Despite never really breaking through to the mainstream, Consequence has been a major player in hip-hop’s underground since surfacing on A Tribe Called Quest’s Beats, Rhymes & Life back in 1996. More recently, he’s gained notoriety as a satellite member of the Kanye West/G.O.O.D Music camp, appearing on several of ‘Ye’s albums. His energetic, youthful rhyme style hasn’t changed much over the years, but he goes for a slightly more subdued sound with the new track “On My Own”. Cons […]
Posts tagged "Kanye West"
“Watch the Throne”: It’s Coming, But When?
The arrival of one of hip-hop’s most anticipated albums is imminent, but there’s still not an official release date. There was a significant amount of buzz on the internet surrounding Kanye West & jay’Z’s Watch the Throne recently. Many reports suggested that the album might even see a surprise release today. Well, the album’s not out, but it appears that it has been completed. A preorder page has been set up for the album, with standard and deluxe versions available. The cover […]
Blerd Briefs: Sly’s Back (?), Common Switches Labels & Doughty Goes On Tour!
In “News You Never Expected to Receive”, how about this one? Sly & the Family Stone are releasing a new album! Well…sort of. I’m Back! Family and Friends is the title of the Sly & the Family Stone album being released on August 16th. It’s the first album released by Sly in nearly thirty years. The album consists of re-workings of Sly classics like “Everyday People” and “Stand!”, as well as three new songs. If you can only come up […]
Spin Cycle Plus: Beyonce’s “4”
Beyonce’s 4 has been quite the subject of discussion over at Popblerd HQ. With so many opinions about the pop star’s work and the controversy surrounding the album (after several songs from the album underperformed and the entire set leaked about a month before release, it was rumored that Beyonce’s record company asked her to go back into the studio and retool the album. These rumors have been categorically denied all around), it was only right that we gave you […]
Spin Cycle: Big Sean’s “Finally Famous”
Seven years after The College Dropout, the specter of Kanye West’s opus looms large over the rap landscape. He’s put out better albums in the intervening years – arguably, his stunning sophomore set Late Registration – but Dropout was the game-changer. Never has Kanye’s notorious inward focus been quite as breezy and flippant, nor his boasts as tempered with something like genuine humility; and if Late Registration is a big-budget, melodramatic epic, Dropout was the winning indie comedy from a […]
Award Show Sundays Special: The 2011 BET Awards Live Blog
It’s been a minute since we live-blogged an awards show around these parts. I gave some consideration to doing some commentary on the Billboard Music Awards, but got pulled into another direction-a move that turned out to be a wise one (since all of the clips I saw from the show and all of the commentary I saw on social media was lukewarm.) I have a love-hate relationship with the BET Awards (to say nothing of my largely HATE relationship […]
Spin Cycle: Bon Iver’s “Bon Iver, Bon Iver”
Reams and reams of paragraphs, enough (and steeped in enough mythology) to ink dozens of dead sea scrolls, have been devoted to Bon Iver’s 2007 debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, and not without reason; indie lovers and avid Pitchfork readers seem to flock to rootsy acoustic-slinging troubadours with gusto, special hipster points granted for being lo-fi. It doesn’t get much more lo-fi than a heart-broke woodsman holing up for the winter in a Wisconsin cabin and writing and recording his […]
The Viewfinder: Kanye West Releases Controversial “Monster” Video
Months after leaked versions have started to surface on Youtube, camp Kanye has officially made public his “Monster” music video. Already besieged by controversy – this video is littered with dead white women, always a sore spot for mainstream America – this spot arrives with a brand-new disclaimer, and the knowledge that you can Google a bevy of articles and petitions pleading for its demise. The clip’s divisiveness can be discussed in the comments, of course; but quality is king, […]
Who is the Most Hated Music Artist Right Now? No Surprise…
The ratio of pitches we get via email vs. the ratio of PR pitches that ends up on the site is relatively small (watch us disappear off of everyone’s PR list now), but I have to say that one recent email caught my eye. It linked to the five most hated artists in music today. The process used to figure this out was pretty simple, it seems. Looks like they just did Google searches on a number of artists and measured the amount […]
Spin Cycle: Lupe Fiasco “Lasers”
I’ve mentioned it several times before…when an album has drama surrounding it, a lot of times it’s hard to separate the drama from the music being created. That phenomenon reared it’s ugly head yet again with the release of Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco’s third album, Lasers. The album’s been on various release schedules for almost a year, and has had several teaser singles surface over that time. The word on the street is that Lupe and his label, Atlantic, were […]
The Viewfinder: Kanye West “All of the Lights”
So, um…what happened to the “Monster” video? A rough cut of the clip was floating around the net a month or so ago, but there was never an official release. Did “Monster” just not gain traction on the radio? Was the internet chatter about the video’s alleged misogyny enough to kill the video? (I don’t see that happening, but ya never know). Did the mercurial Kanye just have a change of heart? Who knows? At any rate, the third video […]
Popblerd!’s 2011 Grammy Preview: Rap
Another year, another time to kvetch over the Grammy Award nominations, right? It may be music’s biggest night, but it’s hard to find a Grammy Awards that’s not fraught with controversy and/or boring as hell. The nomination process always results in head scratching decisions, and this year’s are no different. Katy Perry nominated for Album of the Year? Weird. Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance” scratched off of the Record of the Year nominees? Uber-weird. No Lil Wayne nominations? Big Boi passed […]
