Keeping It Fresh

Today I have some music for you that may be a throwback for some, and a wave of nostalgic sounds for others. Basshunter. What can I say about the guy? His popularity has been an interesting trajectory and course. But somehow, his older work persists as a club classic. And it really has been a while since I listened to him or talked about him. Since I got a random listen recently, I thought it might be nice to take a trip down memory lane. So Basshunter is a phenomenal DJ and is incredible at pretty much every aspect of producing music. Every note and lyric is written by him. One thing which always used to make me chuckle a bit, are the lyrics. It's not that Basshunter is shallow with his lyrics. It's just so entertaining to hear how simple they are! For example, one of his songs is literally about playing a video game. Straightforward and to the point I suppose! But then again, I guess the focus for him is more the production and electronic aspect of the song. For this track...

Today I want to continue with my discussion of the soundtrack for Black Panther. Like I mentioned in the previous post, Kendrick knocked this soundtrack out of the park, releasing a powerful album in the wake of the release of Marvel’s most revolutionary film. This soundtrack is a masterful tribute to the film, African American, and Black power, and is the album we have needed from the mainstream film world. Today’s track features California’s Vince Staples and the popular South African rapper, Yugen Blakrok. One of the things I absolutely love about Yugen Blakrok’s verses is the creativity and ingenuity found in them. There is African imagery, homages to other superheroes, and a wildly raw theme to her lines. Not only that, it feels as though this track is hers and features Vince Staples, not the other way around. Though her time on the track is shorter, she seems to dominate the entire song. She is bombastic, proud, and incredibly effective at getting her point across. And it is a...

I have quite an exciting set of posts coming out this week, in honor of the film we have all wanted since Marvel started revamping its cinematic universe. Ladies and gentleman, get ready for Black Panther to be released in theatres very soon. But you all know there was no way I was going to skip over the film's soundtrack. That would have been the biggest shame of the year and it's only February. So, Black Panther. Where can one even begin discussing this incredible pairing of soundtrack and film? I mean if ever a film was going to be the stimulus for an album of this caliber, Black Panther was the right way to go. So I want to start with some background on the album itself. Our genius of an artist, Kendrick Lamar, is the man responsible for the composition and production of this album. And as far as movie soundtracks go, this is one of the most unique and powerful albums. It should be listed right next to film soundtracks like 8 Mile or The Lion King. And in terms of its pl...

Today we are getting back to the music, and I have quite the track for you. I have to be honest, my rap game has been really off lately. I haven't talked about rap as much, posted much about the genre, nor have I spent a lot of time talking about any new rap artists. But today, I want to introduce you to a rapper by the name Dave East. Dave East hails from East Harlem, and he really started to gain attention in 2014. Yes I know, it is 2018 and I am behind the game. But hey, I got to him eventually! The story behind Dave East and his music is one that I find very interesting. There are a lot of artists who write about hardships in life, from falling out of love to internal struggles and wars, to societal issues that meet many people. Somehow, Dave East is able to beautifully talk about all three topics and more in his music. That is what makes him so great and refreshing as an artist. He is able to talk about what life is really like, from the streets of Harlem to being in jail t...

Welcome back! Today I wanted to continue my discussion about the Grammy awards. Now I know that the first post was bit on the longer side, and I am going to try and keep today's thoughts a bit shorter. I have to admit, I am very happy to see that the Grammy nominees this year were way more diverse than we are used to seeing. And I applaud the Academy for including more artists of colors and language across the board. And speaking of the Academy, I wanted to talk a little bit about them and how the Grammy process works. The voters involved are a select group of songwriters, conductors, recording artists, sound engineers, etc. All of these people operate in professionally within the music industry, across genres and careers. So that being said, the voting environment for the Grammys is more along the lines of professionalism rather than cultural. This makes things a bit more interesting though because we don't have unanimous view on what "quality" is. In a way I th...

Today's post is taking a bit of an interesting turn because today is all about the music and recognition. As most of you know, the Grammy's were this past Sunday. And as all proper award shows go, there were live performances, bad jokes, an interesting host, and plenty of snubs. Now before we really get into things, I want to warn you all now that this post is going to be a bit of a rant, an expression of my dissatisfaction. So the Grammy's. Probably the biggest music award ceremony of each and every year. We see so many artists and musicians come together to celebrate music and the beauty of bringing people together. The Recording Academy created the Grammy's to be a "celebration of excellence, the music community's highest honor." But if we take a look at the winners of the Grammy awards the past few years, and if we take a look at the artists who have (and haven't) performed, we see a stark difference between what The Recording Academy practices ...

Today I have a remix of a song by one of the most popular solo artists of the past few years. Ed Sheeran has developed quite a reputation for himself, of not only being a talented singer and songwriter, but of being a phenomenal aritst and musician. He is also one of the artists who seems to cross all boundaries. His music is often categorized as pop muic though he finds way to incorporate rapping into his work. For some songs, the delicate and beatiful instrumentation is set as a background to darker and and more melancholy lyrics. And though he is an English aritst, he has won an award for being the most influential artist in black music. It all goes to show that to Ed Sheeran, music is something that has no boundaries, no stereotypes, no definition tying it down. Now the thing I love about Ed Sheeran's music is that it has the ability to be interpreted and remixed in so many different ways, and this particular remix is done by Speaker of the House. I have to say that this is ...