Words can't explain how pumped I was to see the words "new Chiddy Bang track" today. Even better, they took the essence of Kid Cudi's Pursuit of Happiness and transformed it into Full Speed Ahead. Shoot you could even convince me that Cudi was the one singing the hook. Helped with a production assist from Paul Couture, there's plenty of slow bangin' bass to compliment the spit fire bars from Chiddy. It's a cool mix of melodic, sing-songy, and heavy. This is the type of breath of fresh air Hip Hop needs more of as it continues to lack the energy as a genre it did a decade ago. After taking five years off, it's looking like Chiddy and Xaphoon haven't missed a step. If more music from them is on the horizon, 2017 may not be as devoid of quality Hip Hop as I thought...#FullSpeedAhead
Chiddy Bang - Full Speed Ahead (prod by Paul Couture)
Man, what an eventful week. You had severe weather wreaking havoc on the east coast and causing teachers to rap about school closings. You had the end of Jimmy Fallon's late late night chapter in favor of his new tonight show gig. What better way to close a chapter than a collabo with The Muppets on The Band's The Weight. And of course today is also Valentines Day, so hopefully you did something equally as creative as Timeflies did by cracking open a package of candy hearts and using them to fuel a freestyle. I have mad respect for artists who can freestyle off the brain like Cal (from Timeflies) and Chiddy (from Chiddy Bang). Also threw in the obligatory weekly EDM video featuring the beautiful and talented Hayley Williams of Paramore. And who could resist posting a new one from a dude who probably has more game in his left pinky than 90% of males on earth. Such an inspirational track! Have a good V-day y'all...#VDay2014
Mike Posner - My Light (Video)
Durham Academy Announces Snow Day
Zedd feat Hayley Williams - Stay the Night (Video)
Timeflies Tuesday - All You Need is Love (Video)
Jimmy Fallon Sings The Weight with The Muppets on his Last Show
Summer is damn near over, but that didn't stop Chiddy Bang from dropping a carefree single that puts listeners on relaxation to the max. Nobody is ever going to question Chiddy's lyrical ability on the mic, but I already miss the duo of Chiddy and recently disbanded member Xaphoon Jones. The song below is great, but the duo is what made the group Chiddy Bang formidable. I'll concede that with the help of Yuri Beat$, Chiddy's solo lead single Breathe did exactly what a lead single should do...build hype for an upcoming album.
Case in point, I now know that the title of his upcoming album is Baggage Claim and it's due out before the end of 2013. Not sure if will be a separate effort or not, but we can also expect a Baggage Claim mixtape to drop sometime in the next month or so. I'm gonna guess that this one will also find it's way on the mixtape/album, but either way, there's a lot coming from the land of Chiddy that's worth looking forward to in the near future...#BaggageClaim
Without a doubt, the most creative video of the week goes to Pitchfork TV's animated Frames series who put together an interesting story about @WakaFlockaBSM's upbringing. Evidently he had a certain grandparent that was more than a little strict. The screen shot above hints at one of the funnier point of the animated short...#SnoopyGettinAfterIt
Also on the menu is the beginning of EDM through the eyes of Potato, as well as a whole slew of new Hip Hop & R&B. Evidently more people are starting appreciate @MiguelUnlimited, which is long overdue. Now if we could only just get more people to buy into what @HoodieAllen is preaching...#FIFA
Pitchfork TV: Waka Flocka Reminisces On Strict Childhood
BANG! Episode #1 ft. Skrillex & Boys Noize from POTATO (Video)
Hoodie Allen feat Chiddy Bang - FIFA (Fame is for A$$holes) (Video)
Miguel - Candles in the Sun (Video)
50 Cent feat Kendrick Lamar & Kidd Kidd - We Up (Video)
A little bit of everything in this week's round of videos, mixing entertainment, music and even a little bit of Dubstep beatbox. Yea you heard it right, @iknowdavecrowe is about as filthy as it gets when it comes to making electro, robotic symphonies. Maybe I haven't been paying attention closely, but I haven't seen many YouTube videos that have 118,000 likes. It's one of those you have to see it to believe it, so if you're at all curious, that's the video you need to watch this week...#NoveltyItem
Pitbull feat TJR - Don't Stop the Party (Video)
Dave Crowe Dubstep Beatboxing Legend
Iron Man 3 Trailer
T.I. - Ball ft. Lil Wayne (Video)
Steve Aoki – Emergency ft Lil Jon & Chiddy Bang (Video)
Stacked week for videos featuring three tracks I like quite a bit with Starships, Hammer Dance and Mind Your Manners. Is it me or is @Nas about to make a full fledged comeback this year? First it was the song produced by Heavy D (below), now it's the NFL draft on ESPN and a second single all this week. Some may want to hate saying he's old and his time has passed, but in my eyes there's always room for OG's like Nas in Hip Hop. Can't disrespect someone who has been around for so long and been through the things he has...#Classic
Not only is @realchiddy one of the most unassuming Hip Hop World Record holders, he and his partner in crime @xaphoonjones are about to serve up a Denny's Grand Slam quality Breakfast in the form on a studio debut album. I'll put it this way, if their "real" debut album, that dropped about a week ago on February 21st, is half as good as both their EPs (The Opposite of Adults EP, Chiddy Bang: The Preview), I'll be satisfied.
