Signed to Drake’s OVO imprint, Toronto based singer/producer PARTYNEXTDOOR offers up a self-produced new single titled ‘Wus Good/Curious’. If you’re a fan of the spacey and expansive productions of Noah ’40′ Shebib and of Drake’s sing-rap style (and of The Weeknd for that matter), this will surely serve you well. In fact, you may even find it difficult to differentiate between them – if I didn’t know better (and on this matter, I don’t) I’d hedge a bet that this was some type of secret Drake project. It isn’t, the comparisons are more stylistic than direct but the similarities are a bit strange, especially given his close affliction. That said though for those who do appreciate airy R&B productions with shifting hi-hats and sprawling 808′s, PARTYNEXTDOOR does a pretty great job of delivering.
Drake has revealed a new track titled ‘Girls Love Beyonce’, produced by Noah ’40′ Shebib and featuring vocals from James Fauntleroy (co-writer on Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience and member of Cocaine 80′s) . The song will not be featured on Drizzy’s soon to be released third album Nothing Was the Same, but will most likely appease many of Drake’s fellow 90′s-nostalgia-fiends as it samples Destiny’s Child’s Grammy award winning song ‘Say My Name’. Because this won’t be an official track on the album I won’t go too deep, but speaking in a general sense it does comes come off a little lacklustre – 40′s production is probably the best thing about it (and even that isn’t groundbreaking); And I would have expected that sample to have been used better… But again, it’s not an album track so we can’t be too mad at it. Listen & download (for free below).
Despite a lot of peoples initial reservations I felt ‘Started From the Bottom Up’ was a strong lead single for Drizzy’s upcoming new album Nothing Was The Same. The reason I liked it was because it didn’t sound like much else Drake had done before and even though lyrically it wasn’t all that dextrous, it was a massive tune. And despite ’5AM In Toronto’ being decent enough track I don’t find it as strong as it’s predecessor – for the exact opposite reason – we’ve heard this all before. But anyway, I remain a Drake fan – so peep the new video up top.
Kendrick Lamar released the video for his latest single ‘Poetic Justice’ featuring Drake taken off his critically acclaimed debut album good kid, M.A.A.D city. Wish they somehow worked Janet into this video, that sample kills it.
Drake kicks off the 55th annual Grammy Awards by releasing the video for his new single ‘Started From the Bottom’, taken off his forthcoming third album Nothing Was the Same. Shot in Drizzy’s hometown Toronto and in the Dominican Republic the video was directed by Director X and Drake himself.
It was assumed that Drake would unveil his new single ‘Started From the Bottom’ on Grammy night but OVO’s very own decided to unleash it tonight via his tumblr. The single, the first to be taken off his as yet untitled third album, was produced by OVO producer Mike Zombie and sounds refreshingly reserved. It still bumps though. The song was accompanied by a letter written by Drake to his fans…
“My good friends, it has truly been too long. I assume you’re all keeping well and making the most of this year that has been given to us. Today is the day to begin sharing my newest work with you. This is the first single off of my upcoming album. I feel sometimes that people don’t have enough information about my beginnings and therefore they make up a life story for me that isn’t consistent with actual events. My family and my second family (consisting of the best friends anybody could ever have) all struggled and worked extremely hard to make all this happen. I did not buy my way into this spot and it was the furthest thing from easy to achieve. I am proud of every part of my past and I’m excited for this song to find a place in your life as well. I didn’t feel I needed any interviews or radio or press to launch this song. It felt right to come back to the site that I started on and release it to the people that started here with me. Judging by this post, the tour that we’ve been planning, the conversations about new songs and album artwork…I think it’s safe to say we’re back together again. Looking forward to seeing you all soon”
Last week, a few days after what would have been Aaliyah’s 34th birthday, a new song from the late singer surfaced online, but it’s origins still remain a bit of a mystery. There’s no official word on whether ‘Quit Hatin’ (prod. by Knotch) was released by the Haughton estate or whether it’ll appear on the upcoming posthumous album currently being produced by Drake and Noah ’40′ Shebib. But according to Rapture Stewart (who has writing credits on the Aaliyah album) “those verses [from 'Quit Hatin'] are from a song we did called “He Keeps Me Shakin”. He goes on to add even more fuel to fire by also confirming “we’re not really involved in the new [Aaliyah] project. None of her original team is for that matter…”.
Parts of ‘Quit Hatin’ may also sound a little familiar to some too, as it would appear A$AP Rocky samples Babygirls ad-libs on his ‘F*cking Problems’ single which was produced by … Noah ’40′ Shebib and obviously features Drizzy. The sample (and ‘Quit Hatin’ ad-lib for that matter) could have also originated from here too though. Who knows.
Another song called ‘Girlfriends’ also seemed to get the blogopshere excited this week but despite it featuring a ‘new’ beat – the song isn’t new. It’s from Aaliyah’s 2001 collaboration with Yaushameen Michael.
Having released one of our favourite albums of 2012 singer Rochelle Jordan starts the new year with a new and typically stellar record. Covering Lil’ Wayne & Drake’s ‘She Will’, now re-titled ’Impossible’, Jordan applies an intuitive melody and transforms the original into a sensual new structure.
… For our U.S readers, make sure you check Rochelle Jordan on tour with our homegirl Jessie Ware – see dates here.
Kendrick Lamar takes a break from his London invasion by sitting down with i-D Online for their i-N Conversation series. The man behind this years biggest Hip Hop album talks about his upbringing, his early experiences as an emcee, the songs / albums that influenced him, collaborating with Drake and much more. Take a peep up top and for those who’ve been living under a rock with no internet connection - good kid, m.A.A.d city is out now.
Flying Lotus, pioneer, adopter, adapter. If this unreleased audio premiered on Diplo’s Radio 1 show proves just a minute inkling of anything with it’s ripped bass, southern hats and lush sample looping for glory under a veil of dirty compression… it’s that he be put in an $80,000 studio with Drake or Kendrick immediately so we can get some history made. A deep banger, it’s great Lotus has chosen to unleash it from his recently disclosed hard drive. Let’s have some more then.
