Today makes it 8 years since the passing away of Aaliyah, despite new artists coming through, her loss is still just as evident, heres to someone who was truely beautiful, someone who will live on forever in our hearts and memories through her music. I remember the day I found out, as if it was yesterday, a little me was awake at night listening to Trevor Nelson’s R&B show, I had heard the ‘rumour’ earlier, but when Trevor Nelson confirmed it, I was shocked, I did not know her personally, yet the soul and emotion she poured into her music, her voice, her presence, you just could not help but to feel like you had some connection, Death is never a good thing, however it is a big part of life, so rather than morn her absence, we celebrate her life and legacy.
The man who bought you the smash Deja Vu ft. Wretch 32, returns with this teaser for Living A Lie.
J Will has already showcased his vocal ability as a smooth, soft-toned singer, his voice sounds so classic R&B yet it has a hint of new and refreshing to the mix, more than a singer, Living A Lie displays his skills as a songwriter as well. J Will plays a big part in the rise of R&B within the UK with the likes of Bluey Robinson, Taio Cruz, Loick Essien and Rita Ora, the young crooner shows testament to this on Living A Lie, with music arrangement by the up-and-coming bennie bizzie the business (who was also part of Deja Vu), Living A Lie sets the scene and atmosphere really well, each sound and each note is precise, there are no additional voice enhancers or sound effects to follow generic commercially accepted songs, it is a original and far from intrecate composition, a lot of talent for your ears, be sure to look out for the full version coming soon.
Like Wretch 32 says, “They Won’t But J Will”
Click image to visit the Official J Will Myspace page
There has been much hype surrounding South London’s Kay Young for a while now, the young producer/singer/songwriter/emcee (and damn good at each one as well) has been steadily rising higher, a diverse sound and style has lead her to bounce in and out of genres, reaching out to a varying audience. She came to my attention via a collaboration with UK emcee Wretch 32 (one of, if not the best in Europe), she can be heard on a ‘DJ Saved My Life‘, an out of this world dance anthem created by DJ Crispin & Last Japan and is featured in Fader Magazine, it truely is just a matter of time before her talent pushes her to the forefront of UK music.
Here is an exclusive snippet of ‘Heartbeat’:
Taken from her forthcoming p45 EP (due at the end of this year), this track caught my attention for so many reasons, concept, content and quality, Heartbeat really embraces the emotion, Kay Young so perfectly captures the thought and the raw feeling that many people will be able to relate to. Females have a strong voice in the form of Kay Young, a young woman who can stand up against most males in terms of style, ability and determination, she is not to be catorgorized nor placed in a box, an artist of her mind and talent deserves to be free to create as all her music is an offering of quality and originality that a true music lover will appreciate and enjoy.
You can hear more of Kay Young as her ‘Third Party Mixtape’ is available for FREE download.
South London emcee Little Dee is back in a big way with his new effort ‘Once In A Blue’.
Two tracks which I think show how far he has come since his feature on Wiley – My Mistakes are Electric Love and Once In A Blue.
Electric Love ft. Wiley:
Electric Love, which samples The Dream – Falsetto, lays the rose petals down for Little Dee to get lyrically romantic, the verses are the best part of the song, heavy weight feature with Wiley on the hook, however the chorus could be better, still it helps the verses stand out, over all this is a good track from Little Dee who appears to improve every time I hear him.
Fáris Rating:
7/10
Once In A Blue:
I like this a lot, Little Dee has always been a good storyteller with his rhymes and Once In A Blue is proof, as he brings you into his life through his mind. The beat is a mellow instrumental that helps create a soulful atmosphere as Little Dee shares his emotion.
This track speaks for itself, it is literally Hard, best experienced in a club or on a good sound system.
Produced by Dirty Danger himself, the Ruff Sqwad soldier delivers a smash with Ard Bodied, the bass heavy beat is capable to get anyone dancing, you just cannot help but to nod your head to this, it is a street sounding feel-good anthem, “I’m not a flee boy, I’m a flee man”, With fellow Ruff Sqwad members Tinchy Stryder, Rapid & Slix all further establishing their status, Ard bodied will help Dirty Danger do no different, if not more. I have it on repeat, listening to it now as I write, it has something unique about it, consisting of segments capable to satisfy a range of listeners. Already being played on radio, Ard Bodied can do no wrong, with funky tracks such as Kyla – Do You Mind and Egypt – In The Morning heavily played in clubs across England, they encourage a positive vibe (more so for the ladies), Ard Bodied is one for the guys, it has such a strong feeling to it, definitely a song with an impact.
