mixtape maestro (2.0)

Jay-Z tried, but sadly his grumpy old rapper efforts were, it seems, for naught.

As if “D.O.A” never meant anything (which, to be honest, it kinda didn’t about a nanosecond after first hearing it), T-Pain, one of the bigger faces of the “Auto-Tune” movement that’s suffocated the pop, R&B and rap music scenes in recent years, has polished off his BIG ASS CHAIN and begun his march back to ubiquity. Leaks from his forthcoming fourth album RevolveЯ have already started to surface all across the Web, but the tracks that will likely trigger more interest amongst the masses would have to be the couple of high-profile remix gigs found below that he’s smartly lined up to aid in creating buzz for his…guess you could say “comeback”.

The first re-pairs him with R&B kindred spirit of-sorts R. Kelly in a 2.0 take of what’s become Kellz biggest hit in two years, the currently chart-climbing “Number One”. And like their previous collaborations (the remixes to “Same Girl” and “I’m A Flirt”), it’s another memorable joint of the minds between the two modern soul freakazoids.

Featuring Keyshia Cole in place of Keri Hilson and dubbed a “remix for the clubs” despite the fact it bears the same slow groove tempo of the original, the song births plenty of great lyrical snippets to add to both men’s already very lengthy lists of awesomely WTF!! songwriting nuggets, from Pain’s “I’m-a put that BMI all over your ASCAP” to Kelly’s “Baby girl I guarantee once I get up in you/ I will make that pussy speak to me in Auto-Tune” making for what could best be described as robot-icized sex jam heaven!!

DL: “Number One (Remix)” (alt)

For his other remix appearance, T-Pain is inserted into a “re-configured for urban airplay” version of Shakira’s “She-Wolf” that ticks all the necessary boxes to realize it’s goal with it’s disco beat stifling, generic ‘09 hip-pop production overhaul (listening to it, you nearly expect Flo-Rida to pop up with some corny club rap banter at some point).

Unnecessary? Totally, though some slight entertainment value can be found in Mr. Pend-Her-Ass-Down’s aping of Shakira’s vocal melody. But it did get us to thinking of how cool would it have been if he had found a way to bring his boy R. Kelly in here. Having the “R” in R&B spout out some naughty verse about a fanged seductress would have really brought this revamp to the next level.

DL: “She-Wolf (T-Pain Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized auto-tune, keyshia cole, r. kelly, remix, sex jam, shakira, t-pain

For close to two decades (!!) we’ve relied on Mary J Blige’s raw, grainy (and, at times, off-key) whoops to help keep some semblance of true, from-the-soul authenticity alive in the contemporary R&B realm, and even though those fiery chops have gotten smoothed over in recent years, we never once thought that she would ever think of joining the “singing android” parade. Yet, there she was on the summer-leaked (and Drake-featured) “The One”, crushing plenty of hearts across the globe in her unnecessary decision to undergo the Auto-Tuned treatment.

Why MJ why, we sighed and whimpered, hoping that the track would either end up in the recycling bin, get passed onto some lesser naturally-gifted singer, or at least be given a post-”D.O.A”, vocal effect-stripped make-over before it’s official release. Unfortunately, our wishes were ignored: “The One”, minus any revisions, would ultitimately be branded as the jump-off single for Mary’s 9th studio effort, Stronger.

In a case of the video sort of making a song better though, thanks to “One”’s heavily stylized accompanying clip, featuring Blige cutting up a rug while getting her sexy swag on under a neon-lit glow, our initial hesitations towards the record have alleviated some.

It’s plinky-plonk futuro beat may fall a tad on the generic side but it does bump (a fun vibe we actually requested from her a couple months back), the boasting lyrics are cool (“Let me break it down if you don’t get it/ Quality, I’m custom-fitted/…Boy don’t you know I’m the one”"), and the Auto-Tune is really only heard on a couple lines. Still, let it be known that we would fully appreciate it if Blige left the roboticized gimmicks to the chicks that really need it from here on out.

Stronger drops this November.

Uncategorized auto-tune, diva pop, drake, electro-R&B, mary j blige

The last rapper we’d expect to embed themselves in gospel duo Mary Mary’s Auto-Tuned-slickened crossover jam “God In Me” (think “Blame It On The Alcohol” with a hip, inspirational slant) would be Clipse’s Malice, but here he is on this remix, dropping an intro sixteen that he questionably opens with his nickname tag “Patty Cake” (because, remember, he’s “the baker’s man”) before delving into some Him-appreciating dialogue (“See I was wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked/ Without the Lord, how could I make it?”).

