Song Review: Boss Pimpin' 2011

Song Review: "Boss Pimpin' 2011" by Boss Game & Jo-Kane
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11126595

Ok, so I'm not gonna lie:  "The Lady in My Life" is one of my favorite songs by Michael Jackson, so when this track dropped, I flipped out!  So I certainly appreciated not only the sample at the end of the track, but also the homage paid in the hook.

Speaking of which, the hook was actually very well done, so kudos to Boss Game here.  Boss Game transitions from singing/harmonizing to rapping just as well as anyone else I've heard.  I feel like the first verse could have been a bit longer to make the song flow a bit more naturally, but it still works.

Both Boss Game and Jo-Kane contribute with a pimpin'-themed verse with all the usual caveats covered.  Both ride the beat with ease, making the entire song an easy and smooth listen.  Jo-Kane has a smoother verse here than the first, which works here as it's a smooth way to end the song; the more excitable flow of Boss Game would have been a bit jarring if it came later in the track.

Overall, while the verses flow very well, I wouldn't say they contribute anything spectacular.  There weren't "stand-out bars," so to speak, but this wasn't that type of track.  The verses did their jobs tying the song together, staying on theme.  Neither is a let-down, and somehow actually complete the song as hook are typically used for.  In this case, though, the hooks stand out and really make the song for me.  They were performed well, and the beat had me rockin' the entire time.

So, a fun song here that's definitely worth a listen or few, and if you're a fan of Michael's version, you'll be groovin' to this in no time.

As always, don't take my word for it, hear it yourself:

N. Talekt

Week of 6/19: SoundClick.com Hip-Hop Top 5

[6/19] NT's SoundClick Top 5

Yet another tough week in the world of SoundClick music.

Short and sweet, this week's difference makers came down to creativity and execution. What were you reaching for with your work, and, just as importantly, did you achieve what you set out to accomplish?

That said, here's a solid selection of songs in this week's Top 5.

Chayse Maclair - Schools out for Summer (f/ Jane G33)
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10730518

Jo-Kane - Y'all Ain't Ready (f/ Boss Game)
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10725981

Mdot - Intro to Bright
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10120316

Hydden Ajenda - Werewolf
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10598260

Mr Showtime - Have A Nice Day :)
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10751328

Last week's #1-spot-holder Jane G33 assists Chayse Maclair, no stranger to that coveted position himself, in a creative and thought-provoking tale entitled "Schools out for Summer." Not too dissimilar from last week's #1, Chayse and Jane speak on the hardships faced, but with a twist in that the hardships are faced by a person also dealing with school, putting life into perspective and implying that maybe school isn't as important as the burden of daily life. It's a slow-building song, and I think Chayse gets saved by a growing beat on this one, as he finally kicked it up a notch as the beat drop, but dragged us to that point a bit. Still, he sets up the plot excellently and Jane comes in to crush the ending, again, from a perspective unique to her which makes the track that much more appealing.

After a short hiatus, Boss Game makes his return to the top 5 alongside Jo-Kane in the head-smashing anthem "Y'all Ain't Ready." This track definitely has the appropriate grit and bump to it, but the quality is a bit jarring at first. Looking past that, Jo-Kane kicks things off with a laid-back, confident verse, akin to Chayse's verse in that it's slow-building and a bit lulling. Perhaps Jo-Kane could have benefited from some ad-libs here. He then double-times it to finish off the verse and lead into a nice verse from Boss Game (notice how the ad-libs liven up the verse a bit, though Boss Game's delivery is commanding enough here that it's not as necessary as with the Jo-Kane verse). While the content is not as innovative, I felt like this song really fits the mood it was shooting for and reaches it's goals.

Newcomer Malcolm Lowe, AKA Mdot (no relation) enters the top 5 this week with "Intro to Bright," a cleverly put together track with an exciting delivery and some fun lines. Overall, it's a good introductory track and certainly makes you want to continue listening. The hook is interesting and the beat works with it's high-energy. Smart move with the acapella bits here, too. Major issue with this song is in terms of cleanliness. A few of the backups & ad-libs were off in an irritating way -- and yes, I know some were purposely off. Also, the beat does grind on you a bit after a while, but that said, the song is the appropriate length for that. Finally, while the hook is fun, it's not something that'll keep you coming back. Those factors keep this from the #2 spot this week, but certainly a strong, impressive showing and, to my points earlier, it does what it set out to do -- make you want to listen to the mixtape.

Hydden Ajenda enter the top 5 this week with a tale entitled "Werewolf." It's a metaphorical story about two hungry powerhouses coming together to slaughter. Maybe this could have been higher aside from the replay value effect, but I actually dig this track. The presence of the rappers here is pretty good, especially on the second verse, and it's a pretty creative song. While the delivery could use some cleanup & enunciation in places, I think, overall, this was well put together and came together to do what it attempted. While personal taste and "it" factor also keep this a little further down the list this week, this is a track that has potential to be pretty nice once polished. The story, emotion, and lyics are all there, just needs a bit of fine tuning to really get going.

Mr. Showtime and Yung Tek, familiar partners, collaborate yet again with "Have a Nice Day :)." The tough thing about this song is that it really is set up to be a banger, it just takes a swing and a miss. As I've been mentioning, setting out what you tried to accomplish is a bit part of getting your song right, and this fell a bit short. Perhaps it was the beat selection. On this, the hook was clearly important, but I could barely tell the difference between the hook and the verse. In addition, unlike past submissions, this hook was not well-written and it showed. Also, the verse and energy here are fine but they do not really build to the track, leaving the listener with a feeling of "that's it?" I felt high expectations for this song to deliver, especially with a banging beat like it had, but it fell a bit short. Still, good enough for this week's top 5, but going back to re-evaluate this song would be smart. Stick with your theme and clean up a bit, and this song is a true banger.

