CAUSE I AM. SOME-BO-DY. SOME-BO-DY. SOME-BO-DY.

Yesterday had me pretty much instantly eating my words on hip-hop vs. dance music. Actually, not exactly. I understand the influence electro had on hip-hop, and I understand similarities between, say, Daft Punk and Afrika Bambaataa, or something. My main problem is DJ sets that instantly go from 135 BPM to like 90 BPM by shoving hard house beats next to gangsta rap. Sometimes makes for awkwardness on the dance floor.



Anyways, about me eating my words: for some reason I did not pick up on Lucky Boy, the new album from DJ Mehdi, which is puzzling since it's the first LP to be released by Ed Banger. It really illuminates the crossover appeal between dance and hip-hop which, according to his interview with Fader, was Mehdi's intention.

It is an extremely fly album, and I can hear a lot of my favorite Daft Punk song, "Aerodynamic", in here. For now, I'm going to have to agree with the Pitchfork review when it says, "His pre-club electro beats and glossy synth-funk are ideal for that sort of non-dancing dancing that you do while you're doing something else, which may be the intent since Mehdi's website shows him lounging around just the kind of airy Paris loft that you might wish you were in when you listen to this album." It strikes that kind of in-between space that makes for a good hang out album.



The highlight for me is definitely single "I Am Somebody" [zshare] [YSI], featuring the dudes of Chromeo. It's my new jam. It sounds like another world where Pharrell hadn't come out with any of his damning original material and just dropped a really fucking cool single on us. Also check the video, featuring dance moves, Busy P, and those Ed Banger illustrations we all know and love (thanks to the heads up from Fader).