#I LOVE THAT NIGGA SYNTH

[barneysbigstompers]

Atp trolls is competing with sonic to take my top interest

[trustinsights]

Mick jenkins vibe lyrics

#Mick jenkins vibe lyrics mac

KAYTRA is known to dabble in samples every once in a while, but he decided to keep it strictly R&B and house. One thing I’ve noticed is the lack of rap-leaning production. The swelling strings at the end are a nice touch. “Culture” might be edging out “What You Need” as my favorite vocal feature on the album so far. “ This is not a life it’s a culture, nigga.” Teedra has so much style. So far, like red bottoms sliding across one of those floor pianos. A lot of these tracks are on the shorter side, especially compared to 99.9%. But “Freefall” is a stoooooone groove, baby.Īfter his amazing remix of Teedra Moses’ “ Be Your Girl,” I’ve been wondering how they’d sound working together on a song. I can’t place my finger on why, but this record is Black as fuck. Durand Bernarr sounds like he’s falling through a sea of satin-lined sheets. Seamless transitions are always a nice touch. Good on KAYTRA for letting this one breathe. No rapper or singer could do this beat justice. If a lava lamp could hold an electric charge, it would look like this song sounds. “Scared To Death” sounds like the colorful visualizers you could summon on iTunes. 12. “Scared To Death”Īnother solo instrumental.

#Mick jenkins vibe lyrics mac

I’m still mad at Goldlink about his Mac Miller “ letter,” but he’s bobbing and weaving through this beat. Eight9Fly and Ari Pensmith work well in this environment. KAYTRANADA’s style is so easy on the ears. KAYTRANADA’s sound is sturdy but versatile. He’s slipping in and out of these synths and drums. Leave it to SiR to thread a love story into a carefree environment. “ Baby I ain’t got no time for fake love.” “Go DJ” treats the DJ club atmosphere as a religious experience. SiR! Inglewood’s finest representing early. A four-on-the-floor groove for 20-somethings and their aunties alike. The lyrics are quite simple, but no one goes out onto the dance floor to think too hard. Why haven’t they worked together before? This record is new-age Soul Train line music. Is that Iman Omari on the vocals? Always good to hear him singing, though I’m more familiar with his production work. Keys gliding over programmed drums and dreamy synths. Not explosive, but enchanting nonetheless. “DO IT” is a proper reintroduction to KAYTRA’s sound. Shaking bells, hand drums, and singing voices keep a steady groove. A vocal sample saying “ Do it!” sounds like James Brown.

[queenoftheworldisdead]

Elevator

Note: Synth’s Lyric Challenge. Thank you @syntheticavenger​ for letting me participate. Thank you @olyvoyl for helping me thing of the meeting cute. Also found some prompts from @dragonroleplaystarters​. Did a continuation in Penthouse.

14. Give it to me like you need it, baby (Summer Walker ‘Girls Need Love Too’)? plus a few other lines from the song too...

Warning: chocking, non-con/dub con, forced masturbation, rape

Summery: When a meet cute goes bad.

Dark Bucky x Black Reader

The news paper you used to run back to the office wilted quickly in the rain. Waiting at the cross walk a black Maybach came too close to the curb when it turned the corner. It hit a puddle sending a tsunami of water over you, leaving you completely soaked. You stood pissed and shocked as the car parked.

The back door opened up and an umbrella sprouted out. The light to the cross walk turned green, swallowing your anger you turn to cross. The rain stops. You look up to find yourself under an umbrella. He apologized and introduced himself, but you knew his face from the papers and news. James ‘Bucky’ Barnes, notorious drug lord.

You left with his umbrella while he left with your number.

On your first date after weeks of flirtatious banter you were nervous. You met him at the restaurant, playing with your phone until he arrived. The location of the date had you feeling like a fish out of water.

When he entered you were breathless. Bucky dressed in the most exquisite designer threads compared to your strappy discount knock off. He made you feel self-conscious just being in his presence.

As the date progressed he slathered you with booze and complements. The adorations weakening your better judgement as you ate up every bit of praise, but very little food. His warm palm rode up your thigh and your breath hitched.

"Tell me what you want?" His boozy breath hit your ear. His hand plunged in-between your thighs. Despite your reservations you spread for him, allowing him to play. Bucky chuckled when he felt the ruined panties. Your face felt hot with embarrassment, ashamed that you got so wet so fast.

Pushing your panties to the side he moved back to look you in the eye. Bucky smiled, watching your face contour as he slipped in your slick slit.

"I just need some dick..." You panted out, Bucky's dipped deep into you.

"I just need some love" you quivered as he latched on to your neck.

“I’m tired fucking with these lame niggas baby I just need a thug.”

After dinner you both spilled out of the restaurant. His man, Steve, opened the door to the back of the car, allowing you two to spill in.

You weren't the type to have sex on the first date, but something about him made you relent. In the back seat of his luxury car you found yourself giving more of yourself to him.

Bucky's stubble rubbed along your neck as he kissed it. Leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Your head fell back and moaned his name as Bucky's hands roamed your body.

"We could start with a handshake, baby." His low growl rippled through your haze. He took your hand and placed it on his shaft. Through the rich fibers you stroked him slowly. 

The time between the restaurant and his place felt like seconds. The next thing you knew you found yourself in the elevator.

The numbers ticketed up to the penthouse floor. Your lower back was hard pressed against the handrail as Bucky fingers curled inside of you.

The mirrored walls of the lift were hard to avoid the eyes of Steve. He watched you through the reflection as he faced the door. Making out in the car while Steve snuck in the occasional glance through the rearview was one thing, but now in the elevator Bucky had stepped over the line.

It was apparent that Steve found enjoyment of your predicament. In the car it was easy to pretend that Steve couldn't see. But here in the well lit box you watched him stroke himself as you try and hold off the tightness that wanted to explode in your sex.

"Bucky wait please.." You pant out,  only for your lips to be consumed by Bucky's. Your finger cupped the back of his head, gripping his short hairs, the tresses slipping free as you try and pull.

Turning your head you plead for him to stop, but his focus is elsewhere. Bucky yanked down a strap on your shoulder. Kneading your breast in his palm when it falls free.

"Stop please.."

His tongue invaded your mouth when you protested again. Pinching your nipple hard to feel you scream in his mouth, your walls quaked around his digits to his delight. You had tried fiercely to push him off, but he over powered you.

Your knees lifted and kicked up, but it only helped wedge him between your thighs. Mascara bled and smeared as you cried.

The ride up the elevator felt like eternity. With each passing number you hoped for someone to save you.

"How hard do you think I can make you come before we reach the top?" he teased, he could feel you breaking down. With each curl of his finger your stomach tightened and your sobs turned to mewls.

Your dress hiked up past your waist when Bucky fisted the elastic of your panties. Your fingers tried desperately to break his hold, but with a flick of his wrist, the material splintered as it ripped into you.

Steve swiftly scooped up your discarded panties, bringing them to his nose before tucking them away in his pocket.

With one leg hooked behind his back, Bucky's cock stretched you open. Your teeth clenched tight, breathing heavily through your knows as you were forced to take him all in.

"Look me in the eyes Doll. You’re mine." He growled, gripping your chin with his free hand. His eyes bright with delight as you tried to swallow your moans.

The pain of him and the rail in your back was too much to take all at once.

"Tell me who you belong too." Bucky's hand dropped from your chin to encircle your neck. The air became harder and harder to intake as he squeezed your throat like a vice.

He pressed his forehead on to yours as he squeezed tighter. His steely blue eyes were filled with a crazed lust. Your fingers tried desperately to pry your neck free. "Tell me or I'll break your fucking neck."

"You..I belong to you" you croak out. What little air you were able to get was gone when he crashed into your lips again. Bucky's thick tongue roaming your mouth with a hum.

"Good girl" he praised. Bucky's head rested on your forehead, you feel his hip desperate to go deeper in.

Bucky hissed in frustration, sucking in your bottom lip and biting it. Too scared to push him away you take the new pain as he pressed you flush against the wall.

Removing his hand from your neck you choked and gulp in air. Your vision blurred with tears you could barely make out the shape of Steve.

Bucky's hand join the other, cupping your ass your weight rested in his hands when he moved back from the wall. He bounced you on his shaft, his hands squeezed your ass firmly controlling your descent.

"Who do you belong to?" He moaned as he let gravity sink you deep on to his shaft. His hands molded your ass as it crashed to his hilt.

"Bucky" you say hoarsely.

Clutching the neck of his shirt a quake of heat palpitates throughout your core. Your teeth dig into the fat of your lips after a mewl knocked loose.

"Give it to me like you need it baby" His husky voice teased. Tears rolled down your cheek as you felt it. Your walls hugged and clinched around him. His blue eyes stared you down as you came around him.

In the fog you hear the soft ding of the elevator doors. Your legs quivered around him.

Bucky's slick cock slid out of you. You let out a deep breath when he pulled back. You feel your legs fall and as you start to collapse his hands wrap around your waist. “Come on doll the fun just got started.”

Continues on Penthouse

[patricksmusicblog]

PMB Favorites: My Favorite Albums of 2020

2020 was largely year of changes that brought on a heightened sense of stress and anxiety in my life (and a lot of peoples lives as well) but when I needed it music was there to provide escapism or to color the grim and uncertain mood the year tended to bring. Here are the albums that were the soundtrack to my 2020(In no particular order). I welcome all musical recommendations.

. Squarepusher- Be Up, Hello: Squarepusher returned early in 2020 with a hard-hitting drum and bass album, filled with bright textures and poly-rhythms. The albums both exhilarating and intense listen at times. Love “Speedcrank” and “Voltrack”

Oneohtrix Point Never- Magic Oneohtrix Point Never: Released in the 4th quarter of the year Oneohtrix Point Never came through with an album strongly inspired by his love of radio growing up Magic 106.7 to be specific. The result is an album of diverse styles of pop, rock, hip-hop etc blended into the plunder-phonics that Oneohtrix fans have come to know, great project.

Lady Gaga- Chromatica: Chromatica is Lady Gaga's triumphant return to dance-pop after getting personal with Joanne (2016) and doing the Star is Born soundtrack. Chromatica, like Gaga's early work, is packed with hits and catchy tunes, i.e., the Ariana Grande assisted "Rain on Me" and "Stupid love," a great pop album and one of my favorite albums from Lady Gaga thus far. 

TOPS-I Feel Alive: Tops are a band that has been progressing with each release. This album is a beautiful mix of indie-pop/dream pop that features the summery title track and the brisk synth-driven "Colder and Closer." It is one of the better indie-pop releases this year. 

Dream Wife-So When You Gonna...”:  Dream Wife typically has a high octane and raucous sound. So When You Gonna... calms things down a bit. They go more in-depth on this project with songs about keeping sexual agency, not seeking validation from others, and staying true to yourself. It has nearly the energy of their previous self titled LP but with lyrical depth.

Hinds-The Prettiest Curse: Hinds have gotten better with every album. The Prettiest Curse is their best thus far. The Prettiest Curse finds them expanding their sound with more lavish production and some synth-pop in there to go along with their garage rock sound. A few Great tracks on here but "Good Bad Times" and "Take Me Back" are amongst my favorites. 

Nas- King’s Disease: Nas's Kings Disease maybe the best Nas release since at least Untitled and probably since the early 00s. A lot of that has to do with producer Hit-Boy who provided Nas the canvas to create a wise and timely album. "Ultra Black," "Til the War is Won" with Lil Durk, and "10 Points" are amongst my favorites on the album. 

Westside Gunn- Pray for Paris: Griselda Records was dominant in 2020. Westside Gunn is a big part of that in that he released two great albums this year. The first of which was the menacing but luxurious Pray for Paris. The beats are hard and classy, and Westside's rhymes are both street and opulent/artful. "$500 Ounces", "Shawn vs. Flair," "George Bando," and "327″ are essential. 

Westside- Gunn- Who Made The Sunshine: The second great album by Westside was Who Made The Sunshine. This album is a darker ominous project that sounds like quintessential Griselda. Built for grey skies and dark times, it was great on overcast days late this year. "The Butcher and the Blade," "98 Sabers and "All Praises" are my favorites on this one.

Conway The Machine- From a King to a God:  Conway The Machine's From a King to a God may be the best album from the camp this year. It's an album that spans both street tales, introspection, and some social commentary. It's also found Conway getting as personal as he's gotten any album thus far. The album features high-level production from Hit-Boy, Daringer, DJ Premier, etc. "Spurs 3″, "Dough & Damani", are my favorites here.

Benny The Butcher-Burden of Proof: Rounding out the Griselda releases to make my 2020 favorites is Benny The Butcher's Burden of Proof. Burden of Proof is handled 100% by Hit-Boy, who gives Benny's hard-nosed rhymes a bit of pristine sheen without taking anything away from Benny's style. There's no real reaching here, and it ends up being an album that shows Benny can be versatile. "One Way Flight," "Timeless," "War Paint," and "Legend" rank amongst my favorites on the album.

Freddie Gibbs- Alfredo:  Been following Freddie Gibbs since Pinata with Madlib in 2014, and it seems as though he hasn't missed since. I loved his 2019 project Bandanna, and Alfredo is another excellent project. Alchemist handles the production here and does a great job providing a backdrop for Freddie's fluid and vivid rhymes. There's the measured reminiscing of "Babies & Fools," the soaring "1985″, the shadowy menace of "God is Perfect," essential hip-hop listens for 2020. 

Royce Da 5′9-Allegory: Royce Da 5′9 follows up his excellent Book of Ryan (not to mention PRhyme with DJ Premier) with Allegory. While his last album was decidedly a personal effort, this one finds him using his lyrical gymnastics on being the best and spitting knowledge on what's going on in rap and in general. "I Play Forever," "Tricked," "Overcomer" are the favorites here. 

Princess Nokia- Everything is Beautiful: Everything is Beautiful is in my opinion, the better of two albums; Princess Nokia released in the early part of 2020, an album that finds Princess Nokia reflecting on what made her coming up in her childhood. Elastic flows and charisma with eclectic production from the likes of Adam Pallin and Tony Seltzer. Favorite cuts on this are "Green Eggs and Ham," "Wash and Sets," and "The Conclusion."

Logic-No Pressure:  Logic came full circle on this album from 2014 Under Pressure to his current and (for now) final release No Pressure. No Pressure may be his best album. It's consistent all the way through, it wears its influences on its sleeve than previous albums, and it's not a knee-jerk reaction album done based on what people want from him, and it's not corny. It feels closest to pure Logic that sounds like he's just spitting about where he's at in life(dadbod) and finding peace within himself. I love this LP. 

Jeezy- Recession 2: Jeezy's one of those rappers that is just solid, you know what to expect, thunderous beats, hood motivation music. Even still, Jeezy's music continues to mature as he does, touching on the ills of the ghetto, police brutality, and putting your monetary priorities in the right place. "Modern Day," "Back," "Almighty Black Dollar" are amongst my favorites here. 

Roc Marciano- Mt. Marci:  Roc Marciano's Mt. Marci is a darkly beautiful album. The album features collages of different soundscapes that are generally classy and ominous. Of course, Roc's stoic monotone flow continuously reeling off-kilter references and punchlines is the album's centerpiece. Roc's flow is just cold-blooded. "Covid Cough," "Downtown 81″, "Wheat 40s", and "Butterfly Effect" are among the livest tracks on this album, in my opinion. 

Run The Jewels-RTJ4: Killer Mike and EL-P kill it every time they drop, and RTJ4 is no different. It's another album of high octane/great beats from EL-P and essential bars from Killer Mike and EL-P. As you'd expect, RTJ speaks to lots of issues going on today while at the same time going crazy to one-up each other bar for bar. "Ooh La La," "Out of Sight," "Never Look Back," and "Pulling the Pin" are the highlights of the project to my ears. 

Megan Thee Stallion-Good News: Megan Thee Stallion has been dope since Tina Snow.  Whether it's Fever or Suga, you can expect both skill and top-notch charisma and confidence from Meg’. If you've heard those projects, you know you can expect to hear Meg taking explicit agency of her sexuality, partying, rappin' her ass off, and generally commanding these tracks. There's also the drama with Tory Lanez, but the album, fortunately, isn't weighed down with ways about that. Favorites on this album include "Shots Fired," "Savage(Remix), "Movie," "Girls In The Hood."

21 Savage & Metro Boomin- Savage Mode II: 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's original Savage Mode was bleak and brooding enough to launch 21 Savage careers, and this one is similarly cold-hearted. Still, there are more varied styles of savagery here, whether we're talking the 80′s inspired "Steppin' On Niggas” or the more pop-orientated "Mr. Right Now" or the inspirational/introspective "Said N Done."

[wormmomma]

tyler, the creator: the very queer discography review!!!

