Vocoder!
People who know me are aware I can be very out of touch with music at times. I have never been a devotee to radio, music television, or the internet blogosphere circle jerk that is Amateur Criticism. I do, however, occasionally turn on BET, and I am a better person for doing so.
On my last endeavor into the land of Shout-outs and Hollas, I was astonished to see the resurgence of the career of the Vocoder. He reigned supreme in the 90s, scoring guest appearances on "hard" rock songs, over-the-hill transvestite revivals, and car commercial jingles. However, since then, he has been relatively dormant.
That is, until, a small group of urban underdogs, or "Black People", invited Vocoder to the coveted "Featuring" heading on several hit singles this last year. Vocoder, singing primarily during the choruses, transformed the mundane to irritating, the sincere to absurd, the fierce to the flamboyant, and the listenable to the laughable.
A star was re-born.
Amazingly, Vocoder hasn't released any new material this year, and yet has been featured on every rap, hip-hop, and R and B single in 2008*. This feat alone would be inspirational enough, but knowing the Vocoders young upstart roots, is made all the more impressive.
*This is based on empirical data acquired through eight consecutive minutes of watching BET. It is 100% accurate with a + or - zero margin of error.
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