Jamaican born singer Popcaan is probably most recognisable for his feature on Jamie XX‘s stellar I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times). The summer track launched Popcaan into a new realm of fame, with the then relatively unknown artist garnering considerable critical and commercial support for his work on the track, as well as drawing attention from pop royalty Drake and Rihanna. On the back of all this success however, Popcaan has been busy creating his own music. Just yesterday, the dancehall artist dropped a new video for upcoming single Dem Wah Fi Know, due out on YVP Records later this month.
Produced by The FADER and directed by Focus Creeps, the film pairs the upbeat, joyous track with shots of Popcaan with his crew rolling through the streets of Portmore, his Jamaican hometown. The film also includes an opening and closing monologue of duppy spirits, or dark shadows- adding more depth to what could have been a typical hometown video.
Focus Creeps spoke to The FADER about his collaboration with Popcaan on the clip: “I had always been really moved by Popcaan as a sincere and uplifting songwriter, when I began thinking of ideas for this track, which is more paranoid in a street sense, I started thinking about how when you make an effort to do what’s good—to take risks, like Popcaan did—there’s always the dark stuff that you have to leave behind. The duppy mythology seemed like a perfect metaphor for the kind of confidence it takes for a Jamaican artist to rise up against the adversity, haters, and corruption that will always be an obstacle for those who put their faith and energy into something positive. This song is about keeping one eye on the look out towards that dark stuff you conquered but can always rise up to haunt you.”
While Popcaan’s music may not be for everybody, it’s clear with this video and the single coupled with it that he has definite prowess in his field. Check out the video below, and look out for the release of his single next month.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re_Cf37Kh5Y?list=PLPH2E2Ybj9J4R61mC266EQVnbetGFcVy4&w=560&h=315]
After having spent time collaborating with some of Australia’s best, Nicole Millar is now creating some pretty solid outputs herself- as seen here in the music video for single Wait. Directed by Voena (the Sydney creative team behind all those festival/gig photos you keep seeing), the video pairs some sweet hazy California daydream vibes with the emotionally rich nature of the track itself. Wait is Millar’s first official single by herself, a solid pop track that will likely widen her fan base- especially when paired with this clip.
Speaking of the creative process with Voena, Millar described how her long relationship with the collective made the choice to use them a natural one: “I’m always collecting images and coming up with visual ideas – a process which is really important to me. I created a mood board and sent it to Jack [Toohey, from Voena] with some ideas linked and he was keen to make this happen. I had a vision for a light box that I could perform on and use in the video clip as I wanted everything to be connected. The video clip was shot and organised within a week – it all happened so fast but that’s how Jack and I have always worked together. We like to do things very organically with a small crew and people that are passionate about the project. I’m so so excited to work on more videos, I hope you like this one as I’m really proud of it.”
The video serves complete justice to the track. The track itself explores a muted sensuality, and the video, through all it’s blue, pink and purple hues, emphasises the song’s sexuality even more so. It’s reminiscent of what we’ve been seeing from a few Hollywood acts in recent months (ie; Demi Lovato), but delivered in a more sincere, significantly less manufactured way. It’s a perfect match for the first single from someone whom I can only assume we will be hearing a lot more from.
Assuming this track will receive the radio play it deserves, it won’t be the first time we hear Millar on our streams. Her voice and co-writing skills were used on Peking Duk‘s festival anthem High, for which she received an ARIA award for best dance release. The award sounds even nicer considering the x3 triple platinum single she earned with Golden Features for Tell Me. It’s undeniable at this point that Millar is a force to be reckoned with.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXrrHv26-wI&w=560&h=315]
Terrence ‘Punch’ Henderson, the President of Top Dawg Entertainment believes Kendrick Lamar‘s 2012 album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, has set the bar for records today. During an interview with Elliot Wilson and Brian ‘B.Dot’ Miller on Rap Radar’s podcast, Henderson spoke about each member of the TDE collective, with a special focus on Kendrick, and his connection to Tupac.
“I think [Kendrick Lamar] really, really raised the bar high,” Punch said on the podcast. “We just playing for who [is] coming in second at this point. It’s not being biased because that’s my artist but before that album, out of all of the new guys, this album was almost a throwback to what we love about Hip Hop; the way the whole album was sewn together through a narrative to the beats to all the lyrics. Everything just linked and connected. It pretty much set the bar for classic records of today.”