Im bored of writing overly long threads on twitter so i wrote a look at tyler the creators discography and why hes gay and im gay and deserved to have his dick immortalized in gold when he dies. So tyler gregory okanma is a black man born in ladera heights california. He’s also my third favorite rapper and since he discovered my favorite rapper earl sweatshirt I guess he deserves goat status for that shit too. Tyler started his career around 17 years old as the ace the creator. He did features at the time with casey veggies and the inspirations in his flow to mf doom where already apparent even back then. From ace the creator mixtape you can already hear the very digital and jazz inspired pharrell production. Funny story if you look up any of his ace stuff now you'll mostly find some really old production that in the age of tyler the creator type beats doesn't really hold u all that great. From there Tyler went on to create odd futures and his first album bastard. He quite quickly followed up bastard with godlin. Goblin, bastard, and the OF tape vol.1 all feel pretty interconnected so im gonna speed round from worst to best. So odd future tape volume one is fun and punk and really crass, it's also completely eclipsed by odd futures other releases. I love odd future and the collective's ability too be both edgy teen skate rap garbage, and a risky artistic rap collective all at the same time. In odd future's first tape it seems pretty clear that tylers description of the groups early work as a bunch of niggas joking around in a studio is very apparent for better or worse. If you wanna get high with some friends can listen to some funny edgy and downright grimey tracks over left brains booking production skip this and listen to odd future's next mixtape but come back here to listen to some funny skits and a few proto mellowhype track with domo genesis. Goblin is Tyler's attempt to do a bigger darker more sprawling version of bastard but misses the mark. I like the album and I love singles on the album. Goblin the opening track is amazing and is a great look at tylers mental state attempting to live up to his newfound fame and anxiety about his infamy. I love yonkers and tron cat. Tyler says alot at this time that he doesn't make horrorcore and he's correct but the lack of emotional honesty and his immature deflections is really going off on all cylinders. If you dont wanna hear skits like “my bitch suck dick” and lines like “im not homophobic faggot” i would probably call it his worst album. Before i talk about bastard id like to go over his use of slurs and rape in his work. Tylers consistent lyrics about violence towards women and use of the lgbtq community really don't insult me. I feel like his lyrical content is filled with a clear look of how angry and insecure tyler was about not having a father or any way of processing his angst. Did he have to sound like a incel threatening to stalk and murder women who refuse to love him for over 3 albums? No, but i really enjoy looking at his early music. He doesn't shy away from how angry, sad and desperate he was at the time. That synthesis of need for fatherly love, anger from a lack of it and deteriorating mental state honestly makes the content more palatable. Also as a black trans women id rather hear tranny an faggot bars from a male rapper making intreeating music. Tyler at the time was being honest, angry and vulnerable not like eminem and action bronson who spit these bars with all the same rap bravado and violent anger toward women with zero pathos. Bastard is amazing, it's an intimate dark album. At the time it felt like it was tapping right into where I was at the time. The amount of mental anguish on bastards opening track really hit me. I was an angry kid with a lot of angst and bipolar disease so hearing a rapper yell about that same dysfunction really meant alot to me. The flows are amazing and it was a really good look at tylers ability to build a narrative. Wolf was tyler's next album. For a while wolf was my favorite album by tyler. His look at relationships and breakups on bimmer and ifhy are amazing and are expanded on his future releases. Find your wings and treehome are also a good look at his more melodic influence. It was such a good album I actually bought the mrech for and went to see Tyler at afropunk. Also hearing an entire song about the death of his grandma really hit me, my grandfather died around the same time. Cherry bomb was bad, now moving one. Ok im  joking i've listened to it two or three times but its really not worth going back to even though tyler put his all into it. The soul features and amazing production is worth listening to but even Tyler admits he rushed the album a little and that he needed to blow people away next time. Flower boy, is one of the most important albums in hip hop. That's it. Bar none. It was my favorite release of 2018. Flower boy is about tylers newfound isolation with his fame, and how he drives cars by himself in beautiful la vistas. Its also about how he’s gay (or bisexual). There are ALOT of stupid takes on this album. There is a contingency of tyler stans that think tyler has been “playing a character” since bastard. Now I'll admit that wolf haley and dr.teecee are clearly characters; they are also artists' representations of tyler's mental state. If wolf haley has adhd and no father that means tyler also has those issues. So whether or not Tyler is playing a character he has in fact “been kissing white boys since 2004”. I also have seen an insipid article that asks if “tyler the creator should be accepted into the lgbtq community” due to his homophobia? Much more controversial and actually homophobic and transphobic people are in this community hes tyler the creator, not milo yinnaoplous. I also dont think that it occurs to the reviewer that alot of gay men are very hmophobic before they come out and that self hate is very common. Lyrics like “im not gay i just wanna dance to some marvin” also has a much deeper context now. Listening to older releases you can see how in your face tyler was about his queerness. He even said he filmed himself kissing his friend Lucas to prove he wasn't a homophobe. I'm happy Tyler grew enough to make an album not only about being attracted to men but how lonely he felt in and out of the closet. As someone who came out as bisexual at the time it came at a perfect time. Being  gay is isolating and confusing and when you do you lose alot of friends and family. Garden shed, who dat boy, and 911 are real standouts. His collaboration with kali uchis was also so fucking smooth and she a born r&b star. Tyler gained a grammy nomination off the album and said he loved the feeling of finally making popular catchy music people wanna sing the lyrics too, so he followed it with igor. Igor opens with this addendum on the back of the physical album: 

This might be fiction, this might be about igor but it is fully about tyler okanga. The album is very hard to parse and barely has any rapping. It's more of a pop experimental album with a lot of lofi synth production. Tylers production chops are full force here. Igor is melodic, sad and full of the same anger and obsession from his previous albums. Its just more mature and really gay, and i fucking love it. Tyler was dealing with a tumultuous relationship with a guy and his refusal to be with tyler exclusively. Its about a breakup. A love tragedy that only becomes more depressing after the argument on a boy is a gun, the breakup in my love is gone, and the sad slump back into needing closure in can we be friends. The album is fun to sing to, and fucking devestating. I've dealt with a lot of similar issues with love and obsession so to hear it so clearly illustrated on igor really hit me. I think the album becomes even more depressing with the unreleased track best interest, about tyler being a side nigga. This is the kind of music that's sometimes made in r&b and pop but never in rap. There was an interview where Tyler says he hated his voice which is why he edits it so evident on igor. Tyler also said he wanted to send these songs to rihanna and Justin Beiber but they didn't want them, as cool as it sounds. I'm happy tyler was able to tell his own story. I would also recommend magic wand since it's my favorite track on the album and kicks you in the face with how angry and heartbroken Tyler was at the time. 

Tyler is an artist that talks and speaks about how he feels all the time, he's also a person who feels enigmatic and mysterious somehow. I think it has to do with how constantly he's put to the side of his other hip hop contemporaries. He always seems to be making music Tom weird, controversial and experimental to be treated like asap rocky, vince staples, or the late mac miller. A fact that feels ironic since he worked with all of those artists, lil wayne, and even kanye west. I'm as big a stan for tyler as he is for Pharrell, if it wherent forever I'd never take rap seriously and would never have chosen to make my own music. As a black trans woman I find a lot of tylers work really relatable. I've been in alot of the angry hopeless situations Tyler talks about in his music. I think he's the artist who hits me the most on a personal level and yeah when i was depressed i sat in my bedroom and listened to bastard in my low moments. I like riding in the car and listening to all of flowerboy. Igor is amazing as well for almost half a decade it's been amazing growing up and hitting the same emotional beats Tyler went through5 in his work. Hearing about him coming out as gay ajd dealing with very similar backlash mad me feel less alone if im being honest. Tyler has said he wants to take a more production heavy role in the industry moving forward but he says that a lot, i think as long as he has a story to tell he's always going to make music. His music feels like a diary and I'm happy to read it and sonnet to it in all its beauty and ugliness. 

Hi my name is lua o'reilly i make music on soundcloud.com/wormmother

If you liked this review let me know and I'll do a look into earl sweatshirt.

[sisilafami]

2019

Rap:

Sada Baby - Fall Youtubes / Whoop Tape Young Nudy - Faded In The Booth LUCKI - Freewave 3 Playboi Carti - Leaks Compilation Lil Keed - Long Live Mexico PG RA - Blowing Candles YNW Melly - We All Shine Goonew - Back From Hell Xanman - Broken Mo Money & Nuk - Diamonds and Dog Shy Glizzy - Covered N Blood Baby Smoove - Flawless Roddy Ricch - Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial Borleone - Hard to Kill Chief Keef - GloToven Teejayx6 - The Swipe Lessons Polo G - Die A Legend Queen Key - Eat My Pussy Again 70th Street Carlos - Win or Lose HOOK - I love you, Hook Lil Gray - Swipe Jesus Earl Sweatshirt - Feet Of Clay Thouxanbanfauni & UnoTheActivist - For Christ Sake 2 Tree - WE Grown NOW Babyface Ray - MIA Season 2 Sauce Walka - Sauce Ghetto Gospel 2 SOB X RBE - Strictly Only Brothers

HM :

03 Greedo - Netflix & Deal / Meet The Drummers AzChike - Rich & Ratchet Baby Smoove - Purple Heart / Baby BandGang Jizzle P & BandGang Javar - Codefendants Blade Icewood - Diamond Chain BlocBoy JB - I Am Me DaBaby - Baby On Baby Damedot - The Umbrella Damjonboi - Super Saiyan Denzel Curry - ZUU Goonew - Goonwick 2 Gunna - Drip or Drown 2 Flee & StoopidXool - XOOL SUMMER Kelow LaTesha - TSA Keydo Foolfunk - Jeter Lucki - Days B4 III Mach-Hommy - Wap Konn Jòj! MIKE - Tears of Joy Navy Blue - Gangway For Navy NoCap - The Hood Dictionary Quelle Chris - Guns Rio Da Yung Og & RMC Mike - Dumb And Dumb3r Rio Da Yung Og - 2 Faced Roc Marciano -The Prequel Rucci - Tako's Son Sada Baby - Bartier Bounty ShittyBoyz - 3-Peat Veeze - Navy Wavy Young Nudy - Sli'merre

R&B:

Kehlani - While We Wait Summer Walker - Over It Solange - When I Get Home

Contemporary:

Lionel Marchetti - Jeu du monde Toshiya Tsunoda - Extract From Field Recording Archive : Reflection-Revisiting Yvan Etienne - Twist Michael Pisaro - Achilles-Socrates-Diotima (The Poem of Names-No. 2) Eva-Maria Houben - Haiku for 11; Die Himmelsmechanik for Orchestra Apartment House play Messiaen & Linda Catlin Smith Antoine Beuger - ... Of Being Numerous Andrew Lafkas - Two Paths With Active Shadows Under Three Moons And Surveillance Eva-Maria Houben, Ernesto Rodrigues & Guilherme Rodrigues - The Haecceity of Things Sophie Delafontaine - Accord ouvert Klein - Lifetime Jean-Philippe Gross & Stéphane Garin - Dénombrement Speaker Music - Of desire, longing Agostino di Scipio - Works for Strings and Live Electronics Thomas Tilly - A Semiotic Survey Jean-Philippe Gross - Curling Shots - Private Hate Kaija Saariaho - Graal Théâtre, Circle Map, Neiges, Vers toi qui es si loin Jakob Ullmann - Fremde Zeit Addendum 5 Jana Winderen - Pasvikdalen Anne-F Jacques & Ryoko Akama - Without Anne-F Jacques, Ryoko Akama, Takamitsu Ohta - The Magic City Kate Carr - City Of Bridges

Digital Beats:

Cakedog - Doggystyle DJ Nigga Fox - Cartas Na Manga Proc Fiskal - Shleekit Doss Abdu Ali - Fiyah!!! Body Meat - Truck Music Various - PDA compilation vol.1 - And the beat goes on Pat - Love Will Find a Way Home

Nice forms:

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[lestwinsfanfics]

Just Friends - Chapter 56

Aaliyah

I could feel the boom of the bass underneath the soles of my feet. My heels only acted as transmitters, and the alcohol I’d ingested throughout the night made me feel every beat through my body. I tossed my head back lazily, though I was only just past tipsy. This started a slow body roll in my seat to the beat of “Company” by Tinashe. Leslie randomly played this song on repeat last week when we were hanging out and my body wound familiarly to the synth-y beat. My eyes were closed, and I tossed my head side to side, hearing Tyler egg me on while feeling her bouncing by my side. She tossed her long, freshly done braids into a ponytail earlier and currently swung them around and I couldn’t help but grab my phone to take a video.

“I’m nothing like a girlfriend.” She sang along into the camera, standing and turning her body to give an extra dance to the camera. I laughed, yelling out at her and turning the camera to myself briefly before putting my phone down, just in time to start bouncing around for Kehlani’s “Distraction.”

This was my shit.

I rose to my feet with Tyler, the both of us dancing together amongst the people in VIP, laughing and singing loudly along. “DO YOU DO YOU DO YOU WANNA BEEEEEEE?!”

Eventually the two of us made it to the dance floor to really turn it out. The DJ was bomb, and Jamal had hand picked her for tonight’s festivities. I was glad he stayed true to his promise of fun night, because I had zero plans for going out tonight.

Jamal had begged me yesterday evening, and even roped Tyler in. She wasn’t a hard sell, she was always down for a good time so it was two against one and before I knew it, I was beating my face and donning a long black button up shirt with splits up the sides, and a pair of leather shorts. My hair was bone straight and my weave hung almost down to my ass. I made a spur of the moment decision to add clip ins and upon seeing the full picture of my look, I was feeling it.

A couple shots before we headed out, and a couple more to sustain my vibe throughout the night, I was having a blast.

I threw it back against Tyler, shaking my ass to “Slow Motion” by Trey Songz, dropping down and popping back up toward her.

“That’s my bitch!” She yelled out, her hand on my hip as I moved. I had my lip in my mouth and one hand on my knee to stabilize myself.

We were on one, and even my heels weren’t going to stop me from having a fun ass night.

Jamal had been running around the club handling business, popping in on us at various moments of the night and making sure we were situated with drinks and whatnot. Once he and I locked eyes, I did an extra wine on Tyler, making him raise his eyebrows mid conversation with one of the bouncers of the other VIP area to the left of us.

He dapped him up and walked over to us, prompting Tyler and I to circle him and dance around him, me behind and her in front. He laughed, shaking his head and raising his hands, letting us switch off dancing on him, before we both went to town, dancing on his legs as he held one side of either of our hips.

“Yall fuckin stupid yo.” He said with a laugh, grabbing us both into a side hug while we walked back to our table. “I seen yall out there getting it in though. Why I aint get none of that?”

“Because you aint my nigga.” Tyler said, prompting us to laugh together at her blunt nature. “Idk her excuse though.”

“Bitch.” I replied, squinting at her, which only made Jamal laugh more. I could really appreciate that he was respectful of me trying to figure things out, and our friendship had shockingly only continued to get better since that day in my office.

While I knew there would likely always be an undercurrent of something with him, I was glad that it was easy going and never awkward.

I didn’t have to worry about anything tonight though, because as it stood, he was dating the bottle girl that currently waited on our VIP section. I wondered if she knew about me, she wasn’t really rude but she also wasn’t particularly nice either. She was just, regular.

“Y'all good over here?” She asked loudly as she walked past our table.

“Yeah.” Tyler answered back, not feeling her energy and barely paying her any mind. I giggled, giving her a big smile and nodding.

“Yeah I think so, thanks.”

“No problem.” She smiled back, her pearly white teeth glimmering as much as her glossy lips. Her toned legs looked amazing in the club’s provided attire for its bartenders. She was a pretty girl, I would never hate. “You good, Mal?”

“Yeah.” They both smirked at one another before she walked away and he looked at me, only to see my eyebrows raised. “What?”

He laughed and so did I. “Nothing.” I said with a shrug and a smile, noting their interaction and the way he took his arm from around me when she came over.

He liked her more than he let on. It was cute.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” I yelled over the music to Tyler who was currently plotting on this dude by the VIP bar. He and his friends had been next to us the entire night and while we’d had a couple funny interactions, I knew when my friend was interested, and interested she was.

“You want me to come?”

“No, no stay. I’ll be right back.” I said, insisting she stay. “Use the alone time wisely.

I nodded my head toward him, making Tyler laugh before I headed off toward my destination.

–

After reapplying the lipstick that coated my lips and taking a quick selfie, I toyed with my hair a little bit before posting the picture on my instagram. As soon as I looked up, the door flew open and I gasped, not expecting the quick and heavy swing of it.

"Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

You know that feeling when someone has been staring at you specifically? Like, past people watching, with an awareness and familiarity to the analysis of your moves.

I couldn’t place it, but I’d been feeling it all night. Now I finally understood why.

Karina stood, staring at my reflection in the mirror. It had to be here. The timing of this wasn’t coincidental and I knew that. I was surprised that I didn’t burn up from the amount of heat her glare provided me throughout the night. While a piece of me wanted nothing more than to give her the shit eating grin of her nightmares, the one that said “I have more control than you ever had.” I wouldn’t give her the satisfaction. She didn’t deserve any extra energy from me. “Aaliyah.”

I sighed, a single dry chuckle left my body as I dropped my phone into my clutch.

Karina stood in front of me, clad in jeans, a white crop top, and a gaudy mens chain. Her body, as per usual, looked amazing and her hair, just the same, was flawless.

I’d seen pictures of her… interesting makeup and clothing decisions that never hit the mark, and while tonight was no different, I wouldn’t nit pick at her appearance. She was still a beautiful girl.

A beautiful girl who only ever stood in my presence to start some shit.

“Karina.” I replied with a smile and a tilt of my head. “You look nice.”

She squinted, roaming my body with her eyes before settling on my face with a nod of approval. “So do you. I love that lipstick.”

