"I done turned Havana to Atlanta..." Jay-Z pulls no punches in his latest track...not even with the president of the united states. "Open Letter" produced by the duo of Swizz Beatz and long time Jay Z producer Timbaland is basically a response to the major ( and very much annoying) press coverage Jay Z was receiving for spending his anniversary with his with Beyonce in Cuba, a still communist country. notable lines in the song surrounding the controversial trip include "Politicians never did (shit) for me / except lie to me, distort history, He says "They wanna give me jail time and a fine — Fine, let me commit a real crime," a reference to the consequences of an unauthorized trip to Cuba. He throws in a line about the president. "Obama said, 'Chill you're going to get me impeached' / You don't need this (shit) anyway, chill with me on the beach." The White House on Thursday challenged Jay-Z's lyrics about getting "White House clearance."
I don't know what it is about him, maybe it's the plethora of different bucket hats he owns, but ScHoolBoy Q has been on the come up for quite some time. He is another member of the Black Hippy crew, joining the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Jay Rock. ScHoolBoy Q, started off as a hype man for Kendrick Lamar back in his early days, but after he noticed the amount of attention and buzz Kendrick was receiving, he decided to step behind the microphone and let people into his world and tell us a story through his lyrics. Many people do give him a lot of criticism because of the middle class background that he was raised in, but "Q" doesn't hide the fact that his mother did have a better paying job at the time, and that he did have a father who was never around which resulted in him to start to hang out with the wrong crowd, get into drug and join gangs when his mother was working. Oh, and did I forget to mention, he made this years XXL's Freshman Class..kudos to him!
Album Reviews:
Habits and Contradictions (2012)
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This is Q's sophomore album under the Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) label and from listening to the album you will get the typical West-Coast sound full of trippy and slow beats. But what I liked the most is that a lot of the songs on the album give you that dark and creepy feel that coincides with the rap cliche of drugs and gang violence giving you a more vivid depiction of the kind of lifestyle ScHoolBoy Q was involved with back in South Central, L.A. In regards to Q's rapping style, he doesn't really have a "set" style. He is constantly experiments with his vocals in one song you could hear his voice go really high pitched to dark and raspy in a flash. Very interesting, once you get to sit and listen to this album. I love that he's cut-throat, aggressive, and angry in his songs because it shows the situations that he put himself in, is no joke.
Ashley's Top Picks:
SACRILEGIOUS, THERE HE GO, HANDS ON THE WHEEL, OXY MUSIC, MY HATIN' JOINT, GANGSTA IN DESIGNER (NO CONCEPT), DRUGGYS WITH HOES AGAIN, NIGHTMARE ON FIGG ST., BLESSED, N*****.ALREADY.KNOW.DAVERS.FLOW
Tour Dates:
Saw this guy last summer in Brooklyn, One word, ENERGY!! But, this is to be expected being Kendrick Lamar's previous hype man and all. I enjoyed every minute of his set and I would definitely recommend seeing him in concert. ScHoolBoy Q is proving to all people that he can stand next to Kendrick Lamar and hold his own.
Long before Kanye West was the most egotistical Kardashian (Let that sink in.) Kanye initially found his way into the music industry by producing in 1996. He really got on the map when he produced tracks on the Jay-z "dynasty" album. Since then, Kanye's Music and Producing career has taken off and he has not looked back. He has produced over 25 number one singles and worked with the most prominent names in the industry. He has even fully produced his own album while starring on them. Kanye's talent was last showcased on the album "Watch The Throne" featuring Jay-Z.
Kanye is noted for his outlandish public behavior. The rapper/producer has had many negative public events.
In my opinion Kanye has let the fame get to his head. After hurricane Katrina Kanye went on live television and stated that George Bush doesn't care about black people. 2 years later Kanye made headlines again when he Interrupted taylor swifts award acceptance speech. During his interruption Kanye stated Beyonce had the best video of all time. Most recently, Kanye has had a public relationship with sex tape famous Kim Kardashian. Kanye and Kim will be having a baby soon (let that one sink in also.)
