After having to sit through the endless ramblings found on last week’s underwhelming “ruff mix” leak of Kanye’s Beyonce and Charlie Wilson-aided collabo “See Me Now” (we’ll wait for the edited-down, finalized version of that one, thank you very much), it’s sooooo nice to be able to comfortably jump back on the “Yeezy is ace” bandwagon with the short and solid, track-stealing verse he brings to the mid-section of Kid Cudi‘s latest leakage, “Wylin Cause I’m Young”.
Atop an eerie lo-fi rumble of a beat that sounds like something demonic creatures of the night would two-step to, Cudi and West team up to basically relate the benefits of being debauchery-loving rock stars, boasting of globe-trotting escapades filled with endless amounts of drug and liquor and an ever present bevy of groupie chicks keeping them feeling “hunks”.
Cudi’s depiction of the wealthy, “untamed youth” lifestyle rides on (what else but) a darkly alluring moodiness (“I guess the fact my father smoke and drank/ Made it a young nigga destiny to do the exact thing”), but it’s West who ultimately takes the blue ribbon prize here, brightening things up with a humorous verse in which he confesses of “praying to a box of Mags” and Viagra that he’ll still be able to satisfy the ladies when he’s of the “Geezer…Ebenezer” age.
With B.o.B currently doing such a fine job holding down the hip-poppy, “sometimes I rap, sometimes I sing” lane, it almost feels pointless for Kid Cudi to try to work the same path, yet here he is anyway, maneuvering his better-than-average shower vocals through the buffed pop/ rock crunch of new track “Erase Me”, a cut that’s just begging to be handed over to Rivers Cuomo & Co. for the next Weezer project.
Finding him bragging about how his girlfriend can’t stand him, yet finds it impossible stay away from him (“It’s like I’m her new nightmare/ She ain’t escapin’/ It makes me feel a bit complete”), and featuring a mostly clumsy Kanye West guest verse that’s somewhat rescued by the memorable sixteen-capper “I hope you die-arrhea”, “Erase Me” (from the forthcoming Man On The Moon II: The Legend Of Mr. Rager album) manages to sound like something that will likely end up peaking in the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 sometime within the next few months (whether you want it to or not), but damn…for a song that boasts both Cudi and Kanye and producer Jim Jonsin, it’s a shame that ho-hum (or worse…WTF?!?) is the best way we can think to describe it.
Somebody please tell us that this isn’t the “revolution” that Cudi was referring to on that last joint of his.
The first single off Kid Cudi‘s upcoming sophomore album Man On The Moon II: Legend Of Mr. Rager, “REVOFEV”, short for “Revolution of Evolution”, offers a repeat dishing of the “lonely stoner”‘s signature contemplative sing-rap style, with Cudi gifting “the kids” standard words-of-wisdom preachings (“Wake up/ Things might get rough/ No need to stress/ Keeps you down too much”) and bland semi-rebel musings (“Where will you be for the revolution?”) that, well, only an overly-blunted guy like himself would think of as “deep” when they’re holed up alone in a studio at whatever-a.m. in the morning, surrounding (and similarly brain-muddled) entourage/ “yes”-men cheering him along outside the vocal booth via silent “Chuuuch!!” nods.
That “REVOFEV” is filled with such underwhelming lyrical scribblings as the aforementioned lands as extremely frustrating when its backing track (handled by Plain Pat) is as striking as it is: A sinister vintage (soul? prog-rock?) loop plod heightened with sharp string stabs, ached “whoa-oh-oh” ad-libs and marching band drums mimicking battle noise, the arrangement tinges with dark-ish feelings of paranoia and chaos, while at times sounding as if the entire world is about to succumb to some sort of Armageddon at any moment.
So how is it, after no doubt being bombarded with this amazing beat on repeated loop, was Cudi not inspired enough to color it with stronger songwriting than the demo-like placeholder lines it otherwise features? Couldn’t we have maybe received a lil’ glimpse of this forthcoming “revolution”, lyrics-wise?
