Changing Realities

Currently listening to J Cole The Warm Up but then this came on my ipod. If you read this blog you'll know I got a lot of time for Fashawn. So I was listening to When She Calls best track on the album btw. And it made me think, when did surreal beats and abstract samples, so slow they're almost acapella beats become hiphop.

Kanye West came through with the samples back on College Dropout, and slow jams have always been around. And the abstractness can be found throughout indie hiphop, so I guess that can exclude Blu, Fashawn and Sene.  But who would've thought mellow drawls (outside of the south and the west coast style of the dee-oh-double-gee) would become not only  popular in the underground but mainstream; Drake's Thank Me Later so laidback, mellow, jaaaaam, and the surreal theme runs through the whole album (and is even more concentrated in So Far Gone). Not to say it hasn't been done before Common - The Light etc. but never has it been so mainstream and become so much the thing to do.....

Question is do you miss the days of A Tribe Called Quest or happy that Slum Village/J Dilla style jaaaaamed hiphop is slowly making it more mainstream? Or is Drake just synthy overproduced souless music, lemme know what you think.......

My Boy Blu

So I was looking through my archives and I can't believe I still haven't done a post on Blu. The namesake of the blog and I hadnt even done one......

If you haven't heard of Blu you neeeeeed to listen to this. Blu is a true lyricist, heralding from Los Angeles, California, he made the XXL freshmen list 09, used to be a hype man for Slum Village back in the daaay, and his mixtapes are just haaaaard. His sound is just mellow, easy flow, charismatic but without all the commercial hype. The beats are just jam, loaaaads of samples, old films, 50s jazz, gospel. I think what keeps his music so good is that he's not trying to crack the mainstream, he's so unconcerned with fitting a stereotype he's created his own future of rap. I'd say this is where Dilla saw rap music going.....

The two main producers he works with are Exile, and Mainstream (under the title Johnson & Jonson), he produces aswell, but the only stuff I've listened to he's produced is with Sene (also worth listening too, equally jam, lacks the charisma of Blu, bit synthier, but has some qualityyyy songs - Just Around the Corner - click link to play - so worth listening to). But Exile & Blu are just the dream team....he's got an album coming this year Her Favourite Colo(u)r same title as his most recent mixtape so I dont know how similar they're gunna be think it might just be remastered but excited anyway.

Dancing in the Rain of his debut album back in.....i think it was 07, Below The Heavens

Freshmen....alumni

Talking to some friends about XXL's freshmen list when one of them made this

and it made me think you could not touuuuuuuuuuuch the class of 09, Blu, Wale, Curren$y, BOB, Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, and Mickey Factz, Ace Hood and Cory Gunz but for me the first 7 was like some crazy phsychic prediction from XXL, because they tooook that year.

Then we have 2010 - Fashawn and Big Sean are the ones!

XXL FRESHMEN 2011 - The Recession is overrrrrrr

Here's the list, straight from XXL. Haven't released a cover yet, or most of the freestyles they've only got Yela's and Kendrick Lamar's.

Big K.R.I.T, CyHi Da Prynce, Diggy, FRED DA GODSON, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Twist, Mac Miller, Meek Mill, Yelawolf, YG

Gotta admit haven't listened to Kendrick Lamar's Overly Dedicated Mixtape and apparently it's 'haaaaaard' so I'm gunna have a little listen now. Put some stuff up about each artist etc.......

Fashawn - Higher Learning 2

So I've been meaning to post this for a few weeks now, I know bit slow. Mixtape came out the 16th February. Higher Learning Volume 2, now I know Fashawn's trying to crack the mainstream so I was a bit sceptical about how commercial this would be but I wasnt dissapointed. Since Kanye introduced college into the rap world, higher education has become okay to talk about. And there is some definitely College Dropout style skits on here, "you want a what? A full scholarship....". But the theme "higher", has the classic Fashawn undertones; making yourself better, being the best you can be, whatever it is. Usually a theme which gets old pretty quick but with tracks like Do What I gotta Do the upbeatness is contagious, and I like the way he switches it up; Eastside Party prod Hecktic (produced a lot of Higher Learning vol.1) has something Biggie about it...

The first half is definitely stronger for me, but he does lean towards commercial with tracks like Down that Road ft Sam Hook but in a mellow, not a bad way. Collaborations with quite a few people aswell, J Cole etc.  Tbh I've never heard a Fashawn mixtape where every track was on point but I'm picky but all in all I liked it a lot.

What is it about Drake beats that equals wordplay

I was on Lyriqs Lounge blog, and she was talking about wordplay, so true at the moment everyone seems to be doing it, obviously it's not a new thing but to quote Lyriqs Lounge "it's an epidemic"

DRAKE:
Like a sprained ankle boy I ain’t nothing to play with
Started off local but thanks to all the haters
I know G4 pilots on a first name basis
In your city, faded off the brown, Nino
She instincts she got more class, We know
Swimming in the money, come and find me, Nemo
If I was at the club you know I ball Chemo
So when I saw this on a friend's facebook I couldn't help but think, it's finally spreading to the UK. I think there's a lot of talented UK artists but I've never really been impressed by UK wordplay, it's just basic word association often, but this video made me rethink:

Nuff man make believe i don't rate it

But sign me for a tupac and we'll see some changes

No Drake but maybe we're getting there....