While there’s no denying being the offspring of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith has given her a slight lift over other performers her age, Willow Smith is proving to be fully deserving of the praise she’s receiving. It appears young Willow is following in her parent’s footsteps with aplomb. After making her acting debut in ‘I Am Legend’ back in 2007, Willow appeared in a number of onscreen roles before announcing she would be embarking on a recording career. While the road of actors turned singers is littered with unfortunate causalities – as anyone who’s braved a listen of Steve Seagal’s recorded output would attest – it seems Willow has inherited her Father’s versatility to turn her hand to both worlds successfully.
‘Whip My Hair’ is an all out R&B swagger anthem that could easily have come from Rihanna or Nicki Minaj – in fact Minaj appears on a blog friendly remix of the track. With a cheeky nod to Devo’s ‘Whip It’, ‘Whip My Hair’ may prove to be one of the most surprising tracks of the year. It’s certainly made an impression on Hip-Hop’s biggest star Jay-Z - who has signed Smith to his label, Roc-Nation. The track is currently streaming from her website: head here to check it out.
Whatever you think about KanYe West, there’s no denying his ability to surprise.
A year after KanYe’s super ego pushed him into an ill advised stage invasion during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards – an act that prompted Barack Obama to call him a “Jackass” – KanYe was back at the scene of the crime. However, rather than berating Taylor Swift as he had the year before, he was exchanging sickly sweet tributes with the country singer: the pick of which came from Swift who spouted this gem whilst performing an emotional ballad. “Thirty-two and still growing up now, who you are is not what you did, you’re still an innocent. Everyone of us has messed up too, I hope you remember today is never too late to be brand new.” An act which prompted KanYe to apologise to the public once again for last year’s indiscretions.
If you find West’s new found humility surprising you should check up the lineup of talent on his new single, ‘Monster’. The record features the talents of Hip Hop heavy weights Rick Ro$$, Jay-Z and hottest ticket in town, Nicki Minaj. Nothing out of the ordinary there you may think, until you see that the record also features the talents of Justin Vernon – A.K.A bearded folk warbler Bon Iver. Apparently KanYe sought out the talents of Bon Iver after hearing his breakthrough track ‘Woods’. This resulted in Bon Iver packing up his bags, flying to KanYe’s studio in Miami to lay down some tracks in between enjoying herbal cigarettes with hip hop’s glitterati – which must be the absolute antithesis of the usual day in the life of a respected folk minstrel.
‘Monster’ is potentially KanYe’s most exciting single yet. What’s most surprising is Nicki Minaj’s mind blowingly dexterous verse that mixes the ragga style growl of Lady Saw with the cutesy baby voice of Marilyn Monroe to create one of the most original vocal styles the hip hop world has heard in years.
‘Monster’ will be included in KanYe’s forthcoming album ‘Dark And Twisted Fantasy’ due for release November 16th
Usher Raymond IV has certainly been a busy boy of late. Only four months after dropping his last album, ‘Raymond v Raymond’, Usher is ready to unveil another full length album – an act that’s sure to place him as one of the best selling artists of 2010.
Usher’s been riding a huge wave of success in the past 12 months. A switch to a more dance orientated style saw his single ‘O.M.G.’ became his first number one in two years while subsequent singles have also charted highly around the world. His latest effort looks to continue that trend. Partnering with hip-hop main man Jay-Z, Usher’s latest track maintains the R&B star’s flirtations with electronic music but gives the record a more traditional urban feel than some of his recent work. Jay-Z’s verse, as you would expect, is a real stand out moment and maintains the Midas touch the New York rapper has maintained over the last decade.
‘Versus’ will be released on August 24th in the US.
‘I Wanna Rock’ was one of the most inherently old school sounding cuts on Snoop Dogg’s most recent album. Featuring a beat produced by Snoop’s long time cohort Dr. Dre; ‘I Wanna Rock’ delivered a menacing funk that immediately recalled his mid nineties golden period. With a much rawer sound than some of Snoop’s more recent chart topping work, for many hip hop fans the track showed the Dogfather back on top form.
For the new G Mix of the track, Snoop has roped Jay-Z to co-star on the record – one of the few rap artists who has as big a reputation as Snoop Dogg himself. Predictably, the combination of Jay-Z, Snoop and Dr. Dre is proving like catnip to hip hop fans. Urgent, gritty and bass heavy; the G-mix of ‘I Wanna Rock’ has a classic sound that’s totally undeniable.
