Eminem

Eminem has got to be, by far my most favorite rapper of all time. For one, he tells an amazing story that anyone can listen to and be engaged with it. Two, he proved that white people can rap, honestly I could not tell you the name of another white rapper that has as much respect as Eminem. My favorite Eminem song has got to be by far, "My Name Is"

My Name Is- Eminem

What makes this song so amazing to me is the fact that Eminem wrote it in only 2 HOURS before his album came out, as well as the funny, racy, lyrics to go with it. What do you think? Are you pro or con Eminem.

Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock

I personally thought that Jimi Hendrix, was the most amazing show at Woodstock by far. The way he shredded up there, and did alot of it with only one hand was purely amazing, and only a performer and master guitarist like Hendrix could have pulled that off. The funniest part of that entire show in my mind, is the fact that he came one day late and it appeared as if no one was watching the greatest show at Woodstock.

Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock

My favorite piece that he played at Woodstock was his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, whats your opinion?

Hans Zimmer

Since we are getting closer and closer to finals time, I have started to listen to one of my favorite composers Hans Zimmer while I study. Almost all of his songs that he has made for soundtracks of movies are amazing, and extremely epic. In the Dark Knight, the way he composed songs that fit perfectly to the whole dark theme of the Joker and the fall of Batman, made it unbelievably amazing. However, my favorite song by him is hands down Time, from Inception. Tell me what you think.

Time- Hans Zimmer

Woodstock

In my opinion, I would have hated to go to Woodstock. I mean yeah, the whole experience in seeing bands like The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix play would be awesome, but with all of the rain and lack of food, it doesn't really seem like it would be worth it to me.

Woodstock

Tommorowland

This blog isnt really about a group or a single artis, but about this music festival I heard about. Tommorowland is a humongous music festival in Belgium, that takes place every year in late July. People all over the world from over 70+ countries come to see the crazy sets they put on. It is an 18 and up festival for three days, and because the drinking age in Belgium is 18, they serve alcohol to everyone there. Most of the acts there are however, dubstep and DJ artists, I myself am not the biggest dubstep fan but from the videos I have watched and the shows like Bassnectar that I have been to, they can be super crazy. This is the recap movie of Tommorowland 2012.

Tommorowland 2012.

Do you think it would be worth it to pay a couple hundred dollars to see bands like this play? In my opinion it would be a definite yes just because of the crazy atmosphere, lightshows, and crowd.

The Band

In class the other day I really enjoyed listening to The Band. More specifically I thought that the lyrics and story behind, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" I thought it was really interesting how The Band, a group from Canada illustrated the hardships during the Civil War for the Confederate Army.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down- The Band

This is probably my favorite song by the group, The Band. Whats your opinion? Do you like the fact that they aren't from the South yet they perform a song like this?

The Grey Album

Personally I thought that The Grey Album by Danger Mouse, was one of the coolest things we have listened to in class this year. The way that Danger Mouse mixed Jay-Z's hard verses and flow from the black album and mixed it with the amazing instrumentals from the white album makes it amazing for me, and truly a masterpiece.

99 Problems- Danger Mouse (Remix)

This is probably my favorite song off of the entire Grey Album just considering that 99 Problems is one of my favorite songs in general, mixed with the Beatles makes this whole compilation so great. Whats your opinion? Do you like Jay-Z with or without the help of the White Album. I personally like both styles.

Drake

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like Drake gets a really bad rap. Honestly I dont think he is an awful rapper, or a disgrace to the world of hip-hop, in fact off of his latest album Take Care, I liked most of the songs on it. My favorite being Underground Kings.

Underground Kings- Drake

I believe that the reason so many people hate on Drake is solely because of his affiliation with Lil Wayne, and the rap group (more of a joke) Young Money. Whats your opinion on Drake?

White Album

Today in class we listened to the White Album by the Beatles. Overall I thought it was pretty good, however it was way too long for my liking and I much prefer Beatles albums like Abbey Road and Sgt. Chili Peppers over this. My favorite song off of the white album is definitely Blackbird, one of the Beatles greatest songs ever in my opinion.

Blackbird- The Beatles

Pink Floyd

I have never really been a huge fan of Pink Floyd, I guess I just dont really like his style of rock. His first album to me is alright, but most of the albums afterwards like Animals dont really appeal to me that much.

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

This song by Pink Floyd from 1975 I think it is, is probably my favorite song by Pink Floyd and its definitely a stretch.

