Video: Florence & the Machine Cover Mario Winans
This is hands down the most random thing we’ve found on the internets today and our job is to scour that landscape with a fine tooth comb. (Are you jealous?) We, of course, mean this in a good way and this cover is definitely a gem. The only problems with the original were that you A) always wait for Lauryn Hill’s plaintive cry of ” Ready or Not” to come on and B) Mario sounded like a straight biatch crying all over it. Florence’s soulful and sorrowful voice doesn’t really change the mood of the tune but somehow makes it seem more appropriate and twice as painful. Maybe because she is a master at making her voice tremble. Watch until the end when she explains her song choice and love of R&B. As if we needed any more reason to be into Florence. Funny she should say she doesn’t know much about Mario Winans because neither do we. If you know what he’s up to these days in the Bad Boy triangle, let us know in the comments.
Cyriously: Picture It Now The-Dream’s “Retirement vs. Unretirement” LP
When it comes to talks of “retirement” from any genre of music, it always rubs me the wrong way because thanks to artists like Jay-Z (rap), D’Angelo (R&B), Madonna (pop, right?) erryone has done the “Oh schnap! They’re coming back!” reaction to announcements of them making great, unexpected returns. The latest “retiree,” The-Dream or just call him Radio Killer, whatever the case may be, he’s eyeing down a promised retirement after the release of this upcoming Love King album. Granted, I own his first two solo releases and they’re pretty dope to say the least, but gracefully trying to bow out of R&B music? Stop playing with yourself (pause).
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In Memory of Malcolm McLaren: 5 Supreme Contributions
Today the world mourns the loss of Malcolm McLaren. He was truly a worldy man. To be dubbed an impresario, as he has been heralded in his 30-plus years in music, McLaren saw diversity, exposing the sounds of every nook and cranny eminating near and far from his backyard of England. Part of his legacy stands as the manager for the Sex Pistols, yet his role as a producer, A&R, early-adopter, tastemaker, or any of the terms used to describe mavens of culture crossed international waters and generations.
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Video: The Dream “Love King”
We heard some people were trying to shit on this video via Twitter but we’d like to break a couple things down for folks. The Dream is not your average artist. How quickly it’s easy to forget he’s producer, the industry’s equivalent to a magical shaman who makes melodies that immediately melt every heart, using beats that bang like R&B gorillas should.
The dude makes all his money in one place: the studio. So everything outside of that pretty much gets pushed to the wayside as a necessary evil to put the masses under his trance. He doesn’t need a huge, plot-driven video because you’re too busy dancing (surprisingly with him) to the song. That said, this straight-forward Lil X video is just fine; from the Margiela-shouldered dancers to those sunglasses that we literally want to steal off the screen. In the land of all hype and no talent, the radio killa is king.
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Black Buddafly “Can’t Fuck With Me” MP3
From left to right: Amina and Jazz. No two snowflakes are alike.
Black Buddafly is now two girls, one group; a pair of tatted up twin songstresses that had a good look from Uncle Rush when he signed them as a trio to the Russell Simmons Music Group. When we say songstresses, we mean just that—they spawned two records that were worth listening to, “Rock-A-Bye” and “Bad Girl” with Fabolous. What went wrong?
With no artists of LL Cool J or Beastie Boys calibur, the chances of Russell starting another Def Jam, anchored by Reverend Run, Short Dawg, and Black Buddafly, didn’t seem like it was gonna fly. The German-born Amina and Jazz are still flapping their wings though, singing the nasty girl anthems that got a rise out folks the first time. Listen to them go for a second round below.
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The Maturation of Mya: Beauty & The Streets Mixtape Vol. 1
In a weird masochistic way, the name for Mya’s mixtape cuts both ways. Google her iTunes and Amazon release from last fall and two names pop up: Beauty & The Streets and Beauty In The Streets. It’s sad but true, considering how much she’s had to fend off ugly rumors being a fling to some of the best rappers, well, from the streets.
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Rapper’s Worst Nightmare: The Dream’s Best Featured Verses
It’s bad enough that guys should keep their lady from the Dream. If you’re a rapper, you might want to do the same with your beats. Research shows: on “Put It Down” Terius threw a jab at MC’s saying, “I see you jockin’ Dream.” Were they paying attention though? Nah (ahh-ahh), he’s the other “rapper eater” showing them up with his guest verses.
To his hip-hop counterparts it’s probably not a big deal because Dream plays his position doing the best damn R&B, period. The fact that he can sing a few thugged out lyrics better than they can rap ‘em, well, don’t be mad, your beat really chose Dream. Check out four songs the Dream owned after the jump.
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Video: Nicki Minaj f. Sean Garrett “Massive Attack”
Damn Nicki looks good. We haven’t seen this many colored wigs since Lil Kim’s “Crush on You” video. All Lil Kim comparisons however will stop there. We’d like to thank this video for a few things: shutting down the “padded booty” conspiracy, Nicki Minaj dancing, and bringing back green hair. It’s nice to see she brought Amber Rose as her wingwoman. This video has made us like this song about 1000x more with most of the screen time going to Nicki’s big ole swole, and those double jointed dudes giving us a massive heart attack. Get a glass of cold water and watch Hype Williams bring Barbie to life after the jump.
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Dreams of Sponsoring an R&B Chick: The 5 Ladies of adidas
The shortage of ladies in R&B is kind of a nightmare we need to wake up from. Compared to Biggie’s hit list of females he rapped about smashing, the most talented ones that are still kicking are all dried up, yet we’re still checking for them. There’s something terribly wrong if today’s talent pool is so shallow that no one’s getting wet, ya dig?!
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Follow Diddy’s Dirty Money Train to American Idol
Making moves with Puff, yeah Dirty Money is officially doing that (no Craig Mack). Cassie’s status is fuzzy, and the Making the Band projects (Day 26, and Danity Kane) are out of steam. What’s left is Diddy pushing his new group Dirty Money for his next album, Last Train to Paris. To what end though?
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