yes, in an country where we have large numbers of young men dropping out of high school and ending up stuck in dead end jobs or the prison system, let's espouse the ideal that education is stupid, and instead encourage taking drugs! 

Shawty Lo, if you know how to read, why don't you open a book, newspaper, or maybe even pull up a website like The Grio, and read about the devastating effects that a lack of education is having upon the youth in America (especially minority youth).

The rest of his verse is just borrowed lines about rubber bands, doing it with no hands... boring.


Twista pops in talking about Puerto Ricans having the best hair. 
/Rant mode/
I just... do we really need to hash out "better" grades of hair in a song?  Can you not just appreciate without touting it as the best?  Women are sensitive about hair, black women especially so.  There have been reams written about relaxers versus natural hair, attempting to conform to a Eurocentric standard of beauty, and this really isn't the place for such a discussion, but I honestly wish that comments like this, or talk of preferring "light skinned" "yellow bone" or "red bone" women.  Beautiful women come in all shades.  Let's just agree on that.
/Rant over/

Twista's verse is kind of lame.  He doesn't really do much of his trademark fast and clever rapping.  Instead he just spouts the same crap everyone else spouts during their stripper anthems, but at a higher tempo.  We know you can do better Twista.

I'll give props to Wale's flow on this song.  It has a weak beat, but he turns in a good sounding performance.  Light on the content given the subject matter, but at least his delivery is on point.


So yeah, pretty weak blip bloop beat, trite subject matter... all the elements it needs to be a mass market hit! 

Here's hoping one will make a quick fade off the airwaves.

Pitbull - Something for the DJ's

This song sounds like that crappy DJ who spins at midnight to 3am, and you hear their set through a bit of static because you're driving and the signal isn't that great.  It manages to keep you awake and lull you to sleep at the same time.

Can we work together to make this midget go away?

One Republic - Good Life (ft. B.o.B.)

I think great music is about passion.  This song, unsurprisingly, totally lacks that.

With a vocal style that can only be described as "meh," this song just inspires sleepiness.  It's annoyingly mellow.

Annoying is the best word to describe this song.  There's just a number of factors I can't quite describe that come together and lead me to register strong dislike.

A Double Shot of Miguel - Sure Thing & Quickie

So, back a few posts I kind of said this song was growing on me. 

My, my, times have changed.

THIS DUDE CAN'T SING!

The more I hear it, the more I rip apart his poor performance here.  He's clearly got some robo-voice technology going on, and it doesn't help.  The beat is still kind of smooth and alright, but he sounds like an American Idol audition taped at home covering 90's R&B. 

I want to hear someone with a better voice sing this.  I want to hear an ironic hipster acoustic guitar cover.  ANYTHING but Miguel singing.  Why was this chosen as a single?!  It would be a stupid move by his label if people were smart and paid attention, but people are dumb, so you can have two contradictory songs on the radio.

The other Miguel single right now is Quickie.

So on one hand, you have a corny 90's sounding R&B style track about two people completing one another.  On the other hand you have a song with a reggae tinge that's all about quickies... And people are buying these singles?  Calling themselves fans?  The dude is presenting two radically different ideas of how he'd treat a potential partner.  One is a girl he'll stay with, who completes him.  The other is just a chick to sleep with, with no time for love.   Huh?!

Wake up people.  Demand a little quality and consistency from musicians.  Don't let them slide with this crap!

C.R.E.A.M.

This isn't a post about the classic Wu-Tang song, but this post does have to do with money.

Now, I'm not asking anyone for money for the blog.  This thing costs me nothing to produce or post.

However I will ask for you to donate to a charity.  If you have kids, godkids, neices or nephews who have ever been really sick, you've probably heard of Children's Miracle Network.  They do great things for sick kids.

To assist in their fundraising efforts, the fine folks at Sarcastic Gamer set up Extra Life,  24 hour gameathon, to raise money for CMN.  You pledge a little money (the usual minimum is $24, a dollar an hour of play time) and help me reach my goal.

I'm playing to raise money for Children's here in Atlanta.

Last year I did a live stream of the madness and had a party at my house to help me stay awake.  Donators will get the live stream link, and will be able to make me play any game for an hour (no matter how bad).  Make a donation and you can torture me!

I hope you'll consider helping me help CMN.  Click here to make a donation.

The event is in October, and I will be periodically making these posts.  The sooner I get to my goal, the quicker they end.

Lil' Wayne - How to Love

Awhile ago I wrote a post about sincerity in hip-hop. Some artists are believable when they do messages outside of their normal song style.

Lil' Wayne is NOT one of those people.

This a guy who ran around on a stage sininging about f'ing every girl in the world while his daughters were on stage with him.  This is a man who knows nothing about love.  With multiple kids from multiple women, he doesn't seem capable of holding down a relationship outside of sex partner.
The women who he's singing to in this song have been burned by players like him.  Suckers who fall for dudes with "swag" and charisma.
I guess if you add an acoustic guitar on top of a minimalist beat you can pass it off as a love song these days.