What Would...the Music Be...Without Soundz?

It's been a while since I've been as awestruck by a track as I was on first listen of @KELLYROWLAND's new track Make Believe. There was just somethin' about the calm, steady tempo of the beat that drew me into Kelly's vocals. Then, at the 4:37, mark it all made sense when I heard the all to familiar "What would...the music be...without Soundz" that serves at the tag line for beatsmith @SoundzDope.

If you've read my blog before you've probably noticed me raving about the Soundz Kenneth Coby is capable of producing. As a quick catch up for all of you who are unfamiliar, he produced all of the tracks below:
Mario feat Rihanna - Emergency Room (prod by Soundz)

Red Cafe - Hottest in the Hood (prod by Soundz)

@dontaepeeps - Throw it All Away (prod by Soundz)

That Dontae track is still one of my favorite R&B ballads of all time. Dude brought his A game over the peaceful piano backdrop that Soundz provided. You may have heard @Akon do a demo version of Emergency Room with Rihanna too?

Now that you're familiar, give the track below a listen and tell me the beat isn't on point like @CP3. I'm finding it extremely hard to believe this didn't make the final tracklist of Kelly's new album Here I Am that will be hitting iTunes tomorrow. Put this together with Motivation and Commander...you'd have an album with three solid singles to go with a list of tracks produced by the best (Stargate, Jim Jonsin, Darkchild, The Runners, Ne-Yo, Tricky Stewart, RedOne). As an aside, look out for her new single feat @bigsean called Lay It On Me, which isn't nearly as good of a track as Make Believe, but who am I to pass judgment...#NotEvenTrippin

Average at best is my answer to Soundz tag line in regards to Make Believe. Feel free to left click, drag to newest iTunes playlist and hit that little button that looks like two arrows goin' in a circle...#ThatsRepeatForYouSlowKids

Kelly Rowland - Make Believe (prod by Soundz)

Bout Time Y'all Heard About Clams Casino

Known more as the right hand man for @LILBTHEBASEDGOD's when it comes to production, @clammyclams is starting to make a name for himself. I say that because he just dropped a highly acclaimed Instrumental Mixtape a few months back that really caught peoples' attention with out of this world, weird beats. As a sample, check out the fan made video for his Gorilla beat below...

Kinda trippy and mellow, which is a great intro to his mix of @xtothev's track Swervin. Clam's beat takes the track to another level as it manages to fit the lyrics and tempo much better than the original. No idea why the mellow remixes are in this week, but I'm a fan. And you should be too...

XV - Swervin (Clams Casino Remix)

WRIB: Wiz Khalifa - On My Level vs Tank - When it All Goes Down

Who Rocked It Better?

What's great about Jim Jonsin is that he doesn't necessarily look like what you'd expect from a producer who makes beats primarily for Hip Hop & R&B. From the signature top hat, to his affinity for racing cars, to his lumberjack-esque goatee, it's safe to say he's the new school Rick Rubin when it comes to passing the look test. Appearances aside, @iamjimjonsin makes some damn good beats...beats that artists covet and move charts like @liltunchi's Lollipop that caused his career to skyrocket.

On the topic of beats, there is a whole lotta behind the scenes demo-ing that the general populace is not privy to. Demo versions aside, it can be survival of the fittest when a new hot beat is offered up to two artists, like below when @TheRealTank went the R&B route, only for the beat to be flipped into a presumed album track, potential single by @realwizkhalifa & @tooshort. The beat is flexible in that it can be harmonized over and still fit, but when it comes to the better version, it's hard to vote against a slowed down, bass laden beat that caters presidential style to the methodic flows of Short Dawg and Wiz. You be the judge, give 'em both a listen and check the new video for the Hip Hop version below...

Wiz Khalifa feat Too Short - On My Level (prod by Jim Jonsin)

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Tank - When it All Goes Down (prod by Jim Jonsin)

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"I’m Coming Home, I'm Coming Home, Tell the World I’m Coming Home"

I have a ton to say about this track, I'm not even sure where to start but here goes...

