Monday, February 04, 2008

Everything's Great, Including the Obvious Crap

Extremely irksome New York Times pop critic Kelefa Sanneh weighs in on the CD/marketing tie-in to the forthcoming Step Up 2: The Streets.

The song is called “Low,” and it’s a smash: the No. 1 song in the country for six weeks running. But listen closely, and you might notice that it has a split personality. In the verses the rising rapper Flo Rida delivers an agile ode to an agile woman who dances for a living: “So sexual/She was flexible/Professional.” But in the chorus, T-Pain seems to be singing the praises of an amateur. The woman of his dreams is wearing “baggy sweat pants and the Reeboks with the straps,” an ensemble that hardly seems calculated to maximize gratuities...



Thanks, Kelefa. Clearly, SU2 will be the Citizen Kane of movie sequels about street dancing at the Maryland School of the Arts.

BTW: You can read the rest of the review here, but trust me -- it doesn't get any more convincing.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heh-heh. I wonder if he's a "glass half full" or "glass practically full" kind of guy.

In the meantime, I'm listening to the complete Pet Sounds Sessions, which really is splendid beyond all measure. Almost as amazing as the music is how coherent Brian sounds in the studio talkbacks. I'm sure you have it, Steve. But let me know if you don't; I'll burn you a copy.

steve simels said...

Never heard them, but I'll bet they're amazing.

If you want to burn me one, let me know -- I'll come up with something cool for you....

TMink said...

I read the full article. I cannot call it a review. It was just pseudo-insider name dropping.

Notice how he avoids discussing the MUSIC and the SONG!

But, that is what the NYT has become. Shame really. Now it is the birdcage liner of record.

Trey

steve simels said...

Trey:

I know. And I've said it before, but it's really amazing how different their music writing is -- i.e., turgid and uncritical -- than their film stuff, which by and large is very sharp and very unpretentious.

Noam Sane said...

Geez, cut him a break. He played bouzouki for Hypertrophy Shit Straw!

Seriously, this kind of thing isn't limited to the Times. Madonna has been taken seriously for years by all sorts of otherwise reasonable people.

And where is the "Electric Boogaloo" in that movie title? Somebody dropped the ball.

danny1959 said...

Notice how talking about it in high-flown language just makes crap sound more crappy?