The 2014 BET Awards aired this past Sunday (6.29) and I’ve been waiting to give my take on the show for this edition of This Week In Music. Now I did NOT watch the entire show and I kept up with what was going on via Instagram but we will get into the winners that I chose in a previous post and my take on the performances. My initial post pre-BET awards were My Picks. To make it easier and to save from typing, I compared my pick to the actual winner. I didn’t do too shabby:
T-Pain has cut the dreads and is back with another track which in my opinion does not match the caliber of ‘Up Down’. He’s back with more of a ballad titled, ‘Love Suicide’. The song discusses how he’s with this girl and then all of a sudden she changes and he assumes she’s cheating which is revealed int he video that she is instead it’s not with a man, it’s with a woman. He’s standing on top of a building outside of her apartment window contemplating on committing suicide as ‘people’ look on and try to catch photos/videos on their phones. The song isn’t horrible, but the video is. Everything about the video is fake. It’s not believable and T-Pain keeps dancing to the beat. Acting is CLEARLY not his forte. Then he gets this rapper to come in near the end of the song and he’s dancing outside of her window to the beat, yet again. It’s just not believable. The cuts in and out from him on top of the building is just sloppy. The concept could’ve gone somewhere, but it didn’t. The video gets a thumbs down from me, but the song is pretty cool. Not a radio hit, but it’s good.
Check out the video below:
In the latest edition of ‘Weezy Wednesdays’, Lil Wayne spotlights his daughter and her latest single ‘Mind Goin Crazy’. After reading comments on blogs and YouTube, people are going a bit too hard on the 15-year-old. I know, I know. Her father is Lil Wayne, she’s surrounded by greats, BUT at the end of the day it’s her music and her sound. Now this is not a hit like Willow Smith’s ‘Whip My Hair’ which is one I’ve seen her compared to musically with this single. I think it’s great that she’s experimenting even though her singing is infused with auto-tune. I think it’s great that she has a platform to do so and yes there are youngsters with better vocals, better rhymes that do not have a father by the name of Lil Wayne, but this girl seems to have her head on straight. To me she seems like a very bubbly person from what she shows on Instagram and at the age she is she has every right to be care free.
Now the video and song is what I can see high schoolers bumping to as in they all seem to be ‘Reginaetors’. I wouldn’t say it’s horrible, but at certain points I am trying to piece together what she is saying because not all of it makes sense. I guess she got that from her daddy. I’m not counting her out just yet as this is just her first single. Who knows what’s to come next.
Overall, it’s nice to see that her project is coming to the light and not just talk that she’s signed to Young Money. There’s actually a product now. She’s teamed with Hairfinity and her album is set to be called Being Reginae. Check out her video and Hairfinity webisode below:
Drake and Lil Wayne have announced that they will be at war with each other come _ as they prepare for their joint tour titled, Drake VS Lil Wayne. Let me just FIRST say that I absolutely love the title. Might seem simple, but these two on tour is going to be amazing.
The tour will hit 31 cities (so far) starting in New York (Darien Center) August 8th and finishing in Texas (The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Foundation) on September 27th. For those in the tri-state area I would personally recommend the PNC Banks Arts Centre (Holmdell, NJ) show on August 26th. No these venues are not Met Life, Barclay, Staples, or any of that. I’m still interested in this tour. Tickets go on sale NEXT FRIDAY (6.20) on LiveNation.
