These are the best songs that have been put out, buzzed about or listened to in the past week. If anyone tells you otherwise, they’re probably lying. If you don’t like every single one of these, you’re probably lying to yourself. Read More »
Rapper Rakim Mayers (pseudonym A$AP Rocky) had one primary goal for his debut studio album: to expand his fan base. Long.Live.A$AP, the much-hyped product of A$AP Worldwide, Polo Grounds Music, and RCA Records, drew increasing interest as it kept being pushed beyond the original September 11 release date. It was finally released months later, on January 15, with singles “Goldie” and “F**kin Problems” having teased listeners since April and October, respectively. The result:
Some albums I have a very visceral response to, either good or bad. Sometimes I finish a record and think “Wow that was amazing!” or “Wow that was bad, never listening to that again!” Pillowfight’s eponymous debut was not one of those albums. It falls into a black-hole of boring mediocrity that makes it difficult to rouse passions one way or another about it. There is nothing objectionably bad about Pillowfight, but there isn’t anything really to recommend it either. It is just tiresome, average and relatively uninteresting. Read More »
Ten years ago this week a young producer and friend of Jay-Z was in a near fatal car accident while driving from the recording studio in LA. That young man, inspired by his brush with death would write and record this song, “Through the Wire” and record it while his mouth was still wired shut from the extensive surgery he had. That man, of course, was Kanye West, and this song helped launch what has been one of the most successful rap careers of all time. Enjoy his first solo song after the jump! Read More »
The mixtape that Waka Flocka dedicated to his fans after getting his 1,000,000th follower on Twitter is certainly one of Waka’s best efforts to date. Salute Me or Shoot Me 4 brings back the landmark Flockaveli, Lex Luger inspired trap sound that has been lacking in his more recent releases, most notably on his 2nd studio album Triple F. Apart from the return of a release that is characterized by deep 808 bass kicks, hard-hitting snares and claps, and dark, grimy melodies, a stand out feature of the tape is Waka’s clearly more aggressive flow, which compliments the production perfectly. If that does not convince the casual trap-music listener, then the list of feature artists certainly will. Featured on the tape are Gucci Mane, Chief Keef, Wale, Yo Gotti and Roscoe Dash, amongst others, all of whom contribute useful verses and/or hooks to add nice flair to the tracks. Particular stand-outs are Roscoe Dash’s performance on “Turnt” and Chief Keef on “Murda”. Read More »
Robert Glasper is one of the most forward thinking artists in the genre of jazz music right now, blending jazz and hip-hop to create a unique sound that represents what I believe is the future of the declining jazz art form. Glasper and his band, the Robert Glasper Experiment’s, new record, Black Radio Recovered is a remix EP of his LP, Black Radio, which came out in February of this year. The EP features remixes from the likes of legendary hip-hop artists 9th Wonder, Pete Rock, ?uestlove and vocalist Georgia Anne Muldrow as well as a cover of David Bowie’s Letter to Hermione and an amazing J Dilla medley. Although the original LP was nowhere in need of any remixing, Recovered provides a new take on many of Glasper’s excellent compositions, including a 9th Wonder remix of “Afro Blue” featuring Erykah Badu and a Pete Rock remix of “Black Radio” featuring Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def).
★★★★★
The cover of Good Kid, MAAD City by Kendrick Lamar is a dirty, cracked Polaroid of either a baby Kendrick Lamar or an old, off-purple minivan(depending on which version you buy). Written in a scrawl at the bottom of the photo is “GOOD KID, M.A.A.D. CITY, A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar”. My first impression: “What a pretentious title, this is an album, not a movie”. But as I listened to the album, it quickly became apparent that this album more than lives up to its ambitious title; it tells a more coherent, impactful story than most movies. It is not only the best album I have heard this year, it is one of the best I have ever heard. Read More »
On February 29th, the mega-popular South Korean boy group BIGBANG released their fifth mini-album, titled “ALIVE”, for everyone to enjoy. If you are a follower of K-Pop (Korean Pop) then you probably have heard a song at least from this five-membered group that took all the top spots in Korean music charts when “ALIVE” was released. Despite the difference in language, BIGBANG has managed to have fans from all over the world and if anyone is a fan of dance, hip-hop, R&B and pop, I can assure you that you will find one BIGBANG song to enjoy. Read More »
