Fellow Ice Cream Eaters Welcome To The Blog About Any & Everything
Monday, 5 December 2011
As you may have noticed I haven't blogged in ages, which is very, very bad!
I will return to my blogging mission in a few weeks, I've got so much to say and I wish you could see how much work I have saved to draft which I haven't posted.
Over the Christmas period I shall be blogging as much as I once was, and letting you all know what I've been up to; until then Keep Calm and Merry On x
Now I don't know a lot about Frank Ocean and Odd Future, but what I do know is this mixtape is a great starting point for Mr. Ocean's career.
What I won't say is that Frank Ocean is original because every artist draws influence from someone but Ocean's music is very refreshing and if he makes all the right moves he'll definitely be one of the heavy hitters before 2011's over.
Nostalgia/ULTRA is a good mixtape because it's just good music, he has original tracks and he has taken samples from some unlikely tunes but he's made it work. I can't say that I can relate to everything he is singing about but it's that raw realness that makes this mixtape a good'un. My hopes for Frank Ocean is that he continues to stay on this high, release more music and don't change for the sake of making an album that can appeal to all because that's not what it's about.
Favourites on this mixtape are 'Nature Feels', 'We All Try' and the song below 'Swim Good'.
I recently caught up with Chipmunk at the Mercy Prize Awards, and he's revealed that he will be changing his to Chip.
The Champion rapper who is currently taking a break from recording music has said he has decided to shorten his stage name, and knock off the ‘munk’.
When asked what he planned to change his name to, he said, ‘It would only be Chip. If I do it will just be Chip.’
This is a tried and tested method in hip-hop with several rappers choosing to change their names to represent growth, or to purely stay relevant.
The likes of pint size rapper Lil Bow Wow, got rid of the ‘Lil’ in 2003. Southern rapper T.I. seems to have trouble deciding whether to remain as T.I. or to be TIP. Biggie Smalls ended up becoming The Notorious BIG.
But no-one has been more back and forth in the name changing game than mogul Sean Combs. He went from Puff Daddy to Puffy, then it was P. Diddy, and now it’s just Diddy.
Perhaps one day Chip, formerly known as Chipmunk will just be known as C.
This post isdedicated to my little Sister - HappyBirthday!
I've gotta admit I'm quite pleased with myself with this edition of 'Fresh From The Editing Suite'.
It's like playing 6 degrees of seperation, the only artist who's missing from this is Beyonce.
Rihanna - Cheers
Although I do believe these are the laziest type of videos an artists can make I love them. Nothing beats seeing behind the scenes footage of all that goes on when these stars are on the road, especially when you're actually interested in what they get up to. 'Cheers' is yet another release from Rihanna's Loud album, and the video documents all she's been up to in the last few months. The video also shows her sporting her new hairstyle and colour which I'm really feeling; finally the red is dead and buried.
Nicki Minaj - Fly (feat. Rihanna)
Once upon a time I was a massive Nicki Minaj fan but since her "fashion" sense upgraded to crazy I've switched off. In this video she does well to rock a couple crazy looks, none of which help to put across the potentially inspiring story behind this song. The video isn't really anything special, and I'm really struggling to understand the bit when she goes all ninja on some dudes. And am I the only one who thinks the video was located on the exact same set as Chris Brown's video 'Next To You'; very coincidental.
Lil' Wayne - How To Love
So Tha Carter 4 is here. Anyway. Yeah the hype around Weezy is pretty much gone, and 'How To Love' isn't exactly the best song to use to try to resuscitate the hype. I know it's meant to be one of those deep tracks that make you think but I want a song I can dance to man. The story in the video good but it's been done before, that's not to say that any video treatments nowadays are unique but it could've been done in a refreshing way.
Jay Z & Kanye West - Otis
Ok, my hands are up, I was not excited about Jay & Kanye getting together to make an album because their bromance is a tad bit annoying. But it'd be rude not to appreciate the great music that they make when they hit the studio. 'Otis' unlike 'H.A.M.' is very enticing to the ear and also typical Kanye, and the added element of Jay Z makes it that much better. The video's fun to watch, like who doesn't want to see rappers "discreetly" show off how much money they have by making a video that doesn't have a lot to it.
J. Cole - Work Out
'Work Out' is definitely my favourite song in this bunch, what should I say about the brilliance that is J. Cole? Maybe I'll just start by saying he has smacked it, this is the feel good song of the summer (even though it's more or less over), this track makes going back to the office that bit more bearable, and it 100% gets you ready for the weekend. The video to accompany the track is pretty standard for Cole, not too much going on but you still wanna watch it to see what goes down. Looking forward to the album, which I shall be pre-ordering...COLE WORLD!!
