Yet another stupid dance movie I will have to watch (lmao)…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z99sVFQ2liM&feature=player_embedded]
I dunno who writes these awful movies, but who ever it is – I thank them! LOL!
Peace, Love & “Boogie Town”
Speeakz
P.s I see you Ma!
Growing up in war torn Somalia during the height of a Civil War, as K’NAAN Warsame did, would undoubtedly elicit it’s fair share of repercussions. PinBoard caught up with the man himself during his short stint in London, last week.
In past interviews K’NAAN – now on to his sophomore musical offering, Troubadour – has talked of growing up around resounding sounds of gunfire, as mutilated dead bodies paved the streets of Mogadishu, where he spent his formative years. Dodging bullets and losing loved would surely have damaging psychological effects, yet conversely, the survival of such troubling times allowed K’NAAN the sensibilities to thoroughly observe his environment (“My job is to write just what I see/So a visual stenographer is who I be”- “I Come Prepared”, Troubadour) .
Having been accustomed to constantly watching his back, for the sake of life preservation it’s no wonder that today, K’NAAN describes himself as a “Consistent Observer”. And with observations, came the personal musings and philosophies that set K’NAAN’s lyrical prowess apart from the rest.
If you’ve listened to a K’NAAN Verse, an interview, or even a Twitter offering from the Universal signed rapper, it’s clear that he’s as sharp as they come, and his art only further demonstrates his abilities. If this were a music class the ‘slow’ rappers would be huddled in the corner, drinking purple substances from Styrofoam cups, sporting their aptly labelled ‘dunce’ hats, while spitting incoherent babble (“A lot of mainstream niggas is yapping about yapping/A lot of underground niggas is rapping about rapping/ I just want to tell you what’s really crackalacking” -”Somalia”, Troubadour) while K’NAAN sits quietly confident, top of the class. For this Somali born musician, it’s not about ‘privileged’ or education (“probably get a Grammy without a grammar education/so f**k you school and f**k you immigration.” “Somalia” Troubadour). It’s about street smarts, and observation based philosophies.
So, exclusively for PinBoard, observe K’NAAN’s musings and philosophies…
PinBoard: If you were to use an analogy to describe what your new album Troubadour represents to you, what would it be?
K’NAAN: There’s a guy that had an analogy for it. Jimmy Lovine, the CEO of Interscope in the U.S, the guy that works closest to him said, K’NAAN’s album is as if hip hop is glam music now and this is Nirvana. It’s a big compliment!
PinBoard: And in laymen’s terms, what does Troubadour mean to you?
K’NAAN: I think it’s different, it’s fresh, it’s like it’s own path that it’s finding. There is nothing that is made as a blueprint that this album is following. So even whatever artists I might be fans of in hip hop like Nas, or Jay- Z or something, they never made this kind of album, so even they’re not the Blueprint for this.
PinBoard: What sets this album apart?
K’NAAN: The album has a certain musicality to it, certain melodic capacity to it so you won’t find a song like ‘Fire in Freetown’ on a lot of albums, you won’t find a song like ‘Waving Flags’ on a lot of albums. Content wise I think it’s different but it’s also what I like about hip hop, what’s fresh about hip hop. A song like ’15 Minutes Away’, about money transfer, that’s what a fresh hip hop artist would do. Like when I first heard KanYe, I thought he would make something like that.
PinBoard: Was it an organic process or more contrived like ‘what can I do to raise the bar’?
K’NAAN: For me it was about raising my own bar. I wanted to see how much I’d grown as an artist, so most of anything I do in my life are really quite selfish. I do things for my own entertainment or to test my capacity as an artist and this was one of those journeys.
PinBoard: What’s the response to your music been like from your family and community?
K’NAAN: It’s been really positive for the most part. But if you talk about Somali people as a community, it’s the songs of their experience so it means more to them. But even then there’s cultural complications. There’s religious elements, like someone who’s seriously religious might say “well I don’t like it, ’cause he’s doing music, period”. So that’s a cultural response in itself, but outside of that it’s been wonderful.
PinBoard: I recently spoke to an artist called Corneille who is of Rwandan parentage and he said he found it burdensome having to try and represent in some way not just his country but also the continent of Africa in a wider sense. Do you ever feel that?
