Livelii

After a lengthy legal battle with Cash MoneyRecords for ownership over YMCMB and the rights to his music, Lil Wayne finally releases The Carter V. Receiving mixed reviews from the blogs to the audience, I wasn’t sure what to expect; however after carefully listening to the album I have to give it an 8 out of 10; the album delivers in diversity, content, and overall quality. Lil Wayne has always been creative in his delivery and flow but emphasizing on his lyrical abilities is a statement to the hip hop culture. As the creator of dominating almost a decade of hip hop by featuring and releasing the most music, allowed Wayne to shape the industry. Tha Carter V not so much a farewell or a comeback, but a concrete middle between the two.  In songs like " Mona Lisa " which features Kendrick Lamar, Wayne proves that he's not afraid of a challenge; this his way of battling the head honcho of the hip hop community. The second you see the track you instantly think; can Li...

Top 10 Songs of 2017 1. Bodak Yellow Cardi B's Bodak Yellow allowed her to reach levels that would take most rappers years to accomplish. Her take on Kodak Black's No Flockin instantly became the number one song with the first bar. After only being acknowledged as a rapper for 2 years, the young rapper is already being compared to veterans like Nicki Minaj. I'm interested in seeing where Cardi's talent takes her.   2. XO Tour LIfe If you doubted Lil Uzi Vert in 2016, well 2017s XO Tour Life changed everyone's opinion of Uzi. He officially became a rock star with this hit single. As an Uzi fan since the release of Luv is Rage in 2015, I'm happy and excited to see the level of success he's received in a 2-year time span. His future is bright, if he remains true to himself. 3. Humble, Love (8) The year 2017 also solidified Kendrick Lamar's value in hip hop. Yes, I know that Lamar is already placed on a high pedestal, but this year w...

After receiving recognition from Top Dawg Ent , it came as no surprise when she signed to the label in 2013. By 2014, Sza released her debut ep titled "Z" which ultimately established her core fan base. Calmly making headlines with her features and the recent single Love Galore which features Travis Scott, Sza stirred up enough buzz for her mainstream debut. By first promoting the album CTRL on her Instagram with a tattoo, Sza created a trend, while many of her loyal fans follow the tattoo art. With the release of Love Galore, fans and audiences that listened to "Z" can instantly hear the difference in the albums. CTRL is definitely an attempt to appeal to the mainstream audience, but Sza does a good job doing it. Labeled as a conscious neo soul singer, Sza challenges her vocal dynamics, while implementing relatable and common topics in the lyrics. If anyone thought she wasn't sexy before, than you know that she is now. CTRL is about sex, relationships, an...

After carefully listening to Kendrick Lamar's new album Damn, I've decided that I am proud of Kendrick. Not because of the fact that Damn exonerates any speculations of him lacking creativity or diversity, but how he was able to remain true to his lyrical technique and style. Singles like Humble shows that Lamar clearly understands his value to hip hop and that he won't conform to what's popular. While songs like "DNA" and "Loyalty" resembles modern hip hop, with their repetitive choice of words and beats that grabs audiences eardrums. Once again he combines abstract lyricism with the new age sound that everyone wants to hear.    Apple Music describes Damn as being brutally honest, and I can concur. Kendrick is honest about his feelings towards the music industry, society, and even his personal relationships. He's frustrated about how the unexpected has become a reality, and is confused about staying "loyal" to the path he's begu...

Kendrick Lamar announces that his new album is on the way, drops 2 surprise singles, and a video to support one. Boy what a busy week Kendrick has had. Lamar's sudden reappearance after not making much noise in 2016 after his controversial Grammy performance  is revitalizing, because I began to think that his buzz depleted. Well I was wrong because the internet is going crazy over the new video "Humble," and I can't blame them. The video itself is very artistic and creatively arranged. Showing all of the elements that we're use to hearing from Kendrick, while continuing to focus on the message of the song. As for the actual song, well it's definitely a "Kendrick turn up," meaning that Lamar has always had an unique style of creating a club banger that has a clear message inside of it, and humble is no different. He uses the term humble loosely as a banter against critics. In efforts of weighing in on hip hops current states and those artist who are...

Let's call the release of Ab soul's latest album Do What Thou Wilt "the return of Ab Soul." Here's a run down of why hip hop heads have said that Ab Soul disappeared, when he was once compared to Kendrick Lamar. Ok, in 2011 Kendrick released the classic album Section 80 which ultimately created the hype for his 2012 classic mainstream album Good Kid Maad City . Before Kendrick released GKMC , Ab Soul dropped the classic album Control System which everyone who knew of Section 80 loved and compared the two. During this time frame TDE was developing fans of the masses because of the lyrical content yet fun party vibe in their music. In the beginning of 2012 Schoolboy Q released Habits & Contradictions which also helped develop TDE's core audience. Ab Soul's release gained him the attention from both Kendrick and Schoolboy fans. Now how did Ab soul get lost in the sauce? Well after Kendrick's GKMC exploded he dominated the entire 2013 year, br...

