Short post since I'm trying to get outta this joint to start my weekend...
Lloyd feat Lil' Wayne - Girls all around the world
Let it bump - RR22
Friday, July 18, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Beautiful Day
No no no ... not the U2 type of beautiful day (you can bet I won't ever post U2 on here) ... I'm talking about the type of beautiful day that marks 100 unique visits to my blog!
Moving on, so if I were to tell you these cats were West Coast rappers from Inglewood, what kind of music would you expect to hear? Gangsta rap with lyrics about bottles in da club, drug deals gone bad, drive-bys on beach cruisers, being the baddest MC's ever, or feeding their pitbulls gunpowder?
Alright, so I'm clearly being extreme, I know not all rappers rhyme about the same stuff ;-) ... but I'm trying to make a point clear. Although this track has been out for a few months, I still think it needs to be posted.
U-N-I - Beautiful Day
They've gone against the norm of what mainstream rappers from their part of town are known for ... heck, one of the dudes even sports an Angels baseball cap instead of the status quo 'LA Dodgers fitted' cap. These guys rap about things being good and pleasant in their lives. Shocking, I know. Kind of like Ice Cube's - Today was a good day. I welcome it ... no doubt.
Let it bump - RR22
Moving on, so if I were to tell you these cats were West Coast rappers from Inglewood, what kind of music would you expect to hear? Gangsta rap with lyrics about bottles in da club, drug deals gone bad, drive-bys on beach cruisers, being the baddest MC's ever, or feeding their pitbulls gunpowder?
Alright, so I'm clearly being extreme, I know not all rappers rhyme about the same stuff ;-) ... but I'm trying to make a point clear. Although this track has been out for a few months, I still think it needs to be posted.
U-N-I - Beautiful Day
They've gone against the norm of what mainstream rappers from their part of town are known for ... heck, one of the dudes even sports an Angels baseball cap instead of the status quo 'LA Dodgers fitted' cap. These guys rap about things being good and pleasant in their lives. Shocking, I know. Kind of like Ice Cube's - Today was a good day. I welcome it ... no doubt.
Let it bump - RR22
Thursday, July 10, 2008
R&B Groups
I'm stoked about my hit count going up a bit as of late, still nothing to brag about, but either way it's still cool.
K, back to why you guys visit here ... I've made it known a handful of times that I'm a fan of R&B groups. Something about the harmonies, the trading off of the chorus between singers, etc. ... it just works.
Unfortunately, there's been a period in R&B music recently where all you see is 15-20 year old solo artists. No guy or girl R&B groups are really hitting it big like when I was growing up. There was B2K but they broke up and gave us a couple of solo artists ... Danity Kane has been growing on me as of late, but still, they're no En Vogue. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Ne-Yo's, Chris Brown's and Beyonce's of the world ... but still.
Groups like Boyz II Men, TLC, Dru Hill, XScape, Jodeci, SWV, 112, Tony Toni Tone, En Vogue and others used to dominate my playlist ... or, I guess back then, my homemade mix tapes recorded off of the radio. We've been lacking in the group department for some time now, which is why I'm glad Diddy and Co. have chosen to keep working the whole "Making the Band" angle for the last couple of years. In doing so, they just might have started the comeback of the R&B group ... at least I hope. Wouldn't surprise me since he enlisted Michael Bivins of New Edition and BBD to help.
Day 26 feat Fat Joe - Got me going - Remix
Let it bump ... RR22
K, back to why you guys visit here ... I've made it known a handful of times that I'm a fan of R&B groups. Something about the harmonies, the trading off of the chorus between singers, etc. ... it just works.
Unfortunately, there's been a period in R&B music recently where all you see is 15-20 year old solo artists. No guy or girl R&B groups are really hitting it big like when I was growing up. There was B2K but they broke up and gave us a couple of solo artists ... Danity Kane has been growing on me as of late, but still, they're no En Vogue. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Ne-Yo's, Chris Brown's and Beyonce's of the world ... but still.
Groups like Boyz II Men, TLC, Dru Hill, XScape, Jodeci, SWV, 112, Tony Toni Tone, En Vogue and others used to dominate my playlist ... or, I guess back then, my homemade mix tapes recorded off of the radio. We've been lacking in the group department for some time now, which is why I'm glad Diddy and Co. have chosen to keep working the whole "Making the Band" angle for the last couple of years. In doing so, they just might have started the comeback of the R&B group ... at least I hope. Wouldn't surprise me since he enlisted Michael Bivins of New Edition and BBD to help.
Day 26 feat Fat Joe - Got me going - Remix
Let it bump ... RR22
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Change is good ...
I don't typically like artists who I feel don't try to do anything different than what they know works for them. They get in ruts, get old and stale ... and I get bored. See 50 Cent or Blink 182. John Legend has been flirting with being grouped in with these artists for a while now ...
Adaptation, change, flexibility ... a willingness to do something different and still stay true to who you are as an artist ... that's what I look for nowadays, especially considering how many labels and artists there are and how many styles are meshing together via collaboration and artists branching out.
It's just like what Andre 3k says around the 3:50 mark of the song ... "Sometimes you gotta step from behind that piano and let them know what's going on ... even Stevie Wonder got down sometimes!"
John Legend feat Andre 3000 - Green Light
I think Mr. Legend did just that in this track. He had a Non-Chicago native rapper featured on his track, wasn't playing the piano and still did some things that helped make sure you knew it was him doing the singing.
Let it bump - RR22
Adaptation, change, flexibility ... a willingness to do something different and still stay true to who you are as an artist ... that's what I look for nowadays, especially considering how many labels and artists there are and how many styles are meshing together via collaboration and artists branching out.
It's just like what Andre 3k says around the 3:50 mark of the song ... "Sometimes you gotta step from behind that piano and let them know what's going on ... even Stevie Wonder got down sometimes!"
John Legend feat Andre 3000 - Green Light
I think Mr. Legend did just that in this track. He had a Non-Chicago native rapper featured on his track, wasn't playing the piano and still did some things that helped make sure you knew it was him doing the singing.
Let it bump - RR22
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