Christina Is Also Somewhat Correct [Guest Post] - And Yes, It's About Beyoncé

But, hey, hear me out.

"New Year, New Me" right? [Yeah, I hate when people say that, too.] I'm trying a couple new things for the 99 and the 2014 and the first is going to be posting on here more frequently. The other is the occasional guest post. This first post is from my lovely friend Christina (@ChristinaRpr) and she's probably the perfect person to look to for a fresh perspective since we agree on basically nothing. Except the fact that we're best friennnnddds. (We're not really best friends.) And I realize it's now January 3 and Beyoncé's album came out a few weeks ago but hey, the holidays just past. Those were clearly more important than me updating my blog. Well, here's Christina!

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I'd like to first take a brief moment to recognize a.samp for allowing me to discuss the Beyocalypse on his blog, because as we all know, a.samp's usually right - on matters of football, hip hop, booze and snookups... but today, he passed the torch to me to review Beyoncé's surprise self-titled, EARTH-SHATTERING visual album, "Beyoncé" - and well, as a fan and someone who's been patiently waiting for her next "era" to begin, I'm very happy to oblige.

Gosh, where do I even begin? Within hours of the surprise release, she'd already sold 100,000 copies exclusively on iTunes and has now reportedly sold over 1.5 MILLION, which is like, the most records sold by ANYONE on iTunes, like, EVER. Not sure if that's accurate but it sounded good. :)

The album is solid. The accompanying videos are stunning and provocative. She's 32, and she's never looked so good or appeared more confident than she does on this album. In fact, I'd argue that this project is some of her best work to date. Every "short film" spills over seamlessly into the next one, creating this body of work that's cohesive, thoughtful, masterful and sexy... but tasteful (kinda) - in typical Beyoncé fashion.

I just love it. Every single song, every single visual. It's perfect. I haven't LOVED a Beyoncé album since "B'Day," but this time - she nailed it. Working with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Miguel and Drake, the records are soulful, modern, funky, infectious, fun and even...political? Yes, she's even offered us some socio-political dialogue on the not-so-fair expectations of women and our obligation to support the feminist movement via prominent Nigerian writer and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's brief cameo-sample on the record "***Flawless" and somewhat on the ballad "Pretty Hurts."

Beyoncé cited in the "Making of" video and in her official press release that she wanted to provide listeners and fans an "immersive, multi-platform experience," that changes the way we consume music. In other words, she's merely adapting to the increased demand of consumers wanting multi-media content available and accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on their mobile devices and tablets. Smart and therein proven by the fact that she sold nearly half a million copies in just a couple of days of the release. Risky, sure ... successful? I'd say yes.

She's undoubtedly the hardest working entertainer in show business, underscored by the mere fact and audacity that she was (and still is) on a WORLD TOUR - yet managed to bang out these records, videos and promotional planning at the same damn time.

This project exudes everything Beyoncé represents as both an artist and businesswoman tirelessly fighting to maintain quality of music and entertainment in the industry. Whether you "get her" or not, you gotta respect her for it!

Again, I like every single record and video on the album, but here are my faves!

Drunk in Love (feat. Jay Z) - Yeah, we're kinda obsessed with these two so anytime they collab, we're given exactly what we need, but never too much. The song is a SMASH, will be in heavy rotation on hip hop AND top 40 stations, and the video is loosely directed and fun to watch. I especially enjoy the weird stripper-leg-kick-twerk-jig thing she's doing throughout - totally here for ratchet Beyoncé. Directed by Hype Williams.

Blow - This seems to be the popular favorite, written and produced by my bae PHARRELL. It's a very catchy and suggestive record about the pleasures of oral sex - pretty explicit for someone who barely swore at one point in her career. The video is super fun and yeah, she looks phenomenal. Directed by Hype Williams.

No Angel - shot in her hometown, Houston, Texas and apparently Brunswick, Australia, NO ONE CAN MIX RATCHET AND HIGH FASHION LIKE BEYONCE, and that's frankly why we love her. I'm pretty obsessed with this video, actually.

Partition - Produced by Timbaland, and actually one of my favorite records, really love the heavy baseline. The video is a little porny but it works. I love that Jay Z is her video boy and is just there watching, chilling... partaking. The song itself isn't terribly explicit minus the eyebrow-raising lyric - "He popped all my buttons, and he ripped my blouse/ He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown" NICE. *notes that Monica Lewinsky is now a verb.*

Jealous - LOVEEEEEEE the Parisian backdrop and influences. Love the candor of the lyrics. She apparently shot some scenes at 4 AM in NYC.