The TDE president also touched on To Pimp A Butterfly‘s closer Mortal Man. The track features a back and forth like conversation between Lamar and Tupac Shakur. Lamar used an interview recorded in 1994, and added his own vocals to create the track.
“He got the [Tupac] interview overseas,” Punch said. “He played it for me before one of the shows. Just a little clip. I was like, ‘This is stupid right here. This is what’s gonna make it classic if you weave it in the proper way.” Henderson also spoke of the cautiousness he felt going into the track, which makes sense considering the hold Tupac still holds over the Hip-Hop game.
On Kendrick’s future career, Henderson detailed his hunger for Kendrick to grow, even suggesting that Kendrick could try his hand at acting in the future.
Check out the podcast below:
Vince Staples has once again set the Twitter world on fire, by denouncing the 90’s as a sub-standard era for rap. Pairing his opinions with some genuinely good points about the human condition, and how listeners typically gravitate towards music that best relates to their lifestyle, Staples vented his frustration at the credit the era receives.
In a new interview with TIME, Staples aired his frustration. “The ’90s get a lot of credit,” he said. “I don’t really know why… early 2000s is where its at.”
“Whatever you were watching or listening to when you were young is always going to be your favorite thing because it made you what you are today,” he said. “That’s always going to be something that you appreciate the most, so that’s everyone’s favorite era.” Staples was born in ’93, and says that Lil Bow Wow was the first hip-hop artist he ever listened to.
“Tupac and Biggie were the staples of the ’90s, I think that’s why the get the Golden Era credit. There’s not a 50 Cent in the ’90s. They didn’t even have a Kanye.” As is the norm for vocal artists such as he, the interview opened up a dialogue on social media, with even Tyler, The Creator retweeting a post from Staples in support. Not everyone agreed with these statements, however. Noreaga, for instance, took to Twitter to vent his frustrations, referring to Staples’ opinions as an “idiot statements” and retweeting many comments running in a similar vein to his own.
favorite rapper was bow wow I get it still a idiot statement from some one who we hardly know ya dues ain’t paid https://t.co/wyTcc5CemI
— N.O.R.E (@noreaga) October 28, 2015
However, as fans and peers alike jumped in, Noreaga was quick to diffuse the situation before it even really started.
I Am in no way judging him as a artist or person simply by that statement that is it
— N.O.R.E (@noreaga) October 28, 2015
I am not attacking the brother at all just the statements !! B
— N.O.R.E (@noreaga) October 28, 2015
Leave me outta this other bullshit y’all trying to create I spoke he spoke ended!!! Different opinions makes nobody enemies just different!
— N.O.R.E (@noreaga) October 28, 2015
Whether you agree with Noreaga or Staples, both of them have brought up some pretty valid points. Yes, Noreaga is right in reaffirming 90’s hip hop most definitely has its place, but Staples was speaking about his own experience and what is more important to him. Regardless, both the 90’s and the 00’s have produced amazing artists, why can’t we have both?
Vince Staples will be in Australia next year for St Jerome’s Laneway Festival and a couple of sideshows. Tickets are scarce, so jump on the remaining few NOW.
It’s only been a few months since Heems dropped his first solo studio album Eat Pray Thug, but it seems the rapper already has several upcoming projects in the works. Posting to Twitter last night, Heems claimed that his new album VEENA – which is named after and dedicated to his mother – is finished, with “two more mixtape/albums leading up to the big one,” featuring collaborations with Hudson Mohawke and Dev Hynes. This will mark his second collaboration with Dev Hynes, the pair having already worked together on stellar track Home.
The rapper went on to explain that he made the album during a period of two weeks while he was living at his family home, during which his father went to hospital and his mother ‘held it down’. Veena (his mum) will also be featured on the album.
This news comes after the announcement that Fox has purchased Heems’ story rights, meaning that there is a potential sitcom on the way. While in the past Heems has suggested that he may retire after Eat Pray Thug, with all these exciting things to come, it’s clear that the ex-Das Racist rapper still has more than a few tricks up his sleeve.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPWcIi2qHP4&w=560&h=315]
Trying to peg Charli XCX‘s sound as any particular genre or style is an increasingly difficult feat. With every release, she drops something drastically different from what came before, from her unreleased debut 14, which she once described as “fucking terrible Myspace music”, to the more commercially friendly True Romance (and lest we forget her collab with Iggy Azalea). Her most recent effort, Vroom Vroom, bumps the sass up a thousand notches, honing in that punk aesthetic she claims to have always been drawn to while also boasting the electronic expertise of London-based producer SOPHIE.
