mixtape maestro (2.0)

Yes, co-signing with what everybody else with Internet access this past week has already screamed at you probably a million times over now: Cee-Lo‘s “Fuck You” is brilliant/ genius/ amazing/ the true song of the summer we’ve been waiting for/ one of the greatest records of not only this year, but, perhaps, all time.

An expletive-laced diss at an ex-flame/ gold-digger and her big ballin’ new man packaged as a cheery ’60′s Motown-pop romp and delivered through Cee-Lo’s heaven-sent soulful belts? With all of these elements involved, of course “Fuck You” was going to stir some deafening Web buzz; but for us what makes the song’s near-instantaneous universal embracing even more special is that, just like with the similar viral explosion response to that early leak of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” waaaay back in 2005, it re-positions Cee-Lo as the hottest pop and soul star in all of music land, an awesome reality to digest when you look at the comparably insignificant assembly-line bots most of the major labels are desperately pushing to have in those roles these days.

Fingers are crossed that when “Fuck You”‘s parent album, the Cee-Lo solo outing The Lady Killer, drops on December 7th, it’ll feature more of these modern classics to keep him perched atop that throne where he rightfully belongs.

Cop the single over at Cee’s website, then after the clip, snatch up Emynd‘s killer B-more club remix as well as an old Cee-Lo-featured fave.

“Fuck You”:

BONUS DL: Cee-Lo x Emynd “Fuck You (Emynd Baltimore Club Edit)” (alt)

BONUS DL: Dungeon Family (featuring Cee-Lo, Andre 3000, Big Gipp, Backbone, Big Boi & Sleepy Brown) “Trans DF Express” (alt)

Just as they’ve hit the road as opening act for the American leg of Chromeo‘s Business As Casual Summer 2010 tour, NY duo Telephoned have gifted fans with another serving of their fetching not-quite-covers/ not-quite-mash-ups record re-imaginations with new mixtape Keep Their Heads Ringin’.

Doing just what the collection title promises, Ringin’ features vocalist Maggie Horn taking on everything from Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” and Led Zeppelin’s “What It Is and What Should Never Be” to a spliced-together reading of Gucci Mane’s “Lemonade” and Sleigh Bells’ “Rill Rill”, with some, like a surprisingly awesome minute-long merging of The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love” atop Young Money’s “BedRock” instrumental, begging for lengthier treatments.

Peep out two of our favorites below, remakes of Chromeo’s “Night By Night” (set to the soul sample lushness of Big Boi’s “Shine Blockas”) and Yeasayer’s “O.N.E.” (gone reggae over Gyptian’s “Hold Yuh”), or simply grab the entire mixtape through Fools Gold.

DL: “Night By Night (Chromeo x Big Boi Cover)” (alt)

DL: “O.N.E. (Yeasayer x Gyptian Cover)” (alt)

Sandwiched between several colorful ATLien-funk boogies that should keep house parties pumping well into the next year, Sir Lucious Left Foot standout “Be Still” finds Big Boi slowing things down a bit to reflect on relationships, ceding much of the spotlight for another bravura vocal performance from his always-stunning “Tightrope” partner Janelle Monae.

Here, backed by a beat that’s anchored with a Prince-esque drum machine loop and set a-flight with starry-eyed synth prettiness and twinkling piano, Monae sets her delivery to relaxed and tender with a slight overcast of sorrow as she speaks on the long-lasting damage a failed romance has brought upon her: “I love being in love/ Then you let me down/…Giving up on love/ Makes my ocean drown”.

The theme may be a tad somber, but when you have Janelle slinking her way into your eardrums with the loveliest lullaby melodies, the threat of getting a lil’ teary-eyed for a couple minutes never felt so inviting.

“Be Still”:

It may only be June, but damn if it hasn’t felt like Christmas recently what with the benefit of getting not one, but TWO brand new Andre 3000-featured cuts in the past week.

The Outkast-reuniting “Lookin’ For Ya” is an especially bittersweet one, seeing as though the suits at Jive are being punks by not letting Three Stacks be officially attached to Stankonia partner Big Boi’s Sir Luscious Left Foot solo set; thank God having the two emcees compare randy escapades (involving Ikea furniture and vice grip-esque vaginas, no less) atop the track’s wondrous galactic-funk (with the always in-the-key-smoove Sleepy Brown riding shotgun) is thrilling enough to briefly subside our boiling anger at the record label execs’ foolish practices.

Having Andre be a part of a shimmery pop-glossed makeover of Ciara’s newest sex jam “Ride”, however, just leaves us scratching our heads in confusion.

We can’t blame 3000 for slobbering all over Ciara’s “beat”-riding skills (have you seen the original “Ride”‘s video?), but really, out of all the songs released in the past year truly begging his presence (Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope” being on the top of that list), this is the one that inspires him to take a trip outside of whatever (likely awesomer-than-awesome) hideout he’s been cruelly sheltering himself in the most?