Logic

Logic is one of the latest rappers to really hit the Hip-Hop scene. Straight from Baltimore, Logic is a young 20 year old M.C. who's ready to make a big impact on the game. He just came out with his first album, Undeniable. 

The SpotLight - Logic

This is one of Logics most popular songs, his flow and rhymes are on point and fit perfectly with the fast beat in the background. Overall, I really like Logic and am eager to hear some of his new stuff that he will be coming out with in the upcoming months.

Kendrick Lamar

Recently, a new rapper straight out of Compton has surfaced, named Kendrick Lamar. Found by the legendary Dr. Dre, Kendrick has a lot to live up to considering the other two people Dre discovered were Eminem, who in my opinion is one of the best rappers to ever live, and 50 Cent, who was kind of good... at one point. Anyways, Kendrick released his first album last week, Good Kid M.a.a.D city. In my opinion I think the album has been a great success and I do like it as well.

The Recipe (feat. Dr Dre) - Kendrick Lamar



Not to mention, just last Saturday Kendrick was here in Austin, and apparently threw a hell of a show, for five hours straight. Overall, I think it will be cool watching Kendrick as he matures as a rapper, with all of these expectations weighing down on him.

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Peppers is definitely one of my favorite albums of all time, and in my opinion one of the BEST albums of all time. This and Abbey Road compete within me for best Beatles album of all time. My favorite song on this album would absolutely be Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds. I just love the whole psychedelic rock feel to it, and everyone knows it's not actually about John Lennon's daughter drawing some picture... I mean come on it spells out LSD.

Lucy in The Sky With Diamonds- The Beatles




 I love the background music to start the song, the chorus, and the entire melody just makes this piece truly amazing.

Cream

I wasn't a big fan of Cream to be honest. At first I liked the way they sounded and thought they were pretty good, but then I really started listening to the lyrics and read them and realized that they were pretty awful. Overall I like to hear a mix of good lyrics, and good vocals, like most of the Beatles songs.

Sunshine of Your Love- Cream

Macklemore x Ryan Lewis

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, are a group consisting of two artists, that I found while looking up bands that were featured on this years FunFunFunFest lineup. I have to say, at first I was sort of skeptical when I heard their first song Thrift Shop (feat. Wanz) however, when I started to really listen to the lyrics and the humor intertwined with Macklemore's nice rhyme flow, and Ryan Lewis's beats, I became a fan.

Thrift Shop - Macklemore x Ryan Lewis



I assumed just from listening to this song that the rest of their music, was basically humorous rap songs about random stuff, however I was wrong. After I downloaded their latest album, "The Heist" I was suprised to find that the humor with Thrift Shop was really one of a kind for Macklemore, with most of his songs having real meaning like that of Jimmy Lovine, or what is now my personal favorite being a basketball fan myself, WING$.

WING$- Macklemore x Ryan Lewis



I have become a serious fan of Macklemore now, after fully listening to his entire album, listening to his broad range of styles of rap. From humor, to a more serious tone, I think Macklemore is great however he has recieved some mixed reviews for his songs, like Thrift Shop, being stupid and pointless. Whats you opinion? I personally think its great, and love his style of humor.

Pet Sounds

I really enjoyed listening to Pet Sounds the other day in class. Even though I enjoyed it, I still don't exactly understand all of the hype that surrounds it. I thought it was a great album don't get me wrong, but it just wasn't life changing like I was expecting it to be. Hopefully later, like in college or later I will really appreciate this album. My favorite song off of it was, the opener "Wouldn't It Be Nice"

Wouldn't It Be Nice- Beach Boys

ACL 2012

This year at ACL, I had a great time. I saw some great DJ's such as Bassnectar and Avicii, some great singers like Ben Howard, some rappers like Childish Gambino and Big Krit, and lastly whatever style you would catagorize Big Gigantic as.
My best of the fest would have to be both Big Gigantic and Childish Gambino. I was really suprised at how some of the guys in my class recieved Childish Gambino, however I can sort of understand. See, I am a huge Childish Gambino fan, so I made sure to get front row against the gate to his show, which automatically makes the experience that much better than if you could hardly actually see him. Second, he mostly played his old stuff, which a big fan like me loves, rather than someone who just got into him and was expecting him to play some stuff off of his newest mixtape ROYALTY.
Big Gigantic was amazing, they really got the entire crowd really into the whole performance, going crazy. Added with the pouring rain, within the front three rows everyone was just going absolutley nut's, when he would drop the bass, after a nice saxophone solo.

