Upcoming Artists: JproD

Intro/Analysis: JproD (pronounced Jeopardy), is an upcoming East Coast rapper. I must say that u[on listening to his music to write this post, I became slightly addicted. His style and maneuvers of music are just very unique. His voice is somewhat mid-pitched and has a monotonous ring, but it somehow keeps me extremely interested and it's one of my favorite things about him. His flow is relaxed and up tempo, I like it when rappers can mix things up whether than doing the 'either or' all the time. While all of that is dope, the icing on the cake however is his beat selection. Words can not explain how dope the sample was on 'Trill Shit, I Really Mean That.' Like ahh fuck,sampling Imogen Heap can make almost any beat dope, but the way the sample was flipped was godly. Notice I said the sample was flipped, instead of the the typical grab 4 bars of the intro and loop it. If he keeps picking beats such as this one his album will be more than a problem. I consider myself a fan, because he can actually rap. He's not just a nice flow with nice beats, you can tell he puts his time into writing and he's spitting on a personal level. That's always nice to hear in this age of trap music and club bangers.

Overall: He's not just a one trick pony luckily. His lyrics and beat selection are constant with several songs one that particularly stands out is 'A Million Feelings.' As I mentioned above, you can tell that he really loves his raps and he writes them on a personal level. All in all, you can either say he's a rapper of a dying breed, or a spawn of a new generation that is soon to take over. Either way, he's dope and he turned me into a fan. I was lucky enough to get an interview with him, which will be posted below. I'll also post the link to his sound cloud for you to check out. - L$G

https://soundcloud.com/jprod-2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2AI0CQMDto&feature=autoshare

1. Tell everyone who you are and what you do.

If you know me, you can call me Jordan Dias. If you are a fan of art then you can call me JproD (Jeopardy). Jep Roadie if you're a groupie. A 22 year young kid with enormous aspirations. Completely get caught up in music. I simply take what I see, hear, feel, and describe those experiences on carefully selected beats. Beat selection is a huge part of my music making process. I am often misunderstood. I am always giving advice, hardly ever taking it. My desire to win a grammy is what usually gets me up in the morning. Without my ability to create music, I really am not sure what the f*ck I would be doing honestly. Extremely passionate. Don't tell me I can't because while you are in the middle of doing that, chances are I just figured out how to do it. Holla. If it isn't that #TrifeLife then what is it? 

2. On your song ‘Trill Shit, I Really Mean That’ I heard an Imogen Heap sample, are you a fan of hers? Or are you strictly a rap fan?

I cannot say I am a huge fan of hers. I began listening to some of her music shortly after hearing the sample. I am a fan of ANY type of music. Anything that pleases my ear, I will listen to. I dont see genre. Music is simply just music to me. All music has similar messages. If people would pay attention more, they would realize that. Rap is pretty much what I am best at currently. My biggest dream is to win a grammy in every genre possible, so I can show people how stupid it is to put boundaries on art. 

3. On the song mentioned above, you said you used to feel your father was ashamed of you. Would you be willing to go a little more in depth about that?

He is way more traditional. He is way more by the books. I am a complete free spirit. I do what I want, when I want. Not to say that I am out running wild but I do things based on my happiness. He wanted me to go to college and do what he thought was the way to live. School was never for me. He is just incapable of taking my music seriously and supporting it fully. You know how it goes, "Go for it but make sure you have a back up plan!". F*ck a back up plan. This is what I do. This is what I will be doing. I could write a book about this topic.

4. Who are your influences as far as music goes?

Jeez, I never really know how to answer this question. I am influenced by anything that I hear that is real. Anything that makes me feel a certain way. All different genres, all different artists. To name a few... The Fugees, Tupac, Fiona Apple, Hootie and the Blowfish, The Fray, Linkin Park, Gorillaz, Jay-z, Kanye, Donell Jones. That could be the weirdest list of music artists ever assembled. Just a short list of random artists that came to my head. Oh, and Jodeci. 

5. Do you have any artistic interests outside of music?

For sure. Just looking outside, I can see art. I'm not a fan of reading but I am fan of great stories. I am starting to get into paintings. Going to start to dive into the wall art culture. Sculptures are dope. Cool architechture catches my eye. I love photography. I like to take pics. Not that great but I am learning by doing. Anything art related is fine by me but music is the only form of art that I would say I can excel in.