Kanye has also been embroiled in a Rap fued with Kim Kardashians ex-boyfriend Ray-J who made the Song "I hit it first" in regards to Kim. Other being a egotistical headliner, Kanye has actually been at work. Recently News surfaced of Kanye's sixth album being released on June 18th. Along with that Kanye has produced fellow rapper "2 Chainz" album "Codeine Cowboys"
Monday, April 8, 2013
Album Review: "Truly Yours" - J.Cole
By: Carif Russell
Truly Yoursis a presentation of five songs that showcase the
Cole that we love and respect. J. Cole presents a project that is void
of studio tricks, a project that is dedicated to us the fans. J.Cole
is following the formula that seems to be the norm in the rap game
nowadays. In a quest to drum up some buzz for his sophomore album, the
Roc Nation rapper has released some new free music. Fans were a little
disappointed when Born Sinner, originally slated for a late January release, suffered a few delays. To make up for the wait, J. Cole released Truly Yours, a five-track EP.
If this is any indication of what to expect from Born Sinner, true J. Cole fans will be pleased. The Fayette ville native's project, Truly Yours, isn't exactly a mixtape but it does feel on par with his classic project, The Warm Up. This Extended Play doesn't contain the radio-friendly records we heard on Cole World, but
they're cuts from Cole that haven't been touched by the label process-
as he said, they didn't quite make his sophomore album. Before releasing the extended play musical collection Cole wrote a brief letter to fans and friends alike via Praverb.com addressing his recent musical abscess and the future as it stands for himself and his music.
It’s time.
I appreciate you giving me the time I needed to grow, experiment, and
find the direction for my 2nd album.. And I have. Along the way I’ve
recorded at least 4 albums worth of material, lots of it being
unfinished demo versions waiting to be polished up, some of them are
great songs and important stories that just won’t make the album (either
they don’t fit Sonically, don’t fit Theme, or there’s just not enough
space) .
Tonight, I want to give you a few of these songs because you deserve
them. It’s hard as f*ck for me to keep all this music from you for so
long, so I know it’s been hard for you to wait. Thank you for your
patience. Vibe out to these songs in their raw form, no polish.. just a
lot of my soul..
The wait is over.
Truly Yours,
Born Sinner
I believe that Born Sinner will exceed our expectations (production will sound better, rhyming will be more passionate, songwriting will be excellent). Born Sinner coming soon, check out "Power Trip" ft. Miguel below..
Your probably wondering, "Hmm, this guy looks pretty familiar." Truth is, he should be should be. Donald Glover even before he became "Childish Gambino" was already successful in his own right being a young actor, producer, writer, and comedian who is mostly know for his work in "Derrick Comedy," a writer for NBC's "30 Rock," and played the character Troy Barnes on the NBC's comedy series "The Community." In 2011, Glover got his big-break as a rapper "Childish Gambino" and signed to Glassnote Records already having several albums and mixtapes himself. An interesting story as to how he came up with the name "Childish Gambino," back in his NYU days, he and a couple of friend were all hanging out one night and decided to put his name into a "Wu-Tang Clan Generator" as a joke and then BAM! the name was born.
Album Reviews:
Camp (2011)
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This
is the
first album on the the label, and is you didn't already know who Donald
Glover is as a rapper, then you will definitely get to know him a lot
better and what he had to deal with as a child and the stereotypes that
still follow him to this day. What I personally like about the album is
that it is easily relate able to those who were considered a nerd or
outcast in life for the things that they liked, or having abstract views
to certain things. For instance, in the song "Outside," Gambino
takes you on a journey of what it was like as a young boy from
California to move to Stone Mountain, Georgia. He had a difficult time
fitting in with peers constantly ridiculing the way he looked, spoke,
and the kind of music he listened to. This whole album is a sense
telling people who judged him the ultimate "I told you so.." but doing
it in a clever way displaying a lot of technical ability and wordplay.I highly recommend this album as well as his other works Culdesac (2010) , EP (2011) , R O Y A L T Y (2012).
Ashley's Top Picks:
OUTSIDE, FIREFLY, BONFIRE, HEARTBEAT, BACKPACKERS, L.E.S., YOU SEE ME, SUNRISE, THAT POWER
Tour Dates: Last summer, I saw Childish Gambino at Prospect Park, Brooklyn. The
concert was great, his energy was incredible and most of the audience
knew all of his songs, even the ones released before the "Camp" album
which made the concert experience all the more interesting. Childish
Gambino proves that at 25 years of age he is truly talented as an actor,
producer, and rapper that is highly respected.
