THE JAM: DAY 'N' NITE - KID CUDI

I can't get this cut out of my head.

THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE: ALL SMOOVED OUT

I recently discovered the song Come Around by The Foreign Exchange while fishing around iTunes, and was immediately hooked. I still can't stop repeat-playing this masterpiece of spaced out melody and hip hop beats accompanied by plaintive, yet soulfully sure vocals and tight bassline which sent my head into non-stop rythmic nodding. This is true ear candy for the grown and sexy set, ya heard? And if you're tired of the Top 40 auto-tuned hip-pop template currently in heavy rotation, here's a much-needed break. As I gleaned the info on their Wiki page, I was surprised to find out that the group is actually a duo, American rapper Phonte Coleman and Dutch producer Nicolay, who decided to collaborate after meeting on the message boards on Okayplayer.com , and thus began to swap music without ever having met in person(!), resulting in two albums of superior music in the vein of The Roots, Dwele and D'Angelo. I was also surprised to learn that the song was from their first album, Connected which was released in 2004! How did this gem get by me? Or by the masses, for that matter? This just further confirms the sorry state of radio today, and the garbage they rotate on an infinite loop that's supposed to pass for "true Hip Hop", and crammed down the throats of young urban audiences who, at this point, are probably inured to anything resembling quality when it comes to music nowadays. It's akin to a bird eating a worm and regurgitating it to feed its young. I mean, at the very least, is it too much to ask for some modicum of variety?

The good news is that they released another album, Leave It All Behind, in 2008. Click here to download the album sampler which includes the tracks, Take Off The Blues, All Or Nothing, Something To Behold, If This Is Love, and If She Breaks Your Heart.


PHOTO SOURCE: The Foreign Exchance Main Website


COME AROUND from CONNECTED


RAW LIFE from CONNECTED


SINCERE from CONNECTED


DAYKEEPER featuring MUHSINAH from LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND

Hood By Air: Can You Deal?

Beezo's Tryna Get It Together:

Beezo Blue is a work in progress, and lately, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to devote to BB, so posts here will be a little sparse for the next month or so. That will change, of course, and I will try and get in a few posts about anything earth-shaking, and if I have an emergency rant, you'll hear about it.

In the meantime, I'll post as much new & Throwback joints as I can. Also, in the coming months I'll be updating the look of this blog as well as adding some exclusive music including more Hip Hop, House and new R&B and movie interviews and general news items.

Please bear with me though, and check in every other day or so. Until then, enjoy a few songs I can't get out of my head at the moment:

Scarface - My Block

J Dilla - Life Goes On


Dj Jazzy Jeff & Big Daddy Kane - The Garden


Omar - Syleste

My Eyez Are On: Trish featuring JDiggz & Oh! - "Don't Watch Me"

I'm liking the Neptunes-inspired production on this one. Looks like Trish is the one to watch for next summer. Based on this first video directed by Little X (where ya been?) I get the impression that she might serve up something a little more diverse than your usual R&B chick.

Paris Fashion Week 2009: Kanye West And Crew At Comme Des Carcon Show

My good friend Antoinette hipped me to this shot from Jak & Jil Blog. Yes, that's homeboy and his crew at the Comme Des Carcon show.

Say what you want about Mr. Kanye West, and his ego, but I like a brother who keeps his mind squarely focused on the abstract. I also like the fact that he redefines so-called hardcore rap fashion and embraces and endorses change and makes no apology for his taste in clothes and art. But his detractors seem to want to give him a hard time for it. Recently, a rumor involving Kanye wanting to do bi-porn hit the internets and Kanye posted a disclaimer on his blog, attributing the rumors to hackers who got into his My Space and gmail accounts:

YOOOO WHY WON'T YOU LET ME BE GREAT!!! I HAD THE TWO GREATEST DAYS OF MY LIFE AND WHEN I GET BACK FROM THE LOUIE SHOW I READ SOME SHIT CLAIMING I SAID I'M DOWN TO DO PORN AND SOME BISEXUAL PORN!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE THE AVN WOULD POST FIRST PEOPLE BELIEVED THE TWITTER/STEVEN COLBERT THING, ROLLING STONE EVEN PRINTED IT!!!! NOW SOMEBODY HAS BEEN HACKING INTO MY MYSPACE AND SOMEBODY'S ACTUALLY HACKED INTO MY PERSONAL GMAIL ACCOUNT AND HAS BEEN EMAILING PEOPLE FROM IT... HEY WORLD I NO LONGER HAVE A GMAIL! I FOUND OUT I HAD TWELVE UNAUTHORIZED SKYPE ACCOUNTS UNDER MY NAME!!! THIS ALL IN THE PAST FOUR DAYS. WELCOME TO KANYE WEST WORLD! .... IT'S NOT OFFICIAL. I JUST GAVE THE PERFORMANCE OF MY LIFETIME FOR OUR NEW PRESIDENT ... THEN I FLEW TO PARIS AND THEY DEBUTED MY NEW SHOES THAT I DESIGNED WITH LOUIE VUITTON WHICH WAS A DREAM COME TRUE. PLEASE I BEG YOU, GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LET ME BE GREAT!!! WHO HAVE I HURT SO BAD THAT THEY WANT TO DESTROY ME? WHO HAVE I EVER SPOKE ABOUT SO NEGATIVELY?

Why Can't You Let Me Be Great?! You gotta LOVE a motherfucker who has the temerity to make such a statement in the blogosphere, especially in this, The Age of Snark. And I will say this: Not since the heyday of Prince has there been a major black artist who gives you the unexpected, isn't afraid of innovation and evolves with each recording project, like it or not. So thanks, Kanye for at least having the BALLS to be different. It takes a real man to pull it off.

