"Maybe We'll Meet Again in Another Life"

Last week was one star studded collaboration after another. This week is starting out on the same note with a massive collection of talent in the form of Another Life. It'll probably get buried in the lede, but Ester Dean's contribution to the track is what I geeked out on the most. She's been a part of some big songs, but for me her demo tracks going back as far as a decade were what really impressed me. It's more of a made for radio instrumental than a party starter, but Ester's vocals are what you'll end up remembering. Honorable mention goes to the burst of emotion on the drop by two of the best in EDM. If you're a Sci-Fi fan, you'll appreciate the animated, 3D depiction of the track below. Even better, they put the Radio Mix of the track on Spotify. Plenty of ways enjoy this one, so pick your favorite outlet...#AnotherLife



Afrojack & David Guetta feat Ester Dean - Another Life

Sometimes Animated Movie Soundtracks Aren't So Bad

When I see "from (fill in the blank animated movie soundtrack)" I'm usually more than a little skeptical of it's potential. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Angry Birds, but in the grand scheme of things, Rio or Rio 2 may be my third or fourth favorite of the series. Yet, when I saw Ester Dean featuring B.O.B., there was an unusual amount of confidence that came over me before listening...

...and that ended up being a well-founded intuition because the song wasn't all too shabby. Yea, it's a little sing-songy, but the calypso rhythms are fun at worst. I'll continue to throw credit Ester's way for her ability to craft songs and sing hooks with the best vocalists out there. Not sure if the movie will be worth seeing, but the soundtrack looks interesting....#Rio2

Ester Dean feat B.O.B. - Rio Rio

Purity Ring - Grammy (Soulja Boy Cover)

The post below is via Mikey-Mike who sent this in from an undisclosed underground location near the epicenter of Indie music.

It's not often that indie bands cover rap songs, but when they do, I definitely take note. When you hear the @EsterDean chorus from the original, you notice that the hook wasn't much of a stretch for the Canadian electronic duo; but what surprised me was that Megan James absolutely nailed the @souljaboy verses, as well. Check out the original version below for comparison...



I would have never thought that the original would lend itself to an electronic cover, but @PURITY_RING took the song and made it all their own.

Purity Ring - Grammy (Soulja Boy Cover)

Videos of the Week June 8th

Just when you think you're safe and about to meet the vice president, here comes freakin' @aplusk and his never ending shenanigans. An earthquake in a parking garage with pregnant woman getting tasered by her husband? GTFOH! Either way it was entertaining as hell to watch.

Whole bunch of other high profile videos too including @kanyewest's new video for Mercy and @coldplay's video with @rihanna for Princess of China. All in all a stacked week for videos with plenty of big names if you swing that way.

Kanye West feat Big Sean, Pusha T, & 2 Chainz - Mercy (Video)

Drake Gets Punk'd

MGK feat Ester Dean - Invincible (Video)

Coldplay feat Rihanna - Princess of China (Video)

Flo Rida - Hey Jasmin (Video)

Machine Gun Kelly is Invincible With His Dre Beats On

If you're like me, then you saw the commercial below a few times and wondered who in the hell is the dude spittin' like his life is about to end if he doesn't tear apart a hot 16...

Lo and behold it was your boy @MACHINEGUNKELLY, who just won MTV's Hottest Breakthrough Artist Award. Can't hate on bit on the organic reaction of him finding out the news he won. Good god the way this is dude from Cleveland is blowing up, he's on track to live up to the @eminem comparisons that are sure to come. There's something about rappers that emerge from making minimum wage to a point where they fought tooth and nail (with performances like this) their way to the top with the way they weave words together on the mic. The appreciation he has shown for every bit of success he has garnered thus far is really cool to watch and easy for me as a blogger to support.

Man I'm really at a loss for how to explain to you guys dope this track is. Usually I can throw together a few adjectives that come to mind when listening to the song as I write, but I'm at a total loss. From the start, before listening to the whole track, I knew it was going to be epic when I saw @AlexDaKid produced the track. There hasn't been a song that he has done the past year that hasn't risen to the top. The best words I can come up with to describe MGK's delivery on Invincible are vigorous, relentless, and fierce...but I'm still feeling like I'm underselling the raw emotion he bleeds all over this track. Add to that the blatant Dre Beats push both on the HTC Rezound commercial and also in the first verse "But I can’t feel nothin’, outside these Dre Beats". @iamdiddy is not a fool and there's good reason why he went all out to win the bidding war for MGK's talents.

This is only the beginning folks and to be honest, I got just as hype to this song at the gym today when I put it on repeat as I did when Lose Yourself came out. For those of you thinkin' that I'm just gassing you up, press play below...then we'll talk...#DoItIDareYou

Machine Gun Kelly feat Ester Dean - Invincible (prod by Alex da Kid)

|iTunes

"1, 2, 3 and 4 Come On Let Me Know if You Want Some More"

Sometimes timing can be unfortunate when it comes to releasing a single. Let me clarify, sometimes when an artist releases a new single within a week of their album dropping, it has the potential to get upstaged by other tracks on the album as a result of their album leaking early. Case in point @rihanna's new single You Da One (scheduled to hit iTunes tomorrow) compared to the show stopping potential of her collaboration with @s_c_ on Talk That Talk.

In the grand scheme of things, it probably won't matter too much in the long run because both songs are legit and will end up getting massive airplay and lead to the ultimate multi-platinum goal for her new album Talk That Talk. Combine both tracks with her lead single,We Found Love and you've got one hell of a start to an album. You'll find too, that the best part of the track or catchiest element is undoubtedly the beat provided by Stargate. He did wonders with @REALWIZKHALIFA's singles and this one should end up being just as successful. Don't overlook @esterdean's influence on the track, presumably on the writing credits. She's penned more than a few great tracks on her own.

In taking a look at the final tracklist of Talk That Talk, there's still an @AlexDaKid track, two more Stargate produced songs and a No ID beat in the mix. In other words, if you thought the first three tracks were good, there's a whole lot more where that came from. Talk That Talk drops on iTunes on November 21st and there's no word yet on when the track below will be a single, but you can bet it will eventually get the same airplay as Run This Town. Add her release to Drake, Yelawolf, Pac Div and you've got a absolutely stacked next couple weeks of releases. Strange timing? I think not...#BlackFriday

Rihanna feat Jay-Z - Talk That Talk (prod by Stargate)

|iTunes

Who Rocked it Better Chris Brown vs Tinie Tempah - Love Suicide

Tough call on this one as @chrisbrown first demo'd this track almost exactly a year ago. I wasn't very shy about my affinity for the track as I raved about it, going as far as making outlandish predictions like it could be regarded as the duet of the year. As the year went along, the duet never surfaced and I felt pretty privileged that I had gotten so much out of a track that never saw the light of day.

Fast forward a year where the UK's hottest US import, @TINIETEMPAH used CB's blueprint demo and stepped in alongside @esterdean to deliver a noteworthy final version of the Stargate produced track Love Suicide. The song surfaced on Tinie's latest release Disc-Overy that ended up going two times platinum in the UK.

If you held a gun to my head I'd give the nod to the original. I like the duet style hook over the solo hook by Ester Dean. The beat is a lot simpler on the demo version, which allows the vocals to shine, rather than listening to Tinie compete with the slightly faster paced beat with added percussion. Both solid renditions and you can call me soft for favoring the duet, but I gotta go with the original. You be the judge, Who Rocked it Better?

Ester Dean feat Chris Brown - Love Suicide (prod by Stargate)


Tinie Tempah feat Ester Dean - Love Suicide (prod by Stargate)

"Tell Your Girls You Leavin, I’ll Meet You in the Lobby, I’m So Cold Yeah I Need That Hot Toddy"

Woooow...all I gotta say is Polow you are a damn fool for this beat man. The subliminally bangin' bass that gives way to an upbeat, syncopated rhythm, which is just plain stupid and deserving of nothing short of a bow followed by some dap and a quick pound. The beat methodically bangs, but at times sidesteps, giving way to a little of @usherraymondiv's seductive harmony and eventually the show-stopping verse by Jiggaman. I don't wanna sound too cliche when I say this is as can't miss of a single as you can get, but damn, go ahead and try to poke some holes in this track...oh what's that? It's too awesome?? Yea that's wassup, this one goes balls deep and is subtly dark, yet undeniably sexy.

Like everything I over-analyze, let's get into the meaning of Hot Toddy for a cold minute. Answers.com defines it as "A drink consisting of whiskey, brandy, or other liquor mixed with hot water, sugar, and spices." Hmm...not too much of a stretch considering Hip Hop's affinity to the mystical wine with the water taken out, know as cognac to sophisticated folk and just Yak to anyone familiar with Hip Hop. After listening to Hov's verse a few times, at least he makes an attempt to tie the whole cognac reference to the song's underlying focus on women/sex...

I was born a God
I made myself a king
which means I downgraded to a human being
you was born a Goddess I made you my queen
which mean we upgraded to Louis the thirteen
Hot toddy her body like cognac

For all you uneducated greenhorns Remy > Henny with Courvoisier residing in between on most occasions, but clearly being dependent on age (VSOP vs VS), like anything alcohol related (age is good). The Louis the 13th referred to in the verse above is made by Remy Martin and sells for about $3000 a bottle and is made from 1200 eaux-de-vie, some more than a century in age, then aged in 100+ year old barrels or tiercons in its own cellar. In other words, good luck getting to taste this stuff, there's a great reason why rappers (who are some of the only people in world who can afford to drink it) talk about it.

