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New Music: Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero Mixtape

Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero Mixtape (zip file)

The long awaited mixtape from Toronto artist Colin Munroe is finally here. Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero features collaborations with Wale, Mickey Factz, Joell Ortiz, Blaqstarr and Drake, with production from Black Milk & Dallas Austin behind the boards. Munroe is going to be a dude to watch in 2009, and this mixtape is one of the few projects that incorporate hip-hop, pop, and indie rock successfully. What do y’all think?

Colin is currently on tour with Proton, check the tour dates:

Dec 2 - The Boat - Toronto
Dec 3 - Viper Room -Los Angeles
Dec 4 - Studio @ Webster Hall w/ Proton, Izza Kizza & DJ Blaqstarr - New York
Dec 6 - Lenny’s w/ Proton & Spree Wilson - Atlanta
Dec 9 2008 - Highline Ballrooom w/ Wale, KiD CuDi & Mark Ronson (dj set) - New York

Tags: Black Milk, Blaqstarr, Colin Munroe, Dallas Austin, Drake, Joell Ortiz, Mickey Factz, Wale

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Hip-Hop, House/Electronic, Jazz/Blues/Gospel, Negroclash!, Pop

Vote in the Okayplayer Awards

Okayplayer just set up their first ever online awards. Check the site to vote. The application is a little buggy (it just erased my votes when I clicked on another link) but I’m positive that the results will be way better than MTV can come up with.

Is it me, or did the end of the year sneak up on y’all too? Good Lawd, 2007 went by fast. Anyway, I’m starting to compile my lists for the Top Albums and Top Songs of 2007 a month or so in advance. Last years list came off a little half-assed (I got about 5 emails from people saying that I listed a couple songs twice) so the 4 week buffer should give me more than enough time to get it right.

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House/Electronic, Pop, R&B

Random Ish: Sharon Jones, Kelis

Sharon Jones - 100 Days, 100 Nights

Sharon Jones dropped her new video for 100 Days, 100 Nights, and I’m diggin’ it. Word is that it was directed by Adam Elias Buncher and the cameras used were actually from the 50s and were bought off eBay for $50 each. Word.

All of y’all who hate Amy Winehouse because she stole from Black music or whatever, should do yourselves a favor and cop Ms. Jones’ album or see her when she comes to your town (they share the same backing band). The live show is downright incredible. I’ve seen her twice (in DC and LA) and both times I was the only Black person in the audience. Check out our Sharon Jones interview from last year, while you’re at it.

Kelis Dropped from her Jive

Kelis - 80’s Joint

So sad. I really think that America never really “got” Kelis. Even though her third album, Tasty, catapulted her to a household name, I think she was never “mainstream” enough for radio and labels to back her and she . Plus, since she was a pet project for the Neptunes, I never thought she was able to find her true voice. Here second album, Wanderland never even dropped in the US, and even though she tried to drop a radio single (”Bossy”) for her last album, Kelis Was Here, has sold less than 150,000 copies to date. I’ve like Kelis from day one because she always seemed to want to redefine the concept of R&B every chance she could get. She still can sell like crazy in the UK and Europe though, so I’m sure that some label will pick her up soon.

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Hip-Hop, Mixtapes, Pop

Mick Boogie & 9th Wonder - The Graduate Mixtape

Download: Mick Boogie & 9th Wonder - The Graduate Mixtape (hosted by Kanye West)

Yet another free mixtape this time from from Mick Boogie. I was going to give this one a pass, but its actually pretty decent, especially if you were the million or so people who liked Graduation.

