The Chuckness

Mayer Hawthorne is a rare breed. He’s one of those cross-generational artists who can sing pretty much any genre of music. He’s got a soulful delivery that’s tough to come across these days; and everybody seems to understand it.  Rappers call him up to take care of the choruses on their songs (i.e. “Swimsuits”); he’ll collaborate with older rock stars, or he’ll just do his own soul-infused solo thing. Hell, my Dad saw him collaborating on some show the other week, liked his sound, and asked me who he was. This cross-generational and cross-genre appeal is tough to master, but Hawthorne’s done it.

This is a single off his upcoming Universal record titled How Do You Do — which should be available October 11th.

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Available on iTunes.

YONAS, the Bronx MC, caught my attention earlier in the year with his release “Fall Back.” Since then, he’s consistently released quality material, and is poised to carve out his own path in the rap industry.

Here we have “Summer’s End”, one of his more laid back, radio-friendly efforts. This is a great representation of what the man brings to the table. Looking forward to watching him develop.

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Download: YONAS – Summer’s End

First things first; I absolutely despise Kreayshawn. Despise. I have zero idea how she’s been able to gain a following in any way, shape or form. That being said, I’m really starting to come around on Neon Hitch. I was introduced to her cover of Mac Miller’s “Donald Trump”, and since then I’ve been a fan. She takes one of my most hated songs of the past few years, and makes me enjoy it. Enough said.

I feel like I’m posting a decent amount of electronic instrumentals around these parts — lacking lyrics all together. Is this a problem? Because I can’t get enough of shit like “Laserflies”. It’s the perfect background music when you have to get anything done — there’s no competition. Laid back electronic beats all day.

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Download: Keljet – Laserflies

[via All Things Go]

The Postmarks cover Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” in HORRIFYING fashion. Ghostly, haunting lyrics with a creepy bassline make this one of the weirder listens in a while. Bob Marley’s original is such a happy go-lucky anthem, and this sounds like it could be the soundtrack of some psychological thriller featuring a stuffed animal on a killing spree. Oddly captivating.

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Download: The Postmarks – Three Little Birds (Bob Marley Cover)

[via Earmilk]

Things have changed since 2008. Three years ago, Lil Wayne was just about reaching the zenith of hip-hop stardom. With his unlimited mixtape releases and his never-ending features on Billboard smash hits, the hype for Tha Carter III‘s release could not have been bigger. It goes without saying that the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard Chart, selling well over one million copies in it’s first week. ONE MILLION COPIES.  Teenybopper girls from the white suburbs and cornerboys on the streets of West Baltimore alike went out and bought the album. Wayne had every demographic in the palm of his hand.

Fastforward to today, and we have the release of his ninth studio album, Tha Carter IV. Since 2008, Weezy took a little leave of absence (spending time at Rikers Island prison after pleading guilty to a weapons charge), yet he continued to provide endless features and release boatloads of material — to the point where he’s almost oversaturated today’s music scene. Personally, I’ve always been intrigued by his Carter series and mixtapes, but generally stay away from anything beyond that (especially experimental rock albums a la Rebirth). 

I’ve given The Carter IV a few complete listens now, and to be blunt, I don’t see much lasting appeal with this record. Tha Carter III had me hooked from the get-go with nearly every track; and maybe it’s unfair to compare the two, but I find myself wanting to skip a majority of songs on the fourth installment. Is it because I’m just over his sound? Has he infiltrated every possible nook and cranny of the music industry that my ears just want to reject it? Or is Tha Carter IV just not a good album? I have trouble with that answer.

Occasionally there’s a flair of magic and witty lyricism; but it’s a dime a dozen. Looking at the tracklist of the deluxe edition, I can tell you that I’m into 6 tracks out of 18. 6! Which, for you non-math gurus, means I’m cool with skipping 66% of the album. Aside from the clear standouts, “Blunt Blowin”, “Nightmares Of The Bottom”, “6 Foot 7 Foot” and “She Will”, I just don’t see myself coming back to the album in the next couple of weeks. From a listener’s perspective, he just seems tired; maybe even bored of the rap game. He goes back and forth between atrocious wordplay (“can’t desert the future, no Nevada”) and creative similes (“Real G’s move in silence like lasagna”) – leaving me entirely confused with his inconsistency. “6 Foot 7 Foot” is reminiscent of his rapid-fire “A Milli” style creative wordplay; the kind of rapping that made people believe that he was “the best rapper alive”. Then he drops “Mirror” with Bruno Mars and it has me looking around trying to figure out what the hell I’m listening to.

All in all, Tha Carter IV doesn’t hold a candle to the last installment. It’s possible that I’ve heard too much Wayne, or maybe he’s lost some excitement with the rap game. I’m going to say it’s a little bit of both and call it a day.

Standouts:

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After the jump, for both educational and comedic purposes; check out the flawless, in depth lyrical explanations for each track from the dudes over at Rap Genius.

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Remember that time over a year ago when we posted Young The Giant’s “My Body”? Well MTV called me up last week and thanked us profusely for being on top of our shit, and announced that the band would be playing at this year’s VMA’s. Sort of a fabrication but go with it.

The band absolutely killed their live performance, and they brought in a bunch of true fans from around their hometown outside of LA to get into it. And the side to side crowd-surf/sway move?? Unstoppable. Who knows where they’re headed now that they’ve had their MTV introduction. Big things coming.

Penguin Prison are currently sitting atop the Hype Machine charts, and for good reason. “Don’t Fuck With My Money” is a pure dance groove from start to finish, and deserves your attention. A little Chromeo-esque, modern/80′s feel on this one. Stream it from their Soundcloud below.

OnCue’s coming off a huge night; in which the beat for “Feel Tall” was all over the Bing commercial during the VMA’s. Must’ve played 10+ times during the show. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice.

He just released “Don’t Fall For That”, produced by Justin W., off of the upcoming project Can’t Wait. Keep on the lookout; should be coming soon.

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Download: OnCue – Don’t Fall For That

Com Truise is an up and coming producer/song-writer who made some waves in the online world with “Slow Peels” last summer — you might recognize it from that Wayne remix. He just released this new instrumental, “Datebar”, which is a 4 minute acid trip from start to finish. It’s impressive for anything without words to keep me hooked for 4 minutes (except for Explosions In The Sky), so Com Truise must be doing something right.

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Download: Com Truise – Datebar