Scary Movie 4 and Spank Rock

Scary Movie 4

I'd like my brain cells back please.

It's impossible for anyone to walk into a film like Scary Movie and expect anything more than silly fun, but apparently even that was a lot to ask. The reason why the first ones worked more or less is that despite being ridiculously off-the-wall, they were focused enough where it didn't feel like a moshposh of ill-fated skits that would barely be amusing on their own and only try to outdo each other in pure stupidity rather than humor. Considering this is the only movie that had absolutely no involvement from the Wayans Brothers, it seems like that can be the only reason for this movie to be so terrible. While many of the things that happened within the movie could've very well been funny (and on some rare occasions are), there isn't any time for the jokes to really work their magic as the high-strung pace of the movie could only be fitting for six year olds with the shortest of attention spans. Perhaps next time they shouldn't focus so hard on the name dropping (there are almost too many cameos in this film if that's possible) and steer the movies back to being a bit more of a commentary on the films they're making fun of; possibly something more interesting than the "let's speak faux-Japanese by naming every Japanese company or food we can think of" gag that died out the same time it stopped being hip to have white guys play Native Americans. If you really need to escape, there are about a million things that I can think of that I'd rather do (a million more that are illegal), so really, just don't bother.

Overall Rating: 0


Spank Rock YoYoYoYoYoYo

The most innovative thing to happen in hip-hop in a long, long time.

Right off the bat, after listening to "Backyard Betty" you would think that you'd stumbled on yet another incredibly inventive, if a bit cacophonic, British trip-hop duo. You would be wrong, as the very group that could save the fading creativity that exists within hip-hop comes from the city of Baltimore, MD. Now I should warn right off the bat that they do call themselves Spank Rock for a reason, as essentially every song thrives on its very nastiness that is accentuated with the rugged production. The lyrics though are never really spoken seriously, and often times appear to mock everyone from 50 Cent to Neptunes and others for their fake "hardness" and misogynistic lyrics. Of course, there's always the edited version, and as good as this album is there should be no reason not to buy it if it'd sit better with you. First and foremost, the beats and production provided by XXXChange are superb and while some tracks wouldn't sound too out of place as a backdrop for Roots Manuva or The Streets, MC Naeem Juwan does an even better job of spattering in his raps without ever overpowering the production making for an incredibly spartanic-yet-smart sound that hasn't been heard since the earliest days of hip hop. The aforementioned "Backyard Betty" is an outstanding opening track, with its avalanche of beats matched with quirky video game affects, while "Bump" and "Sweet Talk" deliver a hammering one-two punch. "Bump," shows off Juwan's lyrical ability and the additional rap by Amanda Blank elevates the song to an even higher level. "Sweet Talk" is an all-out party track, and shows off XXXChange's dexterity as a producer, as the sound ranges everywhere from Electronica to Rock to Motown R&B as Juwan once again matches him point for point. This is an incredibly addicting album and is one of the most inventive debut albums I've ever heard, let alone in the hip-hop genre. I do think that Spank Rock might've caught onto something that should kick the door open for other artists if this hits the mainstream. A must have.

Overall Rating: 100