Tracklisting

1. League Crew/Kanye West: Intro
2. Kanye West and 50 Cent: Flashing Lights (Mick Boogie Mix)
3. Kanye West and Nas: I Wonder (Terry Urban Mix)
4. Kanye West and Jay-Z: Never Leave Me Down (9th Wonder Remix)
5. Kanye West and Jay-Z: Big Brother/Encore (live)
6. Kanye and Mos Def: Good Night
7. Kanye West: I Still Love Her
8. Kanye West: Stronger (Original Unreleased Verse)
9. Kanye and Nas: Major League (Mick Boogie Mix)
10. Kanye and Biggie: Kicks Open Doors (Terry Urban Mix)
11. Kanye West: A Million And One
12. Kanye West, Little Brother and Lil Wayne: Breakin’ My Heart (Mick Boogie Mix / produced by 9th Wonder)
13. Kanye West: Champion (live)
14. Kanye West and Jay-Z: Everything I am (Terry Urban Mix)
15. Kanye West: Freestyle
16. Kanye West and Common: Get ‘Em High (A-Trak Remix)
17. Consequence and Kanye West: Complications (Mick Boogie Mix)
18. Kanye West and Ludacris: Breathe In (9th Wonder Remix)
19. Kanye West and Talib Kweli: The Bounce/Two Words (live)
20. Kanye West: Two Words (9th Wonder Remix)
21. Kanye, Dr. Dre and Busta Rhymes: Imagine 2008 (Terry Urban Remix)
22. Kanye West, Consequence, & Patti Labelle: Anything
23. Consequence and Kanye West: Skillz (Terry Urban Mix)
24. Kanye West and Common: Glory (Mick Boogie Remix)
25. Kanye West and Termanology: Everything (The Diddy Song)
26. Kanye West and Consequence: Don’t Forget ‘Em
27. Kanye West, Common and Lupe Fiasco: Southside (Terry Urban)
28. Kanye West and Little Brother: Naaw (9th Wonder Bonus Track)

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Hip-Hop, Pop, Remix, Rock/Alternative

30 Seconds to Mars - Stronger

30 Seconds to Mars - Stronger (Kanye West cover)

I’m really not up on my rock game, because I honestly don’t know who 30 Seconds to Mars is. Apparently they’re pretty big among the MTV crowd so and I’ll take Wikipedia’s word for it. Anyway, their remix of Kanye’s Stronger is a damn good look. It was recorded this past month on BBC1’s Live Lounge in London. Unlike Travis Barkers reworking of “Soulja Boy,” this cover is on a straight downtempo emo tip, but they take the concept and ran with it.

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Hip-Hop, Pop

Review: Kanye West - Graduation

Kanye West
Graduation

Let’s just put it out there–I won’t even bother to review 50’s album. Curtis is so weak that its just not worth my time and digital ink. So instead, here is a review of the lesser of two evils. Yes, I know that picking the “avant garde” choice over the “street” choice is predictable on my part, but anyone who believes these two actually live up to their persona is kidding themselves. Honestly I’m so disappointed in myself for getting drawn into Universal Music’s fake battle for the future of hip-hop (both Kanye and 50 are employed by UMG), but fortunately Kanye’s album is actually pretty damn good so in the end its worth it.

Good Morning - On the leak this song is stuffed way in the middle, however on the full album its at the beginning, which actually is better because it does a good job to establish the flow of the disc. Having that said, its nothing spectacular.

Champion - The first of many songs that I have on repeat. I like how Kanye mixes in some subtle reggae vibe in this track as well.

Stronger - Yaaaaaawn. Compare this single to every other one of Kanye’s (”Jesus Walks,” “Goldigger, “Through The Wire”) and you’ll see that this is probably Kanye’s second worst single of all time. Kanye was going for the pop/Dancefloor vibe with this one, but like I said before, the Daft Punk sample would have been cutting edge if Swizz Beatz didn’t do it first.

I Wonder - Amazing song. As much as I hate Kanye as a rapper and for his whining, the dude knows how to produce a damn good hip-hop record, proving that even mainstream dudes can weave obscure samples into their beats and this one will get respect from the OKP crowd as well as mainstream America. Even though Kanye comes close to ruining this song with his rhymes, I found myself putting this song on repeat more than once.

The Good Life (feat. T-Pain)- As much as Kanye hates MTV, his highly lip synced rendition of “The Good Life” at the MTV VMA’s was one of the best performances of the night and actually persuaded me to take a second look at this album, so I guess that channel is good for something. Seriously though, “The Good Life” is becoming the perfect summer song for me. The beat sounds like a laid back version of something Trackademicks would do and Kanye actually raps on beat and T-Pain manages to put the vocoder down and lays down some decent hooks (I’m not the first to point that out).

Can’t Tell Me Nothin’ - I hated this song at first, but its a decent single. 50’s singles were still better though. Ayo!

Barry Bonds - People are going crazy over this song, but honestly it is the weakest song on disc by far, and sounds like a mixtape track that was put on the album at the last minute. The beat sounds like it was bought off of MySpace and honestly Lil’Wayne adds nothing to this track. And on a side note, is there anything that Lil’ Wayne won’t do a verse for??

