Louis the Child and Whethan Make Sweet Honey Together

Listening to Louis the Child and Whethan's new mixtape affirms something I've always believed. When talents artists decide to tour together, good things happen. And what I mean by good things is more good music for all of us to enjoy that we wouldn't have been privy to if they didn't spend so much time on the road together.

Honey is chalked with instrumental fire from the moment you press play. While Chop It Up is the current favorite of the six tracks, the choppy, slo-mo reggaeton with bass and big horns of Tengo Mas is already growing on me. I don't need to tell you how much you'll like it if you're already a fan of either artist, but for those who aren't acquainted with their music, there's more than enough below to convince you to take a deep dive into both artists' discography...#Honey

Louis the Child x Whethan - Honey Mixtape

"I Only Love My Bed and My Momma, I'm Sorry"

It may not be my favorite flavor of Drake's music, but his new one has a lot of pros. For starters, that beat cooked up by 40 and Boi-1da is straight 🔥🔥🔥. The heavy bottom layered on top of the quiet ebb and flow of the repetitive sample works well. Add to that some sing-songy, repeatable, meem-able bars and it has some replay-ability. In the grand scheme of his discography it's meh at best and certainly not deserving of breaking the single day streaming record once held by Taylor Swift. It's not that I don't appreciate Drake anymore, it's that I liked the rawness of his storytelling of days from the past. Those days seem to be long gone in favor of safer tracks that blend is well with Top 40. If anything, what I learned today was that the music community as a whole is starving for listen-able Hip Hop. I'll second that notion as I continue to play the Hipster who is over Drake since he started selling out arenas role...#GodsPlan

Drake - God's Plan (prod by Noah “40” Shebib & Boi-1da)

"Oh, I Know It Ain't Pretty When Two Hearts Get Broke"

Give me a piano beat and some Macklemore bars and I'll be good for a while. As I continue to slice and dice 2017 GWDJ Favorites into sub-playlists, one of my favorites has been the aptly titled Uplifting. These Days will definitely get added to that playlist as it's about as feel good as it gets. It's got that quietly poetic Macklemore lead-in and a steady clap that builds momentum as the track progresses. Then, out of nowhere Jess Glynne comes in and steals the show with her attention-grabbing vocals that got a choir assist to boot. I'll say the drop was a little underwhelming, but when the horns and guitar come back around it manages to hit its stride again. If you're a fan of Macklemore's style and can get down with a poetic, gospel vibe then you'll enjoy the hell out of this one...#TheseDays



Rudimental feat Jess Glynne, Macklemore, Dan Caplen - These Days

Francis and The Lights Comes Through on Just For Us

In my old age, I feel myself gravitating more toward this mellow, electropop sound that Francis and The Lights are known for. There's a distinctness of Francis Farewell Starlite's vocals reel me in with every new track. Like for example Francis's new one, Just For Us. That 80s style synth backdrop with quiet, marching tempo isn't anything that will get you out of your seat, but it's a perfect canvas for the throwback pop vocals of FFS.

Their new one is the title track off their recent surprise release on December 28th. I can't say I'm a big enough fan of Francis that I immediately ran to Spotify to comb through the new release, but their new one below did everything it could to steer me that direction. If you're as curious as I was after listening to their new one, check it out on iTunes or Spotify...#JustForUs



Francis and The Lights - Just For Us (prod by Cashmere Cat, Benny Blanco, & Bon Iver)

"24 hours in a Day, I Think About You More Than 24 Times"

Keepin' it 100, the temptation was real before pressing play on the one below. Cashmere Cat's quirky electronic style mixed with Major Lazer's bounce and Tory Lanez's passionate vocals? Seems like an odd mix of styles but Miss You turned out to be a dope track. I'd call it a playful ballad with tribal percussion. There are Reggaeton undertones and heavy horns that reek of Major Lazer influence, but it's Cashmere's quiet, bubbly aesthetic that serves as the glue that holds it all together. On top of that, Tory's high pitched vocals mix well with the complimentary styles on the beat. It's already been added to GWDJ Favorites, but feel free and cop it for yourself on Spotify or iTunes...#MissYou



Cashmere Cat feat Major Lazer & Tory Lanez - Miss You

"I Got a Hundred Thou' Then I Freaked It"

