There's kicking ass and then there's this. I'll put it this way, if you wanted to write the book on Tom Morello's career, you should probably hold up for a few minutes as he continues his branching out into every conceivable genre of music. Recently, he's been putting in work with Hip Hop/Rock super group Prophets of Rage and now he's moved onto making music with Knife Party out of all groups. In hindsight, the collaboration isn't a huge surprise given how deep into rock music the Knife Party guys were with Pendulum, but hearing a sick drop after a Tom Morello lead guitar build up is next level.
When you're listening to Battle Sirens, it'll sound like it's 100% alt rock at first. Then, around the minute and a half mark, you'll get that Knife Party kick in the pants drop. It's rawkus, it's tumbling, it's heavy, it's what we all like most about what the duo brings to the table. I can't over-sell the amount of novelty I felt when listening to the track. Whoever made this track possible, thank you very much, we're all benefitting greatly from it's existence...#BattleSirens
Holy crap here come the Prophets of Rage!!! Before I let my excitement get too out of control, here's a quick refresher. The Prophets of Rage are a supergroup composed of Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill and Public Enemy. The group holds the instrumental fire of RATM with guitar wizard Tom Morello and the lyrical spitfire dynamism of Chuck D of Public Enemy and B-Real of Cypress Hill. Basically it's like gasoline mixed with lighter fluid combined with jet fuel. There's no shortage of energy on this dream team of OGs.
So without further ado, here's their lead single, appropriately titled the Prophets of Rage. If you're a Rage Against the Machine fan, you're going to love the shotgun start and guitar chord explosion off the top. The lead in grabs your attention and then Chuck D hits you in the face with a hot 16. Then comes the non-stop pounding and controlled chaos of the hook. After alternating verses from B-Real and Chuck D, they close the track with a crowd surf worthy, face-melting breakdown. For someone who grew up listening to all these guys, this was almost too much awesome to handle all at once. If you like the track even half as much as I do, you're going to love it...#ProphetsOfRage
On first look at Cypress Hill's new track list for their Rise Up album, the list of cameos is pretty impressive. What struck me is they aren't your run of the mill Hip Hop cameos, your T-pains or Lil Waynes or even Snoop...they went out and got...wait who? Former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Mike Shinoda or you may know his as Fort Minor, and The Alchemist. If you don't know at least two out of the three artists just listed shame on you (I'll give you Alchemist, he's a great producer, but doesn't have the mainstream name power).
Personally, after hearing Armada Latina, I was already intrigued enough to give their whole album a spin. You may assume I give damn near every Hip Hop or R&B album a spin the way I talk about music daily, but truth be told I don't have the time or energy in a day to do a lot of cool stuff I wish I could...#storyoflife. On first glance of their tracklist I headed straight for the two Tom Morello tracks since it's rare nowadays to hear the type of high test guitar riffs that resonate from his crafty, well-known sound (you know I had to post a link to his well known guitar solos). Hands down, no better guitarist of my generation growing up in the 80s and 90s. Was a little apprehensive to hear how his riffs would mix with some classic Latino Rap, but I quickly found it to be an interesting shot...which probably had a little Redbull in it because of how energized you end up feeling after hearing it. Case in point, check out the new video for Cypress Hill's new single Rise Up featuring Tom Morello.
Man that high powered guitar driven hook takes me back to the real Rage days with Zack de la Rocha. Pretty hard not at least get a little hype for that one. But if we were to talk about my favorite track on the album, it would undoubtedly be their track with Linkin Park rapper aka ridiculously talented and slept on Mike Shinoda. I maintain, his solo album as Fort Minor titled The Rising Tied was one of the true classic albums of the past 10 years that did not get the credit it deserved for being a disk that was trump tight from to back.
As you can tell I was not disappointed in the least when I skipped to this track initially. From the slow, deliberate mariachi style guitar that Cypress has been known for in the past, to the progression of the beat that hits its stride midway through the first verse 8 bars deep into B-Real's tumultuous tour through his trials and tribulations. Even your favorite OG Sen Dog, brings the pain with his verse on the track. The real UV rays from this track though come from the end of the verses with the haunting harmony leading into the extremely well crafted hook by Mike Shinoda where the beat is absolutely KNOCKING, but the melodic, measured pace and slightly inspirational lyrics fit like a square peg into a square hole. There's always so much ebb and flow in between the deep bass/hard percussion and emotionally charged lyrics on Mike Shinoda tracks. In my eyes, he produces so infrequently, it's easy to appreciate his craft and regard his as a genius when it comes to producing music this enjoyable on a consistent basis.
Maybe it caters to my tastes more than yours, but in my eyes this one's a diamond in the rough...even if you don't feel the same way, it's worth a listen...
Always a tenuous situation when you take a sample from a legendary group like Crosby Stills Nash & Young and flip it, hoping it will land on the favorable side of the coin that Hip Hop fans enjoy. When you're Cypress Hill who hasn't had a notable song since Rock Superstar in 2000 off their Skull and Bones album, which coincidentally was their last album to go platinum.
Man a decade goes by fast, but that's how long it's been for B-Real and Co between notable singles. If you didn't just pick up on that, I just called this a notable single and you'll agree because the magician Jim Jonsin paved a little yellow brick road to a hit with his use of the CSNY sample. He and JR Rotem are on some other shit creativity wise with their sampling of older tracks. They find a way to pick the timeless samples that everyone (including yo mamma!) knows and puree it seamlessly into a healthy, modern day radio smoothie.
GWDJ Verdict:Sort of gave the verdict away in the last paragraph, but unlike Chamillionaire's sampling of Tom Petty , Cypress Hill and their latino army of talent shined all over Jim Jonsin's recycled version of a folk classic from 1969. Yea that's right even yo granddaddy might be nodding his head to this one seein' that he was probably feelin' the Crosby track back in the day. I'm not gonna go as far to say Cypress Hill is back based on just this track, but like many groups who leave the limelight and try and reinvent themselves, you gotta give them credit for trying something different. Hardcore fans of Cypress will say they sold out and went Pop with this one, but I'd ask the same hardcore fans what they would do if their last two albums flopped? Amen to evolving a bit, I'm sure there will be plenty signature old school sounding Cypress Hill tracks on their new album Rise Up due out on April 20th.
Final side note, check out the production credits on Rise Up...got another Jim Jonsin track, one with Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, Mike Shinoda (aka rapper from Linkin Park or Fort Minor as you may know him), DJ Khalil, Pete Rock...wow...just got a whole lot more excited for the album to drop based on that info...
Crosby Stills Nash and Young - Suite Judy Blue Eyes Classic!!!
