Jaden | Music

Rihanna has unveiled plans to release a book about her life in late June 2010. See the full story @ starcentralmagazine.com

Lil Wayne is named by three different women as the father of their newborn babies in 2009.  You can catch the full story here - StarCentral Magazine

Kelly Clarkson accuses Ryan Tedder of recycling his beats and selling the same track used for “Already Gone” to Beyonce Knowles for “Halo”. Check out the full story on StarCentralMagazine.com - here

Allow me to introduce two men that really need no introduction – Michael Jackson and Ne-Yo!

Here are two songs from completely different eras that share some interesting similarities… “Rock My World”, and “Nobody”.

Enjoy:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MFCznVXlCk[/youtube]

2003 & 2004 were great years in Music.

Jay-Z released ‘The Blueprint 2.1’ and ‘The Black Album’, Justin blew up with ‘Justified’, Ms Badu released ‘Worldwide Underground’, Outkast dropped ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below’, Britney released ‘In the Zone’ and ‘My Perogative’, Alicia came out with ‘The Diary of Alicia Keys’, Kelis released ‘Tasty’, Kanye announced his arrival with ‘The College Dropout’ Brandy released’ Afrodisiac’, Beyonce started solo with ‘Dangerously in Love’, Ashlee and Jesse Mac had pop smashes with ‘Autobiography’ and ‘Beautiful Soul’, Snoop Dogg released ‘R&G’ and last but not least S Club 7 released their ‘Greatest Hits’.

Putting aside all these classics and completely forgetting about S Club 7, the real reason these years have to this day been my favorite in Music is that in my opinion one of my biggest inspirations in Life and Music, The Neptunes, hit their Production/Creative peak. I don’t think its coincidence that they won ‘Producer of the year’ at the Grammy’s in 2003.

From the moment I heard ‘In Search Of’ I began a journey into everything Neptunes from Kelis to Clipse. But 03 and 04 in particular father some of my favorite Neptunes releases to this day;

Justin Timberlake – ‘Justified’ and ‘I’m Lovin it’
Pharrell – ‘Frontin’
Jay-Z – ‘Excuse Me Miss’ and ‘Change Clothes’
Kelis – ‘Tasty’
N.E.R.D – ‘Fly or Die’
Nelly – ‘Play it Off’
Snoop Dogg – ‘Drop it like it’s Hot’, ‘Signs’, ‘Let’s get Blown’

To me these years signify so much melody and colour taken to the top of the Charts by the Neptunes. The chords, progressions and melodic vocal hooks take me back to a time when popular music was fun, positive and had a heart.

Fast Forward to 2009 in a time when Robotic, Auto-Tuned loops dominate the charts along with their ‘Heartless’ artists, finally after years of wondering the musical desert The Neptunes have returned to their roots with the release of Snoop Dogg’s ‘Special’ ft. Brandy and Pharrell off Snoop’s new Album ‘Malice in Wonderland’.

Back to the Melodic Hooks, Colorful Chord Progressions and classic Neptunes Beats. Back to Music with a Heart.

Time is yet to tell whether ‘The Renaissance’ led by the Neptunes is a light at the end of our musical tunnel or if this will unite the 03-04 Legends long enough to build an army strong enough to take on the lifeless robots controlling modern day Pop/Hip-Hop/RnB but ultimately it gives me hope.

I’m starting to dream about the ‘Good Old Days’ and I’m not old enough to accommodate these thoughts comfortably just yet.

Well folks, allow me to present to you the second MC in less than a week – how exciting (man, how proactive am I getting – as opposed to the old con-active me)!! This is one is one I am particularly fond of, as it features my all time favourite artist… none other than the great Stevland Morris aka Stevie Wonder – and for me, one of the greatest tracks of the last century – Lately.  The other song was a 2008 hit by the rapper Rick Ross – Here I Am. And I must say that I actually quite like what Drumma Boy did with the track – great instrumentation, and catchy as hell! Shame about my less than alluring choice of images for Ricky… :•)

I’m sure this is a coincidence that everyone will be able to enjoy. So, without further ado… May I present to you, Lately - Stevie Wonder ft Rick Ross.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Blwth3OB0[/youtube]

After the brilliance and success of Ryan Leslie’s first self-titled release, it made me nervous to think how R.Les could possibly top, or even match it with his follow up release, Transition.  After receiving my own personal copy of his newest offering on the day it was released, I found myself practically trembling – experiencing the sum of excitement and anticipation that had been accruing during the many months of aural ecstasy I had spent flying with this musician, singer, and scholar extraordinaire. I don’t feel it is my place to pass any type of judgment, good or bad, upon a man that has barely put a foot wrong up until this point. Instead, I thought I would conduct the first half of this album review a little differently – I have decided to let the man himself narrate his own journey – through the lyrics found across both of his releases, starting with Self Titled…

RYAN LESLIE is:

Like a boxer “Im’a take you 10 rounds”
Like insomnia “I’ll be the reason you’re not sleeping”
A publisher “You can be my centrefold”
Your lead man “You can be my co-star”
Your future “Make you forget about your past”
A gentleman “I never used to call”
A connoisseur “I’ll stroke your body like it’s an instrument”
Himself “I wanna make you happy just by being myself – cos I can’t be nobody else”

TRANSITION is:

Santa “I can give you everything on your checklist”
A physician “If you’re sick”
The scratch “For your itching”
A superhero “Coming to rescue you”
A security guard “You can be my night watch”
A concierge “I know all the right spots”
Pat Sajak “Just like Wheel of Fortune”
Gabriel “I’ll be your angel… [with] white wings”

Once you have listened to both albums, you should understand the comparisons I am drawing in this exercise. If not, my apologies for what may just feel like a year 10 classroom exercise on similes and metaphors…

Now for a short-and-sweet subjective component to this review:

The good: There are four or five highly listenable tracks on this album for me, but it’s hard to go past tracks one and four – “Never Gonna Break Up” and “Is it Real Love?”  – the common denominator here being the fresh and inventive instrumentation and memorable guitar/bass hooks, catchy chorus melody lines, and solid themes and lyricism.
I must also give credit where credit is due – Mr Leslie has again shown some streaks of absolute genius with a few of the bridge change-ups throughout  - particularly in consecutive gems “Nothing” and “To the Top” – mind blowing stuff, Sir!

The not so good: When I listen to this album I really hear a distinctly dated sound to a number of his tracks  – somewhat of a didn’t-quite-make-the-cut-for-last-album, B-side filler sound. In spite of his arguably brilliant lyrical abilities, there was a real lack of variety in Lesley’s lyrics on Transition– perhaps sprouting from the tired and overstated themes of love and romance. The other thing that stood out was this constant feeling of déjà-vous I felt throughout the album – namely with his progressions, guitar strumming and keyboard rhythm patterns, bass fills, synth solos, and vocal melodies.

In conclusion, I would say this album has some great moments and is definitely worth checking for fans of R.Les, but don’t jump into it expecting the hit upon hit upon hit that he delivered last time around.

Allow me to wrap up with one of the previously mentioned classics from Transition.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4UB_Fxtg6U[/youtube]