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THE UNIVERSITY DAIRY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2015
PAGE 5
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arts & features
HOROSCOPES
Aries (March 21-April 19)
Today is an 7
You're under pressure regarding deadlines today and tomorrow. You're going through a financially savvy phase for the next few weeks with Mercury in Taurus. Profitable ideas abound. Get practical, naturally.
Taurus (April 20-May 20)
Today is an 7
Set up a group meeting to work out the changes. Team projects go well today and tomorrow. You're especially practical and clever for the next few weeks, with Mercury in your sign. Express yourself.
Gemini (May 21-June 20)
Today is a 8
You're especially practical, introspective and peaceful over the next few weeks with Mercury in Taurus. Clear up old messes. Listen to your dreams. Think twice before speaking once.
Cancer (June 21-July 22) Today is an 7
today is an 7
Expand your territory today and tomorrow. Hold meetings, parties and gatherings over the next few weeks, with Mercury in Taurus. Communication and collaboration comes easily. Friends offer insight. Get them paid.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)
Today is an 8
Review accounts today and tomorrow. Promises made over the next few weeks (with Mercury in Taurus) will take hold. Take on more responsibility. Test the limits. Verbal skills advance your career.
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Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)
Today is an 9
Everyone's more willing to compromise over the next few days.
Fall in love with a fascinating subject over the next few weeks with Mercury in Taurus. Dream of distant shores (or just go).
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)
Today is an 7
Discuss changes you'd like to make at home today and tomorrow. Business communications require more attention over the next few weeks with Mercury in Taurus. Collaborate to provide excellent value and service
Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)
Today is a 7
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan.19)
Today is an 9
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
Today is an 6
Work and make money today and tomorrow. Make practical financial choices over the next few weeks with Mercury in Taurus. Review your budget and pay off debt. Plug financial leaks Manage accounts.
It's time for fun and games. Listen carefully to your partner over the next few weeks with Mercury in Taurus. Share your enthusiasm. Compromise comes easier. Work together; play together.
Share valuable content. Passion surges over the next couple of weeks with Mercury in Taurus. Express your love. Write about your latest obsession. A good listener becomes invaluable. Discuss the rules.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)
Today is an 9
Focus on a personal matter today and tomorrow. Talk about what you'd like. For the next several weeks with Mercury in Taurus, fix up your place. Resolve a family issue.
today is an 7 You're stronger for the next two days. What you're learning becomes especially fascinating over the next few weeks with Mercury in Taurus. Concentration and focus come easier.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
DROPPING BOMB(S)
Tyler, The Creator uses new sound, fosters maturity on 'Cherry Bomb'
Christian Hardy
@HardyNFL
RICH FURY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tyler, The Creator performs at the 2015 Coachella Music and Arts Festival on April 11 in Indio, Calif. The rapper released his new album digitally on Monday.
Since his rap collective Odd Future took off in the late 2000's, Los Angeles-based rapper Tyler, The Creator has been vocal about his "radical" beliefs. And he's relished those beliefs, even producing records sporting that name in the title.
He's also been just as vocal about the way jazz and soul music has influenced him, which is a sentiment only few have come to recognize. But he hasn't put those influences on display in his previous records.
For once, on his newest album, "Cherry Bomb," released April 13, he's put the jazz, neo-soul influences into full effect, and he did it well. But the influences of N*E*R*D — a hip-hop group led by Pharrell Williams — and Death Grips seem to be evident as well.
It makes sense that we've never really seen this soulful, jazzy side of Tyler, The Creator — birth name Tyler Gregory Okonma — in his older music, simply because he's not a soulful man. On the track "Jamba," off of his 2013 album, "Wol," Tyler raps, "Get s*** poppin' like Peter's pores during puberty."
But those days feel all but over on his new album. On "Cherry Bomb," Tyler has done a complete 180. At 24 years old, his production which he does heavily on this album, much like his past two — has finally matured The aforementioned influences make this album the most diverse hip-hop record of 2015 from a production point of view.
RATING: 8.2/10
We get a gritty, hard-hitting rap-rock song over a distorted guitar riff on the opener "DEATHCAMP" and by the end of the album, on "OKAGA, CA," Tyler has moved onto a doo-wop sound which featured production from the legendary Leon Ware, who has worked with icons such as Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye.