Drunk and Hot Girls - My friend said that “this sounds like something from the UK,” and I gotta agree with him. (I could see this song fitting in well with The Mitchell Brothers catalog.) Most songs are pretty defined, but this song isn’t rap, isn’t r&B, and not exactly techno. It’s probably best described as a clusterfuck of major proportions, feturing a lead rapper who sounds as drunk as the title and a Mos Def bridge that seems like it was copied and pasted from another song entirely. But in the end it works. How? I don’t know.

Flashing Lights - Again, another monster song, and yet another song that really doesn’t play by the mainstream hip-hop rules. The beat again pulls from the Sa-Ra playbook, yet makes the whole song more accessible. Surprisingly Kanye recruits Dwele to sing the hook here which probably had the people at Universal Music scratching their heads. Regardless, this has replaced “We Major” (from Late Registration) as my favorite Kanye album of all time.

Everything I Am - The beat sounds like something that would be on Jay-Z’s Blueprint album (maybe it was left over from that?) but other than that it’s a decent introspective rap song.

The Glory - One of the reasons that fans of that so-called “real hip-hop” are so amped about this album is that while 50 went straight pop with his collabos (Justin, Robin Thicke, that chick from the Pussycat Dolls), Kanye kept his collabos strictly underground. Mos Def provides the background on a few tracks including this one, which sounds more like a Common record than a Kanye one, but its a definite banger nonetheless.

Homecoming (feat. Chris Martin) - Let me confess something here. I believe that Coldplay is one of the greatest groups of all time, regardless of any genre, country, year, etc. Having that said, Chris Martin should stick to Alternative rock. Not saying that this track is bad, and honestly its light years better than his collabo with Jay-Z, but Martin is again reduced to the level of some B-level R&B singer–singing hooks on a record while adding nothing additional to the track.

Big Brother - Does anyone else find this song eerie? A tribute to Jay-Z? I don’t know, but its just not gangsta to express man love on wax anymore.

Conclusion: Even with its misses, Graduation is an great album, not as good as Late Registration, but most likely one of the best albums I’ve heard all year. Songs like “I Wonder,” “Flash Lights,” and even “The Glory” push this album to near classic status. And for the record, I think that Kanye’s a whiny bitch, and I still can’t get over him ruining the return of the Police during “Message In A Bottle” on Live Earth, but having that said, the dude knows how to produce. However, Graduation is hampered by Kanye’s lack of rhyme skills (Lupe or even Talib would destroy this album) and his damn annoying braggadocio. Having that said, this is far superior than anything 50 Cent has ever put out, and if you’re on the fence about album to buy this September 11th, wonder no more.

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Couch Sessions Appoved Artist, Hip-Hop, Negroclash!, Pop, R&B

New Music: After the Smoke

www.myspace.com/afterthesmoke

After the Smoke - Love Abduction
After the Smoke - Dial Tone

Good lawd, it’s been a long time, but after months of searching, I can finally bring you the first Couch Sessions Approved Artist of 2007.

After the Smoke is a group that grabbed me from the first 30 seconds of the first song I heard with their mix of hip-hop, electronica, rock, and R&B. The Tallahassee, Florida (yes, I said right) based group started out being experimental from the get-go, forgoing the crunk madness that we usually associate the South for and going completely left field, bringing it all with a sense of individuality and uniqueness that is missing in popular music. What results is what seems like a smorgasbord of Black music, moving from synthed-out experimental R&B to old-skool hip-hop, to disco-influenced pop, and back again.

If you feel the need to compare these cats, the only thing I can say is that they sound like Sa-Ra crossed with the Fugees, laced with some Dungeon Family production.

After the Smoke is slowly being recognized on the Internet and OKP circles and the group dropped two mixtapes which can be purchased from their MySpace page. And as always, I want feedback on this artist. What do y’all think??

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Hip-Hop, Negroclash!, Pop, R&B

Romance Advice: Would you dump someone cause they don’t like Dilla??

I usually don’t give romance advice, mainly because my friends would never retrun the favor, but I’m finding one of my friend’s situations a lil’ bit interesting:

I have a friend who’s having a relationship issue. According to him, he’s been going out with this girl for about 4 months or so, but the relationship is falling apart over music of all things. See, this dude thinks that Dilla is the next coming of Tupac, while his girlfriend thinks that Rhianna is the next coming of Beyonce. You see where I’m goin’ with this?

