Last night I was on a streak of finding new stuff and it continued on today...I love it when that happens. So I'm just going to give you a run through. The first few mostly have a soul vibe to them. I hope this is the future of music because I would be sooo happy.
1. Hal Linton- He's another singer from Barbados. In my opinion more need to come over if they're like him. When he performs he definitely gets into it. He's signed to Universal Motown and you can tell why when you listen to him.I twittered him to see where we can get his music, so I'll let you guys know that if and when he responds. Here's his vibe session.
2. Laura Izibor- She's come from Ireland. Like she said in her vibe session "There are black people in Ireland." She was featured in Vibe's November issue, so we should be hearing more from her. She is yet another singer with a soul vibe...I'm lovin that. She also plays the piano, so another bonus.
3. Noel Gourdin is signed to Epic Records. He is inspired by the oldies. His songs are similar to John Legend, Robin Thicke and D'Angelo, but he didn't has his own flair. Here's his vibe session.
4. LeVar Thomas. I found him through twitter...it's amazing. I'm not going to tell you a lot
about him right now because he agreed to do an interview, so just look forward to that.
5. "I'm the Shit" Remix with DJ Class and Kanye is good. click here.
6. "Hey Girl" by Keri Hilson. This song is just ridiculous but of course I like it for some reason. It's definitely any party girl's theme song. click here.
7. If you didn't click on the link for the post I blogged last night, the song is by n.e.r.d with santigold and lil wayne. Check it out if you didn't before. Here.
8. "By Myself" Juelz and Lil' Wayne . check it here. I don't know why I like it but I do.
9. "She Came Along" Sharam ft. Kid Cudi. I'd never heard of Sharam before, but I'm glad I found him. He's a pretty famous dj who has won a grammy. This collab is really good. Check it out here.,
I've blogged too much today, but I just found a new song and I just wanted to post it for you. It has a 90s grunge vibe to it...or something. It reminds me of sublime and a lil no doubt for some reason. I can't really place it but I like it.
For those who haven't picked up the newest Rolling Stone, I'm going to enlighten you with a little bit of their previews for this year. They've basically broken down who are dropping albums this year and when. I thought I'd just share with you the ones I'm excited for...not in any particular order
1. Asher Roth 4/20--what a great date for all the stoners. Some people are giving him shit for being a white rapper but he's definitely not another Eminem.
2. Lil Wayne May--I just want to see what this whole rock and roll stint has done for him. Not too excited about the promised auto-tune but there will probably be some entertaining songs.
3. Ben Harper 5/5--more rock and blues...some of best music combinations in my opinion. RS says there's a Stones-y and Beatles style so that can only be good.
4. DMB 6/2--It's been so long so hopefully they will deliver. It will be interesting to see if the dynamic is different since the saxophonist unfortunately died while working on the project.
5. Regina Spektor June--She's a little funky but I like the crazy stories she tells with her songs and that they're heavy on the piano.
6. Mos Def 6/9--I just love him and he's a great lyricist. His last big album was in 1999 so it's about time...can't rush a master. haha
7. Damian Marley and Nas June---what a great combo.
8. Black Eyed Peas 6/9--I'm not a big fan of them but they always have great dance songs. I've read and heard that will.i.am is working hard on this to make it danceable and I trust him.
I had nothing to contribute to the discussion in class today so I decided to keep track of all the songs that popped in my head while everyone else was talking. I mean how can you talk about Lincoln for around 90 minutes? This may not be that entertaining to you to read, but I thought it was interesting. I came up with some pretty different songs while everyone talked about presidents and power and the constitution. I started about half way through class so there would probably be more than this.
Here's the list but you can listen to it below.
1.)what's your name 2.)the scientist 3.)everybody knows 4.)Superstar 5.)I wonder 6.)lesson learned 7.)take it slow 8.)defying gravity 9.)i will survive 10.) i can see clearly now 11.)less is more 12.) it's tricky 13.)success 14.)too legit to quit 15.)give it to me baby 16.) protection 17.) politik 18.) just around the riverbend 19.)the way that you move girl 20.) paper airplanes 21.)sir duke 22.) gimme more 23.)the general 24.)fidelity 25.)sex, love, and money 26.)got to give it up 27.)rough riders 28.) love train 29.) higher ground 30.) mr president 31.) mrs officer 32.) 1 thing 33.) so high
I saw this on another blog and had to share. I feel bad that he had to go through an accident, but maybe losing some of those teeth are ok. I don't understand why someone would want yellowish teeth...even though they are gold haha I send my regards though. After reading more about the situation it sounds like he got pretty beat up and is going to have to lay off on appearances for awhile.
