Charles Hughes writes:

One of the hottest party tracks of the summer comes from the Shop Boyz (above), a new crew of true crunk soldiers from Atlanta who—over a pounding track that manages to reinvent crunk’s increasingly well-worn wheel—advises us out here in the land of 1,000 dances just how we might get the party started in ’07 and beyond.  However, the Boyz don’t suggest that we get crunk, buck, low, or any other standard hip-hop invocation.  Rather, they joyously insist that we “party like a rock star,” punctuated by hilariously caricatured cries of “T-T-Totally dude!!!”  Driven forward by snapping drums and a post-Slash guitar line, “Party Like a Rock Star” seems less an attempt to forge a rap-rock coalition than a (successful) demonstration of how close the two genres are, and always have been.  (Public Enemy and Anthrax in the house, y’all!)

The Shop Boyz continue the stylistic blend of their debut single across their debut album, which—though obviously, lovably constructed simply to capitalize on their breakout single—features a few fascinating rap-rock tracks that do far more to reignite the Rock Box than any Bizkits or Korns ever did.  (All love to Rage Against The Machine, of course…)  Particularly interesting is “Rollin’,” which sounds like a literal mash-up, mingling the MCs playful flow with a surf-rock backing track.  I wouldn’t call it a total success artistically, but I admire the effort.

Oddly, the very month that “Party Like a Rock Star” started exploding across our dials, R. Kelly included a surprisingly similar track called “Rock Star” on his latest album, the return-to-form Double Up.  Featuring smoldering guest appearances from Ludacris and Kid Rock, Kels takes the “rock star” signifying one step further, infusing his track with the kind of grand bombast that made 1980s metal so embarrassing, compelling and fun all at the same time.  Indeed, it’s the sweeping atmospheres of “Rock Star” that distinguish it, rendering its musical textures as appropriate for various kinds of partying-like-a-rock-star as do its lyrics, which—especially given Ludacris’ characteristically deft tongue—succeed far better than many of Kelly’s extended metaphors.  (As good as Double Up is, for example, it also features a song called “The Zoo” that could be a “Weird Al” Yankovic parody…except that it’d be too obvious.)  This club-banging, head-banging epic is a highlight of a very good album.

Now, I may be totally mistaken on this (God knows I have been before), but I can’t help but wonder whether or not this celebration of the “rock star” figure as the ultimate in hedonistic indulgence, as well as rightful king of the party, might be an attempt by the Shop Boyz and R. Kelly to offer their own, slightly ironic commentary on the recent burst of anti-hip-hop rhetoric, which paints rappers (and many) rap fans as degenerate Libertines of an unprecedented degree.  Now, there are many things to be said about the debates over modern hip-hop, but one thing I hope we can all agree on is that that particular perception is dead-ass wrong.  Through their respective tributes to the “rock star” lifestyle, the Shop Boyz and R. Kelly remind that, contrary to popular opinion, the rest of (white) America has been more than capable of producing such devil-may-care figures, whose sexual prowess and propensity for hard-partying has helped raise them to storied, even mythological proportions.  Like club-rocking Brer Rabbits, these artists evoke the “rock star” symbol both to celebrate the joyous freedom inherent in both rock and hip-hop culture, and to trick many haters into embodying their very double-standard. After all, there ain’t nobody in here but us chickens.

Still, as compelling as both the Shop Boyz and R. Kelly tracks are, I can’t help but thinking that the truest connection between rock and hip-hop to emerge this year—maybe this decade—is the wonderfully infectious remix of Avril Lavigne’s pop/rock confection “Girlfriend,” with the noteworthy addition of verses from Lil Mama, an up-and-coming Brooklyn MC who, between this and her fantastic hit single “Lip Gloss,” is doing her best to make herself a household name as quickly as possible.  Sunny, snotty and propulsive, the “Girlfriend” remix recalls fifty years of girl-group sounds from around the musical spectrum.  It’s one of those near-perfect pop tracks that doesn’t aim to be anything more than a memorable diversion, yet manages to accomplish something much more significant.  Forming a surprisingly effective partnership, Lavigne and Lil Mama neither overpower each other, nor is either artist forced to wedge herself into the other’s musical style.  It is, truly, the Sound of Young America, and the growing number of headphones and car stereos out of which I hear this song blasting is enough to convince me that the two young women have tapped into some kind of community, or at least communal impulse.  The video for the track is even more affirming, with Lavigne and Lil Mama alternating between symbols of rock culture (headbanging, air guitar) and the hip-hop generation (graffiti, breaking).  I’m really glad I live in a world where this song is a hit, and I do believe that this might be the perfect soundtrack for those moments when I myself decide to party like a rock star.

Rock and roll is here to stay…it will never die.  And it don’t stop. –ch

Shop Boyz “Party Like a Rock Star” and “Rollin’”

R. Kelly “Rock Star”

Avril Lavigne with Lil Mama “Girlfriend”

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 1:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.