Guest Blogger: Matt F1

Gym Class Heroes are an American rap/hip-hop band. They have recorded 4 albums. Their latest is called “The Papercut Chronicles II”, which was released in November 2011. The album is mostly rap songs, but it contains several songs that have made it onto the pop charts. These songs have guest singers such as Adam Levine from Maroon 5. I haven’t listened to the rap songs, but Kyle Anderson of EW says that they are horrendous and seem quite angry. My favorite song from this album is “Stereo Hearts”, featuring Adam Levine. This song alternates singing and rapping. The song begins with a metaphor: “My heart's a stereo” and suggests that one should “Make me your radio And turn me up when you feel low”. These lyrics are well written and poetic. In the first rap verse, he compares himself to a “dusty record on the shelf” who wants to be listened to by a girl. In fact, he continues the comparison by saying the “last girl that played me left a couple cracks”. This is an interesting comparison to a record that skips. If you listen to the song, he raps “used to, used to, used to”. This sounds like a record skipping. This song makes me feel like the singer really wants to be together with the girl he is singing to.
Another song from the album “The Papercut Chronicles II”, which is on radios now, is called “___ Back Home”. The clean version would be “Self Back Home”. This song features a female singer, Neon Hitch. This song is similar to Stereo Hearts by alternating singing and rapping. I think this song will also be a hit on the pop charts.
I agree with the reviews in the magazines about how only a few of the songs are good. If you really like just the pop songs, you would be better off downloading the individual songs, rather than buying the whole album.