Dirty Danger has a hit on his hands with this infectious Grime meets Electric via funky anthem.
Chip Diddy Chip has come a long way in a short space of time and this single will take him even further.
After the success of his Top 10 single Diamond Rings and featuring on DJ Ironik – Tiny Dancer (Which reached Number 3 in the national charts), Chipmunk looks set to add another chart topper to his list with Oopsy Daisy, a far more commercial sounding record, it will no doubt help him gain an even larger fanbase. The song, which is evidently aimed at his growing female audience, whilst being relative for his male fans, is mellow and soulful, it has feeling, the female’s vocals take a strong lead, more than in his previous single, not to be seen as a negative as Chipmunk’s verses have presence and really portrays a more humble and sensetive side to Chipmunk, this adds emotion and will help it stand out among other releases.
Taken from his debut album I AM Chipmunk (to be released in October), Oopsy Daisy is a light-hearted and touching track, one that will appeal to many people (not just his own fanbase), it actually is such a warm and heartfelt track that you cannot critisize it as the formula works really well, Chipmunk’s lyrics are youthfully relevant and really holds the song together well. A number one record for Chipmunk has always been expected, Oopsy Daisy might just be his first.
It is looking like Birdman’s forthcoming album ‘Always Strapped‘ might just be his best yet, with bangers like Got A Bitch ft. Rick Ross and Written On Her ft. Jay Sean, now leaks Money To Blow ft. Lil’ Wayne & Drake, his albums heavily depend on features, so it comes to no surprise that his new effort will also be.
Birdman – Money To Blow ft. Lil’ Wayne Drake:
This is not anything special, in all honesty I think his collaboration with Rick Ross is far better, however, when you have heavyweights like Lil’ Wayne and man of the moment Drake on a track then something good has to come out of it and it certainly did in this case.
Drake steals the show as he is doing on most of his features, as much as I do not like to join in with anything that becomes over-hyped, I have to give Drake his credit where due, he backs his status up well, on this record, the Cash Money trio brag to the fullest, Lil’ Wayne’s verse is fairly standard which strangely balances with Birdman’s, leaving Drake to take the spotlight with his verse and chorus, the negative of this track is that you do not even realise Birdman has a verse, it kind of gets squashed in between the Young Money boys’ features.
Money To Blow will no doubt help balance the album out which at the same time will make the track standout more, it is not fair to be too critical on this song as it does what it was intended to do, it sounds like a sequel to the chart topping Always Strapped with a new cast member which really makes the difference. Expect more records of similar stature from Cash Money founder Baby aka Birdman.
The original has been around for a while, taken from Jamie Foxx’s new album ‘Intuition’, it is a good song but it had no real buzz, so what better than to get the most talked about artist of the moment on the track and release it as a single. Enter Drake, the Toronto born actor turned rapper has a surreal hype surrounding him, with major labels locked into a bidding war for his signature, Jay-Z referred to his So Far Gone mixtape as the best of all time, Kanye West is directing his new video, he is part of Lil’ Wayne’s Young Money, he has already worked with Jay and will feature on Mary J Blige’s new single, so it is fair to say that Drake is pretty much the hottest rapper at the moment.
With all that weight on his shoulders, Drake displays his confidence, knowing why he has been asked to feature on the track and he does not disappoint, concept, flow and lyrics, adding the singing into his verse, it is a trademark Drake verse and like the others, it is a good one.
I like the concept, it has been done before by the likes of R. Kelly (2nd Kelly) and Usher (Dot Com), but none the less, it does not interfere with Digital Girl, it grows on you the more you hear it, it is a really good collaboration.
Kanye West has gone from soulful Hip-Hop producer to Global Superstar, there are a few artists in the world of his caliber, so a clever, witty rhyme with a catchy flow are expected, Kanye’s verse is a good, I like the beat change, it pretty much is the peak of the song, his verse is a good balance with Drake’s, it fuses nicely as The Dream and Jamie Foxx take up the singing duties, to have four stars on one track does not always guarantee a hit but I think Jamie Foxx has one with this effort.
