It's the rap-world equivalent of a bugle sounding taps: When a once-cool hip-hop technique is being used to shill watery milkshakes, you can consider it officially FUBAR.
Jay-Z told a Chicago radio station on Tuesday that the inspiration behind his new track "D.O.A." (for "Death of Auto-Tune") came from a Wendy's commercial that used the pitch-fragmenting sound processor. Wendy's "Frosty Posse" jingle (above) was the official moment, the rapper said, when a former way to make "great music" went from "trend" to "gimmick." Since the technique gained popularity within rap specifically and then music generally, it's seeped onto Saturday Night Live and into YouTube spoofs of Katie Couric. We're going to call the lyrics downright snarky:
This is anti-autotune, death of the ringtone/
This ain't for iTunes, this ain't for sing-along/
This is Sinatra at the opera—bring a blonde
There's no question who wins this spat. Flip turns of phrase like I might send this to the Mixtape Weezy, set against cool instrumentation (is that a xylophone?!), decidedly trump Do you wanna get Frosty wit meeee?
To hear "D.O.A.", click below.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
