mixtape maestro (2.0)

Over-the-top randiness has dominated the R&B game so much over the past couple years (thanks to so many artists doing their best to try to out-top the king of WTF sex jams R. Kelly), that it’s a bit sad that nary an eyebrow is really raised with the lyrics presented on this all-star remix of Trey Songz’ current Top 5 R&B hit “Invented Sex” featuring Usher and Keri Hilson.

Still, for the simple sake of having something new to add to your “Bump N’ Grind” playlist, this 2.0 take serves as a fine enough addition, with Ursh ordering his gal to “meet me upstairs/ So I can beat it upstairs” before quoting old Trey Songz singles (“I can’t help but wait”) and Keri dismissing missionary as “no good” while claiming that she can “have you so woozy/ You’ll think I invented X”.

DL: “Invented Sex (Remix)” (alt)

Seeing as though Timbaland and Keri Hilson’s attempt to re-create the sexy he-say/ she-say barb over Euro-pop beats magic of “The Way I Are” on her underrated In A Perfect World… single “Return The Favor” ended up being a major flop, it’s not all that surprising that for “Rumors”, their lone collaboration on Timbaland’s Shock Value 2, the duo would take a wildly different approach. What is surprising though, is how much a record that features not only Tim and Keri but also a cameo from Jay-Z, totally stinks.

Over a completely boring spare synth-and-tumbling drum shuffle that feels like it was concocted by a Timbaland protogee rather than the man himself, Keri extends what might have been an okay hook or bridge about dismissing ever-gabbing haters over two verses that fail to keep your attention even a few lines in, while Jay yawns through another forgettable sixteen.

Every few years Timbaland seems to hit these creative droughts where he’s simply re-heating old beats. And right now, he sounds like he’s there again, this time dragging a couple others into his un-inspired funk along the way. We say pass.

DL: “Rumors” (alt)

It’s nice to see Keri Hilson finally realizing some real success in recent months after spending so many years being touted as R&B’s “next big thing”, but with the rise of her status to a ubiqutious level (thanks to seemingly every half hour spins of her “Turnin’ Me On” and “Knock You Down” singles on pop and urban radio), has anyone else been moved to the conclusion that she’s not the most engaging vocalist?

Yeah, she’s a good songwriter and deserves props for being able to keep up with (and actually shine on) some of Timbaland’s most claustrophobic kitchen-sink productions, but when judged on her singing talents alone, Miss Hilson rarely ever registers beyond anonymous hook girl, her records often sounding like demo recordings for a much stronger singer to later adopt. The fact that her biggest hits cast her as more of a supporting entity than lead artist doesn’t really help much, either.

That being said though, she does a respectable job on her recent live performances for the Pepsi Music site, including a guest-less take on “Knock You Down” that makes us wish we could hear it on the radio sometimes as opposed to the somewhat crowded Kanye and Ne-Yo-blessed version, and the umpteenth cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Cover” that, despite arriving a few years too late to truly matter, still manages to emit a certain appeal in all of it’s playing-it-safe basic-ness.

Knock You Down: Pepsi Music Exclusive Performance on Yahoo Music!

Crazy: Pepsi Music Exclusive Performance on Yahoo Music!

DL: “Crazy (Gnarls Barkley Cover)” (alt)

Summer vacations/ distractions have brought things around here to a near-standstill, but in an effort to play a bit of catch-up, check out some of these noteworthy tunes below pulled from the ever-packed in-box and various other sites we’ve been digging lately from around the Inter-Webs:

JDP featuring Chester French “She Loves Everybody (Part Deux)”

This up-and-coming Chicago indie-hopper latches onto CF’s most well-known track, the shoulda-been-bigger slut ode “She Loves Everybody”, using it to support his own adventure with a promiscous groupie who has foolishly mistaken him for being a more high profile rap star (“I suppose someone told her we rich,” he sing-song quips at one point).

A bit Flo-Rida-ish, which-at least in this case-isn’t at all a bad thing.

From his new mixtape Air Raid.

DL: “She Loves Everybody (Part Deux)”

The Honey Brothers “Demonstration”

The Honey Brothers are a quintet from New York who call their sound “new wave folk”, and while most talk of them will surely be centered on their superstar drummer (Entourage lead Adrian Grenier), the music found on their recently released Demonstration EP definitely deserves it’s own hype as it’s some of the most feel-good stuff to touch our ears in recent weeks.