Waaay back in July I posted their lead single off Breakfast titled Mind Your Manners. I'm not sure they could have picked a better lead single, but to be honest I haven't heard more than these two tracks and Baby Roulette so I can't really judge yet. As an aside, it's great to see more artists collaborating with @chip216 and allowing him to finally start becoming a household name. I've heard too many @chuckisdope beats where Chip goes in and rips it up to think he's anything but under-appreciated.
The production of Xaphoon Jones is a great thing to bank on for @chiddybang because as a writer and fan of their music, I always know that there's going to be a standard quality level on the instrumentals. If more bands had such a high standard of quality, I'd probably link the hell out of all of their posts too in support. For now I'll stick with Chiddy because they rep my current city to the absolute fullest...#TeamSwelly
Chiddy Bang feat Chip tha Ripper - Extra Well
|iTunes
Bunch of Timbo this week, which is building up some serious excitement for Shock Value 3. Still a big fan of those Wale, Bei Maejor and Chiddy singles too. Pretty pumped they made videos for both tracks...
Timbland feat Pitbull - Pass at Me (Video)
Bei Maejor feat J Cole - Trouble (Video)
Wale - Bait (Video)
Timbland feat Jet - Timothy Where You Been (Video)
Red Cafe feat Fabolous & Lloyd Banks - The Realest (Video)
Coming off a stellar new mixtape, the likes of @realchiddy & @xaphoonjones refuse to slow down the steady stream of great music. For all of you that missed Peanut Butter & Swelly, there's good reason why over 61,000 people downloaded the tape and don't even try and blame me cause I've been throwin' tracks and concert videos from that tape at y'all left and right. Even this week they let loose another video for the I Can't Stop (freestyle) off the mixtape (below)...
Below is their newest internet release that shines mostly due to Xaphoon's electric beat and addicting sample of the Swedish pop group @iconapop's Manners track. There's always room for creative sampling in Hip Hop and you'd be hard pressed to find someone that does it better than Noah Beresin. I usually find myself saying, "this track is pretty good, but I can't wait for the real quality tracks that surface on a studio album." That's not the case with Chiddy, they don't care whether it's a mixtape or studio release, the quality is assumed, which is why I have so much respect for them. And you should too...#StopTrippinAndListen
Chiddy Bang - Mind Your Manners (prod by Xaphoon Jones)
About 8 days and 9 hours before @bigsean's debut album Finally Famous drops. After one lap around it I've found a few favorites like the one below and his collab with @LUPEFIASCO, Wait For Me, which are all added bonuses because tracks like My Last, I Do It and (my personal favorite) What Goes Around were enough to make it a solid album. I'm not proclaiming front to back greatness regarding the yet to be released album, but I'll at least note that there are hidden gems in there that make you feel like you're not playing Air Penguin jumping from single to single and avoiding filler tracks.
On the track below you're going to get a couple well put together verses big Sean Don that showcase the pause and stop flow that he coined before artists like Kanye, Lil Wayne and Drake followed suit. The features are fitting too with @realWizKhalifa starting his verse with a trademark, glee club quality harmony followed by a fierce, energetic 11 bars. Put it this way, how could you NOT involve Wiz in a track called high? #NoBrainer...
With every track I'm becoming a bigger fan of @chiddybang and more specifically @xaphoonjones when he surfaces on the production credits. The heavy bassline with a touch of percussion and synth sets the tempo well on this and set the stage for all three verses. I still need a listen or two before I make a final judgment, but the likelihood of Finally Famous living up to the high expectations is a good bet.
Big Sean ft Wiz Khalifa & Chiddy Bang - High (prod by Xaphoon Jones)
If you would have blind folded me and made me listen to the song below, I would have told first off it has to be @passionpit. If you'd then give me a second guess, I'd probably question you then say if it's not them, then it's gotta be MGMT. After denying my second guess and telling me it's this new group, The Naked and Famous, I'd probably say WTF! followed by #GTFOH. Then I'd go research them and find more of their music...
Which brings me to this post where I get to tell you about this new group from New Zealand called @TNAF, which consists of five members David Beadle (bassist), Thom Powers (singer-guitarist), Aaron Short (synth player), Jesse Wood (drums), Alisa Xayalith (co-vocalist/keyboardist). Their debut album Passive Me, Aggressive You was released about 8 months ago in September and managed to climb atop the New Zealand charts. As far as the name of their band, it came from the song Kid by Tricky with the lyrics "Everyone wants to be naked and famous." When asked to elaborate on the group title, band members Aaron Short elaborated saying:
"We were all just really big fans of Tricky around the time of the band forming - Thom, Alisa and I - and thought it was really fitting for the way we were looking at things at the time and it was something that stuck with us. There’s a bit of irony there, for so many people there’s a lot of stuff attached to the music industry and musicians in terms of everyone wants to be a big famous rockstar and all that kind of stuff. At the time of us starting the band out it’s always remained a big principle for us, it’s never been what we’ve been about. Stuff like getting in the charts and the awards we’ve had it’s all really overwhelming and you can’t help be really pleased with the result, but at the same time it’s never been the absolute focus of why we’re putting music together and why we’re doing what we’re doing." - Source
Yea I agree, I'm a few months late on this track, but it's making my XM satellite radio subscription worthwhile since I found this gem from across the world on there. Check out the video for the track below...
The synthesizers sucked me in on first listen and perfectly augmented the upbeat, rolling beat. The MGMT and Passion Pit comparisons come from the childlike, carefree vibe their lyrics give off. The fun and dreamy vibe is infectious to me as I've had this in heavy circulation since finding it last night. You might ask, what could possibly make this track more likable?
Enter @chiddybang or more specifically @XaphoonJones, who is doing his absolute best to make me forget about @corybold with all these dope remixes he's pulling off of late with his partner in crime, @realchiddy. The sample is executed perfectly and flipped all Hip Hop like any self respecting Hip Hop fan would hope. The bubbly synths are where I draw the Cory Bold comparisons, but I need to be clear in saying that ya boy Xaphoon can absolutely hold his own producing a beat (PROOF).
Can't go wrong with either of these and I'm gonna keep the @TNAF original track on heavy repeat as I give their album a spin...#BetterLateThanNever
The Naked and Famous - Yonug Blood (Chiddy Bang remix)
Freestyling more than a minute is a chore for the majority of Hip Hop artists. Most can't pull it off without it sounding corny or forced. That being said the bar had been set high by Naptown native, M-Eighty (@almightym80 )in 2009 when he put his name in the Guinness Book of World Records for longest Hip Hop freestyle with a 9 hour and 15 minute effort.
Earlier in the week, it was announced via MTV that the head lyricist of @chiddybang, @realchiddy, was comin' for that Numba One Spot(#ludavoice)! Marketing wise, the timing made sense as it would serve to kick off MTV's first Online Music Awards. Chiddy explains below...
Dude started freestyling as a hobby at the age of 14 and has been doing it daily ever since. Just watching him prepare and talk about doing it (below) made me feel like confidence wise, he's got it in the bag. Still even talking for 9 hour straight is draining, let alone trying to rhyme words and try to be coherent and interesting the whole time.
Then it got time to actually doin' it and lo and behold, he actually did it. Chiddy came through with a world record setting freestyle lasting 9 hours 18 mins and 22 seconds. Below is a video of the ending where his partner in crime, @XaphoonJones helps him down the backstretch, getting the crowd hype and laying a drumline for the finish.
That's good stuff folks, hopefully y'all will take heed and continue giving @chiddybang the dap they deserve as a serious up and coming group. As a treat, I included my favorite track by them, All Things Go, off their latest EP album The Preview #classicTrack.
Heads up for their new album out soon, titled The Swelly Life...
