Hurry, we forgot to put this out!
Quick! Stop reading this!
(One to catch up on: newcomer Jade Alston’s excellent Searching)
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Just the two noteworthy posts to recap on, with a free 4-track EP from The Internet, who solidified their place as one of my current favourites in the wider R&B scene (given that R&B doesn’t categorise their music with any great accuracy), and of course the second instalment of our popular 5-track Winter EP. Click below for another 5 tracks to add to this week’s plentiful bounty.
A couple of good efforts to recap on, with a short but sweet official blast from Frank Ocean, and enjoyable visuals for Eric Turner’s collaboration with Lupe Fiasco and Tinie Tempah. Click on for this week’s tasty treats.
The debut of our new 5-part feature The Winter EP makes up the bulk of the R&B/soul-related content from this week, though an excellent new video from the talented Daley also warrants attention from the R&BF following. Click below for this week’s triple threat.
A bass-heavy, relatively minimal production, fans of Chris’ Look At Me Now will enjoy the beat here, though the highlight is undoubtedly Busta’s lightning-quick rapping, as he comes through with some incredible speed on his verses (the first in particular) to anchor this track admirably. Breezy’s hook is a little uninspired in truth, and whilst I’m glad he’s not been forced into the powerful-style hooks he’s normally associated with on mainstream features, it still comes up a little short for me. Worth grabbing for those Busta verses though.
Click below for this week’s injection of harmonic, overly-emotional goodness.
Three interesting tracks to recap on from the week just gone, with Aloe Blacc releasing some new visuals, a brand new mixtape from upcoming UK soul singer Daley, and a new video from his fellow Brit, Cleo Sol. Click below to indulge yourself in this week’s free buffet (forks will not be provided).
You can check out the tracklist, listen to, and download it for free by clicking right here. #teambreezy
Just the two relevant posts to catch up on from the week gone by: Chris Brown teamed up with Game for the latter’s latest video, and Modestep dropped off a monster dubstep/alternative hybrid that’s sure to be a huge hit this summer. Click below for 21 minutes and 24 seconds of R&B/pop therapy. For all the recent criticism of Game’s poorly-judged swipe at many of today’s ‘buzzing’ artists, there’s no denying that this is a very enjoyable song that offers him the chance to penetrate the mainstream once more. The video blends together a personal aspect with the usual Westcoast scenes, as we’re shown childhood images of Game and clips involving his own children, alongside cars with excessive suspensions and a relatively imposing posse of Game’s friends hanging around on his lawn. Throw in a short clip of Chris Brown’s gravity-defying stunts/dancing, and you’ve got a little bit of everything. A fairly simple all-round premise, and rightfully so as it focuses on the natural power and energy of the audio and enhances it suitably. Enjoyable all-rounder, and is available on iTunes now. Click here to read the previous audio review.
No posts of note to recap on from the week gone by, though there are a few news bites, particularly Chris Brown’s announcement of a hip-hop mixtape to be released soon, and Drake confirming the first official single from Take Care is set to drop any day now. In the meantime, click below for this week’s scheduled programming.
Recap from the week’s posts: one of soul’s shining lights, Jesse Boykins III, dropped off a new EP, Drake released an official video for his much-loved (and remixed) Marvin’s Room, and finally Patrick Stump grabbed Lupe Fiasco for his next single from his debut album. Click below for this week’s arts and crafts.
Lending his vocals to the track is Chris Brown, whose vocal delivery on the hook, chorus and bridge is superb and in my opinion steals the show. The production is another strong point, with The Futuristiks lacing Game with laidback, acoustic guitar and drum-driven work, giving Game the ideal platform to spit his reflective thoughts and feelings. A pleasant little number from Game and Chris Brown that I imagine should appeal to the mainstream crowd and get quite a bit of airplay. Stream below or grab on iTunes.
T-Pain’s got a big single on his hands here, and delivers an easy-to-watch video that I expect will get an awful lot of rotation in mainstream media. Nice concept on the video, with a battle of the bands theme, as Chris and Pain duel with their verses. Simple, but takes the song in a slightly different direction and generally makes for a mainstream-friendly, inoffensive watch. It also brings out a little energy in the song, which helps to offset the slightly corny/poppy feel of the track somewhat. Solid choice on the lead girl too (if you happen to look like her, call me), making a nice change to the usual plastic picks. Not a classic by any means, but will probably be a bit of a guilty pleasure for me in the coming weeks. Audio can be swiped from here.
As it’s a milestone episode, it felt like the right decision to award Frank Ocean the honour of representing this occasion. I can hear your outrage: ‘why not a staple of the episodes, like Lloyd or Usher?’. Well, we like to look forward, and frankly (sorry) I feel he’s really going to dominate this series for the next 100 episodes, and deservedly so. Click below for your regular weekly instalment: two days late, in keeping with tradition! I’ve also got a little extra something to celebrate the occasion coming shortly after this…
Part 4 of Mickey’s May-Hem series, and he takes on another mainstream beat with Chris Brown’s dance-infused single. Once again, it’s a great use of an addictive beat, as he laces it with two thoughtful, very captivating raps that display his storytelling skills very well. Another great instalment of this impromptu series, and another not to be missed.