Hot Toddy

Got a little derailed there on that cognac lesson, but I went through a phase where that was all I drank and let me tell you what...there is a direct correlation between drinking it and having fun...in more ways than one. Suggestive anecdotal personal evidence aside, I might be crazy enough to even mix some Hot Toddys when the temps start cooling down a bit...or at least until Usher's new Versus EP drops on August 24th...which by the way has at least four legit number #1 singles with this track, Stranger, his new single DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love and There Goes My Baby.

...til then this will continue to heat up my iPod and now Phone (yea thats wassup, ya boy finally stepped his game up i game up a bit becoming an i4 pilot). Feel free to bang this one out in the trunk or dance all freaky to it...or both?


Usher feat Jay-Z & Ester Dean - Hot Toddy (prod by Polow Da Don)
| Download

Duet of the Year? Ester Dean feat Chris Brown - Love Suicide (Prod. By Stargate)

This one has an eerily similar sound to his duet with Jordin Sparks on No Air, which was without question one of the top 3 duets in 2009. Exit Jordin, enter Ester Dean, aka a serious candidate for this year's version of Keri Hilson R&B breakout artist of the year. She's managing to get her hands on a lot of quality material lately, not just as an artist, but also as a producer. Me, I took a liking last month to her guest spot on Chris Brown's Big Things below..

Both Ester and CB's vocals mingle well on this track, with Ester doing her part on the verses before Chris comes in on the hook. Neither artist over-match each other tone wise, which is crucial in concocting an on point power ballad like the one at hand. A wise man once said that falling in love is the slowest and most inhumane way to commit suicide...and Ester seconds that notion, likening the act of breaking someone's heart seem in this instance like a deliberate act of murder against another person's emotion. High stakes analogies, great complimentary vocals and plenty of emotion = the ingredients for a successful ballad.

I'm not tryin' to gas you up by saying this will be regarded as one of the best ballads when it's all said in 2010...watch. With Chris Brown easing his way back into everyone's good graces (despite a recent blip recently where his lyrical subject matter drifted blatantly moving on from Rihanna), tracks like this will hopefully lead to him rounding back into form after an underwhelming effort with Graffiti. As usual, behind the scenes credit to the Norwegian Production duo Stargate, who continue to write and produce their way into more and more quality Pop/R&B tracks.

Proof is in the pudding and this one is gonna gain some traction on the radio...do yourself a favor and put it on repeat for a bit...

Ester Dean Ft. Chris Brown - Love Suicide (Prod. By Stargate)

Usher feat T.I. - Guilty (prod by Ester Dean)

T.I. is making it well known that he's out of jail this month, hopping on about every track imaginable. Maybe I downplayed how big of an impact his absence was going to be the last year cause for a sec there I forgot how much I liked his flavor of Hip Hop.

This one qualifies as more of a mid-tempo ballad, centering around the only thing Usher seems to sing about...cheating, being faithful or lack thereof. It's all good though Mr. Raymond we're all a little guilty of letting girls show us a little too much love...maybe not to the scale that you're used to, but still #gamerecognizegame. Usher...only you can talk about cheating and maintain an upbeat, happy tone. This may be the only non-single standout track other than the Jim Jonsin inspired slow jam Making Love (Into the Night) that caught my attention from his new album Raymond vs Raymond. That's not really a bad thing considering how many singles he's already released the past few months and I include his new club heat rock with Will I Am titled OMG that is gonna be lighting up dance floors soon and may ultimately end up being the best track on the album (even though in my opinion it's gotta be Lil Freak).

Give it a listen and be happy Atlanta is comin' strong for 2010....next up B.O.B's Adventures of Bobby Ray due out in a month...


Usher feat T.I. - Guilty (prod by Ester Dean) Hott Collabo!!!

New R&B August 13th

Man this new Sean Kingston album is starting to approach that classic level with songs like I'm at War, Face Drop, Why U Wanna Go, Fire Burning and now Wrap U Around Me.

Sean Kingston - Wrap U Around Me (prod by JR Rotem) Hotttttt!

While I'm at it, might as well sprinkle in a few new tracks the ladies drop it to in the club...

Livvi Franc feat Pitbull - I'm that Bitch (Remix) Ladies Anthem!!!

Ester Dean - Drop it Low (prod by Polow Da Don) Hott!!