Double sigh Cudi. We’ll accept this for now (and just assume it’ll sound better in the context of the album), but we’re definitely expecting far better variations of your druggy emo-rap craft when the full-length drops.
Snatch it up below, then peep a fantastic live cover of Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” (props to We All Want Someone To Shout For) by on-the-rise sensation Lissie.
Snoop and Cudi go a bit “green” on this Diplo-produced collaboration for the former’s deluxe edition re-release of his Malice N Wonderland album (entitled More Malice, of course).
Beyond a slightly engaging, descending bubble-pop beat supporting the verses and one semi-humorous line from the Doggfather (“Groupies on my head like a kufi”), though, the track never quite lands as the essential release it should be, especially considering the star power it boasts. Shall we say its lacking a certain…ahem, spark? Or maybe we’re just a little too distracted by the creepy, mutated hand Snoop’s sporting in the pic seen left to even give the song a good listen. (Look at it though, aren’t his fingers weird-looking?)
More Malice, which includes five new cuts, a couple remixes and a mini-movie (!!!), drops March 23rd.
Speaking of Cudi, as a bonus, peep an Iron & Wine-sampling, electro-folk (?) cover of the rapper’s woozy single “Pursuit of Happiness” by L.A. newcomers Barbara that works far better than it really should.
Seeing as though we were so late in discovering the awesomeness that was the original, it’s only fitting that we would be as equally tardy in finding out the G.O.O.D. Music crew hooked up for a sequel, right?.
Whatevs. Now featuring guest turns from Kid Cudi, Common and Big Sean, as well as new verses from Con and West, this new posse-stylized rendering of the cut succinctly satisfies our wish of giving us an elongated serving of the track’s mesmerizing swirl of a hook/ beat, one of the most under-appreciated aural combinations of the year.
Taking quite a few steps back from the edge-of-campy fanged seductress role Shakira giddily portrayed on She-Wolf‘s chaotic, attention grabber of a first single/ title track, follow-up single “Did It Again” finds the Colombian siren proving to be just as engaging as a vulnerable damsel participating in a casual sex-based relationship (with a married man) that she knows is no good for her sensitive heart, yet is just far too hot to easily break away from.
“I’m in trouble/ But It feels like heaven,” she confesses atop an atypically low-key Neptunes-helmed production sparked by tense staccato keyboard hits and marching band drums. But as much as she berates herself for once again getting involved with “one of those guys”, you know the ones “with the wandering eye” who quickly pocket their wedding rings once a sexy woman like her gives them an ounce of attention, she finds it oh-so-difficult to refrain from meeting him back in the hotel room for a second dose of their steamy sexcapades.
And who could blame her, when just hearing the erotic pants the duo’s carnal chemistry wills out of her, produces enough heat to inspire one to venture off into the night to find their own hit-it-then-quit-it bedroom partner.
Peep the video below, followed by Benny Benassi‘s remix, a slamming electro-booty-stylized reconfiguration featuring Kid Cudi.
Making it almost a week before it’s due date, Kid Cudi’s major label debut Man On The Moon: The End of Day has officially leaked to the ‘Net, and take it from us…after one quick run-through it unquestionably legitimizes all the anticipatory hype it’s frothed forth since “Day N Nite” first began it’s slow trickle into inescapable pop smash seemingly forever ago.
Of it’s many featured highlights sure to garner much play on iPod playlists and mix CDs well into the future (and by “many” we mean damn near the entire thing!!), Moon‘s “first favorite” to us (read: the first one to inspire some replay button action) would have to be the mid-album/ “Act III”-closing stunner “Enter Galactic (Love Connection Part 1)”.
“You’ve never done this before and that’s cool and all/ But I want you to try this with me,” intros Cudder here, an invitation to some babe to zoom away with him on an drugged-out erotic trip. Rocking a near-whispered conversational flow, the Kid titillates with requests “to kiss you on your space below your navel-ette, the place that you keep neat-so moist like a towelette” before urging girl to have “just one more stem” so they can keep their psychedelic sex-perience at it’s “highest” potency.