A few posts from the week gone by that will be of note: Skylar Grey’s superb live performance of Love The Way You Lie, Chris Brown’s latest set of energetic visuals, Diggy Simmons working with Bruno Mars for his mainstream single, an enormous 30-track official mixtape from T-Pain, and finally some fantastic visuals for The Foreign Exchange’s newest single. Click below to be one step closer to greatness. There are lots of good dancers in the pop/R&B world such as Usher, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce etc., but are any of them as captivating and watchable as Chris Breezy? To me, he’s in a league of his own just for being such a great watch, even if he’s not as technically ‘smooth’ as some others may be. I probably downplayed the quality of the song when I initially reviewed it for fear of it becoming overplayed, but there’s no denying that Chris does a seriously fantastic job on the hook here, and does justice to the MJ sample. Rightfully, the video is dedicated to him, and in more so than just a simple message as Chris channels MJ in both his performance and a couple of his outfits, with great results. The entertaining dancing is in full flow here as he blends Jackson’s style with his own athletic moves to make a simple and enjoyable video. Very fitting tribute, and a very strong selection for his next single. It’s such a shame he had those personal problems, as without them he’d quite clearly be the heir to Jackson’s throne. F.A.M.E. is available everywhere now.
Recap from this week’s postings: a new Jagged Edge mixtape, Ryan Leslie’s latest video/single, visuals for J*Davey’s fantastic Raincheck, and finally a very unexpected UK-US collab between David Banner, Estelle and Daley. Click below for the 97th instalment of R&B’s most revered institution.
Very interesting lineup in this week’s episode, with man-of-the-moment Frank Ocean lining up alongside such current luminaries as Chris Brown, Trey Songz and many more. No throwback this week as there has been quite a chunk of new material to get through, but there’s lots of good stuff to get into regardless. Click below to collect your winnings.
An interesting blend of mainstream stuff and more refined soul-oriented material this week, as well as chucking in the now customary throwback R&B track of the week. Click below to be happy.
This week’s recap is Chris Brown heavy, with a feature on both Keri Hilson’s latest video and Big Sean’s first video from his debut album, as well as a brand new video of his own from F.A.M.E. There’s also a new video from Lloyd, and a great track that didn’t make Frank Ocean’s brilliant mixtape. Done? Good. Click below for R&B Fridays: The 93rd edition. Chris Brown’s really putting the work in with his recent spate of features, and here he hooks up with the ever-lovely Keri Hilson for her latest single. Having not quite got around to listening to Keri’s recent album, this track is entirely new to me and I’m certainly a fan. The slow, sultry nature is a little more intense and passionate than your usual slow jam, and hence makes for a nice blend of styles. Both come through with very solid performances, which isn’t entirely surprising given their respective track records on this bedroom music style. Video fits the song nicely, with a dark and steamy feel enhancing the lyrical and vocal vibe. Nothing particularly groundbreaking in terms of style, but it doesn’t need to be here and the video presents the song in a very good light. Naturally with CB involved, there are snippets of dancing thrown in throughout, and they mix things up nicely with the duo’s joint routine being particularly enjoyable. Visuals for Big Sean’s first single from his forthcoming album (not sure when it’s being released, but I’m looking forward to it!). Ajay got it spot on with his analysis of the track, it’s very reflective and celebratory at the same time and despite it having a rather mainstream sound, (largely thanks to Mr. Chris Brown) Big Sean doesn’t sacrifice the cleverness of his lyrics that we’ve all come to love from him. To further strengthen the reflective and celebratory mood, Sean shares some footage of him and his friends kicking it in 2006, where he was first trying his hand at this profession. Seeing him enjoying himself in the present day amidst the home-made footage, in addition to the somewhat sombre tone of the production, really hits the spot. I couldn’t couldn’t help smile watching the video, and I’m not even 100% really sure why. Hoping this turns out to be a very big hit for Big Sean, it certainly has the potential to be. Prior to actually watching this I was pretty uninterested to be honest, as the track itself is OK but not necessarily my thing. However, the video is actually surprisingly entertaining, and unlike the usual choreography-centric style of his videos. It’s not anything particularly groundbreaking, but it’s always fun when a video is full of cameos and this has no shortage of them, with many music and entertainment luminaries making appearances throughout. The addition of fairly candid footage of Chris fooling around is decent too, and you sense he’s really in his element when he’s either dancing or messing around! As I said, nothing particularly life-changing but a very easy and entertaining watch. I’m happy they didn’t play off the electro-vibe and go with the cheap, lasery, tacky style video we see everywhere. Also, keep an eye out for T-Pain towards the end: you’ll definitely laugh!
Catch-up: delayed visuals for Usher’s More, the video for Yasmin’s Finish Line and an official remix, very enjoyable video for Musiq and Swizzy’s single, XV’s remix of Erin Christine’s Naked, and finally Wiz Khalifa jumps on a remix with Cee-Lo. Lots of features and guest spots in this week’s episode, so get your mice at the ready and get clicking below.
Unlike recent weeks, there’s a pretty big recap on this week’s notable R&B/pop events: Yasmin previewed her new single, Tank came through with a new video, Timbaland’s #TimboThursdays rolled on, Trey Songz released the Love Faces video, Miguel and Gilbere Forte combined for a fantastic effort, Diddy’s Dirty Money trio released an official mixtape, last week’s notable Grammy performances, Bruno Mars’ Grenade getting the Lil’ Wayne remix, and finally Erin Christine’s fantastic performance of Naked. All worth checking out, and more worth your time after the click below.
Either way, the R&B/pop keeps coming thick and fast with another well-proportioned episode for you this week. Four R&B-related OTU items for you from the week gone by: the latest video from the Dirty Money trio, the first mixtape offering from Dirty Money’s Dawn Richard, visuals for Sean Garrett and J. Cole’s collaboration, and finally the official remix of Chipmunk and Chris Brown’s collab, also featuring J. Cole. Click on for music and a whole pile of related text. |
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