Check out the title track, a groovy lil’ indie-rock number that’ll likely have you tapping your toes to it’s summer-ready shuffle within seconds of it hitting the speakers.

DL: “Demonstration”

?uestlove, The Foreign Exchange, Zo! and Carlitta Durand “Purple Flip”

Don’t let the title confuse you, this is essentially a cover of Prince’s “Take Me With You”, and boy does it hit the soul in all the right ways.

Too bad SPIN Magazine couldn’t have employed THIS crew to handle the entirety of that mostly disappointing Purple Rain tribute cover album they had to nerve to drop last month.

DL: “Purple Flip”

Golau Glau “Summer Games”

On first listen to the output from this mysterious UK-born collective, you’ll probably end up with your head cocked to the side and a confused look pasted across your face.

But give these songs some time, as repeated doses of the spell-binding ambiance of “Summer Games”, “Soft Silver Young” and the rest of the band’s uniquely weaved creations reveal a trippy charm that’s quite the soothing aural experience.

DL: “Summer Games”

Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo “Knock You Down (Chew Fu GhettoClub Fix)”

Even after hearing this billions of times (*thanks radio*), we still find this hit single oddly put together (anybody else left cold by the fact that the three headliners barely seem to recognize the efforts of one another?), but the Chew Fu crew help calm that sense of underwhelmingness a bit with this dancefloor-targeting rehaul which nicely gives a repeated spotlighting to Kanye’s “Michael Jackson” line.

DL: “Knock You Down (Chew Fu GhettoClub Fix)”

Beyonce “Ego (DJ Unique’s I Love Her Remix)”

Sasha Fierce’s newest single given a smoother R&B treatment courtesy of YouTube mash-up king DJ Unique. Kanye-free sadly, but we can still dig it.

DL: “Ego (DJ Unique’s I Love Her Remix)”

It’s funny how after all the stunned reactions arising from the news that The Neptunes wouldn’t be the sole beatsmiths on Clipse‘s upcoming Till The Casket Drops, out of the three tracks leaked over the last couple months, the one not helmed by the ‘Tunes team has ended up the most appreciated.

“Kinda Like A Big Deal” may have lacked some truly solid verses or a sturdy enough hook (and remarkably saw them outshined by guest star Kanye), but hearing Pusha T and Malice atop DJ Khalil’s hard-knock tumble just felt right, this sinister combination that excitingly hinted that Casket was going to be something special (and maybe…perhaps…hopefully produce the “Grindin” Pt. 2 we had pathetically been anticipating for so damn long).

Then arrived the worrying “I’m Gone”, a summery track swimming in slippery glossy synths, Pharrell soul-boy chirps and materialistic focus, that even when gifted with a couple oh-so-Clipse-y lines failed to really register as an actual Clipse cut for the first four or five listens.

On the latest Casket drip “Eyes On Me”, the Virginia duo unfortunately give off a similar “what the hell is going on with this album” impression. A blatant aim at commercial/ club attention (which the duo have always seemed to only be able to achieve by accident, or at least attain without losing their street grip), “Eyes” gets it’s coke-rap rhymes out early (“I’m talking cooking up that slumdog millionaire” goes one opening line) before shifting it’s entire heart during the last three-quarters at admiring the name brand-fixated vixens who love the boys’ bottomless bank accounts.

Further solidifying the record as a ladies’ anthem of sorts is a poppy boom-bap shuffle more fitting for a pop tart’s sex purr, Pharrell’s hook boast of “getting dressed like I belong on TV” and a random Keri Hilson cameo that lasts no longer than sixteen seconds. All elements that would have felt perfectly fine if this was a Pussycat Doll/ Britney Spears creation, but when placed as a backdrop for the Clipse, disappoint in it’s bid for Top 40 love.

We’ll try not to come down too hard on the duo for trying to earn some mainstream money (they did go on about blowing through “a hundred thou in a recession” on “Deal” and might just be playing things smart), but let’s hope that after this and “I’m Good”, the whole of what’s left of Casket delivers nothing but the oft-kilter production menace and clever drug-lord rhymes we’ve been yearning for.

Till The Casket Drops is set for a September release.