We wouldn’t have predicted this collaboration (ever!!!!), but in the end, we must admit, they make for a pretty cool team.

DL: “God In Me (Remix)” (alt)

Peep the original’s video (featuring cameos from Kanye West, Farnsworth Bentley and…whoa, Holy ’90’s Flashback, Batman!!: Miss “I Love Your Smile” herself, Shanice!!) below:

Uncategorized auto-tune, clipse, girl group, gospel, kearra "kiki" sheard, malice, mary mary

If we had to pick one track we were most excited about from Discovery’s long-awaited debut, aside from recently realized addiction “So Insane”, it would have to be the album’s proposed cover of Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”.

It’s no secret how much we adore cover songs around here, and it should be stated that we geek off crazy over anything Jackson-related (hell, we give Rebbie Jackson’s underappreciated hit, the MJ-assisted “Centipede”, at least one good spin a week), so yeah…the idea of this definitely excited us.

Then we actually listened to it.

Now, don’t get us wrong, not all of Discovery’s remake effort is tragic as there’s a certain delight in the sound of “I Want You Back”’s familiar bassline slowly moving to the forefront in the intro, followed by an exciting explosion of shimmery electro-pop noise around the :30 mark. But shortly after that arrives the beginnings of this strangled, computerized croon and instantly, it’s like someone pierced our joy balloon with a rusty shank.

We understand how difficult it might be in grown men perfectly replicating the bright chops of a young Michael Jackson, but couldn’t the Auto-Tune/ vocoder effects (or whatever the hell was used here) been passed over just this once?

We’re still Discovery fans, but we have to give this one a low grade just because it let us down so hard.

DL: “I Want You Back (Jackson 5 Cover)” (alt)

Uncategorized 70's, auto-tune, cover song, discovery, electro-pop, indie pop, jackson 5, michael jackson

With “I’m The Ish/ Shit” (and it’s many star-laden remixes) continuing to pierce the hearts of dance, hip hop and pop lovers alike around the globe, the song’s creator, DJ Class, now seems intent on maintaining this new plateau of mainstream-edging fame.

Class’ newest cut, no-brainer future club staple “Dance Like A Freak”, sees him cooking up a near-overwhelming ear assault of minor key taps, Prince-like drums and blurting synths as continued inspiration for the sexy dancefloor babe who’s got every set of male eyes in the spot fixated on her every sensuous shimmy.

Her choreography is so hypnotizing, it’s turned the robo-vocalled Class into a stalker-ish fool, invading her headspace with nosy digs into her personal info (“Lemme get your phone number…”; “Tell me where you stay at…”) before quickly moving to bank account-denting promises of whisking her and her friends away on a trip through the skies. And just in case she’s not easily swayed, he makes clear she fully understands how legit his big baller status is, matter-of-factly adding “No I don’t fly Delta/ We charter up at ‘Million-Air’”.

The perfect successor to “Ish” (the uber-annoying Ron “Jumping Out The Window” Browz should take notes; this is how you do Auto-Tune-enhanced club anthems right), “Dance Like A Freak” should have plenty of bodies following it’s titular order long enough to sustain DJ Class’ appeal until his new album, Alameda & Coldspring, drops later on this year.

Can’t wait to see what rapper jumps on this one first!!

DL: “Dance Like A Freak” (alt)

Uncategorized auto-tune, baltimore, Bmore club, dj class

While it was sad to see Lil’ Kim get booted off of “Dancing With The Stars” a couple nights back, bringing an end to a surprisingly successful run, not too many tears are being shed from this corner of the “web-iverse”, since the elimination hopefully means she’ll now have the free time to start focusing on finally giving us the fifth album she’s pushed off for so long.

And by “album” we mean body of work that gives us the fierce-on-the-mic Lil’ Kim of the “Quiet Storm (Remix)”, not the lost-sounding rappress that’s been struggling at the music game comeback since her release from behind bars three years ago.

Though her current single “Download” lands as a capable summertime jam (mostly thanks to it’s lazy sampling of 80’s R&B fave “Computer Love” and another stellar vocal performance from the underappreciated Charlie Wilson), it’s just not the official re-introduction Kim (or the sadly dissipated female rap genre) needs right now. With it’s corny cyber-sex rhymes (“We goin’ back and forth, sendin’ e-mails/ He a thug, so i hit him on his Gmail/ His sense of humor got me writin’ L-O-L…”) and her trendy teeter-tottering from half-sung to provocative whisper raps, “Download” is third or fourth single material at best.

