【搬运】【译】叉婊Pitchfork评DJ Khaled 2019年专辑《Father of Asahd》
搬运自：微信公众号【评论搬一堆】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整）
翻译：Tyler Smith
审译：Ryan-Chopin
排版：SpencerC
DJ Khaled has ranged from summertime hitmaker to self-help guru, but neither are all that interesting on his latest guest-filled album. There are plenty of voices but no clear message or intention.
无论是作为夏日热单制造机还是励志导师，DJ Khaled都没有能给自己众星云集的新专辑增添任何的趣味，专辑华丽外表下是一具空壳。
The creep of positivity culture has been steady and relentless. It has become a dominant modality of Instagram influence and global culture ever since the publication of Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret and among its most ardent benefactors (and beneficiaries) is DJ Khaled. For years, he has blended be-your-best-self mantras with middling music to great fame and, presumably, growing wealth; he even published a book detailing his “keys to success.” In the Snapchat era, Khaled’s vague, emphatic preaching made him an intriguing public figure beyond music. But unfortunately, as in the arena of emotional development, shouting aphorisms does little to prompt significant artistic growth.
积极向上的文化不断蔓延至各个领域，自从Rhonda Byrne的《The secret》（书中作者揭露了运行在宇宙间主宰人生的强有力的黄金法则，并清晰明了地解析了如何运用这个法则，来创造美满幸福的生活。）发行之后，这种文化席卷ins和全球各个角落，而它最热心的追崇者（也是受益者）便是DJ Khaled。多年来，“成为你最好的自己”这样的咒语（暗指DJ Khaled喜欢在每首歌中喊麦“We the best music/我们做最棒的音乐”）以及一般般的音乐使他声名鹊起，想必也给他带来了许多收入;他甚至出版了一本书，详细描述了他的“成功之钥”。在Snapchat时代，Khaled让人听不懂又底气十足的说教，让他成为音乐之外一个引人入胜的公众人物。但不幸的是，就像在情感发展的方面一样，大喊大叫的警句对促进艺术的发展作用甚微。
Khaled’s new album, Father of Asahd, continues in his tradition of envisioning every song as a posse cut. The project’s 15 tracks feature 29 different performers plus his own signature bellowing. (The absence of Drake, a reliable hitmaker and longtime collaborator, is palpable.) The result is pure chaos. Since assembling Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman, and Lil Wayne for “We Takin’ Over” in 2007, Khaled has proven himself adept at project-managing rap and R&B’s biggest stars into contributing verses for transparent plays at song-of-the-summer singles. Along the way, the strategy has produced actual anthems, hit songs with a backseat full of guests that will likely activate nostalgia even when they sound thin and tinny in retrospect.
Khaled的新专辑《Father of Asahd》延续了他一贯的风格，把每首歌都看作是一首长歌巨作的一部分，这张专辑的15首曲目就有29个表演者，当然，还有他自己独特的喊麦。（显而易见的是，当红的冠单制造机Drake缺席了）。结果便是乱成一团糟。自从2007年Khaled在专辑《We Takin’ Over》中集结了Akon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman, Lil Wayne等一众巨星后，他向世界证明了他掌握着rap界和R&B界的一手资源，并且让他们在口水的夏日单曲中献声。不过在这一过程中还真产生了赞歌：众星云集的热单，即使他们的声音回想起来细碎微小，但仍能引发我们的怀旧之情。
The formula’s limitations are evident on Father of Asahd: There are plenty of voices but no clear message or intention. The world seems colder than it did in 2015, and Khaled’s platitudes no longer function as an effective anchor. Vaguely uplifting songs (“Won’t Take My Soul” and “Weather the Storm”) mingle with generic theses on envy and loyalty (“Jealous” and “You Stay”). Specificity, I’ve learned, is another victim of positivity vulture. It’s hardly a flex to gather dancehall’s biggest names—Mavado, Sizzla, and Buju Banton, newly released from prison—for a motivational opener, only to throw in strained vocals by New Jersey singer 070 Shake.
这个公式的局限性在专辑《Father of Asahd》体现的明明白白：歌曲里各路明星纷纷献声，但表达的东西却毫无意义。这比他2015年的专辑还要尴尬。Khaled的陈词滥调不再是一个行之有效的内核支柱。含糊不清的土嗨歌曲(例如“Won’t Take My Soul”和“Weather the Storm”)，混合嫉妒与忠诚的烂俗念经歌曲（例如“Jealous” 和“You Stay”)应有尽有。我发现其专一性也是积极文化的受害者。把刚从监狱中释放出来的舞曲大牌Mavado、Sizzla和Buju Banton集结起来创造一个热场子的专辑开头，又把新泽西歌手070 Shake的紧张唱腔插入其中，只能说是张弛无度。
But something is bound to stick. There are a handful of introspective verses from Meek Mill and Lil Baby; it’s a shame they are not alchemized into effective songs. Cardi B and 21 Savage rapping over a Tay Keith beat on “Wish, Wish” is refreshing and poised for radio play. The clear standout is “Higher,” featuring John Legend and the late Nipsey Hussle. Especially in the context of his death last month, Hussle’s two verses are an eerily on-time reflection on his own life, beginning with his family history and ending with this urgent prophecy: “Homicide, hate, gang banging’ll get you all day/Look at my fate.” It offers a rare moment of depth and vulnerability on an album largely marked by inanity.
