While we’re already on patron there´s another track which hasn´t got nearly as much shine as Jamie Foxx´s anthem. LeMarvin is an up and coming singer from California who has been putting out tracks for over a year now. ‘Too Many Patrons’ is the first single from LeMarvin´s debut album Confusion which is still in progress but hopefully released later on this year at the small label group Brookland Entertainment. Featured on the track is the young singer August, who’s also the producer of this song and a bunch of others on the forthcoming album. Here’s a link to a video where the two singers talks about the track.
Even if ‘Too Many Patrons’ can´t compete with ‘Blame It’ as a club banger it´s still a very nice track which actually is a much more suitable for the hangover the day after. LeMarvin has a nice remorseful look on his face as he talks about spilling drinks on some girl’s Louis Vuitton shoes and committing other shameful acts rumbling around drunk in the club. Stuff we all can relate to right?
Lemarvin has been struggling for quite some time now, going through a tough growth in Inglewood, a few years in the navy and a couple of broken record deals. He has nice voice and aims for the same “street sexy” lane as J. Holiday. Don´t forget to look out for this guy in the future.
One of the strongest tracks from this bleak rnb winter has just got an equally strong video. It’s set in a steamy nightclub and features actors Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, Ron Howard and Samuel L Jackson. With a lineup like that combined with ace video director Hype Williams it’s probably hard to fail. Still, what I found most appealing is that it’s so laidback and intimate. You just want to get sucked in to that warm red light and imagine that its 2007 again, right?
All through 2008 I waited for this, a new sign of life from Natasha, the promising Darkchild find who presented herself with the charming single ‘Hey Hey Hey’ in 2006 and the cocky ‘So Sick’ in 2007. When she finally showed up with a new single in December I missed it, and I guess most of you did too. There hasn´t been much hype surrounding the “comeback” of this now 20 year old New Yersey singer. Hopefully that´s about to change, the new single ‘Sidekick’ is a potential dancefloor monster and it looks like Natasha’s debut album Natasha Is Here finally is about to be released in 2009. Besides from Darkchild she has been working with Stargate, Bryan Michael Cox and many more so the album will surely be something to look out for this year.
Natasha - Sidekick
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This song is the shit right now. It’s produced by Dr. Dre and said to be of the Detox album which might be coming out later on this year (right). It has also been suggested that the song is to be featured on 50 Cent´s coming album.Another version (full of shouts) have been floating around for a little while featuring Aftermath rapper Bishop Lamont. It’s suggested that the Lamont verse is a reference for an unfinished Dre verse and my guess is that this isn´t a finished version either. A lot of questions, all I know is that the beat is a killer and both Kelly and 50 does really well on it. I haven’t given Dre´s productions much thoughts lately and to be honest neither Eminem’s comeback album or 50 Cent´s Self Destruction really bothers me. A strong album by Dr. Dre on the other hand would be something else.
R. Kelly ft. 50 Cent - It Could´ve Been You (prod by Dr. Dre)
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T-Pain and Lil Wayne blew up to enormous proportions and exploded this year. Megalomania is fascinating when it comes to artists and it´s been interesting to watch their characters freak out. When it comes to the quality of their music it´s not always that uplifting though. Lil Wayne´s evolution from bluesy soul and rnb to crappy college rock is really depressing to me and T-Pains hysteric circus persona is starting to feel more like a pain in the ass.
‘I Can´t Believe It’, however, manages catch them both at their best; cool and laid back on a slow dreamy beat. It is probably my favorite song of 2008.
T-Pain ft. Lil Wayne - I Can´t Believe It
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One of my favorite songs this summer was Joe´s exuberant power ballad “Beautiful”. The song came out in July, timing the only two really hot weeks we were blessed with in Sweden this year. It was a real heat wave, which is quite ridiculous to think of now when it’s completely dark for about 18 hours a day. Anyway the song suited my mood perfectly those weeks, I used to play it way too loud when I rode my bike down a long slope to the beach. A bit corny perhaps but that was the whole idea, a true rnb moment.
Surprisingly the song wasn´t featured on New man, instead it was used as an exclusive for Joe´s Greatest Hits. I didn’t check that one out and would probably have forgotten all about the song if there wasn´t for a new version showing up last night. This time it’s sung by the grandfather of rnb, Uncle Charlie Wilson. At first I didn’t like his version, but now, after repeating it for an hour, I like it better. He´s much more laid back than Joe which is quite nice since the song is rather melodramatic.
“Beautiful” was credited to the genius song writer James Fauntleroy and producer team The Underdogs when it first came out. I haven´t found any official confirmation backing it up but to me it really sounds like a Fauntleroy song. I’m also quite sure its Fauntleroy’s voice in the beginning and background of the song.
Which version do you prefer?
Joe - Beautiful
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Charlie Wilson - Beautiful
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Somebody clowned us for only posting pictures of halfnaked men on the site. The only song by a woman, was fronted by Swiss Beatz. Well I guess it´s time to put a strong female singer on top. Jazmine Sullivan is on a rampage on this one, busting out the windows of not one but four cars. I really loved this track when it first showed up in September and it only got better as the remixes kept comming. The-Dream and Trey are two of my favourite singers and they both make outstanding efforts on the track. Gorilla Zoe and Busta might not qualify as favourites but their answers to Sullivans assault are both hilarious.
Its probably hard to fail on the track as the production is signed by the legendary Salaam Remi, responsible for monsters like ‘Here Comes The Hotstepper’ and ‘Fu-Gee-La’ as well as plenty of tracks for Nas, Amy Whinehouse and many others.
