[Songs of the Day] 2/21/14 (Feat. Young Thug, LIZ, James Blake & More)
Another day, another batch of songs, here's today's songs of the day for the 21st of February. Paper Diamond continued a steady stream of jams by releasing "Wylin" with LOUDPVCK to celebrate his Pro Partnership with Soundcloud. Chief Keef kept the tracks coming with "Save Me", newcomer LIZ showed up with "Say U Will", Young Thug gave us "Geek'd Up", while Milwaukee product Klassik offered up a remix of Thug's song "Danny Glover". Norwegian Maya Vik continued to produce beautiful music with her latest song, "Totally Right" and Chicago MC Highlife released "True Lies". Rounding out the day was Ty Dolla $igns star-studded remix of "Or Nah" produced by The Weeknd and featuring Wiz Khalifa and James Blake, operating under his DJ name Harmonimix, remixed Kendrick Lamar's anthem, "m.A.A.d City". Check out all of the track, streaming below.
Track of the Day: Paper Diamond & LOUDPVCK: “Wylin”
Paper Diamond & LOUDPVCK: “Wylin”
Chief Keef: “Save Me”
LIZ: “Say U Would”
Young Thug: “Geek’d Up”
Highlife: “True Lies”
Maya Vik: “Totally Right”
Young Thug: “Danny Glover Remix” (Feat. Klassik)
Ty Dolla $igns: “Or Nah” (Feat. Wiz Khalifa & The Weeknd)
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Kendrick Lamar: “m.A.A.d City” (James Blake Remix)
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[Video] Scoolboy Q, Vic Mensa & Vado on 'RapFix Live'
Wednesday might as well have been "Come Up Day" over at the MTV RapFix studios in New York City. I say that because Sway, wearing a SaveMoney sweatshirt nonetheless, found himself flanked by two of the most aggressively progressive artists in hip-hop today in Vic Mensa and Schoolboy Q who were also joined by Cam'ron protege, Vado. The four men chopped it up between the couches with Sway, touching on what's come, what's gone and what's on the horizon. Schoolboy Q, whose album, Oxymoron is about ready to explode from anticipation leading up to the February 25 release date, showed up looking like he stole a page out of Pharrell's style book with a full brimmed hat capping off an ensemble that included a full-length grey trench coat and pink 'TDE' sweatshirt. Anything goes I guess when you're the 'Hood Pope'. Vic joined Schoolboy on the couch, rocking a matching sweatshirt to Sway's and giving the pink 'TDE' piece a run for its...money? Anyway, check out the full episode, streaming below courtesy of MTV.
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[RH First Look] Barney Bones: "The Barney Bones EP"
Barney Bones represents the turning of a tide on the West Coast, at least when it comes to hip-hop music. Kendrick Lamar at once gave resurgence to, and forever changed the sound of rap music that emanated from the left coast with his lyrically confounding, omnipresent tales of watching the violence that his predecessors had illustrated happen around him. On his debut project, fellow South Central native Barney Bones is the solution to the equation K Dot+soul beats=X. His flow is at once poetic while being abrasive enough to spike raised eyebrows and rewinds with ease, covering subject matter that deals with more than how many bands can make her dance. The album opens with Barney reeling from a reverie, rhyming "Last night I had dreams that turned into screams". It is the sort of initial statement that instantly holds the rest of the track to a higher standard and shows a kind of self-realiztion of one's own thoughts not often found until artists hit later years. The eclectic beats, ranging from ambient electro to heavy boom-bap call to mind an early Kid Cudi, furthermore when calling to mind Bones' ability to look deep within. I caught up with the artist for a few quick questions about The Barney Bones EP, check out the Q+A, as well as the full album streaming and available for download on the following page.
[Songs of the Day] 2/13/14 (Feat. Jeremih, Kirk Night, Little Dragon & More)
There are a few over-arching themes throughout February that seem to dictate much of the music that is made in the thirty-one days that make up the second month of the year, and it seems each is touched on in our latest entry of today's "Songs of the Day". Leading off our list is Pro-Era affiliate Kirk Night, who lays down what's real in his latest track, "Pussy Facx" while EDM queen Odesza teams up with Madelyn Grant for a dance-inducing romp in "Sun Models". The Game and Problem showed that Midwest slang has finally hit the coast in "THOT", Vulkan The Crusader touches on the important questions this time of the year, offering up, "Do You Remember How To Love?"and Jeremih teamed up with EDM act Shlomo for a new track in "No More". MØ takes things back to "Spice World" on "Say You'll Be There" while Little Dragon gives us "Klapp Klapp". Chicago's young gunners got some play today too as Michael Christmas and Alex Wiley got together for "Step Brothers" and Jams Dean continues the Valentine's Day sentiment with "Why Do I Love You" where he reprises his positive collaboration with producer Netherfriends. Wrapping up today's tracks are RiFF RaFF going country in "Take You Away" and CyHi The Prynce offers up "Coretta" in honor of the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. Check it all out, streaming below.
Track of the Day: CyHi The Prynce: "Coretta"
Kirk Night: “Pussy Facx”
Odesza: “Sun Models” (Feat. Madelyn Grant)
The Game: “THOT” (Feat. Problem)
Vulkan The Crusader: “Do You Remember Love?”
