mixtape maestro (2.0)

If the releases of official lead singles “Over” and “Find Your Love” and the seemingly endless stream of leaks that littered the Web in the weeks after taught us anything about Drake‘s Thank Me Later, it was mostly that the Canadian rapper’s much-anticipated debut wasn’t going be the instantaneously-heralded classic many had prematurely hyped it to being. If anything, it felt more and more like Later was going to be a grower, one of those albums whose true greatness wouldn’t be uncovered until one had had the chance to sit with it for awhile.

Following the “Internet premiere” of TML in it’s entirety last week (fourteen days ahead of schedule), we can now see that we were correct in our assumption, because on first listen, the album doesn’t register as anything all that special.

Chalk that initial reaction up to the album’s overall sonic dreariness. A little too over-reliant on darkly-textured soundscapes and drowsy R&B hooks and verses, even the set’s attempt at “bangers” are handicapped by an adherence to such moody detailing.

Continue to give Later spin love however (and recall that Drake’s breakthrough mixtape So Far Gone followed a similar nocturnal vibe), and it eventually becomes easier to appreciate what’s actually a solid set, impressive in it’s avoidance of typical modern rap LP hodge-podge manufacturing for a focus on cohesiveness, where all the songs follow a singular musical style and concept (strikingly intimate, diary-like accounts of the celebratory highs and heart-bruising lows of life post-fame), and the featured guest stars and producers compliment rather than steal attention away from the overall theme.

Of Later‘s many highlights that are not singles, we recommend the chilled knocker “Unforgettable”, which gets grand assists from an Aaliyah vocal snippet (via her cover of The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best”) and Young Jeezy’s always welcome, floating-in-mid-air rap flow magic (special shouts to that “His and her firearms” line), and “Fancy”, which features Drake and T.I. throwing props at independent women (“Well aren’t you a breath of fresh air/
From all these superficial gold digging bitches in here…”) atop a hypnotically swirly, Swizz Beatz soul sample beat.

Check out the tracks below (along with a couple recent Drake remixes), and try to peel the money out of your wallet on June 15th to cop the album. Promises, while you may not immediately take to the album, odds are you’ll end up doing exactly like the man says and thanking Drake later for crafting such a strong set.

“Unforgettable”:

“Fancy”:

BONUS DL: “Find Your Love (Rosco’s Outstanding Bounce Mix)” (alt) (shouts)

BONUS DL: “Art of Over (Thriller Phil Remix)” (alt) (shouts)

For a guy that’s ruled the R&B scene in the eyes of plenty music crits the last couple of years, it was mighty disappointing that The-Dream chose to lead off his highly anticipated third album Love King with that very limp and been-there-heard-that title track/ first single. Thankfully, a handful of recently unleashed early leakages (including that hot, Luda-laced “Love King (Remix)”) have reassured us that King still has the potential of being another solid release from the singer-songwriter-producer.

Our favorite of the bunch for the moment? The T.I.-featured “Make-Up Bag”, which, following the lame “I got hoes in different area codes” theme of “King”, reminds one of how great(ly hilarious) Dream’s pen game can be when he’s really trying.

Bypass the main hook, a silly how-to lesson enlightening his fellow men on the best way to win an angry woman over (“If you ever make her mad/…Drop five stacks on that make-up bag”), and focus in on the drama excellently brought forth in the verses, which follow Dream stumbling home at two in the morning ready to get it on with his main lady after a night of “Patron-in”, only to instead get the hand and the boot because his clothes are marked with some other woman’s foundation and perfume.

Extra points for all the small details he peppers within the scenario, from the “Chanel No. 5″ shout-out and dig at Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” (“She packin’ all of my shit/ Putting it all on the left”) to his hilarious need to inform the listener that the entire time the woman is flipping out, she’s clothed in nothing but panties.

Love King arrives June 22nd, but prior to that, look for Dream to drop the album-teasing mixtape Love Sessions, which features a curiously straight-forward cover of Aaliyah’s 1996 hit “One In A Million”.

DL: “Make Up Bag” (alt)

BONUS DL: “One In A Million (Aaliyah Cover)” (alt)

Oh look, it’s in-box cleaning out time again.

Wale & Just Jack “Embers/ Good Girls (Phillip Martell Mash-Up Remix)”

For it’s first two-thirds, this mash-up concoction by ATL DJ Phillip Martell emerges quite effective in it’s enchanting blend of the acapella from Wale’s 2007 track “Good Girls” with a hyper-speed orchestral loop and sampled vocal snippets swiped from Just Jack’s ’09 UK hit “Embers”, but it’s in it’s final minute-and-a-half when the project truly blooms, thanks to Martell completely doing away with the JJ instrumental for a killer assault of electro-house pomp.

DL: “Embers/ Good Girls (Phillip Martell Mash-Up Remix)” (alt)

Aaliyah “One In A Million (Belief Remix)”

The third installment in L.A.-based producer Belief‘s on-going Aaliyah remix project
finds him taking on the late singer’s 1996 classic “One In A Million”, and while nothing could really come close to topping the way-ahead-of-it’s-time Y3K sonics Timbaland cooked up for the original, we’re digging the languid, neo-soul-ish incense vibe Belief brings here.

DL: “One In A Million (Belief Remix)” (alt)

Private “My Secret Lover”

First things first: Thomas Troelson, the main producer and lead singer dude of this Dutch dance-pop trio, looks a little bit freaky.

Once you get past his physical creepiness, though, you’ll likely be swept away by the pure ’80′s pop infectiousness on display in this single, an irresistible sugar packet of helium-voice mackadelics (“Girl take off your dress/ Let’s make this place a mess!!”), warped old-school B-boy-isms and glossy bubblegum-funk carved from the guilty pleasure-filled catalogue of Wham!.

