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B-b-but... that's what LL does so well, simple rhymes put together economically. Plus that verse has, to me, a pretty interesting rhyme structure (I don't know how you're really supposed to write these things out, but I guess something like A/A/bb/A/C/C/dd/C etc.) (And, not sure if this is what you mean, but the 'Shaida' line opens the second rhyme set (its the first 'C' in my little chart), so its not strictly a continuation of the previous line.) Anyway I am pointlessly arguing about a matter of taste now (on the other hand, this is the Pop Corner...)
But yeah, 'pastiche' wasn't meant as a diss, maybe I should have said 'homage' but that seems a little, uh, pretentious. I think the relation between the songs is pretty clear (I mean, that there is a relation, not nec. what that relation is - imitation, parody, Oedipal rivalry? I mean JD is always bitter that he doesn't get critical love as a producer) Esp. given the use of 'Control' in the latter track's title - its an obvious signpost, yeah? I think part of the pleasure (you're supposed to take) in the track is that frisson of pop-eats-itself recognition, like the kind of cycle that gets you Rihanna riffing on Soft Cell 20 years later sped up to near-breaking-point.
In some ways its a dancehall-ish move, now that I think about it - like when Elephant Man, in particular, uses a retro-pop melody over a contempo riddim (Willie Bounce, say, where he goes nuts around the chorus from 'I Will Survive' for a mad kopa burn out; it's my favourite dancehall track of last year, but he does this kind of thing all the time). Here you got LL doing 'Cali' and J-Lo's faux-reggaeton vamp over what's basically JD's version of the Lose Control riddim - okay maybe I am taking this too far now and I basically can't believe I thought/wrote that much about this song. |
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