Since the weather has been nice here, everyone has been outside blasting their music. I'm fine with that since I'm doing the same thing, but I swear that the people here have some weird choices of songs. My Asian neighbors above me blast opera or "pokerface" on repeat and then we have the neighbors above the hill who are extremely white blasting "2 Step" at 12 in the afternoon. Who does that on a Sunday morning when most students probably have a hang over or are still sleeping?...c'mon.
Anyway the only thing that I'm really thinking about it driving around with the windows down blasting music and belting out along with it, but seeing as I don't have a car here that's not gonna happen. So I'm going to live vicariously through all of you that do have cars. Do you guys ever care that people stare at you when you're driving and getting into the music you're listening to? It always happens to me, but I don't really care. I especially think it's great when I'm listening to rap or something and a black person comes up beside me...they start laughing. If you don't know me, this is a pretty great situation since I'm probably the whitest person you'll see..haha But please blast some good music for me and try not to be too judgmental (As you can see I have a hard time with that) of people's selections...at least we're all loving music.
So Charles Hamilton has written about scirly several times and I just can't forget about the one night he was at my friend's house for a random house party performance. There was some drama that went down with him so I just think it's funny that's he's actually making it now. I guess he's having an album drop soon or it already has. Good for him. His lyrics are pretty good...perhaps that's why his name is what it is.
For my daily reading of blogs yesterday I saw an amazing thing.
I loved this song before and now it's even better. Kanye blogged about this song when q-tip's album first came out and how much he loved it, so it was kinda inevitable that he would collaborate with him. If you want to listen to it just click here.
Other things:
-Why is it that music videos these days are mad trippy and have space in them? Or maybe it's just videos Kanye and Kid Cudi do. Look at this one for example:
So I'm sitting in the student center trying to write a paper, but my mind is everywhere. It probably doesn't help that I'm listening to music and people watching. "I Wonder" came on and my mind went even more places....I'm a freakin mess. But the one thing that really got me was....what kind of music is that silent studious guy listening to in the corner? Have you ever wondered that? Is he listening to old school Mariah Carey..getting in touch with his feminine side? Is he listening to Ne-yo..thinking about how to seduce the hot girl across the way? Or is he listening to some old school Michael Jackson..just wanting to get up and do the moonwalk? I mean I doubt people are thinking that I'm listening to "Poison" and dying to get up and dance across the room.
According to the talent executive at Last Call with Carson Daly Kid Cudi will not be retiring after he drops his first album in the summer. All I have to say is thank god. I'm only assuming she's right because he was recently on the show and she talked to him.
(I'm not even sure if this is him...I hope it is) I was on the search for new music as per usual and found this song by Jyant. Apparently he was a part of the group Metro City, who was signed to Interscope. They quite their contract in 2007..this may or may not be true, but that's what I read. But anyway...I've never heard of them or him before and I was intrigued. I searched for more information and couldn't find anything, so if you guys know anything, please fill me in. I'm not saying he's amazing, but he's a new voice for me. And he's working with Ryan Leslie so that's a plus?!?! He kinda has the sound of Usher with a lil bit of Ne-yo. You're basic pop hip-hop mixture, if I may say so. I'm thinking this is a new song, "Do You Wanna Ride," but I could just be slow.
If you want to have a listen/download here ya go. Click here.
I saw this guy on youtube last night while being extremely bored and was blown away. You may know I have an obsession with pianists, so I was on cloud nine when I made this discovery. His name is David Sides,24, and he taught himself to play the piano by ear. He makes these amazing covers of popular hip hop and r&b songs. He's played at colleges and coffee shops so maybe he can come to a place near you!