6. What are your 3 favorite TV shows and movies of all time.

Oh sh*t, never been asked this question before. Top 3 tv shows are Hey Arnold, The Famous Jett Jackson, Fresh Prince. Top 3 Movies are Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Juice. Hard question.

7. In your email you mentioned that ‘Trill Shit’ and ‘A Million Feelings’ were singles off an upcoming project. Could you tell us a bit more about that project?

The project is called "Regal". Realizing Every Girl Aint Loyal. Realizing Every Gun Aint Licensed. The project is hosted by JoJo Simmons. It is going to be dope. Dropping it soon. Been working on it for a while. Hoping to catch a decent buzz off of it. It is a collection of feelings and thoughts from the last year of my life. Saw it all this last year. 

8. Is there a twitter or any other social networks in which fans can reach you?

Follow me on twitter @IamJproD. 

9. Well thank you for the interview, anything else you would like to say before you go?

I would like to say thank you for interviewing me. Means a lot considering that I ain't sh*t ha. Look out for Regal dropping soon. Life is what you make it. Make it dope. JproDintheRegal.com for all upcoming info. Thank you again.

Bands To Watch: Retro Lake

Sadly, most teens that make music (especially if they're in a band) could be categorized as hipsters. It's an absolute fact that every hipster was a scene kid in their past life. So their music reflects that, it has mad post screamo elements and other disgusting shit that makes it unlistenable. But Retro Lake is a breath of fresh air, well I can't say that. While the type of music they do has been done to death they do it extremely well. I can honestly say that I enjoy it. They take indie music similar to the style of MGMT, Empire of The Sun, etc... and make it slightly more rock and roll. They swap out the electronic elements and synths with typical rock instruments. The lead singers voice is very nice, it has the high-pitched, smooth, somewhat creepy tone that is generally used in this type of music. 

Overall Opinion: While they're not doing anything groundbreaking, they're a legitimately good band. Something I do notice that they're doing different than every one else is their guitar effects. To make up for the lack of synths they flood the guitar with effects to make it sound like one. Which is a very beautiful concept, and it gives off an even more beautiful sound.

https://soundcloud.com/retro-lake

Favorite Song: I'm stuck between Caramel Girl and Goliath. Caramel Girl is a cool song because it has those indie elements that I absolutely love, then the touch of originality with the guitars. The vocals on this song are amazing, there's a lot of background elements that makes me want to listen to the song several times to hear them all.

 

Goliath is a great one because I'm a sucker for things that aren't mixed in the norm. It sounds as if the vocals are mixed in the same track as the beat whether than seperately. The result is a pretty sounding very full outer space-like sound.

To make a long story short, check this band out, since discovering them I am a regular listener.

Wan2Times x LeftHand of Bu$h League - Nappyhead Pain

Supposedly Bu$h League has 94 members, but just two of those released a music video. The title of the song is 'Nappyhead Pain' and I noticed, the video has an extremely prominent 90s vibe. You get the feel of 90s New York movies watching the video and sounds of 90s Bronx music listening to the song. There's an excerpt in the middle of the video where they were supposed to buy some dope but shorted the Hispanics and in true 90s fashion, they had to flee in their Jordans. This is definitely something that I enjoy seeing, it's a nice break from all of the GBE wanna be's. I give the video and the song a thumbs up, if you want to flashback to the 90s for 6:52 seconds, I recommend you watch this and turn the volume on your headphones all the way up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E93kPZI7yKw&feature=youtu.be&a

