TheUrbanian.com » Common

Colbie Caillat Wants to do a Hip-Hop Song

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:51:54 +0000

Singer Colbie Caillat, most notable for her 2007 break-out hit, ‘Bubbly‘ is looking to get into hip hop.

This might be a move that turns some of her fans off, but hey, it’d be interesting to see what she does exactly.

In the CNN video below, Caillat explains that she likes Common and Timbaland. At first I thought she meant she wants to sing a hook with a rapper doing the verses, but as she goes on, it appears she wants to rap some bars. She explained that she used to rap to Notorious B.I.G songs when she was 15 in the studio.

Here’s the video. It starts off with her playing 20 seconds of one of her songs, then the interview begins.

Alicia Keys is Like a Storm in a Drought

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:06:59 +0000

So Alicia Keys has been doing a good job at getting people to talk about her again. No disrespect whatsoever, but that’s who she is. She’s like a great storm. You don’t talk about her when she’s out of the picture, but when she’s back, you can feel it, the focus is on it, and people can only converse about the last time the storm came through, in anticipation for the next.

After a powerful chorus on Jay-Z’s ‘Empire State Of Mind’, and a just as passionate VMA performance, she’s getting right back in the spotlight and making us fall in love with her all over again like the girl that moved away in second grade. Brittany I know you’re still out there! Continuing on, she’s also been doing interviews in a nice fitting black dress. Yes, I said it. Nice fitting black dress. Power moves.

Alicia Keys is one of my favorite R&B singers. Her music is powerful, and pure. While some singers these days focus on insignificant song subjects that range from materialistic to sometimes a bit on the immoral side, her music stays classy. A true role model and a fine example of what a mature woman should be like. I need one of her with a mix of Jessica Alba somewhere in my life. I don’t know what Kanye and Common were thinking by not taking their opportunities to charm her, seeing as how they both worked closely with her at different points in her career.

Her newest single is called ‘Doesn’t Mean Anything’, and it has all the maturity, good grace, and beauty the rest of her songs have. You begin to get lost in her voice, and when she speaks, you answer back, “I’M RIGHT HERE ALICIA, DON’T BE SAD BABY GIRL, THESE ARMS AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE, GIVE YOUR MAN A HUG!” She doesn’t really reply but you can still imagine. No news has come out about her album yet, but she never disappoints. Storms may come and go, but when they’re there, my goodness, they take your breath away.

Kid Cudi ‘Man on the Moon’ Album Review

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:16:14 +0000

The spaceship is less than a week away from landing, as the man on the moon prepares to greet the world and reveal who he is.

Kid Cudi’s 15-track debut album, ‘Man on the Moon: The End of Day’ will be released Sept. 15. It’s less of an album and more of an emotional journey of one man.

The idea behind the album is all the songs take place during a night of sleep for Kid Cudi. Along with the songs, Common also appears on the album as a narrator. The purpose of this is create a movie-like appearance to the album. Common serves as extra insight to what is happening.

Along with a narrator, the album is also divided into five “acts” to further pull off the movie atmosphere on the album. The first act is entitled: ‘The End Of The Day.’ Cudi is finally laying down for sleep. The first track on the album has been dubbed the “Cudder Anthem” where the listener learns the only place Cudi feels safe is his dreams. As the acts continue, Cudi faces the issues of nightmares, drugs, being stuck, and finding happiness.

At the end of it all, we come to the final act, “A New Beginning.” The closing track, “Up Up & Away,” Cudi has finally awoken from his slumber and is prepared to move on in the world. He realizes that people are going to judge anyway, no matter what he does.

People often refer to Kid Cudi as a rapper. With that label plenty people have slammed him for not being a good rapper, and doesn’t possess a good flow. Well, I think that’s unfair label to slap on him anyway, as this album proves he’s bringing a new movement to the genre. Bob Dylan was always slammed for being a poor singer, but I think he overcame that criticism anyway.

Another thing people criticize Cudi about is weak rhymes (sometimes he just bypasses rhyming all together) and just simple writing. Well, I can agree with that, but why is that a bad thing? I mean the writing on this album has the complexity of a 9th grade English class at best, but who doesn’t love reading “Catcher in the Rye” or “Lord of the Flies.” Simplicity isn’t a bad thing.