I just want to say that Keri Hilson is one lucky girl. She collaborated with Kanye and Ne-yo for one song. She keeps impressing me with her vocals too.
The concept of this song is cute too...if you like that romantic stuff.
I want to be knocked down...but not in the abusive way.ha
So I didn't think my article I wrote for the Jerk was published but I picked up an issue this morning and it did! I'm so excited. If you can, go pick it up. I wrote about Auto-Tune and how it's ruining music. I'll try to post it up later.
I would just like to take this time to show my love for Ryan Leslie. I have so much respect for him because he makes everything in his songs. This is understandable because he was a producer before he came out as a solo artist, but I'm still flabbergasted. He has videos on youtube of him making his songs so I thought I'd share them with you. It also gives you an inside look to how songs are actually made. I think it's pretty cool how you can see it being broken down into all the different layers, but maybe that's just me.
I couldn't think of anything that excited to tell you so I asked my sister what to write about and she said the mexican drug wars. So I typed in drug songs and found this. It's pretty inappropriate but I think it's pretty funny. I was thinking about writing about Disney but I think this video will suffice. Sorry if you are offended.
I'm BACK! after sleeping and drinking lots and lots of bottles of water i'm feeling decent..woohoo!
A lot of people have heard the rumors that Ben Folds and Guster are coming for Block Party...and they're true!
I personally love Ben Folds and I'm iffy with Guster, but I'm pretty sure that the majority of students here don't like their kind of music. This line up is prime for your Midwest College tours but I don't think it was the right choice for Cuse. Who decided to pick a rock/pop group to perform at a college where most people listen to rap and hip hop?
Anyway I'm going to open your eyes to Ben.
Reasons Why He's Good:
1. Amazing piano player. Anyone who can play his own music while performing gets points from me
2. Falsetto. He's range is out there. He may be able to hit notes I can't
3. Great live performer. I've seen him in concert before and it's crazy. He gets so into it. The sweat drips from his tshirt at the end.
4. Audience participation. That's always fun!
5. Who doesn't like the songs "Zac and Sara" and "Brick?" ...and my personal fav. "kate" ...one of the only sounds that has something close to my name in it.
I guess that's only 5 reasons but it will be good...trust me. If you guys want to come visit and see him let me know. I always love visitors.
I've been sicker than I've ever remembered this past week so I'm going to be taking a break for awhile. All of my free time will be filled with sleep so the blog will be suffering for a few days but I wanted to leave you with a lil somethin somethin.
Random things:
1. Kid Cudi announced on his blog a couple days ago that he won't be making another solo album after his drops this summer because the fame is not worth the ridicule and stress. He did promise to tour for his real fans though.
- This is truly sad because I actually was really excited for his emergence.
2. I learned to day that Bambi is #20 on the Times 25 list of horror films...I know that's not music related but I thought that was weird.
I was at this gay bar last night and met this fabuloust guy by the name of Carlos. He was standing there jamming to his own music, which didn't really make sense to me since there was some good music playing. But he tells me to come watch his ipod and I do so. It ends up being the same song the bar is playing but he's watching it play on the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. He was like walk like a model bitch...haha It was hilarious. But the real story of this adventure stems from the conversationI had with him about the lovely Barbara Streisand. He was gettin so emotional about her and I just couldn't relate,so he asked me who my diva was. I just thought that was the best question so now I'm posing it to you. Tell me who your diva is.
As you can see from my links I read a lot of blogs. It's the new wave of journalism, but the cool thing is that a lot of singers have their own blogs to. Here's a list of the ones I read daily. If you guys know any other good ones let me know. They're a good source of procrastination and entertainment. 1. Kanye West -I don't know if this is true, but it seems like he was one of the first singers to have a blog updated everyday and multiple times. He doesn't really talk about his life so much, but he posts things that he's interested in. It's a way to get to know his "inner being" haha that really cheesey. www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog 2. Common - He mostly posts videos and things that he's doing on the road. www.thinkcommon.com/blog 3. Charles Hamilton -He posts everyday and sometimes multiple times. He talks about life in the studio, other artists, videos he likes, videos of him, etc. He always has a funny comment about something. www.charleshamilton.blogspot.com 4. John Legend - He just writes about where he is on his tour. It's not that special, but you can keep track of where he is. www.johnlegend.com/us/legend-blogus 5. MIA She doesn't really have so much of a blog, but she writes often on her myspace.
