Song of the Week

Andrew Kim
Period 5
Music Appreciation


Artist: Gang Starr
Song: Moment of Truth

          Gang Starr is an East Coast hip hop duo founded in 1987, consisting of MC Guru and DJ Premier. The duo were influenced by the New York hip hop scene, producing songs that reflected that particular style. Not only would the duo produce songs that reflected their style, but they also created songs that were innovative, combining hip hop with jazz beats in order to create their own specific style.
         Keith Edward Elam, Guru, was born on July 17, 1961. His MC name Guru is a backronym for Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal and also God is Universal; he is the Ruler Universal. Both of the backronyms are references to the teachings of the Nations of Gods and Earths. Guru died on April 19, 2010 at the age of 48 from cancer.
         Christopher Edward Martin, DJ Premier, was born on March 21, 1966. He is also known as Preem, Premo, or Primo for short. The Source named DJ Premier one of the five greatest producers in hip-hop history. The editors of About.com ranked him #1 on their top 50 Hip-Hop Producer list. To this day DJ Premier is still an active producer. He contributed a song on the Game's "Red Album". In a recent interview, he also expressed his desire to work with J. Cole and Drake.
         I like the song above because the beat is smooth and original. The lyrics also show the intellectual side of MC Guru. A trait that is all too forgotten and ignored in today's hip-hop scene.

Mario Object

Andrew Kim

Music Appreciation

Period 5

           My mario character is the smiling cloud. The materials I will use to construct this object wil be white foam boards, cushion pullows, and maybe some styrofoam. Because my metaphor will be the Loyola campus, I will draw out bricks in my cloud. The bricks are suppose to remind someone of the bricks of Loyola, making the metaphor obvious.  After constructing the cloud, I will hang it up so it looks like a real cloud, enabling a person to experience and see the stuff Mario would see in a 3-dimensional world.

          The metaphor for my cloud wil be the school campus, specifically Loyola Hall. In Mario, the cloud is always happy. It doesn't really do anything for you, but it is always there to support you. The cloud is just a part of the environment. It smiles so it is always suportive of your moves. Just like how the school campus supports the student and gives him the basics to succeed. Even though the campus is there for you it doesn't mean that it will help you. Like Mario, the cloud doesn't help you. You have to bea the level yourself. 

         The sound my object will make is the background song in the mario game. The cloud is a piece of the environment, and thus the background music goes well with the concept of my object.

Song of the Week

Andrew Kim
Period 5
Music Appreciation

Artist: Atmosphere
Song: Sunshine

          Atmosphere is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group is made up of rapper Slug (Sean Daley) and DJ/Producer Ant (Anthony Davis). Two of my favorite songs from this hip hop group is "Sunshine" (the song above) and "Yesterday". Slug's rapping style is very introspective. Most of his songs' lyrical content reflects the things he is thinking about. He opens about his life in his songs. His music almost is used as a sort of therapy for him, using his creative song writing proccess to deal with the issues he's been facing.
          The song above, "Sunshine" is from their album "Sad Clown Bad Summer". I like this song because it sounds very soothing. The most noticable instrument used in this song is the piano. It gives the song a very cool and chill vibe, making it a great song to listen to on a Sunday afternoon.

Song of the Week

Andrew Kim

Period 5

Music Appreciation

Artist: Murs

Song: L.A.

Born on March 16, 1978, Nick Carter aka "Murs" is an American rapper. He is signed to the independent recod label "Record Collection". Murs was a member of many famous hip hop groups such as Living Legends, Felt, and 3 Melancholy Gypsys. My favorite Murs song is the one above "L.A." I like this song because the beat is very original, and his lyrics actually has some meaning to it, unlike most rap songs on the radio. Murs is rapping about L.A., the place where he grew up in. And because I also grew up in L.A., I was easily able to relate to his lyrics. This song is also just simply a bery catchy song that I like listening to.