TheUrbanian.com

What Damon Albarn Needs to Do Now

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:39:25 +0000

With Plastic Beach now officially out there, drones of people are now swimming in some of the most well-crafted, creative, and unique music ever compiled.

With the third installment in the Gorillaz franchise, Damon Albarn has really shown his worth to the development and creative possibilities in music. From his alt-rock beginnings with Blur, to his work under the Gorillaz name, Albarn’s impact on music has been made. It’s surprising that Albarn’s name still appears in the shadows of Radiohead’s frontman, Thom Yorke.

What’s really interesting about Albarn and his music, is he’s far from the “mainstream” tag. Even with that, he’s still managed to produce a song that managed to fall into that category. With Blur, Song 2 managed to blow up due to the “woo hoo” chorus, and its beaming popularity at sporting events. The first Gorillaz album saw Clint Eastwood get major play, and the second saw Feel Good Inc get major play.

Plastic Beach is essentially a whole different kind of sound when compared to the previous Gorillaz albums. It’s the farthest from the mainstream and radio-friendly sound of all three albums. The new album is the most experimental out of the trilogy, as it seems Albarn strayed from anything close to a song like Clint Eastwood or Feel Good Inc that could get radio play. There’s still those catchy pop tunes present, just not radio-catchy pop tunes. What’s really interesting is that Beach brings in the most mainstream guest spots out of all three albums.

Albarn enlisted the help of people like Mos Def, Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, and De La Soul for this new album. All of those names are very familiar names to the general music listener. The fact this far-from mainstream album enlists the help of mainstream acts makes the album even better.

With this ridiculously good album now done, there’s recent news that Albarn will now begin work on a solo album under the name Prince Berry. That’s fine, but there’s something Albarn could do that could be a “game-changer.”

Imagine a Gorillaz album with guest spots from some of the biggest names in the industry. Just the thought of a Gorillaz song with Kanye West makes me all tingly inside. There are a lot of artists I’d like to see Albarn work with. I think Brandon Flowers from The Killers would be a good match. Others I’d like to see are: Kid Cudi, MGMT, K-Os, Lupe Fiasco, Thom Yorke, Pharrell, Jay Electronica, and The Black Keys.

An album chock-full of names everyone is familiar with would make for one of the most epic albums of all time. Everything behind is the Gorillaz is so intriguing, I’m sure a lot of these artists would love to do something Albarn. Mos Def even said himself that Albarn played him all sorts of beats and Mos wanted them all. Albarn really wouldn’t have a problem recruiting people like the ones I listed to work together.

I need to end this post now because I’m getting too excited thinking about this possibility.

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You can contact Brad at brad@theurbanian.com or follow him on Twitter.

B.o.B. – Nothing on You [Official Video]

Kenny — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:41:07 +0000

Well, he’s finally made it, and rightfully so. Urbanian favorite and double personality’d Bobby Ray a.k.a. B.o.B. has penetrated the mainstream with his hit single ‘Nothing on You’. So what better way to celebrate it than throw down a superb video for it soon following. Side note, big props to Bruno Mars on the hook in Nothing on You he came from virtually no where and made his big debut count. Enjoy.

Lindsay Lohan Sues E-Trade for Baby Doppelganger

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:46:07 +0000

On February 7th, 2010 the Lohan family was gathered around the tube for an eventful Superbowl Sunday, domestic disputes, and drug use. Dina Lohan had made a hellacious tray of hour d’vours as usual while Mike, as usual, pestered Lindsay about drugs and sex. After having heard enough psycho-babble from her Dad, Linds went to the bathroom and came back in right as E-Trade’s notorious cute-talking-baby Superbowl commercial came on.

Cute talking baby, check. E-Trade investment information, check. Milk-a-holic cohort baby named Lindsay, che–wait, what? Lindsay’s heart sank, she collapsed in the living room. Her Blackberry detonated in her purse, quickly overflowing with messages from her lawyer Stephanie Ovadia confirming that that the baby was in fact, a depiction of Lindsay herself, a milk-a-holic. It had to be.

“They used the name Lindsay,” Ovadia said. “They’re using her name as a parody of her life. Why didn’t they use the name Susan? This is a subliminal message. Everybody’s talking about it and saying it’s Lindsay Lohan. Ovadia also affirmed the actress has the same single-name recognition as Oprah or Madonna.

