What Hannibal Buress Is Listening to Right Now
Hannibal Buress is not afraid to call out the ridiculousness of hip-hop. The actor and comedian once recorded a song called “Gibberish Rap,” sending up inarticulate MCs everywhere (sample lyric: “Bebedadip/Blebedadip/Got a chicken dick”). But it’s clear such jibes come from a place of love—after impersonating a molly-popping rapper in a stand-up bit from a few years ago, he told the audience, “Don’t worry, you’re just watching a man living out his dream in that joke.” He’s also collaborated with plenty of artists, including Flying Lotus, Open Mike Eagle, and Jean Grae, and often features musicians on his podcast, Handsome Rambler.
He also has an interest in music criticism—and ideas for how to improve it. “I saw a tweet that said music reviewers should have to say what they were doing when they were listening to the album, ’cause if you were gardening while listening to Travis Scott, I don’t want to read your review,” he tells me, calling from his home in Chicago as he prepared to head out on his latest stand-up tour. “I want to know where you were when you wrote the review and what your state of mind was like. It could be like: ‘Before I start my review, let me just say that I’m really unhappy with how things are going here at Pitchfork.’ That would give it a whole different tone.”
He then proceeded to tell me about his favorite songs of the moment as I doodled on an index card in my cubicle at One World Trade Center, feeling hungry, tired, and totally fine with how things are going here at Pitchfork.
Chrome Sparks: “Marijuana”
Hannibal Buress: I found this Chrome Sparks track on Flying Lotus’ Pandora station and listened to it a bunch and eventually used it as my walk-out song for my stand-up sets. Then I saw that the song samples this track by Idris Muhammad called “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This” so I started listening to that obsessively, just ’cause the drum intro on it is so crazy. It’s like a nine-minute song, but it doesn’t drag. It just feels good.
I looked “Could Heaven Ever Be Like This” up on WhoSampled, and there’s a handful of other people that have used it, too. That’s one thing that streaming is really good for—within 25 minutes, you could go from the original song to a sample to what the sample was to other stuff from that artist to who sampled those other songs, without having to go to stores and shit. Record stores are great, but it’s not the most efficient way. I know going to the record store can be a fun, rewarding trip, and you get really into it and put the vinyl on the record player, check out stuff, and all of that. But, as far as a quick, deep music wormhole, you can’t beat the internet.
Smino: “Coupe Se’ Yern”
I don’t know exactly what Smino is talking about on this song, but that shit sounds good. His flow is really just energized and crisp. I think it might just be one of those songs where he’s just like, “Hey, I’m fly and I’m good at music. Listen to this.”
Pitchfork: As someone who’s friends with a lot of musicians, how would you say the worlds of music and comedy are different?
The music world just seems more intense. And the intensity of music fans is different, man. I was leaving my hotel in New York recently, and there were these four girls outside of this small venue, waiting for a concert—but it was early as fuck. They were just sitting on New York concrete. And I was like, “You just gonna sit in line in a dense neighborhood with lots of options? This is the Lower East Side, go get some breakfast or walk around for 45 minutes and come back, or see a movie.” I’m all about supporting music and going to see shows and having great experiences. But also: time management.
Vic Mensa: “Neon Guts” Freestyle
I forget the name of the show Vic Mensa did this freestyle on, but it’s where the artist is sitting in the middle. They’re all facing forward—it’s kind of an awkward setup. Anyway, he freestyled over “Neon Guts” by Lil Uzi Vert. And I’ve been bumping that over and over. That beat is so dope.
I follow a lot of Chicago people because that’s my information stream. I mean, Saba is from like four blocks from where I grew up. So when I heard his song “Westside Bound 3,” I knew specifically what he was talking about, like, “Oh, Austin and Division. I can walk there from my parents’ house.” He’s a great artist. A lot of the Chicago music scene is doing their thing.
