Amoeba Hollywood Hip Hop Top Five Week Ending May 24: 2013
1) French Montana Excuse My French (Bad Boy/Interscope)
2) Kendrick Lamar good kid, m.A.A.d city (Aftermath)
3) Kid Cudi Indicud (Dreamworks)
4) Tyga Hotel California (Cash Money)
5) Tyler, The Creator Wolf (Columbia)
In the number one position with a bullet on this week's Amoeba Hollywood Hip-Hop Top Five chart is French Montana's Excuse My French. Pretty impressive considering that this is the first release by French Montana- well the first official release following a dizzying string of over two dozen mixtape releases by the rapper - all of which paved the way for this major label (Interscope Records) debut. Excuse My French by the Moroccan-born, American rap artist known as French Montana (not to be confused with UK hip-hop instrumental artist Young Montana?) comes in both the regular 13 track Excuse My French CD edition and the 19 track Deluxe Excuse My French CD version. Of the new album the Amoeba.com reviewers write, "French’s flow comes out like melted butter over the popping “Ain’t Worried
About Nothin’,” one of the album’s catchiest songs, and the eerie, slow-motion “Marble Floors,” which finds French bragging about how his exquisite flooring lures the ladies alongside a winning roster of collaborators". Indeed one of the advantages, it would seem, of upgrading from DIY mixtape status to major label official release status is that you can afford to pay some high profile artists to make cameos on your album. And on his new release French Montana does that does that, and some, with an impressive long list of collaborators lending their talents. These include such rap and RnB artists as Raekwon, Ne-Yo, Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, 2 Chainz, Snoop Dogg,Birdman, Rick Ross, Diddy, Fabolous, Trey Songz, The Weeknd, DJ Khaled, Mavado, Ace Hood, Jerimih, Scarface, Machine Gun Kelly, Red Café, Los, Chinx Drugz, Young Cash, and Max B. But what is truly noteworthy about this is that he didn't have to pay any of these guests (with the exception of the latter incarcerated Max B) since, according to an MTV News story published this week, they all gladly did their cameos for the love. So that was what he must have meant when he rapped "money don't mean nothin'" in the aforementioned "Money Don't Mean Nothin.'" However, it is hard not to notice in the popular cameo-heavy video below (including Diddy whose Bad Boy Records with distribution via Interscope he has this major label deal) for this lyrically repetitive single that there is over the top product placement of the vodka brand Ciroc that Diddy has a vested interest in. 
You know The Great 2013 U.S. East Coast Cicada Invasion is in full effect when local restaurants begin to tout cicada-centric menu items with hearty "if you can't beat 'em, eat 'em" gusto. For those unfamilar with the phenomenon, the Cicadageddon that emerges from the ground every seventeen years, North Carolina to New England, is a fleeting affair that has everything to do with sound and vision -- the pulsating reverberations of their billions-stong buzzworthy mating calls drowning out the din of daily life, outdoor concerts and all. But you don't have to live inside the E.C.C.S.Z. (East Coast Cicada Sex Zone) to get in on the sonic action as this sort of thing happens in other parts of the world and the well-traveled field recording gurus down at Sublime Frequencies want you to indulge your senses with their oh-so-timely vinyl release of Brokenhearted Dragonflies: Insect Electronica from Southeast Asia.
This limited edition LP pressing of the long out-of-print CD from 2004 presents for your listening pleasure the sounds of swarms of male dragonflies gathered together to join in choruses of high-pitched tones for one purpose: they're looking for sex. The ones that don't succeed in wooing and winning their mates eventually scream so loud that their chests explode and they drop dead to the ground, or so the legend goes. These recordings are a tribute to this legend.
Droning cicadas, dragonflies, and other insects display their charm as masters of the high frequency airwaves, recorded live and unprocessed by Tucker Martine in the lush settings of Laos, Thailand, and Burma -- the occasional thunderstorm included. Enter the supernatural world where entomology and electronica converge in a tropical hallucination of alien sound. Anyone who has ever wondered if these strange symphonies could be recorded or preserved as precisely as they sound in the field need look no further. Martine has done it and you will be transported to the exact experience one would encounter in these mysterious lowlands.
This Sunday (May 26th) Trannyshack, San Francisco's biggest drag club night, celebrates Memorial Day
Weekend at the DNA Lounge with the biggest tribute night of all!
Yes, it will all be about the Material Girl with Madonna-inspired performances from Heklina, Exhibit Q., Raya Light, Cookie Dough, Becky Motorlodge, Lindsay Slowhands, Miss Rahni, and more!
Doors open at 9:30pm and the show starts at 11pm. Get advance tickets HERE!
