Just Music Matters: 2 Worth Talking About

Just Music Matters: 2 Worth Talking About: "I’ve been away for a while and I ask for forgiveness, not that I have an audience to really make an apology to at the moment, but it was ..."

2 Worth Talking About

I’ve been away for a while and I ask for forgiveness, not that I have an audience to really make an apology to at the moment, but it was just the right thing to as a professional to say. I’ve been busy accomplishing my goals and dreams and I am getting one-step closer everyday. I am embracing every moment of it as well and I have come a long way as a result. It is almost too hard too believe, where I’ve been and how far I have come. Anyways this article is not about me but it is about a couple of incredibly talented rap artists that merit talking about and will give your ears a reward. These two artists I am going to put on a pedestal at moment because with out a doubt they are up next.

Gilbere Forte – This artist has an amazing talent and brings an element of perspective filled meaningful rhymes and just god given talent. He has a couple of mixtapes that you can download for free off of Datpiff.com and his music is a must listen trust me. I would cosign this artist and of course at the moment my word doesn’t hold too much weight at the moment, but once a fan of hip-hop takes a listen you will thank me. Gilbere Forte is just a 100 percent official.

The ILLZ- Without a doubt an artist on the climb with deep rhymes and risk taking musical schemes that when blended together equals musical perfection. Go to theillz.com, and you will be a believer to. His lyrics and emotion that he puts behind every spoken word just speaks for itself. He is on a whole another level period. Again, my words don’t really hold no influence at the moment, but believe me you will thank me for it.

Hearing these two innovative rap artists is excellent and to me at least a dream come true. I feel a structure of rejuvenation when it comes to the hip-hop genre that is much desired. I started listening to these two artists and a few more (Lucky-One, XV, Yonas and others are notable rising stars as well) that I would love to name. So, if you want to hear some musical nourishment, which is packed with sharp, crisp and complimented with on point delivery, these two artists will have your ears swimming in delightful and blissful sounds. Give your ears a treat and sit back and enjoy.

"My 2010 Fab 5 Hip-Hop Album Christmas Stocking Stuffers"

As Christmas is amongst us and we will be celebrating the end of another year with our family and friends, I thought it would be only right for me to list my top 5 hip-hop album stocking stuffers. These are the albums that I have listed in the order that are my personal favorites of 2010. Check them out and tell me what your personal favorite albums of 2010 are. 

#1 Sir Lucious Leftfoot: Son of Chico Dusty: This is the debut album from the legendary Big Boi from the platinum selling group “Outkast”. The album puts an impact on the word innovative and is what hip-hop is all about. Big Boi brags about his lyrical skills and has every right to do so, because quite frankly he can back his words up. The album has production from Organized Noise, Scott Storch and Outkast member Andre 3 Stacks, which produced my favorite track You Ain’t No DJ, featuring Yelawolf. Big Boi proves why he is considered one of the best in the rap game. The album is consisted with tracks of creative genius and if you are a hip-hop fan, I recommend you make sure somebody stuffs your Christmas stocking with a copy, don’t miss out.

#2 My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: This is Kanye West’s fifth studio album and Mr. West once again does not disappoint his fans. The tracks are deep, driven, and epic, which take listeners on a true musical escapade into the magnificent mind of Mr. West. Kanye does a lot of production on the album himself along with The RZA, No ID and Mike Dean to name just a few. Hate him or love him the man makes good music backed with improved penmanship. Kanye West with all his controversial remarks can be looked at as good marketing tactics in my eyes and he is not afraid to say what is on his mind. Mr. West is in the building and his latest project should be in your Christmas stocking.

#3 Recovery: The seventh studio album from arguably the best rapper alive and the artist of the decade, Eminem need I say more. Recovery’s “No Love” track featuring Lil Wayne was my personal favorite, which showcased Eminem’s expressive lyrical abilities and a rejuvenated and energized Eminem; constantly bragging about how much better he is than the competition. He seemed to only be getting warmed up on this album to start a comeback that is going to leave a lot of people flabbergasted. You can tell that this album is just building up for better things to come. It is the resurgent of Eminem after a well-publicized battle with drug addiction that endangered his career. Dr. Dre the legendary music producer is set to release his album Detox in 2011, which is good news for Eminem, because when these two get together it is a wrap. All I have to say is watch out for and anticipate Eminem dropping some of his best work to date sometime next year. It is just like in sports where you see the separation between sports stars, well that’s what Eminem is and Recovery is only the launch. It is not his best album, but with age comes maturity and Eminem is still in a whole another lane. I think it was an album that Eminem wanted to put to prove to him and fans alike that he still had it. Now the beast has been unleashed and I am enthusiastic with eagerness.  Recovery should be in your Christmas stocking, but remember it is just a warm-up.