Pop star Sia decides to release an unexpected single today titled " The Greatest ," which features rapper Kendrick Lamar . An international star alongside one of the greatest rappers in today's generation equals a hit song. These two unique artist pours creativity in every beat of the song. The video for the single doesn't include Kendrick , but the visuals show a weird perspective of the word "greatest," that both stars can identity with. https://open.spotify.com/album/77HfZENS166sAS9SUoBwYG

Last night was the premier of the 2016 BET Awards that shook the entire internet from beginning to end. Beyonce's performance of her single freedom introduced the audience to an entire new meaning for the song. Originally the song expressed her captivity inside of her marriage, but last night with the help of political rapper Kendrick Lamar, Freedom is manifolded to the Black Lives Matter campaign.

Lil Wayne is the most underrated influence of this generation. Ok, yes Weezy hasn't been the same since his incarceration, Wayne's music has been average and currently he's not a topic in most music conversations unless you're referring to "old Wayne." However Weezy's sound and untouchable work ethic is the origin of this can't actually sing but use auto tune in order to create a harmony on the song sound. Wayne just like Kanye, Tupac, and so many others has created a style that has influenced an entire generation whether they're aware of it or not. Remember the T-Wayne era?  T-Wayne is similar to the modern day boy band "ships" but instead involves combining two people that should or do collaborate on music often. T-Wayne refers to the collection of hit songs that rapper T- Pain and Lil Wayne collaborated on. T- Pain branded him self as a singer that only used the auto tune effect and Lil Wayne began to use the same effect o...

On March 4, 2016 Kendrick Lamar decided to release an unexpected album titled  Untitled , which features the song Untitled that he premiered on The Colbert Report. The album has 8 songs all which are titled untitled followed by the numeric placement on the album. I think the Untitled series is a pleasant follow up from his album Grammy winning album  To Pimp a Butterfly , personally I enjoy the Untitled album more. In  Untitled  Kendrick sounds more like he's having fun while incorporating his political style.  Untitled  is an album that you can smoke, drink and just ride to without feeling depressed. He borrows some of Drake's   If you're reading   feel towards the end of track 2 and he sounds good, but definitely is not something that I would like him to continue. Untitled continues the Old school disco jazzy sound that Kendrick presented to us on  To Pimp a Butterfly . I like the album but I am looking forward to Kendrick's next album,...

Some years in music are always better than others. It's almost like the artist or corporations sit down together and say "ok this year will be the good music year." The year 2011 was definitely one of those years for hip hop. So I asked myself, if I could only buy 1 of these albums which would it be? After carefully deliberating for a few days, going back and forth from album to album, I chose Section 80. Here's why: Section 80 was the debut album for Kendrick Lamar, and if that album would've been any other Kendrick album I would not care for him too much. As a first album Section 80 instantly grabbed my attention and forced me to place Kendrick in an above standard category. Section 80 was different from the music we we're currently listening to, and was flawless in my eyes. After choosing Section 80 would be Take Care, then WTT, and finally Ambition.  Watch The Throne (WTT) is easily the best collaborative album of the generation. People who weren...

King Kendrick stormed in and took over Grammy Night as predicted, winning 5 awards including Best Rap Album and his unforgettable performance. In absence of Rihanna, Lauryn Hill, and Nicki Minaj who announced they surprisingly were not taking the stage, Kendrick's performance held to be the best of the night. From the beginning with Kendrick being chained like a slave while performing "The Blacker the Berry" to the Compton words in place of Africa over the continent while performing "Alright" this was by far the most controversial performance the Grammy's stage has ever witness.  The audience was in awe and honestly I was a little confused myself. What did he mean with replacing the words? I understand that Kendrick could be suggesting that we're currently still enslaved, but why specify Compton. What is the direct correlation with Compton and Africa oppose to the recognition of the entire world. Is it possible that this may be a performance depicti...

The RIAA announced yesterday that streaming will now be included upon determining album sales, making Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly , Big Sean's Dark Sky Paradise , and The Weekend's Beauty Behind the Madness all certified platinum. TDE CEO responds via Twitter "we don't stand behind the RIAA BS" and I agree. For those of you who don't know, originally in order to qualify as having a platinum selling album, 1 million units need to be sold. A number of streams on an album are no where similar to how many physical copies are bought. T he RIAA says 1,500 song or video streams will be equivalent to ten track sales or one album sale. Streaming is free for the user there for if one person is a Kendrick listener, that one person could possibly stream the album at the least 365 times in one year without costing them a cent. Now if that same person bought the album the odds of them repurchasing the same album are slim to none. Mathematically if about ...