However, after a little dumpster diving on the Internet we’ve learned that less than 200 people per year are named Madonna. In fact, 1 in 12,500 people in America are named Madonna and 1 in 2,400 people are named Lindsay. So statistically speaking, all the other coke-head Lindsay’s can snort a line of relief as America’s favorite ginger teen-starlet of yesteryear takes the heat on this one.

Alright, so maybe the family room game watching scenario was a little contrived, but nonetheless, it could have happened! Because this isn’t a joke. All of the aforementioned quotes from Ovedia, Lohan’s lawyer, are in fact true. Lindsay Lohan is suing E-Trade for $100 million in damages. $50 million in exemplary damages, and $50 million in compensatory. Lohan’s crackpot lawyer claims E-Trade did not seek Lindsay’s approval for the usage and characterization, and in doing so should be punished. To the tune of $100 million.

Silly yes. Absolutely fucking ridiculous, certainly. Shocking, well, not really. Given the fact that Lohan’s career is circling the drain as we know it, what better way to stir up some press then suing over someone using the name Lindsay in a negative light? E-Trade hasn’t announced an official response yet, rightfully so, they’ve probably all taken a day off to celebrate some easy P.R. and high-five the marketing rep for having chose Lindsay as the name for the milk-a-holic.

Contact Kenneth, the author of this post, at k@theurbanian.com or @kennygw on Twitter.

Our Oscar Wrap-Up

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:32:54 +0000

The most famous never-ending award show, The Oscars, was held last night, and of course it left the world with many things to talk about.

A surprise visit by Neil Patrick Harris to kick things off was pretty awesome. Once he left though, it went rather dismal. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin failed to live up to the hype and were just not funny. Most of their opening monologue was more awkward than funny. And it wasn’t the funny kind of awkward.

Finally those two disappeared and we were hit with the first award of the night. Christoph Waltz took home Best Supporting Actor. He was the most deserving winner of any category and definitely put out the best performance of 2009 out of anybody.

Then, the show went into a whirlwind of awards nobody cares about. However, something happened during the Best Short Documentary award presentation, which is being referred to as the “Oscars Kanye Moment.” When Music By Prudence was named the winner, Director Roger Ross Williams hurried to the stage to start his acceptance speech. A few sentences in, a lady comes out of nowhere and starts talking. Williams just stood there trying to hide his anger while everyone in the audience had WTF expressions on their faces. Salon.com has interviews with both people, where they each give their side of the story. Turns out they each had different creative direction for the film.

Another well-deserved win came for Michael Giacchino when he took home Best Original Score for Up. Those who watch Lost are well-familiar with Giacchino and his mastery of beautifully simplistic scores.

Sandra Bullock took home Best Female in a Lead Role. This win for her seemed more like a “you’ve-paid-your-dues” victory. It’d would have made for a better story if Gabourey Sidibe won.

Coming into the ceremony a lot of people saw it as a race between The Hurt Locker and Avatar. The competition was even more highlighted due to the fact the two directors, James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, used to be married (and boy has Cameron downgraded since then). Whoever won, it would just be a big “fuck you” to the other.

Avatar’s lack of a story seemed to end up being a problem as the momentum of The Hurt Locker’s strong plot seemed to carry it through the awards. The movie ended up winning six of the nine nominations it had. This of course, gave Bigelow the last laugh.

Bigelow’s win in Best Director made her the first woman to win the award. Although it’s kind of crazy a woman has yet to win the award, you can’t help but wonder if it was a “political win” for Bigelow.

Personally, I felt like Inglourious Basterds was the best film of the year, but I knew it would have been snubbed from everything except Supporting Actor. The film is so historically incorrect, it’s a stretch that voters would have cast their vote for it. I previously said Bigelow’s win might have been a political move because Quentin Taratino may have truly deserved it. But with one of the strongest directed films by a woman in a long time, the Academy may have felt they better finally give the award to a woman.

Overall, the show was extremely boring. The attempts to better draw young crowd by having the likes of Miley Cyrus and Kristen Stewart present totally failed. Cyrus messed up her lines and Stewart looked as cracked out as ever. Then during the horror film tribute they showed a shot from Twilight. Uh…

The show was exceeding airtime so did manage to end in hilarity. Tom Hanks basically sprinted out on stage, yelled that Hurt Locker won Best Picture, and then the credits rolled. It was extremely awkward, therefore providing more laughs than Baldwin and Martin provided all night.

