The Illiterate

Usher featuring will.i.am—”OMG”
#14
Despite the seal of approval provided by will.i.am, this is the lamest Black Eyed Peas rip you could imagine, and as far as I can tell it’s all Usher’s fault. The stylish minimalism that makes the Peas’s records compelling is filled in with meaningless noise, and the lyrics make Usher seem even dumber than BEP haters imagine the genuine article to be. At his worst he sounds like a lounge singer doing a Black Eyed Peas tribute; on the rest he’s a one-time star desperately trying to catch up to a scene that’s passed him by. In that way, at least, you can say Raymond v. Raymond is as true to life as Usher claims it is.

Diddy – Dirty Money featuring T.I.—”Hello Good Morning”
#34
This works, especially when T.I. is on the mike, and it’s a far better Black Eyed Peas rip than “OMG”, but like all Diddy tracks its show-offy and full of itself. When Diddy flaunts his ego with production tricks and flashy arranging rather than cynical fade-out raps or having his female vocalists moan his praises, he could almost be the pop genius he thinks he is. There’s a long way between “almost” and the real thing, though, and it’s a gap I doubt he’ll ever cross.

Lady GaGa—”Alejandro”
#72
I found it difficult to understand all the fuss last week over M.I.A. calling GaGa a “great mimic”. It’s obviously true, and I would say it’s even more obvious that GaGa knows it, often plays up to it, and enjoys doing it. That’s certainly the case on this rollicking slice of camp, in which she borrows heavily from Madonna, the Pet Shop Boys, and cheesy Italian telenovellas and mixes them all together into her own twisted joke. For some reason this makes me think of Tennesse Williams’s Suddenly Last Summer. “Alejandro”, thank God, doesn’t end in cannibalism, but I wouldn’t put it past her.

Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars—”Billionaire”
#92
One thing you can say about economic collapse: it’s good for party music, and equally good for comedy. Not a week goes by that somebody doesn’t put another joke track on the chart, creating what might well turn out to be the most interesting trend of what’s shaping up to be a very interesting year. This is the best of the bunch so far, partly because it addresses personal economics head-on, with just enough implied reality to make the jokes sting, and partly because, thanks to Bruno Mars, it’s the most musically accomplished and easiest to listen to for itself. I wonder when he’ll get a record of his own.

Erykah Badu—”Window Seat”
#95
This one takes a while to grow on you, but if you give it a chance and ignore the controversy over the video, it will. Subtle as it is, in both its music and its emotions, it steers perilously close at times to easy-listening. It never goes that far, but I can understand why some people find the new album too laid back and sentimental. I don’t think it’s either, but it may be a little too self-satisfied. Time will tell. (The video, considering the message of the song itself, makes no sense whatsoever—it’s an attempt to shove a political/sociological message into a place where it doesn’t belong.)

Clay Walker—”She Won’t Be Lonely Long”
#99
The surprising thing about this record is how restrained and sympathetic it is. I can think of any number of male country singers who would take the title line for a crude joke, squeezing as many knowing winks and vocal nudges out of it as possible. Walker, though, never evinces anything but respect, concern, and regret, without once suggesting that he’s interested in taking up with the woman himself, and he turns the usual wild-girl-in-the-honky-tonk cliches on their head. The music is too generic to make this a great record, but it’s a pleasant surprise nonetheless.