Beyonce had the world grasping for air during her 12 minute performance at this years Super Bowl Half-Time show. Performing some of her biggest hits including ‘Crazy In Love’, ‘Baby Boy’, ‘End of Time’ and ‘Halo’, Queen Bey also reunited with her Destiny’s Child band members who together performed ‘Bootylicious’, ‘Independent Women’ and ‘Single Ladies’. Although many expected Bey to perform a new song from her upcoming 5th album, she stuck with the hits – no ones complaining. Take a look at the entire performance up top… Try closing your mouth while doing so.
P.s Powercut at the Superdome after Bey’s performance? Shut down.
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”
New York rapper Le1f has returned with a new 13-track mixtape entitled Fly Zone featuring guest appearances from the likes of Haleek Maul and Kitty (Pryde). Fly Zone features the type of cut-throat fierceness we’ve come to expect from Le1f and as such sees him expressing his thoughts and opinions no holds barred. Listen / download below.
Following the release of Full Crate’s critically acclaimed Golden Glasses and Mar’s celebrated Seeing Her Naked project, the pair have reunited and are preparing to release the long-awaited follow up to their now cult-classic Conversations With HerEP. Having both successfully explored new musical grounds with their solo works they’ve (naturally) returned with a new energy and direction. Moving away from the soulful sound that first introduced us to them on their debut, producer Full Crate extends his electronic influences (see: Golden Glasses) but this time moulds it perfectly around Mar’s distinctive vocals (albeit pitched-down). Enjoy the weekend…
Red Bull Music Academy have launched a new series called H∆SHTAG$ (produced by PinBoardFilm) which looks to explore the influence the internet has had on music and it’s many emerging sub-cultures. Across it’s six episodes (to be released weekly) H∆SHTAG$ looks to discuss different ideas that have been nourished, nurtured and/or birthed by the internet and it’s interconnecting technologies. Featuring exclusive interviews from Flying Lotus, TNGHT, Mount Kimbie, AlunaGeorge, Shlohmo, Charli XCX and many more, the series will also features opinions from predominant journalists, tastemakers and bloggers from across a wide spectrum of digital platforms, print and digital media.
The first episode Don’t Call It #AltR&B features How To Dress Well, producer Jeremy ‘Zodiac‘ Rose (The Weeknd), R&B futurists Rochelle Jordan & KLSHand Grammy nominated singer Miguel. It focuses on the re-emergence of contemporary R&B and whether or not the internet has played a role in it’s current form. Don’t Call It #AltR&B also talks to Alex Macpherson (The Guardian), Melissa Bradshaw (The Quietus) and Erik Kirtley (Indie R&B).
This image was just posted on Jay-Z’s Life+Times website with a simple message: “Roc Nation welcomes Timbaland to the family”.
I guess that can lead us to believe that Timbo has signed as a producer to work under the Roc Nation umbrella. So not only is Timbaland out to reclaim his crown as super-producer this year by producing Justin Timberlake’s soon-to-be-classic 3rd album, he’s also working with Missy Elliott and Beyonce for their new albums, and now he’s working under the guidance of Jay-Z & Co? Have the stars aligned? Could this be the return to form we’ve been waiting for? Let’s see…
Bonobo returns after the hugh critical success of his last album Black Sands (one of our favourites from 2010) with a new single ‘Cirrus’ and an impending new album The North Borders. Although this feels somewhat less emotive than the material on Black Sands, ‘Cirrus’ is another beautifully produced song and as such has customarily lush instrumentation. This is vibes.
London boy King Krule serves up a dark new video for ‘Octopus’, the double A-Side single to his ‘Rock Bottom’ release. Archie’s bellowing voice, controlled by the immense restraint he always displays sounds harrowingly beautiful over this trippy acid-jazz instrumental. Despite it’s grim visuals there seems to be something oddly romantic about this song.
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.
Nothing Prince ever does is random, you should know this by now. He plans his movements with meticulous coordination and so it’s no surprise that the day his uber-cool Billboard cover is unveiled is also the same day he launches a new website (20pr1nc3.com) with new content. It would appear from what we’ve been treated to so far Sir Starfish & Coffee is planning something big in 2013. A preview of ‘Screwdriver’ has been floating around but his new website offers it up in full via an official lyric video – this YouTube rip will get pulled down, so hopefully you catch it before it does. If you don’t – go here to watch.
