Because we can’t comfortably rest until we’ve heard Young Money’s still-ridiculously fire “Bed Rock” re-fashioned under the sound of every hip hop sub-genre that ever was, peep this Emynd-helmed remix of the track, twerked out old-school booty bass style.
Whoomp, here it is. (shouts)
“Bed Rock (Emynd Pillow Bass Remix)”:
Coming off what many considered 2009’s top R&B release (Love Vs. Money), it’s hard not to be left a little underwhelmed by “Love King”, the first single and title track to The-Dream’s next (and possibly last) album.
Built atop a floaty, snap-laden midtempo groove perked with candied piano plinks and punctuating “Ey”’s, the song is nothing more than a cut-and-paste patchwork of the singer/ songwriter/ producer/ “ey”-er’s usual bag o’ musical quirks, this time tied together by a thin concept (The-Dream has tons and tons of chicks at his beck and call) that’s in dire need of much stronger goofball lyricism than “Got girls with weaves/…Girls without it” and “Got girls on my Sprint/ My AT&T/ Got girls on T-Mobile/ Metro if it’s local”.
Yeah, it’s “Shawty Is The Shit”-meets-”Rockin’ That Thing” soundbed is perfect riding-to material, but if The-Dream really wants to finally nab some Grammy nods this time around (we, the people, can only endure so many Twitter rants), he’s going to have to conclude his solo album trilogy on the high note it demands with far better offerings than watered-down regurgitations from the same stylistic template.
Love King drops in May.
DL: “Love King” (alt)
If it’s any consolation though Dream, we’re definitely digging you’re rap verse on this all-star “How Low (Remix)”:
BONUS DL: Ludacris featuring Rick Ross, Twista, The-Dream, Ciara & Pitbull “How Low (Remix)” (alt)
At one point we would have been more than happy to hear every rapper possible be featured on endless remixes of Consequence’s “Whatever You Want” because the track was just…that…good. Two mixes later though, we gotta admit that that idea has lost much of it’s appeal.
Most of that weariness arises from the fact that this much-anticipated third “Whatever” installment (a Bad Boy Remix, hyping the reunion of Diddy and once-again-protégées The LOX) completely fumbles at re-creating the fun-loving air of it’s predecessors.
We get that the street-toughened LOX never settled comfortably with the glittery suits/ money flashing/ ’80’s-pop sampling goings-on that framed Bad Boy’s late ’90’s heyday (that was the whole point of them leaving the label in the first place, right?), but you would think that given this second (Third? Fourth?) chance had a career re-ignition, the boys would sound a little more inspired than they do here.
Instead, they come across like they lost some sort of bet and were forced to appear here, contributing oh-so-bored verses about living the lavish life that make being wealthy feel as entertaining as clipping your toenails. Even Diddy, King of the Monotone Mic Presence, reads fatigued, sleep-walking his way through “throw your hands in the air” hype-man orders as if distracted by the thoughts of the hundred and one other things he’d rather be doing at the moment.
What’s the point of being excited about a LOX/ Diddy reconciliation if all the members involved still sound as disinterested in the situation as they did before the split up?
DL: “Whatever U Want (Bad Boy Remix)” (alt)
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.
After spending the entire summer getting most of the country to sing along with their “so not for children” desire to boink every female on the planet, the over-sized Young Money clique finally get around to releasing a new single with “Bedrock”, and as a repeat of previous single “Every Girl”’s winning recipe of radio-(and summer-)friendly production with horn-ball lyrics (though this time with a couple more YM employees and solo R&B crooner Lloyd added into the mix), and an upgrade from the previously leaked incarnation “Girl You Know” (that earlier take featured a slightly different Wayne verse and brief Young Money member Omarion horribly straining his way through an inferior hook), it mostly succeeds in laying the path for another full season of airplay domination.
Supported by a Kane Beatz-helmed…um, beat that’s damn near worth the price of admission alone, conjuring up this candy-coated sense of vertigo with it’s ear-tickling loop of rapidly tip-toeing keyboard/ synth work, “Bedrock” unfortunately gets off to a lame start with un-inspiring opening verse contributions from Weezy (definitely texting it in here) and Gudda Gudda, who comes up shamefully flat on at least two occasions (“I see me with her/ No Stevie Wonder” + “I got her nigga/…Grocery bag” = someone needs to retake Clever Rap Punchlines 101).