Continuing my all day concert adventure that started out at Lehigh University with @RealWizKhalifa and @MacMiller's free show in the afternoon. In the nightcap, local up and comers @ChiddyBang were set to open for @Wale at a small university (Muhlenberg College) nearby. The consensus would undoubtedly agree a free Wiz Khalifa show beats the hell outta paying $20 to see Wale/Chiddy, but all things considered, getting to see all four in one day for less than $50 for two tickets to each event was felonious in nature and probly worse theft than gettin' a bunch of free tats. Sidebar: Smh Buckeyes...from an OSU alum, I'd say it'll be a stretch expect a BCS bowl this year. Two loss season would be overachieving with 3 losses a more reasonable expectation...unfortunately. If Tressel falls on the sword, a recession will be a reality...#NoMoreFreeTats
I digress...on to the scenery of the show which was more or less a High School gym with acoustics as good as an underground cave. Yea you could say there was a bit of an echo, but luckily the expectations aren't high for sound at Hip Hop shows. Not knowing what to expect I was smacked in the face with Chiddy's opening track, All Things Go, which I had previously never heard and currently can't stop listening to. Still kicking myself for not getting some footage of that dopeness, but hindsight is worth as much as a dollar given away yesterday, so I'm content with rocking the real track on each and every playlist in the near future.
Probably the coolest part of the set was when the lesser known half of Chiddy Bang, @XaphoonJones, polled the crowd for obscure subjects for @realchiddy to freestyle over. Needless to say crowd fuckery ensued and Chiddy spit effortlessly about random ish like Hello Kitty, chicken wings, Brooklyn, @CharlieSheen, Spiderman, Muhlenberg lacrosse, and snap backs. Really tho? I'm pretty sure an un-rhymable word woulda been appreciated to crank up the difficulty, but it was still an applause worthy effort.
Below are two of their newest joints I got footage of. The first being their new track feat @MacMiller, Heatwave, followed by another new one featuring Train titled Baby Roulette...
Chiddy Bang - Heatwave at Muhlenberg
Chiddy Bang - Baby Roulette at Muhlenberg
All in all a pretty hype set that caused me to leave the concert wanting to find more of their music, which is all artists are really goin' for when they perform. Especially for an opening band, they more than carried their weight and set the bar high for Wale.
When I was waiting for Wale to come out, I wasn't sure what to expect because honestly I haven't been a big fan of his recent Maybach Music stuff like his first single off his upcoming album,600 Benz. Still, Attention Deficit was a front to back heat rock, so there was plenty on tap that I was looking forward to hearing in concert.
...and I'm still looking forward to those tracks because I left feeling like I didn't hear a lot of the tracks I was looking forward to, like Let it Loose, Bittersweet Symphony or Diary. The stage presence and energy between the two sets were night and day, with Chiddy absolutely bringin' it and ignoring the fact that they were in front of a gym full of a couple hundred small town college kids in comparison to Wale, who seemed to mail it in. My girl's reaction kinda summed it up when she said, "Did he really just close out his set with another guy's song?", when Wale closed with his verse on No Hands. Yea, he did, and despite it being one of my favorite tracks and verses, it was still one of the more anticlimactic endings to a concert I had ever witnessed.
In an attempt to take a detour from the trip to the negative town that was his set, I was a big fan of Black and Gold. Check it below and be on the lookout for that new @rickyrozay Wale flavored album...
Nice to see we're starting to get a whole lot of consistency out of @chiddybang, as they keep cranking out quality tracks. I value originality in music, which why I've hitched a ride to their bandwagon. Their Indie vibe made of grimy verses delivered by @realchiddy and interesting, organic production is makes their sound unique. Seems like Hip Hop is starting to take note as more and more artists like @macmiller are contributing verses on their upcoming album Breakfast, due out sometime this summer and coinciding with the Bamboozle Roadshow they are embarking on with @/pusha_T.
Also, if you haven't heard of @XaphoonJones aka the other half of Chiddy, you should give his new mixtape Xaphoon Jones Vol 2 a listen. The beats XJ is capable of making are awe inspiring, like this break beat right here. Pretty sick, it's no wonder they've got such a fresh sound with him behind the boards...
