I love getting back from class on Mondays with good new music waiting for me. Chamillionaire resurrects the Swagger Like Us sample and then proceeds to kill it in a warm-up for Mixtape Messiah 5, while Wiz Khalifa gets remixed and Young Chris puts on his Jay-Z voice to rap over a club beat. Lastly, Lil Wayne puts out a decent non-album collabo. He hasn’t done that since the I Can’t Feel My Face hoax. Downloads after the jump. [UPDATE: Full mixtape link for the Lil Wayne/Black Kids Collabo]
The official Go Hard video, featuring rapper-turned pop art performer Kanye West, the black Willy Wonka, and the most. annoying. human. ever.
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88-Keys’ album The Death of Album dropped today in streaming format over at imeem. This is his debut cd, but 88-Keys has around for a minute, producing records for Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Beanie Siegel, and most recently, Consequence.
Most notably, he produced Macy Gray’s fourth single, Why Didn’t You Call Me, off her multi-platinum On How Life Is. But if you want a real treat, hit up his piano-backed Thieves in the Night, off the first Blackstar album.
Check out The Death of Adam after the jump.
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Inside Bill O'Reilly's mind
I feel like I should say something about Barack Obama and last night, but everyone else has pretty much said everything of substance and reiterated it in forty different ways by now. So, in lieu of a long-winded philosophical reflection on what the election means to me and the world, I give you… Katt Williams!
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I don’t have the dedication of the NMC, but occasionally some tracks pique my interest enough to warrant a post. After the jump, three tracks from up-and-coming artists, along with a new A-Town mixtape.
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The Knux, a transplanted New Orleans duo, combine hip-hop, rock, and techno elements to create a unique high-energy sound on their debut album, Remind Me In Three Days. Influenced by everything from “B.G. to the Rolling Stones,” Rah Almillio and Krispy Kream are part of a new wave of unconventional hip-hop artists.
The group does not hestitate to show off their diversity, laying their tracks over a combination of guitars, horns, and big band-inspired production. In fact, the beats are so impressive that they often outshine the The Knux’ lyrical talent, resulting in an overall effort that’s disappointing because of what it could have been.
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Let’s stop the charade right now. Just stop. Kanye West has revitalized hip-hop through his unique talent and vision, that much is sure. He made samples essential to production, flipped the image of a rapper on its head, and energized a dying industry with his fearless cross-genre blends.
But let’s stop pretending his latest creation, 808′s & Heartbreak, is anything revolutionary. Since Kanye announced the concept of his latest album (all autotuner, all the time), it’s been hailed as genius, inspired, and cutting-edge. Very few call it what it really is: capitalization. Read the rest of this entry »