#4 Thank Me Later: Canadian rapper Drake’s Thank Me Later was one of the most anticipated albums of 2010. It was the beginning of this freshman’s class member’s career. After a thorough grassroots campaign, Drake built an incredible buzz, before he even talked about releasing this album. Drake is very lyrical and you can tell he has really worked on his rap delivery. It is one of the most essential tools of being a hip-hop artist, which is to be able to stay on cue with the tempo of the beats. Drake has confirmed that he is here to stay and being a part of the Young Money family, with platinum selling rap artist, Lil Wayne, expect better things to come. The album is a must have for your Christmas stocking. If you are a hip-hop fan check this album out.

#5 Teflon Don: Rick Ross’s fourth studio album has a cinematic feel to it. The tracks are very epic and Rick Ross uses sharp and skillful lyrics that keep changing for the better over time. He has made his case for being one of the best rappers in the game. Ross talks a lot about cars, money, and drinking Rosé, but he backs his words up with nice rhymes, which are actually saying something. Rick Ross gets it in with the pen and pad and proves it on this album. The Teflon Don had heavyweight production from the likes of The Inkredibles, Kanye West, and The J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. Ross proves that the key to having a good album is good production and lyrics to match. I would like to thank Mr. Ross personally for putting out such a good album and it needs to be in every hip-hop fans Christmas stocking hanging over the fireplace or wherever you like to place your Christmas stockings. The album is packed with track after track of good feeling music, period.

Well there are my 2010 Fab 5 hip-hop album’s Christmas stocking stuffers. I would love to read yours and I would like to wish you all happy

Can You Say Adapt?

The music industry is really getting knocked around and hit with a bunch of punches faster than Manny Pacquiao hits his opponents. Over the last decade the decline in music sales keeps sloping downward like an Olympic skier racing to the finish line at an effort to get a record setting time. The music industry is setting records, however, but not the kinds of records they would want. Piracy and the shifts in the way people purchase music could be the main source.

The music industry’s worth is only half than what it was ten years ago, which should be no shocker to anyone. There are many reasons why, and I am sure there are plenty of finger pointing going around to justify their case, in a manner like kids would do when they don’t won’t to be held responsible for breaking something. The RIAA has reported that revenues in the past 10 years for album sales have declined by 8% each year, since 1999. Also, the statistics that came from the RIAA reported that sales were more going out than coming in. These stats are a frustrating record labels’ executives, which are constantly trying to find solutions, but with little success so far. Is it possible that the labels waited to late to adjust to change? Here is a chart that displays how drastic the declines in music sales really are.

Life is all about adapting even when it is not to our fondness. Sometimes change costs lots of money, which can be particularly difficult for record labels that are already losing a significant amount of money to adjust to. However, that’s what we do as people we adapt and accept the inevitable. If we start a job we don’t particularly like we settle in, if we move next door to noisy neighbors we might complain, but we still adapt. The record labels are ready to adapt, but very unhurriedly it seems. It is said that 90% of music today is illegally downloaded and some record executives must have left off the words changes in new technology off of their things to do checklist. Labels have tried to play a game of catch up by licensing the selling of ringtones, new licensing agreements with radio stations and with online music retailers as well. Labels have even tried a new version of recording contracts called 360 deals, in which the labels would share in all of the music artists revenues, such as touring, and merchandising, as well to combat the new enemy called piracy. However, 360 deals are not the answer to conquer the decline in music sales, and especially is just no fair to the new music artists. Jay-Z, Madonna, U2 and other big name artists have signed 360 deals, but these artists are superstars and they would pack a house during a blizzard in winter. There are certainly other revenue streams record labels would love to get their hands on as well, such as artists’ funds from movies, commercials and endorsement deals.

Now are labels spending less money on marketing and promoting an album? Nelly thinks so; the rap artist who has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Nelly's 1st album, Country Grammar, was released in 2000 and Ride Wit Me was one of that album's hits. Nelly released his album Nellyville in the summer of 2002 and Nelly “Suit” & “Sweat” in 2004 and Brass Knuckles in 2008. Oh, and his latest release 5.0 if you have ever heard of it. I personally knew about the album, but I never have been a Nelly fan to start with. However, many people don’t even know of its existence. Nelly blames Universal Motown for the not marketing and promoting the album like it should have been. Nelly sold just around 36,000 units in the albums’ first week sales, which is a big failure for the label and Nelly. There is no way a label could recoup from that loss, however, Nelly has sold million of albums during his career, so the label didn’t really take a loss, because they have made their fair share off of Nelly’s past successful albums.  

