Listen To This: Intro (I'm Good)

Here's a short, sweet song basically summarizing life right now.  A perfect fit for a lazy Memorial Day.  I'm still workin' on finding the download link  but if you want it right now you can rip it off of YouTube or follow the link below the audio preview to download the 2003 Kanye West mixtape from which this intro is taken.

Kanye West- I'm Good [MIXTAPE]

Listen To This: Familiar Faces

If you've ever seen me use an iPod, you would know that it's a truly chaotic affair. I'll shuffle through 10-20 songs looking for the one I want to listen to right now, repeat a track thrice, or just go into the library and choose the song myself. Because of this, there are many songs that get on my iPod and remain unlistened to. This particular track is off of Rhymefest's Dangerous: 5-18 mixtape, and I've impulsively skipped it countless times because of the spoken intro on the mixtape version.  However, I finally gave it a listen today, and it's pretty dope.  The sample of Gary Jules' cover of Mad World really fits well with the song's vibe. I also elected to include another choice cut off Dangerous: 5-18, Bad Self, which is an awesome, upbeat, soulful joint.  You can also check out an interesting B.o.B cover of MGMT's Kids as well as the final (but still boring) version of Shut It Down by Drake.

Rhymefest- Familiar Faces


Rhymefest- Bad Self ft. Rahzel, Large Professor

Rhymefest- Dangerous: 5-18 [MIXTAPE]

BONUS!:

B.o.B- Kids (Cover)

Drake- Shut It Down ft. The-Dream

Listen To This: Power

After an album full of autotune, a few years replete with controversy and a few sub-par features, Kanye West finally returns to which got him to where he is today. This is the first single from Ye's next album, Good Ass Job, and it's 100% hip hop.  Between the bangin' beat and the hot lines, the Louis Vuitton Don/Martin Louis The King Jr.  resoundingly proves that he's still got it.  I don't think I've ever been more excited for an album than I am for Good Ass Job.  As a bonus, I have a new track from Cleveland MCs Kid Cudi and Chip The Ripper (on any other day, this song would've got it's own post).

(click on the play button to listen)
Kanye West- Power ft. Dwele

BONUS!:

The Almighty GloryUS (KiD CuDi and Chip The Ripper)- All Talk ft. Christian Bale

Listen To This: 5/27

Plenty of new music today in the form of two more leaks from Drake's Thank Me Later and a new T.I. mixtape. There's also some Asher Roth, and, for my electro-pop minded readers, a new mixtape from Major Lazer and La Roux.

Drake- Fireworks ft. Alicia Keys


Drake Light Up ft. Jay-Z





















TI- Fuck A Mixtape [MIXTAPE]

BONUS!:

Asher Roth- G.R.I.N.D. (Get Ready It's a New Day)

Majer Lazer & La Roux- Lazerproof [MIXTAPE]

Something I Like: Electronic Wuss

Don't feel like finding music, so here's a great little video I found a few days ago. It pretty much speaks for itself.

Listen To This: Got Your Back/Bang Bang Bang

Here is a pair of nice new tunes. The first, by T.I., is basically Live Your Life with Keri Hilson instead of Rihanna (so basically, its better).  The second is a track by English producer Mark Ronson featuring rapper Q-Tip. I'm really likin' this one, it's got a nice upbeat summer feel.  I also threw in a Travie McCoy track, as I know some of you really like what he's been putting out. There's also a track featuring Big Sean if you're feeling adventurous.

T.I.- Got Your Back ft. Keri Hilson

Mark Ronson- Bang Bang Bang ft. Q.Tip (sorry about the poor preview quality)

BONUS!:

Travie McCoy-Superbad

Royce Da 5'9"- My Own Planet ft. Big Sean

Listen To This: 5/24

I've been slackin' a little in the hip hop department, so here are a few just released tunes to get you caught up.

Drake- Unforgettable ft. Young Jeezy

Drake- Miss Me ft. Lil Wayne (CDQ)

T.I.- Yeah Ya Know (Takers)

Listen To This: The Nosebleed Section

Today, we have a hip hop song from Australian group Hilltop Hoods. Even though it's from 2003, the bangin' beat and a unique sound ensure that this song is sure to be blastin' in my car this whole summer.  Bolens showed me this one (two mentions in a week, well done). Also, I'm trying out a new preview system, so give this tune a listen right under the picture before you download.

Hilltop Hoods- The Nosebleed Section

Hype: Write The Future

You guys may be sick of World Cup ads by now, but I definitely am not. This awesome, epic, and clever Nike ad is probably one of the best ones ever.  Enjoy.

