mixtape maestro (2.0)

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.

She-Wolf, drops State-side on November 23rd.

DL: “Did It Again (Benny Benassi Remix)” (alt)

Jay-Z tried, but sadly his grumpy old rapper efforts were, it seems, for naught.

As if “D.O.A” never meant anything (which, to be honest, it kinda didn’t about a nanosecond after first hearing it), T-Pain, one of the bigger faces of the “Auto-Tune” movement that’s suffocated the pop, R&B and rap music scenes in recent years, has polished off his BIG ASS CHAIN and begun his march back to ubiquity. Leaks from his forthcoming fourth album RevolveЯ have already started to surface all across the Web, but the tracks that will likely trigger more interest amongst the masses would have to be the couple of high-profile remix gigs found below that he’s smartly lined up to aid in creating buzz for his…guess you could say “comeback”.

The first re-pairs him with R&B kindred spirit of-sorts R. Kelly in a 2.0 take of what’s become Kellz biggest hit in two years, the currently chart-climbing “Number One”. And like their previous collaborations (the remixes to “Same Girl” and “I’m A Flirt”), it’s another memorable joint of the minds between the two modern soul freakazoids.

Featuring Keyshia Cole in place of Keri Hilson and dubbed a “remix for the clubs” despite the fact it bears the same slow groove tempo of the original, the song births plenty of great lyrical snippets to add to both men’s already very lengthy lists of awesomely WTF!! songwriting nuggets, from Pain’s “I’m-a put that BMI all over your ASCAP” to Kelly’s “Baby girl I guarantee once I get up in you/ I will make that pussy speak to me in Auto-Tune” making for what could best be described as robot-icized sex jam heaven!!

DL: “Number One (Remix)” (alt)

For his other remix appearance, T-Pain is inserted into a “re-configured for urban airplay” version of Shakira’s “She-Wolf” that ticks all the necessary boxes to realize it’s goal with it’s disco beat stifling, generic ’09 hip-pop production overhaul (listening to it, you nearly expect Flo-Rida to pop up with some corny club rap banter at some point).

Unnecessary? Totally, though some slight entertainment value can be found in Mr. Pend-Her-Ass-Down’s aping of Shakira’s vocal melody. But it did get us to thinking of how cool would it have been if he had found a way to bring his boy R. Kelly in here. Having the “R” in R&B spout out some naughty verse about a fanged seductress would have really brought this revamp to the next level.

DL: “She-Wolf (T-Pain Remix)” (alt)

Our love for both cover songs and “She-Wolf” knows no bounds, so when our inbox was blessed with this awesomely goofy re-take of the Shakira single by the boys in Chester French, we couldn’t download it fast enough.

To anyone who’s ever dared to sing along to a Shakira record, mimicking her every strange vocal tic along the way, they would know it’s no simple feat. So props to singer Andrew “D.A.” Wallach for making “She-Wolf” sound so karoake-able (and double props to bassist Omar for submitting a wolf howl that’s more convincing than the original).

Catch the clip and MP3 below, than head on over to CF’s blog to vote on next week’s cover choice (We picked Taylor Swift!!).

DL: “She-Wolf (Shakira Cover)” (alt)

Shakira’s inner “She-Wolf” gets it’s chop-licking boogie on further via these two recently unleashed club mixes:

The first, helmed by none other than Mr. Calvin Harris, shrouds the singer in back-and-forth dashing synths and spacey sound effects while re-reminding us that you can never go wrong with a lil’ cowbell additive; the other, known as the ‘Deeplick Edit’, bears a catchy, syncopated guitar shuffle and a nice Zapp & Roger-esque vocoder slant to the “S.O.S.” line.

Too bad these things don’t come with videos, cause we’d love to see how Shakira would freakishly contort her groove thang to their beats.

DL: “She-Wolf (Calvin Harris Remix)” (alt)

DL: “She-Wolf (Deeplick Edit)” (alt)

When taking a backwards glance at the many pop giants who’ve dominated the music world over the past decade, few register as endlessly fascinating as Miss Shakira.

From one track to the next, she leapfrogs amongst various world-pop musical influences; her voice is a chameleonic wonder, evolving from an imp-ish peep to a froggy growl to a lioness-like bellow, sometimes all within a single verse; her songwriting, whether English or Spanish, bears a clumsy poetic charm; and then there’s her body-ahhh, that body-and the seducing physical contortions that make up her “freestyle choreography”.

With all that said, it’s not all that surprising that Shakira’s new single “She Wolf” would end up being the farthest thing from boring, but we’re also sure no one was expecting what is ultimately delivered either.

It’s zany plot? Triggered by a full moon lighting up the night sky, a bored housewife suddenly transforms into this horny, werewolf-like ho-creature. That outline not interesting enough? How about Shakira’s full commitment to the storyline’s innate campiness with random howling bursts or sex-craving heavy sighs? Or interesting lyrical turns like “Nocturnal creatures are not so prudent/ The moon’s my teacher, and I’m her student” and “To look at the single man I’ve got on me a special radar/ And the fire department’s hotline in case I get in trouble later” (not to mention the use of the term “Lycantrophy”). Or, taking the record to a whole new level of WTF?, the fact that the entire backing track is bathed in a slightly cheap-ish, Studio 54-inspired nightclub groove accented with snippets of disco strings and Chic-y guitar flickers?

Initially, the whole thing doesn’t seem to gel together all that well, with Shakira’s laboured vocal inflections and overly-wordy verses sounding at odds against the dance beat, making one wish that the producers would have went the more easier route and simply saved the track for the next Kylie Minogue album.

But with repeated listens, “She-Wolf”‘s contrasting elements and “Thriller”-ish thematic rip-off (disco meets Halloween) eventually form into quite an addictive whole, establishing it as a highly successful game-changing comeback event. All that’s really needed now is an accompanying music video, cause we can’t wait to see how she plans to act out this “transformation” through her always-mouth-watering dancing.

She-Wolf, the album, is slated for an October release.

Like a male fantasy come true, Beyonce and Shakira have finally teamed up. But it isn’t the mud wrestling battle us guys were secretly hoping for; instead it’s a musical duet that pairs the two curvaceous singers Brandy and Monica style in a song about them being in love with the same dude.

Found on yet another needless re-release (this time we get the happily re-purchase Beyonce’s double platinum Grammy winner B’Day), “Beautiful Liar” was originally a bilingual solo joint from the Destiny’s favorite Child until she came up with the idea of hooking up with the Colombian goddess with the truthful hips.

As a solo number, “Beautiful Liar” was an interesting, albeit obvious filler cut from the original B’Day tracklisting. With Shakira on board, though, the song experiences a notable upgrade. Over a gentle Latin guitar shuffle accented with exotic Middle Eastern motifs (perfect for the two ladies to moan and sigh all over), the two Maxim beauties realize they’re both getting played by the title character, or what can be dually accepted as either the dumbest guy ever or the top mack of all macks.

Instead of getting all Jerry Springer on the track (in effect, cuing in the aforementioned mud wrestling scenario), the girls opt on bowing out gracefully (“Then we laugh about it/ It’s not worth our time/ We can live without him”). Forming a new found friendship that horny minds would hope to lead to some drunken lesbian experience down the line, the two ladies kick dude to the curb and skip into the sunset holding hands.

It’s a delicious duet somewhat ruined by it’s drama-less conclusion and cheap music video, but “Beautiful Liar” will no doubt notch another smash hit in both artists’ already bulging respective catalogues.