Rounding Up the (Maybe) Hits
Janet Jackson: "Rock With U"
from the forthcoming Discipline (Def Jam)
Snoop Dogg: "Neva Hafta Wurry"
from the forthcoming Ego Trippin' (Geffen)
YV feat. Polow Da Don: "I Gotta Dollar"
Culturally speaking, February is the dregs. Bad movies, bad books and bad music. Popular art is a dead issue as Americans spend their time drinking cocoa on couches, not spending cake on music -- digital or otherwise. Labels roll out less anticipated product and marketing dollars dwindle. This makes my job easier -- less ephemera to melt my brain -- but also puts us at a disadvantage. Without fresh music, there isn't much reason to bandy about anything. Still, something has to fill the gaps, counterprogram the drudgery, as it were. So here comes Snoop, preparing his ninth major label album, reducing himself to a crooning libido and also West Coast rap's éminence grise, letting wafting production (Ego Trippin' was reportedly overseen by Teddy Riley!) and attitude justify its existence. That may not turn out to be true, but "Neva Hafta Wurry," like its predecessor "Sexual Eruption/Sensual Seduction," is airy (or is it flimsy?) enough to ignore and celebrate with equal energies.
Janet Jackson has taken the opposite strategy for her Discipline, the first album on boyfriend Jermaine Dupri's label, Def Jam. First single, "Feedback," was a vivacious, kinetic piece of pop, but it felt labored over, like a science project. All its paper mache volcanoes are in the right place, but the personality somehow got misplaced in a test tube. The stronger, sleeker follow-up "Rock With U" is an obvious nod to her big brother, Mike. With Zapp-ed vocal tricks in place and a mid-tempo Janet has always been more comfortable with, "Rock With U" is better than "Feedback." It's still not the calmly seductive song that Janet needs to remind fans what she's done best for the last decade (I'm thinking "Again" here), but it's a step in the right direction.
The least known artists here, YV's stripper anthem "I Gotta Dollar" is the most ignorant and also, by far, the best song of the trio. Recalling the Little Rascals' Buckwheat and his nyah-nyah chant, the song includes (in a shocker) an accompanying dance and a mesmerizing trumpet-punctuated beat provided by Polow, who's been quiet of late. Buckwheat has long been a controversial figure and this song is already being called a mindless, degrading piece of music -- check some of the YouTube commenters here. But it's motion and energy is undeniable. Maybe the year's first honest-to-goodness rap hit.
Tags: Janet Jackson, Polow Da Don, Snoop Dogg, YV
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