Macklemore - Otherside

Macklemore has recently stuck me deep. He is a an American rapper from Seattle, Washington. He is as many would call "underground" because he hasn't exactly hit the scene yet. I believe this guys has a lot of talent and is going to blow people away. He really is a real rapper.

In his song Otherside, he goes so deep in this song. He talks from personal experience so you know this really hits him hard. I know this song hits me hard everytime I listen to it. He knows that rappers now a days feel the need to fall into the typical rapper stereo type of being violent, having lots of sex with random women, smoking weed, drinking and doing other drugs that may be even more damaging.

He metions Weezy (Lil Wayne) in this song at the beginning. He is telling a story in the form of a rap. It is way to strong of a subject for it to not be real. He mentions couch syrup, which is what Lil Wayne has really become a consistant user of. He explains of a friend just trying it because of an image he feels he needs to be to impress people. He thinks that this is cool when really he is only destroying himself.

Kids look up to the celebrities of Hollywood. They see what they are doing or what they are saying and they are thinking maybe if I were to be like that I could get some attention. Many drug users use drugs to try to cover up their problems or to just try and forget them, but we all know throwing our problems under the rug doesn't do anything. Macklemore knows this too. He has seen this for himself... "I've seen oxycontin take three lives, I grew up with them, we used to chief dimes."

Macklemore talks about how back when he was a kid he also said he was never going to try that drug or that no one even does that drug. Then he has a reality check... "Thinkin' I would never do that, not that drug, And growing up nobody ever does, Until your stuck, Lookin' in the mirror like I can't believe what I've become,
Swore I was goin' to be someone, And growing up everyone always does.".

This guy is really deep and is going to be big some day. I'm calling it now!

Link below:

Macklemore - Otherside

KiD CuDi - New Rap Hard Mixtape (old)

       

          Yet again another blog about Kid Cudi I know. I am gonig to be honest, he is my favorite artist. Not just because he is from Cleveland but because of his word. Cudi raps about real stuff and doesn't care what others say about his music. His music isn't the generic type of rap music that you are used to hearing.


          He loves to sing in his songs. Kid Cudi has a great singing voice and I especially love when he breaks his voice out in a choice and just lets it rip. He is also a very underated rapper. I think people are starting to think that he is to mainstream now and he is becoming just another rapper.


          Cudi is a very strong individual. He smoked marijuana very often during his early rapping career and most of high school but has recently came out saying that he gave it up. He said that he did it for so long he just got tired of that lifestyle. I see him maturing as not only a musician, but also as a person. He wanted change, change for the better.


          Kid Cudi cares a lot about his fans so he is trying to produce the best kind of music that he can. He works had at what he does, and that is make beautiful music.


          Recently, Cudi has released a new mixtape that was actually produced a while ago during his early career. He never released this mixtape but now it is finally out. I always get excited when I hear new musical works of art by Cudi.


          My favorite song on this new old mixtape is called "I'm Not The Average". The beat in this really hit me hard the first time I heard it. I enjoy beats like this that sound old school. The way that Cudi raps and sings in this is also enticing. It has a lot of soul and I am really diggin it. I suggest that if you are a Cudi fan to check this out.


KiD CuDi - I'm Not The Average



          Also look out for his upcoming album that should be coming out some time in Decembercalled "Wizard". Kid Cudi claims that once this album goes out, it is going to change music. I am very excited for it!

Mac Miller - Blue Slide Park

          Yes it is finally here. The longly anticipated Mac Miller album, "Blue Slide Park". This album has been getting hyped by many ever since rumors of a Mac Miller album blossomed up. It has been a trending topic on twitter for weeks.

          Mac was on a quest to reach one million followers on twitter and he kept releasing some singles off of this album as he acquired more followers. The singles off of his album that he released were "Frick Park Market", "Smile Back" and "Party On fifth Ave".

          Previous to Releasing this album Mac Miller has produced many mixtapes. They were not hyped as much as his album was but they had songs that I believe are just as good, maybe even better than some songs on his "Blue Slide Park" album. Many are falling in love with Mac Miller as of late but very few have been listening to him long enough to hear his older and deeper works.

          Mac has a very interesting rapping style. He is a pretty goofy guy, but I think that a big reason why I like him so much. He is happy and raps about what he wants and he works with whats on his mind. He is a rising star and hopefully this album with be a big hit and he will be noticed among many. I have been listening to Mac Miller since the summer of 2010 back when he only had three songs.

