Loving this right now

Bieber Fever

I've had this song on replay for a while. And I wish I could make it stop :'(

Also posting the new Maxwell vid to even things out.

I love me a good mashup.

I know some people who absolutely hate mashups but for the most part I LOVE them. Mashups, random mixtapes, remixes, fusions of different genres, I eat up anything that fucks with the familiar. I'm not as forgiving with covers that are too faithful to the original version though, not that you can totally discern a cover from a remix sometimes. That probably doesn't make any sense but I'm just gonna run with it.

I'm a little late with this one (it came out around January), but I've been listening to it lately so I thought I'd share.

“Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers” by Wu Tang Vs The Beatles, produced by Tom Caruana featuring Wu-Tang acapella tracks mixed with samples from Beatles songs.

I'm sure a lot of people think messing with Wu-Tang's music is sacrilegious. And of course, you can say the same thing about die-hard Beatles fans . I myself must admit that I love The Beatles' songs but I prefer when they're performed by other artists /unpopular opinion. But what I like about this mix is that the sampling is done very subtly, which works well for me. I don't know if you can compare this to the execution of The Grey Album but for some cruising-in-the-beautiful-SD music? This will do just fine.

Download the .rar file here or you can hit me up for it

And for a little taste of it -

A music post.

I just uploaded about 400 songs to my computer thanks to my brother. NIOCE.

Why I bring this up: I can't stand putting my whole iTunes on shuffle because I need some consistency when listening to music. Unfortunately, that means missing out on a lot of good stuff that's right in front of me - if it doesn't come to mind, it just won't get played. I'm always looking for new stuff to add, only to be listened to a few times then forgotten...they're like the never-worn, still-have-tags pieces of clothing just sitting in my closet. What a waste.

But don't you guys have those moments when you listen to a song and you can automatically think of the perfect corresponding moment from your day? Or it takes to you somewhere very specific? Happened to me quite a lot today so I thought I'd share.

That guy that your friend won't shut up about but just needs to drop already. I will confront the dude for you my friend if that means getting all fierce up in his face Janet-style with accompanying dance moves. I'll even be content with a background dancer role. God I wish life was like a music video sometimes.

I hate this song. Heard it on the radio this morning. Every time I hear it, I'm standing on the bleachers inside the gym with 2 of my friends during a middle school dance, overlooking everyone else awkwardly slow dancing. OR I'm sitting on the floor in my room when I lived in the condo, crying over the guy I liked because he told me he was moving to the East Coast. Shoot me now.

I heard this song at Starbucks and it automatically made my heart all warm and gushy. It also makes me want to fly? It's just awesome.

Good morning at work...

and sometimes by the end of the day. Hah.

Yeezy thanks you for your time.

"When I Think About Love"

Always down for some new R-Les stuff, even just a snippet or two.

On Repeat

For the jazz-meets-hip-hop lovers

You likey? Well here ya go. (I suggest you check out more of okayplayer.com for more good ish)

#freekanye

I can only hope & pray that one day Not So Small Talk will achieve levels of brilliance & literary prowess parallel to those of Mr. West's blog.

The CAPS LOCK, the blatant disregard for proper punctuation, the "LOL!!" finale, I could go on.

Okay, so I didn't have a real reason to post this except I had nothing to do at work today, so it was just me & my Ipod for a while. Truth is I forgot how great "The College Dropout" is; I have such a love-hate relationship with 'Ye. I just hope he brings as many lulz & WTF moments in 2010 as last year.

I'm going to end this post with one of my favorite Kanye quotes: "WHY WON'T YOU LET ME BE GREAT!!!"

Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool

If you just want to listen to something super chill & easy on the ears, this might be for you.

Another OkayRoots production with The Apple Juice Kid. This time he brings along his band The Remix Project for their brand new album Mixtape. They did live instrumental interpretations of your favorite hip-hop tracks along with some of their favorites. The artwork was done by Dallas’ own Objektiv One so be looking out for much more from this dope designer as he is now illRoots Familia. Some brand new Freebass 808 (Apple Juice Kid x Suede) is on the way as their first single ‘Rewind’ featuring Jovi Rockwell of Major Lazer will be dropping soon.

Tracklist:
1.Tribe Called Quest- Electric Relaxation
2. Snoop Dogg- Drop It Like It’s Hot
3. Scarface- On My Block
4. Nore- Nothin
5. Jay Z- I Just Wanna Luv U
6. Punjabi MC- Beware of the Boys
7. Soho- Hot Music
8. Ol’ Dirty Bastard- Got your Money
9. Talib Kweli- Get By
10. Outkast- Spottieottiedopalicious
11. Big Boi- The Way You Move
12. Ol Dirty Bastard- Shimmy Shimmy Ya
13. Black Sheep- Choice is Yours
14. Digable Planets- Rebirth of Slick
15. The Foreign Exchange- Sincere
16. Destiny’s Child- Girl
17. Elton John- Benny and the Jets
18. Outkast- Prototype
19. Missy Elliot- Get your Freak On
20. Missy Elliot- Work it
21. Amerie- One Thing
22. Beyonce- Crazy in Love

Download here!

