This Track Is Fire!

Am I late to the party?  Absolutely. Will these rappers make you think of The Beastie Boys? Most likely. But is it really fucking good? Definitely! My friend Ringo sent this (and more) over to me the other day and warned me of the aforementioned comparisons, but as he told me, once you get past that you quickly see how talented this duo is. Now, I'm a middle-aged guy, so I apologize for being - checks date - four years late on this, but when I hear good music I call it out. I've been listening to this on repeat all morning and have been smiling the whole time. And now you can too. Happy Friday! Enjoy!

Despite already having a blog , as well as a podcast , apparently I thought that I needed to pollute the internet with even more of my thoughts when I launched This Track Is Fire!  exactly one year ago today! This marks the 190th post on this blog, so if you've ever stopped by to check it out, I thank you for taking the time to read about the tracks that I enjoy so very much. I have plenty more to share, for example, this one. I am not sure where I first heard this track, but it made me laugh, and ever since hearing it I think I now play it every year on my birthday. Why? Well, I am a middle-aged, middle class man, I am anything but gangsta, so it amuses me to play something that is so not in league with who I am. Besides, it's a banger! Thanks for checking out my music blog! You in first place! You in first place! Bad bitch contest, you in first place!

During one of our trips to the Detroit Auto Show in the last few years my friend Dan shared this song with the group. Having just had that same trip this past weekend I was reminded of this song, which, admittedly, makes me laugh every time. My momma said "But Mike Don't you wanna be comfortable?" I said "No! I don't wanna be comfortable!" I wanna be scared outta my head And lost outta my mind I wanna fall in and outta Love a few thousand times I wanna spend all of my money On my friends and on drugs And I wanna ride around on a Horse and give people hugs And when I come into town they'll Say "Oh shit there's Mike! There's something wrong with that boy I swear he just ain't right" 'Cause I won't waste another day Living someone else's way  I wanna be free fuck what they say I'm doing me Enjoy!

  What I am about to confess will probably cost me any "cool points" I may or may not have with anyone that reads this blog, but this seven-year-old track is something I hear almost every time I go to an MSU football game and it took me years to find out what this track was called and who it was by, but now I know! When there are 70K or more people all in the same area trying to use a cellular network there's almost no signal, so I tried for far too long to use the Shazam app to capture this song and it's only recently that I was able to do so. So why do I like this track? Exactly because of the reasons I have already alluded to: it's a fun hype track that reminds me of being at Spartan stadium. For many years that was a very happy thing for me, not so much the last  few seasons, but hearing this song makes me happy, pure and simple. Enjoy!

I know almost nothing about 21 Savage other than I knew he was a rapper with some amount of popularity, nor do I recall how I even came across this track. Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of the lyrics (they hew a bit too misogynistic for my usual tastes). And yet....and yet, damn, there's just something about this track that I just love . Enjoy!

When I'm not buying electronic music and punk on Bandcamp  you can sometimes find me buying independent rap instead. I know a fair amount of rap, but I'm the first person to admit that at 50+ years of age that my finger is not on the pulse of the current state of hip-hop, but I know what I like. And this, this I like very much. Give this a listen and tell me it's not catchy, I dare you. Horse by Prof

I see that my entries seem to be getting wordy, so I will attempt to be a bit more pithy. This is a track I go back to on the regular because it's just a fun, catchy rap about appreciating women in all of their various shapes, sizes, colors, creeds, and persuasions. Enjoy!

The existence of disruptive voices is important for music and art, and Bob Vylan are definitely that. Maybe you'd heard of them recently due to their appearance at Glastonbury and their controversial set. Yes, they said something that may be conservatively called "aggressive" and perhaps even "inflammatory," but I wouldn't call it antisemitic. To that point: We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people. We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine. A machine whose own soldiers were told to use "unnecessary lethal force" against innocent civilians waiting for aid. A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.   - Bob Vylan on Instragram Me, I've been around long enough to remember another controversial band called NWA releasesed "Fuck Tha Police" almost 40 years ago. That song was met with the same sort of acrimony at the time, but so were Elvis's hips, and the Beatles' mop tops. Music a...

Maybe it's the bass, maybe it's the drum march beat, maybe it's Sexxy Red or Lil Wayne, I don't know, my place isn't to understand why a song grabs me, but this one does. Enjoy!