[Review] Jay Z's 4:44 album is refreshing and makes your mind wander and reflect
I owe Jay Z an apology. Since Watch The Throne, I've said "Jay doesn't need to rap anymore." "He's too rich, now." "Jay Z' is above this world of hip-hop to connect with his core audience." The 4:44 album is proof that I was dead wrong. It also proves Jay Z can do anything and he should never be questioned or doubted ever in the world of hip-hop. 4:44 is Jay Z's "Back To The Future II album". It's like the album is recorded in an alternate time warp between 1999-2001. Much like Marty when he had to go to the "other 1985" to make things right for the future of his existence in others. Big Homey Jay has returned and the game is being redirected.
Tracks like "Kill Jay Z", "4:44" and "Smile", give the most revealing Jay ever. He really gives us real clips on his personal life. His struggles of being a married man, a father and a softer individual with feelings that deals with emotions. Something we rarely got over the last 2 decades. He touches on every possible instance that ever made the media and the watching and talking streets. Kanye, Solange, Beyonce, Un and much more. It's refreshing and makes your mind wander and reflect on the life you've had a privilege to watch all this time.
Then you have joints like "Family Feud", "Bam" and "The Story of O.J". These joints put in perspective who really getting this money and moving right out here. Nobody can ever out rap Jay Z when it's time for show and tell. From the tone to the bar itself. If Jay Z says he's got it. You believe it. Blue and the twins have an 8 million dollar painting to cash in right now. Everybody holding money to their ear still making collect calls to Hov and he's not taking collect calls.
"Moonlight" "Caught Their Eye" attacks the industry and everything messed up in it. From the flows to the record deals, Prince and more. It's just that standard "Big Homey Talk" that Hov has been giving out for years.
Is 4:44 the best Jay Z album? You can honestly argue it. This album is 180 growth from Reasonable Doubt. This is The Dynasty content with more detail. This is everything we thought Magna Carta Holy Grail would be. Not to mention Jay Z is still rapping at a high level. "Shinning" and other moments over the last 4 years are easily forgettable after the first 4 tracks on this album. It will honestly be many Jay fans and rightfully so. Chances are if you're a day 1 Jay z fan in real time. [Meaning you bought Reasonable Doubt by at least 1998] You're between 32-38 or older. Which means you and Jay will have an adult conversation about the life he's lived. A life like none other. Take a seat and chill with ya mans and catch up with him. What you doing at 4:44 anyway?
The Story of O.J.
Fans brave rain as Chicago gets in formation for Beyoncé
Beyonce's "The Formation World Tour” sold out two shows in Chicago at Soldier Field. On the first night despite the heavy rain fall fans left Solider Field seeing Beyoncé at her best.
Back on tour for the first time since her ambitious “Mrs. Carter Show World Tour” in 2013. Beyoncé’s "The Formation World Tour” was announced following her appearance during Super Bowl 50. Receiving high acclaim for her latest album Lemonade, Beyoncé was praised for her boldest and craftiest work to date.
Beyoncé brought out Chicago’s and Roc Nation artist Vic Mensa for a surprise performance. Performing “U Mad” and “16 shots”, Mensa felt right at home. Mensa was well received for his notability and his authentic rap personal. Just performing two songs, fans missed out on some of Mensa’s best.
Opening for Beyoncé was Atlanta rap duo Rae Sremmurd with their energy filled favorites “No Flex Zone” and “Throw Some Mo”. These two easily are continuing to break the ‘one hit wonder’ chatter that has been following them since the beginning of their short career.
A 70-foot-tall rotating video screens were die center in the middle. Visually the stage was stunning, the video screens and THX sound system embodied everyone in the stadium. Video from Beyoncé’s Lemonade teased fans as it spun three times bringing out Beyoncé and her dancers.
Performing majority of her set from her hit Lemonade album. Beyoncé brought us back in time with songs “Baby Boy”, “Crazy in Love’, and Destiny Child’s “Survivor”. She also performed covers of Nicki Minaj’s “Feeling Myself”. For the full set list view below.
The track history of hit records from Beyoncé was visited with songs that fans grew up on. A nice touch to that history was a video that showed a just turning 16 year-old Beyoncé explaining what she would do to someone who disrespects her.
