Grammy-award winning artist Kendrick Lamar (that has a nice ring) has released another single off his upcoming album titled ‘The Blacker the Berry.’ Although he won a Grammy for the single ‘i’ with no album reeled, I was expecting a darker Kendrick sound similar to sounds from Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, and this track gives me that. Take a listen below:
Chris Brown is back with another visual for another single off his latest album, X, titled ‘Autumn Leaves’ featuring Kendrick Lamar. I had to watch the video a few times to really grasp the concept. This one was one of my favorite songs from the album although I would’ve liked to see a visual for the self-titled track, ‘X’, first.
The leading lady in this video is Chris’ on-again-off-again girlfriend, Karrueche Tran. She looks absolutely FABULOUS in this video. I think that the setting is beautiful. I instantly thought Mulan.
When listening closer to the lyrics, it’s no wonder why his girlfriend is the leading lady. They’ve been through a lot together that has played out in the media and this song is a beautiful expression of that. I thought the video would be a fight for her love type video, but that wasn’t the case. It was mellow just like the song, which is understandable.
As noted, Kendrick is featured on the track, but unfortunately not in the video. So during his part there’s this girl who add first looked to be doing yoga then she just started rolling around in the sand. It just looked like a slow-mo of a behind-the scenes of a photo shoot. With Karrueche being the leading girl it could’ve just shown a different angle of her. The visual for Kendrick’s section was bleh. The video ends with the two being alone, away from everything and everybody. Really nice and serene. I get why he was following her now and keeping the distance. Happy ending.
While the video was beautiful I was expecting more. It’s a Chris Brown video so I wanted some action, some dancing, something MORE. I was waiting for him to be fighting for her love which would’ve been a perfect scene during Kendrick’s bars, but that wasn’t the storyline. Ultimately it’s about the two always meeting up back in the end regardless of how much they play their distance in front of others. Beautiful video, I just wanted more action.
Chris is currently on the “Between the Sheets Tour” with Trey Songz & Tyga. Speaking of Tyga, Fan of a Fan: The Album, will be released February 24th. You can check out my album review to X HERE. Check out the video below:
It’s been a very long time since I have liked ANY music that Alicia Keys has released solo wise or as a feature. This track?! I absolutely love. Kendrick starts off just lyrically slaying per usual. Alicia Keys takes to the mic for the remainder of the song with a Caribbean tone in her voice, but the song as a whole just WORKED. I absolutely love the track. I’ve really fallen in love with Kendrick’s artistry since his Grammy performance with Imagine Dragons. Yeah I know I can be considered late with how great of an artist he is, but that performance made me a believe. As for the song I will be listening to it some more, but I’m so pleased to hear an Alicia Keys track that I can put in rotation. It’s been too long. Oh and incase you didn’t know this track was produced by Skateboy P, Pharrell Williams.
Here’s what Alicia had to say about the track:
I’m very excited to be a part of such a powerful collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer. This is the next chapter in the Spider-Man legacy and we really feel ‘It’s On Again’ captures the experience, the story—and most importantly—the meaning behind the film, which is that we all have the potential to be extraordinary. There’s a little bit of a super hero in all of us.
Pharrell added,
Hans has created an iconic score theme and it was exciting to collaborate with him again on this song. When I was making the song, I knew Alicia and Kendrick had to be on it. They take the song to a whole new level.
The track will be released via iTunes on April 1st and soundtrack will be released April 22nd. Be sure to check out the movie as well on May 2nd.
Future recently released the new artwork upcoming album titled, Honest, formerly titled Future Hendrix. In an interview with ELLE he talked about the new direction of the album:
I started going in another direction after I made the ‘Shit’ record. It just flipped the whole album. I got in a whole other mood when I went in the studio. I just started recording, recording, recording as much as possible. I just got in a great zone. I was able to capture the best moments. It helped me make a classic album. It’s just going to be very timeless.
The album and previous artwork were expected to be released 11.26.13, but has since been delayed. There’s no word on when the album, or track listing, will surface.
Meek Mill is up at bat for his sophomore album set to be titled, Dreams Worth More Than Money. The title coincides with his 2012 debut, Dreams and Nightmares. In an interview with Rap-Up he briefly discussed what fans could expect on the album:
You can expect just quality music. You know me, I’m a street rapper. I come with that street shit, so I’m just comin’ with that onanother level right now and takin’ them to a different place.
The album is set to drop sometime this summer. No official date just yet.
Following his Grammy and All-Star performances, Kendrick Lamar has announced that he has a new album in the works as well as a joint album with Black Hippy (Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock). His yet to be titled album was set to be released sometime in September. In the recent Kendrick / Schoolboy Q Billboard cover story, this was written at the end of the article.
In 2014, TDE hopes to lock and load its most ambitious slate of releases: Rashad and the label’s first nonrap signing, New Jersey-based female singer-songwriter SZA, will be coming with albums, as will original team members Jay Rock and Ab-Soul. Meanwhile, Free thinks the long-awaited debut from Black Hippy – the supergroup featuring Lamar, Q, Rock and Ab-Soul – is likely to appear in 2014; Tiffith indicates that TDE is planning to release a new Lamar album this coming September, too.
Jason Mraz had been holding the longest streak on Billboard Hot 100 for his track, ‘I’m Yours’ staying on the charts for 76 weeks. That was in 2008-2009.
Imagine Dragons has broken that record with their debut single, ‘Radioactive,’ reaching its 77th week on the Hot 100.
Imagine Dragons’ lead singer, Dan Reynolds, shared with Billboard the groups reaction to breaking the record:
It’s unbelievable. There are few things more satisfying as an artist than seeing your music have longevity. But, we could never have expected to see one of our songs have legs like this. People seem to be connecting to it in personal ways, which is exactly what we hoped for. We’ve been out on the road and focused on touring for a long time. Somewhere along the way, we started to realize the song was taking on a life of its own.
The track debuted on the Hot 100 the week of August 8, 2012 at #93 and has been steadily climbing ever since.
Their album, Night Visions, is in its 76th week on the Billboard 200 soaring from #12 to #6 making it surpass 2 million copies sold to date.
Kendrick Lamar
Pharrell x Nelly x Diddy x Busta Rhymes x Snoop Dogg
Trombone Shorty x Gary Clark Jr. x Janelle Monae x Earth, Wind, & Fire
There has been NO LEAD on when this album is being released. It was supposed to be released last summer, then last fall, but with everything going on in Chris’ life right now I can see why the album has had such a delay. Don’t count him out though. He’s getting radio play for ‘Love More’ and his feature on August Alsina’s ‘I Love It (Remix)’ with Trey Songz and some others. Here’s what he had to say about the album concept and title:
The direction I wanted to go for this album was the same base I went for the first album. I had a humble mindstate of going in the studio with any producer, any writer, and trying to make a great project. I kinda put the Quincy Jones formula on it, put all of the different producers locked into one studio, and just try to make a great project. I’ll be 24 when the album comes out, so X is the 24th letter in the alphabet. It also means the roman numeral for X. I’ve been doing this for 10 years now. My birthday is 5/5/89, five and five is 10.
Here’s the tracklist (via Rap-Up)
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