One final note: Sacha Baron Cohen was a candidate to host the ceremony the Academy decided against it in fear of Cohen being too wild and out of control. Cohen was also set as a presenter and they decided against his presentation plan at the last minute and Cohen removed himself from the show. If the Academy really wants to bring in viewers, it’d be by letting Cohen host. It would be phenomenal.

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You can contact Brad at brad@theurbanian.com or follow him on Twitter.

Mixtape Monday: The Crowd Control Tour Edition

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:45:30 +0000

Due to our involvement in The Crowd Control tour, which it makes two stops this week in Michigan, this week’s Mixtape Monday involves mixtapes from the artists on the bill.

First up is 88 Keys’ Adam’s Case Files. This mixtape was a prelude to his album, The Death of Adam. The mixtape features guest spots from Kid Cudi, Guilty Simpson, Mr. Bentley and Izza Kizza.

Listen to Wasting My Minutes ft. Kid Cudi and download the tape.

Next up is Kidz in the Hall, which is the duo of Naledge and Double-O. These two guys are a couple of the most slept-on hip-hop artists. Their songs on The Professional Leisure Tour are some of the freshest songs to come into the genre, yet they still haven’t made the impact that they deserve. What’s really great about this mixtape is that its less of a mixtape, and more of a free album. Everything on here is original, and an amazing prelude to their album, Land of Make Believe, which drops tomorrow (March 9).

Listen to Jukebox and download the tape.

Finally, we arrive to Izza Kizza. We’ve highlighted The Wizard of Iz before, but frankly, this mixtape is so good it really deserves a second push anyway. One of the reasons to really love this mixtape is because it has a classic hip-hop feel to it. Izza Kizza’s flow is strong, and the production outstanding. It also features guest spots from Lil’ Wayne, Colin Munroe, David Banner, and Birdman.

Listen to It’s Goin Down ft. Lil’ Wayne & Birdman and download the tape.

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Please note: we understand Donnis is a part of this tour, however he will not be performing the Michigan dates due to prior scheduling before this tour was put together. ~@bkmacdonald

Kidz in the Hall Ticket Giveaway

Kenny — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:03:28 +0000

That’s right, Kidz in the Hall, 88 Keys, and Izza Kizza are stopping in Pontiac at the Crofoot on March 11th for a night filled of top-notch hip hop music. The best part of it all is that admission is only $12 Pre-sale or $15 the day of.

And who says you’d have to? We’ve got a spot on the guest list for you and a friend. To enter the giveaway it simply takes following us on twitter @the_urbanian, and clicking below to retweet this story:

RT @the_urbanian Kidz in the Hall Ticket Giveaway @thecrofoot Thursday Mar. 11 http://bit.ly/bblXc1

By doing so, you’re automatically entered, and on Wednesday the 10th at 6 p.m. EST, we’ll announce the winner via Twitter.

The Crofoot is located at:

250 West Pike Street
Pontiac, MI 48341-1751
(248) 451-7930

Mateo is R&B Redefined, Remarkably

Kenny — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:24:54 +0000

Amidst the crowded cloud that is R&B music, floats Mateo, gracefully above most with an avante-garde approach to the genre that lately, we’ve all struggled to love. As the paradigm for great R&B is continually spiraling into relative obscurity, Mateo has been knocking out covers of everyday favorites and force-feeding them some soul treatment. Brace your iTunes for some goodness.

After graduating with a double major in finance and music, the Morehouse College grad was faced with the oft post-grad dilemma of sustainability verses passion. After applying for an internship at a Boston Consulting group he was interviewed by none other than rhythm and blues sensation John Legend, we couldn’t make that up. Oh and and by interviewed, we mean that John Legend was also working as a consultant prior to his music career. One hell of a coincidence? Definitely.

So after closing the door on the orthodox desk-job lifestyle, Mateo dove head first into a budding music career without looking back. What started in a modest Brooklyn studio, turned into a cross-country move to L.A., and blossomed into a word-of-mouth music sensation. Having already released a slew of mix tapes, and partnered with the likes of mixmaster Mick Boogie, the proverbial wheels were in motion.

