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 Coldplay ft. Jay-Z: Every mix tape that I have listened to in the last week has this song in the line up. I really like this song, but I wish Jay had more lines on the track. If you heard the first 75% of the song, you would not know Jay was even on the track. Aside from that, great song! I like that Jay continues to step outside the rap boundary. I would love to see the day when a country artist and a rap artist collaborate for a track. As long as the personalities of the artists and their love for music parallel, that collaboration will be a pioneering sound for the music industry.
by M.I.A. ft. Jay-Z: Speaking of the cherry on top…Jay is featured on this remix of M.I.A.’s Boyz. The original version was ranked #7 on the Rolling Stone 100 Best Songs of 2007. For the song to be highly ranked, I am surprised that I am just hearing this. I would not have known who M.I.A. is if it had not been for T.I., Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Lil Wayne creating Swagger Like Us. Crazy thing is they sampled her song Paper Planes for Swagger Like Us and I had not heard Paper Planes prior either. So, homegirl has mastered her new strategy: To win big in the States, she MUST have the best artists somehow linked to her songs. Specifically on this track, Jay adds a unique flavor and I like how he doesn’t always perform on tracks that are considered rap. He has proven that he can mix it up with Linkin’ Park and now the British artist who uses the Dappan koothu style of music for this track. Dappan koothu is a musical genre that focuses on traditional dance and folk styles with a major emphasis on percussion instruments. You have just been granted your newly learned fact for the day!
by Raphael Saadiq ft. Jay-Z: This is the music I want to listen to! I think America has been waiting for a sound like this for some time! When I listen to this song, I think back to the times when I was a child jamming to the oldies on a Saturday morning with my dad. This song sounds like it was heavily inspired by The Stylistics. When I listened, I went into my own world and started singing Betcha by Golly Wow! I can’t believe Raphael’s album, The Way I See It, will be released on Tuesday. Besides my mentor mentioning Raphael’s name randomly every few weeks, I have not heard any conversations about him. Why is that everyone can talk about Soulja Boy’s Marco Polo (Might I add someone told me the other day this video was filmed at Atlanta Beach. Atlanta Beach people – a MAN MADE BEACH!) but no one will talk about real music?!?
by T.I. ft. Kanye West, Jay-Z, & Lil Wayne: JUST LEAKED! The hottest four in the game! First listen, I think the “swagger like us” needs to be played down a bit. A majority of the time, this overpowers the lyrics of the artists. Hottest verse given to Kanye no doubt! Jay follows as a close second. Listen for yourself…
by Jay-Z: This is for all those Jay-Z lovers that hate on Kanye West. I don’t understand how you can hate on the man’s protégé. Clearly Jay likes Kanye’s skills enough to let him produce the first track to be released off his album Blueprint 3. We all know the sample king didn’t create this beat on his own as it was snatched right from Run DMC’s Dumb Girl. Maybe that is why this song doesn’t really feel like Jay, but some hot joint from the 80s. This song is so different from a lot of songs that are out right now and for all of you who will be partial to this beat, it’s like I say with all of Kanye’s hits: Just listen to the lyrics. So classic that someone special was making fun of me the other day because I didn’t know what “jocking” meant. Glad I know now! Oh…and after listening to this song a few times, Obama count on 6iv=3.
