| Love songs are one of the great essences of life, the only thing that's lasting. |
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| Rooftop concert: Eminem, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige and Snoop Dogg at the Super Bowl, Inglewood, Calif., Feb. 13, 2022. |
| (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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“Love songs are one of the great essences of life, the only thing that's lasting.”
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- George Benson
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| rantnrave:// |
The Hip-Hop Episode
Except for upside-down 50 CENT, who looked like he was being held hostage, that was probably the least awkwardly choreographed halftime show in SUPER BOWL history, moving from stage to stage, roof level to floor level, upstairs, downstairs, virtual batons being passed among six featured performers like it was no big deal, like it was just another CORONA commercial with SNOOP DOGG ambling on the sand and not the short-track speed skating chaos it easily could have turned into. Hip-hop is a storyteller's art and this was a storyteller's performance. Here was KENDRICK LAMAR tagging "ALRIGHT" with a rhyme about forgetting about Dre and here was EMINEM, one story above him, smoothly grabbing the baton with a verse of "FORGOT ABOUT DRE." Here was DR. DRE gently tagging out Eminem's pianist and sitting down at the piano himself to play a snippet of TUPAC's "I AIN'T MAD AT CHA" and point the way toward his "STILL D.R.E." finale. No one seemed rushed or agitated. It was easy like that from start to finish, and it *made sense* like that. Super Bowl halftimes do not always make sense, even the good ones. Sometimes you can't tell the difference between people hitting their cues and not hitting their cues. Sometimes you have no idea why TRAVIS SCOTT is showing up in the middle of a MAROON 5 show. Sometimes you don't know which camera the WEEKND is supposed to be looking at.
Sometimes not *every single song* is an all-time pop moment. Despite the NFL's three-decade-long resistance to booking a hip-hop show and despite a few online weirdos who wanted us to believe this lineup would be the NFL's, if not the world's, undoing, this may have been the single poppiest halftime show the NFL has ever produced. "CALIFORNIA LOVE." "IN DA CLUB." "FAMILY AFFAIR." "LOSE YOURSELF." Wall-to-wall classic pop. MARY J. BLIGE losing herself in the music the moment. It's quite possible middle-age middle America was singing along to what QUESTLOVE called "the most beautiful blackest s*** ever," which was performed on a set designed to look like a block in Compton—which is about 10 miles southeast of SOFI STADIUM—with recognizable neighborhood landmarks. How could they not? Everybody was on, even 50 once he was freed and allowed to stand upright. "We’re going to open more doors for hip-hop artists in the future," Dr. Dre had said at a press conference Thursday. The NFL would be insane not to put AARON DONALD in front of those doors to hold them wide open.
Forgot About Kaep?
The booking of hip-hop halftime was the product of a three-year-old partnership between the NFL and JAY-Z/ROC NATION, which was itself a reaction to the criticism the NFL got for canceling quarterback COLIN KAEPERNICK for kneeling before games to protest racial injustice. A few hours before Sunday's game, ERIQ GARDNER of the media startup Puck reported the league had vetoed the idea of Eminem kneeling in sympathy during the halftime show as well as requesting (but not, apparently, demanding) that Dr. Dre cut the line "still not loving police" from "STILL D.R.E." Neither artist listened. Em knelt. Dre shared the non-love. And then the league, which hadn't commented on the Puck piece, said it had made no such ask and that artists (and even players and coaches) were free to kneel if they wanted to. It's hard at this point to know how to believe. It's also hard not to notice that everybody wins—the artists by appearing to be in defiance of the league and the league by being able to protest that it does in fact support free speech. The NFL/JAY-Z partnership has been controversial from the start and any given gesture or non-gesture can cause more controversy at this point. They were good gestures either way. Good on Eminem for taking a seat and good on Dre for standing by his words.
In related news, good on MICKEY GUYTON for a gorgeous a cappella take on "THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER."
And one final Super Bowl note: The LOS ANGELES RAMS, who went on to win the game, took the field to the sound of NIPSEY HUSSLE's "LAST TIME THAT I CHECC'D."
Read of the Day
ADLAN JACKSON on segregation in music journalism. And yes, I'm aware this item immediately follows me, a white man, having written 700 words about hip-hop halftime. That's why I'm highlighting it.
It's Valentine's Day
And BILLBOARD's got you: All-time best love songs (or, at least, all-time best love songs that hit #1 or #2 on the charts, so you won't find this one, for example). All-time best hip-hop love songs. All-time best anti-love songs. And the outsize importance of this particular day for labels' bottom lines.
Helpful addendum: "14 Awesome Metal Love Songs That Aren't Ballads."
Rest in Peace
HOWARD GRIMES, who as the drummer for Memphis' Hi Rhythm Section was central to the sound of classic records by Al Green, Ann Peebles and other staples of Memphis soul... Milwaukee rapper 414 LIL MOE, at least the fifth rapper murdered in the US in 2022.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Study Hall |
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| How Long Can Music Journalism Stay Segregated? |
| By Adlan Jackson |
| As the music journalism industry itself shrinks with the media industry at large, gestures at post-racial universality have in many ways entrenched white power in the music press. |
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Billboard |
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| The Top 50 Love Songs of All Time |
| By Fred Bronson |
| Songs have been written about every topic imaginable, but the best ones have been penned about the ups and downs of being in love. |
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Agence France-Presse |
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| What's next for TikTok's music industry revolution? |
| By Eric Randolph |
| With a billion users, TikTok has rapidly become one of the most important players in the music industry, and now has its sights set on revolutionising the way artists are discovered and get paid. |
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Notion |
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| L'Rain: 'I'm Just Adding Layers' |
| By Josephine Amstad |
| L’Rain grapples with change through her kaleidoscopic approach to sound. She chats on her album "Fatigue," creating something new and what's next. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music | Media |
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| “REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
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