Listen To This: Starry Eyed (Jakwob remix)

This track is pretty different from a lot of the other stuff I've posted, so bear with me. I think this may be the first song on the blog solely featuring a female vocalist as well as the first dubstep song I myself have posted (shout to Bolens from Noizegasm for playing some dubstep at a party and really getting me interested in it).  It's almost a year old, but I think it was better to have found and posted this song now than to never have heard or shared it.  This song is ridiculously hypnotic, and manages to somehow get itself stuck in your head after the first few seconds before blowing your mind with some dirty dubstep around the one minute mark (I don't mean to ruin the song for you, but a YouTube commenter described this part best with the phrase "sounds like optimus prime masturbating").  Enjoy.

Ellie Goulding- Starry Eyed (Jakwob Remix)

BONUS: How I found this song.  The part where the dubstep kicks in is ridiculous.

Something I Like: Sleep Cycle (repost)

Here's a repost of my post about Sleep Cycle for anyone who saw the TV story and is interested in learning more.

Sleep Cycle is possibly my new favorite iPod app.  This innovative app works like this: before you go to bed, you place the iPod on the corner of the mattress under the sheets.  As you sleep, the iPod's accelerometer monitors the movement on the bed, and uses that to calculate which stage of the sleep cycle you are in (for those that aren't aware of what sleep cycles are, basically you alternate between being really asleep and just kind of asleep).  You set the alarm for a certain time, and if you end a sleep cycle anytime after half an hour before that time, it wakes you up.  Sounds like a load of bull right?  But mark my words, this thing works perfectly (unless you set the alarm for 6:30 PM instead of 6:30 AM like I did).  I wake up every morning feel extremely refreshed, even if I didn't get as much sleep as usual. It's freakin' awesome.  Get it (it's only 99 cents). Also, the App Store says the app only works on iPhones, but it works fine on my Touch.  Also, there's some new music out today and some from yesterday, but I'm not gonna post it because I want all of you to go to the post below this one and listen to Chiddy Bang.

How it works

Lifehacker write-up

Listen To This: We'll Be Alright

Travie McCoy follows up his song Billionaire with another harmless pop song. There's not much substance here (seriously, you can even tell that by the artwork), but hey, it's almost summer.  You might as well enjoy this one before it gets overplayed on Top 40 radio.  I also posted a link for another Bruno Mars song which I think many of my female readers will like (you can pick up his EP on iTunes).

Travie McCoy- We'll Be Alright

Bruno Mars- Count On Me [DIRECT DOWNLOAD]

Something I Like: Journey of Football

It looks like we're in the midst of a short music drought here, so here's another World Cup commercial, this time for African teams. I also included a link to download the song from the commercial.



Gnarls Barkley- Going On

Something I Like: Explosions In The Sky

This was a really slow weekend for music, which worked out well because this weekend was ridiculously busy for me.  A highlight of the last few days was attending Relay For Life, an incredibly powerful and moving experience.  After hearing stories from individuals profoundly affected by cancer, we all walked around the track in silence, for that moment unified in our sympathy and resolve.  Explosions In The Sky, a post-rock (rock instrumental) band from Texas, provided the aural backdrop for this singular moment.  Though the band has no singer, they still convey plenty of emotion through their cinematic mixtures of guitars, strings, and drums.  Each song, referred to by the band as a "cathartic mini-symphony", tells its own story.  You've probably already heard songs by them, as they were and are heavily featured in Friday Night Lights (both the movie and the incredible, incredible show).  You have to be in a specific mood for this stuff, but when you're in the right mood (I like to listen right before I go to bed),  the music is incredible.  Here is their most well known track, as well as a commercial utilizing another one of their songs to great effect (if you don't get chills, there's something wrong with you).

Listen To This: It Couldn't Be Done/(This Shit Was) All I Know

Didn't really know what to post today, so here's a mash up involving three artists which I have highlighted previously on the blog: Drake, Free Energy (if you haven't checked them out, get on that ASAP), and The Hood Internet (they put the thing together).  Enjoy.  There's some bonus Drake, T.I., and Big Sean down below if you want it.   CANCEL EVERYTHING! AWESOME NEW TRACK!   I'll leave the rest of the post up, but the track I found literally 5 seconds ago gets precedence. This song is the definition of dope (the Hood Internet track is also nice and more mainstream).

