A variety of mishaps and screw-ups proudly presents: Weekend Jukebox!…
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[4.89]
Renato Pagnani: This rests firmly in a subgenre of rap that I despise -— songs where rappers just list off other rappers, most of which have been irrelevant for at least a decade. That’s not songwriting, that’s just proving you don’t have Alzheimer’s (yet). Norah Jones does her best Erykah Badu impression, and it’s not a bad one either, but her voice don’t possess the smoky psychedelia that permeates Badu’s. The beat’s the kind that Dilla infused with ramshackle thump when he was around and the kind that everyone else fails at duplicating, Q-Tip included. Not only a sleeper, but a meandering mess as well.
[2]
Martin Skidmore: The instruments sound a touch out of synch here, oddly, and more Norah’s thing than Q-Tip’s. It’s also over two minutes before Q-Tip makes his appearance. She is singing a romantic song, then he just lists his favourite hip hop acts in nasal, robotic tones. A mess, I’m sorry to say.
[3]
John Seroff: I had grown weary of Q-Tip in the same way I’ve gotten weary with Chuck D and KRS-1; I’ll always have love for the back-in-the-day but I had a hard time believing there was one more great song left in the ol’ Budweiser-shiller’s quiver. That’s my excuse for skipping Kamaal/The Abstract and The Renaissance before it; thank god cream floats and the year-old “Life Is Better” is seeing a late but welcome release. The slightly off-kilter tha-bump bass and slack, plunky bass and keys are all vintage Tribe. Jones’ solo and hook are a gentle and beautiful revision of “I Used to Love H.E.R.” with a happy ending, and Tip’s name-checking verse is as good as anything I’ve heard from him since the nineties. Corny but compelling, “Life Is Better” is mature work from an artist who still has miles to go; on the strength of this single alone, I’m off to find a copy of Renaissance now.
[9]
Martin Kavka: When Common represented hip-hop as a woman in “I Used To Love H.E.R.,” he pointed out that “once the man got to” hip-hop, “he altered the native.” Q-Tip revolts against this view by representing hip-hop as a woman in a song that has a hook sung by your grandmother’s favorite young Blue Note Records artist. Against Common’s identitarianism, “Life Is Better” sees “white” and “black” music in America as fake categories. Interesting — perhaps even fascinating — but I don’t know whether I believe it or not (I’ll leave it to other blurbers who know more about the history of “white” forms of music — bluegrass, c&w, easy-listening — to decide whether Common or Q-Tip has won the metaphorical battle here). Oh, and the song itself is a bit of a snooze.
[5]
Matt Cibula: Any life this track has is in its light atmospheric bounce and the rich creamy vocals of America’s sweetheart Norah Jones, who is worth five points all by herself even doing a Jill Scott impersonation.
[5]
Tal Rosenberg: Tip flips the track chorus off to Norah Jones/Jam made for commercials featuring iPod headphones/Beat cushion MC tossing crazy verbals/Not bad to listen to while blazing herbals.
[7]
Alfred Soto: The perfunctory rhythm track and Jones’ disinterested wisp of a voice speaks to truth in advertising. Life is so good for the hip-hop legend (who made a perfectly respectable comeback last year) and the Grammy winner that they can barely concentrate on the task at hand.
[5]
Hillary Brown: Better but obviously either not so much better as to be actually inspiring or better in a kind of happy, cozy way that leads to withdrawal from the rest of the world. I don’t like to think happiness ruins one’s capacity for great art, but this song is evidence for that argument.
[3]
Anthony Miccio: After “Losing My Edge,” it’s really hard to take a blitz of nostalgic name-dropping seriously. Especially when it comes after a half a song’s worth of organ ostinatos and Norah Jones. Especially when it sounds like every voice and instrument on the track has been huffing helium.
[5]