New Material from The ELC: Vibe $ession

The ELC has many people with many functions, the beautiful thing about them is that they are all completely different people musically. DXN is the head producer of the ELC, formerly known as Fre$h Boi Dee, he used to make typical trap beats. This album shows you his development in a relatively short amount of time. You can hear his growth from some of our early tracks. Like our first song ever made 'Band Talk' was a Fre$h Boi Dee beat that sounded like everything else put out by random FL basement producers in ghettos across America. But you could slowly hear the shift in his style in songs such as 'All I Know' while it was still somewhat a typical beat per say, you could see him experimenting with different things. He used an arpeggiator, his drum pattern wasn't what you would call regular, he used several synths and just un ordinary sounds in general. But the real change came when Lavo's Core and Oracle of Seasons EP was released. Then you could see him coming to his own as a producer. He produced Lavo's Core by himself and you could hear the Raider inspired 90s darkness reminiscent of Three Six Mafia and somewhat Esham. Oracles of Seasons was produced in part with me, but he did most of the work. All I took care of was the sampling and melodies. You could hear the different mixing of his drums and how he tried to create an atmosphere with his beats. That's what he accomplished in Vibe $ession. I can honestly say that this album sounds like nothing I have ever heard and that's the goal of the ELC. To create things better and different from everyone else. Riddled with arpeggiators, off the wall synths, irregular strange drum patterns, and extended outros. This is something that is very hard to put into words, the sounds somewhat engulf you and something that's nice is the mixing on the tracks. Often times producers don't bother with mixing, so the levels of components will be all over the place and the beat will end up sound cluttered. But DXN did beautifully with the mixing on this, all of the sounds blend together harmoniously and you get the feeling that they were all some what tailor made for each other. I would recommend this album for anyone who's trying to stray away from the normal side of producing, this is something that could evolve into a whole different genre. The way the grimy chords exploded on the intro of the title track was mind blowing. The when it faded into the candy sweet almost video gamish sound of a soft chime and built up into screams of an electronic trap lot army with a beautiful synth over lapping it. Was absolutely perfect, this is reminiscent of the whole album, it nicely builds up in structure whether than just putting together a bunch of pieces that sound nice in a row. You can tell that DXN sits down and takes his time to

Make actual songs which is nice to see in today's age of 30 minute producers. He shed the pseudonym Don Beats because apparently someone already had it. He changed it simply to 'DXN' and with his name change comes a change in his style. I think that with this album, a new era is forming. The era of originality and the rise of actual producers not just beat makers. The link will posted below.

http://soundcloud.com/theeastlandcollective/sets/vibe-ession/s-JfYSL

New Music: Hefner Bros x On The Table

Hefner Bros are a hip hop trio from Detroit, Michigan consisting of Jea Hefner, Rell Hefner, and Jeff Hefner. I'm not going to very in detail about them in this post because I have an interview with them coming soon. But yesterday they dropped a song titled 'On The Table.' If you follow them on twitter you would've noticed them arguing with a group of dudes the day before. Towards the end it sounds like they're calling them out. But anyway, it's a solid song and worth listening to. I'll post the link to it below.

http://4shomag.com/2013/11/download-hefnerbros-on-the-table/

Artist Feature: Emancipate Yourselves

These days there isn't much variety as far as art goes. One of the saddest things is that many females aren't into art even though they're very talented. I think that this is something that needs to change, it's just a hard fact that males dominate in the arts. I see this as a huge problem, because there are certain perspectives only a woman can bring, and there are certain perspectives only a man can bring. I think that art right now is missing that strong female presence to kind of change up things and make them the way that they should be. With the lack of females in the field, what you get is only a males perspective. So even when a female tries to break into the art, she does it from a man's perspective because that's the art that she is used to seeing and or hearing. That's why I get very excited when I see people like 'Emancipate Yourselves.' She's putting out art from her point of view and no ones else's. She sings and does spoken word which is great. Her voice is beautiful and her spoken word is very thought provoking. As her name suggests, she wants people to free themselves of regular thinking and habits. Born in America but raised in a Jamaican household, she has an advantage that many other Americans don't. She was able to grow up immersed in two separate cultures, which I would imagine instilled in her a lot of the ideas she has today. After hearing her music and spoken word, I was itching to get an interview with her, and thankfully she said yes.

1. First of all, tell everyone who you are and what you do.

" Hi! Well first off, my name is Brittny Amanda. I usually go under the pseudonym "Emancipate Yourselves" on my blog and soundcloud. I'm a singer and spoken word artist."

2. In your cover of the song ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You’ was that you playing piano? If so, how long have you been playing?

"No, I wish haha. My good friend Lydia is an artist as well and while hanging out, she started playing that so I decided to do a cover of it. I learned how to play a few years back, lost all of it, and now I'm self-teaching myself!"

3. Who has inspired you musically?

"Hm, musically.. so many people. First off, Bob Marley. Then his children, Nas, J. Cole, the entire Motown Era (I cant even pin point certain artists), Kanye West (incredibly), The Roots and Emeli Sande."

4. I notice you’ve also posted a few poems on your Soundcloud, one that stood out to me was ‘Letter To My Modern Day Slaves’ could you give us a little insight on that poem?