East coast could use a damn heat wave with all this rain/sleet this week. Better get some damn sunshine for Sundaze this weekend before I do the unthinkable double header and finish the night watching Chiddy and Wale...#HollaAtchaBoy
Now this is a rare sight...a 21st century Hip Hop track advising safe sex. Before y'all get gangsta on @chiddybang like it's cool toCromartiehoes, think twice before judging and instead, think back to that time where some woman you happened to smack bellies with called sayingthattime of the month has cum and gone without any noticeable change. GULP! You've been there and while more often than not it ends up working out (maybe that's being too optimistic), it's still takes you more than a few notches up in maturityrealquick. #FamilyPlanning > #RecreationalBabyRoulette
Nonetheless, I'm a huge buyer of Drexel U's own Chiddy Bang and serious dap is in store for @train for their genre crossing collab. Maybe you can't easily discern that the soul from the track is coming from them, but it's well placed and a unique mash up of Contemporary and Indie talent. Indie to me is becoming riddled with artists that Contemporaryradiofans haven't heard of yet. As a result, I'd say the term Indie lends to the connotative buzz that an artist is about to blow up. Ya know, the artist with the buzz that doesn't have a deal yet because a record exec hasn't thrown a bunch of money at him? Yet, he's still got a loyal underground following that almost assures future success (i.e. @realWizKhalifa). That's what Twitter has given artists, a chance to build an army of fans, which gives the people who care about numbers and hold the $$$ the ability to more accurately quantify and predict the success of someone they're about to place a huge bet on. (Which reminds me follow @gwdj...haha that was shameless)
It's a fun track and even if it's too bubble gum for you, you can't hate on the attempt to perpetuate the thought that protected sex isn't a bad thing. Track aside, took some balls to go against the grain, mad respect to these guys ------>Chiddy Bang...
I know I know, I'm like a year late on this one since it surfaced around Oct 2009, but I skipped Throwback Thurs this week and their debut album The Preview is dropping in about a month. I'll probably end up doing a New Artist Spotlight on Chiddy Bang as soon as they start releasing some more new music, but in the meantime this will be more of an hors d'oeuvre to the main course.
When I hear Chiddy Bang, I liken them to a mix of Kids in the Hall with Travie McCoy. So yea, you could put Proto, who is the rapper in a lot of their tracks, in the same breath as Naledgeof Kidz In the Hall and Travie McCoy. They've got that fun, easygoing vibe to their tracks, which add to their sort of Indie/Organic Hip Hop sound. I say organic because their subject matter has substance and their sound is somewhat unique and unprocessed. Seeing that I've always been a big MGMT fan and I'm a growing Passion Pit fan, I find it pretty cool that they frequently sample them in their music. For being 19, these dudes are pretty innovative and their fresh Indie vibe is a shot of life to Hip Hop. There will be more to come on this blog from these guys, but as a first impression check out their big head video for Opposite of Kids as well as the track below...
Chiddy Bang - Opposite of Adults (Kids)
| Download
With the way Hip Hop music works these days and music frequently leaking, it's hard to find a track whose radio rip leaks then doesn't surface for 6 months. This here is the exception to the rule as I was head over heels for the radio version of this track in March and I alluded to it in a mid-May New Artist Spotlight I did on Donnis. Yea that's right I did wait intently for the no tagged version for 6 months, it's a really good track, I'm not playin'.
Truthfully I'm kinda mad at myself for missing Donnis opening forChiddy Bang and 2 AM Club in Philly last week at TLA. Assist goes to B, my eyes and ears on the ground in the Illedelph who is quite the fan of that group who did a track with MGMT. I'm diggin' that big head video by the way, between that and Cudi's All Summer Long video, that fad must be in.
As far as the track is concerned, the proofs in the pudding and there's plenty of evidence why I was so high on @donnisxdonnis's placementin this year's freshman class. I did have the audacity to rank him above @REALWIZKHALIFA at the time, but now I see them neck and neck for the 2nd spot behind the beast known as @jcolenc. But this track has a real hype vibe to it on the hook with the whole "Shut the city down, shut the shut the city down" lyrics that almost force you to rock back and forth with a drink in the air. #YallKnowWassup
I know y'all probably caught the tagged version on @DEEJAYILLWILL and @CLINTONSPARKS hosted mixed Fashionably Late, but to me it makes all the difference to have the tags taken off. This has the feeling of a lead single and to be honest it would be smart because it has some radio appeal, it's repeatable and catchy, all solid elements of a track that could start to get him some legit buzz. Truth be told I hope more buzz is created because Donnis is still flying under the radar a bit and shame on you if you haven't heard his single from 2009 titled Gone.
We've only begun to see the ceiling for Ladonnis Crump and this may be one of the final warnings before he becomes a household name...#BetterBuyStock....check it...
drops. After one lap around it I've found a few favorites like the one below and his collab with @LUPEFIASCO, 
