[Video] At Home With Earl Sweatshirt + "Chum" (Left Brain Remix)
Doris was my most anticipated hip hop album last year. I got swept up in the Odd Future hype just before Tyler, the Creator's Goblin hit, so the years of pent-up anticipation surrounding the "mysterious" OF member's debut was at an all-time high from independent blogs to major outlets. When Doris came out, it represented both what was expected of him, but also a (positive) departure from the young artist we were all introduced to on EARL. Doris was best represented, in my opinion, by the album's first single, "Chum," introducing a darker, more personal side to Earl Sweatshirt that wasn't apparent on EARL. For a Fader exclusive drop, OF producer Left Brain remixed "Chum," which you can listen to below.
To further the Fader connection, the outlet has begun a video series entitled "At Home With" in which they follow an artist around in their abode, similar to MTV Cribs, albeit less flashy and unnecessary. The installment with Earl Sweatshirt illustrates some of the man behind the words as he gives insight to his life of full waste baskets, a walk-in closet full of skate shoes and shirts, exfoliating shower gloves, and some of his literary choices. You can check out the video below, as well.
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[via The Fader]
2014 Music Festivals Announcement Round Up
Music festivals in America and abroad are beginning to hit critical mass. It's our generation's sign of approval to any artist if they find themselves on a bevy of festival lineups come summer, they're doing something right. Perhaps the most prevalent "music for the people" approach in the industry, festivals allow acts both large and small great opportunities for exposure and listeners the chance to attempt to take it all in. The spring/summer of 2014 is shaping up to be one of the largest festival seasons in recent memory and event organizers have wasted no time announcing jam-packed lineups that look more like an iTunes playlist than a real concert experience. We gathered together lineups from festivals from coast to coast and even beyond to give you the most full, in-depth guide to diving into festival season, check them all out on the following pages.
Earl Sweatshirt Announces "Wearled Tour"
Earl Sweatshirt, who rose from a expedited, mysterious lyricist to one of the leaders of the next generation of hip-hop artists on the strength of his recent relesae, Doris, today announced his first headlining tour. The "Wearled Tour" kicks off in Fort Collins and Denver next week before taking off for dates in Australia, for Laneway Festival, and New Zealand. The 19-year-old Odd Future affiliate is currently in the process of working on his follow-up to Doris, before spending the Spring skipping around the world. The growth in hip-hop is real, as can be seen from Earl and his peer and tourmate last summer on Mac Miller's Space Migration Tour, Chance The Rapper. Both have parlayed early touring experience into solid headlining gigs. Time for the next generation, check out the full tour dates below, tix here.
01-12 Ft. Collins, CO - Aggie Theatre
01-13 Denver, CO - Cervantes
01-27 Auckland, New Zealand - Laneway Festival
01-28 Wellington, New Zealand - James Cabaret
01-31 Brisbane, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-01 Melbourne, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-02 Sydney, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-04 Sydney, Australia - Enmore Theatre
02-06 Melbourne, Australia - Palace Theatre
02-07 Adelaide, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-08 Perth, Australia - Laneway Festival
02-17 Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club
02-18 Norfolk, VA - The Norva
02-19 Boston, MA - House of Vans
02-20 New York, NY - Webster Hall
02-21 Providence, RI - The Met
02-22 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
03-05 Aarhus, Denmark - Fonden Voxhall
03-06 Helsinki, Finland - Nosturi
03-08 Oslo, Norway - Parkteatret
03-09 Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser Strand
03-10 Copenhagen, Denmark - Pumphuset
03-14 Schuttorf, Germany - Index
03-15 Cologne, Germany - Luxor
03-16 Munich, Germany - Strom
03-18 Zurich, Switzerland - Komplex Klub
03-19 Paris, France - Trabendo
03-20 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
03-21 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg
03-23 London, England - Brixton Electric
03-24 Glasgow, Scotland - Garage
03-25 Manchester, England - Academy2
03-26 Dublin, Ireland - Academy
[Mixtape] Flying Lotus: "Ideas+drafts+loops"
The holiday spirit is heating up as the end of the month creeps closer everyday. Keeping with the theme of this time of the year, super-producer extraordinaire Flying Lotus dropped a heaping of new material. Casually floating 24 remixes, un-heard cuts, tracks and beats that didn't quite make the cut for his upcoming project, a follow up to his latest release, Until The Quiet Comes, FlyLo set the bar for his next official album. Of the discarded tracks arranged together as Ideas+drafts+loops are workings with Earl Sweatshirt, Thundercat, Mapei, Viktor Vaughn and DJ Mehdi, as well as an out of this world remix of Kanye West's "Black Skinhead". For a lack of poetic prose here, Flying Lotus is just awesome, and the fact that he would opt to drop such a collection of work on a whim, for free, speaks volumes not only about him as a person, but also about the music he has cooking up. If he's confident enough to drop these, what could he possibly have in store? Who knows. For now, enjoy the smorgasbord of new music to get you through those cold winter days. Download link below and stream of FlyLo's "Black Skinhead" remix below, as well.
