The critical narrative that G-Side were this great albums group following in the lineage of UGK, 8Ball & MJG and OutKast was fucking laughable when most of the duo's projects suffered from their earnestness grating over the course of a full length, their penchant for shitty British singers leading to the ruin of many an otherwise good song, and their eagerness to Rap about their blogger buddies making for cringeworthy subject matter. That's not to say Starshipz & Rocketz and Huntsville International don't knock, but it's best to remember G-Side for songs like I Feel Like I Look, Strictly Business, Swangin', Who's Hood?, My Aura, Feel The and No Radio rather than for any of their 5 albums.
However, it's an often-forgotten appearance on a 2009 Country-Rap tune by the Rapper who does Bun B as a solo artist better than Bun B does Bun B as a solo artist that remains their finest moment in the opinion of ya boy Agallah The John Bishop right chea. Actually, I'll go one better than that, and say that No One Duz It Betta is the second best song to ever (loosely) emerge from the whole Huntsville scene after Jackie Chain's peerless Rollin' :
(From Smoke Some Kill album; 2009)
When he's replaying his life on his deathbed, Burn One's greatest regret will be giving good beats to his personality-vacuum Joe-The-Rapper high school buddies like KD and Scotty when he could have given them all to the profusely more entertaining G. Mane instead.
Ayo B, stop reading my diary.
ReplyDeleteSerious A+ all round, down to the album highlights and G-Mane pick.
His name is Brandon, not Brendan, btw.
ReplyDeleteO rly?
ReplyDeleteYou're the man for mentioning that song, it's one of the best in their catalog that nobody really remembers anymore.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, it's a shame that Burn One and GMane don't do more together. Especially when you think back to the highlights of Sunday On Tha Porch and Sex, Drugs, Money
As far as your main thesis here, you have a point but I think it was bigger than Brandon too. He wasn't the only one making hyperbolic claims, almost all their early supporters were building them up in a similar way. The collective weight of expectations created by that praise would be impossible to support for any group.
That's true, but those other supporters aren't pushing their own perculiar agendas a major media outlet at SPIN/secretly working for Codie G/using a magazine to avenge internet beefs with rapper's managers.
ReplyDeletePlus, I can count at least 4 notable American bloggers who've told me they stopped listening to G-Side because of Brendan.
It staggers me that Spin gave a job to an idiot like Soderberg.
ReplyDeleteDude is a 2nd rate Jayson Greene with terrible opinions about everything.
Then I guess those four notable American bloggers weren't really fans to begin with, I guess. It seems pretty weak to stop listening to someone you really like because of another blogger, no?
ReplyDeleteBrandon Soderberg is the worst.
ReplyDelete"secretly working for Codie G/using a magazine to avenge internet beefs with rapper's managers."
ReplyDeleteCould you expand on this/provide some hard evidence? That kind of accusation is one I, at least, don't take lightly.
I don't know if it was the collective weight of critical expectations so much as realizing that they built their hype backwards (trickle down more than grassroots).
Ayo,
ReplyDelete1) Soderberg began covering G-Side between Starshipz and Huntsville International. So... uhhh.
2) He's the only critic who's regularly covering G-Mane, so... uhhhh.
3) Mainly praising the old and the obscure is on some hipster shit.
4) Really the only thing that's changed is that Clova left to become Yung Future. So..... uhhh.
Mr Tre Mane, we demand that the identities of these American bloggers be revealed!
ReplyDeleteDamn I got bloggers and magazines working for me? I guess I should start a PR company now.
ReplyDeleteSumthin 2 Hate is still my favorite record by them...i think Block Beattaz desire to flex their production chops really ended up hurting their later releases. Im worried the new 2lettaz album is just gonna be one long track with him rapping over a 40 minute digeridoo drone with trance drums in the background, when really I would kill for another Rubba Bandz or Bama Wave.
ReplyDeletei can't even count four notable american bloggers.
ReplyDelete"secretly working for Codie G/using a magazine to avenge internet beefs with rapper's managers." Could you expand on this/provide some hard evidence?
ReplyDeleteWell, the first is a rumour that's been flying around for a while, which seems plausible given that he appears to be a little too buddy-buddy with G-Side for someone covering them objectively. The 2nd is a definite fact since he used SPIN as an outlet to attack A$AP Rocky after his beef with A$AP Yams which Rocky played no part in.
Nothing particularly wrong with that in theory since Rocky is a waste of space and I admire any kind of pettiness, but in all the stuff I read by Soderberg (admitedly only links David Drake sends me and things Alex posts on the P) he's always crowing on about his journalistic integrity and calling other people out for a lack of it, which seems awfully rich coming from him, no?
So if Soderberg isn't on Codie G's payroll and criticizes A$AP Rocky independently of his beef with Yams, you have no case, amirite? Your argument seems to revolve around presumed intentions.
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd point is an established fact; the first point is highly likely if, technically, unproveable; and the usage of G-Side as a part of his agenda over the past year or so did cause people to stop checking for them, so I think it's a watertight case overall, imo.
ReplyDeleteWhat was your take on the Lupe/Soderberg situation, Richard?
