Gilbere Forte - Pray

Here's a 'strong' effort from Gilbere Forte (get it?).  This dude has been around the rap game for several years now.  I first heard his music when he appeared with Kanye on the Alors On Danse Remix.  You'll hear all the Ye influences in his music.  Incidentally, that version is on a Fall Mix I made in 2010 that'll probably never see the light of day...it's just too late.

For his new single, 'Pray', Forte hops on a Fiona Apple-sampling production by Raak.  This is a good introductory track to Forte because he begins with a verse that gives some background about himself.  He touches on where he's from (Michigan/Philly/burbs) and his career thus far.  Then he dives right on into his passion for luxury items and excess, but does so with plenty of creative puns and one-liners.  He drops a few more hints about himself and where he's headed, but even if you're not too invested in what he's talking about, it's a head-nodder nonetheless.  I've given it the repeat treatment quite a lot over the past couple weeks.  Check it out.

Stream:    

Download: Gilbere Forte - Pray

Watch the seizure inducing video after the jump.

PUYL Lyrics: Dr. Dre - Forgot About Dre (ft. Eminem)

Here's a new kind of post for PUYL.  This time, I'm not simply sharing a download for a song I like, but I'm actually gonna show you WHY it's so special.

I'm a fan of hip-hop.  I know a lot of people have trouble getting into it because the subject matter can be offensive or unrelatable.  First off, there IS hip-hop that you would consider appropriate and enjoy.  It exists.  Just as every other genre covers wide ranges of topics, so too does rap music.  That's not what I'm discussing in this post, though.  Yes, this song has plenty of swearing and violence, but I'm less focused on WHAT is being said and more on HOW these two artists are saying their words.  And while lyrics and instrumentals are fundamentally similar in all types of music, only hip-hop makes a concerted effort to deliver the lines with such density while maintaining aesthetic rhyme structures.

What I've done here is take the lyrics to "Forgot About Dre" and then color code all the rhymes.  In each of the three verses and the hook, I highlighted each new rhyme with a different color.  I nearly ran out of colors in Em's verse.  In addition, there a few instances of alliteration and nearby sounds which can be seen in bold.

The result is a visual representation of all of the rhyme patterns in the song.  It not only reveals that almost every line is rhymed with something, but also how extensive some of the rhymes are, the many multisyllabic rhyme schemes, and the overlapping of patterns.

Dr. Dre carries the assonance of "o_ee" throughout his entire first verse.  There are also various other rhymes interspersed among the main rhyme.  For the third verse, he begins with an identity rhyme ("up to me") three times before expanding to other approximate rhymes.  However, he uses that phrase in three different contexts.  Here are the lines rewritten with the different meanings made more explicit:

If it was (my choice)/You motherfuckers would stop coming (toward me)/With your hands out looking (in my direction)

The repetition of lines isn't lazy or uncreative, it's deliberate.  Dr. Dre ends his verse with ten lines which match the "having that" scheme.  Replace any of these three-syllable rhymes with one of the others and it still fits.

Eminem may be the most masterful wordsmith of all.  He carries several rhyme patterns on for many bars while including other internal rhymes along the way.  "Walking by" does not rhyme with "barking dogs" when placed side by side, but Eminem's pronunciations allow the right sounds to be heard in order for the rhyme to work.

What I find most remarkable about these verses is that almost every rhyme is at least two syllables long.  In fact, we get two examples of FOUR syllable rhymes.  "Can full of gas"/"hand full of matches" and "Been in the lab"/"pen and a pad" are simply amazing and fun to say.

Stream: Forgot About Dre

I hope this analysis sheds some light on the complexities of hip-hop songs.  I don't know why rhymes are pleasing to hear, but when they're constructed in this way, it really is impressive.  It seems that the more rhymes they pack in, and the more tangled and interwoven they are, the better it sounds.

"Forgot About Dre" is one of the most well constructed rap records I know of, but there are plenty of other great songs and rappers out there.  I might make this piece a semi regular feature whenever I come across particularly interesting rhyme schemes, so stay tuned.

Khari Mateen - Full Moon (ft. STS)

Khari Mateen is a young, Philly-based producer, but he already has an impressive portfolio of production credits to his name (That's right, he was behind the boards for The Roots a few times).  He's also a singer and multi-instrumentalist with plenty of songs of his own.  For "Full Moon" he brought in STS, or Sugar Tongue Slim, to spit some sweet verses over the syrupy instrumental.  I enjoy the production a lot, but the cello part at the end really brings the track to life for me.

[BONUS] Because of the lyrics "Soooon, she gon' have me in a dark room", I like to follow this track with "Darkroom" by one of my emerging favorites, Misun.

Listen/Download:

Make sure to check out his Bandcamp account for a slew of free releases.  I thought his instrumental tape "Roy G. Biv" was a cool concept.

Shlohmo & Jeremih - Bo Peep (Do U Right)

Alright. Shlohmo and Jeremih were brought together by Yours Truly and Adidas Originals for a series called "Songs From Scratch" (Watch it).  The two were put in a booth together, and not allowed to eat, drink, sleep, or leave until they had a hit song.  Okay not really, but that's what they did anyway.  This combination was the result of someone recognizing that Shlohmo did a great job remixing Jeremih's "Fuck You All The Time" and deciding we deserved an original collaboration.

I always like getting a peek behind the scenes of the creative process.  It's interesting that in the video both artists seem to allude to reservations about working together, but ultimately discover that "the vibe" is good between them.  The final product really is an impressive piece.  Shlohmo does a phenomenal job providing an ominous and brooding instrumental, while Jeremih switches between crisp singing and mumbled-rapped lines.  The title alone reveals the lyrical content; Jeremih explores the line between tender affection and intense lust.  For me, it's been one of those late night songs that I already know I'm going to play again just seconds after it's started.