First off, J Cole's version at the bottom is a reference track or demo, however you want to slice it, that is slated to be featured on Dirty Money's album Last Train to Paris. Cole's version of the track was nothing short than captivating from the quietly angelic piano lead in to the upbeat strings leading into the uplifting piano followed by the heavy clap of the beat that was supplemented with two verses that fit perfectly, all biscuits and gravy style with the mood of the track. I literally can't eloquently put words together that would do any kind of justice to how epically well done this track is when J Cole is rhyming over it. If I were to have one wish today it would be for @jcolenc to be able to wrestle this away from @iamdiddy, top off the track with another full verse and release it on Cole World due out Feb 11th. Check out J Cole's version below...

J Cole feat Skylar Grey - I'm Coming Home (prod by Alex da Kid)

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With all that being said, the Diddy track will be released by Dirty Money with the same beat by Alex Da Kid, background vocals by Skylar Grey and verses written by Jay-Z, but performed by Diddy.

To be fair I need to devote a whole paragraph to Da Kid named Alex who has found a way to elusively produce a few of my favorite tracks without getting the proper dap from me. The blame rests squarely on my shoulders Alex, hopefully I'll be able to increase your hype a bit by mentioning that you produced B.O.B.'s - Airplanes, Nikki Minaj's - Massive Attack, Rihanna feat Eminem - Love the Way You Lie Part 1 and the newly released Part 2.

Alex Da Kid

Honestly man, the best thing you could have done to market yourself and get my attention as a fan of well produced Hip Hip was to include that "Shhhhh! Alex Da Kid is Comin" before all of your tracks. Well done sir, because of that intro, I was able to piece together this track with Rihanna and Eminem's Love the Way You Lie Part II, which led me to research you and find out you're actually more bad ass than I had ever known. Please all you viewers at home, do yourself a favor and buy stock in him now by following him on Twitter at @AlexDaKid. Just like me, you don't wanna miss out on what he's doing next working with the likes of August and The Fray. Oh yea, betcha didn't know he was a Brit too...#LadiesLoveTheAccent...press play below...

Aside from actively searching out every future track done by Alex da Kid, I'm also a huge buyer of the vocal talents that @skylargrey brings. If the hook on I'm Coming Home doesn't sell you on her ability then you need to hand in your iPod and listen to the hook on I Love the Way You Lie, which she wrote and Rihanna performed. Even better she was just signed by Alex's company Wonderland Music, so they will be teaming up again soon to make more beautiful music. #HeadsUp

As an aside, it's no huge surprise Jay-Z penned Diddy's verses, which is something J Cole wouldn't need to have done because he can think up his own bars to match the track (as illustrated on the ref track). Connecting the pieces a step further, J Cole is signed to Jigga's Roc Nation label, making this whole Coming Home track's story make even more sense by helping answer the how did that all happen? question. I included both tracks below so you can be the judge, but it's beyond a no-brainer as far as which one is better. 

Give 'em a listen...

Dirty Money feat Diddy & Skylar Grey - Coming Home (prod by Alex da Kid)

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808 Check: Slim Thug - Murda (prod by Beanz n Kornbread)

No disrespected to Slim Thuggga, but this is the second time I've featured a Beanz n Kornbread produced track with the 808 check tag; thus, they deserve the image love above in an attempt to spotlight their continuing contributions to bassheads and beat aficionados around the globe. To say this beat bangs is like saying Jacory Harris is going to wake up a little sore tomorrow...

Daaaaammmnn dude got rooted into the earth, forget getting planted! Tough break, but feeding all these Florida, Texas (Baylor? really?) and Miami fans a steady diet of humble pie via college football this season has been fun to watch!

Anyways, this track embodies what Texas rap is supposed to embody, simple, but hard rhymes with a SLOW, LOUD and BANGIN' beat (SLAB). I'm a big fan of @slimthugga, but don't expect anything crazy lyrically, this track is like a pizza at the end of drunken night, tastes delicious when you're in the mood.

Press play if you're in the mood and give a follow to @beanznkornbread on Twitter while you're at it...

Slim Thug - Murda (prod by Beanz n Kornbread)

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New Artist Spotlight: Bei Maejor

"You can't concern yourself with standards when you're chasing greatness"

Late last year around November, I heard a track that caught my ear called Drunk in the Club...so much so that I still rock that joint to this day, which is unheard of with my on-to-the-next-one, promiscuous attitude toward music. Having that strong of a first impression has had me constantly on the look out for new stuff from Bei Maejor. Up until this month, he hadn't really released any noteworthy solo albums/mixtapes and he had been more well-known for his production, which was still top notch (especially the @diggy_simmons track Great Expectations). Finally this week Bei dropped a free mixtape on us titled Upside Down, which he has put on his website free to download here.