Near the end of her performance Beyoncé paid tribute to the fallen legend Prince. Using the video screens, nothing but the color purple was on while Prince’s "Purple Rain" played. A tribute that felt even more touching as light rain was coming down at that time.
Literally singing in the rain, Beyoncé didn’t disappoint while setting the bar high for future shows. The term “rain or shine” will now be looked at differently as if Beyoncé could give this stellar showcase of her incredible talent so should everyone else.
It’s important to note Beyoncé’s status while on her "The Formation World Tour”. Hearing her last night was a pure pleasure for many reasons. The obvious one is the huge block party feeling that came with a community of fans dancing together singing word for word every song while in the rain. The underlining reason is the heavy meaning she brings in songs like ‘Formation’.
Beyoncé’s voice was one of the many highlights of the night. A typical backtrack was missing making Beyoncé the only things fans heard that night. This created a unique experience for music lovers especially when it came time for her acapella song “Love on Top” and her blues renditions of “Daddy Lessons”.
Fans who attended the sold out stadium show left feeling a sense of familiarity with the mega star. With that connection Beyoncé fans left the first night of her tour in Chicago with the feeling of knowing her on a personal intimate level through her stellar performance.
Beyoncé’s setlist Friday:
- Intro (with samples of 'No Angel' and 'Formation')
- Formation
- Sorry
- Kitty Kat
- Bow Down
- Run the World (Girls)
- Superpower
- Mine
- Baby Boy
- Hold Up
- Countdown
- Me, Myself and I
- Runnin' (Lose It All) (Naughty Boy cover)
- All Night
- 6 Inch / I Care / Ghost
- Don't Hurt Yourself
- Ring the Alarm
- Diva
- Flawless (remix)
- Feeling Myself (Nicki Minaj cover)
- Yoncé
- Drunk in Love
- Rocket
- Hip Hop Star / Freakum Dress
- Daddy Lessons
- 1+1
- Love on Top (Acapella)
- The Beautiful Ones (Prince cover)
- Purple Rain (Prince song)
- Crazy in Love
- Naughty Girl
- Party
- Blow
- Die with You / Blue
- Freedom
- Survivor (Destiny’s Child song)
- End of Time
- Halo
[Review] Beyoncé releases highly anticipated album 'Lemonade'
For the past few weeks, Beyoncé has kept fans in a tizzy about her mysterious Lemonade project. She dropped several teasers, still it was unsure just what the singer was working on. Now, we finally have an answer: it's a new album. We shouldn't be so surprised; Beyoncé pulled the same surprise move for her stellar self-titled album in 2013. Bey premiered the album via an hour long HBO special and it may just be her most personal work yet.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are music's ultimate power couple, but if these new songs are anything to go by not everything is marital bliss. The album opens with “Pray You Catch Me,” a song where she discovers that her lover is cheating and lying. Beyoncé sings, “You can taste the dishonesty, it’s all over your breath as you pass it off so cavalier.” It’s a melancholy introduction of the initial pain of finding out that infidelity has occurred.
Bey continues the theme of infidelity on “Hold Up.” Beyoncé seems to tell her lover that other women can’t compare to what she brings to the table. “Back up, they don’t love you like I love you,” she sings. She later threatens violence if things continue to go too far: “Strolling through your call list, I don’t want to lose my pride, but I’m gonna f— me up a b—.” The anger reaches its crescendo on “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” as Beyoncé takes listeners into a full-fledged argument with assistance from Jack White on guitar: “Blindly in love, I f—s with you, until I realized I’m too much for you…tonight I’m f—g up all your s— boy!” She ends the song with a blatant threat: “This is your final warning, you know I give your life, if you try this s— again, you gonna lose your wife.”
“Daddy Lessons” infuses New Orleans’ second line traditions with country and blues as Beyoncé tells a story where her father teaches her to shoot any man who attempts to do her wrong. “Love Drought,” “Sand Castles,” and “Forward” serve as songs where the worst issues have been confronted and the thoughts of how to handle the relationship in the future become evident.