DL: “Eyes On Me” (alt)

It may have taken an eternity but Keri Hilson‘s In A Perfect World finally managed to see the light of day thanks to it’s, what, eleventh pre-single/ video “Turnin’ Me On” being the one cut to trigger enough attention to become her first official solo smash. Yeah, it’s not exactly setting the music press world on fire, but, whatever, we’re just happy to see Hilson one step closer to becoming the top R&B diva she seemed destined to be years ago.

As with every other major R&B release these days though, World‘s endless tracklist reconfigurings resulted in several songs being left on the editing room floor…only to be “leaked” to the inter-webs in rapid time. One of those emerging casualties was “Hey Girl”, a T-Pain and Lil’ Jon-assisted ode to the drank that might not have been a perfect fit in Hilson’s final product, yet still deserves to be snatched up by somebody so it can get a proper club push.

A tad Pussycat Dolls-mimicking with it’s cheerleader chant elements and tabla-prominent backbeat, “Hey Girl” (a sort-of sister record to Jamie Foxx’ current jam “Blame It”) sees Keri once again pulling out the mannequin-esque monotone vocal to let the people know how she gets down when she hits the town. “I’m on Patron, tequila/ I’m drunk on Margaritas/…By the end of the night I’m-a have you so fucked up,” announces it’s winning hook.

Too bad we don’t know her, cause it seems like she would be the ideal tag-along when it comes to really painting the town red.

DL: “Hey Girl” (alt)

A couple years back Timbaland had hit a career rut. With Neptunes minimalism, sped-up soul samples and synthesizer-crazed crunk dominating the hip hop sound, there didn’t seem a place for the Virginia producer’s alien-toned funk anymore. This obviously got to Timb, who joined several other rap icons in the trendy “the hip hop scene today is disheartening” bandwagon. It seemed every interview he was in predicted that an early retirement was on the horizon.

Then 2006 happened, and Timbaland had found two new muses in Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado. Yeah these were pop stars, but their desire to push themselves creatively resulted in some of the decade’s greatest pop singles and suddenly Timbaland felt not only re-relevant, but re-inspired. The amazing back-to-back chart topping success of “Sexy Back”, “Promiscuous” and “My Love” pushed Timbaland into going back to the boards to host this year’s much-anticipated compilation album, Timbaland Presents Shock Value. Alongside the A-list celebrity bolstered lead single “Give It To Me” already storming up the charts, pre-announced collaborations with the likes of Fall Out Boy, Elton John and Bjork have set this album up as a major event with leakages popping up everywhere. Here’s a look at a couple stand-outs:

The essential party starter, “Release” is a pleasing extension of the obliterating spooky funk of “Sexy Back”. More or less an instrumental track, an addictive four-on-the-floor pulse and inverted “Sexy Back” bassline point it as the perfect example of a sweaty dance free-for-all.

“RELEASE!/ I’M OUT OF CONTROL/ WHO’S HERE TO PARTY?!” the hook exclaims, daring you not to lose all your inhibitions to it’s fun strut. It instantly sends you back to the synth-funk heyday of the 80′s when Rick James was at his most nastiest and The Time invited all to their formally attired VIP parties. The vocals that are featured help provide the ambiance; pop music’s new dynamic duo Timbaland and Timberlake sporting the weirded out “SB” vocoder effect as they throw out random celebratory dialogue. It’s the quintessential jump-off and anyone not ready to have a good time after absorbing it’s groove should be checked for a pulse.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is “Scream”, a Giorgio Moroder/ Donna Summer orgasma jam for the new millennium. As with “Release”, the chorus orders a reaction but this is a whole different kind of release expected. Over galloping percussion and rock guitars straight out of the land of prog-rock, Timbaland sits back and proudly watches as his track oozes into the nether-regions of any girl around, leading to the most erotic of responses. R&B up-and-comer Keri Hilson and lead Pussycat Doll Nicole “I-should-really-not-use-my-last-name-because-it’s-a-total-fantasy-killer” Scherzinger take turns topping eachother’s “Big O” squeals of delight, unable to control themselves against the throbbing adventure being pumped into their eardrums. Near the end, Timb puts on his best Barry White impression for a spoken-form tease (“Come here/ Sit on my lap/ Ooh I like that”), mind controlling his victims into doing whatever he wants them to.

If tasty morsels like these indicate the direction Shock Value will be taking, look for it to be the ultimate soundtrack of the ’07 summer season and for the Year of Timbaland to take form yet again.