Blue Brain

Erik Schrody, better known by his stage name Everlast, is an Irish-American rapper and singer-songwriter, best known for his hit “What It’s Like“, and for his unique genre-crossing mix of hip-hop and acoustic-based rock music. Love, War and the Ghost of Whitey Ford is the fifth solo album released by Everlast. The album was released on September 23, 2008. So why am I reviewing it now?

The album went fairly un-noticed or reviewed by the mainstream media, which is unfortunate because it may be Everlast’s greatest work. With the exception of opening track “Kill The Emperor,” the album largely abandons any hip-hop influence one might expect, instead delivering dark tales and gritty personal musings all threaded together by Everlast’s baritone crooning and a gang of live instruments.

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After four years away from the music industry Eminem is back with his much anticipated 6th album Relapse. The album is aptly titled as Eminem seems to have relapsed into past habits. This album is filled with familiar references to his pill-popping mother (My Mom), his relationship with Mariah Carey (Bagpipes from Bagdad), Christopher Reeves jokes (Medicine Ball), and his crazy urges to murder (3am, Stay Wide Awake). Is he stuck in the past? Perhaps somewhat, but I think the song Beautiful reveals some insight into an artist struggling with a lack of creativity and motivation.

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One look and listen to Asher Roth and it’s easy to agree that he is not your average cookie-cutter hip-hop artist. Don’t expect Asher Roth to rhyme about guns, ghettos and brag about how rich he is. He’s just a 23 year old college kid who grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, who admits the first album he ever bought was a Dave Matthews Band cd.

Roth finally discovered hip-hop in 1998 “When I heard the Annie sample with Jay-Z….When I wrote my ‘A Milli’ freestyle, that was me listening to 10 years of hip hop and not relating to it at all. Like, Damn I don’t sell coke. Damn, I don’t have cars or 25-inch rims. I don’t have guns. I finally got to a point where I had the confidence to do this thing myself, and I was making music for me. And it turns out, a lot of people feel the same way I do.“

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