Jeremih & Shlomo: “No More”
Jams Dean: “Why Do I Love You” (Feat. Abbi Rajasekhar, Epic Of BBU, Netherfriends)
Michael Christmas: “Step Brothers” (Feat. Alex Wiley)
MØ: “Say You'll Be There”
Little Dragon: "Klapp Klapp"
Riff Raff: “Take U Away”
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CyHi The Prynce: “Coretta"
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[Video] whysowhite Performs on AudioTree
Chicago funk band whysowhite has been incessantly working their way up the music rungs with their vibrant, fun combination of dance-inducing funk and hip-hop flows that come together to create one of my personal favorite live shows in the Windy City or elsewhere. Led by a trio of vocalist/MCs Davis & Charles Haines and Nick and Nick McMillan, the seven-piece band brings it every time they take the stage. Recently, they linked up with fellow Chicago outfit AudioTree to film a session for the website. Their set, perfected during incessant practice takes at their home/rehearsal space in a converted 'FireHaus' on the north side of the city, is wildly fun and imaginative, and available for purchase via AudioTree. The band has played gigs with the likes of George Clinton, Joey ChestnuTT and Macklemore, among others, and should turn this year's SXSW into a jump off moving forward. whysowhite has been boiling for a minute, it's about time they popped. Check out the full video, streaming below and if you're in Chicago be sure to catch whysowhite and Marrow on March 1 at Martyr's in Lincoln Square.
[Video] DMX Interviewed About Boxing George Zimmerman
So, if you've kept your ear to the news cycle over the past week or so you probably heard about George Zimmerman, the man who mercilessly killed a young African-American boy, Trayvon Martin, in "self-defense" and got away with it without having to spend even a day in jail. Well, since we live in America, he can't just be tucked away and forgotten as a thick stain on the thoroughly soiled underpants that is American mass media and pop culture. He has been actively shopping a boxing match around, and has generated interest from the likes of The Game and DMX, the latter of which has been mentioned as the likely opponent for Zimmerman.
When asked about the possibility of taking him on, DMX had this to say: "I would not be boxing for me... I'd be boxing for the legacy of Trayvon Martin and his family." DMX also told TMX, "I am going to beat the living fuck out of him. I am breaking every rule in boxing to make sure I fuck him up right." He also threatened to piss on Zimmerman's face. Well, sadly, this is a thing and, appropriately, World Star Hip-hop got a hold of an interview with DMX talking about the proposed fight, which is scheduled to take place on March 1. In the interview he says, " Well, I was challenged. I was challenged. I still haven't really decided whether I was going to do it. But if I did do it, whatever money that was supposed to go to him [Zimmerman] would have to go to charity," he says. "I will gladly beat the shit out of him," he adds. Stay tuned.
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[Mixtape] J. Cole: "The Revenge of the Dreamers"
J. Cole easily made one of the albums of the year in his 2013 release, Born Sinner which brought few accolades but made up for the slight disappointment of his debut studio project, Cole World: The Sideline Story. It seems as though Cole is already back on his grind, as he celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday with the release of a fresh new project, The Revenge of the Nerds. The release of the project also coincided with Cole's announcement of a partnership between his Dreamville imprint and Interscope, which seems to have championed the artist-turned-label-head situation. The release, similar to t9th Wonder's JAMLA Is The Squad project which also dropped last night, is a sort of sampler platter for the artists workign with Cole on Dreamville, including the endlessly talented Omen and Bas.
It's interesting that Cole went the Interscope route, having just had one of the craziest concert experiences last night at Madison Square Garden where Kendrick, fresh off the Grammys, showed up to perform "Forbidden Fruit", "Backseat Freestyle" and "m.A.A.d. City" before turning to the crowd to say, ""[Cole] is one of the first cats to welcome me with open arms in this music business when I ain't know sh-- about it," he said. "So believe that, this is not no regular rapper friendship, this is my f---ing brother right here, J. Cole." Jay Z joined him onstage for "PSA" before handing him his original Roc-A-Fella Jesus piece and performing "FuckwithmeyouknowIgotit". As if that wasn't enough, Cole ended the concert by performing songs off The Revenge of The Dreamers, of which he had just showered the crowd with hard copies. Not a bad birthday, but what's he going to do for the big 3-0?
Full stream/download below with a video of J.Cole's gift from HOV below.
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Alex Wiley & Kembe X: "Know Normal"
It's been a minute since we've heard from one of my favorite duo's coming up in Chicago right now, but today we got a long-awaited update from the pair of Chicago artists, Alex Wiley & Kembe X who last got together on, "Midnight to Morning" off of Club Wiley since recording 2012s Can I Borrow A Dollar? together. The Closed Sessions release is several songs in one and was recorded this week at Soundscape Studios on Chicago's west side. Stopping in last night, engineer and studio owner Mike Kolar showed me the many levels to the track, produced by The Innovatorz, that is able to succinctly play to both of the artist's strengths.
Expect plenty more from Wiley, who recently dropped a four-song surprise project, and Kembe who has reportedly been spending time in California with the likes of SZA and Isaiah Rashad.
"Know Normal" is a precursor to Wiley's headlining show this Saturday at Reggie's Rock House in the South Loop of the city and tickets are available here.