And just in case you missed my six degrees of separation let me break it down for you:
Rihanna obviously features on Nicki Minaj's track, Nicki's part of Young Money which is Lil' Wayne's clique, Wayne and Jay Z have collaborated on tracks together and are the Mr. Carters, and then finally J. Cole was the first artist to be signed to Jay Z's label Roc Nation #SICK
Beyonce's done it again! No - not made an album full of monster hits, from which every single is destined for the top spot (that's the norm for this lady). What she done last night was even bigger...
She's announced that her and her husband (Jay Z - for those of you who might not have heard of him) are expecting their first child. Now we all know that bigger than two mega-celebrities getting hitched is two mega-celebrities breeding mini-mega-celebs...Shear madness!!
This is really exciting because Beyonce seemed like one of those women who really wasn't trying to get involved in all the baby-making. In fact, I recall her once saying she wasn't going to have children after witnessing the birth of her nephew. However, I guess it was one of those things you say when you don't see it happening, but boy is it all unfolding now.
More exciting than that is it seems that with the release of her current album, Beyonce's been keen to show us that she is actually a human (not the robot diva I once thought she was). Since the release of '4' we've seen her cry on stage, speak openly about her relationshipb with Jay Z, and she even said "I love me some Jay Z". Also we've seen alot more skin and less of those granny type skin colour tights that she loves. But yes, in proving that she's human having a baby pretty much tops the list.
In closing, I can't wait to see who's features the baby adopts, and more nail biting what are they gonna have? A boy? A girl? Twins...I'm thinking twins, one boy and one girl...On a serious note, I do wish the couple all the best at this glorious time.
Peep her latest video, which I have to say is probably my favourite Beyonce video yet, because I love the visuals:
Beyonce - 1+1
(I guess 1+1 = Baby - sorry I had to *covers face*)
10 years ago, singer Aaliyah died in a plane crash, and as untimely as her death was she left this world with the greatest gift ever - her music. Although it's been a decade, Aaliyah definitely made music which has stood the test of time, and still has the power to stop and make you pay attention. She was/is probably the coolest R&B singer, and she brought her effortless swagger to every single song.
Below are some videos that Aaliyah graced the world with before her life was tragically cut short. With this post I'm not only paying my respects to Aaliyah, but I'm also saying 'Rest In Peace' to pilot Luis Morales III, hair stylist Eric Forman, Anthony Dodd, security guard Scott Gallin, video producer Douglas Kratz, stylist Christopher Maldonado, and Blackground Records employees Keith Wallace and Gina Smith who all lost their lives on August, 25th 2001 - R.I.P. Aaliyah (January 16, 1979 - August 25, 2001).
Obviously I do not like this song and I'm seriously losing rspect for Jessie J as an artist.
Ofcourse I'm proud of Jessie J for breaking into the industry the way she did but I really don't think the tracks she's chosen to release really show her true potential. Like I've said, I understand that everyone needs an image to base their talent on but I think Jessie J needs to tone it down. The message behind this song could've been done in a better way. Simples.
Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think x
It's a sad day in the world of entertainment as we have lost a very bright star; Amy Winehouse, 27, sadly passed away today. Although official reports are yet to confirm the cause of death, it has to be said that only a hand few can say, 'they didn't see this coming.' The news of Winehouse's death has come as a shock, but at the same time it was only a matter of time before either she (seriously) admitted herself into rehab or died.
Nonetheless, the girl could sing, she was a delight to watch perform, and amongst all a real person. She'll be missed by many, and I really hope she recorded enough music before her untimely death, which will help her undeniable talent live on - R.I.P. Amy Winehouse (14th September, 1983 - 23rd July, 2011).
The song below was taken from her debut album, Frank and will always be my favourite song by her:
As you may have realised I haven't been uploading posts as regularly as I used to, and it's mainly because I've been busy. I've been really busy - mostly celebrating uni being over; no I'm joking, I've been interning at more! magazine. So far it's been great but this week it become amazing...
Yeah...I Didn't Quite Make It To The Front Cover
So you're probably thinking, "if you're not on the front cover where are you?" Of course you're not thinking that, because that would be mean. I got a by-line, and not once but twice *happy dance* If you turn to page 99, you'll see my beauty reiew on some of the hottest products available in our high street stores. Then move back a couple more pages, to page 56 and you should be viewing a feature entitled 'Where are the WORLD'S HOTTEST MEN?' I was lucky enough to interview 26 year old model, Fabrice Essomba from France, who unknown to him granted me a by-line.
Then tonight (as if I had gotten over the excitement of my by-line in more!) I got word that a feature I wrote whilst interning at Catch 22 had been published. 'The Invisibles' is to date the most challenging feature I have written and I almost cried when I saw it on the page. Please take your time to flick through the magzine which I have embedded below, as it has a host of great young writers within it's content.
Also something I should've blogged about ages ago, was a gig my wonderful mentor DeeDee Doke got me. Last month I was invited to the Recriter Awards and asked to tweet about the event. This night was one of my first industry events and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Tweeting about the ceremony also handed me a by-line, which appeared in the magazine and ONLINE.