But following that introductory misfire, “Bedrock” quickly rights itself with good-to-great lyrical turns from Drake (“I love your sushi rolls/ Hotter then wasabi”), Tyga and Lil’ Kim sequel/ token female member Nicki Minaj (her squeaky voice may be edge-of-annoying, but damn if it doesn’t sound good hosting lines like “Maybe it’s time to put this pussy on your sideburns”) as well as the usually reliable Lloyd hiccuping “Call me Mr. Flintstone/ I can make your bed rock girl” in that weightless, “sixth member of New Edition circa ‘Candy Girl’” tone of his.
Hear the cut below, followed by “A.D.I.D.A.S”, a Soulja Boy-esque mixtape entry from Georgia rapper Travis Porter that was the original holder of “Bedrock”’s contagious beat.
DL: “A.D.I.D.A.S.” (alt)
Cassie has so many odds stacked against her (a barely there voice; disastrous live performance attempts; being the owner of one of those rare Weezy-featuring tunes that flops real hard; being more popular in 2009 for her “shocking” haircut, leaked nude pics, and the “is-she-or-isn’t-she with Diddy?” gossip rag banter than anything music-related) that it’s a wonder why she even persists on still having a singing career when she can simply just go on being low-B/ high-C-list famous for…well, being hot.
Not to say that her weightless brand of spacey R&B/ Pop isn’t appreciated (especially amongst the sects of anonymous hook singer-craving producers and “puny-voiced starlets over electro beats”-loving critics, to which her nonchalant presence holds a certain appeal), it’s just that after debuting with something as strong as her summer of ‘06 seducer “Me & U”, no argument would have been made for her just as quickly disappearing back into model-land semi-obscurity and becoming this decade’s equivalent of 1990’s one-(and-a-half-)hit-wonder INOJ.
Nevertheless, she’s once again returned to re-launch her long-delayed sophomore set, Electro Love, with the Mario Winans/ Bryan Michael Cox-produced “Must Be Love”, a wispy midtempo ballad that sets Cassie and guest star Diddy on opposite ends of a life-altering new romance.
Fluttery Spanish guitar strums and distant ringings give it a light and pretty ambience and there’s a certain heated undertone ‘neath Cassie’s whisper-thin musings as she comes to terms with her feelings, but damn if the song doesn’t threaten to put you to sleep at every turn, Diddy’s monotone verses lacking the burst of energy “Must Be Love” begs for.
Thankfully the Bad Boy CEO helps rescue the underwhelming number by firing up one of those all-star remixes he used to pull off so well and crowding up the listless groove with strong guest turns from Busta Rhymes, R&B boy band Day26 and underground rap favorite/ new Bad Boy signee Red Café. Yeah, when placed betwixt the male personalities Cassie feels more like an afterthought on her own record, but the sequel definitely ends up carrying more of a worthwhile heft than the original.
Catch the main version’s video below, than snatch up the remix afterward.
Electro Love is expected to be released sometime later this year (though if this record doesn’t catch on, don’t get your hopes up too high conerning an actual release).
DL: “Must Be Love (Remix)” (alt)
The ever-busy Kid Cudi is sure to continues his dominance over all things Web with “I Poke Her Face”, a new (whispers) BJ anthem that wittily samples Lady Gaga’s…erm, interesting acoustic version of “Pokerface” (you know, the quirky, piano-supported rendition she played at the beginning of last week’s “American Idol” performance that probably left millions of viewer’s scratching their heads in confusion).
Bridged by a clever hook (“I make her say (Oh oh oh, oh oh oh)/ When I (po-po-po-poke her face, po-po-poke her face)”), Cudi and trackmates Kanye West and Common keep the giggles going on with their respective naughty verses. Out of the three, it’s West who steals the cut (as usual), opening his contribution with that all-too-important ID check (“Hold up/ Born in ‘88?/ How old is that?/ Old enough”) while later beading together the killer ending line rhymes of “skull-iosis”, “cum-atosis” and “osmosis”.
But hands down, the winner of the most alarming single line has to go to Common with this to-the-point eyebrow-raiser: “But they say ‘You be on that conscious tip’/ Get your head right and get upon this conscious dick”. Tsk tsk Common, now we demand you wash your mouth out with some hemp soap this instant!
Can’t wait to see what Miss Ga Ga has to say in response to this, or better yet, what other rapper is dying to swagger-swipe this joint for their own freestyle riffing (cause you know a thousand and one of those are already currently being recorded).
