No Malice, half of the legendary group The Clipse, has revealed that he'll drop his solo album, Hear Ye Him, on July 2.
The rapper made a highly publicized conversion to Christianity, but continues to make Hip-Hop music with a message.
I'm pretty intrigued to to hear what No Malice's album sounds like, being that he's had such a big change in subject matter in his music. Lots of folks probably won't admit it, but they're probably just as eager.
Seriously can’t get enough of this song right about now. To me, THIS is a return to form for Lupe. It really reminds me of Lupe’s style on “The Cool” times two. And the story behind it is extremely interesting too, being an updated, interpretation of George Orwell’s famous novel “Animal Farm”, which Orwell described as his own interpretation of the events leading up to the 1917 Russian Revolution and the era of Joseph Stalin. We still don’t know if this song will make Lupe’s new album, but we can only hope that it’s in the cards.
Thought it only right to give some love to one of the architects of one of the biggest and most polarizing bands of the 1960s: Keyboardist Ray Manzarek, who passed away this week at the age of 74. As one of the founding members of The Doors, Manzarek helped to being their brand of outlaw rock music to the masses with his distinctive keyboard and piano playing skills, complimenting Jim Morrison’s strange yet intoxicating lyrics perfectly. And one of the ways I was truly introduced to Manzarek and The Doors was of course through Jay-Z and the way he and Kanye sampled “Five To One” on “The Takeover”, one of Hip Hop’s greatest diss records. Here’s the original track and the sampled piece, as well. Thank you so much, Ray Manzarek.
I actually posted this to Facebook not too long ago but thought I’d also share it here. I truly do wonder what Fela Kuti’s recording sessions were like. Tracks like “Confusion”,”C.B.B.” and “Zombie” to name just a few are so layered and intricate it sounds like it took days for him and his band to record a single song. He truly was the Nigerian version of James Brown. Would have been amazed to be a fly on the wall to see some of those sessions. Want some proof? Try to see if you can get through this nearly 30-minute epic arrangement of “Confusion”. First came across this a few years ago and I was so enthralled that I sat and listened to the whole thing a couple of times. As intricate, elaborate and specific as this song is, from the drums to the horns to the call-and-response nature of the singing, I can’t even imagine how long it took to record this. Take a listen.
Talib Kweli breaks down two records for Jay-Z's Life+Times blog, one classic track and one off his latest album. In the video above, Talib decodes "Turnt Up" off his recent album Prisoner of Conscious. Below, you can watch Talib break down his classic record "Get By" in which he says Jay-Z and The Beatles were major inspirations for the track. Make sure to buy
These videos are pretty awesome! In this edition I love how Kweli breaks down both one of his newer tracks on Prisoner of Conscious, but then goes back and does the same with one of his most classic and beloved tracks in "Get By".
Locksmith relives the murder of his cousin in this emotional video. The song is off his The Green Box LP. Says Locksmith:
Since the murder of my cousin, I had been searching for the right way to properly express my grief. This song and video is dedicated to his mom (may she rest in peace) and any one who has lost someone to violence.
Very powerful video from artist Locksmith. Thumbs up from me. Unfortunately it hits close to home for far too many of us.
One of the greatest things about Hip Hop is it’s ability to take, pick, choose, borrow and sample from just about any form of music we can think of and make something new out of it, while also making the older music distinctly “Hip Hop”. Another great thing is the fact that the rules to what Hip Hop can be continue to be shattered with each passing year. This weekend, Kanye West proved that fact again by debuting two new singles, “New Slaves” and “Black Skinhead”, to the world in his own high art, high fashion, conceptual way. And he’s been doing it for years now, especially beginning with his second album, Late Registration. All we have to do is listen to songs like “Stronger”, “Roses”, “Crack Music” and pretty much all of 808s and Heartbreak and we’ll see that Yeezy has been at the forefront of pushing Hip Hop forward, and probably will continue to do so with the new album Yeezus this June. But my personal favorite song from ‘Ye that is such a grab bag of so many different kinds of genres and truly breaks the mold of what Hip Hop is and what it can be appears on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy… the song “Gorgeous”. This song is SERIOUS! It combines so many different styles, from progressive rock guitar to what sounds like drums from the opening theme to an 80s TV crime drama by the time Raekwon steps to the mic. And that theme carries on throughout MBDTF. But this song is truly a work of art, which is honestly what Kanye is going for more and more in his music making and production these days. Say what you will about him, but the man makes music that challenges us, like no other.