"So that piece I did randomly one night as like free writing while thinking about the Trayvon case and decided to write something kind of relating to how I feel we as a human culture are.. we're so comfortable in our "chains" and fail to see how blinded we truly are. I tried to hopefully shed some insight and get people to rationalize."

5. In another one of your poems, you stated that you were not a poet. What did you mean by that?

" Hahaa, I say this a lot but I really don't want to be labeled as a poet or better yet, confined to that title. I really just like the term artist better. I just love to write so much in effusive amounts and it almost looks like poetry because of identical techniques I use but I kinda just wanted that statement out there so I wouldn't be known for being one lol. Much love to the poets though, y'all have a mind of your own, truly."

6. Who are your inspirations as far as poetry goes?

"On the other hand, I'm in LOVE with poetry haha. First and foremost biggest inspiration in poetry is J. Ivy. Heard him first off in "Never Let Me Down" by Ye and that completely inspired me to get up and one day write something to move thousands of people as he did. He doesn't even know what that verse and his other pieces do for people. I love Malik Yusef as well and I mostly just sit and watch old Def Jam Poetry videos and fall in love with all of it."

7. There’s something about you that doesn't seem American, are you and your parents from another country? Or are you just really in touch with your roots?

"Both parents are fully Jamaican! Unfortunately, I wasn't born there but I've been going since I was 3 every other year and I'm heavily influenced by the culture. My roots are everything to me, I always want to be known for that and always embracing it. I can never forget what made me and the family who shaped this strong mentality I have.. Jamaica is home man."

8. How and when did you realize that poetry and music were something that you wanted to make?

"Hm, two different moments. when I wanted to do spoken word was when I first heard J. Ivy's verse and also this man named Luis Marrero "My Apology." Raw emotion. For music, man.. it's just been in my blood, I've grown up with so much music from so many eras that I felt like it was just a part of me. I think after one of my concerts I did with my 4 best friends and the amount of love I was given, I knew where my heart was."

9. Any big projects coming up?

"Yes, yes! I'm putting together a project and my idea is to fuse both spoken word and music together. The concept of the project leads from a mindset of ignorance/mental confinement to spiritual liberation, kinda hard to put in words but it'll be more evident in the music."

10. Thank you for your time, anything you want to say before you go?

"Thank you so much for allowing artists like me to discuss their craft, what you do is empowering and so supportive. For everyone, I hope you enjoy the messages and stories I want to share with all of you. Spread love always xo"

Many things are sure to come from Emancipate Yourselves and I really look forward to them. I'll post her soundcloud link below.

Twitter: @xbrittnyamanda

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/brittnyamandaxo

Intellectual Talk: A Peek Into The Mind of God Emperor White

In a world full of people with horrible vocabularies and bummy shoes, miraculously God Emperor White exists. Equipped with several Gucci belts and every pair of Jordans ever made, people would think that he's just an average 'hood nigga.' But they would be extremely wrong, because God Emperor White is different from every other useless nigga in Detroit. Why you ask? God Emperor White is what many people would call an 'intellectual.' I say many because some people are to stupid recognize his mental capacity. He has so much intellect that he reads the dictionary every night at 10 o'clock, and claims if you don't do the same thing you're "retarded." Aside from reading the dictionary he's also an avid chess player. He even flexed on me by pulling out a Chess Encyclopedia he had been reading that has upwards of 1,000 pages. I figured since he had so much intellect, I would ask him to bless the general public with a morsel of his knowledge. Luckily he accepted my invitation. The interview you are about to read will instill infinite amount of intellect into your frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and your temporal lobe. Basically all of the lobes. It'll even instill intellect into your cerebellum so you can properly balance all of the intellect . I know you want to read this so I'm not going to hold you up any longer. You can now read the words from the most intellectual mind the world has yet to see. A side note before you read: I didn't edit God Emperor White's answers at all, so all the grammatical imperfections come directly from him. But hey, who needs grammar when you have dictionaries, Jordans, and Gucci belts? Am I right?

1. So introduce yourself, tell the audience who you are and what you do?

“Im jermaine white, im just ur average working nigga, and i occassionally rap, but being a comic book artist would be cold. I draw very often.”

