it's goin' down

Yesterday, the vastly popular Byron Crawford, posted this brief report about Mos Def's latest album, "Tru3 Magic," being pulled from retail stores. Actually, I didn't even know that the shit was out. Crawford alludes to the Mighty Mos taking swipes at the suits at Geffen, which is part of the giant Interscope/Universal/Island/Def Jam conglomerate.

Releasing his album with little more than a disc, an idiotic title and handful of decent songs, it makes you wonder if Mos Def basically put out a sub par record to finish off his contract with Geffen. Similarly, another one of Interscope's big acts, Brand New, recently released their much heralded third album, "The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me," with little more than a disc, unreadable liner notes and no lyrics. The exclusion of lyrics seems to be the big sting since most kids who are into the emo tend to hang on to every word that these guys sing and the idea of having to transcribe, and possibly misinterpret, lyrics to scribble onto their notebooks is both equally entertaining and sad.

To add insult to injury, of the many possible singles that Brand New could've made a video for, they used a two minute instrumental song called "Untitled," which was aired on MTV2 followed by a post on the Internet penned by lead singer, Jesse Lacey, which included subtle, incindiary comments about the giant label.

With two of Interscope's bigger acts doing everything they can to distance themselves from the label, it makes you wonder, how bad are they screwing up that company? Even after the Rootkit debacle, Sony is still steadily pushing solid, successful releases and Capitol, who's famous for catching onto genre trends a little late, has had some success with The Decemberists and Saosin.

While there is a new year looming, along with planned releases with Jimmy Eat World, Stat Quo and M.I.A. (it's been rumored that Dr. Dre has been attached to produce, but he probably won't), one may assume that despite public dissent, Interscope will probably walk away unscathed.

Related Links
Brand New - Untitled Music Video
Mos Def - Katrina Klap