Ever the self publicist, the video for ‘I Wanna Rock’ features prominent shots of Snoop’s new Skullcandy headphone range. It also features shots of West Coast dance crew The Rangers; a group that has managed to merge skinny jeans and body popping into a whole new hip-hop sub-genre called Jerkin’.
Currently on the top spot of the US iTunes chart, this collaboration between Justin Timberlake and rising singer songwriter Matt Morris is helping to raise much needed funds for the recent tragic events in Haiti. The song is taken from the ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ album, a compilation of covers featuring a plethora of A-List stars including Jay-Z; Coldplay; Bruce Springsteen and Madonna. Their cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ is currently available on iTunes. For more information regarding the Hope For Haiti Now appeal, please follow this link.
No change at the top of the Shazam USA Tag Chart as Jay Sean and Lil Wayne hold on to the top spot with ‘Down’. Jay-Z’s re-enters the Top 10 with ‘Run This Town’ – pre-empting the release of the NYC rapper’s new album ‘The Blueprint 3’ which drops on September 11th.
It’s probably never a bad time to be Jay-Z, what with him being a multi millionaire and married to Beyoncé, but it looks like late 2009 is shaping up to be an especially exciting time in the New York rapper’s life as he prepares to drop his new album, ‘The Blueprint 3’. The first singles from ‘The Blueprint 3’, ‘D.O.A.’ and ‘Run This Town’, have already been met with critical and commercial success and if early indications are anything to go by then Jay-Z’s eleventh studio album looks set to deliver on the huge anticipation placed upon. Featuring a supporting cast of urban stalwarts such as Alicia Keys, KanYe West, Kid Cudi, Pharell, Swizz Beats and Timbaland, ‘The Blueprint 3’ also contains a slightly surprising appearance from Empire Of The Sun frontman Luke Steele who guests on the opening track of the album, ‘What We Talkin’ About’. Aside from featuring Steele, ‘What We Talkin’ About’ also sees producer KanYe West ditch the electronic focus of ’808’s and Heartbreaks’ and revert to the crate diggin’ roots first showcased on Jay-Z’s 2001 album ‘The Blueprint’. Taking a sample from Frederic Mercier’s ‘Spirit’, a 1978 cult electro-disco-pop track that appears on plenty of record collector’s wishlists, KanYe loops up the track to form the perfect landscape for Jay-Z’s on point rhymes. But don’t just take our word for it; ‘The Blueprint 3’ is now available to listen to in its entirety before release by clicking here
This week Jay-Z claims the number one spot in the UK Pre-release Tag Chart for the first time this year with his latest single, ‘Run This Town’. New releases come from Example and Shakira – whose track ‘She Wolf’ pre-empts the release of her new album that’s set to include contributions from Pharell, Wyclef and Lady Gaga’s ‘so hot right now’ producer, RedOne.
A new number one in the US Shazam Tag chart this week as Jay Sean & Lil Wayne oust Black Eyed Peas from the top spot after five straight weeks at number one. ‘Run This Town’, Jay-Z’s new collaboration with Rihanna and KanYe West, makes its first appearance in the chart this week – stoking anticipation for Jay’s new album, ‘The Blueprint 3’. Check the full chart here
Ever since T-Pain showed up on the scene in the mid noughties, auto-tuned robo voiced choruses have spread like bird flu throughout the world of hip-hop and R&B. The studio technique originally seemed like no more than harmless gimmick, pepping up tracks for the likes of KanYe and Britney, but the prevalent use of auto-tune quickly tuned the majority of urban music into one unrelenting homogenized drone. With ‘Death Of Auto-tune (D.O.A.)’ Jay-Z blatantly hits back at this slump of creativity. Eschewing the trend for electronic production, the Brooklyn rapper spits over a live sounding break in ‘D.O.A.’ giving the advice to rappers that someone just needed to say. “Get back to rap you T-Pain’n too much!” In many ways it’s odd that Jay-Z should even need to sate the ‘Death Of Auto-tune’. Whilst the rapper has been away pursuing various business interests you would have thought someone else would have stepped into his shoes already to derail the increasingly pop leanings of modern hip hop. Never the less, the first single of Jay-Z’s new album would now seem to be the tipping point where rap tries to draw a line in the sand and claw back some of the genre’s previous soul, funk and meaning. Already whetting fans of urban music’s appetite for ‘The Blueprint 3’, the KanYe West produced sounds of Jay-Z’s latest opus may well kill off the auto-tune trend he helped start two years ago with ‘Stronger’.