I'm sure there's plenty of others but those are the ones I frequently visit. Enjoy!
I feel incomplete because I didn't post earlier, but I guess I'm only about 40 minutes late.
I didn't get to write because I took the long journey from good ole syracuse to the big city. I have seen some crazies already, but that's one of the reason why I love the city.
The thing that's the best though is all the music you hear. Today I saw a family harmonizing their ooohs and ahhhs, a guy playing the guitar, and some other randos.
Then when I'm always waiting for the train I get an urge to sing Disney songs for some reason. I don't know if it's in the air or something, but I always want to bust out the Little Mermaid and Lion King soundtracks. So for your pleasure I'm going to take you back to your childhood and share these wonderful videos. (So after trying numerous times this computer won't let me embed so here our the links...sorry)
I'll give the bad news first. Another actor is trying to make it in the music business. I read on jezebel last night that the kid that plays Draco in the Harry Potter movies twittered that he will be releasing a cd next month. I can't even wait to hear this one. (I hope you can pick up the sarcasm there)
Good news.
I was told about a new artist and he sounds just like John Legend. And if you know anything about me, you'll know that I love him. The reason why this guy sounds so much like him is because it's his little brother, Vaughn Anthony.
He's been singing back up for John for awhile, but now he's stepping out from the shadows. They may sound very similar, but they definitely sing about different things. John is more like the emotional soothing guy, whereas Vaughn is all about the sex and hip-hop. Check his myspace out and if you want check his cd out on Itunes. It's called "Mr. Everything."
After watching some good late night shows and searching for music these couple of days, I take back the idea that there aren't a lot of talented women out there. I have run across soo many this week. I think the music gods were out there trying to show me I'm wrong. So now I'm thinkin there's a lack of male singers...not rappers or pop singers. I'm talking about real singers who make their own music with instruments you can hold and carry. But after this is posted I bet I'll find some singers. But that's also ok with me. But the one thing I have noticed is that most of them are all from other countries...cmon U.S. where's all the good singers?
So here's who I found/remembered about:
1. Lykke Li.
-She was on Carson Daly last night. I know I've mentioned her before. You should listen to her "Youth Novels" cd. It's great. She has a pretty great story too. From what I understand she was in NYC for a year and then her visa ran out and was sent back to Sweden where she self-produced her kickass cd. She was also discovered mostly by her youtube clips. Her sound is a little different then your belting-out-love songs, but I like. She gives it her all when she performs. I personally think she sounds better at her performances. I think Itunes has her under the pop genre, but I don't think I'd really classify her under that. Last night she said she just wants people to be open to her so she can explore all kinds of music. Her sound is like that little kid sound..sorry to use that again but I don't know how else to describe it. I guess that just means you should check it out..haha.She's done some pretty sweet collabs already...like Drake, Kanye, and she was asked to do a remix for Kings of Leon (which turned out awesome). All around she seems like a really sweet girl who's working her butt off to bring the U.S. some great music. She will be performing at Coachella, so watch out for that too.
Here's "A Little Bit" from last night's show...it's my fav.
2. Melanie Fiona
-So I originally found a song by her on hotnewhiphop.com but then I kept seeing her everywhere else I was looking for music. I think she kind of sounds like a combo of Jazmine Sullivan and Jennifer Hudson, but that's just my opinion. She's R&B with hip hop beats and a lil reggae thrown in there for fun. She was on Carson Daly recently too. (Pretty sure Carson is trying to get back respect from all those years of showing pop artists by showing truly talented artists)
3. Kate Nash
-She's not new, but I just wanted to bring her up. She's only like 4 months older than me and that blows me away. She's an English singer. I would definitely put her under pop, but I would say that doesn't bother me. I like her because her lyrics are so blunt and funny at times.
4.Feist
-She's from Canada. I just love Feist point blank. The "Open Season: Remixes and Collabs" are pretty sweet too. She's good to listen to on a rainy day or when you just want to chill. This video is a little more rockish than on the cd though.