I like the beat change when for Kanye’s verse, it is the peak of the song, now is that a statement in itself that Drake is still no Kanye West, either way, it adds a whole new element to the track, it takes the track to a new level even. The video, although not unique or a real representation of the song, still manages to come off well, it reminded me of Hype William’s video for Lloyd – Girls Around The World ft. Lil’ Wayne, however, at one point the girls do look a bit virtual and such a small touch as that really makes a big difference. I like the idea of four superstars on one track, it has a momentous feel to it, Digital Girl is like the R&B version of Swagger Like Us. Over all it was always a good track, the video is not as good as it could have been, towards the end you see Jamie Foxx and Dream enjoying the track whilst Kanye West and Drake fade into the background.
The album itself is a fusion of Electronic, Grime and Alternative, it has many different elements to it, but they manage to fit together as a whole, a very energetic, feel-good album.
Tinchy Stryder – Spotlight ft. Tanya Lacey:
‘Spotlight’ is my standout track from the album, production wise, it is bass and synth heavy, electronic sounding instruments blended with sharp acoustic sounding drum kicks, there is a lot happening but it does not sound over the top, reminds me of an old Stryder favourite of mine, ‘Dance 4 Now’, it almost sets a scene, you do not need a dance for this, you just move with the vibe, it has a dark element to it, which helps Tinchy Stryder’s voice stand out and sound prominent, whilst the organ sounds compliment the track like a flame to a candle. Track 4 off Catch 22, Spotlight is another potential chart topper, I could not see many people disliking the song, it has so much positive energy, the beat is so well constructed and Stryder flows almost effortlessly over it with confidence and ease like only Tinchy Stryder can. Tanya Lacey’s vocals boost the track and provide an extra feeling, Spotlight perfectly captures Tinchy’s position as a star in today’s music industry and not just in the hood.
Fáris Rating
9/10
Tinchy Stryder – Dance 4 Now:
I have to admit, I was gutted not to find Finish Line ft. Sef (Produced by Music Kidz) on the final release,
however, It does not make the album any less, as Catch 22 is 18 tracks of cross-over frenzy, the album is cleverly crafted, there are a lot of behind the scenes situations that as an audience we do not know about, taking all that into consideration, this album is impressive. Tinchy Stryder will always represent Grime and UK music even he features on a Country song, this album shows how ahead of his time he really is, sure people will find negatives but that is the Catch 22 in itself, I think Tinchy Stryder has done enough in his career so far to earn him the respect and the chance to experiment with his sound, doing so, with Catch 22 he has not dissapointed.
North London’s Marvell have released their second free downloadable mixtape ‘Marvell FM 2’ leading up the release of their debut The World Is Ours EP.
If you like Grime then you should definitely download this, if you do not like Grime then you should still definitely download Marvell FM 2!!
The trio are bringing something back to music, lyrical content is on another level, concepts are from their minds which represents ours so it does not sound manufacturerd for us but rather made by one of us. It is fun, it is youthful, for a free download they have given away some quality material.
From the intro (courtesty of the hilarious Shocka), the first track is ‘Lemme Av A Go’, listen carefully to Double S, his word play is seriously outstanding, more than once I find myself going back like “Did he just say that?!”, ‘Baby Its Ok’ is another up-tempo for the ladies that the guys will appreciate, They even remixed Jeremih’s smash ‘Birthday Sex’, personally I criticise these remixes but I actually like this one. On ‘Finally Time ft. Dot Rotten’, they display their desire and hunger to be successful amidst set backs, ‘Otherside of The Rainbow’ is similar, it highlights their ambition, with Vertex, Shocka and Double S equally shining. ‘Star In The Sky’, another one for the ladies, a potential next single even, leads up to the official UK remix for Drake – Successful ft. Trey Songz, that is the official remix. Next is ‘Going In 32 Part 2’ featuring Griminal, a beast of a beat on which they do not dissapoint. You also get to hear the remix for Aggro – Free Yard as well as an exclusive freestyle set with the Movement (Wretch 32 & Ghetts).
Marvell FM 2 is a successful improved sequel to Marvell FM. Marvell (consisting of Shocka, Double S & Vertex) bring unity, talent, desire and so much more as a total package, if the industry looks for talent then these three will be signed, but if the industry is looking for a group with a buzz that has hot singles for them to profit on then they still will get signed.
ONE Fáris 