DL: “I Poke Her Face” (alt)
Back in the day, you were damn near guaranteed something special everytime Busta Rhymes dropped a new record. His penchant for rousing hooks, otherworldly beatscapes built from obscure samples and kooky eye-popping music videos with multi-million dollar budgets awarded listeners with a slew of left-field bangers that still snatch up major props to this day. Unfortunately, as the years wore on, he seemed to lose some of that magic. His precious speedy flow remained intact and he could still pump out a hot chorus every once in awhile, but with the beats taking a sad turn towards the radio-friendly and his videos looking cheaper and cheaper (not to mention the image-tainting of numerous bouts with the law), what was once an extraordinary rap icon soon morphed into just another ordinary hip hop entity.
With the big bank bravado and drunk-friendly hysterics of new single “Arab Money” (a sort of companion piece to producer Ron Browz’ other Auto-Tune slathered current fave, “Pop Champagne”), Busta Rhymes had begun inching his way back onto the nightlife circuit; but the record was riddled with some major handicaps. Yeah, it carried the minimum requisite of song elements to conquer the dancefloor, but seeing as though any other rapper could have recorded it and came out with similar results, it definitely paled in comparison to the man’s heyday achievements. Even worse, “Money” held a hard-to-ignore offensive tinge in it’s make-up that drew head-scratching reactions from a lot of people.
But the promise of a career-reigniting track has proven too big a grab to let slip away, so Busta has opted to continue to push the record. What’s the obvious next step? An over-crowded remix featuring all the usual suspects so they don’t have to waste time rushing out their own bootlegged “freestyles” before the cut loses it’s heat.
Tardily attempting to appease the balkers, the remix sees Busta replacing the nonsensical hook of the original (one of the main sources of the controversy) with real Arabic words and the correct pronunciation of the word “Arab”, even getting his track-mates to pull out some authentic phrases on their own verses. It also serves the typical wealthy braggadocio of Diddy (“Bout to buy Dubai and swim in the shark section”), robo-voiced goofball antics of both halves of T-Wayne and an extended appearance by Browz (who has quickly leap-frogged over Pain, Weezy and Kanye as the worst artist ever to over-lean on the Auto-Tune).
Is it a solid enough addition within this Era of the Posse Cut Overkill? We’ll give it that. But revising a chorus and hiring on an A-list line-up probably won’t be enough to woo over those who despise the original, or just wish that Busta could stop fiddling around with all this sub-par material he’s been unleashing recently and really focus on figuring out a way to tap back into that mid-90’s appeal.
DL: “Arab Money (Remix)” (alt)
TI. Kanye West. Jay Z. Lil’ Wayne. Together on the same track!!??!! Atop a M.I.A. “Paper Planes” sample!!??!! We know we’re a bit late on this, but it still seems just too damn good to be true. Alas this box office blockbuster of 2008’s hip hop hierarchs is real, and to bite a bit off the voice modified words of Kanye: “It’s the shit and the urine”.
Of course, if you want be nit-picky, you can moan over West and Weezy’s waaaaay past tiresome T-Pain-isms, how annoying the MIA loop gets after awhile, or the fact that until TI pops up for his rightfully track-owning final verse, the rhymes previously dropped feel a little anemic. But come on, don’t act like hearing this pow-wow of adored tastemakers doesn’t give you a knot in your jeans; and we’re not talking about the kinds of “knots” that “jockin’ jockin’” Jay Z is referring to either.
Lil’ Kim’s all-star remake of “Ladies Night” (though Foxy Brown would’ve much preferred over Angie Martinez) was a rare occurrence when the small sector of hip hop queens all came together and shined. A decade later, the next generation of femcees unite and launch off an inspired rendition of one the hottest posse cuts in some time.
Like lioness’ on the prowl, these four vixens pounce on producer Danja’s nervy, electro-based concoction displaying an estrogen pride and sense of camaraderie that seemed impossible amidst all the “girlfight” beefs brewing in the industry the past couple of years. Trina, who always sounded like she fell in the rap game by accident, now comes off like an assured vet making not one mention of her genitalia in one of her hardest verses to date. Jacki-O and the ever-so-lispy Remy-Ma also bring their A-game, helping this version one-up DJ Khaled’s original by not featuring any pitiful Birdman-like cameos. And bringing everything together we have the much-missed histrionics of Lil’ Mo whose never met one note she couldn’t ring the life out of. She’s a much better hook choice than the wiry-voiced Akon, her gospel-soaked input the Elmer’s Glue that expertly tightens this joint up. If only she would’ve capped this off with some raps of her own (Mo is actually pretty nice on the mic), would we have received the satisfying send-off Missy brought us on “Ladies Night”.
Reports have surfaced that these ladies are all working on a supergroup album. Hopefully they can subdue the inevitable inter-band cattiness so this much-needed project can see the light of day!
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