mixtape maestro (2.0)

Yes, co-signing with what everybody else with Internet access this past week has already screamed at you probably a million times over now: Cee-Lo‘s “Fuck You” is brilliant/ genius/ amazing/ the true song of the summer we’ve been waiting for/ one of the greatest records of not only this year, but, perhaps, all time.

An expletive-laced diss at an ex-flame/ gold-digger and her big ballin’ new man packaged as a cheery ’60′s Motown-pop romp and delivered through Cee-Lo’s heaven-sent soulful belts? With all of these elements involved, of course “Fuck You” was going to stir some deafening Web buzz; but for us what makes the song’s near-instantaneous universal embracing even more special is that, just like with the similar viral explosion response to that early leak of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” waaaay back in 2005, it re-positions Cee-Lo as the hottest pop and soul star in all of music land, an awesome reality to digest when you look at the comparably insignificant assembly-line bots most of the major labels are desperately pushing to have in those roles these days.

Fingers are crossed that when “Fuck You”‘s parent album, the Cee-Lo solo outing The Lady Killer, drops on December 7th, it’ll feature more of these modern classics to keep him perched atop that throne where he rightfully belongs.

Cop the single over at Cee’s website, then after the clip, snatch up Emynd‘s killer B-more club remix as well as an old Cee-Lo-featured fave.

“Fuck You”:

BONUS DL: Cee-Lo x Emynd “Fuck You (Emynd Baltimore Club Edit)” (alt)

BONUS DL: Dungeon Family (featuring Cee-Lo, Andre 3000, Big Gipp, Backbone, Big Boi & Sleepy Brown) “Trans DF Express” (alt)

King Most has the right idea.

If Andre 3000 persists on only dropping these random, one verse teases instead of the full length solo jams we’ve been begging for for damn near ever, why not just merge a few of them together into something longer than sixty seconds so we can at least pretend like we’re getting a full Three Stacks joint.

On this satisfying mix, Most takes the sixteen and instrumental from recent snippet leak “I Do” and attaches bits of Andre’s work from Devin The Dude’s “What A Job” and the DJ Drama/ Outkast cut “The Art of Storytellin’ Part 4″.

Much appreciated, King. Your move now, Dre.

Andre 3000 – I Do (King Most Mix)

What do other rappers do when a new Andre 3000 verse leaks and it’s a trillion times better than about 98.7% of the lyrical output found on one of their entire albums? Do they decide to just give up on rapping altogether? Cry? Bitch-slap the nearest person around in a frustrated fit of rage because they realize they’ll never be as great as a Three Stacks sixteen? Really, inquiring minds want to know.

3000′s latest tease, from the upcoming mixtape Limelight Exclusives and a possible future Jeezy album cut, rolls out as an extension to his female-praising, soul sample-adorned contribution to UGK’s “International Players Anthem (I Choose You)”, with Dre ready to drop to one knee and propose marriage in the middle of the club after spotting a fine honey on the floor.

“Her proud like her mother and whooo Mama sweet/ So you just know that juicy fruit ain’t gon’ fall too far from tree,” he beams in awe, in his mind already salivating over the first time he’ll get a taste of her “bleepty-bleep” and how it’ll help create a (hopefully, “nerdy”) daughter that’ll have club-goers pausing and taking notice in the year 2030.

Once again, why is it taking so damn long to get a full-on 3000 solo platter?

(via)

Andre 3000 – I Do

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)

Ask most heads what they think of Yelawolf and you’ll likely get back in initial response some blank stares, head scratches and incoherent stammering. Basically: “…”.

Not that the Alabama native is a horrid MC (he’s proven to hold his own, and sometimes steal the show, when paired on tracks with better known rap names), it just takes a minute to wrap your head around the half-White/ half-Native American rapper with a lanky, tattoo-ed and mullet-hawk-topped frame that screams more punk-rock than hip hop, and a nimble, rapid-fire flow that brings to mind Eminem, Outkast and Twista…all at the same time.

Still, after the release of his quite excellent Trunk Muzik mixtape earlier this year, a memorable guest spot on Sir Lucious Left Foot‘s lone Andre 3000 production “You Ain’t No DJ”, and a slew of buzzed-about remix appearances, Yelawolf has started to grow on a lot of folks, especially those who (like us) are constantly longing for a new and unique voice to shake up the genre (and not for a trendy, three-month bid either).

“Looking For Alien Love”, Yelawolf’s latest, offers another dose of his increasingly compelling singularity, starting off on an odd “teardrops on my guitar” chipmunk’d country/ spoken word tip, before getting even more curio on an elongated second verse which finds him seething through a frustrated tangent concerning the lack of inspiration he’s getting from his contemporaries (“In ’93 you had to rap/ What the fuck ever happened to that?”), then adopting a sci-fi sheen to his voice as he starts rambling craziness at the speed of light about “purple people-eaters” and “alien catfish” to the beat’s sudden explosion into jungle-ish rat-a-tat.

Definitely bonkers, but in the way that leaves us hungry for more.

Yelawolf’s major label debut Trunk Muzik 0-60 drops in September.

