Kid Cudi – Soundtrack 2 my life
Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon: The End of Day drops on September 15th, and promises to be one of the best albums of the year. The whole album flows really well, especially with Common narrating between the different stages.
One song that does a great job of summing up the album’s feel is “Soundtrack 2 My Life.” Cudi speaks about his life on this record, touching on his family, emotions, and current feelings toward his rise to success. He uses this track to vent and open up to fans, and at one point takes shots at bloggers and his haters:
“If I never did a show, then I’d probably be a myth,
If I cared about the blogs, then I’d probably be a jackass,
Don’t give a shit what people talk about fam,
Haters shake my hand, but I keep the sanitizer on deck!”
That last line is being quoted quite a bit since the album’s leak. It’s no secret that Kid Cudi has strong feelings toward people critiquing his music…
The hook on this song is a good summary of what the album has to offer:
“I’ve got some issues that nobody can see,
And all of these emotions are pouring out of me,
I’ll bring them to the light for you, it’s only right,
This is the soundtrack 2 my life,
The soundtrack 2 my life.”
Man on the Moon: The End of Day is truly a work of art where Kid Cudi skilfully brings us into his world!
Raekwon – Ason Jones
All hip hop fans have a special place in their heart for the Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and lucky for us, Raekwon took the liberty of dedicating a track on his critically acclaimed OB4CL2 to the late ODB.
This powerful record’s sad and beautiful lyrics will give chills to any ODB fan. Raekwon speaks on how much Ol’ Dirty meant to him as he reminisces on how powerful and fly the late rapper was.
The end of the song has Raekwon summing up what ODB meant to the world:
“That was the black man,
Rap baby jesus in the black lam,
Few jewelry pieces with his gold fangs and his fam…
Yea the lover,
The father,
The hustler,
The rap professor,
Now he with the Lord, that’s a blessing.”
In addition to Raekwon’s lyrics, the song contains Ol’ Dirty Bastard excerpts which greatly add to the track’s feel.
Here is a quote from one of the ODB excerpts:
“Where I come from, in my neighborhood,
My people know me, you know what I’m saying,
See if I try to come any different,
They ain’t goin to respect me no more…
See Wu keeps it real, we always gone keep it real,
You can’t knock what’s real, you know what I’m sayin,
We tellin the truth man.”
Ol’ Dirty Bastard truly was a hip hop genius. I can’t even imagine how popular Wu-Tang would be if the ODB was still alive!
XV – Mirror’s Edge (Remix)
DJ Benzi and XV are creating Everybody’s Nobody (We Got The Remix), and the first track to get the remix treatment is “Mirror’s Edge.” XV brought in some big names to go in over the Seven-produced beat for the remix.
Mike Posner steals the show with his raspy voice on the hook, giving the song more of a misty dream-like feel than the original!
Bun B, GLC, and XV all do a great job with their verses, but more time from XV on the track would have been nice. Lyrically, XV stays true to his style and throws in an Aladdin and Lucy Lawless reference.
This track is a great prelude to the upcoming remixed mixtape.
Fat Joe – Hey Joe
“Hey Joe” marks the third single off of Fat Joe’s 9th studio album, Jealous Ones Still Envy 2 (J.O.S.E. 2), which drops on October 6th.
Fat Joe really goes in on this awesome remake of the Jimi Hendrix song, “Hey Joe.” The video, which was shot all around New York City and the Bronx, adds a lot to this song.
Fat Joe strictly spits violent lyrics on this track with lines such as, “Drop more shells on your block than Palm Beach,” and “Bullets like easy pass, they run right through ya.”
Hopefully Fat Joe keeps making records like “Hey Joe.”
Artists Tagged
Mike Posner
Mike Posner
Label: J Records, RCA
Hometown: Southfield, MI
In March of 2009, Mike Posner released A Matter of Time, one of the year’s biggest mixtapes, from his Duke dorm room. The impressive project, hosted by DJ Don Cannon and DJ Benzi, helped land the emerging artist his current record deal with Sony Music Group.
Mike Posner aims to make a name for himself in pop music, while staying relevant within hip hop circles, similar to Justin Timberlake. This goal is not too far fetched, as his fans already enjoy the artist’s feel-good, pop-rap music and smooth hooks.
Since graduating from Duke at the end of 2009, the talented artist and producer, has been working on his upcoming 31 Minutes to Takeoff album, set to be released in the fall of 2010.
XV
Donavan Johnson
Label: Warner Bros.
Hometown: Wichita, KS
XV’s stage name represents the age at which he first started to pursue a career in hip hop, fifteen. Despite coming up in the small city of Wichita, Kansas, this video game and comic book fanatic was able to grow a nationwide fan base through a string of successful mixtapes and online promotions. On July 31, 2009, XV released his biggest project to date in the Everybody’s Nobody mixtape hosted by DJ Enuff and DJ Benzi.
Almost a year later, on July 26, 2010, XV announced that he had signed a record deal with Warner Bros. and would finally have a chance to release his long awaited album, The Boy With The Green Backpack. The debut album’s title comes from the high school nickname given to XV by kids who didn’t know his real name.