2. Word around town is that you have massive intellect. How true is this statement in an intellectual manner?

“Well im flattered and technically speaking intellect cant be measured. Im not sure how true that is but i often hear IQ isnt a real, reliable measurement. (Probably niggas who hate on chris langden said that but who knows..) But if talking to another intellectual, im confident in my abilities.”

3. Many sources have told me that you enjoy reading the dictionary at 10 o'clock at night, is this true? If so, how come? How does  reading the dictionary add to your intellect?

“Haha well thats not entirely true, i used to read it often to widen my vocabulary for rapping skills, but actually lately not that often. Im usually preoccupied with drawing, working, reading manga, and trying to improve in chess these days.”

4. Is it true that you pulled up to the party with Tadoe on Forgi’s?

“Haha unfortunetly that is not true..”

5. Okay, now the serious part of the interview. What does this whole intellect thing mean to you and why do you do it?

“Well over years of studying many different ways of life,(martial arts, sports, art, etc) iv come to the conclusion that knowledge is the most important thing you can have in life and translates to success in everything. So these days i spend every minute in an attempt to learn everything possible before i die.”

6. What do you plan to do after high school? Do you plan to do start a whole “God Emperor Intellectual” movement in which only people who wear Jordans and read dictionaries can join?

“Hahaha no, i was considering attempting to get rich off of rap, but i dont have a recording studio so it would be too much of a hastle. So i decided il just work a normal job and eventually try to become an american comic book or manga artist since i see my drawing skills are good enough. Drawing for video game designs or entering a chess tournament one day hopefully wouldnt be bad either..”

7. Are you going to college? Or are you done with school after this?

“As of right now i have no desire to attend college. From what iv seen everyone who goes just come out broke, and havent really learned anything. Besides people dont realize you can learn literally everything from books combined with the internet these days on your own time haha.”

8. I’m 1000% sure you’re the first Jordan wearing black person to watch anime faithfully. Does this make you feel more advanced than other black people? Intellectually of course.

“Actually..somewhat yes! Watching anime allows you to be somewhat in touch, and have an idea of what other places in the world is like. Unfortunetly i feel that japans people are smarter as a whole though..”

9. If you could choose to be in any anime, which would it be?

“Dragonball z of course! I could just blow up the planet and fly to a new one if i got mad! Haha”

10. If you were Light from Death Note, what would you have done differently?

“If i was light i would definetly have killed matsuda earlier. Stupid people are dangerous in my opinion. And i never would have left so much of the plan in mikamis hands. In a life or death situation like that its crucial to be in control yourself.. Also in the manga version light died like a bitch. I would never die like that..”

11. I’m pretty sure you’ve read all the different versions of the dictionary, Merriam, Webster’s, etc… Is there any interests to move onto thesauruses and Encyclopedias? Or would that just make your intellect to powerful?

“Well with all this talk of the dictionary i just might!”

12. Any last words for the people God Emperor White?

“Hope i didnt spell anything wrong that new age technology shit fucks you up. And who knows i might get motivated n make a mixtape. But eh..”
\
So there you have it, a peek into the mind of someone with intellect. I think we can all agree that after reading that, we aspire to someday have at least half of the intellect that he has acquired in his lifetime. Well, I should wrap this up. It's getting close to 10 o'clock and there's a dictionary calling my name.

Teef Sweat's Top 10 Dilla Beats

Still makes me sad that,for J Dilla being such a known producer, he's still so unknown. He's still the biggest underdog in the rap game of all time. Since my homies over at the ELC are from the D, I figure this list would have had to come soon enough.  So here it comes, My Top 10 McDillaNasty beats.

This shit is gonna be hard cause he probably has the most instrumentals of all time but anyways, here it goes.
(Fun Fact: DJ House Shoes claimed once that most beats ever released to the public that Dilla made were constructed in 10-15 mins. Genius..)

10. Earl: 

     Forreal g, this shit sounds like Allah himself came down & chopped the loop himself. My damn. This shit has the type of vibe that you'd listen to while the sun rises & you're sippin on your morning joe, before having to take a monster leak 15 mins later yahmean?  This is the epitome of a Dilla beat. Making something so complex with a layer of simplicity at the same time. 

