mixtape maestro (2.0)

Can’t say we’ve heard anyone mutter “When’s the next JD album coming out?” um…ever, but apparently that hasn’t stopped So So Def CEO and longtime hitmaker Jermaine Dupri from deciding on recording another one, which would be his first solo release since 2001′s “Welcome To Atlanta”-housing Instructions.

Early preview “I Heard Um Say” should muster up mild public interest in the project though, the beat’s slightly blasphemous Jock Jams-stylized redux of White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” bearing a certain boisterous hip-pop charm. With the addition of a few more colorful emcees to help bring it some lyrical personality (JD might be one of the better producer-rappers out there, but his serving of big baller braggadocio rhymes are milquetoast, at best, here), this might even have a chance at ruling the autumn season for a bit.

DL: “I Heard Um Say” (alt)

It seems like every three months brings about some new teen rap group emerging out of whatever regional pocket of the nation to push some new fashion/ dance/ hip hop sub-genre movement for the young’un set to heavily obsess over then just as quickly forget about a season later. Right now that group is Cali Swag District, an Inglewood quartet riding the viral sensation wave with their minimalist, cowbell-laced single/ how-to “Teach Me How To Dougie”.

Naturally, with us being grown folk and all, we’re left feeling ambivalent towards CSD and their “hit”, distracted in trying to figure out how they tie in to the New Boyz or The Pack, if at all, but we will admit to appreciating how simple the “Dougie” dance is to master, especially when compared to the overly-complex physical workout that is “jerking”.

But back to why we’re even mentioning “Teach Me How To Dougie” here in the first place: it’s all-star remix, which features Jermaine Dupri (always eager to attach himself to the latest hot kiddie rap craze), Red Cafe, Bow Wow and B.o.B, who rides the beat best here with another welcome dose of his energetic flow and charismatic rhyme-play (“I hit her with that flex/ So she get impressed/ You heard what I said/ Hit her with a text/ Then she know what’s next…”).

Catch the video to the original so you can get your “Dougie” practice on, then grab the remix afterward.

Cali Swag District – Teach Me How To Dougie

Cali Swag District (follow @caliswagdstrct) | MySpace Music Videos

DL: “Teach Me How To Dougie (Remix)” (alt)

BONUS DL: Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg & Cali Swag District “California Gurls (Remix)” (alt)

For months, it’s been difficult to escape the hyping of alt-pop-meets-hip hop, Harvard grad duo Chester French. From the endless “ones to watch” music press/ blog shout-outs to the high-profile support of A-list hip hop figures like Kanye West and eventual label boss Pharrell Williams, we’ve been damn near brainwashed into becoming fans of these cats.

Thankfully, the bits of Chester French music we’ve actually heard (the ’60′s-washed first single, “She Loves Everybody”; that insanely catchy Common collabo, “What A World”; their surprisingly neat remix of Jay Z’s “Excuse Me Miss”) has helped in justifying all this early praise.

Hoping to build up an even stronger buzz for debut album Love The Future (while further highlighting their cool circle of friends), the team of Maxwell Drummey and D.A. Wallach recently dropped the pre-official release mixtape, Jacque Jams, Vol. 1 – Endurance, which tracks the on-the-rise trek of their previous six years through material both old and new, some amusing skits, and the “exclusive” inclusion of a self-produced Lady Gaga remix, not to mention a laundry list of cameo appearances that includes Diddy, Jadakiss, Bun B, Solange, Talib Kweli and Cassie amongst others.

Preview a couple of MM’s faves below:

It’s kind of sad that Janelle Monae still hasn’t quite set the world on fire with her brilliant sci-fi-soul sound (you NEED to pick up Metropolis The Chase Suite like right now), but nevertheless she makes for a great duet partner on the geeky puppy love ode “Nerd Girl”, a prance-y mix of Beatles vocal creaminess and ’80′s synth-pop tenderness.

“I wear tiny suits and bowties, some might call me strange,” she coos. Oh Miss Monae, that’s hardly a bad thing.

DL: “Nerd Girl” (alt)

Meanwhile, “Life In LA” details guest stars Pharrell Williams and Jermaine Dupri’s wild and crazy sexcapades with the City of Angels’ bottomless well of overly worked on, coke-sniffing Barbie Dolls atop old school rap drum clatter and space-age ambiance. Unfortunately, the good times are all over for the French boys, who’ve partied all their dough away and now must leave all the fun and sun behind.

DL: “Life In LA” (alt)

You can pick up the entire entertaining collection here; Love The Future, drops April 21st.

So what Kid Cudi‘s “Day N Nite” isn’t so easy to tag with one of those corny genre-mash-up descriptors folks like us love to cook up (not to say we haven’t tried), with or without some “clever” label to snap onto it, the “lonely stoner” anthem is increasingly becoming the one song seemingly no living entity within the galaxy can deny.

A casual listen may not instantly birth an idea of what all the fuss is about, but there will be at least one of it’s many mystifying elements (that hypnotic electro warble, those space-beamed “What, what” line enders, Cudi’s emotion-less sing-rapping, a distressing need to figure out what the hell the song’s about) that’ll move one to give it a repeat peep…then another…then another, until you have reached the conclusion that you can’t go a day without it because it’s THE BEST SONG EVER!!!

Unfortunately, as has become the case with anything this widely appealing, both the unknown and the known are coming out of the woodworks, anxious to nab a piece of it’s luster. To add to the equally monstrous Crookers house do-over and remixes featuring Jim Jones, Pitbull and Collie Buddz, catch the So So Def swag-biter unnecessarily hogged by the ever-bragging JD (who has slowly lapped Kanye and Soulja Boy as one of hip hop’s most annoying figures) and a killer seven minutes-plus dancefloor revision by the Bingo Players, below:

DL: “Day N Nite (So So Def Remix)” (alt)
DL: “Day N Nite (Bingo Players Remix)” (alt)

(Look for Kid Cudi’s debut, Man On The Moon: The Guardian, later this year)

Riding a smooth R&B-based backbeat (complete with cool Slick Rick interjections, anonymous hook-girl cooings and starry-eyed keyboards) that triggers nostalgia for the best that radio-friendly, mid-to-late-’90′s hip hop had to offer, Bow Wow’s newest single “Roc The Mic” just begs to soundtrack some long car-ride with the top down and the near-triple digit summer sun heat beaming off the top of heads. But then, one gives the lyrics a closer inspection and a tinge of awkwardness begins to settle in: are Bow and longtime mentor/ producer Jermaine Dupri REALLY bypassing the typical hoes and wheels rap banter to spit about their re-tightened “father”/ “son” bond?

Now we’re all for a little positivity in hip hop penmanship, but the brotherly love being tossed back-and-forth between these two miniature-sized emcees here ends up being a bit too close to corny ’80′s sitcom theme song territory for comfort.

In reference to the duo’s much-written-about “outs” period, JD cockily pipes in: “See I had to let him go/ Just so he can really know/ You never know what you got ’til its gone/ Welcome home”; Later, Bow calls JD “more like a Dad than just a big brother” (Awww), then giggles through an old childhood memory of wanting to “smash” all of Dupri’s pre-Janet groupies, needlessly adding, “And I did it!!” (Ewww). All of that, plus the huggy-huggy chorus chiming of “They say we talk just alike/ Walk just alike…” and a quite solid instrumental suddenly feels soured underneath all the BFF sentiment.

This is one song that perhaps should have just stayed in their respective private vault collections.