Check out the full list of dates below (via Rap-Up):
Aug. 8 – Darien Center, NY – Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
Aug. 9 – Noblesville, IN – Klipsch Music Center
Aug. 10 – Tinley Park, IL – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Aug. 12 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Aug. 13 – Hartford, CT – XFINITY Theatre
Aug. 15 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center
Aug. 16 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
Aug. 17 – Burgettstown, PA – First Niagara Pavilion
Aug. 19 – Forest Hills, NY – Forest Hills Tennis Stadium
Aug. 21 – Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Bank Center
Aug. 25 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center
Aug. 26 – Holmdel, NJ – PNC Bank Arts Center
Aug. 27 – Virginia Beach, VA – Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach
Aug. 29 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live
Aug. 30 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
Aug. 31 – Atlanta, GA – Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood
Sept. 3 – West Palm Beach, FL – Cruzan Amphitheatre
Sept. 4 – Tampa, FL – MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sept. 6 – Austin, TX – Austin360 Amphitheater
Sept. 7 – Dallas, TX – Gexa Energy Pavilion
Sept. 10 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Sept. 11 – West Valley City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre
Sept. 13 – Ridgefield, WA – Sleep Country Amphitheatre
Sept. 14 – Auburn, WA – White River Amphitheatre
Sept. 16 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
Sept. 17 – Wheatland, CA – Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Sept. 19 – Irvine, CA – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Sept. 20 – Chula Vista, CA – Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Sept. 22 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
Sept. 25 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavilion
Sept. 27 – Woodlands, TX – The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
These two have a LOT of hits between them and together. Check out their latest collab ‘Believe Me’ below:
Another week has passed and it’s OFFICIALLY APRIL! Let’s get into the music recap of the week.
Drake dropped TWO tracks ‘Draft Day’ and ‘Days In The East.’ ‘Draft Day’ samples Lauryn Hill’s ‘Doo-Wop (That Thing)’ and ‘Days in The East’ has that ‘Take Care’ vibe. Both tracks for me are bleh for me. I do prefer ‘Draft Day’ over the other track. I don’t know how to feel about the music Drake releases. Although I’ have all 3 albums, I’ve never been the biggest fan. I respect him as an artist, but I’m not sure how to feel about the direction of his new project. I love what’s on the radios then I get the album and it’s like, ok for me. This time it’s reversed. I did like ‘Trophies’ and his ‘We Made It’ freestyle. These two tracks are just bleh for me. Maybe they’ll grow on me, maybe not. Only time will tell. Take a listen below:
In other new music news, the remake of Diana Ross’, ‘I’m Coming Out’ came by way of Iggy Azalea and Keyshia Cole. The sound will not be featured on Cole’s new album or Iggy’s debut, but is in the forefront for the soundtrack to the new movie, The Other Woman. My thought? I HATE IT! I do not like the remake of all. Not a fan. Keyshia’s vocals sound strained and Iggy oh Iggy how I love her, it’s just her bars did NOTHING for me on this. You be the judge below:
Lastly and my favorite music release of the week is Marsha Ambrosius’, ‘Run.’ I absolutely love her voice and this song vocally and lyrically is AMAZING. It will be featured on her upcoming LP. Take a listen below:
Now let’s briefly talk about the AMAZING week that NYCs Hot 97 is having. The new series on VH1, “This Is Hot 97,” premiered on VH1 this past Monday (March 31) and the lineup for their annual Summer Jam was released.
If you guys are not aware of what Summer Jam is, in a short version, it’s a mega hip hop concert which takes place at Met Life Stadium. I went to Summer Jam in 2011 and the experience, well I blogged about it so click here to read on that. I’m 50/50 on whether I want to go this year. The lineup is ok for me. Check out the lineups below for both the festival & stadium stages.
When it comes to the Billboard charts there have been MANY albums to top the charts and set records and this week another milestone came for the Frozen Soundtrack. The album became the first to spend the most weeks at #1 since Adele’s 21. It becomes the 20th album, since the creation of Nielsen SoundScan in 1991, to spend at least 8 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200. I personally did not understand the hype of the movie until I watched it and let me be the first to say it is the best animated movie I’ve seen in a long time from the message to the animation itself. Well deserving of the Oscar wins it received. Take a listen to the Oscar winning track for Best Original Song, ‘Let It Go.’
Tyga is back in the studio with Young Money and Chris Brown, but don’t count him out as a solo artists. Aside from Rise of an Empire and Fan of a Fan 2 Tyga is working on his fourth studio album, The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty.
There have been pics floating around Instagram of Tyga with Kanye and his fiancee Blacc Chyna with Kanye’s bff Kim Kardashian. A few months ago I posted this photo of Tyga & Ye working and in a recent interview with Power 106, Tyga confirmed Kanye’s executively producing his new album,
Kanye executive producing that, so it’s gonna be a crazy album.
I’m interested in hearing the collab between these two. I don’t really need Ye rapping, but his beats are always on point. His beat plus Tyga’s punchline can be great chemistry. No word on when the album will be released just yet.
If 3 albums in the works isn’t enough Tyga is working on a Last Kings EP which is set to feature Honey Cocaine, MC Danny Seth, and Esty. Tyga is going to have a busy year musically and entrepreneurially with his clothing line Last Kings with the store that just recently opened on Melrose.
The official track listing has been released for Young Money’s, Rise of an Empire. Here’s the full track list plus bonus tracks (via Rap-Up):
1. “We Alright” – Euro, Birdman, and Lil Wayne
2. “Trophies” – Drake
3. “Bang” – Lil Twist, Euro, and Cory Gunz
4. “Senile” – Tyga, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne
5. “Induction Speech” – Euro
6. “One Time” – Lil Twist, Tyga, and YG
7. “Hittin Like” – Shanell and Chanel West Coast
8. “Lookin Ass” – Nicki Minaj
9. “Fresher Than Ever” – Gudda Gudda, Jae Millz, Flow, Mack Maine, and Birdman
10. “Back It Up” – Lil Twist and Tyga
11. “Moment” – Lil Wayne
12. “You Already Know” – PJ Morton, Mack Maine, Gudda Gudda, and Jae Millz
BONUS TRACKS:
13. “Catch Me at the Light” – Shanell and Yo Gotti
14. “Video Model” – Christina Milian and Lil Wayne
15. “Good Day” – Tyga, Meek Mill, and Lil Wayne
Chris Brown has been semi-lowkey in the media as of late, but that hasn’t stopped him from working on his music. In an interview last year with Rolling Stone he talked about what was to be expected from his new project:
I tried to stay away from the Euro beats, and not go totally pop. Instead, I wanted to take the Quincy Jones approach. The record pays homage to the Stevie Wonders, the Michael Jacksons, the Sam Cookes. I wanted to put that classic essence of R&B and soul with the new age of music now.
The album was supposed to be released last July. With only few tracks reeled, ‘Fine China,’ ‘Don’t Think They Know,’ and ‘Love More,’ it was unclear as to when an album would be dropped. Well Chris just released a tweet (now that he’s back on social media) stating:
Who knows if this album will stick. Chris has been on tracks with a slew of people and if that’s any take on what his album will sound like then eh, it’s nothing special. Chris Brown has never been the ultimate R&B singer, but his music pops (no pun intended). I’m interested in seeing if he’s going to follow in that ‘visionary’ album plan he talked about in the interview.
May 5th marks Chris’ 25th birthday and this album was said to be his last. I’m not too sure about that. Aside from that he’s in the studio working on Fan of a Fan 2 with Tyga. Here’s their new track, ‘B*tches’.
In a recent interview with Phoenix’s Power 98.3, Tyga talked about being back in the studio with Chris Brown and that Fan of a Fan 2 would be released as an album opposed to Fan of a Fan (2010) being a mixtape.
I’m doing a lot of crazy stuff right now with the music. Me and Chris have been in the studio working on Fan of a Fan 2. We’re gonna put it out as an album. The stuff we got right now is crazy though. We’re gonna put it out the right way, and not just put it online. We’re gonna have a real plan with it.
You can watch the full interview below:
Aside from new music with Chris Brown, Tyga is teaming back up with Young Money for Rise of an Empireset to be released in March 11th. The track, ‘Senile,’ with Nicki Minaj & Lil Wayne is set to be released any day now.
chaoticcritic.wordpress.com 