Posts By Chul Gugich
LL Cool J – Authentic
LL Cool J – Authentic S-BRO Music Group; 2013 Contrary to your knee-jerk reaction to the name LL Cool J, “irrelevant” is actually the wrong word to most accurately describe the recent career arc of the man born James Todd…
Tyler, The Creator – Wolf
Tyler, The Creator - Wolf Odd Future/Sony: 2013 Tyler, The Creator has made a career for himself in entertainment based on a psychological game of chicken he plays endlessly with his viewing public. Our fascination with the kid and his Odd…
The Trouble With Macklemore
[Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on 206up.com and Chul asked us to share it here, too, so we did!] The white rapper with the crazy red fringe game and un-Googleable hairstyle danced acrossSaturday Night Live’s venerable stage two weekends ago like…
Jamie Lidell – Jamie Lidell
Jamie Lidell - Jamie Lidell Warp: 2013 In winter of 2011, New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz challenged his Facebook followers (presumably many of whom were artists) to recreate any Gerhard Richter painting for which Saltz would then pay a…
Alexander Spit – A Breathtaking Trip to That Otherside
Alexander Spit - A Breathtaking Trip to That Otherside Decon: 2013 Alexander Spit is a Los Angeles-based producer/MC whose debut full-length, A Breathtaking Trip To That Otherside, is a spiritual cousin to other like-minded SoCal psychedelia rap outfits like Gangrene. In…
The Weeknd – Trilogy
The Weeknd - Trilogy Universal Republic: 2012 In the beginning, before The Weeknd’s big reveal, I thought the slight, beatific voice responsible for the bleak, morally dubious R&B of the group’s celebrated House Of Balloons might actually belong to one Tevin…
Growing Pains: Jay-Z’s In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 Turns 15
My entry into Jay-Z‘s world arrived courtesy of the music video for “(Always Be My) Sunshine”, a decidedly upbeat pop-rap track featuring the polished, processed vocals of Babyface and the back-and-forth, cat-chases-mouse banter of a cocky Jay and elegantly ‘hood…
Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d. city
Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d. city Interscope Records/Aftermath Entertainment: 2012 First things first: good kid, m.A.A.d. city, Kendrick Lamar’s debut album on Aftermath/Interscope records, is unequivocally awesome. But you already knew that. Since the MC’s unconventionally great Section.80 (2011), Kendrick has become the…
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – The Heist
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - The Heist Self-released: 2012 Macklemore is poised to become the most famous rapper to ever emerge from Seattle, Washington. 2012 XXL Freshmen of the Year cover notwithstanding, the dude born Ben Haggerty is already a gigantic celebrity inside…
Bambu – One Rifle Per Family
Bambu - One Rifle Per Family Beatrock Music: 2012 The inherent danger in rapping from the top of a soapbox is that the person doing it will invariably, in some manner or other, fall from it. Just ask Lupe Fiasco. Food and…
