Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi is a very talented, diverse, and smooth rapper that eveyone in high school knows and loves. He has made 3 albums (2 alone and 1 was a collaberation) and has only begun his legacy in music not just rap. He was inspired by artists such as A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde. He has a different style that reminds you of no one but him. It has an alternative, hip hop, rap, electronic at times, with a bit of Indie? If that makes sense?

"Man on the Moon: The End of The Day" was one of the BEST debut albums I have ever heard. He had so many other artists just helping him on the beats but he only chose a select few to help him with verses and singing. He chose Billy Cravens, Ratatat, Common, Kanye, Chip The Ripper, and MGMT. Now that is a unique group of featuring artists. But without a doubt, one of the best entrances into the music world.
Here is my favorite song on that album "Cudi Zone"

His second album "Man on the Moon: The Legend of Mr. Rager" was an extremely underated second album. Just because of his fans were scared of something different it didn't sell that well but I don't think that was his goal. His goal was to get his message out that he has mental issues and a coke addiction and that he's tired of having to impress everyone and he wants to change. Nether the less that album was great and very underappreciated.
Here is my favorite song on that album "Scott Mescudi vs. The World" (feat. Cee Lo Green)

I'll make this short and quick. His last album WZRD was certainly the opposite direction from where Kid Cudi was. No rap and almost all rock on this collaboration with "Dot da Genius" (a rap producer) Some people like it but personally I don't think Cudi should have gone on this route. I respect him for sticking with his story and being different but seriously.... he did a freakin Nirvana cover. He is a pretty good singer at times but he isn't good enough to have an entire album singing. (Also note that he claimed that he stopped smoking weed for good once he started making this album)
Here is his cover of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" (Nirvana Cover)

And now he is back to rapping, singing, and smoking with his new single that's gonna be on his new album "Indicud" I'm expecting this album to be better than his first because with all the experiences he has had since then it leaves for genius writing oppurtunities. I will admit when I heard he had a single out I did not listen to it (scared of it being more WZRD) but then I listened it sounds like his first album, with maturity of his second, and with the some-what wisdom of his third.
Here is his new song, "Just What I Am" (feat. King Chip)

Our Generations Music

In class today we talked about what music identifies our generation. About the last big album and what year it dropped. Well I think that we were not lucky enough to have some of the classic artists like NWA, Nirvana, Notorious, 2pac, Run DMC, Sublime, and Lauren Hill. Who were in fact already developed artists and made a big impact right when they started.

Our generation as of now is defined by a lot of bad rap which is humiliating. But artists of our generation would have to be Kanye, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Eminem, Rihanna, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Muse, and so on. Now though some of those people are painful to mention in representing our generation, have made an impact on what we listen to today. Eminem was one of the first people I heard to not make clean versions of his songs and literally not give a fuck what anybody thinks of him. Jay-Z and Kanye made some albums that might have changed my life. All these people have made impacts on what we listen to today both for better and for worse.

But I see most of our artists just developing.

For example, Lady Gaga. Hate her or love her you can't deny that she has a talent. And she's only made 2 albums and is compared to Madonna. To think what she will accomplish by the end of her career is crazy.

Also, Taylor Swift. You have to admit she can write some songs that aren't bad. But right now she lacks variety, but I think that will change once she matures more and starts dealing with other problems rather than boy troubles.

Possibly the future of R&B lies in young Frank Ocean and his way to make you feel his pain when he sings. I swear all he needs to do is make more of the stuff he's doing right now and he will be a legend. He has such a creative mind and a singing style that reminds me of a young Usher and a little bit of Stevie Wonder mixed.

Artists like Mumford & Sons, Alex Care, and Fun. are just getting started. By the end of their careers I see great success.

So right now I don't think our generation has a lot to offer artists wise. But 5-10 years in the future you will see the impact of the 2010's and 2020's generation of music in the world.

Here is future Pop legend Lady Gaga, with "You and I"

Here is Taylor Swift, "Ronan"

And here is some of Frank Ocean in my favorite song of his, "Forrest Gump"

The Rolling Stones vs. The Beatles

Without a doubt The Beatles will ALWAYS be seen better than The Stones end of story. But in class I don't think we really made a fair comparison considering that we listened to The Stones crappy first album. If we would of listened to some of their CLASSIC songs like Satisfaction, Start it up, and of course Symphony for the Devil, some opinions would have been changed about The Stones. But still without a doubt, The Beatles will always reign as king among rock and all other artists.

