Johnny Cash

I really liked listening to Johnny Cash in class. He definitely has a vibe and swagger that not most country singers have. Personally, I HATE COUNTRY. Every artist sounds the same to me, every song the same meaning, different lyrics (but alot of times the same lyrics) it just all sounds too much alike. But with Johnny he brings something different to the plate. It's definitely not his voice cause let's be real here, he doesn't sing he just talks. It's more of the sound and unique style in which he performs. The lyrics are great! But that's not what I like about him. I really think I like him because he is one of the artists where you hear a song you've never heard before and say "That's Johnny Cash right there". He's got that factor that a lot of artist strive to get but never find it. He is his own style and in my mind the King of Country music. Rock has its Elvis, Hip/Hop has its Biggie, R&B/Soul has its Otis Redding, and Country has its Johnny Cash.

The most popular Johnny Cash song is probably "Walk the Line"

My favorite song by him is definitely "Ring of Fire"

The Avalanches

The Avalanches are an electronic group that uses 3 members to play 2 sets of keyboards, one bass, one siging backup vocals, and another on a DJ set. They make music based entirely off of samples. Their debut album (so far the only one I've listened to) consisted of 3500 samples alone. What I like about it is when you hear that they make songs based entirely off of samples, vocals and all, you think it would sound like just noise but it's not. It is truly mind blowing to me how some electronic artist make this type of sampling music. It takes time and concentration to get the beat to match with the vocals perfectly. And also this album is one full song. It's tight as hell how they do the transitions from song to song. There is rumors that they are making another album soon and if so, I will be looking forward to this.

My favorite song off of "Since I Left You" is Electricity

And probably the most popular song off of this album is "Since I Left You"

And if you have time, listen to the full hour long album

Memphis The Musicals music

Yesterday I watched a Broadway show on Netflix expecting it to be alright but I was wrong. I loved every second of it and the music was kick ass. All of them were fantastic singers. I liked it cause like most people see Broadway singing as soft and nice this was hard and powerfull. It was about white and black music in the 50's and it reminded me of the music we listened to in class. How most of the white people singing soul songs sounded corny and how when the blacks sang it it sounded badass and more powerfull. Not only were they great singers, the songs written were good too. There is definitley some bad Broadway show tunes, but if you search enough, you will find some good music.

A badass song called "Music of My Soul"

But my favorite probably is

Jazz Based Rap

I realized how much I love this genre once I heard The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest and then I had to get more. I had touched the basis of Common and Blackstar but never really fully dived in. But then someone introduced me to The Roots who I've heard a lot about better never REALLY listened. And I never that that a Rap Band could sound so good. I actually don't even put them in a Hip-Hop categorie, I just put them a music. I love it cause it is rap based solely on smooth lyrics. It doesn't have a flashy beat in the background or hard bass, it has a simple nice beat and bad ass lyrics.

Then I listened to all of the Quest albums and fell in love. My favorite Quest song is "We Got The Jazz"

 I heard a lot of Common including "I Used To Love H.E.R."

 I tried to get into Blackstar but there is something about Mos Defs voice I just don't like. I love Talib Kweli but something about Mos Def. Although I love there song "Definition".

 My favorite of The Roots has to be their classic "What They Do"

Then as I moved through The Roots I got into The Fugees and Lauryn Hills' straight ridiculous rhyming skills. The song "How Many Mics" is plain bananas

And an honorable mention to The Pharcyde for the classic "Passin' Me By"

Hendrix's 2nd Album

I can tell that the difference between Jimis' first album and his second is that in his first, you feel the hardness and waaaaaaaaay more solos and hard riffs that he shreds. And with his second, you can tell he spent a lot more time song writing and trying to find a nice smooth sound. I don't know it's just how it sounds to me. I love Hendrix and pretty much every thing he has touched because when he tries to do something different, he succeeds. He was a man who made covers better than the original. He is like God.... wait I don't know about that... I mean he's amazing, but God is no Jimi Hendrix.


Favorite hard song by him is "Hey Joe"

Favorite soft song by him is "Angel"

Pink Floyd

I don't really like Pink Floyd.... just doesn's sound like rock to me! I don't know, I don't get the same vibe I do from other rock artists. I see Pink Floyd as more of the beginnings of a different rock. They were definitely unique, but it's just not my cup of tea. And I think the singers voice is a little annoying on some songs. Who knows!? Maybe I will like some of their later stuff but so far not a fan.

