mixtape maestro (2.0)

It’s not the New Amerykah Part Two second single we were hoping for (that honor would fall onto the album’s Wings-looping seducer “Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long”), but that’s okay: you’d have to be severely deaf not to have some love for official “Window Seat” follow-up “Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)”, Erykah Badu‘s playfully lightweight update of Sylvia Striplin’s 1981 old-school fave “You Can’t Turn Me Away” (better known to the kids as the sample source to the Junior M.A.F.I.A./ Biggie classic “Get Money”).

Weaving multi-layered Betty Boop-ish chirps in and out the Striplin jam’s familiar rubbery funk and quirky hiccups, Badu sounds like she’s having a ball as she tries on what can be taken as either a prowling gold-digger guise or a satire swipe at artists willing to sell their soul for that almighty dollar (“I look like a model/ I’ll do what I gotta/
To stay in the runnin’/ Cause I want you money”; see…works both ways).

Peep the video, spliced with the Rick Ross-featured remix of “Window Seat”, below:

BONUS DL: Sylvia Striplin “You Can’t Turn Me Away” (alt)

BONUS DL: Junior M.A.F.I.A. feat. Notorious B.I.G. “Get Money” (alt)

For most of 1996 and ’97, you almost couldn’t go anywhere on the planet without being bombarded on a daily basis with the sound of Mark Morrison‘s pinched, reggae-tinged chops hyping the “Return of The Mack”. The slickly produced number, in which he was found re-collecting his swagger following an ego-crushing break-up, enjoyed a seemingly endless stranglehold on several international pop charts, turning the Germany-born singer into a multi-platinum success damn near overnight. Then came an incident with a stun gun, followed by numerous other run-ins with the law, all of which helped bring a quick end to Morrison’s commercial fortunes.

Fourteen years after that mega-hit’s reign, Morrison is planning a comeback with the release of his fourth studio effort, I Am What I Am sometime later this year. First single “B’ Day” pairs him with another semi-forgotten ’90′s radio staple (G-funk icon Warren G) and, all Holy MTV-Jams-Hosted-By-Bill-Bellamy Flashback, Batman! jokes aside, actually doesn’t sound all that bad.

Atop the track’s better-than-decent, squelchy house party funk, Morrison and G spend their lines praising an champagne-assisted night of feel-good, with Mark’s still intact nasally tones (now, of course, seasoned with a lil’ Auto-Tune aid) urging everyone to “Be on your worst behavior”.

True, it’s likely that those mature folks raised off of G-Funk’s Greatest Hits and Morrison’s previous pop peak will enjoy this the most, but we could definitely hear “B’ Day” earning some spins amidst the Jason Derulo’s and Taio Cruz’ of the world this summer. Besides, if someone as random as Cypress Hill can re-emerge with a solid, hot weather banger in 2010 (still a shocker), why not these two as well?

DL: “B’ Day” (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)

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)

Jack Splash has quietly made a name for himself over the past few years in his roles as singer, rapper, songwriter and producer.

Besides drawing raving acclaim for his contributions to Plantlife, a wildly entertaining, three-albums-deep funk outfit based out of L.A., he’s also hooked up some of the brightest talents in modern-day R&B (Alicia Keys, R. Kelly, John Legend, Raheem DeVaughn, Solange, Estelle, Jennifer Hudson, Jazmine Sullivan) with these amazingly lush sounds and classic-tinged romantic scripts steeped in the always-rewarding luster of yesteryear soul (credits include throwback-seasoned singles like Keys’ “Teenage Love Affair”, Legend’s “P.D.A.” and Solange’s “T.O.N.Y.”).

This year has the potential to be Jack’s true breakout year though, thanks to the premiere of his much-delayed solo debut, Technology And Love Might Save It All. But just in case you’re still not yet completely sold on why it should be a necessity for you to circle the May release date of the project (or, hell, are still scratching your head trying to figure out who dude is), we’ve gathered three previously unleashed cuts for your listening pleasure below. Promises you’ll be an instant fan after hearing them:

“I Could Have Loved You” featuring Missy Elliott & Jazmine Sullivan

-leaked to high praise last summer, this infectious four-on-the-floor delight finds the ladies and Splash in the midst of a flirtatious stand-off. “I could have loved you,” they tease in a buttery smoove R&B hook, but because they’re both already attached, they can only offer a naughty twirl on the dancefloor. With their mates nowhere in sight though, Jack isn’t fully convinced they’re telling the truth, inquiring in his best Prince voice, “If you gotta man at home/ Why you got them high heels on?”.