5. Little Boots
- I first heard about her on Kid Cudi's blog because she did a version of "Day n Nite" on the keyboard and it was pretty good. But then she was on Carson too....crazy. She's from London. A lot of her stuff is done in her bedroom. Some is more techno, but then she has some with the keyboard.
I couldn't wait to post this till tomorrow because I am so excited. I was talking to my boss about music and Girl Talk came up. I can't believe I forgot about him. Hopefully you guys have heard of this genius and if you haven't then you can thank me now.
He, Gregg Gillis, mashes up rap with electronica and pop and your favorite late 80s and 90s hits with the occasional oldies too. It will blow you away. Pretty sure a lot of of songs on the "Feed the Animals" cd are from old jock jams cds which is just great in my mind.My favorite part about him is that it's perfect for my music a.d.d. You can't get bored with a song because it's constantly changing, but in a good way. Pretty sure you can just put his cd on at a party and you wouldn't have to change it...well if your friends like this kind of music. Definitely a dance party.
He's also amazing live. I got to see him at lollapalooza from afar this summer. It was great. There he was on the stage with his laptop? and then everyone joined him. It was a massive mosh pit full of high and drunk kids. With beach balls being thrown around.It was just a sight to see and hear.
Here's a video from lollapalooza. If you guys want to know where to get some songs just ask and I'll help ya out.
So yesterday I applied for an internship at Atlantic Records for the summer...everyone cross your fingers for me. But I decided to look at their new artists and I saw Ms. ANYA MARINA.
I don't even really know how to describe her, but she kinda whispers while singing or maybe she just likes being quiet but it's not in an awkward way. It's like a little girl singing, but it actually sounds ok. I kind of wish she would open her mouth a little more when she sang, but maybe that's just because my music teacher (shout out to Wags!) always forced us to round your ohhs and have perfect mouth formation...if that makes sense to you guys. She came out with her first songs in 2005, but I don't think she was signed till recently.
You may have heard her song "Miss Halfway" on Grey's or seen her in RollingStone's January issue.
So I kept on trying to find things about her and ran into this great video on Paste magazine's website.Brace yourself for this one.....a cover of T.I.'s "Whatever You Like." I don't know if it was Atlantic Records' idea because both are signed under them or if it was hers. I don't know if it's because I'm used to T.I. doing it or maybe I'm not open minded, but I can't take it seriously. I mean it's done very well and it's pretty sweet how she converted a rap song to acoustic guitar, but I dunno. Is it brillant? or is it funny? Please check it out. I don't think you'll regret it.
I was doing my daily blog reading and stumbled upon a return of MYA! It seems like she's taken a hiatus from music for a movie career...mostly dance movies of course. But I got kind of excited. I remember blastin "My Love is Like.." "Girls Dem Sugar" and my favorite "Take Me There." She has this weird but intriguing voice.
So I click on the link to download it...because you can't just listen to it. Everytime I download something my heart hurts a little for the music industry, but for some reason I still do it. I'm sorry... I listen to it (Case of the Ex Remix)...the whole 8 minutes--totally unnecessary---and it was a total disappointment. I really hope she goes in and changes this song because it's basically a remix of "What'cha Gonna Do." Why even change the title? If you are trying to come back then write a new song and definitely don't make it 8 minutes.
The only reasoning I can come up with as to why she did this is, is that she's under a new label in Japan. And that's a whole other mind boggling thing. Her cd come out in December, but who knows when it will get to the U.S.? I know I didn't hear about it.
Does she have a bigger fan base in Japan?
I just got really confused and disappointed after this experience and that's just not how I wanted to start my Sunday morning.
Ohhh if you want to read the original blog I got this story from click here.
I haven't watched Jimmy Fallon's Late Show yet, but I've seen clips and they're pretty hilarious. What I think is amazing is that he has the freakin Roots for his house band. That's just craziness to me. I mean Dave has Paul, who has won many awards.. Conan has Max who was the drummer for Springsteen, and Leno had Kevin Eubanks, but I don't even know if he's special for anything else.
Fallon gets a whole band that's grammy nominated and amazing. I mean RollingStone named them one of the 20 greatest live acts in the WORLD.