Listen/Download:

Misun - Promise Me

Misun released another single today, and they continue to impress.  I previously posted their song "Harlot" so I was definitely excited to check out their latest effort.  I was not disappointed.  Nacey and William DeVon provide spacey arpeggios and fat synths over a tight drum line.  No sounds overpower each other; they remain in a good balance.  Meanwhile, Misun queries "Can you promise me that when we are asleep/All of the dreams that we have are for keeps?"  She proceeds to gain comfort from a touch; that physical certainty reassures her of the reality of her dreams.  The song ends with soft whistling and birds chirping, symbolic of the dawn of the next day.

As I said before, I'm truly amazed by all the tracks this group has put out so far.  My hope is that a full length release and tour dates are in the near future.  Their debut EP The Sea is currently up for free on Nacey's Soundcloud as are their other singles from this year.

Listen/Download:   

Tuxedo - Tuxedo EP

This is what it's all about for me.  All the hours spent listening to music, all the effort I put into looking for music, all the 'likes' and 'follows' pay off when something like Tuxedo pops up on my radar.  After Andre of RAC gave the remix treatment to Mayer Hawthorne's hit "No Strings Attached", the two have linked up to release a funky dance EP under the name of Tuxedo.  I guess the biggest thrill for me is to able to share something new and awesome while it's VERY fresh; I mean, come on, their Facebook and Twitter accounts are still in the double digits.  This particular collaboration is also exciting because just yesterday I was thinking about how I should share some Mayer Hawthorne music on here.  He's a great vocalist and deserves some recognition.  So what could be more perfect than brand new original music from him with the help of perennial PUYL favorite RAC?  Oh, and it's free to download.

You are going to want to grab this EP immediately.  If you aren't home, Get U Home quickly and Do It cuz this is So Good.  

UPDATE: It looks like I may have prematurely shot my wad on this one.  In fact, RAC is NOT linked with this project, but was simply aware of the collaboration.  I read a little too much into a tweet of his and thought he was involved.  The real production genius behind Tuxedo is Jake One who has produced a myriad of records for a wide range of hip-hop acts over the years.  Cool!

Tokyo Shawn & Kami de Chukwa - Scrapemoney

Savemoney is the name of a Chicago collective of musicians, artists, and friends.  It is most famous for being home to such rising stars as Kids These Days and Chance The Rapper, but the crew is much deeper than those two excellent acts.  "Scrapemoney" exhibits the talents of Savemoney members Tokyo Shawn aka Preston San, and Kami de Chukwa.  Both rappers dominate the furiously aggressive beat, spitting plenty of clever metaphors and cultural references in their lines.  I've been meaning to post this song since it came out almost a year ago, and I'm finally doing it now because it's so good.

Get familiar with the Savemoney Army through this interview and check out Preston and Kami's Soundclouds for more music.

Listen/Download:

Biggie Remixes

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the death of Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G.  He was killed too soon at the age of 24, but his music and legacy survive and continue to inspire musicians to this day.  Countless rappers cite Biggie as their primary influence for their craft.  Most fans can't necessarily relate to his lyrics, but they can appreciate his storytelling and wordplay, as well as his unique and adaptable flow.  I'm sure that is why so many producers have found it relevant and easy to include his vocals on remixes.  To celebrate his contributions to hip-hop and music, I decided to share a couple of remixes of his songs that I particularly enjoy.  I think these tracks demonstrate the wide breadth of B.I.G.'s reach.

Teenage producer Yinyues constructed this quick song using an unreleased track from the Life After Death album.  Yinyues had barely been born when Biggie was gunned down, but that's the point: you don't have to be a contemporary of a legend to be inspired by his work.

This track includes bars from the oft-sampled 'Dead Wrong' which Mr. Francois weaves over an excellent instrumental from 'Linguistics' by Cunninlynguists.

Download.     

Chrome Sparks - Sparks EP

It's after 1:00 AM, so of course I'm avoiding sleep and listening to some chill music.  I really can't help it.  Tonight it's all about Chrome Sparks, the musical alias of 22 year old Jeremy Malvin.  He's a Brooklyn based producer whose background includes studying and touring as a percussionist.  Chrome Sparks has become his creative outlet for synthesizer productions.  His tracks have limited vocals so all of the focus is drawn to his excellent instrumentals.  The result is a combination of dreamy and trippy music that, at the same time, sounds carefully structured.  Malvin hasn't thrown things together haphazardly; he clearly has a writing process.  He makes the songs seem cohesive and driven, while still allowing the listener to drift off and enjoy the sonic scenery.

You can find all his releases on his Bandcamp or his Soundcloud.
Stream/Download the Sparks EP below:

Gabriel Nascimbeni - Café

Artur Haddad

I've got a little international flavor tonight.  Normally, I reserve the café for when I need to wake up, but this track is pleasantly calming.  It's by Gabriel Nascimbeni, a young musician from São Paulo, Brazil with help from Natália Pesciotta.  If my high school Spanish education is serving me well, I can roughly translate the Portuguese on his website to learn that he has composed for soundtracks and commercials, while also creating his own music.  In addition, he was invited to the Red Bull Music Academy in 2010, which is a music workshop for promising new artists.  Nascimbeni truly does show a lot of promise; even with only a small collection of songs on his Soundcloud, it is obvious that he has a lot of talent and is a devoted student of his craft.  For me, it's special not having any idea what he is saying.  I can simply free myself to enjoy his musicality.

Listen/Download: