Jennifer Hudson premiered the first single off her sophomore album I Remember Me earlier today. The ballad was written by R.Kelly and produced by Harvey Mason Jr. Unfortunately, I can’t lie – I find this a little lackluster, especially given this is the albums first single. I wanted something bigger – either a big power ballad (which this is not) or a bumping up-tempo.
J-Hud also revealed that the new album (out March 22nd) will feature collaborations with Alicia Keys (‘I Need Love’), and Ne-Yo (‘Why Is It So Hard’). She also mentioned that I Remember Me will include a gospel song, but “will have something for everyone”, including up-tempo songs.
Have a look at the cover for Jessie J’s debut album Who You Are, released March 28th. I like the image (I think?), and don’t even mind the ‘Jessie J’ logo (think it could have been better, still), but really don’t like the way ‘Who You Are’ is displayed/laid out – not only is the font pretty standard, but it gets lost amidst everything else. Excuse the extended review, the inner graphics designer in me just won’t shut up sometimes.
Along with the cover, the albums tracklist has also been revealed, peep that after the jump.
Oh, and if you haven’t already, I’d highly recommend you take a peep at our latest episode of ‘Rehearsal Rooms’ featuring this lady herself – it’s really quite good…!
Wait, this new Bilal video is directed by Flying Lotus (aka Steve Ellison) and features Erykah Badu, Thundercat & Shafiq Husayn (producer of the track)? Schwwwweeet!
Ergh, and how incredibly trippy are those visuals? With the aforementioned artists involved, did you really expect anything different? Biggup FlyLo and his floatious ways, Bilal for being so cool to go with it and Badu, just because.
Mikael Columbu teams up with soul man Reggie B for a brand new video taken from his latest album The Traveller. Peep the futuristic Tron-like trailer up top and expect the full video soon. Looking rather dope…
My love for Bilal’s most recently album Airtight’s Revenge runs deep, I have made no secret of this. In fact, the album reached #3 on our ‘Album of the Year’ list and with good reason. So, it’s no surprise I was happy to hear that one of my favourite songs off said album was being released as an EP featuring not only the original version, but also an instrumental and two remixes by Flying Lotus & Sonnymoon. I was debating which remix to post up, but went for the FlyLo simply because I prefer it to the Sonnymoon one. Have a listen to his more relaxed, vibe’d out version and then, go ahead and download the extended player via Plug Research or iTunes.
Got alot of love for East-London Hip-Hop producer and emcee K-Nite 13; for years I’ve felt this guy has one of the cleanest spittin’ deliveries amidst his peers. A pilgrim of that boom-bap sh*t often citing Pete Rock and Primo amongst his fiercest influences, Nite’s immaculate break-chopping and whip-crack snares make his production amongst the most authentically coarse derivatives of true school Rap around in the Brit scene right now.
Long-awaited debut The Drawingboard LP drops online Feburary 7th and you can expect rugged, undiluted beats and rhymes. Below is one of the first leaks and it’s a dope, raw cut for the rough yet delicate ladies.
Continuing a round-up of the new wave of under-the-radar Brit-Hop…
Walthamstow beast Mentalist returns to the mic with a debut long-player steamrollering on from the ’07 EP Death Day that left heads wondering where this wise chronicler had skedaddled to.
Make You Proud‘s productions (courtesy of close knit co-horts K-Nite 13, Loudmouth Melvin and Goodchild) feature some rousing, true-school, sample-based knocks (think vintage 9th Wonder and ‘Ye choppin’) lending focus to Mentalist’s dense avowals on life: often auto-biographical in their common man professings and always challenging with a wisdom that’s refreshing to see in a UK emcee on such uninhibited display. There are also more radio friendly hooks on this project (assisted by Elrae, Krimzon, S.V and Shanaz Dorsett) that stay just on the right side of Soulful to compliment the themes and their storyteller’s integrity, working particularly well on the beautiful number Mirage.