DL: “I Could Have Loved You” (alt)

“Ringtone” featuring R. Kelly & T-Pain

-here, Splash is once again on the prowl (“Baby I just wanna get with you/ In a most familiar way/ I don’t wanna cause a spectacle/ I just had to stop and say…”) and being flanked by a supporting cast of A-listers (T-Pain drops a rap verse, an Auto-Tuned Kellz provides the chorus); but the track’s most noteworthy element is it’s oddly meshed groove, a surprisingly effective combination of synth-R&B quirk and acoustic guitar sunniness

DL: “Ringtone” (alt)

“.38 Special” featuring Cee-Lo

-Splash’s latest leakage, from the forthcoming mixtape King of The Beats (due this week), re-teams him with The Heart Attack partner Cee-Lo, for an exquisite dishing of needly guitar funk, golden age mic braggadocio (“I ain’t talkin’ bout a gun/ My .38 special, I spit from my tongue…”) and the kind of soul-stirring Gnarls Barkley-ish hooks Cee handles so well.

DL: “.38 Special” (alt)

Sample some of Splash’s other creations via the widget below; pick up his last mixtape, Heir To The Throne, here.

MJ. Prince. Parliament/ Funkadelic. Rick James. The Gap Band. The Time. Robert Palmer. Hall & Oates. Cameo: These are just a few of the names that enter the brain when immersed in the slick, ’80′s-era White boy funk/ R&B of Pink and Purple, the newest release from Brooklyn singer/ songwriter/ producer Alan Wilkes.

Sounding as if Chromeo had been brainwashed into spending a couple weeks watching nothing but early-era BET video playlists, this continuously entertaining six-song EP fits in perfectly with music’s obsession with all things ’80′s in recent years. But rather than simply using new wave-y synths, electro-funk glitz and synthethic drum sounds as mere accents, Alan Wilkis takes things so much more further, showcasing an amazingly deft education in that era’s vibe with tunes that actually sound as if it they could’ve been on the charts way back when.

So many times throughout the collection, Wilkis fantastically seems to hone in on the same mindframe of that generation’s musicians, and the joy they must have felt in first realizing the endless musical possibilities of this “new” digital-based technology when mixed alongside the live band textures they had previously mastered, whether it’s through the dramatic slow build of closing ballad “Time Machine”, the infectious “me and all my protogees just jamming around” glee of P-funk exercise “N.I.C.E”, or the web-like keyboard intricacies of the title track that give nearly every four bars a different sonic identity.

Trust us. Cop the set, then sit back and press play. By the time you’ve hit the mid-way point of the EP, you’ll be hit with feelings of sorrow because you’re either too young to have experienced this magnificent era in real-time or you were around back then and have just been re-reminded how so much of today’s pitiful excuses for R&B, funk and pop pale in comparison.

DL: “N.I.C.E.” (alt)

“I got a box of chocolates that’ll rock the socks off any girl that wanna come my way,” teases His Purple Majesty, right before he calls on the arrival of a killer Linn-Drum strut.

For any longtime Prince fan, all it takes is these simple intro ingredients from his new single “Chocolate Box” to set them in an over-excited frenzy, as they’re once again faced with the possibility that the musical icon is delivering what has been desired for far too long: a return to his late-70′s to early-90′s pop, rock, funk and soul heights with a fresh, modern twist.