The important thing to take out of this album is the emotion. The second half of “Soundtrack 2 My Life,” Cudi changes the tone of his voice, and your ears can pick up the emotions which Cudi in the song states are pouring out of him.

Then there’s songs like “Heart of a Lion,” which possesses the inner battle that everyone must face sometime in their life. The interchangeable “No’s” and “Yeah’s” found in the hook are there not only for Cudi’s confusion, but the listener’s as well.

The most notable songs to take notice to are the RATATAT-produced tracks in ”Alive” and ”Pursuit of Happiness ” (which also features MGMT). These are the songs that back up the idea that Cudi is bringing a new wave of music into the hip-hop genre. The production on these tracks obliterates Kanye West’s production found in “Make Her Say,” and “Sky Might Fall.”

The album in full delievers what I was expecting. Lots of emotion, drug talk and martian-like symptoms. Despite the album being mind-blowingly good, there are some disappointments that must be touched on real quick. “Make Her Say” is fun little track, but it doesn’t belong on this album. It just makes no sense and interrupts the flow of what’s happening. The second is the Chip Tha Ripper featured track, “Hyyeer Up.” It’s just not a good song.

For a debut album, it’s beyond a solid effort. It’s really good, however, I know Kid Cudi can do even better. “The Man on the Moon: The End of Day,” is simply Kid Cudi getting his feet wet in the music business. I look forward to him working with RATATAT and MGMT more in the future (hopefully).

The album gets The Urbanian stamp of approval. It’s a very addicting listen. Make sure you purchase the album Sept. 15. I know I’m copping the Deluxe Edition with the DVD.

Hip Hop is Alive After All

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 02:44:46 +0000

This year has sparked a lot of excitement in Hip Hop fans. We’ve seen a lot of new artists emerge and heard many phrases such as, “Hip Hop is back”. From groups like Slaughterhouse bringing crazy lyricism and hardcore rap back, to Cam’ron and now even Ma$e coming out of retirement, and musical sensations like Drake, Cudi, and the rest of the 2009 Freshmen, this year has shown nothing but good potential for the coming years in music.

I was never a soldier for the Hip Hop is Dead Army, but even I’ll admit, Hip Hop needed to get off the couch and get back to business. Although people want to assign blame to some southern artist like Soulja Boy or Dem Franchise Boyz (where have they been anyway?), no one really knows when things got so out of hand, and well, lazy. I believe I’ve found the answer to this, and also have figured out why Drake, Cudi, Wale, Mickey Factz, Big Sean, and many others are so refreshing to the public’s ears.

Some people don’t realize that conscious rap and gangsta rap used to be one in the same. While Public Enemy and N.W.A. had different techniques, their goals were ultimately the same: to address a problem in America today and make sure it didn’t just get swept under the rug. Even then, there still were fun records. Digital Underground with The Humpty Dance, songs like “Doin’ The Butt” and “The Pee-Wee Herman“, and who can forget the timeless classic, “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot.

Back then, Hip Hop had a balance, it had music for every part of the day. When you’re watching a movie, the soundtrack has all types of songs on it to better suit the moment. That’s how hip hop was, but somehow we lost that. Things became divided, some fans got lazy and didn’t challenge themselves musically, some went for more of an elitist route and became snobs and high and mighty and cut off all ties with anything mainstream. Things became separated when Hip Hop was about unity.

Things have finally changed, and in my most humble opinion, is thanks to Kanye West. He was one of the first new artists in a long time to play both sides, and do them really well. He knows how to make radio friendly music and still stay true to the art form. Which is why today, Wale can do a party song with Lady GaGa but still make a concept mixtape like “Mixtape About Nothing”, why Asher Roth can make songs like “I Love College” and still make very emotional records such as “His Dream.”

Regular, everyday, human beings aren’t so one dimensional. They have intellectual conversations with friends in the afternoon, and go to the club with them in the evening. They have a little cream with their coffee from time to time. Kanye West, along with Common, Lupe Fiasco, Jay-Z, Outkast and others, revamped what it meant to be a conscious rapper. They unified things again. They made albums full of fun, emotion, intellect, and sometimes humor. Hip Hop is finally getting off the couch, and it looks like its going to be a good year.