Watch: 4am Soul - @Malc_____

There's not much to be desired from Malc's hunger.

It's a breath of fresh air when you hear it in his raps but you can really see it too. I mean think about it. We couldn't even get out a review on P2 before he blessed us with a double shot of music. 4am Soul comes accompanied with Htgr on his new single pack titled, No Hesitation. Htgr features a familiar face in Franklin's own SoULFULL while 4am Soul gets blessed with a video treatment. Malc obviously has good taste in music because I'm digging the sample of the original girl shot shooter anthem, Alicia Keys' You Don't Know My Name. No Hesitation is a perfect name because it's full throttle when it comes to Malc. Watch the video for 4am Soul after the break.

LIsten: In Common by @aliciakeys {Written by @Natural_Nation}

It has been four years! Four years, since Alicia Keys released Girl on Fire; her fifth studio album. But, to my surprise, this past week Keys released a single titled In Common.

The song features an EDM sound with clear African influence and undertones. I'm sure there are those who would even stick this particular song in the realm of Caribbean dancehall. I can hear and see the sound she was going for but to me it came up short and a little flat. Who knows, maybe the song will grow on me but for now I'll be waiting for that album. Take a listen.

#TBT Thank Me Later - @Drake by @SimONE_OFMYKIND

If you’re reading this it’s time to go back a few years. 2010 to be specific, that's when Drake dropped his freshman album Thank Me Later.

Personally my favorite album by the 28 year-old Canadian rapper. While there were a lot of mixed opinions on the album the numbers this project produced disregarded the negative feedback, proving that this was a pretty solid album. In the first week of sales it sold 447,000 copies. Thank Me Later peaked on the US Billboard charts at number 1, and held that spot for three weeks.

Following his tape So Far Gone, Drake continues to prove and showcase his talents as a rapper that is well prepared to be mentioned along with some of the biggest names out. We are also given a better taste of Drake talents as a singer and as a great songwriter. Drake delivered smooth, articulate flows over majority down tempo beats throughout the whole album. The 14 track album Drake talks a lot about relationships, women, his grinds trying to keep a name for himself. The singles from Thank Me Later included Find Your Love, Fancy, Miss Me, and Over. In my opinion the singles were the throw aways from the album so if this was done on purpose kudos to Drake and his team for leaving the treasure tracks hidden. I wouldn’t skip any tracks on the album but my favorite tracks from Thank Me Later were Karaoke, Fireworks, and Unforgettable.

Collaborations on albums can go two ways. On one side collaborations actually add to the quality of the album, and if the artist and their feature have sounds that compliment each other the product will be gold. Unfortunately the downside to collaborations is that having too many features can take the spotlight off of the artist’s talent. There is also the chance that their feature might even give too much to the track. I know it does not hurt to share the wealth but I would be a little embarrassed if somebody else lit up my track. With that being said, Drake could’ve chilled out on the features especially for a studio debut. Half of the tracks feature another artist or two, so it makes you think was this album held down by some of the features? Drake collaborated with some very heavy hitting artist on this project such as Alicia Keys, Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, T.I., Swizz Beats, Young Jeezy, and The-Dream. Because Drake has a style that is so versatile he sounds great collaborating with all of those artist, but Nicki Minaj’s flow went a little harder on the song Up All Night so it definitely sounds like she briefly stole his shine.

Compared to his latest project If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,  Thank Me Later was a very turnt down, chilled out album with dope beats and smooth coherent  flows combined with all of Drake’s emotions that we love. This is not turn up music, or conscious music, or the "I’m a rapper so let me stunt on y’all" music. This is music to really vibe and ride out to, something that can be played in any setting honestly. During summer 2010 whether you were at a party, just riding around with the homies (even by yourself), chilling with the bae, whatever you were doing I bet at least three songs from Thank Me Later were playing. That was definitely the case for me, this was my whole summer’s background music.