Hope you've enjoyed this week's top 5. Another nice set of songs to check out and a nice showcase of what SoundClick.com has to offer.

With a few major moves and holidays coming up soon, the Top 5 will be suspended indefinitely. Rest assured, it will be back, with a few changes, when things slow down a tad. In the meantime, check out any past week you missed and I'll catch you back here real soon.

N. Talekt

Apology Unnecessary

This is somewhat unrelated to music, but it hits home personally and if you know my music, you know how closely my personal life can get woven into it...

So, as you probably heard by now, an apology has been formally issued for slavery and all its injustices. While I understand what they are trying to accomplish, that's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.

While I could rant about my stance on the matter, I think most of my thoughts have been summed up quite nicely in an article I found written by Katrina Browne (a White woman, which will be apparent as you read my snippets):

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/19/browne.slavery/index.html

A particular point that stood out to me:

"It now feels really natural to want to express regret -- not an apology (that's for institutions; Congress was right to step forward) but deep regret and sadness about what happened, fellow citizen to fellow citizen. I try to imagine what it would be like if we went so far as to extend tenderness toward each other. We could actually all use more of it when we're talking about race, racism and anything to do with slavery.

"Instead, we are full of protestations, distrust, dismissiveness, resentments. For those of us who are white, what's the resistance really about? It may be, at core, that we don't want to feel guilty or blamed or responsible for the outrage of slavery. I didn't.

"But here's the funny thing: While we white Americans are busy establishing our innocence, it turns out that many black Americans are not personally angry at us for slavery. Many do want authentic acknowledgement of what happened, but not for the sake of guilt-tripping. I've witnessed a generosity of spirit that I have been humbled by.

"Meanwhile, many African-Americans are upset about the disparate outcomes that persist and want to see everyone step up to address them. There are so many lingering "structural inequalities," as President Obama put it -- ones without clear racist villains but that are embedded, like the fact that schools are funded with property taxes, so poor black neighborhoods, the legacy of earlier eras of discrimination, are not able to fund the quality schools that we say all our children deserve."

I think the last paragraph of that drives home exactly why I think the apology is useless. "I'm sorry" is not going to bring better schools to poor neighborhoods. "I'm sorry" is not going to give me access to those "certain" jobs that seem to continue to be dominated by the same group. "I'm sorry" is not going undo the labeling and stereotypes derived from racism that cause men to empty 59 shots into a man lying on the ground.

I understand the motives of the apology, I just think it was a waste of time and effort. We all know it was wrong, and understand that the lines of communication need to be opened. However, time and effort is better spent addressing the effects of slavery today instead of apologizing for yesterday.

My feeling is that I was never enslaved, so I can not even begin to attest to knowing what it was like to be in that position, and doing so would be ignorant and disrespectful. But I do know that my life has been heavily influenced by my ancestors and my position in society has been shaped largely by that same history.

To close, I want to note that I am not blind to the progress being made. Barack Obama is indeed the Jackie Robinson of this era. However, I look to the position of the common Joe and feel there is much more to be attained.

Much more than which an apology will suffice.

NT

New Release: Award Tour

This weekend, you voted, and "Award Tour" is the next release from "So Cold."

This is a fun, laid back track over a classic beat. I wanted to include this track on the mixtape not only because of the content, but also because it provides a bit of variety to the mixtape.

Anyway, have a listen or two and enjoy!

OR

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7171185

N. Talekt

New Release: "Diamond"

The Cold has begun!

"Diamond" is a track highlighting a few of the the more personal things going on with me and trials I've been dealing with while at the same time trying to remain strong enough to keep doing the things I love to do, like music. There's more than enough going on in life to get us all sidetracked and it becomes quite easy to lose focus on what's important as well as lose sight of those thing you enjoy because you're forced to deal with what's in front of you.

While the track doesn't completely represent "So Cold"'s contents, I wanted this to be the first impression you get of the mixtape because does a good job in setting the overall tone of it. Not just topic-wise, but quality as well. Throughout "So Cold," the lyrics are witty and thoughful while the tracks are real and many times personal, and at the same time I hope it's an enjoyable listen. I'll go into this in more detail in a later posting.

For now, give "Diamond" a few spins. Kudos to VybeBeatz on the production here. Enjoy!

OR

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7111740

Upcoming Release: "Diamond" (So Cold) drops this Wednesday!

As the final touches are being put on the mixtape, I wanted to start releasing some material to give you all a taste of the music that's going to be on there. I've almost got the tracklist finalized, I am not sure of the number of tracks that will actually make it on there, but suffice to say the music is coming out very well so far and I'm anxious to get it completed.

Anyway, as I alluded to, I'm going to release the first track from the "So Cold" mixtape entitled "Diamond." It delves into a few things regarding my life and mindset and things I've had to endure between, well, the last time you've heard from me and now. This track should set the tone of the mixtape as I am open and brutally honest about my topics of discussion throughout the mixtape. I'll release production credits here when I drop the track.

See you here Wednesday!


... it's gonna be a cold winter ...

Mixtape "So Cold" is Official!

I'm pleased to announce that the mixtape is finally official!

It will be called "So Cold" and be released in January 2009. I decided to push it back as I wanted to include a few more songs on there that I just couldn't turn away from.

While I'm not quite ready to release the artwork or the names of any releases quite yet, I can tell you that new songs from the mixtape should be coming very soon, at least a couple in December!

Keep checking back often for the lastest news, reviews, and developments -- this blog is going to be very active in the coming weeks.

It's gonna be a cold winter...