February, 2011

The big homie EOM has always came with some real soulful beats. I’ve personally been a huge fan for quite some time (damn, we still need to work together homie!), so I was vibed when Deez hit me about this new project. I’ma let the good folks at Kevin Nottingham.com fill you in, but trust me, this is a really dope project, some amazing flips of some classic Stevie songs. Awesome tribute to the man.

“Virginia producer EOM (Elements of Music) is releasing his newest instrumental journey today through KevinNottingham.com. The beatsmith, known for his work with Wax and last year’s single with Shad, pays tribute to the great Stevie Wonder in his opus entitled Wonder Vision.

Sampling some of Stevie’s greatest work throughout his 50 year career, EOM captures the essence of Stevie Wonder in this 16-track dedication. Highlights include the opening track “Morecherry”, “Ain’tnothin”, “Do143″ and “Suburb Woman”.

Fans of both Stevie Wonder and hip hop sampling will find great pleasure with this project.”

I’m mad late on the song, but I think I damn near got the scoop on the video, seeing as it only has just over 5000 hits at the time of posting.

This tune is boss. It’s by far the best I’ve heard Em spit since he came back. He clearly wrote Dre’s verse, it has the unmistakable flow, especially towards the end. That said, it could be more of a vehicle to push Em’s career than Dre based on the content of Dre’s verse. Take a listen and hit me with what you think. Is Em blowing his own horn a bit here?

I also included the recent Grammy’s performance, which also has “Love The Way You Lie” with Rihanna and even Adam Levine on keys.

Dr

I’m constantly discovering new music lately, and one of the genres I’m discovering the fastest is hardcore/metalcore. I’m a huge fan of this stuff, and especially these fellas from Byron Bay, Parkway Drive. I’m actually off to see them tonight, so there’s no better time to post a few of their videos. The show is sold out already, and a couple thousand person venue, so it should be dope.

Ahhh hey bru.

This is the greatest internet meme of all time. OF ALL TIME.

And now they’ve got their charity game on for the recent Christchurch earthquake. Which is super messed up by the way. HAARP. Look into it. And not the Muse album (as brilliant as that is).

While you’re at it, check the stupid autotune tribute to the beached whale I did a couple years back. Duffer.

These cats are genius. The ‘Authenticity’ album is one of the best of 2010 for sure, and it’s great to see this tune dropping as a single. Really interesting video. Wasn’t sure where it was going but it’s cool. Dope Phonte cameo, too. Though I can’t help but think that it might confuse newer listeners when they see the white dude in the video. I thought it was Nicolay for a second at the start haha.

The Foreign Exchange- “Authenticity” (official music video) from The Foreign Exchange on Vimeo.

I think I have epilepsy.

This clip is weiiiiird. Hype Williams is on deck, and usually dude doesn’t disappoint. It’s a cool video, don’t get me wrong, and Rihanna is SMOKIN’. Jesus. I need me a broad like that, I’d wife that in a second, WOLF GANG.

But the colours are a bit much and all the text rather than images is boring and annoying. It’s honestly worth it for Rihanna alone. Go in.

I prolly need a late pass on these cats. My boy Kyle put me onto em the other day, and although I haven’t heard anything aside from these two cuts, I’m intrigued.

So OFWGKTA stands for…actually, just read the Wiki:

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, often abbreviated OFWGKTA, are a hip hop collective out of Los Angeles, California. The members are Tyler the Creator, Hodgy Beats, Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, Mike G, Frank Ocean, Left Brain, The Super 3, Syd tha Kyd, Jasper Loc and Taco Bennett. Their ages range from 16 to 23. There are two groups inside the collective: MellowHype and EarlWolf. MellowHype consists of rapper Hodgy Beats and producer Left Brain, and EarlWolf consists of Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. Odd Future has released three mixtapes and seven solo albums, all available for free on their website. They have garnered a cult following, and have been getting press from blogs as well as magazines. Though often labeled as horrorcore, the group have universally dismissed it both on Twitter, and on songs like “Sandwitches” by Tyler the Creator and Hodgy Beats.

The group recently completed a two-stop tour, their first outside of Los Angeles in London on November 5 and New York City on November 8. The concert at The Drop in London sold out within 48 hours of announcement by the group. At the highly anticipated show at Webster Hall, the venue was packed to its 300 people maximum capacity. In the crowd were artists such as Mos Def, Das Racist, Skyzoo, and Despot. They will be embarking on their first visits to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and San Francisco during a brief tour in February with stops at U Street Music Hall in Washington, Santos Party House in New York, The Barbary in Philadelphia, and Slim’s in San Francisco.

So there ya go. Just watch the videos. More on the OFWGKTA YouTube channel.

So I’m effing with hardcore on a level now. Caught Thursday and Underoath on the weekend, bloody fantastic. Parkway Drive next week and Deftones with Dillinger Escape Plan in May. Win. Check out some of my favourite tunes below. Boss.

Dope tune. Dope video. Dope MCs. Dope beat. Dope mixtape. On the real, ‘Friday Night Lights’ was prolly the illest tape of 2010. Cole is gonna be a fuckin’ monster when the album drops. Love it.

In The Morning Video from Jermaine Cole on Vimeo.

For the third year running, we’re back with another installment in our Valentine’s Day mixtape series, The Valentine’s Day Mixtape Volume 3: Third Time’s A Charm.

We reckon this is our best volume yet. The tunes were carefully selected by myself, Notion, Infinite Archetype and Cyclops (thanks for the help, fellas!), and we really feel that it is a strong representation of The Fam’s taste. We tried to choose tunes that would nicely soundtrack this year Valentine’s Day for folks, as well as school y’all on some artists you may not have heard of, or at least expose y’all to some more obscure songs that you may not have come across.

We also included two exclusive tracks this year. Notion and TruStylz contributed their joint ‘Still A Rose’, a smooth, soulful cut that allows both MCs to shine, while Cee & Bekah hit y’all with ‘Until Tonight’, their version of Fab’s ‘Make Me Better’, which was from The Soul Movement Volume 3 sessions and ended up here.

So enjoy tape, hope everyone has a great day, and head over to our Bandcamp page and download The Valentine’s Day Mixtape Volume 3: Third Time’s A Charm for FREE!