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"Welcome back Kreyshawn, you just out-rapped someone for the first time ever": Mike Skinner, Yung Lean and more reviewed in the FACT Singles Club

Each week on the FACT Singles Club, a selection of our writers work their way through the new music of the week gone by.

With the way individual tracks are now consumed, the idea of what constitutes a single has shifted dramatically in the last half a decade, and its for this reason that the songs reviewed across the next pages are a combination of 12″ vinyl releases, mixtape cuts, Soundcloud uploads and more. All are treated equally – well, most of the time. Popping their necks on the block this week: Yung Lean and Kreayshawn, Mike Skinner, Chief Keef and more.

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Snoop Dogg and Dam Funk – ‘Faden Away’


Joe Muggs:
Yes, just yes. Whenever you hear Snoop with real funk type backing (remember that Meters / ‘Drop it Like it’s Hot’ bootleg?) you realise exactly how much craft there is to his vocal technique. This probably took about half an hour to make but it’s just glorious. Does this mean the Rasta nonsense is all done with and he’s joined the funk mothership again? Here’s hoping. (8)

Josh Hall: Absurd lyrics aside, this is actually pretty good. Dam-Funk is at his best when he sounds this disgustingly louche, like a THC fug in-boudoir musical director. Imagine if he’d given the beat to someone who isn’t yet senile, though. (6)

Brad Rose: I have an endless amount of love for Dam Funk, but have been pretty skeptical about this Snoop collab since I heard about it.  Well, if ‘Faden Away’ is any indication, it might actually end up being one of 2013’s funnest records.  Snoop is Snoop (with a heavy nod to George Clinton this time out which is mostly ridiculous, but kind of endearing), but Dam Funk is the real star here as his production is perfectly over the top.  There’s nobody carrying the funk torch like Dam Funk right now and this should hold me over nicely until his new record comes out next year. (6)

Chris Kelly: While Snoop’s late career choices haven’t all panned out (I’m looking at you, Snoop Lion), he’s clearly not ready to “fade away.” Skipping over G-funk nostalgia and going all the way to the source — with one of the only producers capable of invoking P-Funk — is an ace move. (7)

John Twells: Snoop’s had a piss poor couple of years (Snoop Lion? Gimme a break), so it’s absolutely astounding to hear him doing something with Dam Funk. Pretty much the best thing he’s done in recent years is ‘Sexual Eruption’ (closely tied with ‘Gangsta Luv’), and thankfully Snoop has re-discovered the same sizzling funk streak on ‘Faden Away’. A whole album of this stuff is gonna be massive. (8)

7

Eminem, ‘Rap God’


Josh Hall:
Oh, a straight man repeatedly using the words ‘fag’, ‘faggot’, and ‘gay’? Off you fuck. (2)

Joe Muggs: Squeaky EDM with the kind of rapping that you appreciate as you would the technique in a Steve Vai guitar solo. I kinda like it. (6)

John Twells: I’ve never had much time for Eminem, and he’s not making it easy for me in 2013. It’s a very minor improvement over the last horrific effort, but I can’t help feeling as if ‘Rap God’ is just more proof that technical skill does not equal a great track. I’ll stick with ‘Versace’, thanks. (3)

Chris Kelly: When he’s trying (or in this case, trying too hard), Em’s technical ability is unparalleled. But listening to a 41-year-old making jokes about “nut sacks” and “faggots” for six minutes is unbearable. (2)

3.25

Chief Keef – ‘Emojis’


Joe Muggs:
There’s something pretty grossly prurient about all us white hipsters scouring America’s ghettoes for the next ODB / Gucci Mane / Gunplay / other lunatic that we can get to fuck themselves up for our amusement isn’t there? As outsider art goes, though, this is kinda fun. (6)

John Twells: In many ways Keef’s meandering, vacant burble is the antithesis of Eminem’s verbal chain-gun flow, but it’s a damn sight more interesting to me. Almighty So might be mostly trash, but ‘Emojis’ – like one-offs ‘Round Da Rosey’ and ‘Macaroni Time’ before it – is surprisingly great. Keef still sounds like he’s barely conscious, but his lackadaisical opium-den dribble is what makes his post-Finally Rich drops sound totally unique. Dude’s out on his own here, rapping about smiley faces for fuck’s sake. (6)

Chris Kelly: As he falls further down the Autotune spiral, Keef is (perhaps accidentally) making his weirdest — and most compelling — music yet. Keef’s lyrics are to rap what emojis are to emotions: shorthand signifiers and a sign o’ the times. (6)