“Thanks.” I nodded back, taking a deep breath and preparing myself to exit. “Well, if you’ll excuse me…”

“Look, I’m not here to start trouble.” My laughter was impossible to contain. It left my lips and caused me to shake my head. She continued, unmoved by my clear reaction. “I just… I’m glad we ran into each other in here. I wanted to come speak earlier but… yeah.”

“Lets not play these games, Karina.” I paused, pulling back my negative energy. I wasn’t about to have my night ruined. “You had no reason to come say hi to me. No reason to speak. Lets not pretend that we’re friends or have more than one thing in common. So with that, have a nice night.”

I assumed her silence was based in shock considering I didn’t often speak more than a few words than her. I would never give her the satisfaction, especially not in a work environment and our minimal interactions had been all surrounding my job. This, in comparison, probably seemed bold. She didn’t know me enough to know this was a norm.

I moved to the side in order to pass her. “No, Aaliyah. I want to apologize.”

I sighed, leaning against the wall, simultaneously wishing and praying that someone would walk in and interrupt us, but also thankful that no one did.

My lack of commentary cued her to continue.

“I know that I’ve been rude to you in the past. The reality is, I know how close you and Larry are, and I needed to accept that and not put my frustration with him out on you.”

I crossed my arms, telling of my discomfort and annoyance with being here, and while my drunk was wearing off, I really didn’t want this to taint the rest of my evening.

I’d grab a round of tequila shots when I walked out of here.

“Larry was my boyfriend. Not you.It was his responsibility to make sure I was comfortable with the relationship between the two of you. Not yours.” I scoffed, unable to control myself. “I was rude because I was uncomfortable and insecure and I should have been more demanding with him, not a bitch to you. My bad. Really.”

“I appreciate that.” I replied, still not falling into her bullshit. I knew how Karina played. There was an ulterior motive somewhere here.

“Is that all?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then.” I turned to grab the door before feeling her hand on my shoulder.

“You said that was it.” The sigh I let out bled through my words.

“Look, even though Larry needed to be the one making me feel comfortable, that doesn’t mean I didn’t know that there was something else going on between the two of you.” I just watched her, schooling my face the best way I could to not give anything away.

“Anyone who is around you two for any extended period of time can see it. Y'all aren’t as slick as you think you are.”

“Larry and I have nothing to do with you, despite what you think.” I stopped her. “Your relationship with him is yours. Don’t worry about mine. We have business. That business has nothing to do with you.”

“I’m not saying I have anything to do with you guys.” She paused. “Not anymore I��m not.”

I squinted, wondering what exactly she meant.

“All I’m saying is that I see it. I see the chemistry and I know something is there…” She paused, collecting her words. “Aaliyah I don’t know much about you but you seem like a good girl. You’re beautiful, you’re smart. You’re business-minded. Hell, you’ve never batted an eye at me despite my best attempts to fuck with you and that alone is commendable because it couldn’t have been me.”

She laughed a little bit recalling her bullshit.

“You deserve more than Larry fucking Bourgeois. You do.” she stopped, her voice soft yet… firm in her words. “You can do better. Don’t let him walk all over you and bullshit you girl.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Whether you want to admit it or not, Larry has you under his thumb and I know he does because you know all about his bullshit and despite it, you still deal with his ass.”

“I work with him.” I remained convicted in my words even though we all knew this was way past work. “I have no choice but to deal with him.”

“This isn’t about work and you know that.” The boom from the music let me know that I was currently missing a really good migos song and while I was a bit annoyed, it could wait. “Larry is holding you back and he will always be on bullshit, no matter what.”

“Karina I’m-”

“You think he was loyal to me while we were together?” She scoffed loudly, pushing forward. “Please. I knew he was cheating and let him cook. He even fucked a couple of the girls who are behind the bar as we speak! He will continue whatever behavior you allow until he gets sick of it and will toss you aside.” she paused, controlling her anger.

I pursed my lips in silence, I could tell her frustrations would get the best of her soon and my lack of reaction wasn’t helping matters.

But if I was being honest, some of the things she was saying made me pause.

“All I’m trying to say Aaliyah is that if it isn’t me, it will always be another girl. You deserve someone who’s willing to just be for and about you.”

“Like I said before Karina.” I paused, turning toward the door and grabbing the handle. “Larry and I have nothing to do with you. I appreciate your concern and your apology earlier, but you don’t know me at all. You and I aren’t the same, and whatever impression you have of me is something you made up in your head. I’m good.” “There you are.” Jamal’s voice caught me off guard as he stood next to the bathroom door. I wasn’t confident that he hadn’t heard every bit of our conversation, and I prayed the audio and thick bathroom door had kept us contained. “You good baby girl?”

I fixed my face quickly, tilting my head with a smile as he put his arm around me, pulling me into a light hug. “Yeah. I’m good.”

“I just ordered us another round and you weren’t there. Tyler told me you were in the bathroom.” He rambled on as we left the hallway leading to the bathroom. As we turned I couldn’t help but look back at the door at a shocked Karina, whos eyebrows were raised. She nodded with a slight smile, which I assumed was because of Jamal and I leaving together.

A couple shots and dances later, and I was back in the flow of the evening.

But nothing said was forgotten.

—————–

I yawned, tossing the oversized t shirt over my head before I grabbed the big bottle of lotion from Noelle’s dresser. She was currently in Amsterdam living her best life and I would be indulging in her bed tonight while she was gone. After we left the club, we went and grabbed pizza and made our way back to Ty and Noelle’s apartment which was the closest.

“I'ma sleep in my damn boxers, shit. I don’t care.”

“Don’t nobody want ya stankin ass on my couch nigga!” She yelled back, with a mouth still full of something, Pizza I would guess or some of the fries I’d left on the table when I went to shower.

I laughed to myself as they continued to argue, jokingly as they always did.

“Mal, you don’t have any ball shorts?” I mused, popping my head out of the room. I heard the phone ringing on Tyler’s end, and her enthusiastic hello let me know that she would be quieter for a little bit.

“Oh shit you right.” he replied to me, watching me walk out of the room and plop onto the living room couch. “Lemme go check my car real quick.”

“You smell good.” he said with a smile before grabbing his keys and Tyler’s, and walking past me, putting his hand ontop of the scarf on my head.

“I always smell good.” I said, rubbing the remaining lotion on my arms.

“You a lie.” He said, closing the door before the pillow he knew I was going to toss at him could make contact.

“Mmm, I don’t know actually.” Tyler continued her conversation before grabbing her Gatorade and downing it. “We’ll probably go get breakfast or something unless Liyah got something to do in the morning.”

“Who you talking to?” I asked, raising my eyebrow before noticing that the marbled phone case in her hands belonged to me.

It was then that I recognized the voice on the other end. “She so nosy.”

“I know, right?” Tyler replied, smiling into the phone. “Always in my business.”

“You’re on my phone, so that makes it my business.” I said, a yawn following my words as I felt myself getting deeper and deeper into the comfort of the chair.

“Your phone rang while you were in the shower so I grabbed it. I figured you’d want to talk to him.” She said to me, still with my phone in her hands.

“I don’t want to talk to his ass.” I said with an eyeroll and a smile.

“Oh please, I know you want to talk to ya nigga. Bye Larry!” She said waving at him. “Tell your annoying ass brother I said hi too.”

Larry laughed as he said his goodbyes and I laughed as she handed me my phone.

My smile remained as soon as I saw Larry’s sleepy face.

“You don’t wanna talk to me?” Larry said.

“Nope.” I said, emphasizing the p to solidify my lie.

“wooooow, that’s fucked up.” he replied, making me laugh as I flopped down onto the bed. Literally as soon as I got comfortable I felt my eyes getting heavier and heavier.

“I’m just kiddingggggggg.” I said, my words slurring with sleep and any remnants of alcohol I hadn’t muted with the greasy pizza. “I always want to talk to you.”

“You look so good.” Larry sighed with a big smile. I could faintly see darkness around him, it was clearly night time as he leaned against the window by his side. My stomach churned and my face warmed with his words. I couldn’t help myself.

“Stop it.” I said shyly, grabbing the blanket at the bottom of the bed and covering myself. “What are you doing?”

The rose and sandalwood blend that Noelle always wore filled my nostrils and made me miss her. It also only furthered my comfort levels as I felt myself sinking more and more into the bed.

“Driving back to the hotel.” He said with a yawn.

“New Zealand, right?”

“Yeah.” he replied quietly, staring at me through the screen.

“No club tonight?”

“We gonna go after we get back maybe? I dunno, the show went too crazy and I’m tired as hell.”

“Was it good?” I yawned, snuggling in more.

“It was so fucking good.” He was still speaking quietly, the microphone on his headphones making his voice sound like it was right beside me. I was tempted to shut my eyes, but I ignored the sting they provided and stayed alert. “The crowd was so wild. They cheer so hard for me and Lau baby, it was the best.”

“That’s so good!” I said back, mimicking his smile and energy even though I struggled to keep my eyes open now that I’d found a comfortable spot. I was toasty warm, covered in a blanket, snuggled into bed, and talking to Larry. I felt at peace.

“I hear you out all night.” Larry said with his eyebrow raised.

I tossed my head back, glancing up at the ceiling as I laughed. “You should have seen me. I was a dancing machine.”

Larry laughed. “I do see. You never dance like that for me, not in a long time I think…”

“What do you mean you saw?” Larry smiled and raised his eyebrows in response to my question. “Tyler posted shit?” I asked, kissing my teeth and rolling my eyes. I’d kill her when I woke up in the morning.

“You look sexy though. That little shorts you have on?” he hissed dramatically, shaking his head and putting his hand over his chest. “My God.”

“Don’t be dirty with the Lord’s name.”

“You look so good though I think I maybe in heaven.”

“Shut up” I laughed, still yawning and feeling my eyes water. Recollections of the night had me remembering the conversation with Karina…

I considered spilling the beans, but I didn’t want a fight. Not right now.

I still needed time to think.

“I’m serious…” Larry paused, the silence of the car he was in and the silence on my end was soothing and lulling, and allowed me to abandon the conversation on the tip of my tongue with ease.“You even more beautiful right now.”

I couldn’t help the soft grin tugging at my lips. He could be so charming. “Thank you, Larry.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I’m sure I’ll see you online in the morning at the club too.” I said, referring to the inevitable fan recorded videos that would flood my work timeline and my alerts.

“Man I going to bed I think, I’m so damn tired. They gonna want to stay up all damn night too.” He kissed his teeth again, prompting me to shake my head at the dramatics of it all.

“Oh please.” I replied through a yawn. “You never too tired to hit the club. Who you with?”

He flipped the camera, showing me Lau leaned against the opposite window to him, mouth ajar as he slept. They had to have been exhausted. These two never took an opportunity to skip out on going out just to rest. Even if they needed to in order to have a good day the next day, they’d push and push.

“He so ugly, liyah. He don’t look better than me ever. I ashamed sometimes.” He cracked on his twin as I laughed, calling him rude between insults. Before I knew it, Lau’s hand dove across the seat and smacked the phone from Larry’s hand.

After a mild tussle, Larry’s face was back on the screen, shaking his head and muttering French insults. Larry was usually the more physical one, while Lau’s verbal attacks were deadly, so I’m sure those slaps I heard came from Larry.

“That was rude.” I joked.

“Nah he a baby.”

“Fuck up, Larry.” Lau said off screen.

“Baby we pulling up to the hotel, I call you when I get in?”

“Yeah I might be asleep by then but you can try.”

“No no, get some rest. You a party animal now.” I laughed, knowing he teased at how much I valued sleep. “You better stay up with me next time I’m in town. I wanna see what you can do.”

“Larry.”

“You gonna show me?” He said with a smile and a slight tilt to his head. I sighed softly, making his eyes narrow.

Larry would get sexual occasionally and though we’d clearly crossed that line many times in the past, him not being here and making those jokes allowed me to still keep the distance I wanted to. I knew sleeping with him would throw me off.

“You so nasty Larry I don’t need to hear that shit.” Lau yelled, making me laugh. “Hi Liyah. You nasty too.”

I gasped in mock offense. “I didn’t do anything!.”

“Don’t listen to Lau.” I heard Larry say over my yawn. “Okay its time for you to go to bed.”

“Yeah I think i’m going to call it.”

“Bye baby, have a good morning okay?”

“I’ll talk to you soon.” I said, kissing my fingers twice toward him.

As soon as the call ended, I dropped my phone and was down for the count.

——– Larry took an extra hit, letting the smoke linger out of his mouth and quickly sucked it back in, lips poked out, still gently laughing. I smiled lightly, singing along quietly to Up by Wiz Khalifa.

Our hands grazed as he passed me the joint. I could feel a tingling on my face and while I knew I was high, that wasn’t the reason. Larry’s eyes caught mine just as Wiz crooned.

“You got me walkin on the ceiling” Larry mouthed along, closing his eyes as he layed back on my headboard.

I found myself lost in my thoughts. Smoking could be so… enticing sometimes. Almost erotic. From the woodsy aroma that the weed emits, the shape the smoke takes as it hits the air, how it can go from a heavy thickness to whispy and thin, the way it lingers wherever it touches… it was easy to find yourself immersed in the moment while you’re high, just watching everything happen around you.

It also didn’t hurt to watch the smoke exit the lips of a picturesque male like this one.

“You should dance to this boo.” I say, interrupting my own thoughts, nudging Larry’s side.

“Only if you sing for me…” he grinned at me, knowing I was much more apt to do so while high. His smile encouraged me.

“Nigga you aint slick.” I said, side eye-ing him playfully and catching myself falling under his spell like I always did.

These were the moments that could never and would never forget. The moments I loved with my love… my best friend.

We didn’t get to do this often, what with our work schedules and just life in general, but the connection never left… and unlike most relationships, the distance didn’t completely ruin it.

It had been harder to stay connected over the years but… I don’t think either of us could just completely let the other go.

Come to think of it, we were probably too damn old to be sitting up in a room, bed covered in snacks, getting high as hell and blasting music. But we loved it. and we made a point to always do it at least once while we’re together. More often than not more than once.

Because everything’s better when you’re high…

All of my senses were heightened at this point. I could smell the notes of the candles burning next to me, the most prominent one being the dark musky but sweet one brought back to me from belgium…only to be burned on special occasions. I could feel Larry’s heavy body on every piece of my skin.

For someone who could move so lightly, his presence could be so heavy. We were between j’s. Larry’s head resting on my chest, My hand tangled in his hair. Him playing with the fringes on the blanket covering us, breathing deeply from the feeling of my nails in his scalp. I could feel his fingers switch jobs, drumming the beat of the opening to the song on my thigh.

I was sent here for you, we were made to love, we were made to love. Could the music have been any more appropriate?

I could feel his voice vibrating against me, like he could mine. My body tingled with a warmth that I knew was more than the temperature. Larry’s scent, warm and inviting, made me feel safe and at home.

This was a familiar back and forth for us. No matter how few and far between these moments come, this would always be it.

“Who that?” Larry’s head popped up as the chime of my phone interrupts the song.

“mmm..” I paused awkwardly as I reached to my side, not fuily sure who it was, but also not wanting to ruin the moment. I was prepared to lie regardless of who it was but the name made me grateful inside. “It’s Lau. He’s pissed you didn’t answer him.”

“Yeah well he should still be pissed, your shit should be on silent too, like mine.“ he mumbled as we both settled back into the bed, side to side now instead of tangled amongst each other. "You not slick baby. Who you waiting to hear from?”

“No one… I just… forgot” I say, pausing to stall. My phone buzzed in my hand again. as a new message popped in the middle of the screen. “Lau is on his way soon.”

“Yeah, maybe he come in an hour or 2, that nigga slow.” his laugh deep, husky, and smoke filled…while holding a bright bunny tooth-ed smile, the annoyance his voice was previously filled with completely changing. Before I could point out his baby face and fully join in with his teasing, his phone rattled against my leg, shining an unsaved number. I ignored it the first time, as he generally keept his phone face down or unseen and on silent, no vibrate, no sound. Seeing the number pop up irritated me immediately, and uncontrollably.

Call me selfish. Call me out on the double standard. I don’t care. I know what those unsaved numbers mean… at least mine isn’t a random fuck…or a basic ass waste of time.

“Don’t pout at me like that baby, I know what you about to say.” He was the one who should have been questioned now, just as I had been a little while ago. The room darkened with my mood.

Neither of us could ever hide our emotions, especially with each other. My second nature scowl was obvious to him before it was obvious to me. “I’m not about to say anything,” I replied, shifting some more to attach my phone to the charger. “Go answer your phone, it’s annoying.”

“No… fuck that. its our time.” He sighed.

Like clockwork I glanced into my hands to see my phone quickly buzzing alerting me to a message, but not from the absent twin. Jamal… texting me, wondering why he hasn’t heard from me today, and seeing how my day is going. He knew where I was, who i was with. He wouldn’t press much.

Hed met the boys a few times. They didn’t like him, but they don’t like many niggas, especially ones who seem like they’re getting too close. The feeling was mutual on Jamal’s end.

He felt left by the wayside when Larry came around. But he knew I needed freedom, and caging me in would be the best way to lose me. So he let it be. We worked best that way.

I let the text go unread and unanswered initially, but I knew the jist of what was there. I guess Larry presumed I would answer it, because when I looked over toward him, his head was buried in his phone, tapping away quickly. I lingered close to my desk, pretending to look through my drawer to give him time. Once i turned back toward him, Larry threw his phone to the side. It began to vibrate immediately after leaving his hand.

