Top 10 to Watch For - #8 Big Sean

Big Sean is #8 on the Top 10 to W@tch for series, but I have already written an album review of his last mixtape where I go into detail about his flow, lyrics as well as beat choice. That coupled with the fact that it is Friday means this will be a very short blog post haha.

Big Sean was born in Cali but lived most of his young life in Detroit. Both places have a great hip hop scene so it is no surprise that he has found music and is damn good at making it. He has released two mixtapes so far and his debut album will be dropping this spring. He is signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. music label so he has access to features from Kanye, Pharell and many other great artists.

I will post a link to both of his mixtapes as well the link above to my review of UKNOWBIGSEAN. Something special that leaked today is one of the tracks off his album so imma give you guys that link too. Big Sean is a very impressive talent and I can’t wait to see what he does for years to come.


Family Famous the Mixtape - downlo@d

UKNOWBIGSEAN Finally Famous Vol. 2 - downlo@d

Glenwood feat. Kanye West - downlo@d

Continue Entry»

Top 10 to Watch For - #9 Tyga

Coming in at number 9 is Tyga from Compton, California. His eligibility as a rapper to watch for is questionable since he already has an album out but I believe that his new style should count as restarting his career. Also before I start, I must admit that I have not listened to his first album, No Introduction, but I remember the single and it was not the most impressive.

Music runs in the family, Tyga is the cousin of Travis McCoy from Gym Class Heroes. Tyga actually got into the music business opening for Gym Class Heroes on a tour in 2007. His latest mixtape, Outraged & Underage is a very impressive exhibit of lyricism. He has developed his flow and word play that displays his maturation over the past years. Where he started out as a pop like singer/rapper with lines like “what a mess, but we cleanin’ the club/ice so bright make a fight scene in the club/ don’t test, cause there’s beams in the club…” and the song goes on. Now, while he is nowhere near the top, he has began to use off-rhymes and some inward rhyming as well as heard on the song Cali Love “I’m the one next to best does it/remove your ear plug-ins I never stutter/until now brother my city will now love me.” I am impressed with the strides he has taken and can’t wait to hear his future projects. He has a mixtape that is due any day now, called The Potential and an album dropping next quarter some time.

Whatever you hear his name on, I think it will be worth a listen because Tyga is bringing it on each and every track.


Outraged & Underage - downlo@d

Continue Entry»

New WALE Video "Chillin"

Continue Entry»

Hip Hop Activism

Hip hop has always been a movement of activism in some way or another. Of it's many forms, graffiti is one of the media which lends itself to this. Today, graffiti--like all forms of hip hop--doesn't exist just in the inner-cities of the U.S. This new video from Time Magazine shows how graffiti artists in Ramallah are using the Palestine-Israeli separation barrier almost as a meta-commentary on the walls presence. A group of artists at www.sendamessage.nl are posting any message for a price of $40 that doesn't promote hate or racism. They've also started a project using 400 cans of spray paint to tag an essay by a South African antiapartheid activist. The video is a little dry coming from Time, but it's still pretty interesting and you can see some of the works they've done on the wall. Check it out here. Continue Entry»

Top 10 to Watch For - #10 KiD CuDi

KiD CuDi is a young emcee hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. In the case that you haven’t heard of him or heard his stuff, don’t judge him based on where he is from cause he brings a lot of interesting stuff to the table. He has yet to release an album but his musical contributions are still abundant.

His original and only mixtapes titled A Kid Named Cudi is a very good listen. Being his only release it is very impressive that he is signed to a major record label, and that major label is G.O.O.D. Music led by Kanye West. Since has been signed he appeared on Kanye’s latest album as well as 88-keys’. His hit song Day N Nite was played on Entourage and gained the biggest success so far reaching Top 10 lists on iTunes as well as constant radio play. With some fame behind him, Datnewcudi.com and DJ E-V put together a compilation of his newer unreleased music and titled their mixtape Dat Kid From Cleveland. I like it more than his first and show his growth musically even in a relatively short amount of time.

In my opinion, KiD CuDi is the least impressive lyricist of the artists to watch for series but I put him up there because he does know how to make music sound good. An artist can have incredible lyrics without flow or if they don’t have a good ear for choosing beats then it can be wasted so lyricism is not the only important factor. Similar to Kanye West, who is not an amazing emcee but consistently puts out worthwhile music, I think that KiD CuDi has great crossover appeal and will get play on Hip Hop/R&B/Pop radio stations alike. He likes to change his voice and pace up all the time ranging from singing to standard rapping and the diversity on his mixtapes keep him from getting boring.

A Kid Named Cudi - downlo@d

Dat Kid From Cleveland - downlo@d

Continue Entry»

it's crazy to me...

Dj Vinroc feat. Zumbi (Zioni) & Jenisis-"LuvLuv from Vinroc on Vimeo.

... that people are listening to "birthday sex" but not to this shit

Continue Entry»

Dayless Nights

This is K'Naan rapping over the beat "Day N Nite" by KiD CuDi. He is a Somalian rapper for any of you who dont know who he is and this song is bout the pirates and everything that is going on over there. Sick track and for anyone who doesn't have it, make sure to cop his latest album, Troubadour.

Dayless Nites - downlo@d Continue Entry»