Rocket - The most soulful record on the album, clearly influenced by D'Angelo's "Unititled" and co-written by Miguel. Another video showing lots and lots of Beyoncé's "I just had a baby, but I bounced back, bitch" body. Video's soft-porny but again, it works.

Mine (feat. Drake) - OKAY. Girls love Beyoncé, girls love Drake. Perfect record, perfect accompanying artistically-interesting visual. I'm obsessed!

Blue (feat. Blue Ivy) - Brazil is the backdrop, Beyoncé looks AMAZE and Blue is ADORABLE. WHAT MORE COULD WE ASK FOR?

The other records/videos "Pretty Hurts," "Flawless," "Haunted," "XO," "Heaven," "Ghost," "Superpower," and "Yonce" are all solid records with cool accompanying visuals as well, overall making for a substantial and truly immersive project that's equally as appealing as it is satisfying. Definitely a must-buy! Also - interesting marketing strategy to release physical copies right before Christmas. The woman is SMART.

Oh, and I think I have finally found and replaced my wig.

Thanks, Samp :)


Follow Ms. Reeves (@ChristinaRpr) on Twitter. She's not so bad. Thanks Chris!

Nothing Was the Same - Track-By-Track Review

Whether you like it or not, Drake’s good. He’s been good since he dropped like five years ago. But still, he remains one of the more polarizing rappers out. It could be that he’s from Toronto. Maybe it’s the Degrassi (oh, and Charlie Bartlett!) acting past. It could just be the R&B half of his discography. Whatever your reason to slight him, one thing is constant: He makes good music.

Case in point, Nothing Was the Same, Drake’s third studio album that dropped yesterday. After binge listening for the past few hours (and with a week’s head start—Go internet!) here’s my track-by-track review of NWTS.

1. Tuscan Leather
Ok, I’ll be the first to admit, this is the most aggressive opening track in Drake’s catalogue. But honestly, I only have Fireworks and Over My Dead Body—not two of his most fiery openings—to compare it to. But other than that, I’m not a huge fan track of this other than the Heatmakerz-esque high-pitched sample and the pretty smooth beat switch and (better) verse that accompanies it. Don’t worry, the album picks up from here.

2. Furthest Thing
So remember that R&B Drake that I mentioned earlier, boom. This shit goooooes though. Introspective, melancholy Drake is still good Drake. I’d be surprised if this wasn’t one of Aubrey’s favorite tracks from the album. This even has a very So Far Goneish feel to it. Not to mention a second beat switch toward the end. Frequent Drake collaborator 40 is actually on his Just Blaze on the second half of this one. And it works.

3. Started From the Bottom
It didn’t take long for the internet (and our annoying Facebook friends and their statuses) to make us tired of this song but in all honesty, after a few weeks of not hearing it at all, I like this one again. Give it a few more weeks even and I might even forget about the snow scene. Yeah, that snow scene. I don’t want to forget about her, however. Anybody got her name, by the way? (For a friend.)

4. Wu-Tang Forever
I refuse to feel bad for liking this song so much. The worst part about it is that if it were up to the internet, we should be outraged that such a mellow song has references to Wu-Tang in the title. But honestly, that’s dumb. And the subtle yet repeated “It’s Yourz” sample justifies the title just fine for me. (HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT….?!)

5. Own It
See, Drake even used the “It’s Yourz” sample on this song, too. With that being said, I have mixed feelings about this song. First off, this song is so So Far Gone that it’s insane, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Second, this so is so Drakeish that it’s insane. I’m not 100% sure what that means, but I think you’ll agree. I think that this song is so familiar because we’ve heard it from Drake so many times. Not bad overall, though.

6. Worst Behaviour
Ok, the album is seriously picking up some steam at this point. Perfect placement for this song, especially following the last two slower songs. This song essentially embodies why we listen to Drake: Creative and funny verses, simple yet effective hook and a couple good punch lines. Mainly: “Bar mitzvah money like my last name Mordecaiiiiii…fuck you, bitch. I’m more than high.” AND LET’S NOT FORGET the Mase-inspired third verse. As an avid Mase fan, the song could’ve started and finished with that verse and all would’ve been well in the world.

