Videos of the Week May 18th

It's not everyday I post a passionate kiss as the hero image for a post, but this one was a little too interesting to pass up. I don't think anyone could have predicted @NICKIMINAJ casting @Nas as her romantic interest in her latest video Right By My Side. That being said, Nas seems to be all over the news lately dropping tracks left and right and showing up in videos, so the timing makes it seemed planned. Still, topping off the video with a passionate kiss at the end was interesting to say the least.

Also, it is me or have the animated video become the cost effective way to go now? That's two in a week counting Wolfgang's new one, @THEREALBANNER's video with @Chrisbrown's new video for Amazing. I'm still waiting for @calvinharris's new one with @neyocompound to start taking over top 40 radio. To top it off, check out the two videos at the bottom that show how white people and alcohol mix quite well. Speaking of which, holler atcha boy if you're at Bamboozle tonight...#Bamboozle

Nicki Minaj feat Chris Brown - Right By My Side (Video)

Calvin Harris feat Ne-Yo - Let's Go (Video)

David Banner feat Chris Brown - Amazing (Video)

Kid Rock, Paradime and Yelawolf Perform Fight For Your Right (Live)

Mayer Hawthorne - Henny & Gingeale (Video)

"Cause I Be Goin' Ham, I Be Goin' Crazy"

I've talked many times before about how the business model in modern music needs a serious overhaul. Artists don't get as much as they de$erve and fans get raked through the coal$ by having to pay increasing amounts of money for an album. So how do you fix it? That's the million dollar question that has yet to be answered, but David Banner is going to attempt to follow in the footsteps of two well known comedians in an attempt to find a solution. Long story short, I've got a lot of respect for @louisck (Live at the Beacon Theatre) and more recently @jimgaffigan (Mr. Universe) for swimming against the current and cutting out the middle men out of the equation.

When you think about it, if you're well known and already have a fan base, why do you need a big network to air your show or a record company to endorse and promote your release? It's like saying I'm going to drive across the street in this huge, fancy SUV when walking across the street would make a hell of a lot more sense and be more cost effective. What's great is @THEREALBANNER feels the same way and going to put his album on his site available for download if you donate any amount of money. Hear him talk about how much value you're getting for an amount of money you think he deserves when you purchase his newest album Sex, Drugs and Video Games.

What's really cool about the album is that it's chalked full of singles and has every bit of assumed quality you'd get out of a highly publicized studio album. Case in point the four singles he has already released Castles in Brooklyn, Califonication, Let Me In, and Believe prior to the track below. I'd say this one would fall in right behind Believe as my favorite so far on the album. The beat is about as sick as it gets for an upbeat Hip Hop track and features a solid hook and verse from @chrisbrown.

Do me a favor by joining the 2M1 Movement and show a lil love to Mississippi's finest rapper not named Big K.R.I.T. on May 22nd when he sticks his neck out and attempts to do what no other rapper has done before by taking control of his intellectual content...#CopIt

David Banner feat Chris Brown - Amazing (prod by David Banner)
|Donate

David Banner and Big K.R.I.T. Love Mississippi

If @THEREALBANNER wasn't enough to put the state of Mississippi on the Hip Hop map, the combination of his continuous presence and the emergence of @bigkrit has officially it's relevance with a concrete stamp. You wouldn't think that Southern flavored Hip Hop would have anything to do with classic R&B, but with the help of @mr_lee713, they managed to flip Jodeci's classic Love U 4 Life into a bangin' track. Peep the original below if you need a refresher and managed to avoid every school dance when you were growing up in the 90s...

The single is supposed to surface on David Banner's upcoming mixtape, Sex Lies and Video Games due out on May 22nd. The mixtape is part of "The Movement" for artists to start controlling their own licensed content. The idea came from comedian @louisck when he performed and recorded his set "Live at the Beacon." Below is an excerpt taken from David Banner's website explaining himself...

"The goal of Sex, Drugs & Video Games is to show the world urban music is still valuable. And how am I going to do that? Well, I’m glad you asked. I need 2 million of you to download this mixtape for free (click the link below), then I need the same 2 million of you to donate at least $1 to the movement, but feel free to donate more! There is no maximum donation.

