Music

10 ways to be feelin’ this week

by Darcy MacDonald

Drake vs. Kanye + all the rap shows and dance parties fit to print (and even some that aren’t, because that guy should be in jail, maybe).

shineI always get a kick out of people who expect me have really strong, black-or-white opinions about music. In conversation I’m often put on the spot to weigh in on something, and if what I say doesn’t conform to someone’s expectation of me, shit gets weird, every time.

People don’t like to be confused, and they do like to be right, and ergo cannot deal with someone who not only refuses to agree or disagree on matters that don’t require definition and doesn’t care about being right or wrong.

Also, it’s easy to have one’s words twisted. Like, I make no secret that I don’t like Drake. I just don’t like his voice — it’s that simple. I don’t care about him any kind of way beyond that. I’m not passionate in my dislike of Drake. My ear is attuned enough to recognize the musicality of Drake, and so I understand why his fan base is behind him.

And yet every time fuckin’ Drake comes up around me and someone wants to test, I’m dismissed with “Ah, but you just hate Drake!” regardless what I say.

Common said it so well, so long ago: “If I don’t like it, I don’t like it — that don’t mean that I’m hating.”

Or over on the flip, I love Kanye. Now, I’m not selling Kanye. I don’t have shares in Kanye. I don’t really give a good goddam what anyone thinks about him or his music. And I don’t know who I dislike most, the detractors who troll me to come to his defence only to just brush whatever I say off with an icky shudder, or his diehard fans that are still mad at me for saying Yeezus basically blew on the whole.

But the absolute best is getting called out for being either a hipster contrarian or an unapologetic fanboy, depending whose vision I’m upsetting. Fuck, I don’t even have time to listen to everything out there, let alone found and maintain a single, solid opinion about it all. So believe I don’t front. And when I’m a fanboy, I’m not even trying to apologize.

When I love and believe in something — and this is with music as in all matters — I’ll dip and dive and play devil’s advocate with the best of them in any debate. Even right now, in saying all this, there is no good guy/bad guy dimension to things. I ain’t mad. It’s just, make no mistake, I’m not dying to convince you of anything out here.

Anyways, it’s just funny and I wanted that off my chest. I’m a music opinion writer who doesn’t take my own opinions about music as seriously as you might think.

I just know where to have a good time, is all.

Thursday: Here’s a great example. Last week I said, “I like Rich Homie Quan” at the beginning of a sentence and used the word “hate” within the same one. “Like” may have been a little strong, in hindsight. At any rate, he‘s here in town at le Petit Olympia tonight and the kids love him f’sho. 1282 Amherst, 8 p.m., $40/$34 students/$50 VIP, all ages

Or take Budda Child. I’ve heard people talk shit about him and then turn around and talk shit about the person they were with. With me, Budda’s always just been a real cat, and he’s a scene vet who puts his work in. He celebrates Chinese New Year with a free record release for his LP solo debut, One in a Billion, at Pirahna Bar, with support from DJs Blaster and Richs, Daybi, ElonSkee, Rotty Squad, Urbn Logix and Budda’s Strata-Gems crew. Show love and cop the new album for 10 stones. 680 Ste-Catherine W., 8 p.m., free

Friday: Chocolate Jungle melts le Belmont all over again. These jams are making history. 4483 St-Laurent, 10 p.m., $10/$15

Meanwhile, if you Free Ur Mind >> Ur Ass Will Follow with DJs Mark Tha Magnanimous and Manifest at Luwan. 1050 Clark, 10 p.m.

And it’s another Voyage Funktastique at Bleury Bar à Vinyle with Walla P and Dr.MaD. 2109 Bleury, 10 p.m., $4 before midnight/$7

Saturday: Hip hop is in the building at Alizé with a showcase featuring Taigenz, Sector A, Rod le Stod and Johnny Danger. 900 Ontario E., p.m., $5/$10

Back at Luwan, GrandBuda and Noo-Bap make it wavy. 1050 Clark, 10 p.m.

And the Third Bass party crew move it over to B1 Cocktail Club for an evening of funkin’ around with selectors Oonga, Yellow Shades and MXLG.

Sunday: Don’t sleep on Halifax’s Ghettosocks, who makes a return visit at Blue Dog Motel with guests including Loe Pesci and Cee. 3958 St-Laurent, 9:30 p.m., $7/$10

Tuesday: Coming full circle back to the love/hate thing, the Bell Centre hosts a big ol’ mainstream shitshow when headlining troublemaker Chris Brown is joined by Trey Songz and the teen-dating Tyga. I don’t care for any of these artists but that doesn’t mean you don’t. I’m not judging you. Really. I’m not. Go spend your hard earned money on Chris Brown. Do it. 1909 Avenue-des-Canadiens-de-Montréal, 7:30 p.m., $39.75- $221

No? Hater!

 

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Posted in Music

by Darcy MacDonald

Contributor
Darcy MacDonald has been with Cult MTL since day one, a decade ago. Which means today, he’s a middle-aged white guy (albeit one more interested in other people’s ideas than in his own). He was previously a columnist and reporter for Montreal Mirror, and has also created content (FKA “written”) for RBMA, Noisey, Montreal Gazette, The National Post and probably some other great places he’s forgotten about. Music, culture, community and miscellaneous questions in search of answers all come across his desk, sooner or later.