Get Em High (Remix)- Big Gigantic

This is my personal favorite Big Gigantic song, and when they played it at their show, you know the entire crowd including myself went crazy. Overall I thought it was another successful year at ACL.

The Evolution of 'Bond'

The James Bond movies, have always been personal favorites of mine. I have seen every single one, from 'Dr. No' to 'Quantum of Solace.' Throughout all of the movies, one of my favorite parts was the intro where they play the theme song.

This past week, they released the upcoming movies, theme 'Skyfall' done by the amazing singer Adele. In my personal opinion I think it is amazing, and Adele is definitley the perfect singer to be singing the Bond theme.

Skyfall- Adele

I was so glad to hear that they were getting a great singer such as Adele, to sing the theme. In past years, the Bond themes have just really not done it for me. In 'Casino Royale' they had some guy I had never heard of named 'Chris Cornell' do the theme and it recieved mostly negative feedback. One because no one really knew who Chris Cornell was, and two because in the intro you expect to see hot girls dancing in the background, however in this one it was just a bunch of guns shooting spades and clubs.

Casino Royale Theme- Chris Cornell
 

I didn't think the song was that bad, I just didn't feel like it had the real James Bond feel to it like other themes have had. In my opinion I see James Bond themes as either, rock songs like what Paul McCartney and the Whigs did when they did 'Live and Let Die' which in my opinion was by far the best Bond song out of all of them. Or I see Bond songs, as a woman with an amazing voice just singing a song with sort of a mysterious tone like, Shirley Bassey with 'Diamonds are Forever'

Diamonds are Forever- Shirley Bassey

 

I personally like both styles of Bond themes, with the mysterious woman singer feel, and the rock one, (minus Casino Royale) overall though I feel like the people who worked on Skyfall did a great job of picking the perfect singer for the job being Adele. Which one do you prefer? The rock themes like McCartney's that provides for an intense feel to the movie, or the slower more mysterious themes, like Adele and Shirley Bassey's?

Help! The Movie

Honestly, I did not really like the movie, Help! I am a pretty big Beatles fan myself, and don't get me wrong I think they are hilarious, however I found the humor in this movie for me personally just too stupid to handle. The whole idea of this weird Indian tribe, trying to sacrifice Ringo because of the sacred ring he had on. It all just seemed to me that it was honestly written while they were on something, I mean come on Paul McCartney got shrunk to the size of a penny from a 'magic shot' that would save Ringo's finger, and don't even get me started on the childish humor surrounding all of the Indian's plots to capture Ringo.
Even though I didn't particularly like the movie Help! I love the music for it off the album by the Beatles, Help! With the first song being Help, a very up tempo fun song which was also the first song they played in the movie.

Help!- The Beatles

However The Beatles, installed different feelings of music within the entire album, going from the upbeat 'Help', to the slow classic love song, 'Yesterday.' Overall, in my opinion I felt that the album Help! made up for its stupid counterpart, Help! the movie.

Food and Liquor II - Lupe Fiasco

This past week, Lupe Fiasco released his latest album, Food & Liquor II. I wasn't a huge Lupe fan before, but I heard that this new album was pretty good, so I decided to check it out, and I was amazed. I thought that the whole album from the first song "Strange Frution" to the Outro "Hood Now." Some people say that the best rappers are the ones who can tell a story and make it interesting, Fiasco does just that in almost every single one of his songs. My personal favorite being "B*tch Bad" However don't let the title deceive you, as it seems as if this could be a song disrespecting women like a typical trashy rapper would it is the exact opposite. It tells the story of how a boy listens to his mother saying she herself is a b*tch, then the story of a young girl who listens to rappers such as "Lil Wayne" and "Wiz Khalifa" and believes that being a  "bad b*tch" is all that guys want these days. The song concludes with the boy and the girl meeting, and the boy not understanding why the girl thinks how she is acting is attractive to him.

B*tch Bad-

However even though I really like the album, it has gotten lots of mixed reviews from its critics. In my opinion it is a great album, and a must listen. Whats your opinion? Do you like Lupe's style, or do you prefer listening to other rappers over him?

Help!

The other day in class we listened to the album by the Beatles, Help! In my opinion I enjoyed it alot, however still not as much as I liked they're first, Please Please Me. This album added a flavor of pop to the Beatles, which I did enjoy for the most part. By far though my favorite song on the entire album, and also one of my favorite songs of all time is "Yesterday." I think the lyrics are amazing, and Paul McCartney's singing make it one of the best songs, ever written... ever.