Download: Ideas+drafts+loops
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[Mixtape] Mac Miller: "Delusional Thomas"
Mac Miller slipped one by me last Friday, releasing a new mixtape under his latest moniker, Delusional Thomas. The tape is nice and has features from Earl Sweatshirt and Da$h, with production coming exclusively from Larry Fisherman. . . yet another Miller alter-ego. Apparently, the character of Delusional Thomas employs a more nasally sound to the rhymes. Honestly, I'm cool with the character changes as long as Mac keeps doing his thing. Say what you want about the Pittsburgh MC but he has never strayed from being himself and making that money while staying independent. More power to him. Check out his eponymous release, Delusional Thomas below.
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[Sunday Coffee Sipper] Reflecting on the BET Hip Hop Awards
On October 16 in Los Angeles, California Rap music's elite showed out for the annual BET Hip Hop Awards, commemorating the best of all things hip-hop in the past year. Kendrick Lamar cleaned up, hauling in five awards including best album and lyricist of the year while Jay-Z, Big Sean and the rest of hip-hop's governing body took turns patting each other on the back. For today's Sunday Coffee Sipper I break down the list of winners from several of the categories and decide who I would have picked from the very small group of nominees that were available for the awards, enjoy!
Best Hip-Hop Video: Drake "Started From The Bottom": I literally thought this was the most bogus video I had seen until Chief Keef's "Love No Thotties" premiered this week. Seriously though, you're not making it any easier to legitimize the "Started From The Bottom" mantra with the opening scene of a Toronto youth soccer game played in a bubble, or perhaps it's the perfect metaphor. The fake snow, all white everything convertible dance scene is just downright goofy, as is the Wal-Mart confetti-strewn dance party. Drake had a lot of dance parties at the bottom. Where is 'here' anyway? Could be anywhere. Ah, Drake, they'll love whatever you do.
Who Should Have Won: Kendrick Lamar – ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’
Reese’s Perfect Combo Award (Best Collabo, Duo or Group): A$AP Rocky f/ 2 Chainz, Drake & Kendrick Lamar "Problems": Of the nominations, this was an easy favorite for the best collaboration of the year. Featuring the top names in hip-hop today and a blistering verse from K Dot it stood head and shoulders above even Ace Hood and Future's summer banger "Bugatti" and J. Cole and Miguel's "Power Trip".
Best Live Performer: Jay-Z: Not sure about the nomination or the win on this one. Jay-Z is certainly a pillar of hip-hop, but there are plenty of better live acts around the country that could have vied for the title, even outside of the nominees. Granted, Jay-Z proved to be a step ahead of the competition in the crafting of a different live set idea with his "Picasso Baby" art installation, a wholly different take on hip-hop as an accepted artform. Regardless, I can't help but feel there was a better choice to be had.
Who Should Have Won: J. Cole/2 Chainz
Lyricist of the Year: Kendrick Lamar: They probably didn't need to announce this one. Between good kid, m.A.A.d. city, the much-talked about verse on Big Sean's "Control" and a host of outstanding features throughout the year, Kendrick cemented himself as the lyricist to match in 2013. The "Control" verse in general, in which he called out the other top names in the game, nestled Kendrick firmly in the upper echelon of hip-hop artists today.