Of course, you can't talk about Tyler's age and maturity without talking about "F****ING YOUNG/PER-FECT," where he outlines the story of a girl he's fallen for but he's too old for, stating
In between these two bookend tracks, we get "SMUCKERS" a beautiful collaboration of strings and horns, along with old school-type verses from Kanye West and Lil Wayne. Toward the end of this track, Wayne and Tyler, The Creator bounce back and forth in their verses over a jazz-infused beat. The two rappers come together for a soulful interlude.
he's six years older than she is. He's so much older that he's concerned about getting jail time, as Kali Uchis comes in the hook to sing, "a six-year difference is a 10-year sentence." This is where the neo-soul really kicks in; the synths are strong throughout the track, and we also get horns and strings as well. Tyler still comes off as immature in some of his lyrics, saying on the most serious track on the album "F***ING YOUNG/PERFECT" that he can't be in a relationship because "my d*** is longer than my attention span." It's a line like this that shows Tyler still has plenty of room to grow, but this album, pushing an entirely new and experimental sound, in a way, was huge.
One listen through the album and you'll catch one main theme: "find your wings." It may be obvious from the track titled "FIND YOUR WINGS," but it seems to be Tyler's mission statement to his listeners on this album. The track itself is the epitome of what I believe Tyler is wanting to do on this album: uplift. Uplift not only himself by doing what he wants, but uplift his listeners, who primarily consist of young adults, and encourage them to fly into whatever
they desire to do, just as he has done so successfully.
In his third attempt, Tyler has created an album that is not only sonically refreshing to the hip-hop ear, but also to any listener, something that hasn't been a trait of. Tyler's production in the past. While he still has some work to do concerning the maturity of his lyrics — topically and in individual lines themselves — the sound is there. Musically, Tyler is finally beginning to find his sound.
FAVORITE TRACK:
THE BROWN STAINS OF
DARKEES LATIFAH (Part 6-12)
Tyler brings what he says is a juvenile-inspired flow on this track, and it plays off the beat in a way he has never been able to work a beat before. He's certainly never worked a beat that is this beautiful, yet simple, before. This song just flows, and in an absolutely righteous way. After rapping about his soberness in an almost a cappella verse to start, some chords come for
RICH FURY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
another part, before the bass comes, and it becomes a full-on banger. The lyrics get pretty ridiculous here, but who's really listening to Tyler for his lyrics anyway? He changes his voice up on parts 9 and 10 before handing off the mic to the Top Dawg Entertainment's Schoolboy Q for his two parts. Personally, I would have rather see Tyler finish this song off on his own, but Schoolboy Q fit well on the track.
— Edited by Valerie Haag
Campus Arts Week encourages interaction
KELLY CORDINGLEY
@kellvcordinglev
From cellists to dancers, from actors to rappers, Campus Arts Week was chock-full of artists sharing their craft. This year was the first that the celebration of art has been a full week rather than a single day.
Courtney Foat, KU Libraries executive coordinator, said the libraries helped to spearhead the organization and promotion of the weeklong event series, which ended April 12.
"We wanted to expand it this year because we felt itd be a better means to highlight more work across campus and part of it is featuring the opportunities for students to get involved with exhibits and performances regardless of their major." Foat said.
Anthea Scouffas, engagement and education director at the Lied Center, said the Lied Center wanted to play a bigger role this year; it was a venue for five events during the week.
"I think the idea is to show everybody that there's a lot of art happening all over all the time," Scouffas said. "It's not just the things that were created around this week. There are things that were happening anyway. KU Theatre and the School of Music have things going on."
Emphasizing how art is everywhere was just one of the goals Foat said she had for the event.
"The event really serves to highlight all of that and show there's so much students can be involved with and feature the cultural richness of campus," she said. "We were able to work with more groups —
performing arts, music, the Lied Center and more — and the weeklong format makes that more possible. We hope it continues to grow and be more successful."
Students dining in the Underground or studying in Anschutz last Tuesday and Wednesday may have noticed performers dancing, singing opera or reading poetry as part of Push 4 Art, which allowed passers-by to push a
"We wanted to expand it this year because we felt it'd be a better means to highlight more work across campus..."
"It's this fun thing with art happening all day long." Scouffias said. "It's to show there are lots of students on campus, not just ones in theater or dance or music, and it's a great way to show what they can do and remind people that it's all around us all the time."
button for a student to immediately begin a performance. This idea was started by art students at the University of Illinois.
Foat said watching students engage in art was exciting.
Foat also said she enjoyed seeing the collaboration between different departments during Thursday's screening
"It's fun to watch that, seeing the students start it all," she said. "I think it's cool to see the surprise element play out. Everyone seemed to respond pretty well chatting about it, taking photos."
of "Grizzly Man" at the Natural History Museum. She said the museum wanted to be involved, and the Film and Media Studies department needed a place to show the movie.
"They collaborated to do this together," she said. "That's what you hope to see outside of Arts Week, that units will work across campus to do things that are mutually relevant."
Between classes and extracurriculars, Foat said it can be difficult for students to recognize the ways they can branch out and get involved in the arts.
"I want to encourage that awareness and openness," she said. "I think everyone's engrossed in their bubble of focus and going to class, so being able to stop and step out of that is healthy and enriching."
- Edited by Emma LeGault
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