DOWNLOAD MP3 Jidenna-Bambi.mp3 Summary: The Chief drops tomorrow! About Artist: Jidenna is a member of Wondaland Records which is Janelle Monae’s crew. About Song: This song is a track of off Jidenna’s long awaited, and many times postponed, debut album “The Chief” which is out tomorrow February 17th 2017. I’m giving it a first listen right now I and I gotta say it’s freshhhh. Favorite Part: I love the mellow vibes. This song really typifies Jidenna’s style, though he goes in hard on some other beats. I also really love the lyrics of this one. Other: Jidenna Wikipedia Wondaland Wikipedia
DOWNLOAD MP3 SamCooke-ChainGang.mp3 THIS SONG HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO A COMPLAINT BY THE RIAA. Summary: Not hip hop, but a great song. About Artist: Sam Cooke is one of the kings of soul. Though he was murdered in 1964 at age 33, he had over thirty top 40 songs in the last seven years of his life. Sam Cooke’s music gave way to the likes of Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, and James Brown. About Song: I listened to this song growing up but was reminded of it recently when a clipe of it appeared in Donald Glover’s (aka Childish Gambino) “Atlanta” TV show (which is one of my favorites). Favorite Part: I love Sam Cooke’s vocals (which is why he was such a sensation in his own time). I love music of this era and was a huge motown fan growing up. I’ve also been thinkin a lot about mass incarceration since watching “The 13th” on Netflix. Other: Sam Cooke Wikipedia
About Artist: Wale is a DC rapper who I’ve been a fan of for many many years now. In march Wale dropped “An Album About Nothing” an album that he made with Jerry Seinfeld (Wale’s had a history of Seinfeld related projects). Singing on this track is SZA who made a great Z (EP) last year and who is signed to Kendrick Lamar’s Top Dawg Entertainment.
About Song: This song is a track off of The Album About Nothing (2015).
Favorite Part: I love the concept and the sexiness of having a little discrete sumthin sumthin on the side. SZA does a great job on the hook, Wale sounds smooth, and the Seinfeld interludes are awesome.
DOWNLOAD MP3 ActionBronson-BabyBlueftChanceTheRapper.mp3 Summary: A little jazzy piano boom bap. About Artist: Action Bronson is an interesting guy. He’s a large white redhead New Yorker. Coming out of nowhere he’s got a pretty good following and his creativity in marketing and in his music, videos etc is something special. Chance the Rapper is a youngin from Chicago. He has a distinct voice, and while some find him annoying, I really like him (I’ve posted some Chance songs before on the blog) About Song: Baby Blue is a track off of Action Bronson’s recent album Mr. Wonderful. Favorite Part: I like the track and I like Chance the Rapper’s verse. It’s just a solid jazzy, classic hip hop kinda song.
If you know anything about hip hop and the Grammy’s you know that the relationship is not good. Many people believe that the Grammy’s does an especially terrible job representing hip hop. Many people might be familiar with the outrage over last year’s Grammys when Macklemore beat Kendrick Lamar for best rap album. I wrote a recap and analysis of white rappers in hip hop that you can read it here. However the history of hip hop and the Grammys is even worse than that. Below is a video from Complex magazine breaking down how the Grammy’s treats hip hop.
Grammy Facts
-Macklemore has more Grammys than Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, DMX, Busta Rhymes, KRS-One, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Big Pun, Young Jeezy, Ja Rule and Kendrick Lamar combined!
-Iggy Azalea has more Grammy nominations in rap categories than MC Lyte, Lil Kim, and Foxy Brown combined!
-The Black Eyed Peas have won more rap Grammys than Gang Starr, Geto Boys, N.W.A., and Tribe Called Quest, combined!
-Drake has the same number of Grammys as Coolio, and Sir Mix-a-Lot, with 1 Grammy.
-A female rapper hasn’t won a rap Grammy in over 10 years. Not since Missy Elliot’s Work It.
-Of the last 92 rap related Grammy’s given, 41 of them have gone to either Eminem, Jay-Z, or Kanye West.
Wale-GirlsOnDrugsAudio Player DOWNLOAD MP3 Wale-GirlsOnDrugs.mp3 Summary: Wale all day. About Artist: Wale is one of my favorite hip hop artists. He’s from Washington DC and has been doin his since the mid 2000s. There’s a bunch of Wale on this blog. About Song: This song is off of his Dec 25th 2014 mixtape Festivus. The mixtape is in anticipation of Wale’s upcoming “Album About Nothing” which will feature Jerry Seinfeld and otther Seinfeld related stuff. Wale and Jerry did a cool project with Complex magazine and made this funny video spoofing an infamous call/rant Wale sent to Complex previously. Favorite Part: Love the Kramer intro, but it’s really the kids singing on the track that I love. Just a solid Wale song Other: Wale Wikipedia
About Artist: Reggaesta is another remix artist that I’m really into right now who does Reggae music. He’s from Italy but his Adele reggae CD is super popular in Brazil and it really got me back into reggae.
About Song: This song is part of a full CD of Adele reggae remakes by Reggaesta. Of course the original Set Fire to the Rain is from Adele’s 2011 album 21.
