You’re Turning Me On like a Keri Hilson song- Let Me Knock You Down

Chris Brown is back with his third album titled Grafitti. Mainly, critics want to label this effort as a “too soon” after his recent happenings. However, I think its perfect timing. It’s excellent music and it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard in awhile. The content is more involved and in detail. Instead of “beating around the bush” like his last album Exclusive, Chris Brown decided to say exactly what is on his mind.  The songs “Take My Time”, “Pass Out” and “Wait” are prime examples of this in action.

The song listing for Graffiti is as follows (Includes Deluxe Edition):

1. I Can Transform Ya (Feat. Lil’ Wayne and Swizz Beatz)

2. Sing Like Me

3. Crawl

4. So Cold

5. What I Do (Feat. Plies)

6. Famous Girl

7. Take My Time (Feat. Tank)

8. I.Y.A.

9. Pass Out (Feat. Eva Simons)

10. Wait (Feat. Trey Songz and The Game)

11. Lucky Me

12. Fallin Down

13. I’ll Go

14. Girlfriend (Feat. Lupe Fiasco)

15. Gotta Be Ur Man

16. Movie

17. For Ur Love

18. I Need This

19. I Love You (Feat. Ester Dean)

20. Brown Skinned Girl (Rock City and Sean Paul)

21. Chase Our Love

Chris displays his mishaps with Rhianna very bluntly in the song “Famous Girl”. This is one of the most surprising song on the record. He does not spare any hurt about the situation he found himself in and how he is trying to go on with his life dealing with what happened. The album hits various aspects of relationships internally and externally. It is an upgrade from his Sophomore effort Exclusive. Exclusive was an outstanding album and to top it is a definite improvement into his style of music and the effort he puts in to make a great album. Overall, Graffiti is an excellent work that combines numerous styles and personalities to convey Chris’ emotions and viewpoints.

 

I’m Stuttering OH OH OH…

Today marked the release of Mario Barrett’s 4th studio album. His first single off his new album D.N.A. is the song called “Break Up” featuring Gucci Mane and Sean Garrett. I have been listening to this song over and over and over for about 2 solid months. It’s an amazing song and it is catchy as hell. In fact, the rest of D.N.A. is just as catchy if not more!

Here is the track list for D.N.A.:

1. Break Up Feat. Gucci Mane and Sean Garrett

2. Thinkin About You

3. Get Out Feat. Ludacris

4. Soundtrack to My Broken Heart

5. Starlight

6. Stuttering

7. Emergency Room Feat. Rhianna

8. Ooh Baby

9. Before She Said Hi Feat. Young Chris

10. I Choose You

11. Don’r Walk Away

12. I Miss My Friend

13. The Hardest Moment

Mario’s last release was the album GO! which was released back in 2007 This album really set a tone for what D.N.A. would eventually become. “Kryptonite” was a song that I thought really lets people know that Mario was looking for lyrics that were attention grabbing. It didn’t hurt either to add rapper Rich Boy to the track to spice up the song a little bit. The song “Let Me Watch” is a song in which Mario is able to tell listeners is that he just wants to move slowly with lyrics but have a fast track in which to do so. In my opinion, “Let Me Watch” was a big inspiration for the track “Ooo Baby” off of D.N.A. The track “I Choose You” is really the only slow intimate song on the album. Why is that? I am not quite sure. However, maybe he was attempting to do a more upbeat record. His other two albums besides D.N.A. and GO! are Turning Point and Mario. His first two albums were more pop than r&b. His last two albums are more adult themed. Now Mario for sure, in my eyes, is a great artist and he will continue to make music that people enjoy listening to for years to come.

-Biz

 

Hello Brooklyn 3.0

Hello Brooklyn! how’s it going? Can I come too? Jay-Z who is a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets, is pushing for them to go to Brooklyn. He says they are looking to break ground early this December for a brand new basketball facility.Only time will tell if this actually goes through with the state of New York seeing two brand new baseball stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets. Shawn Carter must strongly market the team to land them in Brooklyn. It will not be easy. Also, with this news is tthat HOVA will not pressure his friend LeBron James in coming to his team.

He’s my friend first so I wouldn’t do that to him if we didn’t have a chance of winning [the NBA championship] because he’s going to be great,” Jay-Z said. “I want him to be great. Whatever team lands him, I want him to be great.

