Cheers to the long awaited, second segment of Jordan William's Transformations. This EP only consists of 3 tracks, but its well worth listening to. The third and final segment, is gonna be a full blown mixtape, Transformations: the Mixtape, which is dropping late 2011. Until then, enjoy this EP...
IanJ and his producer CAL sure are something else. "Cali Gurls" is IanJ and CAL's first ever released track from a year ago. So CAL re-produced the track with a sample from Katy Perry's "California Gurls" while IanJ did his part and re-recorded the track. Hope everyone enjoys...
Personally, I think Lupe has far more talent then any mainstream artists to date. He makes tracks on just about every important subject, war, poverty, peoples lifestyles etc. Besides that, here's the new visuals for "Outta My Head" featuring Trey Songz off L.A.S.E.R.S.
Check out the visuals for "Marvin's Room." This video is perfect for the song, it shows the depressed, drunk, and desperate side of Drizzy, just like the track. Watching the video you can see how terrible he's feeling. It's such a killer.
The visuals for "Puppy Chow" by the young artist JAMS was just dropped last night, check it out. Be on the look out for The Sky Is My Canvas, which has no set release date, but will be dropping soon.
Some unreleased Cudder decided to show up earlier today. Originally, "Angels & Demons" was suppose to be on Kid Cudi's debut album, Man On The Moon, and also featuring the Clipse, but it never made reached the album, or with Clipse. It's nice to hear some of that old Cudder flow again.
Congratulations to Huey Mack for hitting 5,000 followers on Twitter, in honor he released a track called "I Can Be" for everyone to enjoy. Huey deserves everything he earned with the music he's been putting out there. Be sure to also check out his recent tape Freshman 15.
Drizzy decides to release another track in the middle of the night, it has that feeling that it's meant for nighttime. "Trust Issues" has a couple lines from DJ Khaled's "I'm On One," which after listening to this track a couple times, I think was very much influenced by codeine. Anyway, this is the type of Drake that I prefer, reminds me of his mixtape So Far Gone. Take Care drops October 24th, Drake's 25th birthday.
Now, I've been talking to Jordan for awhile about his Transformations, and he had definite dates. This track, "The Assassin (Intro)," is obviously the intro to Transformations: The EP, which is dropped July 1st. After that, Jordan is releasing Transformations: The Mixtape late summer/early fall. I'm quite excited for these tapes after I heard this single track.
Does anyone remember the Gorillaz? I sure do, one of the dopest groups I listened to ever since I started listening to music. If you don't know who they are, here's a quick background check; they are a virtual band created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett and consists of 4 members. Those 4 cartoon characters are 2D (lead vocalist and keyboard), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar and drum machine), Noodle (guitar, keyboard, and occasional vocals), and Russel Hobbs (drums and percussion). They go over a couple different genres such as hip-hop, alternative rock, and pop. Here's one of my favorite tracks off their first album Gorillaz which was released in 2001, which sold over seven million copies and earned them a spot in The Guiness Book of World Records as "Most Successful Virtual Band." Also check out the "Clint Eastwood (Phi Life Cypher Remix)," another favorite of mine.
Modern Day Hippies (MDH) is from Seattle, WA, and consists of lyricist Spriggz and producer Milo Eubank. Together they wanted to bring out a new style of music, a blend of hip-hop and indie. This track is one of the chillest songs I've ever heard and it's perfect that the fact today was the official start of summer for me.
"Where is Charles Hamilton?" That sentence has been through blogs for quite a while now, Charles has been gone for a pretty long time, I honestly thought he was dead, until I found out he was being held in a facility for awhile. Despite being diagnosed with with cancer and AIDS, yes he does have both, I hope Charles comes back into the music game, he was such a unique MC. He had an obsession with Sonic the Hedgehog, and his music told his story with women, his feelings, and his friends and family. According to Charles himself, he will be released in the next couple weeks and would like to work with Odd Future, which I think would turn out amazing. With everything happening to Charles, his close friend and former XXL Freshman cover mate Mickey Factz, took some time, grabbed a pen and pad, and wrote a song with advice to Charles, over an instrumental which was in fact made by Charles. I love Mickey for making a song to help out the lost MC.
In honor of one of the greatest rappers ever, this weeks Throwback Thursday is "I Aint Mad At Ya" by Tupac. This song is one of my favorites for many reasons, by my favorite old artist. Happy birthday Tupac Amaru Shakur, rest in peace, you're greatly missed.