To be completely honest, I'm trying to be selective in who I follow on Twitter because the more people/artists/producers I follow, the easier it is to miss stuff on the feed. That's why I recently decided to follow @beimaejor, making him one of 18 people I follow on Twitter a good decision because everything he is touching lately sounds good and is blowing up. I like the fact that a lot of these really talented, young, up and coming producers (i.e. KaneBeatz, Boi-1da) are all sticking together and repping each other's work. Big reason why I take the time to shout all of them out, they all produce great music and deserve more credit for what they do in my opinion.

Before I get too far into my favorite tracks on his new mixtape, which is by far the best R&B mixtape I've heard since Kevin Cossum's Hook vs Bridge mixtape from last year, I'll be honest in saying it was initially hard to root for Bei. Talent and music aside, he is a graduate of Michigan and I've been brainwashed to dislike anything Michigan related since I went to Ohio State. By the way, #2 pre-season, how bout them apples?? It has helped that my best friend also went to Michigan, as well as his wife, so this won't be the first time I'll be making an exception for someone who graduated from the school up north. As an intro to Bei Meajor as a person, check the video below where he talks about the reason why he spells his name so crazy and how he started producing song for @treysongz while he was 18 and still in college.

Definitely comes off as a soft spoken dude, but he's clearly got a lot of ambition with the direction he's headed with his music, even wanting to work with Owl City. Below is the album cover for his new tape, Upside Down:

On the mixtape, Bei takes the first 4 songs to explain in storytelling detail the reason for titling it Upside Down. I'm not going to ruin it, but give a listen to Barbershop Talk, which has sort of a Biz Markie sound to it, while it tells a story similar to Biggie's Story to Tell. Add to that a slightly British accent and that's the best way I can explain it, but I thought of Biz on the delivery and Biggie a little bit with the way he went about explaining the whole predicament he ended up in with his girl and her....listen to the mixtape.

My personal favorite on the whole mixtape is the second track in the story called Kisses in the V.I.P.. The backbone of the track is a beautiful piano based slow jam that sets a perfect scene to describe a sexy encounter in the V.I.P. Seems like everyone has at least one PDA story to tell about in their life and this track is a perfect soundtrack for that memory. Overall I was impressed mostly with the production of the track as a whole by Bei, but it's also a track where he shows off some serious vocals. He also does a great job at building the drama and incorporating the story within the track while maintaining the beat, which isn't an easy thing to pull off. Check it out...

Bei Maejor - Kisses in the V.I.P.
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The second part of the album is filled with 9 tracks that are stand alone songs not having to do with the Upside Down story. While tracks like the video game inspired Gamez with Keri Hilson, Drinks on Me with Trey Songz and a great balled with Drake titled July, are going to get the majority of the attention, I was a bigger fan of two other tracks on the mixtape. The first being the Journey - Don't Stop Believin' inspired All Night. The sample is a little sped up, but it's definitely a good use of a well known piano sample. On this he takes more of a Hip Hop angle on the verses, but is able to incorporate a catchy R&B hook, giving a new sound to an old sample. I would have given the thumbs up on a Sample Justice here because he deviated from the sample and made it his own, but the original sound of the track is retained. Give it a listen...

Bei Maejor - All Night
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Toward the end, the mixtape ends with a bang as Bei collaborated with Canadian beat chemist, Boi-1da on Facelifts and Waterfalls. Lyrically it goes waaay more than skin deep wondering aloud why men encourage women to take their clothes off, yet look down on them for it and how the most beautiful women are usually the ones that keep tweaking their looks with things like facelifts. Found it provocative how he compared the social acceptableness of white people going crazy watching World Cup soccer to the negative connotation of how a ground of black people watching the NBA would be called ghetto. I can see where he's goin' with the point because white soccer fans can be stupid and act a fool watching soccer at times, but I don't think there's as big of a negative connotation surrounding watching basketball to warrant comparison...but that's neither here nor there because the song does a great job at bringing to light some things that socially and culturally don't make sense. Listen below...

