I feel like Amerie is one of the best artists that has never received the recognition she deserves! I used to jam to her albums and when I listened to my Amerie channel on Pandora this weekend, I realized that I need to but her 3 albums back in rotation. With a quickness, I listened to All I Have, Touch and Because I Love It today while working. I had a hard time deciding which album is my favorite, but I think Touch can win the award for “Amerie’s Best Album” because it displays her growth to include a playful mature sound. Although, All I Have comes in a close second with great ballads! The tracks Falling, Like It Used to Be, Why Don’t We Fall in Love Remix, and Not the Only One are some fire tracks! We need some more music and artists similar to Amerie, but I’m not disappointed as rumor has it that she is working with L.A. Reid for a new album to be released in 2009….
by Jamie Foxx ft. Kanye West & Dream: I was listening to a mixtape earlier and this song came up in the queue. I like the background music, but I don’t think I have really listened to any words other than Kanye’s. This should have been Kanye’s track! I’ve tried repeating the track several times and the other artist’s just don’t make the song a hit for me. Rather, I think the track is too mainstream and requires you to overlook the lyrics to focus on the beat, melody, etc. until Kanye comes back up on the closing verse …I stated earlier on @6inchvinyl (one of my Twitter accts) that I didn’t know Jamie Foxx has a new album, Intuition, to be released THIS Tuesday. I knew he had a single out with T.I., but I thought the track was T.I.’s and didn’t make it to Paper Trail. I must say that this a perfect example of HORRIBLE marketing. When Jamie Foxx’s first album was released, he was everywhere! I practically knew the whole album before the tracklist was officially released. This brings an interesting point: Is it better for an artist to release half of his/her album before it is released to get a following? Or, is it better to leave fans guessing until the album drops? P.S. The track is Song of the Day because Kanye’s production and lyrics are hot, but it is also Wiggity Wiggity Whack because Jamie’s verse’s are below par for this to be his song!
by Kanye West ft. N.A.S.A, Santogold & Lykke Li: The rap Kanye is back – well he never left, but it is good to have a track with a different feel from him that doesn’t include his most recent singing! My ears have been intrigued by this hip-hop/rock mix that I have termed urban techno. I can’t wait until this is released as an official track so it can be the song on my MySpace profile. The only thing is that there are 3 additional artists on the track and I can’t tell who is who. Hopefully, they will release a video for the track that displays all these creative masterminds. Until then, I’m on the research hustle to find more information on who these artists are and the albums they have released/are about to release.
by Britney Spears: Get it Brit! This song is reminiscent of the “old Britney” with her previous singles Slave for You and Me Against the Music. I love this track and the video is bad too! Britney is REAL good for some club bangers while the videos are always the platform for intricate, unparalleled dance moves. This video takes me back to my younger years when I would tape all of Britney’s and *N Sync’s videos and learn the dance moves. If I had time, I would love to learn these moves so I could break out the routine when I heard this track in a club – Yeah right! I’m proud of Britney and I’m 100% supportive of her comeback as I’ve been a fan since day one. I hope she continues to make music, especially if the future tracks are comparable to this! P.S. Brit – I agree to leave performances like the opening of the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in the past!
by Jay-Z: The weather is HORRIBLE outside and I had to practically drive through a flood to arrive at work. I began to think about seasons with better weather and of course Summer was the first that came to mind. Summer thoughts led to Dear Summer - yea I know I have sporadic thoughts – but this is my jam! A couple of summers ago, between this track and Feelin’ It, these tracks were played in heavy rotation. It’s the mix of the old 70s background, Jay’s fire lyrics, and no featured artist that makes this an all time classic. The song was never released on an album and a few mixtapes had it in their line up, truly defining it as an underground masterpiece. These are just a few lines from the opening:
Dear summer, I know you gon’ miss me
For we been together like Nike Airs and crisp tees
S dots with polo fleeces
Purple label shit with the logo secret
Gimme couple years, shit I might just sneak in
A couple words and like Peaches and Herb
We’ll be reunited and it feels so hood
Have the whole world saying “How you still so good?”
Like always, I looked on YouTube for the song so you can listen with visual appeal. For some reason, YouTube only had the instrumentals. I guess Jay had the videos taken down, which is wiggity wiggity whack! As the alternative, I have the track below so you can hear…It’s the best I can do
by T-Pain: I can, and willingly, admit that my boyfriend put me back on T-Pain. I’m sure he will be happy to read to this! I like T-Pizzle’s first album but I had began to hate how he was on every track! For some reason today, I was hooked on Thr33 Ringz album and The Ring Leader 3 mixtape. T-Pain has so many songs out I can never tell if they are on his latest album, a mixtape, the featured artist’s album, or an unreleased track. I realized there are a lot of songs by T-Pain that I like, some of which are on the Deluxe Edition of Thr33 Ringz and some are on the mixtape I was listening to. I was heavy on the repeat to Phantom, Sweet, and Everybody Else that features C. Mal. If you bought the regular version of the album you are missing out on all these tracks! My favorite, however, has to be Bad Side and the song is fire! Even the background, melody, or whatever you want to call it is hot…just listen!
by Jay-Z ft. Santogold: Pure fire! I heard this and knew I would want to press repeat after the first 10 seconds. A new artist to me, Santogold, is featured on this track. I did not know who this artist was, but after hearing her on this=my new fave track, I had to research her and cop her newly self-titled album. Her sound mixed with Jay is similar to the sound produced by M.I.A. and Jay+others for Swagger Like Us. To add more greatness to the track, my Sample King – also known as Kanye – is the producer. This is reportedly the first single off the Notorious soundtrack that will release January 13. The album should be high quality, as it is in honor of the Notorius B.I.G.’s biographical film that will release January 16. I’m sure Biggie is looking down proud of Jay for reppin their borough with such esteem!
by Ne-Yo: People always make comments that Ne-Yo would be non existent if it wasn’t for Michael Jackson because he is forever sampling M.J.’s hits. Today I will agree! I came across this song and I thought Ne-Yo was about to re-make Lady in My Life since he opens this track with these words. However, he continues to add new words to create a different song. The melody of this track is really calming and nice; it kind of reminds me of Flaws and All by Beyonce, which is one of my top fave songs (I will probably make a post about that song soon)! The words in this track are ok but it seems like something is missing. I really like Ne-Yo as an artist, song-writer and producer, but this song just does not do anything for me. I hope this is only a track that has leaked and Ne-Yo has no intention of putting it on his next album!
