J. Cole: "I'm On It"
"Trying to rock that ass to sleep like pajamas."
J. Cole take elements of "Kinda Like A Big Deal" on his new track, "I'm On It", sound Pusha T-ish, over a barrage of drums. J. Cole's rap fits into the track well, transmitting his sense of direction and hunger. Cole's been incubating for a while now since capturing attention with last summer's appearances on The Blueprint III and Revolutions Per Minute. Don't let the Roc Nation affiliation fool you, Cole is not Drake #2 as he was lazily labeled by some following the release of his mixtape, The Warmup. Cole is rough around the edges from his raspy voice, to his lyrics that often tackle poverty and social issues rather than consumerism, or self-reflective ventures into the world of emotions.
Grab "I'm On It" after the jump.
Best Coast: "Boyfriend" Official Video
I loved this song the first time I heard it way back when. I thought for sure there was a video already, but time has proven me wrong. Check out the official video for Best Coast's "Boyfriend" after the jump.
Redman: "Defjammable"
"Don't gas me, I live near Amoco."
I posted on Twitter a little while ago that Saigon was one of my favorite emcees, I think Redman holds a similar position for me. His presence on the beat separates him from a lot of other rappers, and no matter what, you know it's Redman when he appears on the track. This is something new where Red ponders the question of where Hip Hop would be without the R? He also does some singing. Grab it below.
dead prez: "Malcolm, Garvey, Huey" feat Divine Video
"Unless you're banging on the system, you're a gangster wearing panties."
dead prez offer a very different take on "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley", putting expensive cars back in the garage and instead focusing on studying the aforementioned leaders of the Black Power Movement. It's great to hear and see something new from dead prez. I'm not previously familiar with Divine, but that cat came with it as well. See the video below.
Mickey Factz: "Skyscraper" Video
Here are the visuals for "Skyscraper" off of Mickey's recently released I'm Better Than You mixtape. The video is beautiful, alternating between segments of black-and-white and color. The visuals line-up nicely with the track. Check it out after the jump.
Kanye West Talks Album Artwork with MTV
There's been a lot of noise about the above image, which serves as the album cover for Kanye West's forthcoming LP, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The word on the street is that some big box retailers are refusing to stock the album with that image attached, Kanye has said the cover was banned, and others just think it's weird. Kanye thinks it is awesome, and if there is one thing I picked up from last night's Chicago premiere of "Runaway", that is all that matters at this point in the artistic career of Kanye West. He mentioned repeatedly that he wants to create art from the standpoint of a 5 year old, a kid that does what he believes to be creatively great before outside messages, social norms, detractors tell him what is or is not "creatively great." Kanye talked about the album artwork with MTV, with his statements mirroring what he said in Chicago last night.
“I told [Condo] I wanted a phoenix, and that’s what he came up with,” said West. “And what I love about it is, both me and George express ourselves with our truest vision, not based on what society or culture feels is right, but what’s truly in our heart, and I just know if George was in my class back when I was in kindergarten, and he came up with something like that, I would’ve been envious, like, ‘Man, how did you come up with that character with no arms and the wings, man? That’s cool!’ … And it’s simply like that. I just really love the colors. I thought the colors were just amazing, and the imagery was amazing. I thought it was a cool, awesome cover.”
He also told MTV that the album will have 5 covers. So, if the above doesn't do it for you, maybe you'll get luck with option 3 or 5... See the clip from MTV below and look for my write-up of last night's screening coming soon.
Wale: "Mike Tomlin" (Black and Yellow Freestyle)
Wale was a talented high school football player and he actually got a scholarship to play in college. He ended up dropping out of school but his love for the game is present in many of his songs, typically in the form of references. He was in the studio the other night with DJ Drama and decided he wanted to put out a track. So now we have "Mike Tomlin" (the Pittsburgh Steelers' head coach)which is a remix of Wiz Khalifa's banger, "Black and Yellow". Wale makes a minor color change from his recent "Black and Gold" and goes off on this track. He cuts the chorus out and just keeps going, saying, "No days off" which he was tweeting non-stop before the track came out. He takes every rep on this track. Check it out below.
Kelley Stoltz: "I Remember, You Were Wild"
Before reading any biographic information on Kelley Stoltz, I hit play on "I Remember, You Were Wild". Even before that, when I just saw his name come through my inbox, I thought he may be a woman. I was wrong, and he even has facial hair... But anyway, after I hit play, but still before I read his bio, I thought, 'this sounds very Beach Boyish... And it rocks.' Following the listen, I read up on Mr. Stoltz, who lo and behold The Beach Boys are listed as one of Stoltz' most prominent influences. "I Remember, You Were Wild" roars, and it just makes you feel good inside. The track comes off Kelley's most recent LP, To Dreamers. Grab it below via RCRDLBL.