3 years, 2 children and 1 wife later, Mento has surely taken time to produce the honest work of a developing man that’s found new blood to live for.
Seeing as he’s one of the most popular personalities on the London scene, Skillit capitalized on his new-found success with a spot (the colloquially boisterous Word of the Day segments, lol) on BBC2′s ‘No Hats, No Trainers’ by recently dropping a follow-up to debut EP Talk of The Town: the self-deprecatingly titled As Seen On TV.
What makes this chap stand-out as an emcee/performer is his ability to poke fun at himself and the Brit-Hop establishment in a territorial genre at times taking itself too grimly serious for it’s own good.
On As Seen On TV Skillit’s evidently trying to prove that despite having the funniest videos (Skeenand I Love Women Part 2) he’s not the comedy rapper, dropping darker bars underpinned with sly wit across an EP laced with character. Even his flow feels sporadic sometimes, trailing off-beat as if slightly unhinged, backed up with some fat, skanky production suited to the occasional undertones of madness. (i.e. the grime-wobbling ode to one’s roadside gang warfare, the farcical Tom Shanks, haha).
We posted the first edition of this series Adele is putting out in which she breaks down each track off her new album 21 (out next week). But now all the episodes have seemingly found their way on to YouTube in one nice and tidy video – good stuff. Press play and listen to the lady chat ’bout the songs on her new LP.
Sometimes an unofficial refix grabs your attention and demands your undivided immersion. Today, this Dubchild Refix did just that. Saw this being passed around on twitter earlier, pressed play and had to pop my eyes back into their sockets after hearing the bassline. I pray you have as good speakers or headphones as I do, because this track should only really be digested through worthy outputs. Woon’s voice is a little drowned out, but it’s ok – you’ll get over that. Press play and wait for that disgusting drop.
New Freddie Joachim is never a bad thing in my eyes (ears?), so ‘Saturn’, his latest offering is well and truly welcomed. This one bumps really, really hard. My speakers are sucking up that kick drum like, erm, yeah. It’s not available for download (yet) but have a listen via his bandcamp player below. Enjoy.
Spotted this over at moovmt earlier and have been rinsing it ever since, had to share it with you good folks. French twosome Chiky B & Mister Bibal just dropped a new FreEP entitled Awesome. The 2-track EP features a remix of the title track, as well as an instrumental – both bump equally hard. J’adore this.
Listen/download for free via the bandcamp player below…
In an age where videos are posted, watched, forgotten and discarded – it’s rather seldom to find such a rare, insightful and, well quite frankly, f*cking awesome video like this. But tonight, lets enjoy this together. Watch this incredible footage of J.Dilla and the Slum Village familia at a soundcheck – it features a healthy looking Dilla ‘DJ’ing’ on 2 MPC’s. Remarkable. Just watch and listen.
LISTEN TO THAT BEAT DROP!
Dilla. Ah, man. Everything that needs to be said about this man has been said a hundred times. But, f*ck – no one did it like this dude. No one. Doubt anyone ever will either.
Brand newness from Ben Westbeech – a name that will be familiar to some, and new to others. You may recognise his name / heard his voice on Jazzanova’s 2008 release ‘I Can See’, off the Of All the Things LP. He also released an album in 2007 on Brownswood called Welcome to the Best Years of Your Life – an album which many missed.
Anyways, he’s back recording a new album and to get us all ready, he’s dropped a free track called ‘Slowly’ – it’s really quite good. In fact – it’s pretty great. This is that weekend listening type material (especially if, like me, you’ve decided to block the world out this weekend). You can listen to synth led, 2-step-inspired, funky soul number below and can aquire it, for free, by signing up to Ben’s mailing list (a small price to pay for such a giving gift I say). I’m on my 40th listen…
Peep this short teaser of Terri Walker’s forthcoming new single ‘So Hard’, produced by the one and only Ski Beatz. Man, I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album!