“Answer it.”

“It’s business.”

Our words came out simultaneously. Larry rose up and made his way to the end of the bed, walking out of the pale blue room and closed the door behind him. I rolled my eyes, doubting business would have been ignored this long. I quickly shot Jamal a text, letting him know things were cool and we’d get together soon. I closed my eyes as “Good Morning” by kanye began to play, letting it fade into my high. into my head. Into me. —- Larry

The warmth surrounding me spread higher and higher until I tossed the heavy blanket off of my body, briefly disoriented and confused at my surroundings. My eyes burned with a combination of the lack of sleep I’d been getting and the bright sun streaming in through the window and directly covering my entire body. I looked over at the other bed, only to see Lau comfortably sleeping and unbothered by the head as I’d been.

My body was sore as I lifted up, and the dull crack of my joints could be heard through the room, making me cringe and smile in a weird delight at the sound.

Old pizza filled my nose and I looked down, only to see a box with crusts and a couple slices left next to a bottle of wine. The wine was for the girls of course, the pizza being by my bed had to have been my own doing.

Lau and I had one of the bigger rooms, just out of luck, making it the perfect post club party spot. With two days off from tour to travel, we went hard last night and ended up here to cap it all off.

Lau wasn’t too enthused to have the company, he had plans on bringing home a girl but we all nipped that in the bud. I on the other hand was determined to keep my dick in my pants for once, though a few of my consistent girls were definitely hitting my line as soon as they’d found out that the tour had landed in Glasgow.

I smiled to myself at the chicken wings that laid open next to the girls, as well as the many boxes of pizza’s that we’d ordered to have meet us back home after the club. My limbs felt like jello, but as vague bits of my dream came flooding back to me, I began to feel unsettled and uncomfortable in my spot.

I slowly and gingerly walked out into the main area of the suite, which was currently draped in even more sunlight than my bed had been. I smiled to myself at the chicken wings that laid open on the counter, as well as the other two pizza boxes and drinks everywhere. Ashley’s sweater was hanging over the couch, I’d have to remember to grab it for her.

I stretched, grunting once more at the noises my body made, only to see exactly what I had been looking for.

Right next to an open bottle of sprite sat my phone, all my rings, and my wallet. I shook my head, skimming the missed notifications and seeing nothing jumping out at me. Lau’s phone sat on the counter as well, charging and instead of leaving it in its spot, I replaced it with my own.

Just as soon as I’d touched his phone, it rang, and a familiar name crossed the screen, prompting me to answer.

"Lesssssss, wassup.” I said yawning and stepping out onto the balcony so as to not wake up Lau with my conversation. I knew it was fairly early and I could go back to sleep after this.

“Larry, hi, I actually wanted to talk to you.” I couldn’t recall the time change but I knew from the amount of energy Leslie had that it had to be fully into the day. it was bright on her end, and I could tell she had me propped up on her desk, as she clicked away at her computer and the different production devices she had recently gotten and taught herself to use. The drum machine to her left was specially recommended by me and purchased by Lau as a surprise.

Though they’d resolved that their relationship was best left to be open, as he traveled and avoided his own shit and she focused on her recovery, they still clearly felt strong ties and he would always be there for her. My brother had a wandering eye but he was always caring more than he let on. Especially when it came for Leslie.

“You call my brother’s phone to talk to me?”

She rolled her eyes. “You know if I called you first Lau would be mad at both of us for a week.”

We both laughed, she wasn’t lying.

“Listen, I’m about to send you the mix you asked me for, I added some kicks and I played with the last part you didn’t like.”

“Aww shit,” I praised her, feeling the vibration of a notification on my phone. I quickly glanced, seeing that I hadn’t turned my whatsapp off, and sighed, not seeing what I hoped it was. “Thank you. I gonna listen later.”

“Yeah just let me know what you think.”

“I will. How you feeling?”

“Good!” she replied. “Really good. I got PT in a couple hours so I’m just up, feeling ready to get some shit donw. They think I can get my casts off in two months!”

The excitement in her voice matched the bright look on her face and I couldn’t help but smile back. I knew how it bothered Leslie to be tied down to casts and wheelchairs. Her injuries weren’t life threatening thank God, but the road to recovery had been a stressful one to say the least.

“Two? That’s amazing!”

“Right?! I’ll still be in the wheelchair but just with soft casts instead of these hard ones. My rib is still healing but that’s going to just be a process I have to deal with.”

“Damn Les, I’m glad to hear that.”

“Thank you Larry.” My phone buzzed again and I quick glanced, noting that email that Leslie sent had made its way. When I came back to the screen Leslie had me on pause.

“Sorry, Aaliyah just hit me.”

“That makes one of us.” I replied bitterly.

“What?” Leslie asked. I sighed.

“Nothing, man.”

“What did you do.” She said with a hint of joking in her tone.

“Why you think I do something?” I bit back.

“Because you always do something.” Leslie said frankly. I cringed. I had really been out here like that?

Leslie clearly saw my distressed look and felt bad. “I’m kidding, Larry. If it makes you feel any better, Ali hasn’t said anything to me about you fucking up so I doubt you did anything too crazy.”

“She don’t answer my calls or my texts. I don’t get it. I only get emails from her for work. I even try to call her there, girl who answer phones there say she busy.”

“hmm…” she paused. “I mean she has been super busy lately. I barely have seen her.”

“You don’t see her much but you see her a little bit… and I know you talk to her. I don’t see, I don’t talk, and I try. Lau call her, she don’t answer him either. She know we don’t need nothing because we on tour, we not booked for too much but she only email us or text us for work. That’s it.”

“Larry she’s probably just busy.” Leslie assured me.

“She never this busy. Not to not talk to me.” I paused. “We don’t speak in like three weeks almost a month. I talk to her in Australia, and I don’t talk to her since.”

“Was it good when you talked?”

“Yeah, she go out with Tyler and I talk to her before she sleep. I text her in the morning, she reply "Ok.” and that’s it. I don’t talk to her other than for work since then.“

Leslie seemed to be just as confused as I was in the moment, which made the whole thing even weirder. Leslie knew everything that went on between Aaliyah and I and it was something.

"I don’t - I dunno what to say.” She said with a shrug. Her face empathetic to my clear frustrations, but I knew deep down that even if she did know, if Aaliyah had sworn her to secrecy, she would never tell me.

Briefly my mind went back to the dream I’d had last night.

– “Why you keep calling. What you want.“ I bit into the phone with my voice low. I couldn’t take Aaliyah, who was on the opposite side of this door, hearing me. We were at home, I was supposed to be taking a business call and here I was, answering phone calls I had no business answering. This was the last time.

“Damn babe I didn’t know it was like that?”

“Karina… you did know. stop calling me. I see you when I see you.”

“Baby I-“

“Stop that ‘baby’ shit!” I said firmly, sick of her shit. She knew where I was, and who i was with, and as a result hadn’t stopped nagging me, calling, or texting. I could only ignore for so long.

“Nigga whatever.” she said with a sigh. “frontin on me because you’re with that bitch.”

“Ay, watch your mouth.”

“NIGGA FUCK YOU AND HER! SHE AINT SHIT. WHEN THIS BABY GETS HERE WHAT YOU GONNA DO THEN HUH? AND ANOTHER THING…” I hung up before she could get started instead of playing her game. I refused to waste time hearing her shit, or getting pissed and having Aaliyah read me like a book.

I was already giving her enough drama with Karina having a baby, my baby, and Aaliyah, still working her ass off for us, and loving me at the same time. I was already sharing my time between her, work, and my extracurriculars. I didn’t need to give her more stress.

She always knew, even when I tried to hide it, even when she gave me passes. I broke the rules every time I could and still here she was.

I don’t want her probing… or worrying - not anymore than she already did. I would be done with it all once the baby came.

Plus, Aaliyah hates Karina. hell… I hate Karina. but she was so easy to be with. So was Jordyn. and Melanie… and Toya.

Even though my girls were having a hard time letting go, Karina was the worst of them all. I didn’t care though. I made a promise. I would keep this one. This time it was real.

Quickly, after taking a deep breath, I took the call with one of our promoter friends off of mute in order to hear about the upcoming gig Lau and I had in Nepal. It was so crazy…. living in and out of hotels, different places every night.

Home is where the heart is though right?

Home for now would be wherever I could lay my head.

If I had to pick a consistent place though, it would be here. This sunny home in the middle of the city… with her. Always with her.

I barely listened to the details, walking around, pacing from room to room and before finally getting back to the door I’d walked out of initially. Things were unfamiliar, but also completely familiar too. I likened it to not being here in some time.

Everything always changed around me. I watched the walls darken from a pale grey to a deeper charcoal.

After ending the call with a promise of an email, i stepped back through the door, candle wax and slight lingering smoke mostly from the blown out candles still flowing in the air. That, and her perfume. So distinct, but I never knew what exactly it was.

Sometimes, before I left town, I would spray a couple of her smells onto my stuff, just to feel her near. It was never the same but it was as close as I could get. It smelled like comfort. Memories. Love.

Aaliyah was right there, laying on the bed, eyes closed, vibing. I can hear her humming harmonies quietly along with James Blake, too zoned to notice me right away.

Her bed was floating.

Yeah. If I had to choose a home, it would be here…her.

I smiled at the thought of her traveling the world with me. Coming home to this every night. My best friend. I love her. In another life, we’d be perfect. I’d be perfect for her. Everything she deserved.

After everything Aaliyah and I had been through, we were here. Together but not.

I climbed higher and higher until I found myself right beside her, enveloped in clouds. I snuggled myself in closely to her body, mumbling into her ear.

"You know I love you right?” I asked, as she moved, fighting the impending nap that would follow soon.

I really did. I could deny and run and be with whoever but Aaliyah would always be the one I wanted.

I felt the bed rising, floating in the room and I smiled as the bed slowly shifted into the clouds we were surrounded by. The scenery had completely changed and I was at peace.

All because of her.

“You hear me, Ali?” I closed my eyes and breathed in her skin. “ I love you.”

There was no response. I couldn’t feel her under my arm anymore. I opened my eyes - stark white walls surrounded me and where she once laid there was nothing but cold bedsheets. - “I can ask you something?” I shook myself out of my thoughts, this dream wasn’t new. Different versions of it with the same ending plagued me for more than a few nights the past couple of weeks. “Larry I promise I don’t know w-”

“I think one day Aaliyah gonna get so sick of me, so sick of my shit that she gonna leave me.”

Leslie sighed, her mouth opening and closing without words.

“She gonna leave me alone for good you know? And It gonna kill her to do that because I know she care for me. But …you think she too good for me, Leslie?”

“What?”

“You think Aaliyah too good for me? Like she maybe deserve better than me?”

“Larry -”

“No, seriously. Tell me what you think.” I swallowed my stress.

“Yeah.” my chest sunk with her direct answer. “Yeah I do.”

I nodded, not knowing what to say or what even I expected to come out of her mouth.

“But Larry, I think Aaliyah is too good for everybody.”

I shook my head at her attempt to make her candidness better. “Leslie don-”

“Aaliyah is my best friend. That is my sister.” She paused with emphasis. “I would do anything for her and I know she would do anything for me. I’ve never met anyone who I felt fully deserves her because she’s one of the best people I know. Deserve isn’t the right word for this though.”

She paused, thinking a bit before continuing. “You make Aaliyah happy. Very happy. And I know she does the same for you. I see it when yall are together. You two have something very special and that’s undeniable. Anything that makes her happy is good with me.”

I took a deep breath, still silently pondering what she was saying. “Aaliyah isn’t the most transparent with her feelings but she’s… she’s so soft on the inside. She needs someone who can bring her happiness, make her feel loved and safe. You make her feel good, whether she would admit that or not.”

“She make me feel good too.” I said back quietly.

“I know.” Leslie nodded. “I know she does.”

We sat silently for a minute, both of us pausing mid conversation with the unexpected weight of the moment.

Leslie broke the silence first. “But are you ready?”

“For what?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“For this? All of this?” I didn’t reply.

I couldn’t say. Part of me definitely was, but another part still yelled for the free life I’d been living.

“I don’t want you to think that I’m saying this to sway you. You make her happy Larry, yes.” Leslie took a breath, picking up the phone from its resting place and holding it closer to her face. “You make her happy but if you’re not ready, you’re going to waste her time. That’s not fair to her at all. If you jump into this when you’re not ready, and you fuck around with her feelings, I’ll make sure that you never get the chance again.”

My words failed to find me again and she continued. “You two work together and she would never ruin anything professionally but off the clock, I’d make sure you never got the chance to get this close to her again. Even if that meant me losing Lau.”

“Leslie I’m not gonna hurt her.” I said, my mouth dry. “I never want to hurt her. I just don’t want her to leave me because she sick of wait for me to get my shit together. She too good for hurt like that.”

“But you did hurt her.” She said frankly.

“I know.”

“So then what, Larry?”

“I don’t know…” I sighed. “I really don’t know.”

[niiicedave]

JayWood - “God Is A Reptile” (2022)

I’m tired of living in my skin I feel like a washed up has been Looking for the day I can go beat up the sun The day is won, well that was fun Lately i’ve been feeling sick Offspring grow up so quick I just wanna stay out and hope the garden shows All that i’ve done

Cause I don’t wanna walk with you Cause all the things you’d put me through Yeah I know it’s been a little while And i’ll do all the things to (see you smile x3) Well I know a...

I’m thinking I should call it quits? *Woah* Hold up stop the bullshit Take a look at yourself Write it out, let it show, drop it off, hold your breath I’ll let you know If we’re leading on dismissal Lies ruin lives like the missiles Well I just have to say~ it

I don’t wanna run with you Cause all the shit you put me through Yeah young nigga in while That prove all the things put (in denial x3)

Well I don’t wanna run with you All i’m sayin is, don’t be hard on yourself Cause all the pain goes to the sky And still they wait to see you smile, see you smiling OH! God is a

Well I don’t wanna run with you All i’m sayin is, don’t be hard on yourself Cause all the pain goes to the sky So go and find the, loving sun somewhere else I don’t really wanna run with you Just wanna hear you say, give love to something real Cause all the pain goes to the sky And still they wait to see you smile, see you smiling Oh God is a…….God is a reptile

credits                                                                                                                     released March 8, 2022                                                                             Jeremy Haywood-Smith: Guitar, Bass, Synth, Vocals, Percussion Eamon Sheil: Saxophone Ben Stokes: Drums Will Grierson: Back up Vocals Arthur Antony: Claps                                                                                         license  all rights reserved

[felicityb-reviews]

Experimental SHINee - Feature Spotlight

Hello babies, and welcome to the next Feature Spotlight in the SHINee Spotlight series!! My name is Jace (aka Felicity B), and today we're gonna be taking a slow drive through SHINee's more experimental era. This era in SHINee's career actually features my first SHINee comeback (Dream Girl, dahlings), so I am The Most Excited™ for this FSL!! It feels like Dream Girl dropped ten years ago, rather than just five, but I guess that's what K-Pop does to you.

And in case anyone is wondering why I'm going in reverse chronological order, it's because 1of1 and Misconceptions of Me are my favorite SHINee albums.

Era Spotlight

So, I cheated. I really should have featured from DxDxD in this list instead of ones from FIVE, but I don't really like DxDxD!?!??! It's literally my least favorite SHINee album, sis. FIVE, to be frank with you all, fit more in line with the '90s 5HINee era, but it also fits in this experimental era pretty well.

The name of the game here is experimental, folks. SHINee must have gotten a little bored after they decided to go RnB again after LUCIFER. The bulk of the songs on this list were released in 2013, a year that SHINee really pushed the boundaries of who they were as a group, and I almost kind of miss it. Granted, I loved the maturity in sound they came back with on Odd and 1of1 (the former more than the latter, tbh), but this experimental phase was just a fun time to be a SHINee fan. This list includes songs from both Misconceptions albums, the Everybody mini album, and the previously mentioned Japanese album FIVE.

Spoiler (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Gurl... SHINee was not fuckin' around with us with Spoiler.

Spoiler is a song that Jonghyun wrote incorporating all the song titles from the Misconceptions series in the lyrics. And sis, I was like, "This is cute, or whatevahs!!" when he spoiled the tracklisting for Misconceptions of You, but when Misconceptions of Me dropped and we found out he spoiled that too?!?!?! My wig wasn't just lopsided, she was free floating in space.

SHINee really fucking Did That™ with Spoiler, sis.

Spoiler sounds like someone took Sherlock, and turned her into a vampire. Spoiler is Sherlock's darker and more seductive older sister. It's kind of interesting how they kicked off the Misconceptions series with Spoiler, a song that starts out like their previous title track, but with a dark twist. It's almost like they were making a statement, sis. This SHINee is New and Improved™ SHINee. This SHINee is Upgraded™ SHINee. SHINee 2.0, if you will. We snatched you with RnB/Funk, we snatched you with EDM, and now we're gonna snatch you with both. Enjoy!!

Symptoms (Everybody)

I imagine sex feels like what listening to this song feels like.

Symptoms is an eletro-RnB song that sounds like it was snatched right from the Billboard Top 40. Which doesn't surprise me, because it was produced by the Underdogs (who also produced EXO's Overdose, another song that's dripping in that Top 40 sound from the time). Symptoms is a song that starts out loud and proud; it gives you Drama™, and it gives zero fucks about it. She looks at you without a care in the world and says, "My name is Symptoms, what did you expect!?!?! A cutesy pop track?!?!?! Boi, if you don't get!!"