Bei Maejor - Facelifts and Waterfalls (prod by Boi-1da)
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If you're in the mood for an upbeat, heartfelt love story that does a complete 180 at the end, in a almost so sad it's funny sort of way, give She Was (A Broken Love Story) a listen. I agree the story was artistic, extremely well told and easy to follow. Another great example of why artists that also produce are the ones that consistently put out the highest quality material.

Be on the look out for more Bei features on this blog as well as (hopefully) more solo material like the tracks on Upside Down. <----Last Chance to cop it!...

Bonus: An upbeat remix of his first single Drunk in the Club. Shouts out to Logan de Gaulle and @CLINTONSPARKS on the remix...

Bei Maejor feat Clinton Sparks - Drunk in the Club (Logan de Gaulle rmx) | Download

Electro-Funk Ninjas: Ratatat

Felt like I needed to get off the Drake tracks for at least a few days and throw a curveball your direction with a little bit of off the wall funk. Before you pass too much judgment for this being a far cry from Hip Hop, their is only a small degree of separation between the electro/funk/synth rhythms that the duo in question, Ratatat, is responsible for. Let's take a trip down memory lane for a minute, to when I was non-stop gushing about this new artist named Kid Cudi who was bringing a more than diverse flavor of Hip Hop that had not been heard before. Much of that was due to the New York duo consisting of guitarist Mike Stroud and bass/synth/producer E*Vax or Evan Mast.

The duo was responsible for producing two of my favorite tracks off Man on the Moon: The End of Day, Pursuit of Happiness and Alive (Nightmare). The use of uncharacteristically melancholy, trippy synthesizers over the loud clap of these two beats is epic. The beats on these two tracks matched Cudi's loner, psychedelic, vulnerable mood throughout the album and became two of the biggest reasons I will always regard Cudi's fist album as classic.

Producer guest spots aside, they released an album titled LP3 that gained lots of underground critical acclaim for being "highly danceable elctronica". After giving the album a listen, I agree with that statement and further than notion by blessing them with my closest comparison being to Daft Punk and Nine Inch Nails. Even Daft is a little more techno and less electro than Ratatat, but the electro feel is very Trent Reznor of NIN...I know, a lofty, but well deserved comparison IMO.

Which brings us to their new album titled LP4 that is supposed to drop in about a week and a half on June 8th. Feel free to stream the whole album here thanks to our friends over at NPR. As far as what tracks I like so far, hands down my favorite is Bare Feast, which is more of an marriage made in heaven between celtic and electronic music. For someone who has some Irish heritage in them, this is without a doubt worthy of praise as something that sounds completely different than any type of music you've ever heard.

Give it a listen...
Ratatat - Bare Feast (link taken down at request of XL Recordings). If you would like to preview this song and all of the other songs on their upcoming release, please go to NPR, which has the files available to stream.

Another track off LP4, Drugs is exactly what you'd envision when you think of drugs. Crazy, tripped out in your face synthesizers that take you on an intense high pitched journey. The pace is fast, it's upbeat and I can count at least 10 different beat elements throughout the track. Intensity pervades, craziness ensues, and you find yourself dancing...that's Drugs in a nutshell....

Ratatat - Drugs (link removed)...Preview track at NPR

For all the people out there expecting lyrics, sorry, today I let you down...but you gotta admit the style Ratatat brings is alarmingly fresh...c'mon admit it...

Producer Spotlight: Cory Bold

This post is going to be borderline difficult to pull off without cringing a little bit for me. There are very few things I hate sharing in the world...and I'm not just talking music wise, that's in life, I'm always asking friends to share in the same wanderlust for trying new things. Whether it be food related, vocabulary oriented (y'all know I like to find new ways to say the same shit, regardless of how corny it sounds), social scene related (hate goin' to the same place over and over) or even a new route to the same place you always go to that you never tried before because it would deviate from the comfort of the usual, that's my steez (please don't tell me you let Cha Cha tell you what's up). (Speaking of which, sad news with Guru of Gang Starr...get well soon goes out to one of the more inspirational MCs in Hip Hop history)

Taking what you now know from the paragraph above, you may be surprised why it would pain me to provide for y'all some of my Go-To remixes. When I say Go-To remixes, I mean those tracks that you know the audience (the club) will be familiar with, but they've been remixed so incredibly well that it you know even the wallflower in the corner is like "oh shit that's my jam, I gotta stop bein' myself for hot minute and cut a rug even though I look as coordinated as a grizzly bear on the dance floor". Every DJ has these remixes and most, like me, hold them sacred and only bring them out when you know you've got the audiences attention because these are the types of tracks the audience from the night before are searching limewire all day for to no avail after they heard it the night before and lost it.