Hand in My Pocket

I'm broke but I'm happy

I'm poor but I'm kind

I'm short but I'm healthy, yeah

I'm high but I'm grounded

I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed

I'm lost but I'm hopeful, baby

And what it all comes down to

Is that everything's gonna be fine fine fine

I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is giving a high five

I feel drunk but I'm sober

I'm young and I'm underpaid

I'm tired but I'm working, yeah

I care but I'm restless

I'm here but I'm really gone

I'm wrong and I'm sorry baby

What it all comes down to

Is that everything's gonna be quite alright

I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is flicking a cigarette

And what it all comes down to

Is that I haven't got it all figured out just yet

I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is giving the peace sign

I'm free but I'm focused

I'm green but I'm wise

I'm hard but I'm friendly baby

I'm sad but I'm laughing

I'm brave but I'm chickenshit

I'm sick but I'm pretty baby

And what it all boils down to

Is that no one's really got it figured out just yet

I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is playing the piano

And what it all comes down to my friends

Is that everything's just fine fine fine

I've got one hand in my pocket

And the other one is hailing a taxi cab

Paparazzi

I may not "get" her at all sometimes, or almost all the time actually, but I love this chick. And her crazy hats & geisha lips phase lately.  Help!

P.S. it's a shame I can't get into the "I Poke Her Face" song, maybe the instrumental but yeah...

Pandora Radio

I wouldn't know anything about this website if my brother hadn't told me, so kudos to Jay.

Even though I'm not particularly savvy regarding technology and tons of people might know about this already, I thought this was cool so I thought I'd share.  Usually when I'm at work, I settle for listening to some San Diego radio station online because 1) I don't have iTunes on my computer at work, and 2) I just can't browse through Myspace and Youtube endlessly to play music that I like. But even doing the online radio thing I endure way more commercial breaks than I'd like, so it's so much nicer to be able customize your own radio station depending on your mood. Or even 10 stations at a time if you'd like. 

For Pandora Radio all you need to do to create a station is type in an artist, song, or composer and it will generate your own station by selecting music with similar qualities. For example, type in "Queen" and you get:

-Electric rock instrumentation

-A subtle use of paired vocal harmony

-Repetitive melodic phrasing

-Extensive vamping

-Paired vocal harmony

Or if you're feeling some "Cool Kids" it comes up songs that have these characteristics:

-East Coast rap influences

-Electronica influences

-A knack for catchy hooks

-Sparse beats

-Use of call-and-response vocals

If you like the songs that the station generates, you can give it a thumbs up and it'll be repeated sometime in the future. You can also give a song a thumbs down if you don't care for it too much, then it won't be played on that station anymore. 

I think the Pandora application is available for the iPhone and is available for downloading to Windows as well. Happy listening!

One Take Sessions

What do you guys do when you don't feel like being productive or just want to kill time on the 'net? I watch Gabe Bondoc videos.

Chris Brown - "Forever"


Gabe with Leejay Abucayan with a medley of the awesomeness that comes with being a 90's kid


Gabe Bondoc covering Ryan Leslie "Addiction". Only 2 of my favorite things ever haha.


Check out more of his stuff here. Covers of the JoBros, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Nsync, etc. etc.

The Harvard Hip-Hop Hustler

Every once in a while I'll post some movie reviews or stuff about shows that I love (i.e. Making the Band 4), but I think this is the first time I've posted about a particular music artist. So here's to a Not So Small Talk first, and right now I'll have to say that Ryan Leslie is NSST's artist-of-the-moment.

A quick rundown of Ryan Leslie, aka R-Les:
-Best known for producing Cassie's hit single "Me & U", but has produced tracks for Beyonce ("Keep Giving Your Love to Me"), New Edition ("Hot 2Nite"), as well as other artists including Danity Kane, Britney Spears, Donell Jones, etc.
-His Youtube Channel is within the Top 40 Most Subscribed Channels
-He sings/raps/produces/plays various instruments
-Scored a perfect 1600 on his SAT's, entered Harvard at the age of 15 and graduated at 19

Here he is in typical Ryan Leslie fashion recording "Addiction", the second single off his self-entitled album. The man is a one man band - I think his talent speaks for itself:



Before he started taking the music business seriously, here is an interview with him at age 14 before his departure to Harvard. This guy is the epitome from geek to chic lol. Hella flashback to the 90's:



Finally, here is probably my favorite video. Ryan thought his interview at The Invasion Radio Show was going to be your typical one until he saw they set up a keyboard for him. The results were improv at its finest - here he is playing over Lil Wayne's "Lollipop". R.Les over Lil Wayne any day, sorry guys!

"Them Chickens is Ash, and I'm Lotion"

R.I.P. the Mariah of the 90's. I've been listening to her old stuff lately and damn, I almost forgot how amazing she was during her peak. Actually, make that 90's music and R&B in general.

"I'll Be There" Unplugged feat. Trey Lorenz (what happened to him anyways?)




And now this is what has become of the great Mimi. This performance was doomed from the beginning with the backing track mess, then the backup singer fiasco, and to top it off she sounds like shit during the entire song. Lol, "stop singing mah part now, baby" is gonna be my new catchphrase.




As if the dismal state of her voice isn't enough, there's speculation that she went ahead and married her boyfriend-of-one-month Nick Cannon. WTF. Girl, I hope you get your act together, I'm still pulling for you.

On a final note, lately I've seen too many new groups deliver subpar acapellas on radio & tv appearances. Every single one of them needs to take notes from these guys.