Album of the Year: Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid m.a.a.d. City: Again, a fairly easy choice as the top rap album of 2013. Kendrick finally emerged from Section 80 to the big leagues with his chart-topping album that, as stated earlier, vaulted him from one of the new guys to the forefront of everything happening from here on out.
Producer of the Year: Mike Will Made It: It's hard to be too upset with this decision, Mike Will Made it had some of the year's biggest songs, using his enormous drum ensembles to shake the walls of clubs from coast to coast with songs like"No Lie" by 2 Chainz, "Bandz a Make Her Dance" by Juicy J, "Pour It Up" by Rihanna and "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus. They weren't the best songs of the year, but they topped the charts. I can't forgive him for allowing Cyrus to don a Michael Jordan jersey while twerking in their "23" collaboration, though. In comparison, Pharrell did songs with Jay-z, Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke and Daft Punk.
Who Should Have Won: Pharrell Williams
Track of the Year: "Started From The Bottom," produced by Mike Zombie and Noah "40" Shebib: Can't even lie about it, this song was not the best track of the year, by any means. Drake's attempt at convincing listeners that watched him as Jimmy on Degrassi that he, "started from the bottom" was ill-conceived and uninteresting. Sure, the beat and hook get stuck in your head, but is that all it takes to have a hot track? Of course, you catch more fish with a larger net and most of the nominees for each category were held to roughly the same six characters. That makes for a small net.
Who Should Have Won: ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ – Produced by Sounwave (Kendrick Lamar)
Best Mixtape: Big Sean, Detroit: This one just didn't make sense. In a category that included a host of independent artists including Chance The Rapper and Travi$ Scott, this would have been the perfect opportunity for BET to sway towards the up and coming, essentially the heart of hip-hop today. Instead, the crown for best mixtape was given to Big Sean's Detroit, making for an un-inspirational win for the G.O.O.D. Music star.
Who Should Have Won: Chance The Rapper: Acid Rap
Who New? Rookie of the Year: A$AP Ferg: This is deserved. Trap Lord was easily one of the hottest releases of a packed summer of new music and Ferg showed that the buzz surrounding him and his major debut release was no fluke. With co-signs from just about everyone in the game right now, the award was fitting. Tough competition here, too, with Earl Sweatshirt, Action Bronson and Joey Bada$$ rounding out the nominees.
MVP of the Year: Kendrick Lamar: Honestly, he could have taken most of the awards with the competition BET stacked up against Kendrick. More than anyone else, Lamar and his TDE crew have brought about a sound and a mentality that had been lacking in hip hop as of late. As he made it known on that fateful "Control" verse, this is now Kendrick's game, and everyone has to step up.
Tyler, The Creator: "Look" (feat. Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, & Earl Sweatshirt)
The Odd Future conglomerate surprised their fans last night after releasing a new record featuring the group's best emcees --Tyler, The Creator, Hodgy Beats, Domo Genesis, & Earl Sweatshirt--. What's interesting about this record is the fact that underground emcee/producer Nottz is credited for the instrumental. Tyler is known for his lack of willingness to collaborate with people outside OFWGKTA's camp and we rarely get to see these four on a track all together, so having an "outsider" be part of their material is a rarity.
https://soundcloud.com/ofwgkta-official/look
Freddie Gibbs + Madlib: "Harold's"
Well this new is just plain silly. Today, Indiana's own Freddie Gibbs and Madlib announced a colllaboration project together, named Pinata, due out February 4 on Madlib's label Madlib Invazion. As a preview of the upcoming album, as if it needed more buzz around it, the duo plans to release Deeper EP containing the lead single by the same name. Today, they decided to give fans the B-side of the EP, titled "Harold's". And, to add even more excitement to the whole thing, the project is produced by Madlib and includes guest spots from Raekwon, Earl Sweatshirt, Danny Brown, Domo Genesis, Joey Bada$$, Ab-Soul, Mac Miller, and more. Song below.