“Man, What if I suck?”, that was Mateo’s first response when asked when he’d start performing live shows. However, after a steller first performance in Hollywood, the lingering doubt was gone, and in was a fledgling phenomenal live artist. Unknowing listeners latched on to Mateo’s crisp sound, not to mention his clever approach to production. Mixing piano, acoustics, and a dab of pop Mateo has covered the likes of GaGa’s infamous Bad Romance, the heavily disputed mainstream hit Forever, and even Kings of Leon.

With covers spanning the gamut of a veritable who’s who list of mainstream hits, you’ll be hard up not finding a Mateo track you’ll love. Listen and love. So pick up his latest single Complicated from iTunes, Fan him on Facebook, and add some unheard goodness to your music archive.

Mateo – Bad Romance (GaGa Cover)

Mateo – Empire State of Mind (Jay Z / Keys cover)

Mateo – Forever

Mateo – Get to Know Me

Mateo – Complicated single [iTunes]

Mateo – Get to Know Me (Live at Swing House) [iTunes]

Mateo – Underneath the Sky Ch. 3 [FULL DOWNLOAD]

Mateo – Making My Space [FULL DOWNLOAD]

Contact Kenneth, the author of this post, at k@theurbanian.com or @kennygw on Twitter.

Quality vs. Quantity in Hip-Hop Music

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:35:49 +0000

Despite a couple delays in sentencing, Lil’ Wayne is destined for jail time. With this inevitability, Lil’ Wayne has been cramming in as much music production as possible. A plethora of songs and videos have been made within a tiny span of time. He’s definitely putting in a lot of work, but is it necessary? Or better yet, is it smart?

It was highly publicized that Wayne would be shooting seven videos in one night. And who knows how many songs he has recorded for the time he is away. Expected jail time is one year, so it’s no surprise someone who would be disappearing for a year, would want to pump out as much material as possible so people wouldn’t forget them. However, Wayne is one of the most popular juggernauts in all of music. Even if there was no music of his to leak while he’s gone, people are not going to forget him.

What Wayne should have done is not rush through the music-making process at all. He could have used prison as a great way to explore creativity and as a time for self-reflection. One could even argue that more hype would have surrounded Tha Carter IV if he did in fact wait until after prison to begin work on it. But, I can’t blame him. Artists like Wayne who pump out music as quickly as possible are the result of the listener. For every good song Wayne has, he has three horrible ones. And the listener could be to blame for this.

“Drop albums non-stop once a year for my fans’ sake” – Ludacris

Ludacris managed to throw down one of the truest statements ever in his song, Number One Spot. Ludacris was easily a fan favorite in the first half of the previous decade as he was dropping an album once a year. Between 2000 and 2006, Ludacris dropped an album every year. He had four solo albums and two collaborative albums. Ludacris eyed that number one spot because he knew what the fans wanted and needed: the constant dropping of music. Ludacris now drops albums every couple years, and has seen a decline in popularity because of it.

Most hip-hop fans now appear to be impatient and needy. We’ve seen a rise in mixtape popularity due to this. A rapper’s career now lives and dies with how much music they are able to release. Even sometimes that’s not even enough. As fans grow weary as they wait for an album, they’ll need a couple CDQ album leaks to tide them over and keep their interest. This problem is not only affecting rappers, but the blogs as well.

Hip-hop blogs, such as 2dopeboyz, almost seem to throw anything and everything on their sites. Do hip-hop fans really need 10 B.o.B interviews a day? There’s no possible way everyone’s favorite two dope boyz listen to and watch everything they post. They even admit to it sometimes on the post. What makes it worst is that the good things they actually do post becomes buried so quickly. The idea of a good blog has simply become a copy-and-paste world where you don’t even have to listen to the product you are promoting. The listener needs a never-ending supply of music, so the more you post, the more popular you are.

The best commentary to deal with issue is on the new Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach. It’s been a whole five years since Damon Albarn and his cartoon band’s last album, Demon Days. During the span, Albarn did spend some time on other projects, but also spent a considerable amount of time crafting the third Gorillaz album. Now, one can argue how Albarn has been heavily involved in the evolution of hip-hop music, despite not being a hip-hop artist himself.