A bootlegged version of the track has been making the Internet rounds this past winter, as well as being featured in the singer’s live set on her American summer tour circuit. While the track had already been receiving some considerable acclaim from fans, the official version dropped this week, when Charli filled in for radio host Julie Adenuga on Apple Music’s Beats 1.
It’s not yet confirmed whether or not this track will appear on her upcoming third album. This past August, Charli cancelled the second leg of her tour with Bleachers in order to record said album, and if this song is any indication, the time off was most definitely worth it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKo6TqOJM6U&w=560&h=315]
Nick Cave was nominated for Best Male Artist at MTV’s Video Music Awards back in 1996. Rather than accept the nomination gracefully or even hope for a win, Cave took it upon himself to write a now infamous letter to the program requesting to withdraw from the awards ceremony. “My muse is not a horse,” he wrote, “and I am in no horse race.”
Fast forward to 2015, and Australian pop royalty Kylie Minogue has read the letter as part of a video series put together by Letters Live, the live show spinoff from literary correspondence website Letters of Note. Minogue and Cave famously dated, and the song he was nominated for was their duet – Where The Wild Roses grow, from the 1996 album Murder Ballads.
Watching Minogue try not to smirk as she reads Cave’s deepest quotes is a joy in itself. “I have always been of the opinion that my music is unique and individual, and exists beyond the realms inhabited by those reduce things to mere measuring. I am in competition with no one.”
Coming from Minogue the letter reads as comical, but it makes more sense if you imagine Cave sitting down and writing it in irreverent rage that MTV would even consider bestowing him with such an embarrassing title like best male artist. It kind of makes you wonder what would have happened if Cave was nominated today… I can imagine Nick Cave reading Miley for filth Minaj-style.
Check out the video below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-2SElzoZeI&w=560&h=315]
The Weeknd is taking a leaf out of Foals and Jack White‘s books, delving into the world of 360 degree interactive technology with the new video for the Eminem-featuring remix of his whopper hit The Hills. A collaboration with Apple Music and GoPro, the video allows the viewer to take control of their experience by rotating the video using the A/S/W/D keys or their mouse, enabling a multi-angled view of the video.
This video shares similarities with The Hills‘ original clip, showing the singer walking out of a building and parking lot, leaving a burning car ahead of him. Flaming meteors are also raining down around him – you can play around with the angles to get a better view. As the video progresses starts to get weird, with large flaming phoenixes pouring out of a car – symbolic for something, probably.
The short clip falls just under the two minute mark, just long enough for Eminem’s heavy-hitting first verse.
https://twitter.com/theweeknd/status/653673994240004100
The remix splashed onto the scene last week, adding even more gusto to the chart-dominating hit (it’s currently in its fifth week at the top of the Billboard charts). As well as the Eminem remix came a stunning redux from Nicki Minaj, which once again reinstated the fact that her rap skills are unparalleled, and something we’ll hopefully here more of in the future.
Check out the weird but wonderful video below, and the track in full:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fhjdtQDcOo&w=560&h=315]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqfJ8PfVSHA&w=420&h=315]
Earlier this week, Jamie Hewlett hinted that there was a album in the works from his English virtual band, Gorillaz. The album, slated for release in early 2016 would mark their first release since their fourth album The Fall, in 2011.
The other man behind the project, Damon Albarn, confirmed it’s impending release, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, ‘That’s next year. I’m working on it at the moment, and it’s going very well. I’m very excited’.
While the project is still very much in it’s early stages, Albarn shed some light on what we can expect to hear from from the album, stating that ‘So far, it’s really fast, and it’s got quite a lot of energy, I’ve been stuck on piano, somewhere off Broadway, for years now. I want to go somewhere completely opposite of that.’
While he could only give readers a brief insight into the album, as Gorillaz records are always filled with guest collaboraters, Albarn gave his opinion on some of the biggest names in the music industry. He dubbed Kanye West ‘unique’, T-Swift ‘remarkable, but not unique’, and Drake ‘not as consistent as he could be’. His biggest compliments were reserved for Future, with him stating that the Atlanta rapper was, ‘really interesting, and sometimes exhilarating’.
While there is no set date for release, we’ll most likely be able to hear a new, ‘reactivated’ version of the Gorillaz in 2016!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Qp38qT-xI&w=420&h=315]