A track that’s been in my rotation for a while now, (always good to spaz out to some ignorant shiz every once in a while) DJ Khaled puts together another monster collaboration which sees Kanye West trying to break the all-time record for the usage of the N word.
I thought there was something wrong with my laptop the way the video was shaking all over the place! Turns out it’s just another extravagant Hype Williams production; not sure I like this effect though, it hurt my head a little.
Kanye then goes into his solo track Cold, a track where he went into some details of Amber Rose’s cheating ways, whilst also (pretty much) announcing his new relationship with Kim Kardashian, who incidentally makes a cameo in this vid. These two never leave each other’s side now, eh.
YMCMB’s resident town crier always reels in the big names for assists, and this cut is no different as two of hip-hop’s luminaries (and frequent Khaled collaborators) join him for his latest single.
Rapper-turned-producer-turned-rapper/producer Hit-Boy helms this one, serving up a Lex Luger-esque beat that’s full of ominous synth and punchy bass, coming at a menacing pace for the verses before switching up with a little more intensity for the hook. Kanye opens up with a verse that probably won’t go down in history as a game-changer but a solid one nonetheless, though his hook is much more notable thanks to an influx of emotion. Ross switches things back to a more chilled level for his verse, before ‘Ye steps back in once more. It’s nothing more than OK for me, but I’m sure plenty will enjoy this.
What better way to get back into the OTU saddle than with the first of a triumverate of Kanye West blasts today! Theraflu came through on Wednesday night, and whilst there was initial confusion on whether it was Khaled featuring Kanye or the other way around, it’s since been confirmed it’s a Kanye track with a Khaled (and DJ Pharris) feature.
Produced by Hit-Boy, the beat combines deep bass with electronic melodies for a sharp urgency, providing a relatively simple and relatively ‘safe’ backdrop for a decent set of raps from Ye, who switches between confessional, arrogant and seething throughout. Lyrically, it’s similar to the work on Watch the Throne, with flashes of quality surrounded by a little too much simplicity, and when backed by an instrumental that’s little more than solid, it’s probably not the spectacular return many of us had hoped for.
Click here to stream this over at Kanye’s place.
A fairly unremarkable video for one of the mainstream’s favourite songs right now. It certainly won’t blow anyone’s mind, but the arrogant, lavish essence of the audio is captured well enough with lots of extravagantly-priced items and standard carefree behaviour.
The cityscapes work very well with Drake’s hook in particular, adding an atmospheric visual to the slower first half, and injecting energy into the more lively second part. Drake also appears to have been taking items from Rick Ross’ wardrobe of fashion disasters with one of his outfits, baring his chest and adorning it with some unnecessarily large jewellery. Nothing to note aside from that, purely a video that will further etch the song onto mainstream minds. Audio is here.
Before you get into a fit, I’m fully aware this was first released about two weeks ago. However, upon recently lavishing praise on another DJ’s mainstream stomper, it occured to me that a miscommunication in the OTU team means this enjoyable effort was oddly never posted. A rare slip-up!
Probably one of Khaled’s best songs ever. Why? Not only does he refrain from screaming all over it, but everything else seems to go right. The beat is absolutely superb, with a piercing melody in the verses being supplemented in the hook by a thick percussion that will undoubtedly get your neck snapping, whilst Drake stars with a very solid verse, along with a strong hook. Ricky Ross is bearable on this too (I guarantee you’ll find yourself copying his verse-opening grunt!), though Wayne is massively disappointing on this with a lazy, boring verse. Really enjoyable effort outside of that verse though. Sorry for the delay!
Is this the longest title we’ve ever seen on OTU? It’s certainly up there! DJ Khaled enlists a plethora of rappers to take on the remix of his recent(ish) single, Welcome To The Hood.
I can’t be the only one, but I’m pretty tired of these remixes by him where he just sticks a load of guest verses on it and expects a hit. Having said that I really wanted to hear the Game verse on this and thus had to check it out. I’m also pretty sure there’s a lot of you out there who still lap this stuff up, so who am I to hate on it?
Summary: I don’t like this and I didn’t like the original either, you might though.
For Khaled’s first track since his signing to Cash Money Records, he links up with Rick Ross, Plies, Lil Wayne and T-Pain; which will only go to further instigate rumors that Pain is about to sign with Young Money Records. The single is also thought to be the first release from Khaled’s forthcoming EP We The Best Forever.
