Headphones: Kendrick and Cole To Resurrect Rap
This week in the ever-changing world of music the Grammy nominations for 2017 have been released ahead of the award ceremony on February 12th 2017 with 84 categories to cover there is sure to be something for everyone.
Update: Kendrick and J Cole have announced they will collaborate on an album together, there were rumors of this happening last year and it has now been confirmed that the an album is in the works.This is one of the best pieces of news i have had the pleasure to write on , there is no doubt on my mind that this will be on the best best albums of the year when it drops.
Finally if you didn’t know it is the Christmas season once again so it is the one time of year where Michael Buble , Mariah Carey , Wham and others come out of hibernation and make their way into the charts for the next couple of weeks.
Album of The Week: Darkness and Light: John Legend dropped his last studio album “Love in The Future” back in 2013 and since then fans have been patiently waiting for a new album, and at long last after 3 years’ "darkness and light" has arrived.
The album was first released on December 2nd since then it reached 14th place on the US Billboard chart and 35th place in the UK Albums chart. As this album was only released a couple of weeks ago I can see it moving up on the chart in no time.
The album sticks to the RnB style that we have all came to know from John legend but there are certain tracks that feel that more funk based. The album is very tamed on a lot on a lot of tracks instrumentally so John’s Legend’s iconic voice can shine through and take the main attention.
I know better is the first track on the album and john comes in straight away with his big voice over a simple organ and piano. This track has kind of a gospel feel to it which really suits the style of singing.
Chance the rapper features on the track “penthouse floor” I feel that John is using this song to talk about the people at the top of the world ignoring all the stuff happening to the regular people linking into this year’s US election. This track is one that strays away from the RnB sound by featuring more of a funk feel than anything else. There isn’t much to say about Chance the Rapper’s verse it was lyrically poor, simply put…
As always love and relationships are the main themes focused throughout this John Legend album but he is able to diversify by talking about all the different angles of love so it doesn’t feel stale. This is one of the best albums I have heard in a while , it is lyrical and vocally strong with a new sound for Legend showing how his sound is maturing.This will be the perfect gift for your partner just in time for Christmas.
Music Videos
Pop: Jojo - Fab: Jojo is an artist I have never heard of before she is only 25 but she has already had a career at 13 years old she released an album with a label called "leave get out". Jojo's career hit a bump for a few years ending with a law suit making this her first studio album released in nearly a decade. The intro on this track sounds similar to Nico & Vinz's am i wrong . The song seems to be based around fake friends hence the title "Fake Ass Bitches". With a catchy tune and memorable lyrics this song is definite to be a pop favorite and with Jojo now being able to release music there is no doubt she will be a house hold name soon enough.
Rap: AJ Tracey – Pasta:This is the most recent track from English grime artist AJ Tracey, for any readers who don’t know about grime it is a relatively new hip hop genre emerging from the UK which I hope to feature in my articles over time. This video is very generic for a rap video it is set in a nice house with Tumblr worthy scenery. The video is fully of half-naked girls, AJ Tracey and his friends partying in the house and pool. There isn’t much to say about this video but I feel this is an easy way to start to introduce grime.
EDM: Alan Walker - Alone: A hacker chat room seems to be the opening scene for the video then what appears to be a group of hacktivists meet up and swarm the streets of London putting up the Alan Walkers logo. The next day after the news appears on the TV more of the hooded outlaws meet in the countryside, to come to a standstill at the edge of a cliff, staring out into the view. It feels like the inspiration for this video came from hit TV show Mr Robot (if you haven’t seen it check it out it is amazing).
Rock: Rolling Stones - Ride Em Down: Last week’s album of the week I covered the release of the new stones album Blue and Lonesome but this week I want to talk about the only music video for the whole album. With an international movie star and great production this could be a scene from a blockbuster movie. The video stars with Twilight leading woman Kirsten Stewart driving a beautiful old mustang doing some reckless driving. Kirsten then dose some awkward driving by a gas pump smoking to show how rebellious she is. The video ends with Kirsten speeding up around the famous LA river, after this performance we may be able to forgive Stewart for her part in the Twilight saga.