          Take my advice on this one… this kid is going to be big someday. Hopefully he will start working with other artists and he can learn and grow by watching them perform and create music.

Here are the links to his singles off of BSP that I mentioned earlier in the blog…

Mac Miller - Frick Park Market


Mac Miller - Smile Back


Mac Miller - Party On Fifth Ave - Favorite music video out of the three!

NBA 2K12 Soundtrack

          On October 4th, the video game NBA 2K12 was officially released. I immediately went to Gamestop and purchased this wonderful game. Everything about the game is beautiful. But every year when a new NBA 2K game is released, the thing that I am always impressed by is the music soundtrack that they put on the game.

          Every year they seem to impress me more and more with the music choices. The creators always seem to find music that is pretty underground and not common to the average radio hugger. Yes I am stating that the music is not mainstream and that is a big reason why I enjoy it.

          I'm not that guy who shuns all mainstream music. I don't mind listening to some of it, the fact that it plays on the radio has nothing to do with whether I like it or not. A lot of people in our school/town try to hard to be individuals, so by trying so hard they are just conforming to what they are striving not to be.

          But back to the music… I love this soundtrack! So I'd like to share some of my favorite songs on the soundtrack!

          Basketball by Kurtis Blow is such a great song. Very similar to the Lil Bow Wow version in the hit movie "Like Mike".  When many hear this song they will think of the Lil Bow Wow version but Kurtis Blow actually is the one who wrote the song. He released this song on an album of his in 1984 called Ego Trip. The link is below…

Kurtis Blow - Basketball

          Skeleton Boy by Friendly Fires has been set on replay on my IPod for the past four days. This song is great, I honestly don't know how else to describe the song. It has a great beat, singers have great voices and it is fun to sing along too. I would recommend this song to anyone. Link below…

Friendly Fires - 'Skeleton Boy'

          One of my all time favorite songs ever. I honestly have never been much of a fan of Flo Rida but when I heard this song for the first time I knew I was going to be hooked on it. I first heard this song on the soundtrack to one of my old favorite video games, NBA 2k10 for the xbox 360. I loved the game and whenever this song came on I would always want to just set it on replay.

          One day after just listening to the song while playing the game, I decided to buy it and put it on my IPod and now I listen to it all the time. Ryan Schneider and I fell in love with the song with all of the hours we put into NBA 2k10. That song became a great song to play in cars when we were driving places and it just a great song to play anywhere.

          It's a great song because it doesn't have any "bad words" that our society frowns apon, and because of this, R.O.O.T.S. became a great song to play on our soccer warm up CD. Between us players it has almost become a theme of the season. Through all the hard points of the season and the times were you just want to give up, this song gives a lot of us some energy and motivation to be great!

          R.O.O.T.S. stands for the Route Of Overcoming The Struggles. This song is always going to have a place in my heart because of what it means to me. Hopefully this year, our high school boys soccer team will make a deep run in the playoffs this year. We have a great team with lots of potential if we play as a TEAM.

          I believe it's just a matter of heart. It's just about who wants to win more and how bad everyone wants it and I know all of us seniors want to win.

R.O.O.T.S. - Flo Rida

KiD CuDi Top 3 Songs - Dat New New, Soundtrack 2 My Lyfe, The Prayer

          I could seriously write for ages about this man. Kid Cudi, Cleveland native, is and has been my favorite musical artist since 2008. Many have proclaim the "Man on the Moon" to be the new King of Cleveland since the abandonment of a certiain NBA superstar/chump.

          His real name is Scott Sergio Ramon Mescudi, he was born and raised in Shaker Heights. He went to The University of Toledo for one year and then later dropped out to pursue a career in music. It's safe to say that he has been quite successful with his music career. He also has a hit show on HBO called "How to Make it in America."

          Now back to the blog! one of my favorite Kid Cudi songs is "Dat New New". I love this song because it was one of Cudi's first big time songs that really made him heard and noticed by many hip hop listeners. This was actually the very first Kid Cudi song i ever heard, and I immediately fell in love with it after i listened to it. Shout out to MacKenzie Bates for first introducing his wonderful music to me back during our freshmen year of high school.

          This song has a great beat to it and Kid Cudi's voice really compliments the whole song. The reason that there is an F5 button is because of this song. The point Cudi tries to get across in this song is that his music is unique and unlike any other. Cudi is a very unique artist and wants his songs to be unlike any other artist has produced.