And mind you, that's what I love about ha.

I fucking love a SHINee song that gives us all the bells and whistles, because they really don't have to. Look at Odd Eye - she's as stripped back as it gets for RnB midtempos, but SHINee still Shine Bright Like A Diamond!! But here's the thing - these dramatic ass niggas love songs like these. You can't tell me these SHINee boys don't love a beat with all the bells and whistles; the way they always come correct on songs like these says it all.

Become Undone (FIVE)

Speaking of songs that lack bells and whistles, Become Undone is not one of them. You'd have to be a Fool™ to think a song titled Become Undone on a Japanese record could be a toned down track.

These types of songs are usually the most dramatic.

Become Undone is an angsty song. She's a song I can see playing during a scene where an anime protagonist has to make an extremely hard decision. Like, intentionally stepping into a trap to save your friends, or deciding between saving your loved ones or the world (don't look at me like that, you guys have seen Sailor Moon).

The main star of the show here is the chorus. That's true of most pop songs, but especially so for Become Undone. She features The SHINee Specialty™ (their ridiculous ability to blend their harmonies together like fuckin' buttah), the trap beats presented in the verse kicked up 10,000 for Maximum Drama™, and orchestral stabs that tie everything together. Become Undone has one of the most emotionally satisfying choruses I've heard in a pop song. Sis, I'm literally the INTENSIFIES meme listening to this song, it's just so good.

I'm really glad that groups like SHINee have had the pleasure of working with a Japanese team to release music in Japan, because it allows them to play with their sound in a way that they can't in Korea. And that's not to say that SHINee haven't played with their sound in Korea (this FSL is literally on the era they experimented with their sound the most), but there's certain sounds and textures that are specifically J-Pop in feel, and it's really cool to see a group like SHINee tap into that.

Orgel (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

Okay sis, now we're actually bringing it down a notch. Not for long, but I figured y'all could use a break, even if it's short lived.

Orgel is a song that's quite similar to Odd Eye in the fact that it's SHINee driving the song with their vocal performance, and the beat is going along for the ride. Orgel also features a melody that sounds like a something you'd hear in a music box, and while that motif is quite overused in pop music, it doesn't make Orgel feel played out. It's just a really pretty song from five really pretty boys.

Orgel is a really neat song, because even though SHINee are driving the song with their voice, they're really not doing a whole lot on the beat. Their vocal performance on Orgel is subtle in the same way the beat is (or rather, as subtle as these boys get), but they still stand out. It's an interesting experience, sis.

Queen of New York (Everybody)

Now this is A Song™, sis.

Queen of New York feels very lounge cafe, sis; she's very "let me sip my expensive coffee drink while I read the latest copy of Cosmo or OK! Magazine". Queen of New York is also very much something the drag queens are voguing to at the local gay club. Miss Queen of New York is a woman of many moods, okay?!?!?!

Queen of New York was a very fun surprise, because I don't think anyone was expecting a song quite like this on the Everbody mini album. She's very edgy, but in a way that you don't expect songs described as "edgy" to sound. Queen of New York has a very polished feel to her, but there's a dirtiness to her that you can't tame. She's a proper Upper Middle Side woman, but she's not afraid to take a walk on the wild side. She's not afraid to show you how to get down, and I just love that so much.

One Minute Back (Everybody)

This is also A Song™, babes.

One Minute Back is grungy, sis. She's not a proper Upper Middle Side woman, she's a punk rock/biker girl with a flair for the dramatic. Ain't nothin' polished here, ladies!! Well, SHINee's vocals are pretty polished, but that's a given. I've never heard a SHINee song where the vocals weren't produced to a T.

But despite that, Ms One Minute Back and Ms Queen of New York are happily married!!

One Minute Back, like Queen of New York, was a song I was pleasantly surprised to hear on Everybody. One Minute back has such grungy verses, but then the chorus and the bridge are so Funky and so SHINee. BUT THE TWO DIFFERENT VIBES BLEND TOGETHER LIKE IT'S NOTHING!! It's such an aurally pleasing experience, you guys!! The reason I compared One Minute Back to Queen of New Year is that they're both marry these two moods to amazing results. I mean, Queen of New York doesn't fully commit to the grunginess, but there's enough of it lying below the surface that it's worth mentioning.

ABOAB (FIVE)

Ms ABOAB is a Bad Bitch™. She's a Boss Bitch™. She has no time for your games, boo. Ms ABOAB is a brazen ElectroFunk number that makes no apologizes.

If SHINee wanted to make a record like Everybody for the Japanese market, ABOAB would have been the title track/lead single. Miss ABOAB is spicy. She's seductive. Miss ABOAB is full on club bounce, and I McFucking L O V E when SHINee do those kinds of songs. There's just something so sexy about them working that club vibe, sis. I lowkey wasn't ready for ABOAB, but she really didn't care. She mesmerizes with the way she flits between emphasizing her Funk and Electro elements.

And that damn drop with the horn line... BITCH!! My wig has been compromised.

Runaway (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Runaway is another ElectroFunk track, but brighter and poppier in a way that contrasts ABOAB quite nicely. It's no less fun and club ready, tho.

Runaway is mainly driven by a punchy synth stab and SHINee's very fun usage of their vocal harmonies. While Miss ABOAB would whip ha weave in ya face if you ever tried to talk to her, Miss Runaway would make silly faces at you and coax you into doing silly dances. I, always and forever, wanna see SHINee in concert, but I especially wanna see Runaway and ABOAB performed live, because they always do these types of club ready tracks Just Right™.

Hitchhiker (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Because God Knows^™ these boys can't not give us a track that channels the very essence of MJ and his weave.

If Spoiler was too gimmicky of a sequel to Sherlock for you, then Hitchhiker is your song. Hitchhiker, to me, sounds like the perfect representation of this era in SHINee's discography - let's take what we already do well and marry it to a whole new palette of song styles/textures, and see what sticks.

And lemme tell you somethin' - Hitchhiker sticks like fucking glue. Remember what I said about SHINee loving the bells and whistles that comes with doing over the top songs?!?!?! That's in full effect here, sis. Hitchhiker is anthemic as all fuck, and these boys ride that beat like they were made for it. And to be completely, I have no doubt in my mind that they were.

Nothing to Lose (FIVE)

So who else was expecting to get something hella grungy like Natalia Kills' Break You Hard or Seventeen's Clap with how hard that guitar was filtered?!?!?! I can't be the only one here.

Nothing to Lose bait and switches us with that dark n grungy guitar riff, because the majority of the song is rather bright n poppy. But I really can't be mad, because I rather liked the way they transitioned the darker sections into the brighter ones. And Nothing to Lose is pure octane fun. It's kind of a hard song to hate, because it gives zero fucks about how cutesy and cheesy it is.

There's also a rather nice helping of Funk thrown into the mix, but I'm gonna pretend that that had nothing to do with much I like this song. Even though it's what makes me like it the most.

Punch Drunk Love (Misconceptions of You ~Dream Girl~)

Punch Drunk Love channels Love Like Oxygen like SHINee's producers were in the studio intentionally trying to produce a sequel to the song. And if you know anything about me, you know that Love Like Oxygen is literal auditory C R A C K for my black ass. Punch Drunk Love also sounds like SHINee's writers held a seance and channeled MJ's spirit when they were writing the song for the boys.

And y'all already K N O W I'm here for that shit.

Punch Drunk Love is the SHINee Five™ on autopilot, sis. SHINee will never not know how to come correct with a Funk song, and it warms my heart. The attitude, the harmonies (THE BUMBACLOT HARMONIES), the overall feel of the song; SHINee gets it right. If you ever needed a pickmeup, then put on SHINee's Punch Drunk Love, and thank me later. This is another song that is unabashedly cheesy, but gives absolutely zero fucks about it.

Isn't it beautiful!?!?!?

Evil (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

Evil can be summed by in two words - Drama and Killer Harmonies.

That's technically three, but you know what the fuck I meant.

Evil is SHINee at their most dramatic. I remember Shawols losing their collective minds at the fancams from the concert performances where they wore blindfolds.

Yes, you read that correctly. These dramatic ass motherfuckers were performing on stage with blindfolds on. They were, more than likely, see through blindfolds, but never doubt SHINee's collective love of the Drama™. They absolutely would dance completely blindfolded.

Evil starts out slow, but I very much doubt that many of us thought the song was gonna stay that way; SHINee were just building the atmosphere (read - creating the perfect environment to torch our weaves). Evil has an almost musical theater vibe to it, except not nearly as cheesy. Evil is honestly a one of a kind experience that we all need in our lives at some point.

Especially because SHINee were on their harmonic A game the day they recorded Evil. When the drums drop out and it's just the orchestral stabs with their voices?!?!? Fuckin' magic, ladies.

Like A Fire (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

We all Know™ Like A Fire, because of that one performance where Jonghyun, Kibum, and Jinki were having a contest to see whom tf could be the most extra (to be honest, I'd say Kibum won, based purely on the fact that I didn't even know he could wail like that). But Like A Fire stands firm on her own by being a wickedly good Funk song.

(Sidenote - I'm about 90% this list has more Funk tracks than my '90s 5HINee FSL, and I want you all know that that was not on purpose. I wont be changing it, but I swear it wasn't done purposefully!!)

Like A Fire, like Punch Drunk Love, is SHINee on autopilot. I don't know what else to say about this song. It's just so Classic SHINee™, sis!! The verses have a more somber, minor tone to them, but the choruses transition (maybe that's a modulation, I'm not Musically Advanced™ enough to make that call) into a killer major groove that is just so beautiful to listen to. I don't know anyone who doesn't like this song. Liking Like A Fire is a requirement for being a Shawol (especially a Shawol of color). If you don't like Like A Fire, you're invalid.

I need to say something about these harmonies and ad libs, tho. Did the producer of Like A Fire tell the SHINee Boys™ to go HAM the day they were laying down tracks for Like A Fire?!?!?! Did they mean for the harmonies and ad libs to get this over the top!?!?! I'm not complaining, I just wanna know. Because the harmonies and ad libs, especially, are so ridiculous!! I love every second of it, but sometimes it K I L L S how extra this song is!!

Diamond Sky (FIVE)

The first time I ever listened to this song, I cackled like a banshee at how extra that intro was, because it's so SHINee. It's so dramatic, and it suits SHINee to a T. I was expecting the verses to be some Final Dragon type shit, or somethin'!!!

Diamond Sky is pretty standard fare for a J-Pop song, imo. It doesn't stop me from loving SHINee's take on it (and it shouldn't stop you), but it's worth mentioning; SHINee + J-Pop = Love. Like I mentioned above, I'm glad that SHINee were able to continue releasing music in Japan, because this is a style of music that suits them well, but would not do well in Korea at all.

Diamond Sky feels like the theme song for a magical girl anime. The twinkly pianos, complemented by the strings and electric guitar give it an air of grandiosity that would have made it a perfect theme or insert song for Sailor Moon. If they had added a modulation at the end for Maximum Drama™, I'd have lost my shit.

Close the Door (Everybody)

Firstly, if you haven't watched the SHINee World IV performance where Jinki tap dances to Close the Door, I'm judging you. Our sweet dubu leader did not bless us with such beauty and grace for you to ignore it!!

Secondly, Close the Door is the cheesiest love song I've ever encountered in K-Pop. It's got the romantic sounding keys, the strings, it's in 6/8 time (perfect for a waltz, babies), the lyrics are so sugary sweet, and the chord progressions utilize mostly major chords. And you know what, I absolutely fucking love it. I'm a cheesy Romantic Gay™, and I fucking love this cheesy ass love song. It's just so aurally pleasing, especially since these SHINee boys all have voices that blend together amazingly when they harmonize. Sue me.

Sleepless Night (Misconceptions of Me ~Why So Serious~)

SHINee ballads are a wonderful, amazing thing, you know?!?!? Especially when they don't give us the typical classical ballad, but go a little left field into something jazzy or RnB. Which is what they do with Sleepless Night.

This week's playlist features a lot of songs that are extremely over the top, sis. And I mean, we've discussed this; these SHINee boys love the drama of it all. But they also love lowkey songs like Sleepless Night. You'd be able to tell if they didn't with a song this stripped back and bare. Sleepless Night is literally the SHINee boys (and their amazing harmonies), a piano, and some strings. And it's fucking amazing. There are quite a few songs from SHINee that I want to experience live, but I think Sleepless Night tops the list. Well, that and Wish Upon A Star, but I'm sure I'd cry my fucking eyes out listening to that. I mean, I might cry my eyes out to Sleepless Night, but there's less of a chance there.

I've accepted that I'm a boring bitch who lives for a good ballad (the amount of ballads I've had to listen to for my RRUs has definitely proven this), but there's nothing quite like a good SHINee ballad, sis. There ain't never been a SHINee ballad that I didn't like.

And that's all for this week's list, loves!! Please tune in next week for the next era in my SHINee Spotlight series, Contemporary SHINee ver.2!! And don't forget to tune in Wednesday for my next Review Roundup, featuring songs released this week!!

Love you, guys!!

[thesinglesjukebox]

YUNO - NO GOING BACK

[6.57]

On Sub Pop, releasing Actual Pop.

Anthony Easton: I wonder if Sub Pop is still an arbiter of indie, or if it is now more of a regional label. This is a lovely, soulful (and Soulful) meander through an electronic forest, sometimes just lonely enough, just crooning enough, to have a ghostly Dionne Warwick heritage. Excellent onomatopoeic chorus, too. [8]

Iain Mew: Maybe it's a sign of indie rock's slow development that The Shins' crystal hymns and Tame Impala's airless grooves fit together so easily from a decade apart, but maybe it's a sign of Yuno's unshowy skill. [7]

Nortey Dowuona: The boxy drums play catch with the bouncy bass and panting synths as Yuno soars like an eagle encased in an amber air shaft above it all. Niggas really love Tame Impala out here in NY. (Also that guitar solo is reverberating and glittering.) [8]

Alfred Soto: A fine guitar solo tethered to pointless falsetto. [3]

Rebecca A. Gowns: Hypnotic, pacing, Yuno walking a high tightrope between anxiety and letting it all go. As it loops around and around, the repetition feels less like boring songwriting and more like stimming. Definitely the kind of song that gets stuck in your head, bouncing around your skull like a rubber ball. [8]

Edward Okulicz: Mushy indie-pop with refreshingly non-mushy singing, this probably has pretentions to something more than it is, but it's full of tuneful parts that I'm humming long after it's over. Especially that guitar solo, and the melody is pretty too. Weird that the least catchy part is the chorus, but you could sand this off and perk it up and give it to any pop star smart enough to want it and it would do serious numbers. [7]

Katherine St Asaph: Genial mid-tier festival fodder; would be perfectly fine to hear from a stage in the distance, mid-line for an empanada or something. [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[isthatchester]

In the world of experimental R&B, where male singers in our day in age manage to create songs and albums of little to no substance, Ballad refreshes our ears with “Croix”. With a voice reminiscent of El Debarge and Michael Jackson, he creates an album revolving around the themes of persistent love and loss, the flawless six track album sums up the typical rise and fall of love with amazing production work ranging from eerie synths to bright pianos. Lyrics like “Betchu’ gone miss me now” resonate as Ballad croons to his lover. Ballad creates the ultimate “ballads” with this project. (You see what I did there) My personal favorite: XoXo @mrloveballad even though a nigga is twelve thousand seven hundred and twenty seven cents and a nickel late listening to the project I’m proud af of you ✊🏾 the real question is when will “LOS QUATRO NEGROS” @shecameforme @strugglenomics101 YOU, and I unite on a track? 👀

[aktm2-blog]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "GRADUATION", Track by Track review.

