Tuesday, July 12th 2011
News: Black Milk
Listen: Jack White Goes Hip-Hop?!
Jack White may as well add a revolving door to the Third Man Records studios. The man has produced, collaborated, recorded and released music from a dizzying array of acts over the years, helping launch careers and revitalize others with his signature sound & stylings. Unsurprisingly, he’s lined up another impressive collaboration.
Today, Nashville label is releasing its first foray into Hip-Hop with a single from Detroit-based rapper/producer Black Milk. The two-track release, recorded this past Spring, features White on guitar on the A-side Brain and trading the axe for a drumkit on the B-side Royal Mega. Naturally, White also co-produced both tracks.
Listen to Royal Mega below:
Stream the other cut, Brain, over at Some Kind of Awesome.
This latest effort is another example of Mr. White stepping outside his own comfort zone for the sake of artistic transcendence. Despite his much-rumored (and still unheard) collaboration with Jay-Z, Jack had a few disparaging words for Hip-Hop back in a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone.
“I find OutKast and Wu-Tang Clan interesting,” White shared. “But I consider music to be storytelling, melody and rhythm. A lot of hip-hop has broken music down. There are no instruments and no songwriting. So you’re left with just storytelling and rhythm. And the storytelling can be so braggadocious, you’re just left with rhythm. I don’t find much emotion in that.”
Rather than write off the genre with a blanket dismissal, it appears Jack’s rolled up his sleeves and decided to help fix what he saw as a problem. No complaints here.
The record is available beginning today (July 12th) as a 7″ vinyl and a digital download via Third Man Records.
I guess I don’t get it. The instrumentation is interesting, but the vocals seem out of place and reluctant to join the rhythm section. Usually love JW, but…pass.
I agree that that royal mega song doesn’t really work. White is not a hip hop drummer, but the other track, brain, from some kind of awesome, is actually pretty decent. black milk’s band reminds me of James brown’s old backing band, the jb’s, and that’s a fucking great thing. I would be way more into hip hop if more artists used backing bands in their recordings like this. It gives the music more of a human quality; more soul. I can see why white was attracted to this.
Jesus christ, these songs are great.