Category Archives: Music News

Beyoncé drops new single ‘Break My Soul’; what is the internet saying?

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LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 27: In this handout photo provided by A.M.P.A.S., Beyoncé performs during the ABC telecast of the 94th Oscars® on Sunday, March 27, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Mason Poole/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images)

The queen of everything Beyoncé has officially taken over the internet once again with the release of her latest single “Break My Soul” from her upcoming album Renaissance: Act 1. From the sounds of it Beyoncé is riding the House music train right now. So that means dance floors are going to be packed with the BeyHive having a ball every time the song comes across the speakers. The track was produced by Beyonce, The Dream and Tricky Stewart. Big Freedia’s voice is all over the track serving up words of encouragement and inspiration.

Beyoncé is flexing every skill on this track. Her voice sounds buttery, refreshed and bright. This is only going to stoke the fire of anticipation when it comes to the release of Renaissance: Act 1 on July 29, 2022.

Last week Drake released his House music inspired Honestly, Nevermind to luke warm reviews. The reviews were so lukewarm that Drake speaks up for his release. A video of Drake surfaced with him defending his decision about the direction he took with the album. Drake says, “It’s all good if you don’t get it yet. It’s all good. That’s what we do. That’s what we do. We wait for you to catch up. We’re in here, though. We’re caught up already. On to the next. My goodness.”

Its unlikely that Beyoncé will suffer the same type of backlash. The internet is already blazing with approval.

Beyoncé and her ode to empowerment will surely be the theme of the summer and it’s exciting to see her throngs of supporters come out of the woodwork to support her. The Beyhive is loyal. They support their queen and even buy her products sight unseen. When she made the official announcement of her release date she allowed her supporters to reserve the album and purchase a box with unknown contents. I totally believe if Beyoncé included a hand written poem and some candy it would drive the people wild. She’s got the Midas touch when it comes to this music thing.

Take a listen to “Break My Soul” below

Kendrick Lamar set new one day streaming record with Apple Music

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Kendrick Lamar (Photo source Getty Images)

Kendrick Lamar is the talk of the town. Dropping “The Heart Part 5” about a week ago he set the world ablaze with his cutting edge video. He has since released his final studio project Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers with his former label Top Dawg Entertaiment.

The initial release of the album was done on Tidal and was made available via other streaming services the following day. As of May 13, 2022 Lamar set the one day record for streams with Apple Music so far this year.

“Shout out @kendricklamar.
K-Dot’s ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ had the
most first-day streams for an album released so far in 2022.“ tweeted Apple Music

The industry is abuzz regarding this release. It isn’t far fetched to think even more records will be broken.

Kendrick has words for the culture on “The Heart Part 5”

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Kendrick Lamar’s newest visual for “The Heart Part 5” is a scathing review of the culture and the video follows along as he morphs a list of cultural icons. OJ, Kanye West and Nipsy Hustle make appearances. The verses speak volumes and if this is a sneak peak of what’s to come we are in for an epic project. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers drops this Friday May 13, 2022

Babyface and Teddy Riley break Instagram

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Over 500 thousand people joined IG live yesterday for the rematch of the Babyface vs Teddy Riley battle. Swizz Beatz and Timbaland’s VERZUZ series continues to break records and the internet with these battles.

The legendary producers returned on April 20,2020 to IG with their A Game. Technical difficulties brought the initial battle to a halt. Teddy Riley brought a full production out with him the first time. This time he scaled it down considerably much to the satisfaction of the fans.

The highlight of this battle is when Babyface pulled out his guitar and did a live rendition of “When Will I See You Again” Teddy was visibly surprised and caused him some pause. The battle continued. Babyface was pulling away and then Teddy started to bring out the big guns, ie: Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. For some reason Teddy neglected to charge his phone and needed to find a charger. As he was looking for the charger the audience grew and the connection got weaker. Ultimately the live broadcast crashed and the R&B legends took time going back and forth to each others platforms looking to be added to no avail.

Interestingly enough when the audience migrated over to Teddy’s page he was in a new room in front of his keyboard ready to jam. None of it seemed to matter because the two R&B legends had officially crashed IG live and could not accommodate anymore fans.