This is the first remix featuring all the answers that I found so far. Which one do you prefer?
Jazmine Sullivan ft. The-Dream, Trey Songz, Busta Rhymes, Gorilla Zoe
- Bust Your Windows (Remix)
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Trey Songz sophomore album Trey Day from last year was supposed to take his career to the next level and introduce him to the broader masses. Sadly it failed to do so, despite a number of strong tracks and hits like ‘Can´t help but wait’, ‘Wonder woman’ and ‘Missing you’, it ended up selling about 350 000 copies in the US. That’s about 50 000 less than his debut album and 1 550 000 less than Chris Brown’s sophomore album which was released at the same time.
You could have imagined that Trey would try to commercialize and change up his image after a blow like that. Instead, he went back to his roots as the mixtape king of rnb and released remixes and versions of almost every big thing coming up this year. He´s featured on more than twenty hiphop songs as well which makes him one of the most sought after singers in the rap game right now.
Trey has truly showed us that he not only has the looks and voice but also the strong will, individuality, and talent to become the next big thing in rnb. Probably it´s just a matter of one massive hit to change everything for him. It takes guts to stick to your own thing like that and hopefully Trey will get the payoff he deserves.
The song we have chosen for the countdown really shows the broad range of styles and versatility Trey has. He´s not just a “rapper ternt sanga” but more like a singer with the mind of a rapper.
Trey Songz - Crazy
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As we´re already at the subject of James Fauntleroy, there’s a new track that’s been around for a couple of days. A really sweet and tender lullaby showing that Fauntleroy is capable of more than just powerful ballads like ‘No Air’ or ‘Jump In’. He truly has been one of this years most interesting songwriters and one of my favourite vocalists as well.
We are planning on a special Fauntleroy post with a collection of tracks introducing a bit more of his work. Look out for it sometime around christmas!
James Fauntleroy - Storm
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Even though R. Kelly told us to “get our braids tight” and get ready for the new album earlier this year there hasn´t been any news what so ever since the album leaked. Some people claimed that Kelly was responsible for the leak himself because he was dissatisfied with his record deal at Jive. Others rumors suggested that someone had leaked the tracks to “get back at Kells” for some reason.
Yesterday a new track surfaced where Kelly says he’s on some different shit. I wasn´t going to put it up since it was said to be an unfinished track but it has really been growing on me. The beat is really stripped down and even if this isn´t the final version it has a very nice vibe to it. Hopefully Kelly is planning on something new for his next release. Remember when Loveland was leaked long before its supposed release date in 2002? At that time he renamed and reworked the whole project, coming up with Chocolate Factory a year later, containing hits like ‘Ignition’ and ‘Step In The Name Of Love”. That album ended up selling over 3 million copies in the United States alone! Imagine R. Kelly coming back like that in 2009.
R. Kelly - Club To A Bedroom
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One of last year’s strongest newcomers, J. Holiday, is planning to release his sophomore album in the beginning of next year. The album is called Round Two and is preliminary set for a release in February. I would say that we´re lucky if the album is out before the summer. Holiday will probably try to match last year’s immense success with hit single ‘Bed’, a task that wouldn’t be easy for anyone.
Anyway, last night a new track surfaced. A really smooth and laid back soul groove featuring the big boss Rick Ross. This is the kind of music J. Holiday should keep to. There aren’t many other singers out there doing it right know if you know what I’m saying.
J. Holiday ft. Rick Ross – Wrong Lover
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Something is fucked up with the audioplayer in this one, just use the link above.
It hasn’t been a very good year for R. Kelly. The child pornography case made it impossible for him to promote his new album 12 Play: Fourth Quarter. It was supposed to be released in the summer but was instead leaked in its entirety in july and hasn’t even come out officially yet.
On the other hand he was cleared from all charges and can finally put the 8 year long process behind him. He stated that “Bin Laden is the only one who knows exactly what I’m going through” a couple of years ago so this must surely come as a big relief for him. Hopefully he´ll be able to focus totally on what he’s doing best from now on - being the king of dirty rnb music.
You might argue that his ability to adept to the current sound is the reason that he still wears the crown today. On the latest single ‘Skin’ he´s sounding more like The-Dream than even The-Dream himself has been doing lately. No shame in that but for me he’s at his best when he´s doing his own thing; pornographic soul. Thats the reason why i chose ‘Go Low’ as my favourite track of 12 Play: Fourth Quarter. Others might try to challenge but Kellz is still the best at this. Sipping, licking, bumping and grinding.
Just one question; do you ladies get aroused by this? It’s ok to answer anonymously…
R Kelly - Go Low
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Young Steff has been in the music industry forever. Starting off asayoung boy, touring with his father who was a gospel singer, continuing to win talentshows as a preteen and finally being discovered by Jay-Z and signed to Roc-A-Fella. It seemed like Steff was on the rise to stardom a long time ago. If it hadn’t been for the schisms at Roc-A-Fella and the break up between Jay-Z and Damon Dash he might have been as successful as Chris Brown today. Who knows?
Now he’s back with super producer Rich Harrison and Atlantic Records backing him up. The first single ‘Professional‘ featuring rapper Maino created some buzz earlier this fall but didn’t do well enough for Atlantic to release his album just yet. Steff is still hopíng for a hit single, in the meantime there’s been some interesting tracks showing up. My favourite, ‘Turn On Your Radio’ might not be hit material but it definitely raises my hope for the debut, showing a maturer YS as he also calls himself today.
Young Steff - Turn On Your Radio
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