DL: “My Secret Lover” (alt)

Tayma Loren featuring The-Dream “Tipsy”

This Detroit-born R&B newcomer‘s real-life brother Carlos “Los Da Mystro” McKinney has co-helmed some of the best The-Dream jams (“Shawty Is A 10″, “Rockin’ That Thing”, “Walkin On The Moon”, “My Love”), as well as hits for Usher (“Trading Places”), Trey Songz (“I Invented Sex”) and J. Holiday (“Bed”), so it’s only right that he would hook up his sister with a joint that’s just as smash-worthy.

Tayma’s debut single “Tipsy” oozes that signature Dream/ Mystro radio magic, from it’s light and lazy piano bounce to the quirky, echo vocal mini-hooks speckled throughout it. It’s most entertaining factor, however, lies in the humorous honesty of it lyrics’, which detail how a drunken, post-nightclub one night stand usually ends up being a regrettable moment in one’s life rather than the mind-blowing sexcapades event most R&B acts blow it up to be (“When you wake up/ It’s all fucked up”).

DL: “Tipsy” (alt)

When looking back at some of the best artist/ producer teamings in R&B and Pop music history, Timbaland and the late, great Aaliyah deserve to be recognized somewhere near the top of the pack. Though the singer didn’t have the biggest pipes, once her slinky, understated purr was interwoven into one of Tim’s mad scientist Y3K pop-funk sonics, the most incredible aural magic always seemed to happen. Hell, you could place any one of their joints next to a majority of what’s lodged on today’s Hot 100 list and their collaborations would still sound flyer, fresher and a million times more innovative.

When we got word that L.A. producer Belief (Murs, Jean Grae, C-Rayz Walz) was taking on a new remix project in which he would give some of Aaliyah’s classics some brand new flavor, we approached the results with much trepidation and our hands already palming the “Hell No” buzzer, just knowing that this dude’s “modern updating” would likely make Aaliyah & Timbaland’s greatest jams sound like some corny Lady Gaga knock-offs.

Much to our pleasant surprise though, the two re-imaginations that Belief have so far unleashed have quickly swatted away all traces of our initial pessimism (both involve enough genre-melding imagination to actually sound like beatscapes Aaliyah might have possibly considered taking on), birthing an excited anticipation for the premieres of his future Aaliyah Remix Project works in it’s place.

Take a listen/ peep the videos to Belief’s fantastic remixes of Aaliyah’s 2000 #1 “Try Again” (now bedazzled with summery synth blurbs, old school drum loops and a lil’ electric guitar rock sparkle) and her under-appreciated 2001 gem “We Need A Resolution” (re-configured with a tense, electro-R&B stomp that nicely compliments the lyrics’ relationship drama) below:

“Try Again (Belief Remix)”:

DL: “Try Again (Belief Remix)” (alt)

“We Need A Resolution (Belief Remix)”:

DL: “We Need A Resolution (Belief Remix)” (alt)

Many have tried to fill in the gap left in R&B in the eight years since Aaliyah’s passing (and you know the ones we’re referring to), but none have been able to really match the angelic-voiced singer’s always intriguing display of mysterious tomboy sex appeal and understated vocal grace or her excellent ability in complimenting Timbaland’s manic beats rather than being swallowed up and made irrelevant by them.

Listening to some of her and Timbaland’s best collaborations now-the hip hop tip-toe “Are You That Somebody?”, the serpentine seducer “We Need A Resolution”, “More Than A Woman”‘s superhero synth funk, “Try Again”‘s Matrix-esque digi-soul-you can still grasp onto brand new things to adore amongst their complex rhythm patterns, smooved out vocal melodies and compelling (and shamefully oft-overlooked) lyrical sketches, bringing one once again to wonder how many more different ways she would have blown our minds musically by now had she not moved on.

That question will never be answered, but such a frustration won’t ever stop us from always celebrating the greatness she produced the short time she was with us.

Below, check out three recent tributes to the much-missed “Baby Girl” that planted major smiles on our faces: sick electro-soul covers of “4 Page Letter” (by Cali producer AFTA-1 and vocalist Nikko Gray) and “Rock The Boat” (by UK songstress/ Basement Jaxx collaborator Vula) from urban culture webzine SoulCulture‘s fantastic new covers EP, Aaliyah Revisited (grab it FOR FREE here); And DJ Benzi and Skratch Bastid‘s “dope X infinity” blend of “Rock The Boat” and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s deathless, triple-degree weather classic “Summertime”.

DL: AFTA-1 featuring Nikko Gray “4 Page Letter” (Aaliyah Cover)” (alt)

DL: Vula “Rock The Boat (Aaliyah Cover)” (alt)

DL: “Rock The Boat (Benzi & Skratch Bastid’s ‘Summertime’ Remix)” (alt)

Originally composed and released by the iconic Isley Brothers (from their 1976 collection Harvest For The World) before becoming a major radio hit for Aaliyah nearly two decades later (her R. Kelly-handled remix of the tune remains one of the great jeep jams of the 90′s), the timeless R&B ballad “(At Your Best) You Are Love” is beautifully brought to life yet again via this gorgeous recording by twee Sweden songbird El Perro del Mar.

It’s lush R&B sparkle now transformed into a low-key, electro-toned lullaby, Perro’s take feels damn near weightless, her ethereal coo floating through the arrangement like a barely heard whisper in the breeze. And beneath all these softened detailings, “At Your Best” sounds just as poignant as it always has, the striking chorus lyric of “You’re a positive motivating force within my life” still resonating as one of the most touching lines ever put to tape.

DL: “(At Your Best) You Are Love (Isley Brothers Cover)” (alt)