Which brings me to Cory Bold, the 21 year old producer who is mainly a producer but also prides himself as being an aspiring songwriter and fitness advocate. His myspace clearly states that with his influence, "The Lines Between Music and Fitness Have Now Been Blurred". Having listened to a few of his remixes, his style comes predominantly from taking slower R&B and even Contemporary (see Maroon 5) tracks and making them into attention grabbing, synthesizer and bass driven anthems. The key phrase to pick out in that last sentence was attention grabbing, I don't know how else to eloquently describe his beats. They come off so crisp and contrast with the emotion laden tracks so well, it's like listening to a track in it's element or the way it was supposed to sound.

He truly is a magician when it comes to looping creative synth driven beats with heavy bass...he is to the digital keyboard as Timbaland is to digital percussion. Get what I'm sayin? As a taste, check out his hit with Letoya Luckett titled She Ain't Got Shit On Me...



The first time I heard that track it stuck to me like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth. Funny thing is, I never knew it was Cory Bold who produced it until about a year later when it all added up. I still regard this beat as his most noteworthy original creation with an artist to date, i.e. not counting the remixes.

...aaaahh yes the remixes, aka what plastered Cory all over my radar as one of the top young producers in the game. When I sit back and think about it, it has to be a challenge to try and tackle tracks that have become so entrenched into the contemporary radio audience because most people get so enamored with the way a track should sound because they are so used to it sounding that way. After my two paragraph long diatribe preaching individuality, you can see why I'd be one to support the latter and always be looking for more or a better sound to come from an already well done track. Usually I save the best for last, but I'll jump right in with my favorite remix done by Cory of Alicia Key's No One...

Alicia Keys - No One (Cory Bold remix) Hottt Remix!!!


The subtle but high pitched sparkling synthesizers augment the dramatic nature of the track and blend like rum and coke with the rolling percussion. Maybe I'm partial to the nostalgic feel of the track and craved a slightly more intense version...maybe I just love anything that involves Alicia Keys singing...either way this is one of my favorite remixes.

Coming in a very close second is a melodic, strings driven remix to Beyonce's If I Were a Boy. This one comes off as a little softer, harmonic and less in your face as the A Keys track. It's really hard to mess with crescendo of Beyonce's chorus combined with the ascending intensity of the beat. No doubt a good look...

Beyonce - If I Were a Boy (Cory Bold remix) Hooottt!!!


Finally, I would have been remiss if I didn't throw a 3-1 curveball at you with CB's attempt at one of Maroon 5's most well known singles Makes Me Wonder. This one comes off as more interesting considering the lack of proximity to Hip Hop/R&B. That's why I think it's one of his better efforts because it has to be hard to put a beat to a Pop track...and still make it sound good. He does that with his characteristically out of this universe sounding, high pitched synth throughout the track. Farthest from vanilla you can get on this post and very worthy of a listen...

Maroon 5 - Really Makes Me Wonder (Cory Bold remix) Hootttt!!!


To finish you knew I'd drop a new one on ya...and I'll admit when I first saw the studio video of Cory Bold creating this track with the Jackie Boyz I about fell out of my chair...then, after climbing back into my chair began a quest for the track as determined to get it as Tiger does waitresses Canada's hockey team was to winning gold. (How bout that by the way...it's never quite as fun when you're expected to win...you could just see the look of relief rather than joy on those guys' faces...shame how expectations can be detrimental sometimes). Anyways, I was able to find the track and it's without a doubt worth a listen since you don't get much underrated as the talented singer/songwriters the Jackie Boyz and Cory Bold producing.

Jackie Boyz - The Way You Love Me (prod by Cory Bold) Great Collab!!!


As a bonus, here's the in the studio look I was alluding to earlier where you can see the track being developed and brainstormed before it came to life.



Moral of the story - keep an ear out for Cory Bold since after listening to these samples, you should be able to pick out his sound in a crowd.