With this being a DJ Khaled joint and considering the lineup, you’d expect hard hitting beats, an anthemic hook and plenty of punchlines, and that’s exactly what you get. However, I’m not quite feeling it, and I was expecting better: don’t get me wrong it’s not a terrible track, but there’s potential on here for it to be much more. I never thought I’d say this, but I think Plies tops both Weezy and Ross, coming through with an aggressive flow in keeping with the theme of the track, whereas the other two just lay down pretty average verses.
DJ Khaled ft. Rick Ross, Plies, Lil Wayne & T-Pain–Welcome To My Hood
Fresh off his appearance at the BET cyphers, Reek comes through with a star-studded track. This will be the first studio track I’ve heard of his, and he’s definitely going to grab lots of attention with these features. Looking forward to the Method Man verse.
Fans and followers, friends and foes: you heard it here first. Being the forward-thinking, innovative blog we are, Overrating The Underrated is jumping on the latest music revolution which is Spotify playlists. This will allow us to bring you monthly snapshots of all five authors’ posted material. The OTU monthly snapshots will ensure you never miss a thing and can enjoy all our picks from one central location: your Spotify application!
Unfamiliar with Spotify? It’s a free music application which allows you to stream and share music with your friends. You can listen to your playlists from any computer or phone in the world and you can also sync with Facebook to see what your friends are listening to. Keep up with the in-crowd, read about it and then get it here.
This month we’ve scoured through our back catalogue to bring you a stylish summery playlist boasting material from the likes of The-Dream, Empire Of The Sun, Tinchy Stryder, The Roots, Rick Ross, Skepta, You Me At Six and many more. So hurry up and click that glorious red text below!
Houston’s Killa Kyleon collaborates with Ricky Ross & DJ Khaled here to bring us a very typically DJ Khaled type banger. Definitely wouldn’t feel out of place on a Khaled album, with it being one for your car playlist. Whether that’s a good or bad thing depends completely on whether you like DJ Khaled’s music or not.
The list of features on this: Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, Diddy, Nicki Minaj, Fabolous, Jadakiss, Fat Joe, Swizz Beatz & T-Pain. Whoa! Makes for a good video, always good to see Nicki Minaj, Jadakiss, Diddy & Fabolous – the rest…not so bothered about (in all honesty).
Peep the bright visuals to the left, grab the mp3 below.
As ever BET brought out the stars to perform at their Awards Ceremony. First up we have for you….the return of Kanye West! Since the whole Taylor Swift controversy, Mr. West had pretty much disappeared from the limelight, so his return via a performance of his new single here is much welcomed.
Again from me, this track isn’t that old. However, I think a fair few of you would have missed out on this the 1st time round, due to the fact that this was on DJ Khaled’s album, We Global.
With Kanye’s new album coming out at some point this summer/year and with him promising to go back to his hip hop roots, I thought it’d be apt to post a track of his where he just quite simply ‘dumbs out’. By which I mean his raps annihilate the hyped up beat, with T-Pain providing a standard infectiously addictive chorus. As a treat I’ve provided the Jay-z remix for this too, so if you like what you see/hear in the video to your left, grab both below.
We all agree that J. Cole is probably bar-for-bar, the best of the ‘new breed’ right?
We all agree that J. Cole is probably better than a lot of the established guys right?
Below is a track that Khaled and Cole did together for Khaled’s recent Victory album. Inexplicably it didn’t make the final cut, but a load of other rubbish did.
We all agree that DJ Khaled is a waste of time right?
Khaled’s album has caught more leaks than…a leaky…pipe? Bucket?
Anyway, yeah. Two joints below, and the features on both give me some hope that they should be alright. Specifically looking forward to the Luda verse and seeing what the recently-deported Shyne has to say.
Khaled grabs Young Jeezy, Plies and Rick Ross for this album track. Pretty typical mainstream/Southern rap effort on the beat, and I’m only really checking for the Jeezy verse. Plies and Ricky=fail duo.
DJ Khaled loves bringing the stars together on his albums, and his upcoming album Victory is no different. This track is going to be the 1st single from that album, be sure to get it below.
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