That said, I also have a bone to pick. I don't think that he makes it easier on himself by being so dramatic about this shit. A lot of forward-thinking rock and pop stars like Prince, David Bowie and even to some extent, Michael Jackson, didn't give a good goddamn what people thought about bisexual and gay rumors, and although there was some strong evidence against them in some cases, I believe they had fun with it. In fact, I'll bet they even encouraged it. The women ate that shit up. Maybe it's harder for him since he's in the rap game, which is historically homophobic and relies on a strict set of paramaters when it comes to defining and portraying one's manhood. But perhaps it's time to bust out of that box and breathe some new life into a genre that hasn't really evolved or shown any substantial innovation since the advent of gangsta rap, in my opinion. If you're going to portray yourself as someone who doesn't follow the status quo, then just relax and go with that shit. Your audience as a whole might not like it, but most of them will eventually accept you for what you are as long as your producing good art. I've been quite bored with the last 10 years of the same shit said over and over and over and again, so it's great to be surprised once in a while.

So do what you do and chill, man. You know peoples are gonna get all ill about colors and clothes that be fitting. What did you expect? Stay true to you, and those who get it, will, and those who don't, will fall by the wayside. In time, perhaps, they'll look back and acknowledge that you was ahead of the game. And if they don't, fuck them.

BONUS BEATS:

Concrete Loop gots some dope pics of Kanye and Marc Jacobs debuting some fresh Louis Vuitton sneakers.

Video: Jay Z and Young Jeezy - My President Is Black

Check out this clip of Jigga and Jeezy at the Inauguration Pre-Party.

Bone Thug In Misery

From The Los Angeles Times:

Bizzi Bone, a member of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, was beat down and robbed by - and get this - an anti-gang worker! You know that this shyt could only happen in LA, right? Soon after getting his grub on, Bizzi a.k.a. Byron McCane returned to his room at the Universal Hilton where he was accosted by several men who then beat and choked him before taking his jewelry.

According to the article,

"Police arrested Marlo “Bow Wow” Jones, 30, a contract employee for the anti-gang organization Unity One, which is hired for the city’s L.A. Bridges II gang-intervention program, according to the LAPD. LAPD officials said they are seeking other male and female suspects.
Jones was arrested Friday at 8:50 a.m. in South Los Angeles and is being held in lieu of $1.1 million bail at the Parker Center Jail downtown. An official with Unity One told The Times that Jones was terminated from his contract but that he could possibly be rehired if cleared in connection with the case.

Unity One was founded after the 1992 Los Angeles riots by Darren “Bo” Taylor, a former gang member who became a peacekeeper respected by street toughs as well as by law enforcement and community activists struggling to reduce inner-city violence. Taylor died in August."

Interesting.

I miss the Bone Thugs, though. Get well, Biz. That reminds me - Look out for my Hip Hop Music Throwback this Sunday.

50 Cent Makes Year End H8 List

50 Cent, along with Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane, Mark Wahlberg, Kathy Griffin, and one of the goldiggers from Real Housewives From Atlanta (the White one) among others, have made the list of Videogum's The Worst People Of 2008.

The list strikes me as strange though. I personally don't think that neither of these people have committed any major media sins worse that than all the Britneys, Lindsays and Paris Hiltons of the world (okay, maybe that RHFA chick), but I will say that they'd better back the hell off some Family Guy.

Gossip Re-Up

President-elect Obama ain't feelin' no poodles. HuffPo

Al B. Sure returns. To TV One. Eurweb

T.I. and Shawty LO serve beats to each other at awards show. 24Hour Hip Hop

You heard that right. Carly Simon urged President Bush to free John Forte. Gawker

Fuzzy News: Snoop Dogg Does Martha Stewart

This makes me feel all warm inside! Snoop Dogg made a stop by The Martha Stewart Show to share his recipe for Drive-by Blazin' Mashed Potaytaz. Martha wrote in her blog that she was pleased to have had the chance to catch up on some street code wordz, because as you know, homebuscuit makes it emphatically clear to her audience that one simply must be prepared to accommodate the likes and dislikes of all types of guests, should the occasion arise. Bless her. Personally, I'd be more interested if Snoop had gotten all weeded and then told her, "Yo, but first, I'ma show you how to make some Fo'Shillzlin' Breaded Blunt Fingaz....." But I digress. Here's an example of Martha being blinded by ghetto scientifics:

"He and his posse add ‘izzles’ onto the ends of words. It’s kind of a code, or a way of communicating so that others won’t know what they’re talking about. Example: fo shizzle is how they say, for sure. Snoop Dogg also shared –

Crack-a-lackin – means get something poppin
Chuuuch – means take God everywhere you go and everything will be all right
All hood – means goodBall til ya fall – get as much money as you can before you die"

Deep!

All right, Buscuit, just by having the Dogg as a guest, you proved to me that you wasn't just weaving wire baskets when you did that bid. And that was probably some sh_t you already got from your cellies, anyhow, but the true essense of power is ac'kin like you don't know. Point check. You true gully. And your Ghetto Pass is being printed up as we speak.

Read more here.

Snoop pic credit: Dave Allocca/Startraks

The Roots Skip Vegas, Settles for Tonight Show Gig

Nah Right reports that my favorite hip hop band The Roots is retiring in order to gig as the house band for the upcoming Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
All I can say is, whatever will be, will be.