ReplyDeleteThe first point is hihly unlikely, bruh. G-Side don't even spend money on videos for their own songs. What would Codie G offer him? A haircut at Clova's salon?
ReplyDeleteAnd I tried to google for your established fact but couldn't actually find an instance of Soderberg using Spin to actually write something negative about A$AP. I know he's not a fan, but that's mainly from his personal twitter. So where's the proof for the established fact?
It's true that G-Side's turn to the left since H'ville Intl has alienated some of their earliest fans. But blaming that turn on Soderberg is kind if a reach. Didn't they actually gain more fans over the last couple of years? If some "notable bloggers" deserted them I'm sure they could live with it. Especially if blog support was part of the problem in the first place.
I don't read articles about Lupe Fiasco. Wasn't the general consensus that he sorta had a point but he expressed it terribly and he's probably the last person on earth who should be making it in the first place?
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I have vague memories of his "I'm more sensitive to black ppl than you guys!" pissing contests with various other white bloggers in the great comment section wars of 2008, though, so I'm sure the Lupe piece contains a few wonderful quotables.
Clearly you didn't google hard enough then because A$AP Rocky started a "boycott SPIN!" campaign because of Brendan's vendetta.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, my case is watertight here.
If your case is that Brandon Soderberg doesn't like A$AP Rocky but loves him some G-Side and that his writing reflects this fact, then yeah. Your case is watertight.
ReplyDeleteI don't appreciate your snarky tone, Anonymous. Every point I've made has been backed up and verified by my fact-checkers.
ReplyDeleteI think Brendan being a highly professional journalist who exploited a couple of naive Alabama rappers + their manager for his own ends and managed to ruin their career in the process is a very serious matter, as is him abusing his job at a major media publication to indulge in vendettas against rappers who happen to be connected to people he clashes with on Twitter.
I guess I just have more moral integrity than you, bruv.
To me it looks more like an ax to grind.
ReplyDeleteNever dat; Brendan wouldn't even make my top 5 rap bloggers God should've taken instead of Matthew Africa list.
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful for your feedback, Anonymous, but I have a 35-comment limit here and we're into the mid 20s already so if you wouldn't mind being a dear and exiting stage left pursued by a Big Bear Doin' Thangs CD now you've said your piece on at least 5 separate occasions.
When I ask for "hard evidence," I am asking for links, screenshots, etc. Not your memories.
ReplyDeleteThere's an element of cheap trolling going on here, but there's also some truth in Soderberg getting a little too close for comfort with G. Side and the RNT beef explaining why he went to ridiculous extremes to shit on/exclude Rocky from the venn diagram article.
ReplyDeleteLMAO.
ReplyDeleteThe Yams vs. Soderberg beef was a classic.
Trolling? This post was a sincere send-off for a pretty good if overrated group.
ReplyDeleteBding, I think I've provided quite enough "hard evidence" here already; if you require any further information you can either Google it yourself, or ask David Drake since he's the Soderberg expert who sends me links to Brendan's literary highlights.
I'm sure he'd be happy to fill you in on the minutiae of A$APerberg-gate on Twitter or the skewed agenda of the infamous Hip Hop infographic article in SPIN.
um, to be clear, i am not a blogger who stopped listening to g-side because of things brandon wrote.
ReplyDeletesometimes the tone of internet exp with an artist will make one WANT to, as I'm sure has been the case with other ppl & artists ive covered as well. but i am generally positively inclined to like g-side & greatly enjoyed their show last year.
no comment on martorialist throwing me under the bus re: his trolling of brandon & general shit stirring.
David, didn't you say that Brendan gave some Boldy James mixtape a bad review just to spite you after the two of you had had a disagrement on Twitter?
ReplyDeleteI know you have to be diplomatic in public, but surely you can't condone the actions of someone who abuses their media position to besmirch the careers of rappers just because they happen to be affiliated with bloggers he beefs with on Twitter?
If Martorialist is even half the shit-starter he thinks he is, he will post these clearly, legendary e-mails with Drake. Otherwise, he's as phony and diplomatic as all of us "professionals" getting a check out of all this junk.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how that logic works - I'm just an innocent bystander in this mess like A$AP Rocky and Boldy James.
ReplyDeleteMost updates from David come via now-unretrievable Gchat conversations, but I guess there's the odd email too like this one entitled wow which alerted me to a couple of your tweets claiming that the term Gangsta-Rap was invented post-2pac/Biggie.
Really wish the guy in this thread who talks about starting a best of Soderberg tumblr would follow through on his idea for us casual fans.
This is amazing. So basically, every time I not only write something but even tweet something, David Drake runs to GChat and whines to the Martorialist (who, as this comments thread proves never reads my work) about it, and then Martorialist lodges some half-hearted "shots" at me into his blogspot posts? Even for the rap internet, this is pretty sad.
ReplyDeleteMayn, if I sent shots your way every time Drake or Alex linked to something lol-worthy you'd written that would be, like, every other day, and the times I have mentioned you have been related to the topics at hand and 100% factual, like this post.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you slinking up here 5 days later when this post has nearly reached its allocated amount of comments, but you need to just get on with having a public spat with David Drake already.