If you didn't know already, Mellowhype consists of Left Brain and Hodgey Beats from Odd Future. These guys and anyone from Odd Future can make great videos, and if they tried, I think they could make one creepy horror film.
So this past weekend I was at my friend Ryan's house with Joe, we got into a conversation about techno, electronica, dubstep, and all that jazz. Then Joe clearly said "I don't like Afrojack.." Really? It's whatever, opinions are opinions. Then Ryan puts this on, yup it was Afrojack, something I never heard either. He said "Doesn't this song just make you wanna go nuts in a club?" Hell yeah. This drop is insane, shouts to Rynoch for the track.
Another track from Alotta Cash, it's something different, at least from my perspective it is. Personally, I think he talks about the struggles that can go on in ones life. I'm not even 100 percent sure if this made the cut for his mixtape Haileys Comet, which will be most likely released late July. I'm hoping it is though, this is going to be a tape worth getting.
Now I really never got back into Em cause I didn't like his recent album Recovery, and I never listened to Royce Da 5'9. But these 2 major artists together is something else. Look at the visuals for their track "Fast Lane" off their collab album Hell: the Sequal, which is released June 14th.
So far, I posted up a single by Azar and a single by Malakai, now its time to see them together featuring Freeway on the track. Check out the official video for Ground Up's single "Wonderful Day" which is off their most recent tape Up Late. Don't sleep on these cats, they're gonna be something serious in the coming days.
For this weeks throwback, I decided to put out there The Pharcyde, my favorite and one of the best groups from the 90s. Their music consists of jazzy beats and real lyrics, with some humor included. The song is called "Passing Me By" off their album Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde which was released November 24, 1992.
Now, I've never heard of the group the Foreign Beggars, but after listening to this I think I'll start to bump them. They set out to recruit Skrillex and this is what happened. Check out "Still Getting It" by Foreign Beggars & Skrillex.
Remember that dude Azar I posted up a bit ago? Well this is a track from his partner in crime, Malakai. Both of them and their producer, Bij Lincs, create the Philly-bound music group Ground Up. This song actually came up on shuffle on my ipod and I had to share, it's still one of my favorites to bump too. Chillin' instrumental and dope lyrics, makes a great song. Make you sure you go grab one, preferably all, of Ground Up's tapes, especially their newest release Up Late, which is hosted by DJ Don Cannon. If you don't like Don Cannon rambling at the beginning of the tracks, you can purchase the no DJ version of Up Late off iTunes.
Personally, I like Spitta a lot more then Wiz, and they both make music about pretty much the same topics. Anyway, check out his video for "#JetsGo" off his album Weekend At Burnies, which is released June 28th. You also have to check out his most recent mixtape Covert Coup, it's up in the air with my favorite mixtapes by him.
You may see this dude's name and say in your head, "This guy isn't gonna be nice, I'm not even gonna try and listen to it." Well, I think you should, he lives up to his name. When I first heard this I couldn't believe this kid is only 17, and the beat reminds me of something straight out of the 90s, and its original too, with a BlackStar sample included. Don't sleep on Insane, check out his "Lyrical Mastery."
Here's another dope track from Logic. No joke this guy is something serious, in the intro of it it says, "Look at this n*gga, little b*tch, can't rap, psh you white, motherf*ckin' bullsh*t yo, f*ck outta here with that sh*t," and I think that it doesn't matter what your skin color is like to rap, if you can write good rhymes, you can write good rhymes. Logic is definitely one of the caucasians mixed artists that can really make good music, be prepared for Young Sinatra June 17th.
Another young artist, who just basically got out of high school. JAMS. makes either party music, or real laid back music, that's what I think personally. In his newest single, "Too Much," he goes over Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" and just goes off about having a good time. Check out some JAMS.
I've been messing with Asher since he dropped The Greenhouse Effect back in 2008, seems like forever ago right? Anyway, check out Asher's and Nottz video for their track "Enforce The Law" which was inspired by the film Training Day, which is off their album RAWTH.
Ever since I heard Phil on a track with Logic, I've been listening to him ever since. Not sure what to say except this artist from the DMV has an extremely good amount of talent, his newest tape #PhilAdeFriday drops June 3rd, check out his video for "Always There."
I'm trying something new out, posting an old song of any kind (almost) every Thursday, calling it Throwback Thursdays. Sorry I'm a day early though, I had to get the word out. If you want a request for a song, shoot an email to alwaysdope1@hotmail.com. This week, it's "Kick In The Door" by Notorious B.I.G, one of the greatest artists to ever hold a mic. R.I.P Christopher Wallace..
