The Wisdom of the Illiterati


	top ten update It's either a moment of great historical import or a random blip in the chaotic vagaries of modern marketing, but whatever the case, it's cause for celebration: "Paper Planes" is in the top five. For roughly the same reason that Coldplay has been in the top ten for over two months, or that Sara Barielles had a hit at all, M.I.A. finds herself in a place where not even her most ardent supporters would expect to find her. The difference is that "Paper Planes" isn't just OK, or catchy--it's a great song, the only truly great song to make the top ten all year (and yes, my estimation of "Forever" has dropped, and not just because it turned out to be a gum commercial). If only "Paper Planes" arrival in the top ten weren't such a fluke. It's not as if there's a sudden groundswell of third world influenced dance music storming the charts (though the exoticism of some recent hits has certainly made a moment like this more of a possibility), and radio is guaranteed to shy away from anything so explicitly about drug dealing and decorated with shotgun wielding ten year olds. This is a hit on sales generated solely by the song's presence in the trailer for Pineapple Express. I fear that in many ways the audience sees "Paper Planes" as a novelty record, its politics included. As much as I would love to see "Jimmy" or "Boyz" (just to name the two most likely candidates) in the top ten, I won't hold my breath. Though "Paper Planes"' rapid climb to the top ten is something of a shock, it's hardly the most bizarre thing on the Hot 100 this week. For that you need to listen to The Game's "My Life", featuring Lil' Wayne. It's no surprise that Wayne can sing (and that all the New Orleans in him comes out when he does--he phrases like the horns in a funeral parade), or that The Game can't rap, but combine the two and you have the most schizophrenic record of the year. Wayne's choruses are full of doubt and pain and wonder, The Games' verses of the usual name-dropping and mixed-up sentiment. Although it's hard to understand how The Game has maintained a career, it's even harder to figure out whether he's evil or just plain stupid. Halfway through "My Life", as a thank you for boosting his career, he offers to share his mother with Kanye. This is either so naive and heartfelt as to defy emotional analysis, or so shameless in its sentimental exploitation that it beggars belief. Since he's already named-checked Kurt Cobain and John Lennon in the first verse, I lean toward exploitation, and perhaps any hesitation on my part to condemn him has more to do with Wayne's influence over the track than anything else. I have a feeling that if Wayne wasn't there The Game's callous emotional calculation would be much more evident. But in this setting he sounds more confused than anything else. You can't help but laugh at him, but you also wonder how close to the poor clod's feelings this gets. \| [Archives] Search entries:		top ten 1966 top ten OTHER OCCASIONAL RAMBLINGS Hail Blogoslavia! ~~100~~ 45 or so things about JSM The Saga of the Lone Biscuit OTHER BLOGS Blogroll Me

top ten update

It's either a moment of great historical import or a random blip in the chaotic vagaries of modern marketing, but whatever the case, it's cause for celebration: "Paper Planes" is in the top five. For roughly the same reason that Coldplay has been in the top ten for over two months, or that Sara Barielles had a hit at all, M.I.A. finds herself in a place where not even her most ardent supporters would expect to find her. The difference is that "Paper Planes" isn't just OK, or catchy--it's a great song, the only truly great song to make the top ten all year (and yes, my estimation of "Forever" has dropped, and not just because it turned out to be a gum commercial).

If only "Paper Planes" arrival in the top ten weren't such a fluke. It's not as if there's a sudden groundswell of third world influenced dance music storming the charts (though the exoticism of some recent hits has certainly made a moment like this more of a possibility), and radio is guaranteed to shy away from anything so explicitly about drug dealing and decorated with shotgun wielding ten year olds. This is a hit on sales generated solely by the song's presence in the trailer for Pineapple Express. I fear that in many ways the audience sees "Paper Planes" as a novelty record, its politics included. As much as I would love to see "Jimmy" or "Boyz" (just to name the two most likely candidates) in the top ten, I won't hold my breath.

Though "Paper Planes"' rapid climb to the top ten is something of a shock, it's hardly the most bizarre thing on the Hot 100 this week. For that you need to listen to The Game's "My Life", featuring Lil' Wayne. It's no surprise that Wayne can sing (and that all the New Orleans in him comes out when he does--he phrases like the horns in a funeral parade), or that The Game can't rap, but combine the two and you have the most schizophrenic record of the year. Wayne's choruses are full of doubt and pain and wonder, The Games' verses of the usual name-dropping and mixed-up sentiment. Although it's hard to understand how The Game has maintained a career, it's even harder to figure out whether he's evil or just plain stupid. Halfway through "My Life", as a thank you for boosting his career, he offers to share his mother with Kanye. This is either so naive and heartfelt as to defy emotional analysis, or so shameless in its sentimental exploitation that it beggars belief. Since he's already named-checked Kurt Cobain and John Lennon in the first verse, I lean toward exploitation, and perhaps any hesitation on my part to condemn him has more to do with Wayne's influence over the track than anything else. I have a feeling that if Wayne wasn't there The Game's callous emotional calculation would be much more evident. But in this setting he sounds more confused than anything else. You can't help but laugh at him, but you also wonder how close to the poor clod's feelings this gets.