7. From Time feat. Jhené Aiko
You didn’t’ think we’d make it all the way through a Drake album without a real deal relationship song, did you? Good luck with that. Drake even goes as far as name-dropping and telling stories of past relationships in this song. I should make one of these. (Actually, maybe not.) Also noted, we’re halfway through the album and just getting to the first featured artist (with the exception of background vocals.) I can appreciate that. Not only that, but Jhené Aiko is dope and I should probably be listening to her much more than I do now.

8. Hold On, We’re Going Home
I don’t know. Just watch.


9. Connect
Another slow one that just works. I’m actually pleasantly surprised at how well this album flows from song to song. You can definitely hear Drake’s Texas influence in the background of this one with Trae the Truth dropping background vocals. Will allow.

10. The Language
BIRDMAN 5 STAR OUTRO. GAME OVER.

11. 305 To My City
First off, Detail sounds frighteningly similar to Lil Wayne. (Am I the only one that didn’t know this?)  This song is pretty dope and I’m almost positive this is what Drake was writing in his infamous strip club pen session:

Peep Drake ass in the background writing lyrics at a strip club lmfao 😂😭😩 pic.twitter.com/jxD3aS0dkG

— Curtis Jayy (@KingCurtisJayy) August 6, 2013

12. Too Much feat. Sampha
This guy’s name is Sampha so clearly I like this song already. Following a very Drake-like performance on Jimmy Fallon, I’d be surprised if this isn’t the next single from the album. This is a pretty smooth song and Sampha’s background vocals throughout the song really brings the beat together.

Drake and Sampha also worked together flawlessly on The Motion.

13. Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music II feat. Jay-Z
Ah, finally. What better way to close out an album than by featuring the greatest rapper of all time…..and potentially his worst verse of all time. Hate to finish this post out focusing on Jay-Z but come on. Cake, cake cccake c-c-c-c-cake…what was he thinking with the second half of his feature? And the verse started with so much promise. Once I saw Jay listed I was positive this would be my favorite song on the album. But nah. It’s not quite as bad as Off That but those cake lines definitely made me think twice.

All in all, I really like this album. It’s very easy to listen all the way through without even glancing at the skip button, cake verse included. It’s clear that Drake’s really found his lane(s) and is content with his current place in hip-hop. And thank goodness for no Lil Wayne features.


Also, if you’re not using this or this as your album art, you’re doing it very wrong.

Pharrell Turns 40 + The Top 5 Pharrell Hooks [Videos]

In recognition of the 40th birthday of everyone's favorite genius producer not named Kanye [or Timothy], here is list of the Top 5 Pharrell-assisted hooks——in no particular order——as determined by me, my iTunes and embedding-enabled YouTube videos. I went with hooks because there are way too many beats or songs by the Neptunes/Pharrell to narrow down into a readable list. I even threw in the song from way back that started it all. Check these out and bump some N.E.R.D. today for God's sake.

1. Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell - Beautiful
Beautiful really ushered in the musical partnership between Snoop and the Neptunes that would ultimately bring us classics such as Drop It Like It's Hot, From tha Chuuuch to da Palace, Pass It, Pass It and...

2. Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell - Let's Get Blown
This is definitely my favorite Snoop/Neptunes track and I doubt it'll ever leave my iTunes despite having background vocals from.......Keyshia Cole? Sorry, I hope that doesn't ruin the song for you because it definitely almost did for me.

3. Jay-Z feat. Pharrell - Excuse Me Miss
Say what you want about The Blueprint 2 but I enjoyed it [a lot, actually]. Pharrell definitely left his mark on the album with four Neptunes-produced songs, with Excuse Me Miss being the best of the group. No matter where you are when you hear this song, this is a hook that you just have to sing along to. Incredible hook. Oh, and the rest of the song is cool, too.

4. Clipse feat. Pharrell - Gangsta Lean
Gangsta Lean was probably my favorite song on Lord Willin', even above Gridin'. While the better song might be debatable, what cannot be argued is the fact that this is one of the great Pharrell features in history. Random sidenote....Where are Philly's Most Wanted these days? Anybody?

5. Clipse feat. Pharrell, Ab-Liva & Rosco P. Coldchain - Cot Damn
I still think this is one of the most underrated Clipse songs of all time, not saying that there are many, but still. Pharrell's hook is what sticks out initially but this is just a dope song overall. Even WITH Ab-Liva and Rosco P. Coldchain, and that's saying a lot. Check that out, my blog's first Roscoe P. Coldchain reference. I'm distinguished now.

Bonus: Ma$e feat. Puff Daddy - Lookin' At Me
Okay, so I realize that it's not technically Pharrell singing this hook but this is the song that started it all. Plus, the Neptunes did the beat and in hindsight, wouldn't you much rather have had Pharrell on this hook instead of Diddy? Yeah, me too.


Also, Complex put out a list of the Top 25 Pharrell Hooks a couple years back but I didn't actually read it, though. Because, you know, slideshows are annoying.

Happy Birthday, P.

Watch The Throne [Behind the Scenes]

A behind the scenes look into one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Just a quick trip back home to Chicago. Nothing big.

I fully expect to see a full length video in the near future.
At least I hope so.

It Ain't Safe in the City...

...you know the rest. [Or at least you should by now.]

_______________

The internet is going went completely insane as a result of the digital release of Watch the Throne yesterday and although I'm waiting for it to be released in stores before listening, I completely understand why. Basically throughout the entire process of this album, from rumor to speculation to doubts to anticipation to delays to tour dates to an actual release, I guess some of us never really thought about how dope it would be for two of our favorite musicians to work together like this—until yesterday.

And thanks to my older brother—who's the f'ing man—I finally got my tickets for the DC show. [Love you, bro!]

What a sick ass day.


By the way, the artwork looks absolutely incredible and you can download the digital copy of WTT here.

Jay-Z x Kanye West - Watch the Throne Mini-Documentary

I've already watched this three times. Guess I should've posted this a few days ago. My bad. Highlight of the video: The track with the Russell Crowe line. EGHCK.

August 8^th release date????
Let's hope so.

Jay-Z x Kanye West - Otis [MP3]

...I invented swag, poppin bottles, puttin supermodels in the cab..."


Wow.
I reeeeeally like this new joint off of Watch the Throne. The mixture of angry Jay, arrogant Ye and soulful samples....this is what I've been expecting since I heard about the album. I'm about a day late in posting this but when it comes to music like this, late is definitely better than never.

Jay-Z x Kanye West feat. Otis Redding - Otis

Unh!

I guess this will hold us over for awhile until we remember that we still don't have a concrete release date.

Jay-Z x Kanye West - Watch the Throne Pre-Order

I couldn't be more hype for this.

Although it was originally rumored that Watch the Throne, the collab album from Jay-Z and Kanye West, would be released on July 4^th, the holiday came and went without the much-anticipated CD. Listeners can, however, pre-order the album [which has an amazing cover btw] on the site WatchtheThrone.com.

I'm still on the fence about pre-ordering, but damn it I'm close.

I know when it does actually come out, I'll be at Best Buy bright and early like:

Kanye West & Co. - Monster Video. Um, we're ready.

My guys at work really think I'm hyping the dopeness of the upcoming video for Monster off the latest Kanye album. Mannnn, when will they learn?? I realize this has been out for more than a week, I'm basically only posting these shots from the video just to get them as excited as I am.



Joey, Ty...ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!

Jay-Z Won.

He really did.

Ski Beatz - 24 Hour Karate School Mixtape

Dope shit from Ski Beatz dropping tomorrow. You should know him from producing tracks from Jay's Reasonable Doubt and Vol. 1 as well as the majority of Curren$y's Pilot Talk. Dopeness is sure to follow. Not to mention the teaser is another ill video from Creative Control:
Track: Camp Lo - Back Uptown [Prod. by Ski Beatz]

I'm coppin and you should too.

[CLASSIC] Freeway, Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel - What We Do

One of my all-time favorite Rocafella songs. Free, Jay and Beans over a Just Blaze beat. What better combination was there in 2003?? Don't worry, I'll wait.
I still get hype when I hear this joint.

Shit was all good back then.

Kanye West feat. Jay-Z - Power Remix

Holy shit this is dope.

"No one man should have all that Power..."
Kanye West feat. Jay-Z - Power Remix


THIS is the Kanye I've been waiting for.

I'm glad these last two joints have sounded dope because the first joint with Charlie Wilson had me like:


[Note: My download link got merked. Sorry.

Photo of the Moment: JFK x RFK x Jay-Z x Kanye West

Even though it's definitely not a recent picture, this photo of John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert is definitely among my favorite ever. It even inspired a dope picture of Kanye West and Jay-Z from a 2005 issue of XXL. The photo spread in the issue was actually ingenious because all the photos were modeled after pictures JFK took while in office. Dope idea...whoever thought of it. The JFK picture can also be found in Time Magazine's Illustrated History of the World's Most Influential Magazine. I first read about the book on the website DoobyBrain.com and it features the best photos from the magazine's history. 430+ pages of amazing photos is definitely worth checking out.
...so um, check it out.

One More Reason Why Jay-Z is the Man

Gotta take a late pass on this, but I just came across this today. Who's itinerary looks like this: Dinner at the White House with the Obamas, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Oprah [among others] and follow it up with breakfast with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New Jersey Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov?? Oh yeah, Jay-Z's does. And that's exactly what he did last week.

Boss type shit.

[Note: Shouts to Righteous Babygirls for the heads up.]

Aziz Ansari is a Hilarious Human Being

I was up on a random night a couple weeks ago at about 1 or 2 am so of course I was on Twitter [because what else would a normal person do at 2 am??] when I realized that me, @JinxTheJerk, @nikkib788, @TwoEZ and @Bouier were all watching the same thing. "Hey Samp, what were you guys watching??" Well, I'm glad you asked. We were all viewing history in the making as Comedy Central was airing the unedited Secret Stash edition of Aziz Ansari's stand-up Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening. Needless to say, it was funny as hell and deemed as an "instant classic." No, seriously. The audio version of the routine was release on January 19th and is definitely worth the listen. But just in case you don't believe me, below is his bit on Cold Stone Creamery [which we all know is crazy] and also parts of interviews from Letterman and Kimmel in which he discusses R.Kelly and Kanye West, respectively. Enjoy.

Aziz on Cold Stone Creamery // Intimate Moments...


Aziz on R.Kelly // Jimmy Kimmel


Aziz on Kanye West and Jay-Z // David Letterman


Yea, try not to laugh.

Beans to G.Unit???

Word on the street is that Beanie Siegel may have found a new home at G-Unit. I'm not sure how I feel about this mainly because 50's other artists haven't had sustainable careers, BUT they did have better deals than most of artists at the Roc. Another reason I'm kind of skeptical is that the other G-Unit "projects" [Mase, Mobb Deep, Freeway] didn't really work out either. I can't knock 50 for tryin to snatch up the one other rapper that might have Jay as much as him but somehow this happening a week before his album Before I Self Destruct drops is just a liiiiiiittle "convenient." For Beans' sake, I hope it works out.

It was all good just a week ago.

Jay & Beans: What REALLY Happened...

I'm sure we're all wondering what really went down between Jay, Dame and Sigel at the Roc. Well the good people at ItsTheReal.com got us covered. They even made it so simple that a kid could follow it. Peep:
Low key, the funniest part of this shit is Freeway's beard and Kanye's hair.
Classic shit.

First the Fat Boys Break Up...

I'd be lying if I said I saw this one coming. A Jay-Z diss from...Beanie Sigel??? What's the world coming to?? All I know is, that shit has really changed in the last five years if Jay and Beans are going at it... #kanyeshrug. Um, but the joint is kinda tough.
Average Cat [Jay-Z Diss]
Not too sure how I feel about this one and I'm curious to see if/how Jay will respond.
Only rhymes will tell.

Download: Average Cat

[Note: Oh yea, and this joint is 7 minutes long. Sieg had a lot to say I guess.]

Aight, So I Was Wrong... [The Making of BP3 Cover Art]

...and you won't hear me say that a lot, so enjoy it.

I said that my recent post about AlexGoose's Blueprint³ outtakes would be my last post about BP³ for a minute but I came across something today that I had to put on asamp was right. It's a YouTube video detailing the process that Greg Gigendad Burke and Dan Tobin Smith used to create the cover art for the album. Jay even said in an interview with MTV that the instruments were used on the cover to remind people that at the end of the day, hip-hop is still about making music. Peep the process:
When I first saw the cover art on the internet I just assumed that there were just three red lines over the picture. I couldn't have been more wrong. Dan Tobin Smith has done similar work in the past, and it's pretty dope. Here are a couple of his previous projects.



Damn. I need to start paying more attention to cover art.