#ConversationNotes There were two questions we specifically wanted to ask Cham about and one that we absolutely did not want to. One of the ones we wanted to ask that was consequential: Is this the beginning of the next big mixtape series? The Mixtape Messiah series is among the more famous mixtape series in the history of Southern rap. Lots of people were sad to see it go.
This new Major Pain series, though, has the potential to (at the very least) be more commercially successful. That's part of why he called it "Major Pain" - it's an easier term to brand than anything that has the word "Messiah" in it.
There's no wasted movement with anything Cham does. Everything appears to have a larger purpose (even when it maybe doesn't), and that's what makes him so interesting critically. You can listen to and think about a lot of the music that he makes, piecing together everything into a great, big Cham puzzle.
Sportswriter Bethlehem Shoals once wrote that Carmelo Anthony thinks through offensive possessions like logic puzzles; you get the feeling Chamillionaire does too. And that leads to the question that we did not want to ask about, and hope that nobody ever does...
#MajorPain1.5Notes The last track is called "Wake up Outro." It starts with a commercial similar to the one that preceded Everclear's "Ataraxia" from So Much For the Afterglow, then is followed by 30 seconds of dead air, then is followed by 40 seconds of Cham's words being played backwards, then is followed by what appears to be a crank call to an animal boarding service about boarding a cougar.
It is a vexing, confounding, preposterous four minutes and 12 seconds tacked onto the end of a tape that's otherwise easy to dissect. What on Earth could it all mean? Does it mean anything? Is he dicking with all of the pseudo-intellects that listen to his music? Is it somehow related to Michael Jordan or finger-painting or AA batteries? Is the secret to the Stock Market hidden in there? Is the secret to Gucci Mane being famous hidden in there? What, what, what does the fuck, fuck, fuck it mean?
We were super-pumped that it didn't accidentally come up in conversation. The other day we went and ate lunch alone. We watched a man who was either a construction painter or an avid fan of wearing construction painter outfits toy with his iPhone for several minutes before getting up and walking out without ordering anything at all. He looked extremely focused.
We were curious re: what was on the screen, but we did not get up and look because it was better not knowing. It was probably Angry Birds or some other dumb shit like that. That would've been very disappointing. This is the same sort of thing. Please, nobody ever ask Cham about this ever. Never. Not ever.
Thank you for your continued support. Please continue to send music to sheaserrano at gmail dot com. Download Major Pain 1.5 at Cham's Web site, and go back Monday to see a new version.
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