-Biz

 

The One and Only Keri Hilson

She started as a member of two female groups that never turned out well or even hit the airwaives. Keri Hilson has always been expressive through music. From piano lessons to being a songwriter she has done or at least tried it all. Most people figure Keri is a new “up and coming” artist but that really is not the case. Her songwriting ability has put her in an elite writing group called The Clutch.  Keri has been songwriting since 2001. She has worked with artists such as Ludacris, Omarion, Britney Spears among others.

In my view Keri Hilson is up there with the likes of Beyonce. She is very intellegent and knows what is going on within the industry almost all the time. Keri knows who to work with too. On her album “In a Perfect World…” she features the likes of Timbaland, Ne-Yo, Kanye West, Akon, and Lil Wayne. The album has hits such as “Turn Me On”, “Knock You Down”, “Energy”, and “Get Your Money Up”. Since she has been in the music industry for so long I don’t think it will take her a long time before she becomes a household name just like Beyonce.

-Biz

 

HOVA and The Blueprint 3

I can’t tell you how pumped I am for this! HOVA is at the point in his careers where he has reached legendary status. He is 3rd on my list all-time of favorite rappers and I can’t even put his announcement of the new album into words. Well, maybe I can! Jay-Z has released a couple different tracks from The Blueprint 3.

The first track released was “Jockin Jay-Z” and the second track is DOA (Death of Autotune). The question is this: Kanye West is the Co-Executive Producer for the album and there is a song referring to his 808’s and Heartbreaks record that is nothing but autotune why would Jay do this? Is it a personal shot at Mr. West? I have yet to find out! DOA is a great song though! In my opinion it is slightly better than Jockin Jay-Z but you can be the ultimate judge.

<a href=”http://hypem.com/track/839979″>Jay – Z- D O A</a>

<a href=”http://hypem.com/track/731553″>Jay-Z – Jockin’ Jay Z</a>

Take a listen and see what you think. Hopefully the entire album which is due out on September 11, 2009 will be just like this!

HOVA IS BACK!

-Biz

 

Babygirl Don’t Trip Just Give Them A Little Thigh Mama Give Them A Little Hip

One of the most rap artists talked about all over since Biggie and Tupac arguably is Lil Wayne. Weezy F. Baby as known by most of his fans (including myself) is acclaimed to be the Best Rapper Alive. Everyday he is proving and defending this claim. I began listening to Lil Wayne after he came out with his album Tha Carter II which had the song “Fireman” on it. I loved it! Then shortly after that he teamed up with his “Daddy” (not really though so don’t freak out) Birdman to create the album “Like Father, Like Son”. Every song on this album I could listen to and its one of those CD’s you can just listen to over and over and never get sick of it.

Next, after I listened to “Like Father, Like Son”  I was officially addicted to everything Lil Wayne touched. I came across the Lil Weezyana Vol. 1 mixtape and was in awe of his skill to rhyme just about anything together. He is definitely up there with the likes of Jay-Z (HOVA), Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, and Eminem. At first I thought that Tha Carter III was awesome.

Then I thought about some of the tracks on there were kind of disappointing. However, now after listening to it repeatedly I find that its pretty damn good overall. I really couldnt narrow down one exact track to pull out of the entire album because they are all superb. Lil Wayne is for sure going to release Tha Carter IV and a project with T-Pain called “T-Wayne” which I imagine will be similar to the “Like Father, Like Son” with Birdman which was nothing but excellent. The other thing is Lil Wayne has the presence and the rapping power to turn an okay track into an untouchable track. Lil Wayne really is everywhere, from featured tracks with Lloyd to Trina there are so many I can’t even tell you where you can start searching. Trust me it will continue because he loves and has a passion for working and rapping over anything. He is nearly untouchable at this point.

-Biz

 

Guess Who’s Back? Slim Shady!

Eminem’s new album Relapse comes out on May 19th and I am so pumped. It has been quite a long time since his last album which was Encore. Encore brought a lot of social slamming to the front of his rapping.

I hope Relapse is the same. With his first single “We Made You” shows that he still has this theme to his music. This theme is enjoyable to the point where you can listen to it over and over and still get loud laughs out of it. From what I heard about the album there is tons of bashing of Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon.

If you listen to Eminem thoroughly you will know that his signature vulgarisms will definitely be a part of the Relapse album. As always, nothing is off limits! Hopefully everyone will be able to enjoy this album…I know I will!