There is obviously an age and cultural difference here–she screams and cries when she has to go to his backpacker “hip-hop lives” events, and he pits a fit when she manages to drag him out to something that the kids call the “scream” tour (Is that with Ne-yo and Omarion? I’m too old to know and too lazy to Google it.) Not only that, but she thinks that A Tribe Called Quest is “corny,” that Dilla is “wack” and that Big Daddy Kane is “old folks music.” Add to that the fact that he caught her singing along to Lil’ Mama’s “Lip Gloss” a little too enthusiastically the other day.

It’s not easy being a backpacker these days. Just ask Lupe Fiasco. But seriously if you’re a Black dude who dosen’t listen to what’s ont the radio, you’re already a minority of a minority. As someone who has music tastes that range from Mystikal to MF Doom to KT Tunstall, I feel for the brother. Since I’m not the most attractive guy on the lot, I really don’t get to pick and choose which girls I get to go out with. So basically, 90% of the girls I end up going out with don’t particularly share my choice of Roy Ayers over Jim Jones, and let’s not get started on the last time I tried to explain Podcasting to girls I go out with.

However for this kid, my advice is to first check her iPod first. Women–especially women of color–are always frontin’ with their music choices. I once knew a girl who would swear up and down that she couldn’t stand “underground” music, but this girls iPod has the most extensive collection of Nina Simone albums that I’ve ever seen. So sometimes you can’t judge a book by its cover. There has got to be at least something y’all have in common, and if there is, you have to make plans around that.

And the most effective relationships are about compromise anyway (word to Dr. Phil!) so at the least you must understand where each other is coming from and get that off the bat first. Just because she dosen’t dig Mos Def shouldn’t be a deal breaker if you worked out your boundaries. And you gotta get this under control now, because little disagreements like this will most certainly blow up into full fledged Iraq war style arguments in the future.

And if all else fails, dump her and get yourself an Afropunk chick.

What do y’all think? Have you ever dumped somebody cause you didn’t like their choice in music? SOUND OFF!

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Hip-Hop, Music News, Pop, R&B

Akon Dropped from Verizon, Issues Statement

I usually don’t talk about Akon on this blog cause I got sick and tired of his omnipresence a long time ago. Case in point: somehow my clock radio alarm got switched from buzz to radio mode this past week, so I hear this dude’s voice almost three times before I even get out of bed in the morning. But I digress…

Still, I must speak up for the dude because he’s getting a bum deal. If you didn’t know, Akon was spotted dry humping a 14 year old girl on stage in Trinidad. After the video surfaced on the Internet, Verizon Wireless pulled their sponsorship of Akon’s tour with Gwen Stefani and removed his top-selling ringtones from their service. After this money got pulled, Akon issued the following statement:

“I want to sincerely apologize for the embarrassment and any pain I’ve caused to the young woman who joined me onstage, her family and the Trinidad community for the events at my concert,” Akon said.

“It was never my intention to embarrass or take advantage of my fans in any way, especially those under the age of 18. That is why we tried to make sure that the club did not admit anyone under 18 in the audience,” he said. “Somehow, that standard was not met.”

So first off, boo to Verizon for dropping their sponsorship. How in the hell are you gonna endorse somebody who has a song called “I Wanna F**k You” and then back away like you didn’t know what the hell this dude was about? But that’s corporate America for you. As for the girl, her parents are to blame for this one. If your scantly clad 14 year old girl is getting into clubs and dancing on stage with older men then you have your own problems to deal with.

So Akon, keep your head up. Just don’t wake me up with your whiny voice at 6 in the morning.

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New Music, Pop, UK Sounds, World Music

New M.I.A. - Hit That

M.I.A. - Hit That

“Galang,” “Sunshowers,” and “URAQT” are still my jams, and the girl’s live show is one of the best around, but my tolerance for M.I.A. has dropped threefold. “Hit That” is more tolerable than her first single “Bird Flu,” but I’m really only providing this as a public service cause this one’s definitely not making its way to my iPod. Unfortunately like the show 24, M.I.A. has managed to become stale, repetitive, and almost funny. Still, I know the hipsters are gonna get excited like crazy for this one, especially when the Akon remix comes out! (I’m joking.)

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