Just when it seems like things are heading for the worse in comes the ballad “All Night” brings the entire project together. Beyoncé appears to forgive and now understands that even fairytales take hard work. Every good relationship is built on the idea of accepting each other’s flaws and surviving the bad times. “True love never has to hide, I trade your broken wings for mines,” she sings.
Kendrick Lamar provides another magnificent verse on the powerful “Freedom,” and The Weeknd joins Beyoncé to pay homage to strippers on “6-Inch.” “Formation,” which caused a stir when initially released, closes the album.
Overall, Lemonade is Beyoncé’s version of Here, My Dear— an album that detailed the fallout between Marvin Gaye and his wife Anna Gordy. Lemonade probably won’t be remembered as her most significant project, but it’s arguably Beyoncé’s most vulnerable moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okGJ-Fto36Q
Article originally posted by our friends at RollingOut
Beyoncé Formation tour Soldier Field Chicago
Beyoncé is causing a stir this year and she doesn't give a shit. She and Bruno Mars saved the Superbowl Half-Time show with a mock dance off between the two. But the biggest highlight was Bey's performance of her new song "Formation." While it drove the Beyhive insane, it managed to cause some controversy due to its references to The Black Panther Movement. A few months later, the singer began teasing the mysterious Lemonade project. This past weekend she finally revealed what she'd been working on via an hour long HBO video special: a new album. Now, Beyoncé has done surprise albums before. The thing that has everyone talking is the content. Most of the songs seem to address her marriage to Hip-Hop mogul Jay-Z with suggestions her cheated on her with "Becky with the good hair." Now, both the album and the film have everyone talking including late night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert. It all shows why Beyonce is Queen Bey.
Time: 6:00 pm
Tickets: Here
Venue: Soldier Field
Check out her video for "Formation:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrCHz1gwzTo&index=2&list=PL-E79MQ72MqVQWkmv0BEYOwXMc-hCTqHg
Beyonce Back on HBO with New Concert Mini-Series
Beyonce’s making a return back to HBO, following up her Life Is But a Dream documentary with a 10-episode mini-series publicizing concerts off of her Mrs. Carter Show world tour. The shows will consist of a multitude of four-minute segments called Beyoncé: X10 and will air on HBO on June 29th at 8:55PM EST as a lead-in to episodes of the final season of True Blood. The documentary is 40 minutes in total, and will most likely be launched as a package at a future date.
Each episode on Beyoncé: X10 will feature a different city that the tour has been filmed in, and will incorporate songs such as “Partition,” “Blow,” “XO,” “Ghost/Haunted,” “Girls,” and others. Short but sweet, Beyoncé’s mini-concert series will add to her empire and continue to demonstrate how this girl strives to run the world.
[via Vibe]
[Video] Disclosure Lets The Fire Burn At Coachella 2014
Photo by Chris Garmon
Unless you've been living under a rock, you're very aware of last weekend's mega festival in the desert, Coachella. This year seemed to be the year of the special guest appearances. For example, Nas brought out Jay and Puffy, Queen Bey danced around supporting her sister Solange, Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg joined Pharrell on stage, Chance The Rapper brought out Justin Bieber, and we finally got to see Outkast back together, who themselves were joined by Janelle Monae and Future. RH favorites Disclosure was not going to be left behind as they also brought out some of their special friends to one of the best sets from the festival, bringing out Sam Smith, Mary J.Blige, and Aluna Francis (of Aluna George) to the stage during their featured songs. The UK brothers have been killing it since they dropped their debut album Settle last year and haven't looked back as they've been performing non-stop and appearing on talks shows and award shows all over the world.
Settle was pretty much on everyone's top albums list of 2013 (including ours), and with good reason. I pretty much had it on repeat for six months, and like many others, I couldn't get enough of their infectious production. I was lucky to be able to catch them during their tour stop in Austin this past January (check out the photos). I've seen a lot of DJ/producer sets, and Disclosure is definitely on the top of my list after seeing them live. If you are a fan or have yet to see them, check out their full set at Coachella below and don't be afraid when you end up dancing around your desk.