9. Flyyy:

     In a Complete switch of feels, this is one of those nighttime jawns you'd drive & cruise to. Real fuckin smooovvvveee, and the bassline adds the icing to the cake like a spoiled 5 year old child's birthday party. No screaming about missing polly pockets in the gift stash though, this vocal sample has the "ahhhhhhh" sound reminiscent to the sound you make when you take a dump after a long day of jogging. Pure relief.

 

 

8. Heroin Joint                                                                                                                                       

 

 This is probably the best use of a James Brown sample ever tbh. (James Brown - King Heroin). Now, I normally wouldn't smoke some heroin (if that's even possible...maybe) but yo. If this played in your head constantly while under the influence of the poppy plant I may consider it. This beat has the feel of the hustle & bustle of a big city with flashing lights, something like a modern day Kung Fu flick. The way dilla structured the chops as well has my brain rattling. The natural bass on this track? my lawd.

7. Players:

  The best Slum Village track. The way Dilla manipulated this "Claire" sample & made it sound like "Players" is crazy enough. not to mention the hi hats that sound like salt shakers rubbing together or some shit. plus if you listen to the snare closely you can see he synchronized a clap with the snare, perfectly offbeat. Man.

 

 

6. Thelonious

   One of my favorite albums really. Dilla also has the best verse on this IMO. This will be the only track with vocals on this list for that reason. Shows that DillaDawg was also a good emcee (NOT TO MENTION JAYLIB YO). Peep the last verse & get that neck busted.

 

5. It's Your World

 

4. Runnin

 

3. Purple

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WUARsxfJyQ

 

First, for some reason I couldn't find the video thumbnail to this on my BlogSpot search box, so fuck it, here's the link. Secondly, I don't care if Mac Miller has somewhat shaped up his act, he almost singlehandedly ruined this beat a couple years ago. There are just some beats that will ALWAYS be better without lyrics, and for the most part, there's a lot Dilla beats like that. This is the first that comes to mind. Sheer emotion.

 

 

2. Last Donut Of The Night

 

1. In Space

 

 

 

 

 

And that's my top 10 Dilla beats. I'll probably be pissed later thinking I should have added something else because he literally has so much material, but just in case, here's a couple honorable mentions. 

Peace - TS

Nujabes

RIP Nuj-San

In Japan there is an extremely strong influence on daily life. There aren't too many "hipsters" or people that are out of the ordinary. Hell I don't blame them, there culture is awesome. But with all this anime, food, gaming, and Pop music, one person decided to pick up something new.
Enter Jun Seba, a somewhat clueless Japanese adult that did not do much with his life but play Jazz when he was younger. When the first wave of hip-hop hit Japan in 1996 in was very ineffective, but it shook Jun. He then began to try to produce what we call "nigga beats" that he probably intended for mainstream USA rappers. We he realized that he sucked and that nigga beats sucked, he decided to go back to his roots (Jazz) and make an album. Midway through he decided to put some of his nigga beats to his Jazz, and it sounded beyond amazing.. Sweet Lord.
His flare as a DJ and producer stems from the fact that he's not naturally talented. If you really listen to his music, his best songs sound as if he were a confused little white kid attempting to make rap beats. That's his true genius.
-Saks Fifth Ant

Hidden Gems: Mic Musicbox

Around a year ago I was really obsessed with J Pop. Utada being the ruler of my childhood because of her heavy involvement in the Kingdom Heart series, I decided to check out as many covers of her songs as possible. When I saw a whole album by Mic Musicbox dedicated to her, I was ecstatic. I was familiar with the instrument Musicbox because I had used it to make melodies on Maschine before. I thought it would be a music box accompanying a band, or at least a voice. But I was wrong, it was just a musicbox. A child like twinkly sounding music box.

I scrounged the Internet for information about them but I couldn't find any. I looked for them in iTunes and they have a huge collection of albums, some of which I bought of course. They cover everything from J Pop, to songs in obscure animes and it's really beatiful. I never knew that listening to the same instrument couldn't get annoying or repetitive until I discovered them. At first, I was only listening to them because the actual musicbox itself sounds really soothing and nice, but then I actually started listening to the music they cover and it's a very refreshing take on the songs they do. I used to only listen to them when I was studying or going to bed, but now I find my self listening to them casually throughout the day. It's evolved from my relaxation music to my everyday music. I'm wondering what this music would sound like Chopped & Screewed, or even if someone would have the skill to do it. The sad thing is that if you search YouTube or Soundclound, you find nothing by this mysterious band/person. Their music is pretty much on every Internet radio platform. I can almost guarantee you if you start listening to them you'll buy one of their albums. Because you're sick of having to listen to them on stations with other artists. Realistically all of their music is the same, so if you like one of their songs you'll pretty much like them all. I recommend to start from their 'Hikaru Utada Vol ll' album. But as I said it doesn't matter where you start, you'll either love them or hate them. - L$G