Yesterday- The Beatles




The one Beatles song that I think is better than this however, in my opinion is "Hey Jude" Which doesn't come around until I believe 1967. Anyways, whats your opinion? Do you like the happier more pop artist like Beatles, rather than the sad "Beatles For Sale?'

Beatles For Sale

Today in class, we listened to part of the album, Beatles For Sale, by the Beatles. Overall I did not honestly really like the album that much. In fact honestly, I think it is my least favorite Beatles album, even worse than "Yellow Submarine." The reason I feel this way, is because most of the time when I listen to the Beatles, I want to listen to an upbeat song that makes me happy, not gloomy songs about serious subjects, which I feel was basically the entire mood of Beatles For Sale. However, some songs had nice upbeat harmony to it... however what the lyrics were about completely ruined the song.

I'm A Loser- The Beatles

The song, I'm A Loser is a perfect example, it has a nice upbeat harmony, however the lyrics and meaning are just so depressing it honestly ruins the song for me. You can even tell just by looking at the album cover that this isn't a fun normal Beatles album, rather it has all four Beatles looking like they are dressing up for a funeral, with no expressions on their faces whatsoever. Anyways, let me know what you think, do you like the more serious, depressed Beatles? Or are you like me, who listens to the Beatles as "Happy Music."

Cruel Summer

This past week, G.O.O.D Music came out with their first album, titled "Cruel Summer." To start, I personally love G.O.O.D, considering them like the Avengers of Hip-Hop today, with big time rappers such as Jay-Z, Kanye West, Big Sean, DJ Khaled, Kid Cudi, and Raekwon. Not only is it a group of rappers, but it also includes R&B singers such as R. Kelly and John Legend. Jay-Z started the label, with him being the Batman and Kanye being the Robin of the organization. However as time has progressed more and more rappers have joined the label, after being found mostly by Kanye. Last summer, G.O.O.D consisted only of Jay and Kanye, when they came out with their first album together, "Watch the Throne." My personal favorite on the album, was Otis, which used a remixed Otis Redding song, as the beat for the song, creating a really new and cool feel to the whole song.

Otis- Jay-Z & Kanye West

Off G.O.O.D's new album I would have to say my favorite song so far is, "To the World" It uses R.Kelly's amazing voice as the chorus followed by hard verses coming from Kanye, overall a very good opening song to in my opinion a very good album.

To The World- G.O.O.D Music

Overall I think the album has received all around good reviews, however I want to know what you think. Do you like the 'Avengers' of rap with Kanye sort of at the center of it all? Or do you think they should stay as separate artist? Let me know.

Englands Newest "Hit" Makers

Honestly, I hated listening to that awful "album." Almost on all of the songs, I found that the background instrumentals were really boring or just not appealing to me really. Also the fact that they only had one original song on the album, really pissed me off. It would be different if the Stones had a band of four guys all with great voices... instead they have Mick Jagger, in my mind an out of tune, obnoxious, and annoying singer. The purpose of covers, are that people recognize a song that they already like with possibly a better singer, and end up liking the cover more. However in my opinion, I have no idea how anyone could find any of these covers more appealing than the original versions.

Route 66- Rolling Stones



In my opinion this was the best song on the album, which is not saying much because I personally strongly dislike this song. I just find that even with an upbeat tempo, to me it is just honestly sort of boring. If this song had better vocals, and sounded better than Bobby Troup's version, I would probably actually like it, however to me it is just plain stupid if you prefer a version of a song with vocals worse than the original.

Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi has been one of my favorite Hip-Hop artists for the past couple of years. He just recently came out with his first single off his album coming out later in the year, titled "Just What I Am"

Just What I Am- Kid Cudi

Cudi took a break from rapping for about a year, when he stopped smoking marijuana, and released sort of an Alternative Genre album, which recieved mixed reviews overall. I myself did not like it much, maybe it was just because I was so accustomed to hearing Cudi rapping not really singing. Here is one of Kid Cudi's songs off of WZRD (his alternative album)

Teleport 2 Me- Kid Cudi

Let me hear feedback on what style of Cudi you personally think is better in the comments below. I will always be a hardcore Hip-Hop die hard for Cudi, not as much with his Alternative stuff, but it will be interesting to see what you guys think.