My one question with a subquestion is : does this mean no more cds? or does this mean it's gonna be awhile till the next cd?
I'm so excited for this....maybe I'll start watching late night shows again. I don't even know what i do during those hours..well on the weekends I do, but I guess I'm gonna try to tune into Jimmy and the Roots from now on.
Since everyone is gone for Spring Break and I'm still here and it's cloudy outside, I want to talk about the song "Ain't No Sunshine."
This may seem a little depressing if you actually listen to the words, but I like it.
It was originally done by Bill Withers and then covered by many. I think most people may think that Al Green was the original singer, but sorry you're wrong.
I tried to paste in the list of interesting covers, but for some reason it wouldn't let me. Check it out on wikipedia. The list includes DMX. Now that's a special one. Pretty sure Withers wasn't expecting someone to add in the n word to his song. The list also includes some of my favs like Justin Nozuka and Emily King.
The song is also ranked 280th on the RollingStones Top 500 Songs of All Time. This is probably why it's been performed on American Idol so many times.
Well I personally love the Emily King version, but I've only heard a couple of the covers sooo....
But here are two videos for you viewing pleasure. Again, sorry if this is a debbie downer, but sometimes you just have to appreciate the depressing songs.
First off I want to say thanks for all the nice feedback from yesterday's post. It was a lot of fun to do..thanks Josh! If you guys have any friends or know anyone that would be willing to be interviewed and is good let me know.
Since I haven't found any new music in the past 24 hours, I'm just going to open your eyes to the connection between music and shoes. It's pretty ridiculous. Here are all the connections I could think of:
1. Kanye West and his Louis V. shoe line. I personally love the red ones. There's something about guys with red shoes that I love.
2. Lupe Fiasco has a new line with Converse and the red campaign. I don't know if I really like them but at least money is going to a good charity.
3. Jessica Simpson and her slutty shoe line. Some of them are actually really cute. Too bad I can't walk in 3-4 inch heels. And I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that she now makes more money through her shoes than her music.
4.There's the converse campaign with Santogold and Pharrell and that one other dude. The made a song for it too...pretty sweet.
5. Nelly's AF 1 song. that just makes me laugh.
6. Vanessa Hudgens and her endorsement of Ecko. Do I even need to mention her sneaker song again. But here's the video if you didn't look at it before...Just because it makes me laugh uncontrollably.
7. Like I said before the whole incident with Cudi getting tasered at a Reebok event.
8. Paolo Nutini's song with the Puma commercials
9. These boots were made for walkin- Nancy Sinatra or Jessica Simpson or the others
10.My adidas - RUN DMX
11. Elvis's Blue Suede Shoes--I'm think he made suede shoes hot.
12. The whole connection with Nike running shoes and Itunes. The shoes link up to Itunes for a specific playlist and then it also helps with your training. I read in my ADV book that it actually has motivational speaking in between songs and if you get sluggish it will play a song that will pump you up. It actually seems pretty cool if you read into it.
13. Amy Winehouse Fuck Me Pumps song...hilarious. I was trying to put the video up but it won't allow me to embed it, but listen to it if you can.
14. KC and the Sunshine Band- Boogie Shoes...i have some good memories with that song and it's good to listen to while you're gettin ready.
I'm going to take this time out from writing an awful paper to write this nice little blog here.
So on my first ever post I said how I always find music in the most round about ways, while here's another story for ya.
So I went to NYC for Sasha's golden birthday and one night we went to her friend's friend's party. So I'm there having fun and then I realize everyone is smashed and there's this guy who looks like he's going to die, so Sasha and I decide to help him out while he's puking his brains out. Then I hear that there's this girl in the bathroom pretty mu
ch dead too and then this extremely tall guy with extremely fun hair comes walking out. It was Josh. So we bond over the fact that we're taking care of alcoholics and how I look like some girl that he knows....which I kinda do, but definitely not exactly.
But anywayzzzz we became facebook friends (that sounds so stupid..ehh oh well), I remembered he said he played the guitar and I only assumed that he could sing because it seemed like everyone at the party was a musical theater major....and then I saw he had a music myspace so I checked it out and was pretty much blown away. So I decided to whip out my journalistic skills and interview him for your pleasure of course.
