Take A (screen)Shot for Me: We Made It - Jay Z X Jay Electronica

Inspired by the Drake song of the same name (almost), I'll be posting occasional screenshots of what I've been listening to.

In this response to Drake, Jay Z is the most lyrically potent he has been for a minute. Spitting slavery chains and Jacob the Jeweller in the same breath and using metaphors as subtle as being smacked in the face, Jay goes hard to defend his Bouji lifestyle. Between his album deal with Samsung and name dropping D'Usse at every chance, its been a while since we've seen Jay without his business hat on. Although he spends most of his verse defending himself, his aggression takes us back to the days when he really was grinding to get by. If Drake comes back, this could get interesting.

All posts can also be found here.

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Donae'o - Stay Schemin'

No matter how many funky tracks Donae'o puts his voice to, it will never change the fact that he could do it all acapella. When he hits that Stay Schemin... ooft.

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Jai Paul - Jasmine

Maybe it's the constant influx of new music, (I am aware I'm part of the machine fuelling it) or the short attention span and terrible memory I have as a result of Internet use, but I find it hard to find new music, particularly singers, that don't bore me. Of course you've got your Jessie Wares, Marques Tolivers (and anyone else I've ever posted about), but right now I'm finding it a lot easier to listen to sounds - whether from producers/DJs or both.
If we throw Jai Paul into he mix, he's got a heavy following, espcially since Beyonce and Drake sampled BTSTU. It's a collection of morphing synth melodies, distorted bass riffs...Just sheer beauty. You get the picture. (Click for the embedded track.)


  Jai Paul - Jasmine by Jai Paul

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The Practice official video

Practice from OctobersVeryOwn on Vimeo.

Where do I begin. After listening to Take Care repeatedly in this last two months, I wanted The Practice to be the new single. When I found out it was, I couldn't help but wonder what the video would be like. So yes, keep clicking further and further into the video. Yes, she is still dancing. And yes, that is Drake entering the room in the most cringeworthy, vomit-inducing manner. However, the song is still a winner. He's allowed to make mistakes.

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The Weeknd - Echoes of Silence mixtape

The Weeknd, signing of Drake, has been working over time in the last few months. Echoes of Silence is the third in a string of mixtapes since March this year, as well as the material he had done previously.

The first track D.D. is an an acronym of Dirty Diana which he covers convincingly. It is almost as if the music he has been making is an extension of this and it reminds us all that Michael Jackson was way ahead of his time. Of course, Abel makes it his own by using deep synths and his soaring background vocal.

It's impossible to say all of the tracks sound fresh because we've have two offerings of a similar thing, but it shows a uniformity because it is a trilogy after all. It is becoming obvious how his style developing and you almost feel proud to be a part of it. It is going to be interesting to see how the Balloons trilogy varies from future material, but for now we have nine new songs to add to our collection.

XO.

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Childish Gambino - Camp

As much as it pains me to say it, for now it's Camp>Take Care

Stream here.

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Take Care

 Arguably one of the most hyped albums of the year has just been leaked nine days before its scheduled release on the 15th of November.

I should probably start off by stating the obvious. It is not the typical hip hop album and most of the people who like it will accept any Drake song, no matter what it is. However, this album is an experience. It's rare for a rapper, let alone any artist, to take the actual experience into consideration and that appears to be the main focus on this album. The continuation of musical ideas that Justin Timberlake used in Future Sex/Love Sounds translates here with a screwed sample of Headlines at the end of Shot for me. If anything it just creates a massive wall of sound and doesn't make you feel like you're listening to a schizophrenic artist whose mood changes with each song.


You can immediately hear the affect on The Weeknd and other artists he's been influenced by. The song Take Care features Rihanna and samples Jamie XX's remix of Gil Scott-Heron, I'll Take Care of U creating a heavy atmosphere. The spoken word/poem at the end of Headlines is a kind of nod to the late grandfather of hip hop. Drake isn't shy about showing his music preference and these samples follow his summer remix of SBTRKT's Wildfire and it's always good to see an artist support other artists.

Admittedly, the album begins to drag a little as most do, it picks right up again and makes you wish you never doubted him.

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Florence and The Machine & The Weeknd

Collaborations this year are falling from heaven into our laps.

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YES.

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Drake - Marvin's Room

New Drake ahead of his sophomore album, Take Care. Of course it's Drake, so the first instinct is to love it and question later. I have to agree that it's very similar to some of the tracks from Thank Me Later (a bit like Fireworks), but it's the lyrical content and the story which makes it so good. It's pretty real and once again deals with his handling of fame and ex-girlfriends. It's a nice start to the material he's going to release, but hopefully it picks up. Big up Chilly Gonzalez for his feature on the end playing the piano.

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