-Biz

 

The Devil Wears Prada:The Band and Not the Movie with Anne Hathaway

I felt like typing a long title. Most of the time people know what you (the publisher) is talking about. But every time I mention The Devil Wears Prada they ask: “The movie?”

Nope…the band! Then they proceed to say they have no clue what I am talking about.
Here is a little 411 on them:
The Devil Wears Prada is from Dayton, Ohio. They are primairly screamo which is the genre I listen to the most. On May 5th they will be releasing their new album titled“With Roots Above and Branches Below”. This will be their 3rd studio album. The other two albums are “Plagues” and “Dear Love: A Beautiful Discord”. Before their new album I would consider Plagues to be their best. They have also released a track on “Punk Goes Crunk” called “Still Fly” originally done by the Big Tymers. Now the Punk Goes Crunk song is amazing. I waited the longest time to have a mash-up between rap and screamo my two favorite types of music and it happened. It felt like it was a gift of some sort.

TDWP is known for outrageous titles of their songs that make no sense whatsoever! If you are looking for meaning in the song titles you certainly will not find it! Such songs as “HTML Rulez D00d” and “Don’t Dink and Drance”.

Their style is heavy with screamo with little harmony or singing usually in random spots but sometimes located within the chorus. The Devil Wears Prada uses electronic technology along with the piano to form neat little elements within their songs.

To find out what I mean by this go to: http://www.purevolume.com/thedevilwearsprada

I really don’t know what to expect from this new album. The band claims it is harder and more thoughtfully written while staying true to their post-hardcore sound. I have yet to listen to the new album in its entirety.

They have two songs from the new album on their Myspace page which is here:

http://www.myspace.com/tdwp

Hopefully this new album will come with some surprises to make me completely joyful of what they have created!

-Biz

 

Rising Star: Kid Cudi

I’m pretty sure that when I listen to music a new rapper that comes to mind is Kid Cudi. His song “Day N’ Night” is all over the place. Even in a video game it is featured and thats how I came to know the song. When I am at school I hear it all the time. It happens to be that it is on everyone’s IPod.

What exactly makes him so great? Well the answer is Kanye West. Kanye has Kid Cudi featured on his intro song “Welcome to Heartbreak” on his album “808’s and Heartbreaks”. Kid has a short part in the song which happens to be the chorus but it is to be noted that Kid surely as a talent.

Kid Cudi only currently has a mixtape to show for his work. It is titled “A Kid Named Cudi” his official album is set to release in the summertime so be on the look out for it as it hits stores.

http://www.myspace.com/kidcudi

-Biz

 

Punk Goes Pop 2-Screamo is Evident These Days

I cannot wait for this CD to come out. It hits shelves on March 10th. There is a lot to look out for in this version of the Punk Goes… series. The first Punk Goes Pop was great! But I think this next one is going to top it for sure. The track list features songs by Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, OneRepublic and a bunch more. The genre mostly represented throughout this album is Screamo. Screamo is my favorite kind of music. I used to hate it so much but when I found a little band named a Atreyu covering one of my all-time favorite bands Bon Jovi and their song “You Give Love A Bad Name” I fell in love with it and I have been into it ever since.

Here is the track list for Punk Goes Pop 2:

Alesana- “What Goes Around…Comes Around” by Justin Timberlake
Attack Attack- “I Kissed a Girl” by Katy Perry
August Burns Red- “…Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears
Bayside- “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston
Breathe Carolina- “See You Again” by Miley Cyrus
The Cab- “Disturbia” by Rihanna
A Day To Remember- “Over My Head (Cable Car)” by The Fray
Escape The Fate- “Smooth” by Rob Thomas
Four Year Strong- “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles
Mayday Parade- “When I Grow Up” by Pussycat Dolls
Silverstein- “Apologize” by One Republic
A Static Lullaby- “Toxic” by Britney Spears
There For Tomorrow- “Ice Box” by Omarion

The one song that got me into this album to begin with was the band August Burns Red. They are known for their really hard guitar riffs. On the album they are doing their screamo version of Hit Me Baby One More Time and its really out there. Its so rough that I didnt anticipate it being so rough through the entire song but it struck me as being one of the best tracks that could be on this record. We’ll see how it turns out soon!

Here is the August Burns Red recording of “Hit Me Baby One More Time”

-Biz