[youtube id="q3J8BLkCEdM"]
Liberated Beyonce Covers the Power Issue for Out Magazine
Photos by Santiago & Mauricio
Beyoncé Knowles steals the spotlight once again as she channels her inner Marilyn Monroe on the cover of Out magazine's annual May Power Issue, on newsstands April 22. The issue was beautifully photographed by Santiago & Mauricio and styled by Lysa Cooper, and it's actually her first major cover since dropping her self-titled album back in December. With a sultry glance, platinum blond wig, and strands of pearls draping down her breast, the superstar embodies the legendary sex symbol effortlessly.
Aside from the stunning photo spread, the article includes an exclusive interview where she shares her opinion on the double standards in the music industry, and on the release of her most sexually liberated album to date. Going even further, the singer released exclusive remixes of tracks 'Blow' and 'XO' for the article. In defying typical marketing strategies for the release of her surprise self titled visual album, and wrapping up a successful world tour, there is no question as to why she was selected for this issue.
Check out the following photos from Beyonce's photo spread and let us know what you think.
[Via Out Magazine]
2014 MTV Woodie Award Nominees Announced
The MTV Woodies, the cable channel's reaction to indie music, announced the nominees for this year's award show, chosen by voters online yesterday. The nominees included a who's who of artists and acts that dominated the up and coming charts in 2013. In the hunt for the coveted "Woodie of the Year" are familiar names in Kanye West, Drake and Pharrell, as well as some more eclectic choices in Disclosure, Imagine Dragons, Lorde and Zedd. Chance The Rapper and director Austin Vesely are nominated for the "Best Video Woodie" for the "Everybody's Something" video. They will be up against some stiff competition from Disclosure ("Grab Her"), Passion Pit ("Carried Away"), Iggy Azalea ("Bounce") and Arcade Fire ("Afterlife"). Chance pops up again for his collaboration on "Life Round Here" with James Blake and Jhene Aiko and Mack Wilds round out a fairly solid list for "Breaking Woodie". Honestly, it's odd to find names like Beyonce and Jay Z on this list of nominees, which seem more tailored to Macklemore than the Grammys did a few weeks ago. Bob Dylan is nominated for a "Did It My Way Woodie". What's more 'My Way' than releasing an album (The Heist, Acid Rap) independently only to see it beat out the big guys? The line between independent and mainstream is being increasingly scrubbed away, and the 2014 edition of the Woodie Awards may be the best implication of that.
The MTV Woodies take place March 13 in Austin, TX, and will air March 16 on MTVU. Check out the full list of nominees below.
2014 mtvU Woodie Awards Nominees
Woodie of the Year:
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
Pharrell
Drake
Zedd
Disclosure
Breaking Woodie:
Bastille
Martin Garrix
The 1975
Jhene Aiko
Sam Smith
Mack Wilds
Best Video Woodie:
Disclosure, "Grab Her"
Passion Pit, "Carried Away"
Chance the Rapper, "Everybody's Something"
Iggy Azalea, "Bounce"
Arcade Fire, "Afterlife"
Did It My Way Woodie:
Beyoncé — Released her new, self-titled album without any prior promotion.
Kanye West — Created an interactive music video experience for Yeezus
Arcade Fire — Creatively utilized social media, street art and pop-up performances to launch the Reflektor album.
Childish Gambino — Hosted impromptu album listening sessions in public parks for Because the Internet.
Bob Dylan — Created a 16 channel interactive music video for "Like a Rolling Stone."
Performing Woodie:
Tyler the Creator
Ed Sheeran
Jay Z
Arcade Fire
The National
The XX
Best Collaboration Woodie:
A$AP Rocky and Skrillex — "Wild For the Night"
Avicii and Aloe Blacc — "Wake Me Up"
Just Blaze and Baauer featuring Jay Z — "Higher"
Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons — "Radioactive (remix)"
Daft Punk and Pharrell — "Get Lucky"
James Blake and Chance the Rapper — "Life Round Here"
College Radio Woodie (Best College Radio Station):
Ball State University (WCRD)
Boston University (WTBU)
East Stroudsburg University (WESS)
Eastern Illinois University (WEIU)
Indiana University (WIUX)
Texas State University - San Marcos (KTSW)
University of California - Berkeley (KALX)
University of Illinois - Champaign Urbana (WPGU)
University of South Carolina (WUSC)
William Paterson University (WPSC)