Simp Music: 'More Sad Hits' by Damon & Naomi

Since Drake came out and got popular for making basically nothing but sad music. A lot of artists tried to duplicate what he did and build a career based around sad songs. They were plenty of artists who have done this before, but not to the extent which Drake has. I've heard arguments that The Smiths and even solo Morrissey have made some of the saddest songs in history. While that is very true and 'Unlovable' happens to be in the top 6 simp songs I've ever heard. Damon & Naomi are possible the saddest people to exist ever. Their whole catalog is just full of sad melodies with depressing lyrics. But specifically, 'More Sad Hits' is simply on it's own plane of sadness.

The album was released in 1997 making it considerably more modern than The Smiths, but absolutely acient compared to the simp music made by Drake and other members of the light skinned pigment today. The album itself is actually very pretty in a melancholy type of way. Everything on the album is really light on the ears and somewhat simple in nature so you can focus on being sad instead of complicated instumentaion. The great thing about this album is that the vocals are mixed so that they kind of blend in with the music. Giving it a very dreamy and engulfing feel. While they classify themselves as a dream pop band, I feel that this is a very wrong categorization. The mixing of their songs do delve into the waters of dream pop, however, this album lacks the synths, powerful vocals, and overly loud drums of dream pop bands. But weirdly the guitars are mixed in a way where they sound extremely spacey and airy. So they end up sounding somewhat like a pseudo synth. But the base sound of the guitar is still there, because it's impossible to make a truly sad song without an acoustic guitar. This album was made in the time where the shoe-gaze genre were riddled with bands. Damon & Naomi were a breath of fresh air to the scene. Even though his album isn't technically shoe-gaze per say, you can definitely hear the influence. The crown jewel of this album is 'Sir Thomas & Sir Robert.' This is easily the saddest song on the album. The song is very minimalist, the only instrument used in this song is a guitar. The lyrics are very gothic and the mixing on the vocals are very airy, which  makes it difficult to focus on the lyrics and easier to just focus on the depressing melody and strumming. Damon Krukowski's droning, deep, monotonous, sad voice is accompanied by Naomi Yang's high pitched,beautifully, less emotionally charged voice. All centered around a simple chord progression. Singing would be the wrong word to use on this song, the lyrics were recited with much more of a miserable drag than an actual voice. But somehow the passion is still present. Pretty much the whole album is great, but that's the standout song. All in all this album is great when you got the last Capri sun in the box and it doesn't have a straw attatched to it, or basically any other sad moment in your life. - L$G

Normal Rating: 7.6/10 

Sad rating: 10/10

Artist Feature : Tao Shui

Artist Feature: Tao Shui

Basics 

Name: Tao Shui (way of water)

Age: 21

Home: Newport News, Virginia

Talents: Hip-Hop Production, Guitar, Occasional MC 

Questions

What are some of your biggest influences? 

J Dilla, Marvin Gaye, Sinatra, N.E.R.D., Zeppelin, Oh and D'angelo! 

Sample based production or composition & why? 

Currently I much rather sample just to capture a more acoustic sound. I'm not a fan of synthetic texture but for composition I use guitar synthetic texture far as the keyboard sounds these days. I like making the chops wavy. 

Who are your favorite MC's right now? (Old & New) 

Nas, DOOM, Cam, Bronson, Mos, Pusha personally. I know there are a lot but those are who I listen to the most.

What was the first hip hop album/song you ever heard? 

OPP from my knowledge lol

What do you want to accomplish with what you're doing? 

All I want is people to overstand that anything is possible through art. No bragging rights, no ego, just want people to figure out the big picture... and shout out to Big L another one of my favs I forgot to mention.

Anything else you'd like to add? 

Basically as a musician all I can say is I know music. No matter what it may be I can figure out how to make it translate my feelings.

You can check out Tao's beats here:

www.soundcloud.com/tilinfinity

Follow Tao on Twitter @taoconley

Don't sleep! - TS