All we ask is that she take that inner-fire that made her a fan-favorite on the “Dancing” stage (or the same dedication she has towards plastic surgery) and somehow transport it to the pad and pen to give us something that will truly blow us away. Come on Kim, we know you got it in you.

Lil Kim Download Featuring Charlie Wilson & T – Pain Music Video

Uncategorized 80's, auto-tune, charlie wilson, female rap, lil' kim, sex-rap, soul sample, summertime, t-pain

2007 promised big things for Atlanta rapper Gorilla Zoe.

Brought into the Boyz N The Hood unit to replace prized-member-turned-solo-star Young Jeezy, Zoe had the good luck to be featured on two back-to-back third-quarter ‘07 releases: BNTH’s sophomore album, Back Up N Da Chevy, and his own solo debut, Welcome To The Zoo. But beyond his initially intriguing Jeezy sound-alike-ness and the briefly popular, club-and-street-hugged bouncer that was “Hood Nigga”, neither album managed to make much of a lasting commercial mark.

It looked like Zoe was going to soon fade away into the ever-overcrowded sea of faceless rap entities…that is, until he began to pique some major interest with last fall’s gruffily sung (!!) “Lost”, a bleak, Drumma Boy-produced slow-crawler that saw him teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown.

Managing to become a modest hit, “Lost” re-sparked Zoe’s buzz, leading to wonders of how, or if, this slightly intriguing “new sound” would further be manifested on his forthcoming second LP, Don’t Feed Da Animals. Apparently, by the sounds of Animals‘ latest leakage “Echo”, it seems “Lost” was no one-off fluke away from his typical dope-boy musings.

An Auto-Tuned-favoring (yeah, he’s singing again) kiss-off that could easily be mistaken for an Akon or Sean Kingston number if it wasn’t for Zoe’s deep shower croon, “Echo” is definitely the rapper’s most pop-leaning track yet. Swirly, new wave-y synths apply a sleek, 80’s sheen behind mocking taunts towards an old girlfriend. “You did this to yourself/ Now you’re all by your self/ Acting like you hate me/ All because you ain’t me,” he smirks, pushing the knife in only deeper with the further ridiculing hook: “I’m gone and all you hear is your own damn echo/…No one to hear you/ There’s nobody near you”.

Ultimately, despite “Echo”’s needing of a bit more polish, Zoe shows here that he has to know-how to craft a decent enough Top 40 hit on par with other “rappa-ternt-sanga” entries from Kanye West and T.I.; it’s listenable and deserving of a sing-along or head nod or two. But it’s also a bit disappointing to see him jump from the darkish slant of “Lost” to super-radio-friendly Flo-Rida material so fast. It would have been nice to have a bit more edge injected (maybe a break into a straight-forward rap, or at least a guttural “uh” intro) to keep it from being so blatantly mainstream sounding and serve a stronger connection to his previous material.

You can listen to the original here, but below, peep and snatch up the slightly superior remix to “Echo” featuring none other than Diddy. Is it sad that Mixtape Maestro wishes the roles were reversed and Diddy was given more of a prominent position, with Zoe just relegated to hook and bridge duties?

DL: “Echo (Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized Atlanta, auto-tune, diddy, drumma boy, gorilla zoe, remix

Every six months we fall for the same damn line. One of those Outkast boys emerge from their Stankonian hibernation to unleash the heart-stopping news that they’re hard at work in finishing up a solo album. They then announce a somewhat vague release date, then further tease that their partner’s individual project will arrive soon after followed by that long-anticipated, non-soundtrack or double album, full-on Outkast LP. And then we wait…and wait…get all excited over some lone single or hot mixtape feature…and then wait and wait some more…only to get nothing, but a repeat of the same announcement we had received a half a year earlier.

What’s the deal!?!?! It’s not like we haven’t built up enough depression anticipating those new Dre, Lauryn and D’Angelo albums!!

Anyways, to help calm our hysteria, something new from the OK camp has arrived with the leaking of a new Big Boi track from his long pushed-back Sir Luscious Left Foot set…and it unfortunately has Maestro’s second favorite Outkast halve (by a hair!!!) dabbling within a slick, but ultimately far too un-exciting, R&B soundscape.