DL: “Looking For Alien Love” (alt)

BONUS DL: Big K.R.I.T. featuring Yelawolf “Hometown Hero (Remix)” (alt)

Sandwiched between several colorful ATLien-funk boogies that should keep house parties pumping well into the next year, Sir Lucious Left Foot standout “Be Still” finds Big Boi slowing things down a bit to reflect on relationships, ceding much of the spotlight for another bravura vocal performance from his always-stunning “Tightrope” partner Janelle Monae.

Here, backed by a beat that’s anchored with a Prince-esque drum machine loop and set a-flight with starry-eyed synth prettiness and twinkling piano, Monae sets her delivery to relaxed and tender with a slight overcast of sorrow as she speaks on the long-lasting damage a failed romance has brought upon her: “I love being in love/ Then you let me down/…Giving up on love/ Makes my ocean drown”.

The theme may be a tad somber, but when you have Janelle slinking her way into your eardrums with the loveliest lullaby melodies, the threat of getting a lil’ teary-eyed for a couple minutes never felt so inviting.

“Be Still”:

On the original version of Jeezy‘s latest banger, the Drumma Boy-produced “Lose My Mind”, the Southern rapper and guest star Plies celebrate the end of a long and hard work week by getting as boozed and random vagina’d up as possible; and as nightmarish as their party-mode at times sounds (thanks to Drumma’s hauntingly slo-mo crunk crawl, Jeezy’s talk of being so drunk he feels “schizophrenic” and Plies sounding…well like Plies), the duo do well at making their weekend feel like a can’t miss event.

So it’s a shame that a verse by Drake on the remix (premiered at this year’s BET Awards) sort of dulls everything down. Not only does Drizzy sound nowhere near as delightfully deranged or super-intoxicated as Jeezy or Plies (the latter of whom he unfortunately replaces here), but his lyrical contribution is entirely forgettable, leaning far too heavily on his self-important signature (“Half a million in a week/ It’s only right I do”) when one or two doses of woozy wit would of sufficed.

We get Jeezy may have wanted to show Drake some love after being added to the Thank Me Later guest-list, but Mr. “Find Your Love” just proves an ill fit here.

DL: “Lose My Mind (Remix)” (alt)

For Florida alt-hip hip duo After The Smoke, a “Typical Weekend” sounds like it involves a whole lot of kinky fun.

Here, as producer Speek cooks up an enticing beat that juggles skittering drums, mourning organs, handclaps and bits of electro glitch, lyricist/ songwriter Whuzi uses his skeevy soul vocals to color the low-simmering groove with all kinds of erotic gab, including horny lines likes “I’ll give you a beating/ But don’t throw in the towel” and “Now that I got you tied up/ What’s the safe word?” amongst references to melted bodies.

Hypnotic, sexy, left-of-normal, and a bit Outkast-ish? Goes without saying that we’re SUPER down with this intriguing debut effort.

From ATS’ amazing Under The Influence EP.

DL: “Typical Weekend” (alt)

It may only be June, but damn if it hasn’t felt like Christmas recently what with the benefit of getting not one, but TWO brand new Andre 3000-featured cuts in the past week.

The Outkast-reuniting “Lookin’ For Ya” is an especially bittersweet one, seeing as though the suits at Jive are being punks by not letting Three Stacks be officially attached to Stankonia partner Big Boi’s Sir Luscious Left Foot solo set; thank God having the two emcees compare randy escapades (involving Ikea furniture and vice grip-esque vaginas, no less) atop the track’s wondrous galactic-funk (with the always in-the-key-smoove Sleepy Brown riding shotgun) is thrilling enough to briefly subside our boiling anger at the record label execs’ foolish practices.

Having Andre be a part of a shimmery pop-glossed makeover of Ciara’s newest sex jam “Ride”, however, just leaves us scratching our heads in confusion.

We can’t blame 3000 for slobbering all over Ciara’s “beat”-riding skills (have you seen the original “Ride”‘s video?), but really, out of all the songs released in the past year truly begging his presence (Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope” being on the top of that list), this is the one that inspires him to take a trip outside of whatever (likely awesomer-than-awesome) hideout he’s been cruelly sheltering himself in the most?

Somebody, please help us understand…in the meanwhile, grab both tracks below.

DL: “Lookin For Ya” (alt)

DL: “Ride (Remix)” (alt)

After satisfying the trap-folk with his blistering street single comeback “I’m Back”, T.I. shows that he hasn’t turned his back on his other main audience (the ladies) with “Got Your Back”, a Keri Hilson-assisted mashing-up of “Whatever You Like”‘s thug-romantic theme and “What You Know”‘s sleek widescreen grandeur (producer DJ Toomp helmed both) that finds Tip expressing gratitude for those women who don’t get ghost when their men end up locked up (“They stayed home/ Waitin’ on the phone/ And on visit day/ Show up lookin’ good/ Smellin’ better, playin’ kissy-face”).

That he holds off on giving us the shower-crooning flow until the third verse (you know, that same sing-songy vocal imprint that made “Whatever” both instantly catchy and then, after what felt like five billion radio re-spins in a couple months span, extremely irritating) is very appreciated.

King Uncaged, T.I.’s seventh studio effort, drops August 17th.

DL: “Got Your Back” (alt)