And what’s the “movement” you may ask? THIS MOVEMENT IS TO START CONTROLLING OUR OWN MUSIC, MOVIES, AND CONTENT… PERIOD! WE ARE NOT SIMPLY CHARACTERS IN A VIDEO GAME being controlled by the invisible hand. Once the goal is met, I’m going to shoot a movie that will drop May 22, 2013, a portion will go to charity. Big shout out to Louie C.K. for the motivation!"

Honestly, I like what he and Louie are doing. They're cutting out the middle man and trying to legitimately get compensated for what they did without having to deal with fees and securing their own content. It feels like a navigation of the grey area that is online music right now because it's very much so against locking down content with chains like DRM and it's trying to persuade people who download for free to have a conscience and give a couple bucks for a piece of property that someone else is providing for your entertainment. I love outside of the box ideas like this and I hope it catches on to a certain extent because the business model of online music will always be flawed because technology is always one step ahead and the people who enjoy music don't want to get raked over the coals for increasingly high album costs. I dream that someday there will be a happy medium with ideas like "The Movement," but I fear that it'll always be a cat and mouse game that ends in a lot of frustration.

For our own personal gain, David and K.R.I.T. put together this nice visual display of the track. Don't be afraid to support him on his quest to get his bread up for entertaining y'all...#CreativeCompensation

David Banner feat Big K.R.I.T. - Believe
|Donate

"They Point They Point They Like Daaaammnn"

Despite never really being a big fan of @E40 as a rapper, I respect the hell out of his ability to continually set trends and be that much different than your favorite rapper. He's always been at the forefront of Bay Area rap with the likes of Mac Dre and @tooshort. His goofy style isn't anything that could or should be repeated, but that's part of what makes him iconic.

The past two years 40 Fonzarelli has averaged two albums a year and this year he's going to break that streak all in one day. March 27 is when he's set to release three albums titled Welcome to the Soil : The Block Brochure 1, 2 and 3. You can expect the bangin' track below featuring @MrBangladesh himself on the beat with a few cameo verses from up and coming @2chainz and the always on point @therealjuicyj. Is anybody else reminded of Play with the quirky noises on the beat? No matter how you slice it, plenty of bass in this pond...(see what I did there??) #CornyAsHell

E-40 feat 2 Chainz & Juicy J - They Point (prod by Bangladesh)

|iTunes

"$50,000 on My Wrist, I'm Feedin' Eskimos"

It's been three days since @chrisbrown released his newest mixtape Boy in Detention and it already has over 110,000 downloads on datpiff. Just glancing at the production credits, I can see why everyone is flocking to download the new tape because it looks more like an album with @ROOKBEATS, @RYANMTEDDER (not to be confused with one of my favorite artits/producers/songwriters from @OneRepublic, Ryan Tedder), @9thWonderMusic, @Thabizness, @THEREALSWIZZZ and No I.D. Interesting too that most tracks on the mixtapes have Chris Breezy rapping ferociously at his own frenetic pace that he describes on Crazy and implements on First 48.

Put it this way, if you liked the way he sounded on Look At Me Now, you'll appreciate most tracks on the mixtape. Even better and probably a reflection on why it's so highly sought after, @justinbeiber drops a nniiiccee verse on the @therealbanner produced Ladies Love Me

Don't even trip, he killed that verse.

Anyways, the track below is my favorite off the mixtape and it features production from @BIGKRIT, who is steadily becoming one of my favorite artists/producers. The oriental flutes and heavy bass do more than enough to keep the track afloat. The hook by the King Remembered In Time was surprisingly awesome and really carries the track by imploring the listener to chant along. (As a side note, don't sleep on that Smokers Club tour coming this fall).

Consider this tape a present that's chalked full of high quality charity. In other words, in a death and taxes type world of certainties, free stuff like this is rare, so go cop it...#BoyInDetention

Chris Brown Ft Berner, Wiz Khalifa & Big K.R.I.T. - Yoko (prod by Big K.R.I.T.)

|Mixtape