A texted XOXO to a woman so precious she’s awarded her very own personalized ring, “Ringtone” is highlighted by Big Boi’s naughty rhymes and nimble flow patterns and features a cool synth bass mid-way through that subtly shouts-out the rapper’s undying love for all things old-school funk. Too bad we’re delivered small doses of that and in their place, beat over the head with a boring, over-reliance on lengthy talkbox-affected hooks and a backing track that casually bounces along without really going anywhere.

“Ringtone” might hold a sliver of low-key charm to it’s benefit (Big “The Way You Move” lovers will likely admire this one the most), but after waiting so damn long for Sir Luscious to arrive, we expected something a bit more eventful to surface.

DL: “Ringtone” (alt)

Uncategorized auto-tune, big boi, funk, outkast, sex-rap, southern rap

While most of this year’s VMA’s oddly came across a little too sedate, the show did feature at least one performance that got folks REALLY talking the next day, whether positively or negatively. Mr. Kanye “I’ll never appear at another VMA again” West capped the night off with an extraordinary performance of neck hair-raising new single “Love Lockdown”, featuring a glow-in-the-dark heart brooch thing, shadowy tribe-men filling the air with booming drum work and some neat explosion tricks. Oh yeah, and the track saw the rapper/ producer SINGING robo-voice-styled for it’s entire length. As expected, message boards across the vast World Wide Web lit up with all kinds of extreme public reaction concerning his latest artistic move, much in the same way the masses got all uber-excited once his game-changing “Stronger” dropped last summer.

With the release of this sub-quality studio rendition, we now have the opportunity to better absorb what the hell he’s doing. Is “Love Lockdown” the best song ever, or does it’s demented soul-tronica edge come off a little underwhelming in this off-stage translation? For the time being, we’ll have to say our initial reaction lands somewhere in between the two.

Kanye manages to make nearly every one of his records a ginormous event and “Love Lockdown” ranks as one of his biggest and strangest. From the clever bass-as-heartbeat that hauntingly back-ends the track to the manic percussion explosion, freaky piano lines and animal shrieks that eventually emerge, the spooky instrumental lures you with it’s sinister mood. The lyrics feature him crooning with the weight of a heavy sadness, sounding like the ghost of a soul-man raised from his grave. “I’m not lovin’ you/ The way I wanted to,” he opens, succeeding lines echoing the same gloomed melody as he further colors the internal strife he’s found himself trapped in-betwixt (“See I wanna move/ But can’t escape from you…”; “I can’t keep myself/ And still keep you too”).

As far as smart career trajectories go, “Love Lockdown” lands as the logical next step for an artist aiming to keep challenging himself and his audience creatively. But where it slightly disappoints is in it’s failure to retain some of that edge-of-your-seat suspense demonstrated in it’s introductory VMA execution, something that’s not entirely his fault since that was the first time most of us had got a strong gist of what the song was. Thankfully, we’re given hope in that this isn’t the final version, and if we know West as much as we think we do, once the final mix is unearthed, this alt-blues confessional will truly shine as the classic stunner he most likely already thinks it is.

DL: “Love Lockdown (Studio)” (YFH)

Uncategorized 808s and heartbreak, auto-tune, kanye west, love lockdown, retro

In the midst of a huge media blitz to advertise the release of her well-awaited Good Girl Gone Bad LP, Rihanna’s monolithic summertime banger “Umbrella” gets a revamping from fellow R&B star Chris Brown in this so-corny-it-actually-works basement constructed “remix”.

Already earning major spins, a rare coup for something that sounds so obviously bootleg, Chris Brown twists the chanty hook into a new chorus (“You can be my Cinderella-ella-ella-ay-ay-ay”) in this geeky fanboy reply. As captivated with the Barbados beauty as the rest of us, Brown borrows T-Pain’s vocoder (an annoying trend that needs to die like yesterday) as he sings to her poster on his bedroom wall (“You’re becoming a dream to me/ A fairy tale fantasy/ Nothing can never compare/ An image to my memory”). What doesn’t compare is his overenthusiastic vocal to her dry, distant tone, but when their choruses start interplaying and Brown throws his own ad-libs into the mix, the awkward blending really starts to resonate and we get an entire new reason to pump “Umbrella” again and again.

If Rihanna wasn’t a smart cookie and already moving on to future great singles, this could’ve made for a cool video. Maybe he could cut and paste himself into her clip the same way he did to her song, doing headstands and boogaloo pops to help her deflect those damn water streams. Though we could do without him posing naked in silver paint.

Chris Brown – Umbrella (Remix) – Chris Brown Feat. Rihanna

Uncategorized auto-tune, chris brown, duet, good girl gone bad, rihanna, summertime, umbrella