A$AP Rocky

The other day, I finally purchased my 3-Day Pass for Fun Fun Fun Fest. I plan on staying the majority of my time at the blue stage, just because I really want to see artists such as Rakim and the legendary Run DMC. However I had never heard of Saturdays headliner on the blue stage, A$AP Rocky. After doing some research on them I found out that he was a new rapper to hit the scene straight from the streets of Harlem. He founded the group "A$AP MOB" which critics are now calling the East Coast Odd Future.

Goldie- A$AP Rocky




After listening to a couple of his songs the only one that I thought was pretty good was this song, "Goldie" I plan on going to see him at Fun Fun Fun Fest, hopefully he throws just as good as, or even a better show than Odd Future.

The Beatles Documentary

After watching The Beatles Documentary, for me at least I got a big feeling for how crazy their fan-base was back in the 60's. The fact alone that 1/3 of the seats at The Ed Sullivan Show had to be replaced because of the fact that so many girls peed themselves watching them, is something I feel like no single artist or group could do today.

While watching the documentary, I really enjoyed seeing they're performance of "Please Please Me" its pretty cool seeing how crazy the crowd was acting towards them, however you can imagine that they would be when a band such as the Beatles is singing about 'oral sex' in front of a bunch of teenage girls.

Please Please Me- The Beatles (Live at the Ed Sullivan Show)

The Beatles First Album

Overall I really enjoyed listening to, Please Please Me, by the Beatles this week in Music History. I personally had never heard to some of the Beatles first works so it was really entertaining for me to listen to them perform some of they're first big hits. Out of all of the songs, I would have to say "I Saw Her Standing There" was my personal favorite.
I Saw Her Standing There- The Beatles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsgWfAilIEM

I enjoyed listening to it a lot, just because I really liked the whole feel to the song, being really upbeat giving you a sense of what partying was like in the 60's.
Also after doing some research I found out that "I Saw Her Standing There" was ranked by Rolling Stones, as #139 on their list of the Top 500 Best Songs of All Time. So what do you think? Is this song worthy of being up there at #139? In my opinion it is a definite yes, let me know if you agree.

Frank Ocean's VMA Perfornance

Over the past year or so i started to listen to some songs by well known artist Tyler, The Creator. At first I didn't exactly like his style of music, how he seemed to be so satanic with all of his songs like "Yonkers" and "She".
Yonkers Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4_VwADxyis

However after listening to a couple more of his songs his music sort of grew on me, with his use of odd literary devices to describe himself, for example "Imma f***ing walking paradox, no I'm not." and also his, (at times) funny lyrics. 

After listening to more and more songs about Tyler, I soon discovered the group he created known as Odd Future, with the members being made up of Tylers good friends from back in highschool, one of which who's music really caught my attention. That one member happened to be Frank Ocean.

The first Odd Future song that I heard was "Oldie" basically a big collaboration with all of the artists from Odd Future. At first you know I thought it was a pretty good song, and then I heard Frank Oceans verse and I thought to myself, this guys good. 

Oldie- Odd Future

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzi24Nssiow

However after looking him up he didnt have his own album or anything like that, just some stuff here and there. Then last summer, he came out with his debut album, Channel Orange, and I absolutley loved it especially "Thinkin' Bout You" 

Thinkin' Bout You- Frank Ocean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHXI6AzJi2E

Then just last night Frank Ocean performed that very song live at the VMA's, but with a little twist

Frank Ocean 2012 VMA Performance- Thinkin Bout You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLxZlGxFCNw

In the VMA performance, he used an acoustic guitar as the beat, however in the original he used a different more electronic beat. I personally thought that his performance was amazing at the VMA's but I also really like the original beat. Let me know what you think the better beat for "Thinkin Bout You" is.

Childish Gambino- Royalty Review

Throughout this past week I've been listening to artists that I know are going to Ausin City Limits, one of which being Childish Gambino. In the past I have been a big Childish fan, so I decided to get his newest mixtape, "Royalty" unfortunatley i was dissapointed with what i listened to. Nearly every song had two or three featured washed up old rappers. The only song that I found that I actually enjoyed was R.I.P featuring Bun B. Even though it wasnt exactly up to my standards when it comes to Childish Gambino I enjoyed listening to it and I suggest you go check it out. Overall though, I did not like most of the songs on the mixtape and am just hoping he keeps the playing of songs from "Royalty" at ACL, to a bare minimum.

Jerry Lee Lewis

This week in History of Rock and Roll, we listened to alot of classic Rock artists such as, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, and a couple more. Overall I enjoyed watching the video of Jerry Lee Lewis performing at the piano. The way that he was up and moving around, playing a stationary instrument so actively was really interesting to me.