Thursday, October 7, 2010

Kanye West - Roses

A lot of criticism could be said about Mr. West's actions, but you could never take away his work ethic and his body of work. His previous albums have been solid efforts, from lyrics to production.

This particular song contains lyrics which seem to be personal to Kanye West. He recites lyrics that involve the very deadly HIV virus and the lack of available treatments for it.

The song, Roses, was originally composed as a poem but being an incredible producer pays off, as Kanye has made this song easily one of his best.

He speaks of his grandmothers constant struggle with AIDS and how it affected his family. He also lashes his emotions on how the wealthy community can afford to fight AIDS, referencing NBA legend Magic Johnson.

I feel that this is a very personal song, that's why it's so golden.

Commercial Hip Hop music isn't what it was 10 years ago. Most artists compose records that are materialistic oriented and often find artists boasting worthless lyrics.

Kanye led the revival for powerful music. He made it "Through The Wire" and when it was "All Falling Down" somehow he made it past the "Flashing Lights" and enjoyed the "Good Life".

Monday, October 4, 2010

Mos Def - Mathematics

The Mighty Mos Def.  
This is one of my favourite artists. This fellow is quite talented, from music to movies to poetry to fashion and etc.

One thing I like about Mos Def is that he's original. He doesn't try to follow a trend or make music that is relevant at the moment. He creates art, he has his own sound and what he writes is actually quite hard to do. One of my favourite songs is called "Mathematics" which is produced by legendary producer, DJ Premier.  

"It's five dimensions, six senses/ seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 Million Stories to tell/ nine planets faithfully keep in orbit/ with the probable tenth, the universe expands length/ the body of my text possess extra strength"

Mac Miller

Mac Miller - Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza
Mac Miller - Don't Mind If I Do

Mac Miller seems to be the new blogging sensation of the Internet. He's a young artists who's taking the Internet world by storm. I like his music. He just recently released his mixtape titled "K.I.D.S" which is actually a nice and new sound.

My favourite thing about Mac Miller are his videos. I find them creative and original. Also, aside from the videos I like his content. It's fun and it's real. Real meaning that it's his actual thoughts and his life.

Drake - Deceiving

This is Toronto's very own, Drake. This is a song that was recorded in 2008 before all the media coverage and the crazy fans. Again, the J.Dilla frenzy continues as the instrumental to this song is produced by J.Dilla.


On the first verse of the song he wrote about video vixen Dia Edwards.

In the second verse he composes lyrics on his past relationship with another Toronto artist, Keshia Chante. He even goes as far as mentioning her mothers name, "What up Tessa? I love you like my own mama, and your daughters getting grown mama, and me, I'm just here working, waiting, patient for her to be ready for love and leave alone drama."

In the final verse of the song he penned down lyrics about a classmate with the name of Alisha Phillips.


Sunday, October 3, 2010

Madlib & Quasimoto - Kinetic Rappcats


This is an ode to classic Hip Hop albums. The audio is recorded by hip hop artists, Madlib and Quasimoto, and the video is created by Eric Cunha.

The video follows a typography type of style, the only exception is that instead of words it uses album covers.

A really cool and creative idea. I've taken quite the interest on typography type videos.

Record Collection


To the right of the photographs is a small glimpse of my record  collection. I started out this hobby of mine about six months ago. I'm a waiter and I served at a 80's party at work. People came dressed up like they were in the 80's and the only music that was played was music from the 80's.  After that party I started collecting my own records and playing them.  Now I have 73 records and on the hunt for more.

J.Dilla Tribute: WCFSO & Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

On a previous post I mention the late great, J.Dilla. Dilla was a revolutionary artist and producer. He's inspired so many artists and producers. He passed away on February 10, 2006, three days after his 32nd birthday due to cardiac arrest. Jay Dee's presence in the Hip Hop community is greatly missed. A lot of people don't really know about "Jay Dee". Jason Weinberger, WCFSO, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and the people at Vtech remade and re-recorded Dilla's music with an orchestra which sounds pretty amazing. Also, legendary Roots group have paid their respect to J.Dilla by re-recording some of his number one hits in a mixtape titled "Dilla Joints".



“I probably don’t have to explain how exciting it was for me to find myself performing Dilla’s music with the WCFSO. Even more gratifying, though, were other aspects of the evening – feeling the connections emerge between Dilla and his predecessors William Grant Still and Duke Ellington, taking the orchestra outside of its comfort level and in the process to a whole other level of music making, and especially offering our audience the opportunity to abandon preconceptions and discover something special.” - Jason Weinberger

Elzhi - What I Write



Elzhi is a member of the Slum Village group, he joined the group after the late great, J.Dilla, decided to pursue a solo career in 2001. He was recommended and approved by J.Dilla himself. Elzhi is known in the "underground" Hip Hop community as a witty intellectual word-smith.

I found this video on Vimeo and it is created by Maxwell Strizich. In the description of the video Maxwell states, "This was my solution for a Kinetic Type assignment. I wanted to continue with a hand written approach to match the song. Originally I intended for camera movements but the way I shot the video didn't work as well as I had hoped. I hope to revisit this project."

Nonetheless I found this quite creative. Enjoy!