Somebody, please help us understand…in the meanwhile, grab both tracks below.

DL: “Lookin For Ya” (alt)

DL: “Ride (Remix)” (alt)

It almost seems like a joke that after an EP’s worth of leakages from Big Boi‘s super-delayed solo debut Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty over the past couple of years, the rapper would now be unleashing the set’s official first single, but whatever, we can appreciate a new Outkast-affiliated track however it’s being tagged…especially if, like “Shutterbugg”, it has us wishing that we could skip the next couple of months and be smack-dab in the middle of a summertime heatwave blasting it through our opened sunroofs.

A sort of futuristic, Cali-funked sibling to “The Way You Move”, Big Boi’s 2003 tribute to the good-times, “Shutterbugg” orders your body to “cut a rug” from it’s first clap stomp and robo-beatbox burble, two of several excellent beat elements producer Scott “Possibly On A Come Back” Storch embeds into a track that acts as a sonic playground for Mr. “Daddy Fat Sacks” rapid-fire flow and wit-heavy lyricism to dally around in.

Special shout-outs to the talkbox-tweaked vocals, slick soul-man crooning and random burst of Soul II Soul karaoke that pop up in and around Big Boi’s verses, and their success in keeping us from ever once thinking during “Shutterbugg”‘s initial few playings how much cooler this song could be if Andre 3000 was involved.

Sir Lucious Left Foot is scheduled for a May release, but we’d be fools to think that date was set in stone.

DL: “Shutterbugg” (alt)

BONUS DL: Outkast “B.O.B. (Rage Against The Machine Remix)” (alt)

We would have easily put down big bucks last year in betting that B.o.B.‘s “I’ll Be In The Sky” would become the Atlanta-born talent’s “Day ‘n’ Nite” or “I Love College” (read: the breakthrough single to transition him from mixtape-based cult success to a hit in the ‘big leagues’ mainstream). The track’s pop-aware songcraft and infectious exuberance just felt like a smash waiting to happen, while also providing a competent substitute for the new Andre 3000 jams we weren’t getting.

For whatever reasons, though, the single never really caught on with the masses, but that’s okay, since a year later, B.o.B. has achieved breakthrough success anyway with latest entry “Nothin On You”, a track that in only a month has already garnered Top 5 placement on the Billboard Hot 100.

It only takes a half-of-a-listen to “Nothin’” to understand it’s sudden appeal. While in no means deep, the song (which essentially trades in “Sky”‘s Andre influence for a well-studied nick at Lupe Fiasco and Matthew Santos’ crossover tactics) immediately grabs the ears in it’s hip-pop-slickened summer-ready breeziness, with B.o.B. and featured vocalist Bruno Mars making pleasant enough collabo partners in their shared hype over “that special girl”.

Check the video below, followed by the Big Boi-featured remix.

B.o.B’s debut, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray, arrives April 27th.

DL: “Nothin On You (Remix)” (alt)

If somehow you’ve never managed to come across the eccentric soul-funk-rock dynamo that is Janelle Monae, boy do we feel sorry for you that your life is so lacking.

A super-heroine born out of the wedded universes of Stankonia, Broadway and whatever the hell alternate dimensions Grace Jones, Nona Hendryx and George Clinton and his P-Funk crew came from, Monae rocked music lovers in desperate need of something truly new to their core a few years back with her debut EP Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase, an awe-inspiring mini-set based around fanciful sci-fi concepts and genre-blurring production schemes.

This year marks Monae’s much-anticipated return, she’s set to drop sophomore collection The ArchAndroid in May, and she’s kicking off this brand new era with the unquestionably excellent “Tightrope”, a Big Boi collaboration basically encouraging listeners to follow her lead by doing themselves and doing themselves well with nary a thought given to the opinionated gab of others while pumping out their sweatiest jig in line with the track’s tightly wound, JB-inspired gaiety.

“I tip on alligators/ And little rattle-snakers/ But I’m another flavor/ Something like a terminator/ Ain’t no equivocating,” she breathlessly spews in a vocal performance that’s just as wildly infectious as “Tightrope”‘s rapid-paced mix of tumbling drums, funked out bass, Spanish guitar and sultry horn blasts. And while we would’ve gladly appreciated Andre 3000 gracing the cut with his presence (maybe for the remix?), we can’t easily dismiss his Outkast partner Big Boi’s slick, threat-soaked contribution: “See why you don’t want no friction like the back of a matchbook/ Daddy Fatsacks will fold you in your MacBook…”.

Add this single (available for purchase through Monae’s website) and the May-set release of The ArchAndroid as two more reasons why 2010 is shaping up to be a great year for music.

“Tightrope”:

Below, snatch up the cut that made us first fall in love with Monae: “Lettin’ Go”, a breezy tribute to Off The Hook-era MJ from 2005′s Got Purp? Vol. 2 compilation, that somehow makes getting fired from your job sound just as fun as winning the Lottery.