Josh Eberhardt was born June 5, 1990 and grew up in San Francisco, which he says is "the best city ever. It's just not too big and not too tiny and it just has a good vibe, sparks creativity like a mofo." He goes by Caleb (his middle name) in all his music stuff, but he did introduce himself to me as Josh and later told me I could call him whatever I wanted...so I'm thinking he's pretty flexible with the whole name thing. On his myspace page he's labeled as a hip hop/folk/ indie artist but he writes more folk. "I find myself writing my folk and performing that more, uurrrm, I dunno why really, a lot of venues here at purchase are small and I don't think they'd get to hype if i did my hip hip but, I like performing then just the same (the genres), I wish I could do more hip hop though, I wanna feel that rush that I see at like concerts and stuff, I haven't really had a chance to do my hip hop live,"he said. You can listen to some of his hip hop on his myspace. He's looking into working on more of it this summer, so look out for that. When he's not writing music, he's like any other busy student. He's a freshmen acting major at SUNY Purchase who tries to do as many performances that his schedule permits. I asked him if he liked acting more since that's his major, but he answered with this statement:
Nooooo they're both my passions. I love them just the same, its just that I always said I'd study acting in school and pursue music on the side. My brother is really a strong force in trying to get my stuff heard, so he helps,calls me sometimes with opportunities to perform or record n stuff. I also applied to some schools for music....
Along with acting and singing, he can tap dance (which he wants to include in his music, but hasn't totally mastered yet), play the guitar, piano, and drums (and just to clarify...not trap drums, like djembe, n congas, n stuff). I'm pretty sure he's just really talented and a nice guy who is extremely passionate about what he does. He said, "I'm picky as hell with my sound so it could take a couple weeks, or almost a month...that's with my folk stuff though. My hip-hop prolly takes less than 2 days..I'm picky, really picky." But being picky is definitely not a bad thing. Watch his youtubes and you can tell that he is picky...i even asked if he took multiple shots and of course the answer was yes. Here are 3 out of his 7 clips (i think that's how many) for your entertainment. Warning: Sorry the layout gets a lil funky after the clips but I don't know how to change it.
I don't know if you took the time to read the comments or not, but people requested him to try out for the next American Idol and said he was the best cover of "Skinny Love"on youtube...so I know I'm not the only one enjoying his voice and music. I guess I should tell you a little bit more about his past because people like that kind of stuff. He started singing when he was around 3 years old, but his rapping and studio experience started in 7-8th grade. That's also when he really got into writing stuff. He starting playing guitar right before the summer of '05 but during the summer he broke his hand and couldn't practice his new talent.Everyone can thank his high school roommate for teaching him how to play the guitar. Yeah, that's right I said he had a roommate in high school. He went to Idyllwild Arts Academy, an arts boarding school in the mountains above palm springs. This is also where one of his musical influences(Trevor Hall) went, so isn't that just schweeet. His top 5...he'd probably change some of them now because who can really name only five, but anyway he said: Common, Trevor Hall, Bob Marley, Nas, and Stevie Wonder. His inspirations pop into his head sometimes, but sometimes he'll just hear a song and immediately think of something. He said his song "Reverend" came from listening to Amos Lee's "Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight." He's also learned to write his shit in his phone so he doesn't forget it. That would suck if he had an awesome concept and then totally forgot it....So I should have a really nice transition right here, but my brain is starting to get a lil fried.haha sorry. But you can find his songs on myspace, like I said before, but he's also on Itunes. That's right...Itunes.You can buy his EP "Sun in December" for just $4.95.He said a lot of people are like "dude, wow you're official." He's trying to play it down, but I still think it's pretty cool. He said there's a website...tunecore.com...that's 20 bucks a year and it takes about a month and a half to get up there.He said they take about 1.90 or something like that for each purchase so that's not that bad. The comments/reviews are all really good too. He says, "I'm gracious as hell. It doesn't enlarge my head much, I try not to let anything do that, but yeah i'm very gracious, for the money spent and for the time spent to write the review,and of course their ears."So hopefully you guys can increase the number of ears for him. He says he wants to be somewhere between getting big in the industry and just making music. He said, "I definitely want it to be hear by a good amount of people. That'd be really nice, but honestly,if makin it big is not supposed to happen, I can live with that. I really would just enjoy makin my music, being in love, and living happily. I have the gift of music and thats enough, it's a blessing you know? the gift of art itself. its an outlet and thats just enough for me."There's so much more about him, but I'm gonna let you find out for yourself.So yeah there ya go. I'm done "suckin dick" as my friend would say. (if you don't get that phrase..it just means praising talent or something you like ..haha) Check him out. I'm not going to analyze his music like I try to do with others because I want you to check it out yourself. But try to appreciate the emotions and range in his voice along with the rawness of musical talent. If you didn't click on the link before..here's his myspace page...and then if you look for his Itunes type in Caleb and click on the first Caleb (rock) and his ep is "Sun in December."