Continuing the trend of holding Hip Hop on his shoulders, Kendrick Lamar proved that he's just as capable of dishing assists to his TDE label mates. Jay Rock is well-known name in Hip Hop, but he hasn't released a lot of impact single lately like the one below. Capitalizing on a multi-faceted beat from Mike Will and some subtle vocal help from James Blake, Kings Dead is an attention grabbing track. Evidently a lot of the other Soundcloud commenters share my disdain for Future on this track, but his boat anchor verse wasn't enough to take away from the fire that everyone else brought. Ironically enough, this is the track #9 that I alluded to earlier in the week off the upcoming Black Panther Soundtrack. Similar to the way the Compton Soundtrack was basically a Dr. Dre album, this provides more hope that the Black Panther Soundtrack will be a side release of Kendrick's. The soundtrack is available to stream in full on Spotify and early indications are it's 🔥🔥🔥...#KingsDead

Jay Rock feat Kendrick Lamar, Future, and James Blake - Kings Dead (prod by Mike Will)

"You Can Bring a Bullet, Bring a Sword, Bring a Morgue"

With some many Hip Hop artists continuing to make songs, artists like Kendrick Lamar that legitimately make music are continuing to stand out. The different between the two may lie in the grey area of semantics, but in my eyes there's a level of composition and instrumentation that helps separate K Dot's music from the masses. He and Chance the Rapper are simply operating at a high level than fill in the blank rapper because of how well they're able to blend their skills as lyricists with interesting beats and songs with meaning.

Also worthy of note is that All the Stars will be appearing on the upcoming Black Panther: The Album. No word on what else will be on the album, but I do know that Track 9 is 3:49 mins long 😬...

Shout out to SZA for the pristine hook by the way. I was already looking forward to seeing the movie and now the prospect of a hype soundtrack makes seeing the movie almost a sure thing. Soundtrack drops on Feb 9th and the movie drops a week later on the 16th. Join me in looking forward to all the other music that's going to drop off the soundtrack before then...#BlackPantherSoundtrack



Kendrick Lamar feat SZA - All the Stars

Another Heavyweight OWSLA Collabo in the Books

I've learned to have high expectations every time I open up a new package from anyone in the OWSLA crew. It's widely known what ZHU's capabilities are as an artist, but I'm only beginning to warm up to the talents of Ekali. His loud, excitable style wouldn't seem to mix with ZHU's calm, deep house vibe, but Blame proves all that wrong. You'll get all the ZHU falsetto you can handle in between twinkling synths and rugged drops. It's a fun mix of styles that will stretch and pull at what you'd normally expect from ZHU. Cop it on iTunes or Spotify if you're into the clash of styles as I am...#Blame

Ekali & ZHU - Blame

"Put Your Filthy Hands All Over Me"

It's going to be tough, but I'm going to try really hard limit my excitement and refrain from littering this post with !!! and 😀🙃😃. It's not just the fact that Justin Timberlake put out a new single today and has a new album (Man of the Woods) on the way. Yes, that's dope, but it doesn't take away from the holy triumvirate that is Justin Timberlake/Timbaland/Danjahandz that reconvened on his new track below.

Filthy lives up to its name with a grimy, wobbly, new-age funk beat that will immediately grab your attention and stand out as different. The vibe is best described as what you'd hope for if Daft Punk and Pharrell put together a dance track. The futuristic I, Robot style choreographed dancing robot video seems apropos for the futuristic funk vibe of the track. The beat breakdown around the 3:45 mark is trademark Timbo and Danja too. You feel like you're listing to a new beat, but they blend it with the original instrumental so well that it's clean af. Man...if Justin's new album is going to be filled with exciting new tracks like this one, 2018 is going to be a fun year...#Filthy



Justin Timberlake - Filthy (prod by Timbaland and Danjahandz)

"I Wanna be Your Lover, I Don't Wanna be Your Friend"

It's like clockwork, another Alan Walker remix, another symphony of chords. This time Alan took a swipe at Noah Cyrus's recent single Again with XXXTENTACION. I'm not a huge supporter of anything XXXTENTACION does, but I'll concede the original version of the track has some pop allure to it.

Take that morsel of pop allure and mix it with some melodic progressions and you've got yourself a chill EDM remix. The more I listen to it, the more I appreciate the raspy, Lana Del Rey quality to her voice. If you're a fan of the original, follow the breadcrumbs to Spotify or iTunes to add it to your collection...#NoahCyrusAgain



Noah Cyrus feat XXXTENTACION - Again (Alan Walker Remix)