October 27th, 2007 by Gerard McGarry. Tags: 2004, Hip-Hop, Ice-T, Jay-Z, Rap
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It was well over a decade ago that I first heard 99 Problems by Ice-T. It was in my A Level Art class at school, and one of the guys let me have a listen.It was from Ice’s Home Invasion album, and he was suddenly popular with the metal crew in school because of his Body Count album. That’s what led a lot of us to rap music.
Anyway, fast forward a few years, and 99 Problems hits my stereo again, courtesy of Mr Jay-Z (the similarities in their rap names aren’t lost on me!). Where Ice-T had a real old-school vibe, Jay-Z’s version employs big drums and crunchy, distorted guitar goodness.
Jay-Z’s is also much safer than Ice-T’s. For my money, Ice’s version takes the gold medal for lewdness and sheer brilliance. Whose version do you prefer?
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June 19th, 2007 by Gerard McGarry. Tags: 2004, Pharell Williams, Snoop Dogg
It’s hard to believe Snoop’s been on the scene for so long. Somehow he manages to stay ahead of trends and he makes it look effortless.
He doesn’t seem to release too much of his own music these days, preferring to do little cameos here and there. But when I decided to review Drop It Like It’s Hot, I assumed that it was more recent than 2004. It’s had a bit of a renaissance recently on our music channels, so naturally I assumed it was a re-release.
Anyway, in the style of great hip-hop tracks, Snoop teamed up with Pharell Williams for this one. Pharell, at the time being hot property (pardon the pun). The tune is deliberately light on instrumentation, relying on a sparse beat from a drum machine and a little bit of synth. Oh, and an innovative backing of tongue clicks. I’m not joking - listen to the track.
Snoop ..er… drops it in his laid back, distinctive drawl, while Pharell is slightly surplus to requirements. The lyrics aren’t much out of the ordinary, but sometimes with hip-hop it’s more about the beats than getting Shakespearian quality couplets, isn’t it? That’s the strength of the track - simple beats, clever use of synth and no-brainer repetitive lyrics that get wedged in your head.