Nas

Nas is not a rapper... he's a lyricist. He's a poet. I mean by God he's one of those rappers who pours an emotion on you and you suddenly feel how he does. I like him cause I haven't heard one of songs not have some sort of message in it. His by far best work is the Illmatic which in my mind the greatest Hip-Hop album of all time. That album is straight hip-hop right out of the streets. It is true hip-hop and how it is performed in it's prime. Illmatic was a rap treasure, no features, no money and hoes, just him and a beat about his life. And it sucks cause he peaked at his first album. Sure he made some good songs after it and hell a good album, but nothing rose to what Illmatic was.

In his years he got into a "beef" with my favorite rapper Jay-Z. And when it comes down to disses... he won the battle. But Jay-Z won the war. Nas made Ether and H.O.M.O. that were devistating, while Jay-Z the most he did was sample off of his track. I think Jay saw in his future what happened to BIG and Pac. So he thought Hip-Hop already lost its 2 greatest so it shouldn't lose the next two. Jay-Z won the war for his success continued and is now the most successful rapper ever. So many Platinum albums, artists signings, and classic songs.

At first I didn't like Nas (As a loyal Jay-Z fan wouldn't) but then recently I realized how good he was. I may not be considered a loyal Jay-Z fan anymore, but I consider myself a loyal Hip-Hop fan now. He's incredible and to think he rapped about the most fucked up things at such a young age. Definitely top 5 rappers ever in my mind.

Here is Nas' classic "N.Y. State of Mind" off of Illmatic

And here is Nas' brutal diss to Jay-Z and all of  Rockafeller Records in "Ether"

Nas in "If I Ruled The World feat. Lauryn Hill" off of It Was Written

And my favorite Nas song, maybe my top 10 hip hop songs, "The World is Yours" off of Illmatic

Gorillaz

Gorillaz is definitely one of my favorite bands ever. The sound is so unique cause it's a perfect mix of all genres. Kick ass singing and nice beats and keys. Also they brought in some great rappers to supply verses that were also different in deliverance and rhymes. It's just so hard to describe, you have to listen to it. In their songs they basically incorporate any instrument they can in a song and make it sound good. I love it cause its just so different. When you hear it, you know exactly who it is. And I love how they kept their identities secret for so long and as a kid I almost started to believe that the cartoons portrayed were real people.

The band consist of 4 virtual cartoon members 2D, Murdoc, Russell, and Noodle. You could even add in Del The Funky Homosapien because he was a honorable feature on tons of their songs so I feel he should be included. But the real members of this group are Damon Albarn (who is basically in charge of all the music) and Jamie Hewlett (in charge of the fictional characters, their story, and the technology used for them to perform live)

Recently Damon Albarn had revealed the real people behind Gorillaz and it was a lot of famous names. Famous names such as De La Soul, Ike Turner, Redman, D12, Snoop Dogg and more names were involved in this great music. What I don't like is how they decided to perform live with real people instead of the characters which somewhat ruined the factor that made Gorillaz a unique band. Although it's cool to give credit to the people working behind the faces, I liked that factor no one else ever had.

They toured live for a little while, but then they released Plastic Beach which reintroduced the characters we love and they even mentioned the live performing real Gorillaz as people who were copying them in a short film which was pretty fun. Now the album Plastic Beach was actually kind of dissapointing it was good to see them back.

Gorillaz most successfull album to date is Demon Days which features songs we love such as "Feel Good Inc." and more. Demon Days was nominated for 5 Grammys and won 1. It tells a story of how the band is on an island in the sky in a alternate virtual univers and the activities up on their until war breaks out on the island from Hades and planes shoot the island down until it is sinking down to hell where you think it is the end for Noodle (the guitarist) but she comes back to life to fuck shit up for Plastic Beach.

This is the famous Gorillaz song "Feel Good Inc."

This is my favorite Gorillaz song "Clint Eastwood" off of their first album

And just so you know how awesome and amazing it would be to see them live... Here is "Clint Eastwood" live.

And if that doesn't impress you then their performance at the Grammys with a VIRTUAL MADONNA might. Just ignore the Madonna part at the end when its just her cause that part sucks.