In remembrance of the release of "Graduation" by Kanye West, I offer you a track by track review, enjoy Good morning - This is what you hear when you walk through the gates of Heaven. "Fly Malcom x I buy any jeans necessary" is still one of the greatest lines ever. This is by far the worlds greatest intro BTW. That's a jay z sample right? Champion - Hot take "Champion" and "Good Morning," top greatest one, two punch in rap album history. I need to find this sample that they used. Kanye invented back up singers btw, quick fact. Stronger - This is when Kanye got weird, and it's a top five track because of it. Daft Punk has worked with all the greats, stay woke. This is like prime Kanye "on my bullshit" west! Stronger is a top 3 Kanye song BTW. Does Kanye use samples as hooks for all his biggest songs? I don't remember it being this long. Wish I went to the GITD tour just to see this live. I wonder - This song is so beautiful, listen to the synths, listen bro! Very introspective track. I've noticed Kanye talks about physical abuse quite frequently, wonder if he's talking about himself or his parents... Good life - HOW COULD YOU NOT LIKE THIS SONG?!??!? T-Pain is a legend.... Yo the Drums on this are crazy.... the last 10 seconds are iconic. That 50 line is so iconic. Can't tell me nothing - I remember when iTunes made this a free song on the months before the album dropped. I had this on replay. Jeezy ad-libs are amazing!!! Barry Bonds - "Dude, fresh on the plane konnichiwa bitches," is my favorite line on this album. This song doesn't really do anything for me though, sadly, even mixtape Weezy couldn't save it. Song has some bars though. How many times has Wayne used that lean/Easter line?!?!? Drunk and hot girls - If this song came out in 2016-17 the rape culture tweets would be plentiful. Being a 22 year old, drunk girls will really run ya f*cking tab up. Mos Def is a cultural treasure and should be protected by any means! I don't really care for this song but it's fire; I definitely love the last 45 seconds though. Flashing lights - This might be the highlight of graduation. Every time I hear this song I think of the music video and Mya G (she's a retired pornstar that starred in the video). This might be one of my favorite "I miss my ex tracks." This song lowkey is like a look into Kanye's future with Amber Rose, stay woke. The beat is top 5 on this album. Everything I am - Tell me this couldn't be on late registration or college dropout! Common passed on this and Kanye gave us this gem, thank you Common! I love this song, it's like Sunday morning or a "crisp winter drive" music. Conscious Ye really undefeated. The glory - HOW MANY TRACKS DOES KANYE HAVE CALLED GLORY?!?!?!! I SWEAR HE GOT LIKE 3!! That Dwayne line is so fireee holy shit! Sounds like Another track where he basically uses a sample on the hook, sigh. Kanye kinda bragging like trump during the election on this one! Homecoming - Kanye got the nigga from Coldplay... COLDPLAY!!!! HOLYSHIT SO ICONIC. HE A LEGEND! This is my favorite rep my city song! It's crazy that people didn't know this was about Chicago, he even says it on the track. Wait Kanye used to gang bang? I can't imagine Kanye bangin'... This and "Big Brother" lowkey the perfect way to end an album. Big brother - This sibling rivalry is easily to this day my favorite in all of hip hop.. Rae Sremmurd up next though. Kanye really addressed a lot of shit about Hov. Wait, did Kanye release graduation on the birthday of The Blueprint for a reason?! Kanye just admitted that Hov didn't pay him no mind for years, haha that would be embarrassing. Hopefully they can drop the new problems and drop WTT 2. Imagine a Hov album produced entirely by Kanye... fire.

Tracks Ranked. 1. Flashing lights 2. Stronger 3. Good Life 4. Good Morning 5. Homecoming 6. Can't Tell Me Nothing 7. I Wonder 8. Big Brother 9. Everything I Am 10. The Glory 11. Champion 12. Drunk and Hot Girls 13. Barry Bonds

[davidrwashington]

DAWN Richard (D∆WN) - Redemption (Album Review)

“Redemption (Intro)”

This song reminds me of something from the Lion King. I wouldn’t necessarily say the super theatrical part where Rafiki raises the newborn Simba to the rest of the Animal Kingdom, pretty much hailing him as the new King and heir to the throne of his father Mufasa. Rather, it seem as it is an overall celebratory piece, feasting collectively as equals, enjoying life. Like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeRck6JLhw8 .

This also reminds me of those celebratory dances in Africa, where it goes on through the night and the villagers feast upon a campfire on, similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ennb3rhdI . This is where it’s near pitch black, and the only light is the roaring campfire from feast they have prepared.

This intro definitely seems like the celebration of a King and/or Queen, such as Dawn herself. Though this King and Queen’s celebration is also in aappreciation of their tribe in all that they’ve done, whether surviving a war such as the story through DAWN’s trilogy from GoldenHeart to your Redemption, or being great and monumental African folk in their existence, woven into the legacy,  into the continuance of the beautiful African culture and lineage. This intro really makes you think of your roots,  celebrating who you are, in your black excellence of just being you. You truly feel like you’re home in your motherland, and DAWN is shining ablaze, reflecting off upon your cocoa butter brown melanin skin, as the Sun God/Solar Deity whispers in your ear, “you are the one,” all of you.

“Love Under Lights”

One of my favorites of the album. It kind of reminds me of a fusion of “Calypso” and “Billie Jean” from Blackheart and “Gleaux” from Goldenheart. DAWN is the queen of transitions and sequencing, and ‘Redemption’ is no different. This song flows perfectly from Redemption. “Redemption (Intro)” is the warning call that the celebration is starting soon, and “Love Under Lights” is the beginning of this massive celebration.

I love the narrative of this woman that DAWN sings about, like “Billie Jean” (as I mentioned about the songs it reminds me of a fusion of). Which reminds me of the visuals of “Billie Jean.” You can imagine some beautiful, free-spirited, rebellious (in her individualism), woman walking into LA streets (Whether Los Angeles, Louisiana, or any new city) and exploring this new place, the culture and what is has to offer. She spends a day exploring this mysterious city, shopping on Melrose or the streets of New Orleans, sitting in the park taking in the beautiful weather, nature, and people. She goes home to change into a new spunky outfit, then hits some nightclub where it’s pitch dark and you can’t see a single person. But… you get glimpses of pulsating disco lights, as everyone parties it up, enjoying the atmosphere. Maybe someone is dancing on her, or maybe she’s dancing by herself living off of the energy of the music and the collective energy of the high-on-life souls in the nightclub. I love how DAWN sings,

“she was elevated, she was a fan of the niggas that kept her motivated, she said she fuckin wit Drake, I said King Kendrick….I guess we’re just Kindred spirits. And I will never never lie to you, I think you are the truth, I think I’d like to do some things to you, our love is cooool…it’s coooool….”

You’re not sure if she’s singing about herself and to this woman directly, like a dialogue of a relationship, or if she’s a narrator, observing the woman. It keeps you guessing. It shows you how open DAWN is, in her music, in her perspective, and what world she lives in, encompassing everyone.

“Black Crimes”

This track reminds me of “Billie Jean x Dance.” The reason is reminds me of “Billie Jean x Dance” is because of the transition from “Love Under Lights.” The story and content of this song also reminds me of the story of “Billie Jean, ” and puts me in what I would imagine the visuals would be when I think of this song. As DAWN sings, “Love crimes, high cost, we’re doing time, we’re sentenced to life…,” doesn’t that remind you of the story of “Billie Jean,” more so a continuation of that song?

“I’m a Rollin stone, I really can’t stay I know I gave you pussy but das cause yo test look great I’m like an assassin, leave without a trace It’s the mess you love when you all in my face” “Billie Jean trill impaler like a fate I never stay too long on my own grade And if you’re lucky, 2023 Send that prenup to my new legal team No counting sheep up in a city full of thirsty hoes”

Doesn’t that sound like Love Crimes of High Cost? The beat kinda reminds me of her infectious, high-on-life track “Wake Up” as well, but more mellow. Though not exactly, because DAWN is always giving us something fresh and new.  However, this track is similar to “Wake Up.” I am glad that this is similar to “Wake Up” because that’s my jam. So anything in some kind of vein of it, would immediately entice me. Around 3:01, she changes the flow of the track with some kinda sound effect on her voice, with the new apocalyptic-like alarm she introduced around 2:17. I love stuff like that because you don’t get bored with the track because the pace is not all the same.

On this album, instead of Dawn’s vocals being the lead of each track, it’s more so the production that sets the setting, that builds into the story of the lyrics that she sings. So the production is the beginning, middle, and end, more specifically: the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Which is something artist rarely do. Another great track.

“Voices”

I love this track. I had been searching for the track DAWN had previewed, accompanied to her new work as a curator for Cartoon Network’s “Adult Swim”.That song is everything. I searched all over the album to see if the track was there. This track, along with “Lilies” were the tracks I thought it was, but wasn’t. The beginning instrument playing is just EVERYTHING. It’s not over-the-top. Sometimes less is more, and in this case, it is definitely more. I’m not a musician, so I don’t know exactly what instrument it is, but it’s dope. All I have to say is, that brass instrument, the horn, whatever it is in the beginning, is dope. This is goldmine of the track.

“LA” feat. Trombone Shorty

Dawn’s favorite track on the album, and one of mine. It almost took the title as my personal favorite, but there are too many dope tracks on the album for me to pick just one. The production of this track is everything, and as few lyrics as there are, they hit extremely hard. It’s like something my counselor said about me, “David doesn’t say much, but when he does, it has an impact.” The few lyrics Dawn sings on this track are so powerful:

“These LA streets are killing me” “It’s wavy cause this shit don’t matter MJ on the radio, so we blast that , MJ on the radio” “We thought we was above it all ‘Cause the difference is Wayne was a hot boy”

To me this song is about, police brutality, being racial profiled, and just the struggle of being black in our current society. As powerful as the production is, this track puts you in a place to think about what she’s singing about. You think about it, but at the same time, you drown it out and sweep off to another dimension. The way this song starts out, I can’t even explain it to you. All I have to say is this song is like a true Symphony. This reminds me of something that could really be a hip hopera, and some musical on Broadway. As a play, it transitions into a scene where there is an uproar and outrage, with riots on the streets, as everyone is running everywhere, watching as some fellow blacks are killed. However, we are reminded that there is strength in numbers, as blacks are standing up against the police to protect their brothers and sisters, and some get away under the protection of their fellow black brothers and sisters. It’s like there’s some kind of martial law, such as this moment pictured above.

And this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGbGj82SQrE

The electric guitar string breakdown and the KEYBOARD SYNTH at 2:51-3:01, and then again around 3:37-4:11 is so epic! Especially the keyboard synth. But to me that’s the rising action, but the true golden moment of the track is the ending, the Trombone Solo with Trombone Shorty. It is absolutely EVERYTHING!

DAWN has said over time, how she likes to play with her voice with auto-tune and different elements of sound effects, which gives a unique flair tracks, such as this one. She has also mentioned how she’s heavily involved with production and how important production is, especially in telling of the story of a song, how it can stand alone. That Trombone solo at the end ,Man… that is just something that we will never hear from mainstream artist these days. DAWN the QUEEN of what music truly is, from every different sector. This track is the definitive example of when music is Golden, in every spectrum. This a true collective effort, where not one thing is necessarily the lead, every piece is the lead. Though the Trombone is the strongest, every element in this song gets to shine.

“Interim (Interlude)”

DAWN and these interludes! Dawn is the artist that will make an interlude so great. This is not just an interlude, it’s as strong, if not stronger than a full track. Her interludes will make you want a full track, as you’ll be mad at her for not making the interlude a full track because you don’t want the hypnotic, mesmerizing epicness to end.

Interim reminds me of some ‘Darkness before Dawn’ like moment. Like when someone has died, a warrior has died, but you know you have to go on. Like something out of “Maleficent” or “The Huntsman: Winter’s War.” Like that falling action. It’s like the moment where you think everything is fine, and you’ve won. Then, suddenly one of the main characters, either the main character in the story everyone knows and loves, or you as a viewer, who has grown to love, is instantly killed. In that moment, this is what “Interim” gives me. Like that moment of betrayal, think of Ciara’s “Paint it Black.” Such as this moment:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZJS99fPN7M . It also reminds me of  “Tide” (The Paradox Effect)” a song exclusive to the Vinyl edition of Blackheart, which there’s a video of it on YouTube. Interim:

“Light, You stimulate sight , And make everything expand Can you see as I have, Can you truly love it, Under the light?”

Does that ring a bell with “Tide”?:

“Under your gaze, feel your pull,  Every night my waves grow, Crushing past the rocky view.”

“Day moon - I am your tide, your light gives me life. Day moon, day moon.”

This songs perfectly transitions into “Renegades,” and I do mean perfectly! It sets the tone perfectly.

“Renegades”

The 1st single of the album, to replace what “Dance” was supposed to be. This song is song is a slightly dark, dance anthem. Not dark as in like negative emotions, just not bright, like some bubblegum-summer tune. It makes me think of some Urban (more black people) West Side Story, with more grit and grunge.

I see a scene late at night, where DAWN and a group of dancers are in black, short leather jackets, and jeans and you get a low-angle shot of DAWN and her dancers to introduce them at the beginning of the clip. The camera then tilts up from their feet to their knees, or a wide angle shot, that’s kind of close-up showing from the waist down of DAWN and her dancers. Next the camera zooms out to reveal the scenery of some European-like streets and village where there are vendors on the streets, and from building to building, it’s about enough space for two people to walk through the streets. This song to me is reminiscent of “DANCE.” It’s very Urban EDM to me, like when the synthesized keyboard comes in (the more EDM part), and then when the horn comes booming through with the bass underneath, with that beat dropping. It’s that ass shaking urban-sauce that we love and are accustomed to.

“Lazarus”

“I watched my soul rise up, Rise up, rise up” “My ignorance is a human thing My ascension is a spirit thing I can be both in the same I didn’t change… I became” “I watched my words rise up Rise up, rise up They slept on the rise up Rise up, rise up”

This is definitely the Redemption. It’s like that moment that you look back on your life. After all the turmoil, heartbreak, broken friendships and relationships, like flipping through your Senior yearbook, old Facebook photos, you realize who you were in those moments. The things you experienced, the mistakes you made, you realize who you were, and you were makes you realize who you are. You smile at your quirky, individual self, and through your imperfections, you are still perfectly you. You have truly risen. This is one of my faves of the album.

“Tyrants”

“Tyrants” to me is the flip-side of “Lazarus.” “Lazarus” is the risen, realizing the good in the darkness, the embarrassing and awkward moments of your life. “Tyrants” is that song that you listen to late at night and think about a breakup or any struggles you’ve faced in your life. You get kind of sad and you may tear up, and realize all that you’ve went through. It’s that outer dimensional track. You ever had those moments and you say, “I wish I could be alone with me and my music?”, “If it could be me, my music, and space, and no one else… I’d be fine.” Okay, this is that song. Visualize an IMax theater, but just big enough to house you, and enough space for you to get a good look at the 360-view screen, that has a slideshow of videos and photos of your life. Though it’s not an actual I-Max theater, it’s a dimension displaying your life moments.

On the flip-side, another perspective is being in love or having a crush, and you want to just see that sparkle in that person’s eyes, you’re just admiring their glow. The lyrics:

“Lemme see your eyes I wanna see them glow I wanna see how far Your power goes They’ll all be scared Never understand Our power glows The light expands”

Also puts you in the mind of Tide: The Paradox Effect, in how DAWN is singing her narrative to the moon and how it gives her power and life,

“Day moon - I am your tide, your light gives me life. Day moon, day moon.”

This track can be taken so many different ways, and the narrative could be targeted to man, inanimate object, or other. “Tyrants” is a beautiful and simple track. It’s one of those late night walks, realizing the beauty of music, getting lost in your memories and the music. Another fave of the album.

“Vines (Interlude)” feat. PJ Morton

This song is reminds me of a track that you’d play when trying to do some kind of seductive dance for your lover. When I initially heard the song, I thought it was some issue, lost in translation of downloading the track, because dawn was stuttering in like slurred speech. But then I realized that this was for dramatic effect and emphasis of the track. It’s like where she sings, “water falling down,” like her body has went numb and she’s just wet, lol. This is that kinda song where you’re like, lost in love. Like when you have so much of a crush, or are so love and/or attracted to someone, that whenever they’re around, you get super awkward and are like a loss for words. Or maybe it’s through social media; you can’t even respond to their messages, it takes you week to give a simple reply. But this song is much more sexual and seductive to me. This is definitely in the R&B lane, a nice seductive slow jam. People not into the EDM sound, probably could find themselves at home and in comfort of this song.

“Hey Nikki”

This is the part of the album, where things start to slow down, as the trilogy concludes. Hey Nikki is like an Ode to Janet Jackson, as DAWN sings,

“Hey Nikki I know you want to see me Do all the things that I do to him If you’re nasty..”

Remember Janet famously says “Janet, Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty.” DAWN always has this narrative where’s she talking about this woman who is a sexual creature, comfortable with her body and her sexuality, who is always in power and in control, not falling under the spell of guys and their penis and their manipulation. Instead it’s like she’s this Praying Mantis or Black Widow, getting what she wants, using the guys for something like sex, making her money and moves, then moving on, just like those insects. Though it’s not saying the woman needs the guy or is always using them for sex, but she’s just not submissive to his wants (or needs), while succumbing to mediocrity by not meeting her needs. She’s a QUEEN and her title will not be of lesser value, because QUEEN is SHE. SHE is a ruler, a powerful being that demands respect and will builder her utopia.

“Hey Nikki” is a chill track that you’d probably listen to when you have nothing else better to do with your day, those bored moments. You’d probably chill to this track, and write, sit and think, catch up on some intellectually stimulating articles online, or read a book.

“Sands”

“Sands” picks up perfect where “Hey Nikki” left off. Sands is one of those reflective tracks. It’s that moment that you put your whole life into perspective.  It reminds me of that introspective, reflective nature of Blackheart tracks, like “Swim Free” (Minus the upper tempo dance beat) and “Projection”, and Goldenheart tracks like, “Ode to You” and self-titled “Goldenheart.”

DAWN sings reminiscently,

“Pictures on the wall, Remind me of all…the shit that we lost… It ain’t right, but that’s right.” “When we were young, we were dumb, we were too young… we were young…”

“We didn’t know that everything would come falling down, we didn’t know everything would come crashing down….”

We know better now, but we wish we had done better, seems to be the thought that comes to mind as DAWN sings this. We were simply “too young to understand.” We crash and burn, and that’s life. We wish we could’ve made better choices, but we must roll with the punches and accept that we can’t change what has already happened. The song closes with fading echoes of DAWN chanting, as the grand piano takes leads and closes the chapter into the next interlude.

“Lilies (Interlude)”

I think this has to be my favorite track of the whole album, and it’s only an interlude. If you’re already a fan of DAWN you know her interludes are life. They are not to be overlooked. They are stronger as, and potentially stronger than most singles.