The nostalgia of the battle transported me to my prom all the way to my partying days and it was awesome. I scored the battle a tie 9-9 before everything crashed. Check out my break down below

Round 1- Teddy Riley (Winner)

SWV “Right Here (Human Nature Radio Mix)”

Toni Braxton ” Love Shoulda Brought You Home”

Round 2 – Babyface (Winner)

Keith Sweat “Make it Last Forever”

Babyface “Soon As I Get Home”

Round 3 – Babyface (Winner)

Johnny Kemp “Just Got Paid”

Whispers “Rock Steady”

Round 4 – Teddy Riley (Winner)

Foxy Brown ‘Get Me Home”

Babyface “Every Time I Close My Eyes”

Round 5 – Babyface (Winner)

Guy “Piece Of My Love”

After 7 “Ready or Not”

Round 6 – Babyface (Winner)

Hi-Five “I Like The Way”

Bobby Brown “Every Little Step”

Round 7- Babyface (Winner)

Keith Sweat “I Want Her”

Tevin Campbell “Can We Talk”

Round 8 – Teddy Riley (Winner)

Guy “I Like”

Karyn White “The Way You Love Me”

Round 9 – Teddy Riley (Winner)

Heavy D and The Boyz “Is it Good To You”

Tevin Campbell “I’m Ready”

Round 10 – Babyface (Winner)

Slick Rick, Dougie Fresh “The Show”

Babyface “Two Occasions”

Round 11 – Babyface (Winner)

JAY-Z “The City Is Mine”

Bobby Brown “Rock Wit’cha”

Round 12 – Teddy Riley (Winner)

Bobby Brown “On Our Own”

Michael Jackson ” In The Closet”

Round 13 – Teddy Riley (Winner)

Babyface “When Can I See You”

Blackstreet ” Before I Let You Go”

Round 14 – Babyface (Winner)

Babyface “Whip Appeal”

Guy ‘Lets Chill”

Round 14 – Babyface (Winner)

Johnny Gill “My My My”

Blackstreet “Deep”

Round 15 – Teddy Riley (Winner)

TLC “Red Light Special”

Janet Jackson “I Get Lonely”

Round 16 – Teddy Riley (Winner)

Karyn White “Superwoman”

Michael Jackson “Jam”

Round 17 – Teddy Riley (Winner)

Toni Braxton “You’re Makin Me High”

Wrexx N Effect “Rumpshaker”

This is where I stopped keeping score. The battle was officially over and each artist was playing music on their respective pages. It only makes sense that this ends in a tie.

How did you score it? Share in the comments.

-Precise

Stream Precise music below.

DJ Premier vs RZA – Who won?

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DJ Premier and RZA faced off in a producers battle that was one for the ages. Timbaland and Swizz Beatz launched the ‘VERZUZ’ battle series in March during the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The goal of the series is to celebrate the architects of good music. 

DJ Premier of Gang Starr and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan faced off in one of the most epic producer battles since this series has been launched. Both of these men represent juggernauts in the culture of Hip-Hop and have worked with many of greats. Jay Z, Nas, Mary J Blige, ODB and Biggie Smalls are a few of the artists both producers have worked with. 

The battle was a trip down memory lane with a focus on the golden age of rap. RZA kicked it off with “Liquid Swords” from the album of the same name to which Premier followed up with “Medley: Intro” by Jay Z  off of his album In My Lifetime. There were a few technical difficulties for RZA early on but after some communication from DJ Premier’s engineer it was corrected. 

Both producers shared details of sessions for specific songs. When Premier played “Come Clean” by Jeru the Damaja he mentioned that LL Cool J was in the studio when he created the track for the song. 

Premier also recalled the time RZA stepped to him in Los Angeles and told him that he had a song called C.R.E.A..M that would whip him. 

The original battle was set to go 20 rounds but it went much longer as both producers offered up music to heal during this tumultuous time. 

The overall winner for the evening was the culture of hip-hop because of how it continues to bring the world together and created a way out of no way for so many people of the world.

I scored the battle 13-7 with DJ Premier as the winner. Check out my breakdown after the jump.

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‪’People’s Instinctive Travels’ by A Tribe Called Quest is 30 years-old today – WOW

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‪

“People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm” by A Tribe Called Quest turns 30 years-old today. This project changed my life and my perspective on rap as an art form and Hip-Hop as a culture. ‬

The only reason I even know about Tribe was because of Q-Tip’s feature on Jungle Brothers album Straight Out the Jungle, that I stole from a record shop at Lincoln Mall in Matteson IL..(don’t judge me). Q Tip was on a song called “Black is Black”. Native Tongues consisting of Queen Latifah, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest was formed, then came Tribe with ‪“People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm” in 1989.

“Push it Along” is the first song on the project. The baby crying at the start is akin to the birth of a new sound. I remember popping the tape into my moms Nissan Sentra and being immediately hooked. Q Tip’s vocabulary and the contrast of his and Pfhife’s voices along with the jazz inspired samples opened up a portal to a world I didn’t know existed.

I credit Tribe for expanding my musical palate when it comes to music. The lush horns, crisp break beats and samples were transformed into beautiful rap music by Ali-Shaheed Muhammad and Q -Tip. I know the legendary Donald Byrd because of the song “Footprints”. Q Tip filtered a portion of “Think Twice” by Byrd into a funky loop.