K’NAAN: No, because it’s necessary…I take the opposite of his philosophy. I get why it could be burdensome, and I know it’s not easy but that’s why it must be done. Not too long ago, you wouldn’t have expected a rapper, from Africa, naming himself as an African and talking about African experiences, to do anything in the U.S let alone for other artists who are generally the heroes of the public to be seeking him out. KanYe puts so much of my music on his website. He premiered the video for ‘”T.I.A (This is Africa)” on his website. Nas is the same and vocal about the music that I’m making. And that was not in our foreseeable future and it takes for someone to be proud and really, like pride, not saying pride. And you can see it, you can hear it in the music.
“T.I.A (This is Africa)”
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/4614976]
PinBoard: How do you feel about often being labelled as the African War Child?
K’NAAN: Well it’s not my identity. I’m an artist and I feel like people who know my music tend to label me as an artist. They see the interesting compositions, the signature changes I can make, the melodic sensibilities of my music, lyrics, they see those things. For example when Nas is talking about my music, he doesn’t talk about the person who comes from war, he’s like “the music on this thing is like…” he’s talking about it from that sense. It’s media that usually pick me out as an African war child or something like that, because even that is fine, even that needs representation. But if you ask me as I person, I represent my art, but if they take me on as ‘that guy’ I’m good for that too.
PinBoard: How would you define personal success?
K’NAAN: It’s rarely attainable in my view, I mean in art. Because there’s always this small faint light which is dangling just above where I’ve reached. So whenever you’ve reached somewhere, there’s always that bit further, another light that I have to reach. And I want to touch all my lights, that’s my idea of success.
PinBoard: So what do you foresee? International Stardom?
K’NAAN: Honestly, that’s not an artistic thing at all, that’s not an accomplishment, it’s a bi-product of my art. I really never had ambitions to be famous and whether I like it or not, I can see that things are happening. But I’m really not made that way, I’m very much private and very much comfortable in my creative world rather than the exposure of the craziness, so I don’t entertain it. Like recently I was in Miami for the Winter Music Conference, which is crazy, like South Beach. And I was staying in the Delano hotel, right in the centre of everything where Diddy was having his personal parties in the lobby and stuff like that. I had a show to play at the pool. I played my show, came up and ordered room service and that’s the extent of how I see that world, so I’m just not made for it.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone ‘begging’ a sex tape this much in my life…
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…Like, what a fool?! Anyway, I thought he was quitting ‘the rap game’? D*ckhead.
Peace, Love & Bow Wow
Speeakz
I would pay good-good money to see this! Just spotted this over at amajanese, and as the title suggests it’s a mash up of “Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen” & “Terminator 4″…
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Can.You.Imagine! Beyond genius! Too much infact!
Peace, Love & Transforminatos!
Speeakz
P.s LOVE that the Christian Bale rant is incorporated!
This track can’t be denied.
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Peace, Love & Jeremih
Speeakz
We’re now on…
*As apposed to /speeakz
So yea, FOLLOW US!
Peace, Love & Twitter
Speeakz
NB: This does not affect current/previous ‘followers’ – just remember to address @pinboardblog.
I was in quite a debate (with myself) whether or not I should post this video. Personally, I can’t stand this chick. I think she’s a bit of a d*ck if you’re asking me. BUT, I actually don’t hate this track and I think this video is dope, so personally feelings aside, I respect nice visuals…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQJ9Vi8GLok&feature=player_embedded]
As I said, I like that video a lot. Safe to say GaGa is definitely after Madonna’s crown. I ain’t mad at her for that. It’s strange, coz I kinda want to like her, coz you know, she’s doing something different (which in this day and age, is always commendable), but ergh, I dunno, something about her makes me angry lmao! Especially that bloody tea cup!
Peace, Love & GaGa
Speeakz
P.s Don’t expect much PB activity today, I’m out to the park! Have a good sunny weekend!
The PinBoard family took full advantage of the lovely weather yesterday and drifted around London happily. We began with some good Japanese food, after which we headed to the Southbank for a lil’ walk and to visit the Tate Modern to check out the Robert Morris: Bodyspacemotionthings exhibition.