In my mind The Beatles' best song, "Hey Jude"

And In my mind The Rolling Stones' best song,

Jack Johnson

   Jack Johnson is literally the perfect artist to listen to when falling asleep. His songs have a mellow feel to it as if you feel like your in Hawaii. I like him because he writes his own songs on a variety of topics. And he tries to reach out to all audiences. He made a kids album for the "Curious George" movie. And he just likes playing, not the money and fame. He just likes to make music. One year at ACL he showed up without anyone knowing and her performed his kids album on the kids stage.

This song is his most famous, "Upside Down"

And, "Better Together"

My favorite is, "Do You Remember"

Make up Blog 1: Jay-Z

     I listen to a lot of music and my favorite rapper of all time would have to be Jay-Z. He is just one of those first name basis rappers that you know even if you don't listen to rap or even know what it is. Astonishingly Jay-Z (co-founder of Rockefeller Records) has made over 10 rap albums in his career and he started with Reasonable Doubt arguably one of the best rap albums of all time. I like him because he can rap literally all styles. And I like him because he stays on the topic of the song when he's rapping. If he's rapping about death, your gonna hear some death similes and metaphors. And if he's rapping about where he came from, that's what you were gonna hear. I like all forms of Jay-Z; old, young, rich, poor. To me he is the same person he started out as.

Here is some of his older stuff, "Dead Presidents II"

 This is probably his best song ever in most peoples opinions, "Hard Knock LIfe" where he took a song from a musical called "Annie" and made it into a hip-hop anthem

 "New Day" off of Watch The Throne (featuring Kanye West)

More Beatles

    In class we are going through "The Beatle's" albums in order, and I say as they got older, they got more brilliant with their lyrics and messages in their songs. I liked their newer stuff because of that reason. It wasn't the same old "Honey I Love You" type stuff, It was just a little more sophisticated in my opinion. I still can't wait til we get into "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album, because I find it amazing.


   Here is the basic stuff from "Please Please Me" their first album

And here is some newer stuff "A Hard Days Night"

And here is some even newer stuff we have yet to get to "Hey, Jude"

                                        (P.S. I really hope we go into a little bit of Hendrix to see the contribution he himself made to Rock N' Roll)

A Tribe Called Quest

     I was looking to my iPhone to find what music to listen to and I rediscovered my "A Tribe Called Quest" albums and now I'm back into listening to them. To me they are what 90' hip hop is. The beats have a bunch of scratching from the DJ, and the lyrics flow smooth. I would put them in the categorie for best hip hop group of all time. They were so underated and unapreciated to the point where you don't know alot of their styles of songs translates to the rap of now. I like how they use words that actually rhyme and they just sound good. I also like how Q-Tip is mostly the soft, cool, smooth style of voice and Phife Dog has more of a loud, kind of obnoxious way of putting in his rhymes.


     Here's their most known song "Check the Rhime"

    You may also know this one, "Electric Relaxation"

    But here is my personal favorite, "The Pressure"

The Beatles - Please Please Me

In class we listened to The Beatles first album, "Please Please Me" which started off their legendary career as arguably the greatest recording artist the world has ever known. Me personally I don't like that album per say... But I do love The Beatles. I don't know, that album is just so poppy and too much about girls and love and cheesy things that will hit number one on the charts easily. I'm really glad that they started to moving to more creative stuff like "A Day in the Life," "Hey Jude," or even "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" rather than, "Please Please Me" and "Standing There"

Lupe Fiasco

Recently, I've been listening to alot of the old Lupe I found on my iPhone. Then I remembered why I liked him so much. He uses his lyrics to describe something to you and make you think about it. The skateboard rapper started his career with"Food and Liquor" one of the best rap albums I've ever heard, then on to "The Cool" another great one, then with "Lasers" his most recent album that has its share of hits. What I like most about him is that through all of his success he still stays true to what he represents. Now finally he came out with a new single called "Bitch Bad" in which he disses todays mainstream rappers in such a sophisticated way by only using really one curse word. Here is one of Lupe's first hits, "Kick Push" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl83mI69nX4 Some of his more recent stuff, "The Show Goes On" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmp6zIr5y4U And here is his new song, "Bitch Bad" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3m3t_PxiUI

Frank Ocean

This Frank Ocean album "channel ORANGE" is incredible. It actually had meaning and a story about his life which made it interesting to hear what he's been through. In my eyes the best album of the summer

Chuck Berry

I like listening to Chuck Berry because the way he plays his solo in Johnny B. Goode. When he plays it it looks like he's having so much fun with it. And it's enjoyable to listen to if the person playing it truly enjoys it