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.
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.
Right now I have this urge to write even though I have a lot of reading to do for a class, but seeing as I'm freezing, tired, and a little lazy, I'm definitely going to write about something other than what I intended to write about today. Last night I had some great words with a friend and I thought I'd enlighten everyone. ha
First, I would just like to reflect on the coldness of Syracuse right now. It is brick outside. I whipped out my real winter jacket and if you know me that is just unheard of. I would just like to reflect on songs that are about coldness for a bit.
1. It's Cold Outside- good ole bing. If you pay attention to the lyrics it definitely is about rape or it alludes to it.
2.Refuge (When It's Cold Outside)- my lover john. :) Now I'd be happy if he sang this to me especially since it's always cold here.
3. Coldest Winter- Kanye. I know he's not literally saying it's cold out, but I'm a Kanye fan so I had to reference it.
4. Cold Beverage- G. Love. Sometimes cold things are ok...like a nice drink.
5. In the Cold, Cold Night- White Stripes.
6.Cold as Ice- Foreigner. Oh what a great old rock song.
OK done with that randomness. Onto my great convo.
First topic: Grey Album
So my friend was downloading jaydiohead, thanks to this blog, and was like hey you remember the grey album? And i was like oh my goodness I totally forgot about it, but yes. (Now that just sounds ridiculous because of the "likes" but it was a brief moment of epiphany) I think I may like jaydiohead a little more, but one can never go wrong with the beatles and jay-z so the grey album is definitely still good. You should listen to it if you haven't because DJ Danger Mouse and the jaydiohead guy used some same songs to make their beautiful or eargasmic , as some would say, combinations.
Second topic: The Roots Rising Down album
Definitely a good cd. Wale (who I intended to post about today but was too lazy to go into detail about) is featured on one of the songs and I definitely didn't realize it. Also check out "Birthday Girl." It's kinda creepy, but catchy at the same time.
Third topic: Kanye
So I was asked about my opinion of Kanye. And the convo went like this (hopefully you don't mind me posting this, if not let me know and I'll just paraphrase):
kt: i personally kinda love him. I think the whole thing about auto-tune is a lil crazy because he can't sing but it really didn't help him. i think his lyrics are genius and he's definitely a great producer
the more i read about him too i feel like he's changed a lot
and i feel like i understand more about his rashness of ego
j:really?
kt:i'm not saying he's the best out there
but he's good
j:i miss him
i want collge dropout and late registration kanye back
graduation was...ok
but not up to par with the previous two
kt:this is true
he's definitely trying to evolve more with culture though
like right now i feel like people want r&b
j:yea i get that, but damn, start rapping again
why do you think people want more r&b these days?
kt:i dunno man. i just have that inner feeling. People are more and more about sex and r&b is like damn i can play that will gettin it in. it's like goin back to the days of boyz II men
but then you do have more rappers coming out that do both so there is hope
j:that makes sense
total sense
but i really hope rap comes back like it was
r&b is cool, but everybody is gonna try to do it
a lot of people tried to rap
and the bad rappers, just got shunned, cuz people know its bad
but for some reason
when someone who cant sing, tries to sing
kt: people love it
everyone loves it.
kt:and i want to slap them
meee tooooo
So there's some of my great convo. Then I had abruptly had to go take pictures..ughh. Totally ruined the moment. Hope everyone is having a great day and if you're somewhere where it's cold, I feel for you. Get some hot cocoa, lay in bed, and listen to some good ole music.
So I had this whole other topic to write about, but I'm feeling lazy on this Sunday afternoon. Sorry. You'll just have to wait for the next big one till tomorrow or so. So the new fun and easy topic is:
Why is so much music about sex?
I just looked at my Itunes and 26 songs have the word sex in the title. Granted that I have 3400 songs, that's not a lot, but you know there are soo many more songs about sex that don't have that three-letter word in the title.
Have you heard Ray J's new song "Sex In Da Rain"...ohh geez.
There's music about sex, singer's are liked because of their sex appeal, some people expect to having music playing in the background while doing the deed. It's just all linked.
Then I'm doing research on sexual activity and ages for my advertising class and ran across this..
Sexual lyrics in pop songs and rap music linked to under age sex
Sexually charged and degrading lyrics in pop songs and rap music lead to greater promiscuity among teenagers, new study suggests.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 6:26AM GMT 24 Feb 2009
Sexually charged and degrading lyrics in pop songs and rap music lead to greater promiscuity among teenagers, new study suggests. Photo: GETTY
Researchers found that 14 and 15 year olds who listened to songs featuring degrading references to sex were more likely to be sexually active.
The University of Pittsburgh study, which involved more than 700 volunteers, found that exposing them to the explicit tunes doubled their likelihood of having sexual intercourse.
Brian Primack, who published the findings in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, said: "This study demonstrates that, among this sample of young adolescents, high exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex in popular music was independently associated with higher levels of sexual behaviour.
"In fact, exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex was one of the strongest associations with sexual activity... These results provide further support for the need for additional research and educational intervention in this area."
Students reported the number of hours per day that they listen to music and their favourite musical artists.
Through a detailed content analysis, the percentage was calculated of each artist's most popular songs containing lyrics describing degrading sex.
An exposure score for lyrics describing degrading sex was then calculated by multiplying each student's hours of music exposure by the percentage of his or her favourite artists' songs that contain lyrics describing degrading sex. This was then compared to their sexual activity.
It's just craziness.I could write more, but I'm just going to let your minds wonder.
All audio and photos are used for promotional or review purpose. If you would like your audio/photos taken down please contact me at kigarton@syr.edu. Thanks
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