by Devin McCue, Sumner Newscow — Happy Friday. I hope everyone enjoyed their respective Halloweens, whether you went trick or treating with your kids, handing out candy to all who knocked on your door, or turned the lights off and acted like you weren’t home so you could eat all the candy yourself like the monster you are.  And while everyone recovers from their sugar-induced hangover, I have a few recommendations for you to throw on.

The first is one of my favorite docu-series of all time (although, not No. 1 because of Planet Earth, of course), the Nineties.  The Nineties is the latest is the CNN series of docu-series cleverly known as “the Sixties,” “the Seventies,” and so on.  And just as their names imply, the series cover in depth the decade they’re named after.

The shows cover everything the decade had to offer from global politics, major U.S. events, to at least one episode on TV and another on music (trying to steal my shtick, these guys).  And while each series is worth exploring (especially the Sixties), the Nineties is really something special. 

The first two episodes come right out of the gate and cover the tidal wave of new television content and the mad rush to push the boundaries of the silver screen farther than they’ve ever gone before in terms of experimental content, vulgarity (they had curse words, holy ****), and writing.

The third episode deals with the weird music scene of the 1990’s and after the first three episodes I can firmly say, nothing good happened in the 90’s except three to four TV shows (none of which were named “Friends”), Britney Spears, and Hip Hop music.  Grunge was terrible (Nirvana had three good songs, calm down), Radiohead isn’t the culture-defining band everyone thought it was going to be, and Full House had three good seasons.  (Please send your offended emails to the link below).

Apart from pop culture, the CNN would-be classic handles the politics of the 90s and the men who shaped them.  There’s a whole episode for each of the presidents of the decade, from the whirlwind of the Clinton presidency to the deftly handed new world order building of George H. W. Bush’s administration.  Overall, the 90’s were a dull decade for the U.S. with a couple of firework moments scattered throughout, but the decade needed to be dull after the end of a 40-year Cold War and a recession.  The nation needed some dull in its life especially since the following two decades had enough drama to overshadow anything before it.

If you haven’t jumped on the Jessie Reyez bandwagon yet, now is the perfect time before it leaves the station.  Since releasing her first EP, Kiddo, in early 2017, she’s appeared on the Fifty Shades of Freed (stupid movie and title), two tracks on Eminem’s latest album, and varies other features scattered throughout Spotify.  Last week she dropped her new album, Being Human in Public and it’s an absolute gem.  Jessie is not the polished, sugary pop star like a Carly Rae Jepsen or a Tori Kelly.

She’s a powder-keg of emotion and flair that explodes out on every track, but still has the delicate touch to produce heartfelt ballads like that of Sola, a Spanish love song to herself on the new album.  She made a name for herself not only for her hypnotic voice, but also for her willingness to write songs that defy norms and expectations.

Her first big hit was called Gatekeeper and addressed the sexism and expectations of music producers in the industry before the MeToo movement even started and she’s back to call out people she’s familiar with in her new album, although she keeps it closer to home this time and writes about guys too scared to have female friends and old boyfriends.

Being Human in Public is a great introduction to Jessie Reyez, an artist you’re about to be very familiar with.  My favorite tracks on the album are: F*** Being Friends, Imported (feat. JRM) [best], and Body Count (which has been remixed from the single version if you’ve been on the game before this article).

Speaking of new trends, I think it’s time to say goodbye to one of them.  Lil Wayne dropped a music video for Uproar a B-grade song on tha Carter V, and included a little something I think we could all do without: a challenge.  If you’re familiar with the Kiki challenge from Drake’s song In My Feelings then you already know what I’m talking about.

It’s when people crowd the Internet with videos of themselves doing the same dance in different places around the world and popularize the song in question to new heights.  It’s overdone, but sometimes fun to watch (like Will Smith’s version where he does it on a bridge in Budapest, link here), but the most important thing about these challenges is they need to be organic.  The Internet needs to shake the music up until something like this falls out and goes viral before all realize what’s going on.

When videos like Wayne’s Uproar explicitly call for it, no one wants to give them the satisfaction.  So to all music video producers reading (and I know you are), stop doing this nonsense and just try to be like Michael Jackson’s Thriller and everything will work out in the end.

Meme of the week

I unfortunately can’t look at every meme that dominates the internet every week, so if you see a meme and think it should be the meme of the week please send it to: SumnerCultureCow@gmail.com

If you disagree with my analysis, have a grievance or any other complaint please visit here

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