IGGY POP
Gardenia ★★★★★
Caroline Records
With the passing of Lou Reed and now David Bowie, Iggy Pop is the last surviving member of 1970s alt-rock's holy trinity. Commendable longevity for a man who's scarcely worn a shirt in 40 years. In the circumstances, we should be grateful he's with us at all, let alone releasing new material that actually compares favourably to his very best work. Gardenia comes from the album Post Pop Depression, which was was recorded at Joshua Tree, California with Josh Homme and Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age, and Matt Helders of Arctic Monkeys on drums. Iggy's also streaming new tune Break Into Your Heart from the sessions. Post Pop Depression is due March 18th.
MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS ft. JAMILA WOODS
White Privilege II ★★
The Seattle based hip-hop novelty artist who beat out Jay-Z, Kanye and Kendrick for Best Rap Artist at the Grammy's in 2014 is back with this cringeworthy broadside against white privilege. In it, he also calls out celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Iggy Azealia for cultural appropriation. This, incidentally, would be the same Macklemore whose 2009 hit Irish Celebration had Irish people hurling "bottles of gasoline" at anyone who crosses them and cherishing Lucky Charms cereal as a badge of identity. Because that's what we're all about, apparently.
B.O.B.
Flatline ★
For a man who appears quite literally to have lost his mind, Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. has a commendable worth ethic. Less than 24 hours after his Twitter clash with Neil Degrasse Tyson over the thorny issue of whether or not the earth is round (Tyson reckons so, the rapper has... different ideas), the 27-year- old doubled down on the feud with this bonkers diss track.
Scratch a conspiracy theorist, though, and you’ll inevitably find an anti-Semite underneath. So notorious Holocaust denier David Irving is name-checked for good measure. Asked by one of his 2.3m Twitter followers if he was medicated, Billy Ray replied: “I’m not doing anything stronger than weed.” Hmm. Must be a particularly potent strain.
UPDATE - As of 4pm Wedneday, the track has been removed from Soundcloud. And Degrasse Tyson has also responded with the help of his rapping nephew, who performs the track Flat to Fact over Drake's Back to Back. with Degrasse Tyson providing, ahem, vocals at the beginning and the end.
