Month: March 2020

2019 was an explosive year for the rap music industry, from Kanye’s shift towards theology to Young Thug’s never-ending stream of hits. Artists like Blueface and JPEGMAFIA made waves with new, original releases looking to bend the norms of rap as a genre. However, one project stands out amongst the year’s creative burst: Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s Bandana. 

Earning the Spotify Album of the Year award and multiple other nominations, Bandana’s innovative approach to the genre has been widely acclaimed by music critics. The album is Freddie Gibbs and Madlib’s second collaboration, building on their groundbreaking 2014 album Piñata. While Piñata’s old-school production and autobiographical lyricism evoked an immense sentimentality, Bandana abandons the prior longing for a rugged past in favor of a bold confrontation with the future. Adapting his style to the times, master producer Madlib adopts the synthesizer and hard-hitting bass-lines characteristic of contemporary hip-hop. Similarly, master of the craft Freddie Gibbs shifts his lyrical focus away from his humble upbringing and towards his life as a global phenom.

Regardless of his thematic focus, Freddie sounds as good as ever. From his inventive experimentation with the traditional couplet verse structure to his impressive technical speed to his hard-hitting picture-painting, Gibbs’ stands out as the most impressive lyrical performance of the year. The artist seamlessly transitions from the gritty street-scene of Fake Names to the revolutionary politics of Palmolive (which features a show-stopping verse from Pusha T) to the emotional sensitivity of Practice without losing his distinctive verbal agility and rhythmic talent. Freddie has a once-in-a-generation ear for rap music that displays its versatility time and time again. 

Such diversity of talent is also reflected in his partner Madlib. The highly-acclaimed producer layers sound-bites with his unique jazz-influenced sound to produce an innovative, old-school yet futuristic sound that provides the backdrop for Freddie’s lyrical excellence. Employing a distinctive combination of distant drum-beats and intimate instrumental performances, Madlib’s work on Bandana is somehow as impressive as Freddie’s. 

Bandana may not have earned an Album of the Year nomination from the Grammys, but it is unquestionably the biggest musical breakthrough of the year. Few duos in rap history have displayed as much compatibility and raw talent as Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, and it is precisely their perseverance, despite the lack of institutional recognition, which gives Bandana its revolutionary, gritty feel.

Tik Tok, the new social media app taking over all other platforms. Stemming from Musical.ly, the two apps merged into one back in 2018 and is now a sensation across all age groups.

What sets it apart from other social media apps, such as Instagram and Snapchat, is its ‘For You’ page, which boasts a personalized algorithm. The ‘For You’ page, similar to Instagram’s explore page, gives a good blend of videos by both frequent and infrequent users.

Tik Tok also features a ‘Following’ page, which is similar to the main feed on other social media apps like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. 

Instead of starting the user off on their ‘following’ page, Tik Tok starts the user off on the ‘For You’ page. This is fairly different from other social media apps, and it is what makes Tik Tok so addicting. Its endless homegrown content balances out with its manufactured content. 

With there being such a focus on promoting other people’s content, practically anyone can become famous on the app–no matter one’s size, race, or sexuality. Some of it’s biggest influencers have been, in fact, gay. At some point in 2019, the internet could not get enough of the viral Tik Tok couple Benji and Jay Jay.

Songs such as “Bulletproof” by La Roux and “Stay” by Rihanna have also been revived after a trend sweeps them across the ‘For You’ page. There seems to be a new song revived from our early memories each week, giving a song another chance on the charts and, sometimes, making the song more famous than it was originally, such as Alt-j’s “Breezeblocks.”

With these songs come new trends. The trends range from cuddling with partners and dancing to songs to walking up steps. There are basically no limits to what you can find on Tik Tok.

The app has even gained attention across the staff here at C.K. McClatchy High School. One staff member, Mrs. Archuleta, says, “It’s funny and I like the dancing. I especially love the bhangra dance on the app.”

“I love learning new Tik Tok dances, and I also love watching all the drama with the hype house,” says Carlie Floyd (‘21). 

However, the app can only vary so much from other social media platforms. Just like every other app, there is drama. From Chick-fil-A to racism to homophobia, the internet can not quite seem to agree. But, with a swipe, it all goes away.

Another CKM student states, “I love Tik Tok, period. It’s the best app ever. So funny and hilarious, lit-rally love.” (Aldina Kelecija ‘21)

From infecting the feeds of Instagram and Twitter users to people dancing along to “Renegade” in the halls, it’s impossible to say that Tik Tok has not caused you any amusement. If not, download the app and let the algorithm do its job.

On January 15-26, Dear Evan Hansen came to Sacramento at the Memorial Auditorium. Based off of the book written by Steven Levenson and with music and lyrics written by Justin Paul and Benj Pasek, the musical won six Tony Awards, including best musical.

The musical features a young boy named Evan Hansen who struggles with social anxiety. His therapist tells him to write letters to himself, and one of his letters is found in the pocket of Connor Murphy, a boy who gets into an argument with Evan and then commits suicide. 

Connor’s parents believe that it was a suicide note, and Evan agrees that he was Connor’s secret best friend, even producing fake emails proving their friendship. Through the emails, Evan creates a fake personality for Connor that people can mourn, given that he didn’t have any close relationships with anybody while he was alive.

Evan continues to forge relationships that he had never had and make a name for himself after claiming to be best friends with Connor. Soon, everybody knows who he is, he’s dating his dream girl (Connor’s sister), and his social anxiety has vastly improved.

Though many critics call Dear Evan Hansen life-changing and heartfelt, I disagree. While the message of the musical is important–everyone matters, life gets better, etc.–it is displayed through terrible means. 

Evan profits the whole musical by claiming to be the best friend of a suicide victim. He uses Connor’s death to keep himself popular and interesting. However, his selfish actions are seen as good at the end because, even though he lied, Connor’s family grew closer to each other. 

Dear Evan Hansen tries to excuse dishonesty and selfishness by displaying a heartfelt message. Although it’s great that Evan worked through his anxiety, it doesn’t make it okay to use somebody else’s suicide and mental health issues to uplift yourself. 

Being set in high school, Dear Evan Hansen attempted to portray the awkwardness and childishness of the environment. However, it was obviously exaggerated and very uncomfortable. The dialogue was stilted and made the characters unlikeable–though their speeches were supposed to come across as meaningful or funny, it ended up plain cringe-worthy.

The music alternated between amazing and all right. Though some of the songs were really good, it was often hard to enjoy them because of the events of the musical. For example, “For Forever” was a beautiful song, but it occurred while Evan was making up a story of an outing with Connor. Instead of appreciating the song, all I felt was mild disgust for Evan’s actions.

However, other songs such as “Requiem” and “Waving Through a Window” avoided these problems and greatly contributed to my enjoyment of the musical. Both beautifully performed, “Requiem” showed the struggle of Connor’s family in grieving his death and “Waving Through a Window” presented Evan’s struggle with his anxiety. If the rest of the songs were not as problematic, I’m sure I would have enjoyed them as much as these two.

All in all, Dear Evan Hansen was a nice try. Though a good effort toward addressing mental health issues, it missed the very important detail that people should not exploit others’ mental health issues for their own benefit.