Wolf
Tyler, the Creator
Before you listen to Tyler, the Creator’s third album, Wolf, keep this in mind: The rapper lives to offend. Wolf has enough slurs against gays to keep GLAAD busy for the next year, and he is an equal opportunity offender, doling out insults against women and others over 18 tracks.
Much like his breakthrough album, 2011’s Goblin, Tyler continues to rap with no filter, but in trying to be overly brash, he ends up detracting and distracting from what overall is a pretty good album.
When the 22-year-old isn’t dropping f-bombs, he often reflects on his childhood and his ascension from being a “dweeb” to becoming famous. That’s when he’s most compelling. On Pig, he tells a story about an often bullied kid who decides to carry a gun, willing to shoot the ones who constantly picked on him.
Tyler is lyrically strong on the Pharrell-assisted IFHY, confessing his hatred toward a particular female who hurt his feelings. On Rusty, with Domo Genesis and Earl Sweatshirt, he addresses his critics by sarcastically asking them why they believe he hates gays.
“Look at that article that says my subject matter is wrong, saying I hate gays even though Frank is on 10 of my songs,” he raps, noting his Odd Future band mate is Frank Ocean, who revealed last year that his first love was a man. But that still doesn’t stop him from dropping gay slurs, in that song and others.
He and Ocean team up twice on Wolf, and they’re a good pair, particularly on the smooth Slater, as Tyler raps about having fun on his bike. Another good listen is Treehome95, featuring Quadron’s Coco O. and Erykah Badu.
In the end, Tyler shows that he is a talented lyricist on an album that is well-produced and can be very entertaining — that is, if you don’t mind the vitriol that accompanies it.
— Jonathan Landrum Jr.
Associated Press
Sleight of Hand: A Novel of Suspense
Phillip Margolin
Private investigator Dana Cutler returns in Sleight of Hand, Phillip Margolin’s best book in years. Deception is prominent, and the villain is truly vile.
Charles Benedict is a criminal defense lawyer, amateur magician and cold-blooded killer. Ten years earlier, millionaire Horace Blair persuaded the prosecutor in his DUI case to marry him. He also persuaded her to sign a prenuptial agreement that promised her $20 million if she remained faithful for the first 10 years of their marriage.
Two days before the payout, Benedict slips her a date-rape drug and videotapes the deed. When she confronts him and demands the truth, he kills her. Benedict then frames Blair for the crime.
Meanwhile, Cutler receives a cryptic offer to investigate the theft of a scepter with origins in the Ottoman Empire. As it takes her across the country, she realizes the pieces don’t fit and she might have been set up.
A magician never reveals his secrets, and like the best prestidigitators, Margolin manipulates readers into believing one thing, then reveals the surprising truth. In Sleight of Hand, he has created a legal thriller that’s guaranteed to mislead and shock readers.
— Jeff Ayers
Associated Press
Wheelhouse
Brad Paisley
The title of Brad Paisley’s new album, Wheelhouse, could imply the country music star is sticking with what he does best. Indeed, the 17-song album — the first in which he’s listed as sole producer — presents several songs extending his reputation for clever, sometimes comic, twists on love (Death of a Married Man), modern life (Beat This Summer) and sentimental romanticism (I Can’t Change the World).
But Paisley also has a history of taking chances, and that’s never been truer than on his new album. The song Accidental Racist opens with a guy being confronted by a Starbucks clerk for wearing a Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt that features a Confederate flag. The lyrics go on to explore the tension between “Southern pride and Southern blame,” complete with a rap break by LL Cool J.
Southern Comfort Zone similarly confronts the regionalism that leads some Southerners — and many current country singers — to boast about life in the rural South. Paisley loves where he’s from, he sings, but acknowledges that seeing the world has opened his mind to the perspective of others in a positive way.
Yes, Paisley knows what he does well. But Wheelhouse proves he’s not content with playing it safe.
— Michael McCall
Associated Press