I love how this track transitions perfectly from “Sands.” It continues that Grand Piano, Dramatic, Phantom of the Opera instrumental, and brilliantly transcends into the EDM beat.

This track is rather interesting, it’s like a response to “Sands.” Like the redemption of “Sands.” She sings about her past, like Sands,

“Yellow lilies light..the house where we used to live where we used to go, when we was all wrong out there we watched them grow, like our lives, they grew everywhere And now it’s old and they’ve withered…” And her redeeming response, “And so I let ‘em go, let go…”

So though she made mistakes, when she was a kid playing in the sand, fumbling, all wrong out there, she bloomed and blossomed like a lily from all her mistakes. She grew, she got bigger and better, and she let her mistakes go. She let them stay in the past and wither away, as she evolved into the Queen that she is. No need to hold a grudge and regret the many times she tripped over her own two feet in the sand, over the war that she battled and the mistakes she made. It’s time to accept the light at the end of the tunnel, and walk into your shine. The grass is always greener on thee other side.

This song is that uplifting beautiful track that you listen to, to deal with your issues. Yell, scream or what have you, accept them and come out smiling because battle scars are things only warriors acquire. It’s because you’re human, but you’re also a warrior. God only puts on you what he knows you can handle. So be happy that he has accepted that you are powerful beyond means and words/ He has given you this mission, as his shining warrior.

It’s like the Marvel movies of Thor, he went through so much darkness and destruction, but through it all, he still remained because he had purpose, to change the world, for a brighter future.

“The Louvre”

The commencement. The weeping willow, saddened, violin strings at the beginning, a perfect opening to a commencement of the journey of this roller-coaster of the wars fought through this trilogy.

This song is truly beautiful. DAWN is all about full productions, very cinematic and theatrical. All of her songs sound like they could be apart of some epic Broadway show. That music that receives high honors from well-respected vets in all spectrums of music, but art overall. So like songwriters, people who write sheet music, screenwriters, music directors of symphony orchestra’s, she has that sort of quality. Everything she does it well thought out and intricate. Production and instruments are always the core of her music. They are always a balanced lead with her vocals. There are no 2nd fiddles in DAWN’s music, every part shares the limelight.

This song comes to mind as a commemorative song of the dead. Remembering the greatness of those who died before you, and all the beauty, peace, and happiness they brought to so many on their journey. This is a celebration of all their good, that is now engraved in history, that can now be told as a part of their legacy. Think in the mind of Lazarus:

“I watched my soul rise up,” “My ascension is a spirit thing.” This is the celebration of that spirit, the war it battled, and now it’s time to rise, rise over to the other side, where the grass is greener, and the sun always shines bright as the beauty it is, as DAWN coos “Ooh…you’re a work of art.”

Legacy never dies. DAWN can now take her bow. She is confident about the mark she’s left on this world with this magnifico heart trilogy. She will always be remembered. This song to me is that statue that you put up as a monument to celebrate the warrior’s legacy. You’re a work of art, you’ll always be remembered for your great efforts, we will never forget you. We will always look up to you and the greatness you have bestowed upon us, “Ooh… you work of art.” DAWN, you are ART.

“Valhalla (Outro)”

“Escape, run away with me Escape, to the open dreams Where rebels are the majority And my color isn’t minority Escape, ooh Escape, ooh”

There’s a fork and the road, and it’s your choice. What are you gonna do?

This reminds me of that moment at the end of some action flicks, such as Captain America: The Winter Soldier. After the war is won, with the losses that had to happen in order for the victory of the team takes place, it’s the bigger picture, of the betterment of humanity and the world outside of the hero.

There are paths. Are you gonna continue being the rebel fighting the good fight? Potentially always being alienated in some way shape or fashion, like Superman in “Superman V Batman: Dawn of Justice.” Through all the good he did, humanity still looked at him as a monster throughout the movie. They questioned his fight, his heart, and his soul, because he was different. Similar to Michael Jackson, all that positive he did to better humanity, songs like “Black or White” to fight against discrimination and hatred against one because of race, or songs like “They Don’t Care about Us,” where he speaks out about the music industry and evils of the world. This is where MJ shinned the light on that fact that he was still being pointed out as a pedophile, crazy, self-hating, and made fun of his skin conditions and plastic surgery.

The unknown is often questioned, is it good or is it bad? Often it is deemed bad. Superman’s mom told him in the movie Superman v Batman, you can get out while you can, you don’t have to fight for humanity. Or on the flipside how Captain America was asked at the end of The Winter’s Soldier movie to escape.

So… what is DAWN gonna do? Is she gonna fight the good fight? The fight to break through adversities, in music (narrow genre labeling, her ability to bend genres, better quality in music), misogyny and sexism, homophobia, racism, culture appreciation, etc., as the great Urban indie icon (in the great words of ‘The Dope Avenue”)? Or is this it? Is she done with the good fight? Though now she has an army, not just of her, but many other rebels, now the rebels are a minority. They are now hearts that she has acquired along the way, and still they rise (as Maya Angelou would say).

The Outro is perfect, and so simple. The synth harmonies with DAWN’s androgynous lower register, that she so famously loves and brilliantly layers with auto-tune for such a more cinematic, hauntingly mesmerizing effect. In all it’s glory, it is every bit of lovely. This is definitely an epic ending of a made-for-Broadway play, something like the end of the “Blood Brothers” play. An Epic end to not only an epic album, but this epic journey DAWN’s has taken us on, that is bigger than just music. Making the statement that, music itself is bigger than life.

[mixtapekings]

Listen Review of Westside Gunn’s ‘Pray For Paris’ Album by dj.booth.net

“In the age of streaming and playlists, ‘Pray For Paris’ further solidifies Westside Gunn as an album artist.”

Griselda’s ascension to hip-hop royalty over the past four years has been astounding. By embracing a reliable formula mixing grit and grace, the trio of Buffalo rappers made up of Westside Gunn, Conway The Machine, and Benny The Butcher has flipped grassroots fandom into major-label success. While each member has made gains in his own right, Westside Gunn remains the group’s nominal figurehead, the sun around which every brick and pair of Off-White sneakers orbits.

Gunn’s ever-growing discography is giving prolific stalwart Curren$y a run for his money. He fits comfortably into the roles of the rapper, the executive producer, the curator, and the art/wrestling fan, sometimes on the same album.

In Gunn’s world, wrestling acts like The Steiner Brothers and Randy Savage describe tag-team street efforts and memories of uzi shells and street corners long past. Gunn’s imagination knows no bounds. Pray For Paris, his latest self-released project, out today, is shaping up to be his most ambitious work yet. Will Gunn reach his next level of opulence? Let’s find out.

In usual 1-Listen fashion, the rules are the same: no rewinds, pauses, or skips. A straight shot through followed by my gut reactions. DOOT DOOT DOOT DOOT DOOT DOOT DOOOOOOO.

1. “400 Million Plus Tax”

We begin with a sample from an auction. A piece of art just sold for $400 million. I respect how highly Gunn thinks of himself.

2. “No Vacancy” [prod. DJ Muggs]

Some pretty keys. Gunn saying “I’ll blow your brains out in broad daylight” over fancy foyer music is a wild moment to experience. “No Vacancy” is the most beautiful DJ Muggs beat I’ve ever heard in my life. “My shooters shot five niggas in a row / BINGO.” Westside Gunn has entered the chat. These are the raps I’d expect of a man who faced coronavirus and lived to tell the tale. Hell of an intro.

3. “George Bondo” feat. Benny The Butcher & Conway The Machine [prod. Daringer]

We’ve gone from beautiful to grimy. Word to Daringer, man. I heard a Benny grunt. “Just shot a nigga on an anklet.” House arrest don’t stop shit in a Gunn song. These piano keys are dripping with cavity juice. God, this shit nasty. And there goes Conway! “George Bondo” sounds like it would’ve fit perfectly on WWCD, and I mean that as a compliment. “Get nigga clipped while I’m with celebrities hanging.” Conway deserves a Netflix documentary. Benny came in swinging. “When you ain’t leave the house unless your gat match your sneakers.” Black Air Force 1 activity. “George Bondo” is a heater. Smoking gun left at the scene. Strong start.

4. “327” feat. Billie Esco, Joey Bada$$, & Tyler, The Creator [prod. Camoflague Monk]

Fuzzy and elegant, this beat is my kinda vibe. Gunn is skating across this joint. A steady groove so far. Joey Bada$$, I haven’t heard that name in a while. “Niggas don’t want smoke, they want marijuana.” He’s back in his 1999 bag right now. Perfect rainy day music. Joey’s verse was better than his entire last album. OH, IT’S TYLER! There’s something incredible about hearing Tyler say, “Glitter on my neck match the glitter on my fingernails” on an album like this. “This car came with a driver / I’m in the back playin’ ‘Frontin’.” Gunn got loosie Tyler rapping rapping on this one. “327” is my favorite song so far.

5. “French Toast” feat. Joyce Wrice & Wale [prod. Camouflage Monk]

This is the second time Gunn has started a song with “Bonjour.” Where’s the “doot doot doot dooo?” Is “French Toast” Gunn’s attempt at a love song? “V on your chest, that’s for Valentino.” Paris is giving us a different side of Gunn. I wonder what happened on the catwalk? Wale found an excellent pocket in this beat. Camouflage Monk has styled on these last two beats, by the way. “My SBs is old, your SBs is wack.” Always here for sneaker shit talk. “French Toast” is an interesting atmosphere for a Gunn song. Some of these beats are cleaner than we’ve come to expect from Griselda. I appreciate the risk-taking. I’ll be back. But it wouldn’t be a Westside Gunn album without some wrestling interludes…

6. “Euro Step” [prod. Conductor Williams]

I love this beat. Gunn is switching flows more than he switches trenchcoats. “Euro Step” is right; this makes me wanna skip down the street. I wish this were longer.

7. “Allah Sent Me” feat. Benny The Butcher & Conway The Machine [prod. Daringer]

We’re back in the mud with Daringer, Machine, and The Butcher. “I need 100 right now.” I’d also love $100 right now. Where’s my stimulus check at? Conway and Gunn are on their Hall & Nash call-and-response shit. Oh, shit, Benny’s tapping in, too. Nice wind chimes to counteract these damp drums. “Feds ain’t find the work but found a bag full of soft rappers.” They didn’t come to play. These three were born to rap together. They sound like they could rap forever. “Allah sent me here to be a king” is right. The sequencing on Pray For Paris is crazy. Sliding between the gritty and the graceful has never felt as punchy as it does right now. I don’t know what to expect next, and I’m not mad. Bro, you’d better give that man his fuckin belt with all the diamonds. Okay, this clip could’ve been cut by like 20 seconds.

8. “$500 Ounces” feat. Freddie Gibbs & Roc Marciano [prod. Alchemist]

Alchemist with a bopper. Freddie Gibbs starting things off strong. He’s spinning a story here. “Got skeletons in my closet next to my Balenciagas.” A deadly pocket. Gunn is ceding the beginning of the song to his guests like he did on Supreme Blientele. Here comes Roc Marciano! He’s sliding. “Living comfortably off of gut instinct.” Gunn came right in to cap this song off nicely. I like “$500 Ounces,” but the beat is stealing the show for me.

9. “Versace” [prod. Jay Versace]

A Jay Versace beat, huh? He picked a beautiful vocal loop. Okay, here are the “doot doot dooo”’s I’ve been waiting for. I guess he saved them all for this song, holy shit. Gunn sounds great without drums. One of the most delightful surprises on the album so far. They need a whole project together.

10. “Caliborne Kick” feat. Boldy James [prod. Alchemist]

More Alchemist work incoming. Gunn’s voice is chopped and screwed, another big surprise. It matches the ghostly aura of the beat nicely. A wild Boldy James appears through the fog. Boldy James is a natural fit for Griselda. I’m glad they signed him. Boldy’s language is beautiful. “Russian cut my bezel / Caesar salad with the Russian dressing.” I love “Caliborne Kick.” Another highlight.

11. “Shawn vs. Flair” [prod. DJ Premier]

Coming in with a Prodigy sample. Bless the dead. A breakbeat and some synths? Interesting. Oh, of course, this is a DJ Premier song. It sounds crisp and clean with just a touch of grit. I can’t exactly call “Shawn vs. Flair” a favorite; it feels like this song is missing a verse. The beat is cool, though.

12. “Party Wit Pop Smoke” feat. Keisha Plum [prod. Tyler, The Creator]

Bless Pop Smoke and his family. Man. The beat is a reminder that Tyler knows his way around a MEAN sample flip. Why does Gunn say “mannequin” like that? I laugh every time. Keisha Plum outros are so soothing and vicious. “I kissed his cheek while I drove the ice pick in his eye.” Step on my neck. Unlike “Shawn vs. Flair,” “Party Wit Pop Smoke” sounds finished, but I want more. I was hoping we’d hear from Pootie. Talk your shit, queen! “And y’all still broke!”

13. “LE Djoliba” feat. Cartier Williams

Gunn’s trip to Paris has been an eclectic one. This Stevie Wonder sample is giving me life. “The way my neck look, they think I sold my soul.” Is this tap-dancing from the Paris Fashion Week show clip that was meme’d to hell and back? I’m laughing, and I shouldn’t be right now. “LE Djoliba” wasn’t necessary. I wish Pray For Paris ended with “Party with Pop Smoke” instead. Not exactly a sour note to end on, but Gunn could have cut this one.

Final (First Listen) Thoughts on Westside Gunn’s Pray For Paris

In the age of streaming and playlists, Pray For Paris further solidifies Westside Gunn as an album artist. He knows how to craft experiences from start to finish, what beats sound best next to each other, which features will yield the wildest results. Paris features some of his biggest gets yet: Tyler, The Creator has both a feature (“327”) and a production credit (“Party wit Pop Smoke”) while Wale makes his Griselda Records debut on “French Toast.” Names like theirs give Paris a lofty air even by Griselda standards.

Paris is also the most experimental Gunn project to date. Many of the beats—particularly “No Vacancy” and “French Toast”—are clean and expansive breaks in between the usual muddiness. Gunn tries on new flows (“Euro Step”) and even takes a stab at a love song. His ear has always been eclectic, but there’s newfound adventurousness to Paris you won’t find on the Hitler Wears Hermes tapes.

Unfortunately, some of the album’s surest bets don’t pan out. Gunn, Freddie Gibbs, and Roc Marciano’s solid but unremarkable work on “$500 Ounces” is overshadowed by Alchemist’s mesmerizing beat. “Shawn vs. Flair,” a jumpy DJ Premier production, feels unfinished, and “LE Djoliba” undermines the strong ending of “Pary Wit Pop Smoke,” giving the album a tacked-on post-credits ending sequence. 

These rare lapses in Gunn’s sharp sequential judgment keep Pray For Paris from ascending to Supreme Blientele levels, but they aren’t dealbreakers. Westside Gunn’s world is still one of excitement and redemption. Pray For Paris is another reason to always bet on the FlyGod.

