Frank Wu
Mixtape: Lupe Fiasco – Friend Of The People
Following the release of his latest album Lasers, Lupe Fiasco announced that he wasn’t personally satisfied with the album he was forced to make by Atlantic Records, despite the commercial success of the record. Long-time fans of Lu weren’t satisfied either, calling the album too poppy and a manufactured attempt to make hits for the usually deep and incredibly lyrical rapper.
Today, on Thanksgiving Day, Lupe released a brand new mixtape titledFriend Of The People as a way to thank his fans for supporting him throughout his career. The Friend Of The People project actually began two years ago, but was shelved due to Lupe’s involvement with Summit on the Summit and his climb onto Mount Kilimanjaro. After Lasers, he rebooted the project, preparing the 12-track, sample heavy release in anticipation for his forthcoming LP, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album.
You can check out two songs below (sampling Justice and M83!), as well as the full mixtape below. The full tracklist is available after the break.
DOWNLOAD: Hulkshare
MP3: Lupe Fiasco – “Double Burger with Cheese” (Justice “Ohio”)
MP3: Lupe Fiasco – “The End Of The World” (M83 “Midnight City”)
Friend Of The People Tracklist:
01. Introduction (Nero “2808”)
02. Lupe Back (Nero “Doomsday”)
03. Friend of the People (feat. Dosage) (Sebastian “Jack Wire”)
04. Double Burger with Cheese (Justice “Ohio”)
05. Joaquin Phoenix (feat. Lil Ronnie)
06. WWJD He’d Prolly LOL Like WTF!!! (Justice “On’n’On”)
07. Lightwork (Ellie Goulding & Bassnectar “Lights” remix)
08. Life, Death & Love From San Francisco (John Coltrane “Love Supreme”)
09. SLR
10. SNDCLsH In Vegas (Kaskade & Skrillex “Lick It”)
11. Super Cold (The Glitch Mob “Bad Wings”)
12. The End Of The World (M83 “Midnight City”)
Listen: Y LUV – “Earthquakes”
Y LUV know how to make catchy, explosive indie rock for the masses. If you’re a regular here, you might already be familiar with the band and their single “All Night” (check that out here if you haven’t already). Just recently, the Los Angeles rockers have released a brand new single titled “Earthquake”, which follows in the same vein of the band’s earlier material, with a blend of swooping vocals and instrumentals.
On the new track, frontman Freddy Janney commented, “Sam and Evan were talking about earthquakes and the ‘big one’ on the way to a show once and I realized I had been living here for awhile and had never really thought about that possibility. It scared me. It made me realize how fragile life is. It got me thinking about what really matters. Also, while I was freaking out about an earthquake, my sister and her friends were looking at a magazine and freaking out (as much or more) about how amazing someones body was and how they would never look like that and never be as happy as that person… I guess it’s all relative. It’s a song that recognizes the world might fall but celebrates that it hasn’t.”
Well then, let’s celebrate.
Watch: Kanye West and Jay-Z Live in Montreal
Unless you’ve been living underneath a rock for the past few months, you’ve probably already heard about the hip hop superduo of frequent collaborators Kanye West and Jay-Z and their first full album together, Watch The Throne. Well, now you can finally “watch the throne” in high quality from your very own home, as Montreality has posted HD footage of the duo’s energetic performance in Montreal.
After watching a few questions remain on my mind: is this mainly a Kanye show? Or is it Hov’s show? Was it worth such a high cost? And is Kanye wearing a skirt?
Check it out for yourself below.
Marissa Nadler Posts Two Free Covers
To kick off Thanksgiving, dream-folk artist Marissa Nadler has decided to give away two tracks off of her Covers Volume II album, which features Nadler’s beautiful renditions of 13 legendary songs. It’s always difficult to do justice through a cover and even more so when you’re covering such well-known artists as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, but Nadler’s melancholic voice adds a splash of personal sorrow to each song. Check out two songs below and if you like what you hear, be sure to check out Marissa’s Etsy store, where you can purchase the entire Covers album as well as her new self-titled full-length.
Motel Blues (Originally by Loudon Wainwright III):
Learning to Fly (Originally by Tom Petty):
Listen: WZRD – “Brake”
MP3: WZRD – “Brake”
Thoughts?
Listen: MadGibbs (Freddie Gibbs & Madlib) – “Thuggin'”
Listen: A-10 & Young Brew – “Let You Know (Prod. By Keyyz McFlyy)”
‘Bon Iver, Bon Iver’ Gets Digital Re-Release
“Comprised of individual visual works that both complement and enrich the audio on the album, the video accompaniment was in itself another year in the making. Featuring work by Dan Huiting, Isaac Gale, David Jensen, JoLynn Garnes and Justin Vernon, the video work is meant to be consumed as a visual extension of the music, to enhance each listener’s experience with one of the year’s most acclaimed albums. While not music videos per se, these visual accompaniments are striking in their distinctive atmosphere, and compelling works in their own right.”
After the break, you can check out a 47 second long trailer. Powerful and deeply moving imagery combined with ethereal music from Justin Vernon and co. – what more do you want?
Drake – “The Calm…The Resistance…The Ride.”
MP3: Drake – “The Calm…The Resistance…The Ride.”
“The Calm”
From: So Far Gone (2009)
Produced by Noah “40” Shebib
The song that started it all, “The Calm” was recorded by Drake on a night when he simply needed to vent about the stress that surrounded him and his budding recording career. Early in the song, Drake questions, “Please leave me alone / Drunk off champagne, screaming in the phone / See my house is not a home, fuck is going on? / Where did we go wrong, where do we belong?” Despite all the chaos and struggle that surrounded his personal life, Drake knew that his music would carry him through it in the end. It’s a hard life, but one he has to deal with: “I’m just in my zone, I call this shit the calm / Yeah, but I’m the furthest thing from calm.”
“The Resistance”
From Thank Me Later (2010)
Produced by Noah “40” Shebib
Unlike with “The Calm”, Drake’s career has already taken off and he’s now being inundated by his newfound fame. Directed towards his haters and his old friends, Drake argues that he’ll take advantage of all the fame he receives with his music career. On the smooth R&B hook, Drizzy sings, “What am I afraid of? / This is supposed to be what dreams are made of / But people I don’t have the time to hang with / Always look at me and say the same shit / They say you promised me you would never change.” Tough luck, guys, but Drake’s not going anywhere.
“The Ride (feat. The Weeknd)”
From Take Care (2011)
Produced by Doc McKinney & The Weeknd
The first of the three songs to feature guest vocals from another artist, the third song of the series has a similar angst-filled vibe and is actually Drake’s favorite song off of Take Care. He opens by boldly declaring, “I hate when people say they feel me, man. I hate that shit.” Drake then goes on to explain this idea throughout the song, describing his past and present life and elaborating on how no one can truly relate to him unless they’ve lived his life and been in his shoes. As he says at the end of the first verse, “It’s feeling like you own every place you choose to be at now / Walking through airport security with your hat down / Instead of getting a pat down, they just keep on / Saying that they feel you, nigga.” That’s certainly an experience that doesn’t happen to everyone.
Listen: Chiddy Bang – “Ray Charles”
“The song actually started out as a joke when my brother, Cheeseburger Don, got so high he fell asleep in the studio with his sunglasses on. I looked over and he reminded me of Ray Charles, probably because I was high, too. I started freestyling about him and we laid it down right there.” That’s what Chidera Anamege, the emcee half of Chiddy Bang had to say about their new single, “Ray Charles”. The song is taken from Chiddy and Xaph’s long-awaited debut LP, Breakfast, out February 28, 2012. Check it out below.
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