And what a trip it is thanks to beatmakers The Illphonics, an on-the-rise production duo who bring the journey to vivid life through a gently insistent electro-disco groove that’s giddily tickled with starry-eyed keyboards and so gripping in it’s comprehension of the sleek and futuristic, you could almost believe it to be a sex-jam construction that has somehow time-travelled it’s way back from the Star Trek age (and Jay thought he knew how the future would sound).
Sample the track below, but make sure to cop Man On The Moon when it truly arrives on September 15th (we know we will!!), if only cause the last thing we need is an amazing talent like Kid Cudi threatening to retire early (yet again) because the industry hasn’t figured out how to keep their product locked up tight.
Our fellow blog peeps have already deduced Cudi‘s newly leaked “That Girl” to be some sort of demo recording from long ago (and not a featured entry on his upcoming official debut), but even with it’s interlude-y, “fooling around in the studio” vibe, the track’s an enchanting one, finding the rapper sounding stoned out of his mind as he rambles on endlessly about some sexy dream babe he can’t easily shake out of his brain over some soothingly hypnotic riff-age (sample source anyone?).
All we can think about is how even more cool this would sound with Andre 3000 dropping one of those classic, forever-bar-long verses atop it.
Rich Hil likes to call his sound “electric street music”. Going by the druggy, synth-heavy flourishes that dominate “Girls, Sounds & Colors”, a prematurely unleashed joint featuring an unsurprisingly ace guest rap from Kid Cudi, we’d probably label it electro-urban-psychedelia.
Disagreements in taggings aside, this acid trip of track is an intriguing one, leaving us both puzzled and mildly fascinated by the lead artist, who has apparently been doing the music thing for a few years now and also happens to be…(drum roll please)…TOMMY HILFIGER’S SON!! Interesting… (we say in our worst accented Bond villain voice while stroking our chins).
Hear/ snatch up the track below, followed by a video to the equally bewildering/ captivating cut “O’s”, then grab Hil’s The Lonely Limo mixtape from his No Limos blog here.
On this semi-cover (Cover remix? R&B freestyle? Swag swipe?) of “Day N Nite”, Sammie, otherwise-known-as the late nineties’ “new young Michael Jackson” or highlight of “Kiss Me Thru The Phone”, saps the Cudi record of it’s unique “lonely stoner” perspective and transforms it into a more traditional, modern-day sex jam, complete with obligatory Patrón endorsements and R. Kelly shout-outs and lyrical images of “nasty” girls who have sex with their high heels on.
While it’s definitely a blander alternative to the original, we have to admit, if we had heard it first, we would’ve probably given it some serious bump. Maybe it’s the fact that after beating hit over the head so many times over the past year with T-Pain’s Auto-Tuned croons, Akon’s louder-than-loud trumpet-yelps and The-Dream’s echoing chirps, it’s just refreshing to hear a low-key male R&B vocal that isn’t so overtly gimmicky-feeling.
But then again, maybe we just like it because of that one line where he rhymes ‘quiver’ with ‘Twitter’.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
After having to sit through the endless ramblings found on last week’s underwhelming “ruff mix” leak of Kanye’s Beyonce and Charlie Wilson-aided collabo “See Me Now” (we’ll wait for the edited-down, finalized version of that one, thank you very much), it’s sooooo nice to be able to comfortably jump back on the “Yeezy is ace” bandwagon with the short and solid, track-stealing verse he brings to the mid-section of Kid Cudi‘s latest leakage, “Wylin Cause I’m Young”. 
Seeing as though we were so late in discovering the awesomeness that was the 
Taking quite a few steps back from the edge-of-campy fanged seductress role Shakira giddily portrayed on 
Making it almost a week before it’s due date, Kid Cudi’s major label debut 
Our fellow blog peeps have already deduced 
On this semi-cover (Cover remix? R&B freestyle? Swag swipe?) of
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