Stream Pray For Paris, the new album from Westside Gunn, on Audiomack

from Listen Review of Westside Gunn’s ‘Pray For Paris’ Album by dj.booth.net

[oltnews]

Let's declare some winners. Photo-Illustration: Vulture, Maschine Masters / YouTube and Crooklyn Reactions / YouTube In just one month, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s Verzuz The Beat Battle series has gone from a new event that connects the past and present of hip-hop to an exhilarating excitement in our inner spring, joining DJ sessions from D-Nice, Questlove and others, as well as the unpredictable Ontario artist Tory Lanez. Quarantine radio like remote viewing but essential live for rap and R&B fans while live shows and festivals are shelved by COVID-19. Verzuz reinvents the DJ battles of the beginnings of hip-hop for the set "one gotta go". The premise is simple: two eminent producers (or singers or songwriters) join live on Instagram and compete to decide who has the best catalog. The rules met on the fly by trial and error. As it stands, each battle is fought over 20 rounds, each competitor making a move and hearing a rebuttal. Verzuz is fun, simple and wide open - maybe a little too wide open. The public is mainly in charge of the rating, and there is rarely a consensus on the points. Regional biases and generational schisms are increasing. Playing a deep cut makes you lose the point almost flatly, even if it's one of the greatest songs of all time. There's nothing wrong with a slugfest, but it's exhausting to hear people throw out timeless classics. You can be a legend with decades of success and lose the crowd too far from the radio. You can be a veteran who changed the game forever and get smoked in the public eye because someone else's music is fresher in everyone's shared memory. You can score points with records made primarily by someone else. If you have cultivated a relationship with a leading artist, you are almost guaranteed to win. Despite these minor problems, Verzuz makes dull weekends more enjoyable and gives the game a spirit of friendly competition. It also teaches fans how many heads it takes to make a record. You could hear the same song in three different battles: once from a producer, again from a co-producer, then again from a songwriter who helped refine the melodies or flesh out the lyrics. That said, the repetition of the hits also highlights the need for more variety in the casting of candidates, a concern that Swizz and Timbaland seem to address in programming in the future, as the boom bap giants RZA and DJ Premier recently teamed up for one for ages and revenge between the 80s and 90s. R&B veterans Teddy Riley and Babyface are in the works after a failed first try. Verzuz needs talent from different regions and times, and desperately needs women. Until we know what will happen next, let's review what we have seen so far, ranked from best to worst to absolutely doomed. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcM3MKN92O0[/embed] -> What is the summary? When Babyface first postponed its battle with Teddy Riley this month (while R&B born Kenneth Edmonds took the time to recover after being tested positive for coronavirus) asked who would fill these shoes on Easter weekend. Wu-Tang RZA's brain and Gang Starr's DJ Premier intensified. The native of New York built his legend on grainy tones and samples of funk and kung fu, shoveling a pile of metro soil on the threshold of traditional hip-hop in the early 90s with classics like Enter the 36 rooms, Liquid swords, and Only built 4 Cuban Linx. Premier, a renowned New York hip-hop venue via Houston and Boston, is a platinum assistant capable of creating new melodic lines from pre-existing records. While RZA made a splash on Staten Island, Preemo made magic with Nas, Biggie, Jay-Z, Mobb Deep and more. Their competition was a clash of rap titans that will go down in history. The duo played cat and mouse through 20 legendary street rap spins, then blessed us with a long, successful bonus round in which they forgot to participate in the main battle. Who won? Preemo was the favorite in the days leading up to the battle, but RZA was armed with good records by Method Man, GZA, Ol ’Dirty Bastard and Raekwon. He was too close to hang on to the score. The winner is anyone connected to hear the story of New York hip-hop song by iconic song. (That said, I'm on the side of RZA.) Strong points: Decades of hip hop royalty have camped in the comments, RZA arriving in a sleeveless vest and gloves with Afro Samurai playing in the background, the Prime Minister calls Wu-Tang's ugly hit "Gravel Pit" a pop song and follows with "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilera, RZA chasing the hot song by Biggie diss "Kick In the Door ", off 1996. Life after death, with "The Long Kiss Goodnight", another diss track from the same album. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H_l_Mzh3EI[/embed] -> What is the summary? Swizz was a 17-year-old boy from the Bronx when he started making beats for DMX and the Ruff Ryder clique in the late 90s. Virginia Timbaland's innovator was the other benchmark of the time. If you didn't have Swizz or Tim or the Neptunes involved in your major label album, you were spoiled. It was the case of Jay-Z Flight. 2: Hard Knock Life at Drake Thank me later and beyond. The depth of the catalog made this battle a war of attrition; these are guys who can go song for song, artist for artist. The two clashed on records from Jay, Drake, Missy Elliott, Kanye West, Aaliyah, Justin Timberlake and dozens of others. The first Verzuz the battle is the longest and most difficult to call. Timbaland is the most convincing musician; there are wilder things that happen to a Timbo beat than a Swizz seven times out of ten. But Swizz is a joker ready to take on roles that no one would dare better. Run away from Jay-Z's “Jigga My Nigga”. The melody is meaningless. It's hard like nails! Who won? I give Timbo the advantage for having encouraged Swizz to play R&B and to stay strong when his opponent's (killer) reserve of the 2006 Beyoncé classics has run out, revealing his opponent's shortcomings while highlighting its own strengths. Strong points: The Jay-Z War at six songs where we could hear classic cuts from the In my life albums, every time Swizz played DMX and Timbo joked, "You play your artist." Trash conversation is the key. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i18yHuizwc[/embed] -> What is the summary? Lil Jon and Teddy Paindergrass are the yin and yang of mid-2000s hip-hop radio. (Peace to the Ying Yang Twins, however.) T-Pain has made Auto-Tune the rap wave almost alone based on records like "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin ')" and "Can't Believe It" "and produced most of it himself. (Another time, let's talk about the imposing synths of "Drank" and "Chopped N Skrewed" which are just as instrumental for the massive sound of hip-hop from 2005 to 2008 as DJ Toomp jams like "What You" by TI Know " and "I Luv It" by Jeezy or "What Up, What's Haapnin" by Drumma Boy on Tip and "Put On" by Jeezy and Kanye.) Jon brought turbulent and crunk music from Atlanta to the masses and produced for everyone from Usher and Ciara to Pitbull and, yes, T-Pain. Who won? The back-to-back bangers and lively jokes of these two made this battle less of a war and more of a club night. It was too close to call. This time, the winner was us. Strong points: Lil Jon reminding T-Pain that "Buy U a Drank" borrowed its hook from "Snap Yo Fingers", T-Pain dancing and singing with live performances of his hits until Swizz said, "What do you think, Essence Fest? ", Jon scary the crowd with anti-vax conspiracy theories, all hell was unleashed when T-Pain played the remix of "I'm a flirt" by R. Kelly. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9xRjR8iz9c[/embed] -> What is the summary? Babyface writes majestic and masterful love songs for a long list of clients, including Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Bobby Brown, Boyz II Men and Ariana Grande. His solo albums Tender lover, For the freshness in you, and The day rank among the best R&B of all time. Teddy Riley, with producers like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, brought a new swing to the masses in the 80s and 90s, mixing hip-hop drums and R&B melodism for famous collaborators like Bobby, Whitney, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson. Riley's groups of singers Guy and Blackstreet have scored classics in "Piece of My Love", "Groove Me" and "No Diggity". The main event on Saturday evening drew the pre-game excitement of a Tyson fight for the adult and sexy crowd. Unfortunately, the battle lasted as long as an Iron Mike match, sinking into chaos early on when technical problems emerged at the end of Teddy and sabotaged the first hour. He was trying to perform for his website while broadcasting the battle on IG Live, with a room full of staff, while Babyface directed his end of the feed alone in headphones. We heard about six songs in the first quarter hour, after which Riley asked for 20 more minutes to work on the sound, and Babyface quietly escaped and promised to reschedule the already rescheduled battle. Saving this lower ranking battle is Monday night's rematch, which went off without much technical difficulty or really no glare by Teddy Riley. After a few hilarious minutes trying to figure out how to pin a comment on IG Live, the duo settled in, played a bunch of classic records, talked about trash, cast shadow and reminded everyone why we considered them to be R&B greats. Who won? You could say that Babyface won the first night after entering the scene with two Bobby Brown classics and remained a good sport while Teddy's entire group, hype, staff and film crew fumbled with microphones and speakers, trying to stream live on two separate platforms and drown a deadly echo that Riley swore at one point came from the other guy. The rematch went to Babyface, and it wasn't close, although Teddy got some good rebuttals, reminding us that the new classic of the Keith Sweat "I Want Her" jack swing is (almost) as good as "Every Little Step" by Bobby Brown. " Strong points: Toni Braxton on the way to war Twitter, Mariah Carey and Adele make jokes, Babyface playing "Change the World" on acoustic guitar while Teddy understood the sound on Monday, Raekwon in the comments talk about stealing people from Babyface songs, Riley's team trying to fix the microphone problems by bringing in even more microphones, Babyface leaning a bit on social distancing while Riley sank in a room with what appeared to be ten heads present but no masks in view the SAME. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJPMKL_qTV0[/embed] -> What is the summary? The third Verzuz the battle re-established order when the successful R&B songwriters Ne-Yo and Johnta Austin matched the goods. The two artists are masters of tasteful love songs with hot sequences that last from the middle to the end. Ne-Yo's successes like "So Sick", "Because of you", "Miss Independent", "Irreplaceable" by Bey, "Take a Bow" by Rihanna are fluid R&B classics. Johntá's catalog - see: Bow Wow and "Like Mine" by Ciara, "Run It!" By Chris Brown "Can't Help But Wait" by Trey Songz and "We Belong Together" and "Shake It Off" by Mariah - fill the picture of a bygone era of health 106 & Park countdown and contemporary radio rate paced without worries. Who won? The two songwriters selected their best material, for the most part, although Johntá could have applied pressure with a few Mariah joints in platinum. Ne-Yo finally won, although it is better appreciated as a two-and-a-half hour nostalgia playlist from the 2000s than a formal beat battle. Strong points: Johntá sipping wine in a suit and looking quietly disturbed, Ne-Yo offering a gentleman's trash speech, The-Dream appearing in comments wondering why he couldn't have such a civilized battle. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EznbRsGAhw4[/embed] -> What is the summary? The second Verzuz event associated two hitmakers who have had an impact over the past ten years. Mostly known for drums exploding like bombs, the West Coast rapper and producer Hit-Boy composed songs by Jay, Kanye West, Bey, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj. The Toronto Boi-1da has worked with Drake since its first mixtape in 2007, Room for improvement. "Miss Me", "Headlines", "0-100 / The Catch-Up" and "Over" - all him. The catalog also includes the Eminem Hot 100 “Not Afraid” topper and scorchers with everyone from Rick Ross to Rihanna. It seemed to be an equal match until everyone realized how infinite the Drake Boi-1da classic pool is. Hit-Boy put pressure on big radio records like "Feeling Myself" by Bey and Nicki and "Backseat Freestyle" by Kendrick, but Boi-1da had an answer for almost all of them. Who won? Trying to push Boi-1da out of his comfort zone was a solid strategy that ultimately backfired on Hit-Boy. He pulled out too much of his biggest hits too soon, and it cost him in the back half of the battle, when Boi-1da locked himself in, playing ten years of Drake successes. It was a little bit like the people who fire fireballs in street fighter: It's rude, but if you can't beat him, you can't beat him. Strong points: Hit by drawing his Rihanna card with the Anti banger "Woo" but then catching "Work", Boi-1da presenting with a drop of Drake saying: "I should continue to sign with Hit-Boy because I had all the success, my boy", on " 0-100, "the two producers preview the unreleased music by Nipsey Hussle, Nas, Drake and Roddy Ricch. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN1dGTHR-wo[/embed] -> What is the summary? Mannie Fresh is a southern rap hero best known as the architect of his Cash Money. In the 90s, he produced the first albums of Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Big Tymers, B.G. and Hot Boys, creating beats essentially from scratch. The streak continued over the next decade with TI's "Front Back" and "Big Things Poppin" Scott Storch started out as a member of the Roots and became one of the must-have beatmakers and session players of the artists , working with everyone from 50 Cent and Chris Brown at Paris Hilton and Brooke Hogan. Storch's story is complicated in a way that Mannie Fresh is not - by 2010, Storch's career had become a cautionary tale about addiction and over-spending - but regular customers like Brown and more recent stars as 6ix9ine and Russ have been looking for in recent years, as Fresh's relationship with Lil Wayne has led to good investments on Tha Carter V and this year Funeral. In battle, the two producers played classics alongside a few more recent songs, but the age gap in the crowd was palpable. Verzuz largely satisfies nostalgia; the successes of 99 and 2000 are not always as good. Who won? People swear it was a rash in favor of Storch, accusing Mannie Fresh of having a sound too specific to its time and region. It's a riot, because Storch's taste for eccentric synth sounds, hand claps and Americanized ragas screams as much as "Back That Azz Up" in 1999. But Storch finally took this one. Strong points: Storch smoking fat dulls all the time and lights them with a portable torch, Jadakiss laughs in the comments when his collaboration with Mariah Carey "U Make Me Wanna" took effect, Storch slipping "Cry Me a River" by Justin Timberlake in the mix on the technicality that he is credited as the song's key player in the Justified album cover notes. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K0-O0YFYB4[/embed] -> What is the summary? New York rym French Montana is a trap artist whose real gift is the hooks; the catalog of tubes on which it is presented is surprisingly deep. According to the song, Tory Lanez is either an R&B singer using rap rates, or a rapper with an attentive ear for the melody. (The nose Quarantine radio combines the steamy humor of a radio jock with a steady stream of famous guests like Megan Thee Stallion and Drake and a long line of fans ready to twerk in front of the camera. It's the spring hit, attracting an average of a quarter of a million heads each time.) It sounds like a quirky match until you play a lot of their songs back to back and see the common threads. Who won? Tory Lanez has chops, but French has relationships. In a field where the biggest success always takes precedence, songs like "Stay Schemin" and "Pop That" will always demolish "Ferris Wheel" and "K Lo K", even if these are all good songs that share aesthetics . The French have won a mile. Strong points: Lanez playing "Kika" by Tekashi 6ix9ine Day69 but refusing to recognize who it was, the French nonchalantly smoking hookah, Lanez being a good sport to lose. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpGZ86i310I[/embed] -> What is the summary? The scandalous confrontation between Atlanta-based hitmakers The-Dream and Sean Garrett is the reason Verzuz now has basic rules. Dream - who contributed to the creation of many successes, including “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” by Beyoncés and “Touch My Body” by Mariah Carey, and created his own memorable songs in “Falsetto” and “Rockin 'That Shit' - was cordial and timely in his Sunday evening scrap. Garrett is best known by people who do not read the lining notes as a guest in Nicki Minaj's "Massive Attack", but known to those who know him as the co-author and / or co-producer of singles like "Yeah !, "by Usher Ciara's" goodies "and Yonce's firecrackers like" Ring the Alarm ". That said, he showed up late, shaking the camera lasciviously and letting the recordings topple over for too long. (That's why contestants are only allowed to play a song until the first chorus now.) Antics ate most of the first hour, where Dream released a steady stream of solid songs, and Garrett played random songs, digging Blueprint 3- Will be songs by Jay-Z and unpublished first solo. But the scales were rocked, and the fight became good when Garrett pulled it together and started matching Dream song to song. Who won? The crowd swore that Garrett was smoking Dream, but what really happened was that he shot a Rocky. He ate shots through the opening laps and swayed towards the end when his opponent withdrew. But it's not boxing. There is no KO. It is important that Sean blew up the first hour. It is also important that Dream lets slip a comfortable lead, giving up too many points while leaving too much heat on the table. Sean won ... but it was close. Strong points: The-Dream playing mini-golf in front of the camera as Garrett appears slammed and makes impromptu opening remarks, Dream showing the demo version of Jay-Z's "Holy Grail" with himself instead of Justin Timberlake, Garrett scary the crowd with faces of love, famous spectators like Big joe, Kelly Rowland, and Rick Ross get tired and act in the comments. https://oltnews.com/all-verzuz-instagram-battles-live-ranked-vautour?_unique_id=5e9f3fce8833d

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Urban Dictionary: Trap Music

Trap music

is based on use of the 808 Roland drum machine, pitched and re-sampled hiphop/rap vocals, pipe flutes, gangsta synth leads, and various FX. Similar to rap without the main vocal, Trap music has been gaining lots of attention from major DJ’s and labels. Although, the style originated many years ago, Trap music has recently been making a new school comeback in many new forms such as “Trap”, “Chirp”, “

SeaPunk

”, “PsyTrap”, and “

TrapStep

”. Earliest known examples can be found by artists such as

Triple Six Mafia

, UGK, Swisha House, and Gucci Mane. Tempos range widely from 135-175bpm which is uncommon for most major genres of electronic dance music (EDM).

In laymen’s terms, Trap music would be best described as a recipe;

1/3 hip hop (tempo and song structure similar) – however vocals are usually pitched lower or higher

1/3 dubstep (similar drum arrangements, different builds and drops)

1/3 dub (Low frequency focus and strong emphasis on repetitiveness throughout a song)

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A sub genre of music, originating from South America at around 2000, with influences from hip hop, dupstep, rap and trance music. It was named so because it was developed by rappers gathered in traps to express their problems.This music features the sound of the brass, triangle,

triplet

hi hats, loud kicks, snappy snares and low end

808

bass samples (mostly produced by

Roland TR-808 Drum Machine

) and it gives the feeling of a dark, grim and leaking background to the listener. Until 2012, this genre was exclusively based on rap and hip hop , then lots of electronic music producers, influenced by the increased

EDM

pupularity, added

trap music

in the EDM family.

There's some confusion when it comes to describing the word trap, because nowadays it is used by both rappers for their hip hop tracks and by electronic producers for their dance beats, so it describes two diffirent sub-categories of the same style .

Currently, these are the most famous categories of this style:

Hardcore Trap (heavy-bass and uneasy beats)

EDM Trap (influenced by dubstep, dirty, hot dance tracks with naughty, tough drops commonly known as "

party shit

"

Hip Hop Trap (Non-EDM based music, with vocals the basic element, unlike other styles, the closest thing to original)

Chill Trap

(Chilly, relaxed and 'beautiful tracks, great for falling asleep, the exact opposite of the First two)

Future Trap (Music that refers to the past, illustrates the future and expresses the present)

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A genre of

hip hop music

that is supposed to discuss about "life in the trap". However, it completely fails at doing that. Rather than seeing trap rappers paint vivid pictures of hustling scenarios in their music (what

mafioso

rappers used to do), we instead see them using elementary rhymes while glorifying drug use, sex, money, and hoes. It's even worse when they try to describe street violence, because instead of using imagery to elaborate on street violence, they just say some shit like "I shot a nigga after I pulled a

trigga

/ Fuck these niggas, I'm a real killa" Worst of all, trap beats are the most annoying thing ever. Trap beats consist of annoying high-pitched

synths

with too much bass and snares that don't even sound like real snares.

These bitches love Sosa

O End or no end

Fucking with them O boys

You gon' get fucked over

Rari's

and Rovers

These hoes love Chief Sosa

Hit him with that cobra

Now that boy slumped over

They do it all for Sosa

You boys ain't making no noise

Ya'll know I'm a Glo Boy

Your clique full of broke boys

God ya'll some broke boys

God ya'll some broke boys

We

GBE dope boys

We got lots of

dough boy

-Chief Keef

While Chief Keef writes rhymes similar to those of Dr. Suess and rhymes "boy" with "boy", he seems to forget about actually rapping about "the trap," the most fundamental aspect of trap music

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