This jam sounds like an old school house record produced by Masters At Work circa 1991 (that's Little Louie Vega & KennyDope for those of y'all too young to know) and perhaps the sonic intention of Azealia Banks, who was born this same year almost 21 years ago to the day (5/31 is her official bday). Fresh off an explosive stint at Coachella-- where she came in under the "way too hyped" banner but totally delivered --- this EP, available in full on itunes today, is the first new music we've heard since she signed her life away to Interscope Records. Loving the direction though. Banks is authentic to herself and that's all we can ask for from an artist...check it out.
I know. Been loungin. Wish I was doing this right here but was actually busy setting up records!!! Back after the holiday peeps, boy is there stuff to discuss. Have a fantastic summer kickoff weekend!
Fresh off dropping "Blazed & Confused 2" - an impressive collection of freestyles to warm up fans for the release of his new album on May 21st -- Cam unleashes again, and in even finer form lyrically. This time he's mobbin' over the moody music of Purity Ring "Obedear". One thing is quite apparent with each release: Meekins is determined to carve a very clear path for himself as an artist, and be the black sheep (the smart, crafty f*cker that always escapes out of the pen) in the giant herd of white rappers dominating the landscape today.
Remember AZ"Sugar Hill"? Mack 10's "Nothin' But A Cavi Hit"? Raphael Saadiq's"Ask Of You"?
There was a distinct musical moment in the early to mid-nineties when streets on both west and east coast were hot with music that was distinctly R&B but firmly rooted in the hip hop lifestyle. OH- remember Souls of Mischief....and jams like Dogg Pound "Let's Play House" with Michele & Nate Dogg....Luniz of course....Dove Shack. Songs that ascended during this time have become timeless classics.
Well, there's definitely proof of a new movement going on, a new generation emerging to represent. And in my humble opinion these dudes are holding down Cali quite well. Hip hop collective (and excitingly reminiscent Outkast throwbacks ) Overdoz & singer/songwriter/producer Iman Omari are definitely at the forefront of this. Just heard this collaboration Omari did with rapper C-san this morning and the jam gave me such a fresh dose of bonafide old school g-funk brilliance, had to write about it! Check it out:
I was personally saddened when New York City R&B outlet WRKS-FM merged with its elder WBLS-FM earlier this week, wiping away yet another R&B station off the dial. The end of an era on FM and truly perplexing that this music-- particularly at this moment when the Internet is blazing with a virtual R&B renaissance happening concurrently online---continues to be so effectively pigeonholed (note: by advertisers) as "urban" and not "general audience" when the opposite is true. In my direct experience as a major market program director R&B is in fact, coalition music with a very wide range of appeal both demographically and culturally.
The broadcast industry spun it all as merely a sign of the times; and a nasty side effect of the new Arbitron ratings methodology, P.P.M. (Portable People Meter)- which mechanically tracks actual listening instead of written-down "diary" or, "recall" listening. Arbitron always neglects to mention however (and radio gingerly dances around this elephant in the room) that their efforts and ability in recruiting and securing a reliable cross-section of the actual metro listening audience to represent what they claim is actual listening, has always sucked horribly. Traditionally, they've never accurately indexed the minority community that these format's foundations are built upon, instead, relying on a rail-thin sample to represent a HUGE chunk of general population, then weighing those participants up in the survey to cover ass. For example, instead of 150 people being measured to represent a metro of oh, say 2 million, they'll get like, 25 people and make those surveys count three times as much.
That laziness has nearly wiped R&B radio formats off the map.
Meanwhile online, SUPERSTARS are being born and the cutting edge is being overwhelmingly led by R&B artists. Frank Ocean, ImanOmari, Miguel and The Weeknd-- who has NEVER released a song anyone has ever paid for yet just sold out a national tour of the U.S. within mere minutes --- are dominating the "hip new music" conversations. The UK is about to unleash Emeli Sandé. Esperanza Spaulding -- a JAZZ artist-- just accomplished the rarest feat ever and appeared as a musical guest on a wildly popular television program that doesn't feature musical guests (?!?) "The Daily Show." Clearly, the GENERAL POPULATION is very interested in these "urban" artists. But FM radio as a format, can't seem to sell it.
And they wonder why Pandora.com is leading in listening for Los Angeles with the 18-34 demo.... We don't even HAVE an R&B station here anymore! We got two pop rhythm top-40's and a hip hop station (that play CURRENTS- KDAY, sorry you don't count here. Play a new song once in awhile!) Imagine if TLC or SWV, New Edition, Bel BivDevoe or Johnny Gill, Boyz II Men or even Michael and Whitney- whose first albums were distinctly "R&B"-- were coming out as new artists now. They wouldn't get airplay. Much like Ocean and Tesfaye don't.
And while we really shouldn't be fretting about the archaic nature of FM, I do get my panties in a wad because the musichead in me knows this ONE key statistic based on the last survey that came out of the MIDEM conferences: 90% of all new music is still discovered by the public listening to FM radio. It's important for music in general, that new R&B music is represented on the dial. I've kicked ASS up against hip hop stations by being distinctly R&B in markets that had a black population of 8% or less.
I don't buy the wack argument that this music/format is limited in appeal.
Perfect example: Where would a new artist like this-- Aloe Blacc-- live on the radio with no R&B formats available to nurture him?
Geezus I'm nearly a year late in discovering this artist! Thank you, thank you to songwriter Diane Warren who is the person that put me up on Emeli Sandé. I could tell by the puzzled/shocked/concerned look on Diane's face after I said I had never heard of Emeli that umm, it was pretty much an emergency that I do. Her advice was, "go home and look her up right away." A music tip coming from the most successful songwriter in the history of the modern record business? Yeah I did exactly as I was told.
Seriously UK: you guys are winning right now! Pure magic in the music from this new generation, a joy to behold. To not know about Sandé sooner makes me want to slap myself but then again, nearly all of my favorite singers and baby bands are springing from a region that is nearly inaccessible to me for random discovery. Need to get myself to London, snap.
Enter Emeli Sandé, whose story is almost more fascinating than her voice. She studied neuroscience before doing music? Uh huh. At University of Glasgow, but left school to pursue her true calling.
"It was when I saw how passionate people were about medicine," she recently told Billboard, "People would say, 'I dreamt about being a doctor since I was four. That made me think, 'I love medicine, this is very interesting, but what is the one thing I wanted to do since I was four? What's the one thing I can really put my heart into?'" And at that point, I was like, 'Well I think I should really pursue my real passion which is music.'"
After real success songwriting for artists like Alicia Keys, Tinie Tempeh and Leona Lewis, A&R Glyn Aikins from Virgin Records signed Emeli as a solo artist in 2010. She won the 2012 Brits Critics’ Choice award and released her debut album "Our Version of Events," in the UK only this past February. Clearly the US campaign is being set up however, because last week Sandé performed an incredible acoustic version of her new single "Next To Me" on Conan.....
You must also experience this song "Heaven," the lead single from the debut album......
And finally- here's an interview with Emeli from earlier this year where she talks about the long road to getting signed as a solo artist in a fickle industry when you're primarily known for being a songwriter, what she's learned from other artists like Chris Martin of Coldplay, and why she goes by her middle and not her first name.....
Now you are completely looped on Emeli Sandé-- go buy her album ASAP!!!