For the most part, “Box” does exactly that, pulling together several familiar Prince signatures (the orgasmic moans and squeals; a fierce synthetic funk groove; the new wave-y breakdown accented with a lil’ electric guitar spark) into an enjoyable enough whole. We even get glimpses of Prince’s clever pimp gab (at times, via the Auto-Tuned effect) as he plays mind games with some hot dame desperate for his goodies (“You can try to get it/ But I can’t let you hit it, cause you’re never gonna be the same”; “What’s the deal?/ Are you gay or poppin’ pills?/ Why you still wanna take my hand”; “You know you can’t make chocolate cake if ain’t nobody ever showed you how”), as well as a solid sixteen from featured guest Q-Tip.

Of course, it’s only when it’s compared to “Erotic City”, “Baby I’m A Star”, “Gett Off”, “U Got The Look” or any one of the other numerous delights from his heyday that “Chocolate Box” comes up short. But A: that’s a bit unfair, B: we should REALLY come to grips with the sad reality that the ass-less chaps favoring, floor-grinding Prince we loved so hard is no more, and C: we should just be thankful that “Box” isn’t another one of those boring, self-indulgent, forever-long noodlers the man has fancied so much in recent years.

From the MPLSoUND portion of his newly released three-CD set (also including LOtUSFLOW3R and protegee Bria Valente showcase, Elixer), that’s only available via Target.

Ahhh….“Superfreak”!! That relentless punk-funk groove! Those wink-wink lyrics! That sax solo! The friggin’ Temptations! A serpentine vocal that made you believe he was the freakiest man on the planet! No matter how many times you’ve heard it in in your lifespan, another spin of Rick James’ 1981 OTT uber-jam will never be met with disdain.

On this new one, Atlanta producer/ rapper JIGG rejuvenates the R&B party-starter with a little strip club banger swerve, and while the idea may seem a bit ho-hum on paper (haven’t MC Hammer and Jay-Z mined this one enough?), all it takes is one taste of the opening minute’s display of James’ “Freak”-praising yowls lain atop a molasses-cruising stew of tip-toe synth stabs and other recognizable Southern thug-&-b production tricks and you’ll be quickly won over, wondering why no one thought of using the song in this way before.

Following that exciting intro, JIGG takes over the mic to relate the nature-rising joys of having down-’n-stanky, 3 AM sex sessions with the titular character. His rap contribution is decent, delivering the requisite freak banter these type of songs demand in an ear-friendly (though oh-so-distractingly Plies-like) drawl, but the anticipatory satisfaction of James’ triumphant return for each hook insertion sadly makes his verses feel like an after-thought in the overall picture.

Rick James…even posthumously his presence is hard to overshadow.

JIGG’s debut, Since 1983, is set for a Spring/ Summer release.

DL: “Superfreak” (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)

Growing funk/ soul sensation Kevin Michael brings attention back stateside for one of music’s most exciting new talents. The 23 year old singer-songwriter embodies the kind of early Prince/ Sly Stone sound we’ve craved since D’Angelo, Maxwell and Cody ChesnuTT all went into seclusion and is sure to make big waves in the future if his amazing debut single, “We All Want The Same Thing” is any indication of what this cat can come up with.

A backwoodsy, front porch groove establishes the setting early on for this subdued demand for change. Unifying the different social sects he inhabits in an effort for some sort of trans-racial revolution (“All my gangsta friends/ All my skater friends/…Jesus freaks and thugs/ We all want the same thing”), Michael’s delicate phrasings (think El DeBarge with an Afro pick and handful of incense) and the track’s lean, paced arrangement is a soothing antithesis to the intimidating force message-oriented artists usually employ. His choice not to delve into too many details (he casually mentions his disappointment in politicians) keeps everything light and preferable to the production, but you don’t get the sense that he’s incapable of fleshing out his opinion, just careful not to let his words get in the way of the music.

Lupe Fiasco, this generation’s Tribe Called Quest/ De La Soul all rolled into one, compliments Michael well, helping embed a certain contemporary hip hip sensibility to prove that Kevin doesn’t only exist in some retro plane.

It’s one of those irresistible debut records that instantly categorizes an artist, perfectly encapsulating their entire artistic scope, as it currently stands, into an informing four minute introduction. With real R&B beginning to make a comeback in 2007, the mysterious Kevin Michael stands as the ideal man to help lead off the new soul era.

Download: “We All Want The Same Thing” (Amazon)