 Yonas- It Couldn't Be Done

 Yonas- I Am Us [Mixtape]

The Hood Internet- (This Shit Was) All I Know (Drake vs. Free Energy [DIRECT DOWNLOAD]

BONUSES 

Drake- Miss Me

Big Sean- Bullshittin' (Final version)

Listen To This: Next Time (Just Wright)

Common released this track in promotion of his newest movie, a romantic basketball comedy (lets be honest, I will probably never see this movie).  However, I will be listening to this track because of vintage soul, vintage Common vibe.  Enjoy.

Common- Next Time (Just Wright)

Something I Like: Modern Warfare

I wasn't originally going to post this (there's probably some new music I'm missing), but once in a while something comes along which is so brilliant that it supersedes everything else in terms of posting priority.  This incredibly hilarious and well-produced episode of Community is one such thing. Watch it, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

I Liked It: Iron Man 2

Michael Bay, I hope you're taking notes: this is how you make a bigger and better sequel. The second Iron Man, was, in a word, AWESOME.  The entire cast was great, from Robert Downey Jr.'s as the troubled genius Tony Stark to Don Cheadle as the erstwhile best friend to Gwyneth Paltrow as his faithful assistant to Scarlett Johansson as the hottest woman ever (I'll probably get in trouble for this...).  There is as much spectacle as ever, and, as is the case with many sequels, the number of characters & huge explosions is increased.  Granted, fitting more in sometimes makes the film feel as if it is jumping from one crazy set-piece to the next, but by the end, you find yourself not caring. The film is well-written, and I found myself questioning plot holes to have them covered in the next scene. The snappy, smart, and often hilarious dialogue kept me entertained during conversational scenes, and there was always plenty of eye candy of both the computer generated and Scarlett Johansson variety (Sorry...)  Honestly, I would sit for an additional two hours watching those awesome Iron Man suits in action. All in all, this slick, smart, fast-paced thrill ride is just a whole lot of fun.

Listen To This: The Other Side

Here's a nice new song from one of the hottest new artists of this year, featuring another star in the making. I've written more than enough about B.o.B, and Bruno Mars can do no wrong with his crazy-incredible pipes.

Bruno Mars- The Other Side ft. Cee-lo and B.o.B

BONUS: Bruno Mars- Somewhere In Brooklyn

Listen To This: The New Colossus

Finding a new band is always fun (even if I'm always a little late), and the one I have tonight is pretty good.  Like Chiddy Bang, this group combines a rapper (Kinetics) and a producer (One Love) to form the creatively titled Kinetics and One Love.  Though I prefer Chiddy Bang both in terms of lyrics and production, Kinetics and One Love still have some nice songs with a more electronic lean. This particular one samples the Transformers soundtrack, and it's a pretty good representation of their sound. If you like what you hear, you can cop their newest mixtape, Fading Back To Normal, at kineticsmusic.com.



Kinetics & One Love- The New Colossus

Bonus- Airplanes (Yes, Kinetics and One Love made it first.  Don't hate on B.o.B, he bought the rights to the hook fair and square.  Also, I can't find the demo tape with this song anywhere, so if you find it for me, I will be forever grateful.)

Something I Like: World Cup 2010 Commercials

Just a few ads to get all you soccer fans as hyped for the World Cup as I am.

BONUS: My all-time favorite.

Listen To This: Party and Bullshit (Ratatat remix)

Apologies for that song yesterday, I hadn't listened through it all the way and didn't notice how poorly some parts were mixed. I decided to delve into my iTunes and find a straight-up banger to make up for it.  This is a remix of Notorious B.I.G.'s "Party and Bullshit" by electronic rock duo Ratatat, whose next CD, LP4, is set to drop June 8th (You may know them from their production on Kid Cudi's "Pursuit of Happiness" or from the inclusion of their song "Tropicana" in the movie Knocked Up).  Enjoy (I know you will).


Notorious B.I.G.- Party and Bullshit (Ratatat remix) [iTunes download]

Listen To This: Coastin' On Mathematics

I came really close to not posting anything today before finding this sick mashup of Mos Def's "Mathematics" and Zion I's "Coastin'".  These are both two fantastic songs, and the piano riff complements Mos Def's vocals very well.  I would also recommend checking out the original versions of both songs, as the original Premo beat on "Mathematics" is crazy and "Coastin'" is a nice chill song. EDIT- I actually don't really like this song...

Smithlazers- Coastin' On Mathematics [DIRECT DOWNLOAD, RIGHT CLICK AND SAVE]