Playlist for the Week Ending 1/29/10

Here's what I'm currently bumpin on my iPhone:

1. Sade - Soldier of Love: Tremendous beat, catches you immediately. The production reminds me of the first time I heard Missy's Get Ur Freak On, 2 very different songs but both memorable in their own right...and the video is superb.


Soldier Of Love

Sade | MySpace Music Videos">

2. Trillogy - Hello Home: I mentioned this group and song in a previous post. Hello Home is not included on their recently released mixtape Love, Life, and Loyalty. A link to the song is included below:

Hello Home

3. Bilal - Baby Since I've Been Loving You/Everything In Its Right Place/Sometimes: This joint is nuts. Recorded from a recent live performance, Bilal touches on multiple genres including his take on Radiohead's Everything in Its Right Place, definitely a must listen.

Bilal

4. Raekwon/Busta Rhymes - About Me: Off of his long awaited follow up to Only Built for Cuban Linx, About Me features production from the good Dr. and strong verses from the two hip hop heavyweights.

About Me

5. D'Angelo - Lady (Live): An oldie but goodie. This live version definitely delivers the goods.

Lady (Live)

Aziz

Does anyone watch Comedy Central anymore? Not that anyone (at least anyone I know) watched it anyway sans a 2 year stretch when Chapelle's Show was big or the ocassional Jon Stewart / Stephen Colbert viewing. Heck with over 700 channels on Direct TV I couldn't even tell you within 30 channels where it is located. I mention this because I finally think the network is figuring out how to program primetime viewing. It seems this year CC has started giving up and coming comedians who have an established fan base (or at least some sort of media recognition) 1 hour specials. I happened to stumble upon Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening, an hour long stand up set from Aziz Ansari, star of Parks and Rec and various other films including Observe and Report and Funny People. While the set was uneven and the RAAAAAAAANDY bit was horrible I found myself laughing throughout so I guess I enjoyed it. A clip from the set is included below:



I hope Comedy Central continues to push the next generation of comedic stars in place of reruns of Larry the Cable Guy and Dane Cook comedy specials. Artie Lange's Jack and Coke premiered last week and Charlie Murphy supposedly debuts in February, that should be interesting.

Wisdom from the Fresh Prince

Man I never realized how insightful/wise Will Smith is. Is this the effect of Scientology? If so maybe I need to drink some of that Kool-Aid. Either way you can not dispute the effectiveness of his thought process and how he attacks life with drive and purpose. Gotta get it in 2010!

New Music

I guess I'm an oldhead now, I just don't get the state of music, especially hip-hop, anymore. I'm tired of of songs instructing me to move my legs, shrug my shoulders, snap my neck, etc... It was ok when there were only a few songs like that but the airwaves are dominated by such trash nowadays. I was happy to see the Grammy's recognizing some authentic hip hop in the best rap album category this year: Mos Def's The Ecstatic and Q-Tip's underrated The Renaissance. In my opinion The Ecstatic was the best hip-hop release of 2009.

Was perusing U-Stream the other night and stumbled upon TJ Chapman's New Music Reviews show. For wannabe Simon Cowell type American Idol judges this show is a goldmine, and a nice little profit center for TJ. In a nutshell aspiring rappers/singers/musicians send in their demos to TJ who plays them for his audience (which reached around 300+ last Thursday) who in turn critiques the demos by chat. I was mesmerized for 2 hours on Thursday. Most of the submissions were poor to quite poor with the exception of 1, Trillogy. This unsigned group has some talent, reminiscent of early Fugees with a little City High thrown in for good measure: Check out this snippet from TJs show, skip to the 1st marker around the 1:05:53 point:



TJ charges $25 to review your song on his show...man there are a lot of aspiring artists out there....hmmmmmm.

You can download Trillogy's mixtape at the link below:
http://usershare.net/5ey5j7qhbhoy