This album helps push forward the narrative of positivity and individuality into the 90’s. It also delivered one of the most memorable rap love songs of all time with “Bonita Applebum” The Hootie Mix of “Bonita Applebum” featured a sample of the Isley Brother “Between The Sheets”. It was a popular sample during that time, however I’m partial to the original. It feels more sincere and intentional. The original version is a marriage between Ramp’s “Daylight” and the genius of Charles Stepney on Rotary Connections “Memory”. The combination creates a rap classic.

30 years later we can thank A Tribe Called Quest for providing the culture with story telling, bars and love songs on one of the greatest rap projects ever created.

What is your favorite song from this project? What does this project mean to you? Share in the comments below.

-Precise

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Drake gives us something to do during the quarantine – The Toosie Slide (Video)

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Life has been so different. Anxiety is high. You can’t even hear a sneeze these days without getting nervous. For this reason I have to give it up to Drake for his latest creation “Toosie Slide”.

Who knew what we needed was a new dance and a tour of Drakes new palatial Canadian home to provide some type of distraction from this madness? Good job Drake and thanks for the tour.

Check out the video for “Toosie Slide” below.

-Precise

Stream Precise music below

Public Enemy still has Flavor – Chuck D shares his truth (Video)

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The phrase there is no Public Enemy without Flavor Flav rings louder today than ever before. At the top of March Public Enemy aligned themselves with politician and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for a rally. Flavor did not agree and had his attorney Matthew Friedman issue a cease and desist order.

“While Chuck is certainly free to express his political view as he sees fit — his voice alone does not speak for Public Enemy,” the letter states. “The planned performance will only be Chuck D of Public Enemy, it will not be a performance by Public Enemy. Those who truly know what Public Enemy stands for know what time it is, there is no Public Enemy without Flavor Flav”

“Flav … has not endorsed any political candidate in this election cycle. … The continued publicizing of this grossly misleading narrative is, at a minimum, careless and irresponsible if not intentionally misleading,” Friedman added in the letter. “It is unfortunate that a political campaign would be so careless with the artistic integrity of such iconoclastic figures in American culture.”

This cease and desist prompted Chuck D of Public Enemy to essentially kick Flavor out of the group.“Public Enemy and Public Enemy Radio will be moving forward without Flavor Flav,” the hip-hop legends said in a brief statement Sunday. “We thank him for his years of service and wish him well.”

Chuck D of Public Enemy on The People’s Party

Today April 1, 2020 the biggest April Fool’s joke has surfaced. Not only is Flavor Flav not kicked out of the group, Flav and Chuck are working on a new project entitled The Enemy Radio with a song called “Food as a Machine Gun” Chuck D made this announcement on The People’s Party podcast with Talib Kweli “Im not saying it’s a hoax, Im saying that the original intention is to get your attention.” said Chuck D

Public Enemy is still intact and you know what, there is no Public Enemy with out Chuck D and Flavor Flav. Do you feel played? Are you relieved Public enemy is still a group with Flavor Flav?

Share in the comments below.

-Precise

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‘Like Water For Chocolate’ by Common is 20-years-old today

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Cover art for Like Water for Chocolate

Today we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Commons fourth studio release Like Water for Chocolate.

Like Water for Chocolate is the introduction of the production team Soulquarians. It consisted of Dilla, ?uestlove, D’Angelo, James Poyser and Pino Palladino. This collective created a canvas for Common to showcase his skill and his soul.

“Funky for You” one of my favorite songs seeps into your spirit. Dilla’s drums are all over it. Bilal and Jill Scott’s voices ring like a mantra singing “As long as it’s funky alright, ok” Common floats over the production and that South Side Chicago sensibility blesses the rhythm.

Funky For You

Like Water for Chocolate ushered in a new sound and created a lane for Common as the consciousness of Hip Hop.The biggest hit and single from the album is “The Light” and the video featuring Erykah Badu helped to launch Common into a different space as he proved that rap can also be romantic and loving. I remember being so moved by that song that it inspired me to propose to my now ex-wife.

“The Light” by Common

The best projects teach you something. Because of this album I know who Fela Kuti is “Time Travelin’ (A Tribute to Fela)” and “A Song for Assata” made me take a real look at freedom and what people have sacrificed for my freedom and theirs.

A Song for Assata

The boldness and spirit of this album is why it has stood the test of time. The tile of the album is inspired by the novel of the same name. Common explains in an interview why he chose it. “Actually the album is named after a movie of the same title. In the movie the main character was a really good cook. She would always be cooking for people. Whenever she would cook, she would really put a lot of emotion into it. So when people would eat her cooking, they were able to feel the same emotions she felt while cooking it. You feel me? So this is the same thing. I put all my heart, my mind and my rawness into these tracks. So I hope that people can feel that when they listen to the album” he said

Congratulations Common for this milestone. Thank you for repping the South Side of Chicago and the culture of Hip Hop the way that you do.

-Precise

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