Watch: It's on Again - Alicia Keys, Kendrick Lamar, Pharell

Below is the visual for It's on Again, the lead single for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Soundtrack featuring the likes of Alicia Keys, Kendrick Lamar, and Pharrell. The soundtrack is scheduled to release April 22nd, where the movie will be in theaters on May 2nd. You can purchase the single now on iTunes. Check out the video after the break. Enjoy!

Wrapping Up the Grammys 2014

After watching the awards and the updates on my Twitter timeline last night, many people had mixed feelings about the Grammys this year. It's safe to say I feel the same way.

The big winners of the night include Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams, Lorde, Bruno Mars, Imagine Dragons, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Tasha Combs, Tye Tribbett, Mandisa, Adele, amongst others. The Grammys have always been interesting because of the process artists go through to get a nomination. If you think about it Kendrick Lamar's GKMC came out in October 2012 and it is now January 2014 where it is nominated.

Many people made cries of racism towards the awards show. Although I personally feel otherwise it is a plausible argument. Three of the four rap categories were not televised. Not only did that anger some of the viewers but Macklemore was disappointed himself. On his instagram he flashes text messages between him and Kendrick about him being "robbed."

Here are the links to both screenshots:
http://instagram.com/p/jpWPTQQK4z/
http://instagram.com/p/jqXYYAwK_y/

He also got on Hot 97 for a phone interview this morning with Rosenberg and the Morning Show (see below). The only televised category in the genre was Best Rap Song.


Daft Punk ran away with four Grammys last night including AOTY and Record of the Year, with Random Access Memories and Get Lucky with Pharrell respectively. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis took home a very controversial Best Rap Album and Best New Artist. Hov won twice last night but both with the help of Justin Timberlake with Suit & Tie and Holy Grail. Justin also won Best R&B song with Pusher Love Girl. Lastly Pharrell Williams left the night with Producer of the Year award. There was no arguing it pushing smash hits like Get Lucky and Blurred Lines with Robin Thicke and T.I.

The best moment of the night is when the winners of best rock performance, Imagine Dragons performed Radioactive. What made it so special is when K. Dot comes out of the mashup spitting m.A.A.d city over the beat. Twitter was at an uproar. No sooner than I could tweet "They need to get in the studio and make an mp3 of this," Imagine Dragons released an iTunes version of their remix to Radioactive featuring Kendrick Lamar himself. It even got Taylor Swift off her feet.

I don't think the voting for awards was the flaw in the annual awards ceremony. I think the faux pas in the system is the genre of music categories. I grew up raised that Rap isn't a category of music. Rap is a verb, it is the process. Hip-Hop is the genre of music and frankly I would not consider Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Hip-Hop artists. That is not to take away from their talents and recognition. They are just Pop artists to me and many other members of the industry would feel the same way. The same goes for Justin Timberlake and R&B to me. I don't think Pusher Love Girl was the best song the his (amazing I might add) album let alone better than the other nominees. What confuses me in every other category instead of this one Timberlake was considered Pop. Why was this song classified as rhythm and blues? One last question, What is Urban contemporary music? All the nominees for that genre were either Pop or R&B. Are you telling me that there aren't people in rural areas that listen to Rihanna, Fantasia, or Mack Wilds?

All in all, the Grammys were incredible. There are some (major) flaws in the system but we have to realize the flaws rather than point fingers because our favorites didn't win. A grammy award never measures your success as a music artist (it helps), but there are plenty of amazing artists that never won a grammy like Diana Ross, Brian McKnight, Led Zepplin, Snoop Dogg, Notorious B.I.G, Tupac Shakur, The Beach Boys, Nas, Queen, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Bob Marley, Run DMC, and Busta Rhymes. All of them are legends in their own right. So when you are disappointed that Kendrick didn't win last night despite seven nominations, just remember the Baha Men are Grammy award winners for Who Let the Dogs Out and the before mentioned legends are not with hundreds of nominations between them all.

Your Editor,