KiD CuDi - Dat New New

          Another one of my favorite Cudi songs is Soundtrack 2 My Lyfe off of his first album "Man on the Moon : The End of the Day". I can relate to this song on so many levels that it is almost unreal. The chorus goes: "I've got some issues that nobody can see, And all of these emotions are pouring out of me, I bring them to the light for you, It's only right, This is the soundtrack to my life, the soundtrack to my life." I feel like many people are afraid to really express themselves and find it hard to really talk with someone on a deeper level, so a lot of emotions are bottled up inside and all come out at once.

KiD CuDi - Soundtrack 2 My Lyfe

          And last but certainly not least, my favorite Kid Cudi song off of his very first mixtape ever created called "A Kid Named Cudi". This song is called "The Prayer" and really is one of my favorite songs ever. Cudi says he thinks God gave him a purpose and made him for a reason, so he is trying to make a difference in this world. He says in the song that he prays that God takes his soul if he were to die before he woke up. I really like how Cudi is not afraid to speak his heart about God and how he really feals about such a controversial belief.

KiD CuDi - The Prayer

Weezer Top 3 Songs- Perfect Situation, Pork and Beans, Island in the Sun

         

          Post number three! Well I decided to go with a little something different this week. I didn't feel like just posting one song, so I am posting three. These three songs are my top three favorite songs written and performed by Weezer. Weezer is an American alternative band that started up in 1992. They have had three changes of members in their band over the years, but they are still one group.

          Number three on my favorites list from Weezer is Island in the Sun. This song is very mellow and relaxing and I can honestly just sit back, relax and listen to it over and over again. Whenever I listen to it I want to just go to somewhere peaceful and sit back and think about life as it is. I would recommend this to anyone who has a relaxing personality.

          Weezer - Island in the Sun

          My second favorite Weezer song is Pork and Beans. This song is a little different from Island in the Sun. Pork and Beans is a more rock or as some would call it a "headbanger" (I think that it is a stupid phrase).

          When I listen to Pork and Beans and read the lyrics to the song, I feel like they are telling the people listening to their song to do the things that you want to do. You don't have to prove anything to anyone, so just be yourself. This is an all-time favorite song of mine that I have kept in my heart since my freshmen year of high school.

          Weezer - Pork and Beans

          Finally, my favorite Weezer song is… Perfect Situation! I love the way that it is sung. It is sung with a lot of passion and emotion. They talk about how they always come up short, and they know what to do, and will never give up. They are also talking about how love does crazy things, and that their minds can be easily persuaded. Easily my favorite Weezer song.

          Weezer - Perfect Situation

After Midnight - Blink 182

      What's up everyone?! Blog number two! I had a little struggle in picking out a song I wanted to blog about this week, but I finally came to a conclusion. I decided to go with After Midnight by Blink 182. This is the groups second brand new single. It will be appearing on their upcoming album, Neighborhoods, which will be in stores September 27th.

         I am really excited about Blink's new album. It is going to hopefully please everyone because I know it is getting a lot of hype, but I have faith that Blink will not disappoint. Blink 182's sound is quite unique. It really has that 90's punk rock sound that was so popular back when most of us were just kids growing up. This California native band really hit the scene in 1999 when they released two of their most popular singles, What's My Age Again and All the Small Things. They have sold over 27 million albums worldwide and with the release of their new album they will probably go up a lot more.

         Blink 182 has a very strong fan basis. They were a extremely influencial group during the mid and late 90's. Many think of Blink 182 and Sum 41 whenever you mention punk rock groups. That music has sort of faded and I would even say that it has died down over the years. Our generation is more of a hip-hop/rap and pop type of music generation.

         For me I love old school punk rock and I do like a lot of old school and some new school hip-hop and rap. There is a limit though to how much of the pop music I can take at once. Thanks for reading! Comment on my blog!

Click on the link below to listen to After Midnight!

 After Midnight - Blink 182

August - Bear Attack

First post on the blog! I really love this song, it's very relaxing and peaceful. The group Bear Attack is an Los Angeles based Indie rock band whose sound has been described as reminiscent of Radiohead. The founding members met upon arriving at USC to be apart of the inaugural class of the Popular Music Program, and after playing together as backup musicians in various acts, they decided to start their own project. Drawing upon diverse musical backgrounds, each member uses their individual voice to create a unique group sound. These guys and girl, mainly perform in the LA area so they aren't very big yet but I love the way they sound! Find them on facebook and become fans!