In closing I'm going to leave with some more of his words. "lovvvveeeeeee. just to do so. Know what I mean? to anybody."
So I was talking to my brother and he said that this blog is too hip-hoppy and I can definitely see that. So I'm going to take this time to post something that's definitely not hip-hop related. I don't know what it is, but I think hip-hop gets more press than any other genre and that's just not fair. If you guys can tell me where I can find news about other genres that would be great. I want to get back into alternative, folksy, and other music. Give me some new music like DMB (I do know for a fact they will be coming about with a new album sometime so that's good news), Coldplay, Ben Harper, etc...
My lovely roommate did introduce me to this new singer the other day and I do have to say he is pretty darn good.
His name is Justin Nozuka and he kinda sounds like Jason Mraz at times. Hopefully that doesn't turn you off because you should give him a chance. Watch his video for "After Tonight" on youtube.
One of the biggest songs in the country last year was an inane, sex-chant-infused Southern rap called "Crank That(SouljaBoy)," by young Soulja Boy Tell Em, from tiny Batesville, Mississippi, population 7,113. Soulja Boy Tell Em turned 18 this summer and is looking forward to voting for the first time. His monster hit song included repeated assertions of a cartoonishly absurd sex act: supermanning, or as he elaborated repeatedly in the song, "Superman that ho," which means to come on a woman's back and then put a sheet over her so it sticks to her back and she looks like she’s wearing a cape. Ridiculous stuff. He also chants repeatedly, "Supersoak that ho,” the meaning of which needs no explanation, given the neighborhood we're already in.
These are ludicrous suggestions that play into the Cro-Magnon conception of men using sex and sperm to attack and slay women. It's such a mean-spirited vision of sex that every time I heard the record I thought, I bet that before this came out, he was a virgin.
I asked him, “What historical figure do you most hate?” He said, "Shout out to the slave masters! Without them we'd still be in Africa.”
Last week in Atlanta, I got to interview Soulja Boy Tell Em. I found out just how young he really is. He was one of about ten rappers I interviewed in one day for my BET show, The Black Carpet. I decided it'd be fun to give all the rappers part of theProust questionnaire. I thought it'd be a way to get beyond image and into who they really are. Most of the guys gave good, thoughtful, intelligent, sensitive answers. I asked Juelz Santana, “How would you like to die?” He said, "Loved."
Then came Soulja Boy Tell Em. I asked him, “What historical figure do you most hate?” He was stumped. I said, "Others have said Hitler, bin Laden, the slave masters..." He said, "Oh wait! Hold up! Shout out to the slave masters! Without them we'd still be in Africa."
My jaw, at this point, was on the ground."We wouldn't be here," he continued, having no idea how far in it he'd stepped, "to get this ice and tattoos."
Wow. Never mind that diamonds come from Africa. Never mind that there were many generations of pain in between leaving Africa and getting diamonds. Never mind that the long-term cataclysmic effects of subtracting about tens of millions of young, strong people from Africa over the course of a couple of centuries is a large part of the reason why Africa now appears so distasteful to you. Never mind all that, Soulja Boy. You put country first.
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I loved this song before and now it's even better. Kanye blogged about this song when q-tip's album first came out and how much he loved it, so it was kinda inevitable that he would collaborate with him. If you want to listen to it just click 
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