但有些东西注定是不会改变的。Meek Mill和Lil Baby在片段中进行自我反省，不过很遗憾，这几首歌并没有起什么作用。Cardi B和21 Savage顺着Tay Keith（当红hip-hop制作人）歌曲“Wish Wish”里的嘻哈节拍说唱，令人耳目一新，为称霸电台做好了准备。另外一首亮点歌曲是由John Legend与已故的Nipsey Hussle加盟的“Higher”。尤其是在Hussle上个月去世的背景下，他的两个献声片段是对他自己生活的一个奇怪而及时的反思，从他的家族历史开始，以这个紧急的预言结尾：“杀人、仇恨、帮派暴行会时刻裹挟着你/看看我的命运。”这首歌在这张精神错乱的专辑中营造了一个罕见的深沉且脆弱的时刻
In recent years, ostensibly as Khaled has increased his budgets and access to the major-label clearance apparatus, his more-is-more approach has expanded to include a reliance on recognizable samples and interpolations; “Wild Thoughts,” featuring Rihanna, Bryson Tiller, and a prominent sample of Santana’s “Maria, Maria,” reached No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard charts in 2017. This time around, samples include OutKast’s “Ms. Jackson,” which is remade into “Just Us,” a cloying pop song featuring SZA; “Freak N You,” featuring Lil Wayne and Gunna, is built around sped-up Jodeci vocals; the Buju Banton closer “Holy Ground” borrows a riff from Lauryn Hill’s “To Zion.” It strikes as a cynical play at nostalgia. Whereas his peers are trying new strategies to best the streaming wars, Khaled, a firm Gen Xer, appears to remain focused on traditional radio. His challenge to the hegemonic structures of radio and music industry marketing, he recently told Jimmy Fallon, is to force multiple current singles into rotation.
近年来，表面上看，随着Khaled预算的增加以及自我标识减弱，他“多多益善”的方法应用得越来越广，甚至到后面开始依赖于十分有辨识度的声音和采样，上张专辑里Rihanna，Bryson Tiller加盟的“Wild Thoughts”便是一个例子，该曲在2017年Billboard单曲榜中最高排名第2，它采样于Santana的单曲“Maria Maria”。这一次，样本还包括了OutKast的“Ms.Jackson”，并制作成了“Just Us”这一首令人腻歪的流行歌曲，由SZA演绎；Lil Wayne和Gunna参与的“Freak N You”是建立在急速的Jodeci歌声上的，Buju Banton即将发行的“Holy Ground”也从Lauryn Hill的“To Zion”里借了一小段即兴曲。在Khaled把专辑打造成一个愤世嫉俗的怀旧戏剧时，他的同行都在绞尽脑汁抢占流媒市场。Khaled，作为一个X时代出生的人（X世代中的X是由英文字Excluding的字母X而来，有被排挤的世代的隐喻，出生时间范围是1965年1月至1976年12月之间。主要是指美国和加拿大在这段时间出生的人），他仍然把重心放在传统的电台市场上。他最近对Jimmy Fallon说，他对广播和音乐行业的主结构挑战是使当前的多首新单同时进入电台轮播列表。
Here and elsewhere, Khaled owes a great debt to Diddy, another guru of positivity and the progenitor of Khaled’s style of not-quite-producer, not-quite-curator auteurship. The blueprint for much of Khaled’s discography was established by Diddy way back when he was known as Puff. In 1997, he released No Way Out, a Bad Boy compilation that repurposed songs by the Police, Grandmaster Flash & the Message, and India to various degrees of effectiveness. One of those tracks, “Senorita,” is literally referenced on Father of Asahd’s “You Stay,” in the form of a similar use of India’s “No Me Conviene.” More than 20 years later, it’s time to try something new.
无论在哪儿，Khaled都亏欠Diddy一大笔债。Diddy是另一位积极文化大师，是Khaled不完全创作、不完全操控、让合作者发挥风格的鼻祖。Khaled许多迪斯科作品的蓝图都是在Diddy很久前还被称为Puff的时期建立起来的。在1997年，Diddy发行了专辑《No Way Out》，这是一部“坏男孩”歌曲精选集，它运用警察，闪光信息大师和印度等元素对歌曲稍加了修饰，颇有成效。其中“Senorita（一首西语歌）”的歌词与《Father of Asahd》里的“You Stay”对应，且其形式均类似于印度风的歌曲“No Me Conviene”。二十年过去了，也是时候尝试些新东西了吧，Khaled先生？
