Ty Listens to "Cheat Codes"

I've been in a bit of a personal music rut lately. The only new album that I have been super into is the new Kendrick Lamar. I have been going back to old classics a lot more lately. I feel like, as I get older, newer music just doesn't appeal to me. I feel like I have reached that age where new music sounds different and bad to me. There are some new artists I like, but the stuff my kids listen to, I am not a fan of. But I do have a buddy that lets me know when there is new music from artists I used to listen to all the time is coming out. One such record is "Cheat Codes" by Danger Mouse and Black Thought.

I adore Danger Mouse. Next to Rick Rubin he is the best producer in the game in my opinion. He works with so many different artists and each time a record comes out that he has produced and worked on, I love it. The work he did with Norah Jones is amazing. It is my favorite Norah Jones record. The stuff he did with The Black Keys is great. His work as one half of Gnarls Barkley is timeless. The stuff he did on his own, taking "The Black Album" and "The White Album" and making it work was a true bit of magic.

Black Thought is one of the best emcees to ever do it. The Roots are an all time hip hop group. Part of that is due to the way he rhymes and writes. I feel like Black Thought is a tad underrated which is nuts because he has been doing this at such a high level for a very long time. Black Thought is a true genius and everything he touches seems to work. So put the two of them together on a record, it is bound to work. And boy oh boy does it work.

As I said, I was late to listen, but I feel like I haven't stopped since my buddy brought it to my attention. I listened to the album three times just yesterday and was nodding along each time like it was the first listen. This album works on every level. The production is incredible, as one would expect when seeing Danger Mouse as the producer. The beats are clean, the way it is composed is pure hip hop, the songs mesh so well and the record runs like a well oiled machine. Then you put Black Thought on there as the main rapper, beautiful. His voice is so unique and pure. He sounds like an old head in the new age. He cruises through each song and takes over on some tracks. He is a genius. Then you add on the guest list and that takes this album from great to classic. This is the last record to feature MF Doom, that I know of to this point. It was so nice to hear his voice on an album nearly two years after he passed away. There is a song that features ASAP Rocky and Run the Jewels. That feels like they put this on the record specifically for me. It is my favorite song. Michael Kiwanuka, who is by no means a rapper, shows up and brings a different sound to his song. Raekwon is on a track. I love hearing from him. He seems to be everywhere lately. It also helps that I just saw Wu Tang Clan live and he was there. This record works on every level. It is near perfection. It is one of my favorite albums to come out in the last decade. I knew I was going to dig it, I just did not think it would become this big in my rotation.

While I have my doubts about the current state of music, while I am getting older and what's new is hip and I don't get it, it is nice to have something like this. I love hearing artists I have been following for more than a decade still doing their thing and doing it phenomenally. "Cheat Codes" is rad. Seek this album out for sure. It is definitely worth your time.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.  

Human Joke Jimmy Fallon Plays with Human Trash Donald Trump

Jimmy Fallon did this to my tv

So today, I'm going to keep it short and angry.

I awoke this morning to the horror that was the "Jimmy Fallon Show" interview of the garbage monster Donald Trump. Right off the bat it needs to be known that I am not a Jimmy Fallon fan. I did not like him on "SNL". He broke too much. He couldn't get through a scene without laughing. I also did not like any of his characters or his impressions. He was, and always will be, a hack. I also do not think he is a leading man type actor. Hell, he'd be lucky to be a character actor, let alone a leading man. He proved how terrible of an actor he is in such movies like "Taxi" and "Fever Pitch". I know that people say that his talk show is different and better, but I don't buy it. He is too nice to everyone, and he wants to be everyone's friend. The good thing about guys like David Letterman, Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien, and even to a lesser extent, Jay Leno, when they had a controversial figure on, they asked tough questions, or they just flat out wouldn't have someone on that they did not like or agree with. Look at Seth Myers, he said he will not put that piece of trash Trump on his show. Where Meyers has integrity, Fallon lacks any sense of any kind of integrity.

The Trump interview last night was an absolute joke and a complete ratings grab. Fallon is clearly losing the late night audience to guys like Conan and James Corden, so what does he do, he invites that racist asshole Trump to be on his show, and it was a total puff piece. You need look no further than all the media outlets showing photos of Fallon tosselling that monster's "hair". What a piece of trash the two of them are. You'd think a young guy like Fallon would have more sense, but clearly, he doesn't.

Who is he trying to get to watch his show by having that stupid idiot Trump as a guest? If he is looking for the 18-49 viewing audience, the goal of all shows, he is shit out of luck. I know zero 18-30 year olds that support that stupid son of a bitch. There are a few 30-40 year old moronic racist assholes that support that piece of trash, but I guarantee that they are not watching Fallon because they are too busy being brain washed by Fox News. The only group in the coveted TV watching group that may have had more dumbass Trump supporters are the 41-49 year olds, but those people clearly have no souls and they only care about rich people that will make them richer. And that is exactly what this interview was, 2 rich guys laughing and having a good time like a couple of dickheads. I cannot believe that something like this was allowed to happen.

This, in my opinion, is so much worse than when that punk ass Trump hosted "SNL". "SNL" has been very, very bad for the past 5 or 6 years, so the fact that they let that douchebag host, who cares, no one was watching. But, to have that ass face on a late night talk show as a guest, what a crock. And then, to make it a puff piece, that is a straight up shame. If you are going to put a real life super villain on your late night talk show, at least give him some tough questions. Don't laugh and joke with him and play with his hair.

I'm also very curious to know how the Roots, Fallon's house band, felt about this. They are one of the most politically conscious hip hop groups of all time, and they had to sit there and watch this nonsense. I mean, Questlove and Black Thought had to be losing their minds. If it was me, I would have refused to step on the same stage as that piece of trash. That was a low, cheap and dirty move by Fallon, and his staff, to schedule that sorry excuse of a human being on their show, and then to have a laugh with him while his house band has to sit there and watch this all unfold, that's embarrassing.

I guess what I really want to say, first, screw you Jimmy Fallon, but also, this showed me everything I needed to know about your true character. You are clearly a money and ratings grubbing asshole that is afraid to ask any tough questions because you want to be the late night host that is everybody's friend. This was disgusting and a slap in the face to the people that watch your show regularly. Anyone that allows that racist, arrogant, selfish, bullish piece of shit to speak on a late night talk show deserves the ill fate that is assuredly coming their way. I hope Jimmy Fallon reads everything that is being written about him today, and I hope it makes him literally sick. That is what you deserve you punk. I did not like him before last night, and I hate him even more now after last night's atrocity. Screw you and I hope Trump knows how much of a loathesome figure he truly is, no matter how much he lets Fallon play with his stupid hair.

This was an absolute travesty.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is not a fan of Donald Trump. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.