jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 11/02/2022 - Takeoff's Quiet Genius, Touring Is Breaking Musicians, Katie Crutchfield, Kevin Morby, RM, Pharrell...

I'm chill, I'm laid back, but it's time to pop it, you know what I mean? It's time to give me my flowers. I don't want 'em later on when I ain't here. I want 'em right now.
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Wednesday November 02, 2022
REDEF
Migos' Takeoff at Global Citizen Live, Los Angeles, Sept. 25, 2021.
(Rich Fury/Getty Images)
quote of the day
"I'm chill, I'm laid back, but it's time to pop it, you know what I mean? It's time to give me my flowers. I don't want 'em later on when I ain't here. I want 'em right now."
- Takeoff, 1994 – 2022
rantnrave://
Flow Chart

He was the not-so-secret weapon in one of the defining groups of the 2010s, the quiet one off the mic and the master technician on the mic in a trio that helped set the tone for the commercial explosion of Southern trap and all but wrote the blueprint for how pop singers would phrase some of the decade's biggest hits. If you've been anywhere near a radio or a pop playlist in the past decade, you're familiar with the Migos flow, the staccato, triplet delivery that TAKEOFF perfected with his uncle QUAVO and his cousin OFFSET in MIGOS. The latter two were the group's celebrities. Takeoff, who was 14 when the group formed, was the primary engine. The anchor and "technical glue." The creator of some of Migos' "most vivid and hilarious lyrics," which he actually delivered in blizzards of cross-cutting, ever-changing flows that could turn even the sharpest heads in hip-hop. (And yes, sometimes there might just be one word repeated over and over and over. It was supposed to be fun, and it was.) All this while not appearing on the group's biggest hit, an accident of time and space that he'd rectify by asking a startled interviewer, "Do it look like I'm left off 'BAD AND BOUJEE'?" Even on the red carpet, the Migos flow kept flowing. And it did not, in fact, look like he'd been left off anything.

On Tuesday, less than a month after Takeoff and Quavo released an album that may or may not have confirmed Migos' run had come to an end, their story took a tragic, heartbreaking turn. Takeoff, born 28 years ago as KIRSNICK KHARI BALL, became the 25th rapper murdered in the US in 2022, another chapter in a story that everyone in hip-hop is painfully aware of any hardly anyone else is paying serious attention to. He was at a private party at a bowling alley in Houston. There are 25 reasons and 25 stories, some possibly connected, some not, behind the murders of these men. There are difficult conversations to be had, within hip-hop, within various subcultures, within social media, within various cities and states. But also within the entirety of the American population. There's one thing all 25 murders have in common, and it isn't music. Takeoff wasn't playing music Tuesday morning. Don't blame the hip-hop community, Houston police chief TROY FINNER said a few hours later. PNB ROCK, shot in Los Angeles a month ago, was eating lunch with his girlfriend. They, like all the other men, were victims of gun violence. Without *that* discussion, any other discussions will be embarrassingly incomplete. There are too many guns in bowling alleys, in restaurants, in clubs, on street corners, and everywhere else. We need to talk about this. We need to do something about this.

And One More Thing

We also need to agree to stop posting and sharing photos and videos of the body, which is in amazingly poor taste and serves no purpose except to disrespect the dead and dehumanize the rest of us. I don't have the power to make everyone on social media do this, obviously. But we could do the world a favor by shutting the website TMZ, which fed that poisonous impulse once again Tuesday, out of our lives. (And by not rushing to publish stories based on their thinly sourced, deceptively written attempts to beat everyone else to the story. Block them and do your own reporting.)

Etc Etc Etc

The great and mysterious entity SAULT dropped *five* albums Tuesday, which it says will be available for exactly five days in a password-protected folder. You have social media skills. I'm assuming you can find the password... Experimental/futurist musician HOLLY HERNDON dropped exactly one song in which she deep-fakes herself with a cover of DOLLY PARTON's "JOLENE"... The catalog of songs available to AMAZON PRIME members has ballooned from 2 million to 100 million, but unless you pay an additional monthly fee, you'll have to listen in shuffle mode... The secret origins of the conductor.

- Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator
do it look like i'm left off?
Houston Chronicle
Migos rapper Takeoff, 28, fatally shot at private Houston party
By Jonathan Limehouse, Joey Guerra, Shaniece Holmes-Brown...
Rapper Takeoff of the Atlanta-based group Migos was fatally shot at a downtown Houston bowling alley early Tuesday.
Rolling Stone
Remembering Takeoff, The Best Rapper in Migos
By Andre Gee
He was "the quiet" member of the Atlanta rap group, but his demeanor belied a commanding presence.
Slate
Migos' Takeoff Helped Change the Sound of Popular Music
By Nitish Pahwa
The Atlanta trio that revolutionized the rhythms of rap has come to a shocking end.
Music x
Believe them when they say: touring is breaking musicians
By Beatriz Negreiros
Why is it that touring musicians are not allowed to catch up, and are being left to spoil in our old, unsustainable ways?
Stuff
New Zealand's live music scene faces a crew crisis this summer
By Amberleigh Jack
From stage set up and loading crew to guitar technicians and stage managers - there's just not enough people to work the summer of gigs.
Money 4 Nothing
Dan Ozzi on the Political Economy of Selling Out
By Saxon Baird, Sam Backer and Dan Ozzi
It's a tale as old as Nirvana. A band (ideally punk or punk influenced) forms and gets some buzz. Major labels swarm. The kids sign on the dotted line...and are promptly thrown to the wolves. Fade to black. 
Trapital
The Trapital Culture Report 2022
By Dan Runcie
This is a breakdown on the trends that matter most in music, hip-hop, and more. We have exclusive insights on how artists make money, earn streaming revenue, invest in companies, and use social media to level up.
The Bitter Southerner
To Live & Breathe Inside A Song
By Hannah Hayes
Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee, and Kevin Morby have spent more than a decade sojourning through a real and mythical geography in their songs and on endless tours. Now in a new season of life and a new home, the couple has found that, away from the noisy East and West Coast scenes, they hear their true selves best in the quiet spot they've plotted in the middle of the map.
Rolling Stone
'What If I Don't Like Music Anymore?': A Wildly Honest Conversation Between BTS' RM and Pharrell Williams
By Brian Hiatt
BTS and Pharrell have a secret collab coming -- and that's just one of the revelations from this meeting of two superstars.
REVOLT
Quavo & Takeoff Talk Their Music Journey, The Future Of Migos, The Rap Game & More
By N.O.R.E., DJ EFN, Quavo...
The guys share stories of the Migos culture they've built, working with a variety of artists, their new album, VERZUZ and much much more.
stackin' my money like pringles
DJ Mag
How is the cost-of-living crisis hitting UK nightlife?
By Jack Ramage
Amid soaring energy bills, rising costs and hesitant ticket buyers, Jack Ramage talks to club owners and promoters about how they're weathering the storm.
Mixmag
Can Ibiza survive by building a sustainable future?
By Patrick Hinton
As the dust settles on Ibiza's longest ever season, the break from clubbing and impact of the pandemic has sparked an identity crisis on the White Isle, raising questions about the economic reliance and environmental impact of party tourism.
Andscape
Lupe Fiasco on his latest challenge: teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
By C. Brandon Ogbunu
The Grammy-winning rapper talks about the fusion between academia and hip-hop.
The Vinyl Factory
The thin blue records that opened up musical horizons for Soviet youth
By Kateryna Pavlyuk
Kateryna Pavlyuk recalls the history of Krugozor magazine and explores the impact its blue records had on Soviet youth.
Pitchfork
RETRO READ: The Ancestral Migosity of Rap
By Leonard Horne
Critic Leonard Horne looks to Africa for the roots of the Migos flow.
Music Business Worldwide
Why ingesting 100,000 tracks a day may not prove sustainable for Spotify's business in the long-term
By Tim Ingham
Why it's worth keeping an eye on Spotify's hosting costs as over 100 million tracks a day hit streaming platforms.
Billboard
Megan Thee Stallion, Post Malone & More Music Heavyweights Demand Limits on Using Rap Lyrics in Court
By Chris Eggertsen
In an open letter, artists, record labels and activists urge prosecutors and legislators to restrict how lyrics can be used in criminal trials.
The Daily Beast
Inside Phil Spector's Dark Journey From Musical Genius to Murderer
By Nick Schager
The new Showtime docuseries "Spector" (Nov. 4) examines the rise and fall of "Wall of Sound" music producer Phil Spector and pays homage to his victim, Lana Clarkson.
Stereogum
The 'Meet Me In The Bathroom' Movie Omits Too Much, But What's In There Is Mesmerizing
By Chris DeVille
A look at the documentary centered on the Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, and other early 2000s NYC rock bands.
Esquire
Bob Dylan Isn't Done Lying to Us Just Yet
By Alan Light
'The Philosophy of Modern Song' is, as a title, almost entirely untrue. But the work is revealing nonetheless.
Billboard
How a 95-Year-Old Grandmother Nabbed a Latin Grammy Best New Artist Nomination
By Sigal Ratner-Arias
Angela Alvarez is a newly minted recording artist thanks to her grandson's efforts.
what we're into
Music of the day
"R.I.P."
Migos
Video of the day
"Tiny Desk (Home) Concert"
Migos
August 2021.
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