new song and battle numero 2

So a week ago I saw that John Legend has a new song out. It's called "Lay Your Head Down." At first I didn't know if I liked it, but I've listened to it over and over again and I've decided I do like it. I know one of my friends doesn't like it but I don't give a shit. I think it's the romantic in me. The lyrics are dreamy and combined with his voice...it just makes me swoon. I also like the strings and drums in the background. It's like a throw back to the old love songs...and in my view, you can't go wrong with that. I think you can listen/ download it here (let me know if it doesn't work).

Battle 2: Charles Hamilton and Wale. (I'm not going to go into the analyticalness--yeah i just made that word up. Deal with it)

Charles Hamilton (21, according to wiki) is from the good city of Cleveland. He loves Sonic the hedgehog and is a fan of the color pink. He was known as a producer before his current status of being a rapper. He makes beats of course, can play the piano (really well from what I can tell), and in my opinion has a different style of rapping. His first mainstream big popular song is "Brooklyn Girls," but he has sooooo many mixtapes out there so I wouldn't be surprised if there are other known songs out there. Just so you know, I'm basing this post from listening to the mixtapes: "Every Charles Hamilton's Ex-girlfriend's Worst Nightmare" and "Well Isn't This Awkward."  He's different from what's out there right now because he raps more with a speaking style like the old days. The things that bother me the most are that his voice can get pretty monotone and he samples a lot. And when I say a lot, I really mean a lot. (lots of Kanye and Rihanna for some reasons---even though he admits to having a celeb crush on Rihanna)

In his ex-girlfriend mixtape, he definitely makes it a nightmare for the girls. He doesn't leave out details. If I were any of those girls I would be pissed....especially Toya and Esperanza. Listen and you'll understand.

My favorite tracks (on Awkward mixtape) are Scorpion and Neverland.I also like Pleasant Overthinking, but I don't know what mixtape that's on.

So I'm done with him. Check out his blog too. He gives a good insight into what it's like to be in the studio a lot, balancing relationships, and little notes about what else is going on in his music world.

Wale(24, according to wiki) is from DC and likes people to know it. In 2006, Fader wrote about him, and that usually means he's up and coming. I get a feeling that 2007 was the big year for him. He was signed to Mark Ronson's Allido Records, was featured in other big magazines, and was on MTV. The two mixtapes that I listened to were "100 miles and Running" and "Mixtape About Nothing." All around I think he's a really smart rapper. He doesn't just rap about cars, sex, money, and hoes. For the first mixtape, I got an all around feel that he definitely focuses on the lyrics. I also appreciate that he's kinda chill and he uses actual instruments for his beats. If he just uses synthesizers then wooow did he trick me. There's keyboard, guitars, and drums. I would like to steal a word from him and just say, the music gives eargasms...haha The songs that stuck out to me were "Good Girls" because it's just funny, "Smile Remix" because I am a fan of the Lily Allen version and his remix is a hilarious add on to it, and lastly "The People" because it's just smart. The one thing I don't like is all the shout outs...save that for a cd pamphlet or something.

The second mixtape definitely shows that he has a wide range of talent. It's totally different from the other one. The sound bits from Seinfeld are a lil weird but somehow they actually tie in. The song I most liked was "manipulation." It's great and then somewhere around 3:50 he apoogizes for what he just rapped about but in a hilarious way... "bitch pick the right mothafucka." 

Listen to these mixtapes here and here. He also has a lot of other mixtapes. So go check em out.

Ok so i'm done since I'm actually sitting in class right now and I'm probably wasting thousands of dollars because i'm not focusing..haha.

Come back and read tomorrow's blog. I'm pretty excited about it.