The new exhibition in an interactive installation where you can “climb, balance, crawl and roll” like you would if you were a kid. Robert Morris has transformed the Turbine Hall into a huge play ground with massive props including beams, weights, platforms, rollers, tunnels & ramps. Check the video…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xeo1oZqcgw&feature=player_embedded]
“This [exhibition] is a re-creation of Tate Gallery’s first fully interactive exhibition which took place in 1971, inspiring a huge media and public interest, when an art gallery asked people for the first time to physically interact with an art work. Shockingly, it was closed just four days after opening, due to the unexpected and over enthusiastic response of the audience. This time around, it will be created using contemporary materials based upon the original plans, in collaboration with Morris, enabling you to experience an exciting landmark in Tate’s history”.
We had so much fun checking this out! Honestly, it’s like a massive, grown up playground. Running up walls, balancing on square contraptions, balancing on tight ropes & crawling through small spaces – helps rediscover your inner child! We spent about 45 minutes simply ‘playing’. The Tate is open till 10pm too, so you can check it out in the evening. I highly recommend you see this exhibition out before it ends, I don’t think you’ll regret it.
…Make sure you wear trainers.
Oh, our evening ended with some sickeningly good Haagan Dazs ice cream – was all a little too much really.
Peace, Love & Bodyspacemotionthings
Speeakz
The homie Tunji shot over a new interview (the other homie) Outasight did with Myspace, check him chatting about his music, his life before music & other thangs…
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Peace, Love & Outasight
Speeakz
I decided to put my own spin on Jay-Z’s “Dead Presidents” — not a freestyle, as it’s a written rhyme (and I hate that anything not considered an official song is now a ‘freestyle’), and not a remix, since nothing was…well, remixed.
Instead, this is the first of what I have dubbed the “re-fix” – a reworking of a song that I feel didn’t quite live up to its instrumental’s potential, or simply a chance for me to get my rhyming ”fix” in. What can I say? I live for things like this.
Peace, Love & J.A.M.E.S Watts
Speeakz
The legendary Prince performed “Somewhere Here on Earth” off his Planet Earth album on the Jay Leno show…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjTBQzuD9u4&feature=player_embedded]
What can I say? The dude is one in his own. No guitar, no dancers – just him and a microphone (and a pretty dope set lol). This just inspired me to dig deep into my iTunes and listen to some Prince (sheeeeit, I got Prince material ya’ll don’t even know about!).
Peace, Love & Prince
Speeakz
This track surfaced a while back as a demo for Brandy that NeYo wrote & put together. Well, it would seem that Brandy was impressed coz here goes the full CDQ version featuring both of them…
Brandy Feat NeYo – “Decisions”
I really, really like this! Brandy’s voice is always nice to listen to, but I’ve felt in recent years, she hasn’t necessarily picked the best songs to show that off. But, as we all know NeYo is a great song writer and it seems that this partnership has really worked. The synth-heavy ballad is definitely something I’m liking right now. This track will apprently appear on Brandy’s new album (her 6th!).
Related: Check our review of Brandy’s recent gig in London
Peace, Love, NeYo & Brandy
Speeakz
I heard this Theo track a while back, but 2DZ just liberated the full mp3 version. We’ve supported Theo on PB for a long time now – you know why…
Theo Martins Feat Christian Rich – “Cloud 9″
I’m loving this track! It’s got a real nice vibe. At the moment (as you’ve seen and will see) I’m all about the summer vibes, so this track fits right into that category. Tis’ big!
Peace, Love & Theo
Speeakz
Here goes a new bonus track off Busta’s B.O.M.B album feat Jesse West…
Busta Rhymes Feat Jesse West – “How You Really Want It”
I was really disapointed with Busta’s new album. I had high hopes for it, but truth is, he ain’t been ‘back on his bullsh*t’ for a minute now. I miss the “Woo Ha” Busta, you know, the dude with the dreds! Anyways, I DO really like this track – a lot. Very nice.
Peace, Love & Busta Rhymes
Speeakz
Can’t say I’m a fan of this group, but this tune ain’t half bad…
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Eh. It is what it is. Nothing that gonna change your life, or that I’ll remember in 15 minutes, but it’s not terrible. I just think it’s hilarious how these guys are the ‘saviours’ of Bad Boy. RIP.
Peace, Love & Day26
Speeakz
