David Banner Complains About Rolling Stone Review of His "Masterpiece"

David Banner doesn't mince words when talking about his new album The Greatest Story Ever Told, which comes out today. "It's a masterpiece, dude," the Mississippi MC told Rolling Stone a few weeks ago. "It's one of the best rap albums in the last three or four years." But Banner wasn't pleased with our review of the album, which praised the rapper's political "bulldozer flow," but complained that he too-often traded in rote rhymes about guns and clubs. "The reviewer only wrote on songs like 'Shawty Say' and 'Get Like Me,' " Banner wrote in an e-mail to RS yesterday. "But those are just the Playboy covers to the Bible inside." Now, that's a good line!

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

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