DL: “Lettin’ Go” (alt)

Isn’t it funny how “My Boo”, a thirteen year old R&B/ booty bass cut performed by an act a majority of folks (minus bloggers of course) probably wouldn’t be able to name without some Google aid, has suddenly turned into one of the most covered/ re-tooled tracks of ’09? Following DJ Solly’s chopped-up re-working of the Ghost Town DJ’s single (posted here back in July), the past few weeks has seen a few other new takes off “Boo” bubble their way to front pages all across the blog patch, and un-surprisingly, we heart every single one of them. Check ‘em out below:

American Dream Team “My Boo”

This Brooklyn-based squad of DJ’s, VJ’s, producers, designers and animators cover the record with a Cascada-esque dance-pop touch (though far less cheesy than that may sound), employing a slightly Auto-Tuned, anony-robo-female to mimic the song’s high school-age X’s and O’s sentiment in between a solid assortment of bloopety-bloop club noise. An ideal dancefloor delight.

DL: “My Boo” (alt) (American Dream Team)

Desktop “My Boo”

Desktop is an synth-pop duo out of Detroit who have released two EP’s this past year that are both chock full of fetching, keyboard-dominant tunes ’80′s pop lovers should dig (Our favorite: the work-out inspiring “Fired Up”).

Their “My Boo” remake features a faint loop of “A Milli” in the background, a killer opening groove that’s just begging to be sampled for some new crunk & b confection, a talk-box (we think) assisted breakdown that’s still got our heads spinning in circles and a heavily distorted lead male vocal that makes the longing lyrics take on a intriguing stalker-ish bent that wasn’t all that easily apparent in the original.

DL: “My Boo” (alt) (Desktop)

Mariah Carey featuring OJ Da Juiceman, Big Boi & Gucci Mane “H.A.T.E. U (Remix)”

Last but not least, Mimi busts through with this remix of her Memoirs’ slow jam ballad “H.A.T.E. U”, and we must say, anticipating entering the angry phase after breaking up with her man goes down a lot better when supported by the light bounce of a “Boo” sample and smirk-inducing guest turns from OJ Da Juiceman, Big Boi (“I’m colder than a polar bear’s toenails”) and, the “Ludacris of ’09″, Gucci Mane, in what’s probably his two-hundredth appearance on a song in the past four months alone (and yet somehow we still crave more cameos from the “Wasted” emcee).

DL: “H.A.T.E. U (Remix)” (alt)

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)

Another season, another awesomely bizarre Andre 3000 verse and another great sample from the recently revived soul icon Willie Hutch. Add to this the pairing of two of the greatest rap duos in hip hop and you have the breathtaking “International Playas Anthem”, a joint collabo between UGK and Outkast that should have hip hop heads staining up their drawls.

Andre 3000, head-to-head with Lil’ Wayne as 2007′s best guest star, starts things off with his usual big screen banter after finding “the one”. We follow him disconnect with all of the other ladies in his phone book (“I CC’ed every girl that’d I see-see around town/ And hate to see y’all frown but I’d rather see her smilin’”) while his homies are left concerned for his well-being (“You know we got your back/ Like chiroprac-tic/ If that bitch do you dirty/ We’ll wipe her ass out in some detergent”) in a vivid verse that will you have you envious of the man’s endlessly creative prose.

Over a minute in and the drums finally fire up, giving Pimp C, Bun B and Big Boi that unnerved energy as they hit the ground running with lyrics lit with blunt poetics that better define the ill-mannered mouthpiece of a true pimp. “Baby you been rollin’ solo/ Time to get down with the team”, Bun B seductively coaxes while his partner’s dancey flow drops lines like “Money on the dresser/ Drive a Compressor/ Top notch ho’s get the most/ Not the lesser” with the heavy thud of a sledgehammer. Meanwhile Big Boi’s contribution ends the song on the same high note it began, his nimble delivery spliced with spooky screwed up segments that never disrupts his concentration.

Even with all these great emcees strangling eachother for who’ll end up with the top prize, the true star of “IPA” is Hutch’s blax-soul epic “I Choose You”, making a recurring sampled appearance and not sounding any less transcendent even with all the overexposure. It’s gentle cascade of wailing harmonies makes for a grand mural for the double duos to paint winning characterized hood tales, confirming why DJ Paul and Juicy J turn to “The Mack” so often when they decide to hit the crates for something inspiring. The production is deemed even more magnificent with the slight manipulations Paul and J give it, mainly letting the sample play out with only subtle variations to help distinguish each verse.

Bringing us closer to the “true” Outkast album we’ve grown tired of waiting for and finally giving the boys of UGK the right jump-off for their heavily delayed reunion album UGK Underground Kingz, “International Playaz Anthem” is an all-around mass achievement for all parties involved with the musical legacy of the late Hutch earning the blue ribbon.