The song, Superfast Jellyfish, is the perfect atonement to the problem that is lack of quality in hip-hop and music in general. The song plays out as a catchy jingle for an instant breakfast. Like we’ve always been told, breakfast is the most important and essential meal of the day, much like how music is important and essential for the majority of us. As much as we believe that the idea of an instant meal is the most beneficial for us in today’s fast-paced society, it’s just not as good as a well-thought out and planned breakfast. Even the name of the album can play into the theory of hurried music being played off as quality. A beach is a paradise, however a plastic beach is just fake and a letdown of what could have been.

Sure, one could bring up the fact that the Beatles were releasing an album or two every year back in the 1960s. What you have to keep in mind is a lot of what they were putting out were covers, and a lot of the songs were just around two minutes in length. And just like any band that produces a lot of songs, they have a lot of throwaway songs. Imagine how a couple of their albums could have been even stronger if they were merged together with selected tracks. And, keep in mind their most notorious albums do have at least year apart from one another.

Quantity versus quality will forever be a battle in the music industry. With the moving-in-light-speed society we have today it seems we may be forever doomed in an overabundance of music released while we pretend what we’re hearing is actually good. Hip hop has become a plastic beach.

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You can contact Brad at brad@theurbanian.com or follow him on Twitter

Sage Francis Spoofs “Superbad”

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:59:22 +0000

We recently posted up details on the new and extremely intriguing Sage Francis album slated to drop May 11. With a new album, most artists embark on a tour to help promote said album. Francis sticks to the formula and will tour the U.S. and Canada in May and June. What separates Francis from other rappers in this scenario, is the amazing promo video for the tour he shot with B. Dolan. The two parody a scene from Superbad, and the result is extreme hilarity. The two pull it off rather nicely and show off their surprisingly good acting skills as well. Below is the video and tour dates.

Cambridge, MA – Middle East – 5/12/10
Burlington, VT – Higher Ground – 5/13/10
Portland, ME – Port City Music Hall – 5/14/10
Ottawa, ON – Ritual Nightclub – 5/15/10
Toronto, ON – The Opera House – 5/16/10
Detroit, MI – Alvin’s – 5/18/10
Chicago, IL – The Bottom Lounge – 5/19/10
Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall – 5/20/10
Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue – 5/21/10
Columbia, MO – The Blue Note – 5/22/10
Denver, CO – Gothic Theater – 5/24/10
Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge – 5/25/10
Missoula, MT – Badlander – 5/26/10
Edmonton, AB – The Starlite Room – 5/28/10
Calgary, AB – Distillery – 5/29/10
Vancouver, BC – The Biltmore Cabaret – 5/31/10
Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo – 6/01/10
Portland, OR – Berbati’s Pan – 6/02/10
San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore – 6/04/10
Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst – 6/05/10
Los Angeles, CA – HENRY FONDA THEATRE – 6/06/10
Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up Tavern – 6/07/10
Pomana, CA – The Glass House – 6/09/10
Tempe, AZ – The Clubhouse – 6/10/10
Tucson, AZ – Club Congress – 6/11/10
Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater – 6/12/10
Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre – 6/14/10
Austin, TX – Mohawk – 6/15/10
Houston, TX – House of Blues – 6/16/10
Orlando, FL – Club at Firestone – 6/18/10
Atlanta, GA – The Loft – 6/19/10
Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle – 6/21/10
Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel – 6/22/10
Baltimore, MD – The Ottobar – 6/23/10
Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero – 6/24/10
New York, NY – Webster Hall – 6/25/10

Catching Up with Jared Evan

Bradley Kevin MacDonald — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:05:33 +0000

It’s been awhile since we published our interview with Jared Evan. Whenever that happens we try to run a quick catch-up post with our past exclusive artists. Evan just released a new video for Feeling Like a Song, so now seems like a good time for that.

Along with the new video, news surfaces that he’ll be re-releasing his smash mixtape, Radio In My Head. It’ll be an extended version, so we can’t wait to see the new tracks that will be on it. He’s also recently done an interview with DJ Booth. The times seem very busy for the emcee who we felt deserved to be on XXL’s 2010 Freshman List. Good to see that he’s still on the grind and we look forward to what he has in store for us.

You can hit up Evan on Twitter or Myspace for more info.