Brad Rose: I’ve had Young Thug’s ‘Dead Fo Real’ stuck in my head for the better part of 2013, but this might finally knock it off that throne.  Not much better than Keef being weird.  (6)

6

Madlib – ‘Black Widow’ 


Brad Rose:
Fucking obviously. (8)

Chris Kelly: “Snoop’s working with Dam? Guess I’ll have to go weirder.” (6)

John Twells: Even though he’s probably one of the most prolific producers out there, and by default his output should be mostly avoidable, Madlib’s one of the rare artists I’ll buy on sight. He’s just that reliable, and ‘Black Widow’ – his take on 70s rock – is predictably ace. I love that he’s not able to let himself just sit back and roll out a carbon copy of The Unseen – instead he’s crafted some kind of mucky Sabbath tribute that’s just inspired. So what’s next then? Black metal maybe? A boy can dream. (8)

Joe Muggs: If Gaslamp Killer isn’t already rinsing this (while gooning around as if lighting is coming out of his fingertips) then I’m a monkey’s uncle. It’s a bit awkward on its own – it just is what it is, a psyche re-edit from a beat-tape – so reviewing it as a single it doesn’t rate that highly, but I’m sure in the context of the project it’s great. (5)

Josh Hall: In theory the idea of a Madlib psych album is an exciting one, but I was hoping for rather more than this. The time shifts are great, and it’s all impressively intricately constructed, but it somehow still manages to sound half-arsed. Hopefully this isn’t representative of the album. (5)

6.4

Yung Lean & Kreayshawn – ‘Marble Phone’ 


Josh Hall:
Eurotrance does Edward Said. (3)

Joe Muggs: What was THAT?? Yeah it is a mess, but weirdly engaging. Those background chord noises are completely amazing… actually loads of it is amazing. A couple of extra points at least for ambition, and some more for genuine WTF-ness. (7)

John Twells: I’ve been back and forth on the Yung Lean – he’s clearly doing his thing, I get it, and that’s fine, but is it a thing I want to actually hear? I’m not so sure. Here he appears to have jettisoned the sad boy act in favour of Bloodhound Gang-esque wanker-y white boy pop-rap. Kreashawn shows up and flavours the already honking turd with a tablespoon of raw sewage and yet ‘Marble Phone’ still doesn’t drift into the ‘so bad it’s good’ territory. This shit makes ‘Breakfast’ sound like fucking Beethoven. (2)

Chris Kelly: Yung Lean could only keep his Swedish heritage at bay for so long, apparently. Can you still be a #sadboy over a cloud-kissed dance pop beat? Oh, and welcome back Kreayshawn — you just out-rapped someone for the first time ever. (3)

Brad Rose: I just want to punch everyone involved in this in the face. (2)

3.4

Mark Pritchard – ‘Make A Livin’


Joe Muggs:
Tessela, Special Request, Om Unit, Sam Binga, that Machinedrum Boiler Room session, fungle jootwork, jit jive, retro schmetro rave, 808s for goalposts isn’t wasn’t it hmmm? Except of course, Mark P was doing it first… This is not quite ‘Out on the Streets’ but god damn it’s good.  These are exciting times. (8)

Josh Hall: This is like an exercise in how quickly you can wear out a sample, but after repeat listens it actually kind of works. It really comes into its own midway through when the backing vocals and the jungle beat coalesce, and the ponderous synth line provides a nice counterpoint to the strung out pads. (6)

John Twells: Loving how the vocal sounds like “everyone’s got to make a liver” – it should be the soundtrack to the ‘nose to tail’ phenomenon. It’s also good. (7)

7

Mike Skinner – ‘Know There’s No’


Joe Muggs:
Ahhhh this is my tempo. This is going straight on my next Slugrave mix. Starts out sounding like an innocuous doodle, takes you round the houses, wins your heart about halfway through, then just runs off and leaves you hanging. Lovely. (7)

John Twells: I still got love for The Streets. (6)

Josh Hall: Really, anything that takes Mike Skinner away from the execrable D.O.T. can only be a good thing. Even given his questionable recent form, though, this is really good. The distorted kicks lend it a lovely, slightly grubby feel, and Skinner just about manages to stay on the right side of electro swing. (7)

6.7 

Final scores:

Mark Pritchard – ‘Make A Livin’ (7)
Snoop Dogg and Dam Funk – ‘Faden Away’ (7)
The Streets – ‘Know There’s No’ (6.7)
Madlib – ‘Black Widow’   (6.4)
Chief Keef – ‘Emojis’ (6)
Yung Lean & Kreayshawn – ‘Marble Phone’  (3.4)
Eminem, ‘Rap God’ (3.25)

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