In today’s music market climate, a music artist has to stay relevant. Artists have to stay in the public eye at a more constant rate. Lil Wayne is the perfect example of an artist who knows how to market himself. Before his Carter III album, Lil Wayne was on everybody’s album constantly building up his brand. There weren’t to many albums that Lil Wayne wasn’t featured on. Lil Wayne also dropped one mixtape after another proving his lyrical skills and increasing his fanbase. The results caused the Carter III to sell over a million copies in its first week. The superstar turned into a megastar almost instantly. Nelly however went into hibernation and was nowhere to be found. However, perhaps the major blame for Nelly’s disparity is due to the global piracy effect. It’s a new time and artists like Lil Wayne and many others have been taking notice and embraced the challenge with open arms, but perhaps Nelly missed that memo. Labels are frightened by this adversary called piracy and as a result are dishing out less marketing dollars, which means more weight at this point and time will be put on the music artist plain and simple. I think music artists should already go in with a mindset of marketing themselves automatically when they are coming out with a new album or even if they don’t have one in the works, it couldn’t hurt one bit. Look at what staying in the public’s eye will do for their careers; it almost forces people to buy into their brand. The Internet is a grateful tool, which if used appropriately can catapult an artist’s music sales. If Nelly had stayed in the public’s eye perhaps the end result would have been 300,000 or more in first week sales.

The truth is that global piracy is a problem and it causing our country tons of needed revenue. It stifles the creative spirit of music artists we love, whom produce the music we enjoy. Could you imagine a world without music and just waking up to silence, not me? The world would be a less attractive place that’s for sure and there would be no need for nightclubs. The music industry might have been taking the wrong steps in adapting to the changes in technological times but two wrongs doesn’t make a right and as a result artists are suffering from it. The Nelly example I used is a perfect example of what piracy has done to the record industry. Record labels are frightened to pay out more money for marketing an artist, because of the fear of not making a return on their investment. Nelly is right to be upset at Universal Motown at the moment, but Nelly also should have realized that he would have to take some matters into his own hands. The Internet is out there for the whole world to use and Nelly should have taken more advantage of its capabilities.

The theft of music artists’ intellectual property is an issue of great concern, especially during a period of time of economic struggle. People are underemployed or even worse unemployed and perhaps this is causing people to steal music even more, but still it is not right. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that these thefts costs our nation’s economy roughly $58 billion in total output a year; more than 370,000 domestic jobs; $16.3 billion in earnings; and $2.6 billion in tax revenue. The labels are at fault, but now it is up to the artists to take more aggressive action as well to promote themselves. Nelly needed to adapt and so does the record labels. 

Get Your Daily Dose of Music

Getting a good massage to get all that tension out of your muscles and just relax has always been known as a great stress reliever. Massages are absolutely great aren’t they, but they can accumulate to a hefty price tag and if you are on a budget especially with these troubling economic times, saving is what is on people’s minds. I know of another great way to soothe your soul and put you in mode of ultimate relaxation and would cost you a lot less money. So no need to worry there is another method that has been proven to work and is backed up with facts and extensive research, and that’s your daily dose of music. Doctors and researches have found significant evidence that proves this theory, in which, music with or without deep breaths can relieve a lot of those stressful, troublesome, and tense moments that everybody experiences some time in their lives.

Music is a therapy that many of us can use and many people are driving in their cars right now listening to some of their favorite tracks not even realizing how the music is relaxing them. A daily dose of music is incredible for soothing the mental strain after an argument, a hard day at work, or just to unwind. If you get your daily dose it can be out of this world, invigorating, and stimulating to mind and the muscles. Music is so useful in helping people across the world deal with and it alleviates the pain of seriously critical situations. According to a November issue of the Harvard Heart letter back in 2009, researchers found out that listening to music can lower your blood pressure, slow down the heart rate and lessen anxiety in people that are hospitalized for heart ailments. People that are going through severe conditions like this, as anybody knows are suffering from a tremendous amount of stress and music has been a proven means to help calm their nerves even with these most critical situations that are in front of them.

The same thing goes for healthy people, in which, music was found to be able to lower blood pressure and reduce stress. Also, the  American Music Therapy Association recommends that a daily dose of music do-it-yourself option, in which you should find music that makes you feel excellent and sit back, listen and enjoy. If there is a nerve-racking moment, event or situation that is keeping you boggled down and is inevitable, clutch yourself a dose of some good music that you truly get pleasure from and love as a natural remedy that has been proven to work.

The power of music is good for your health, in the same way as your favorite comedian, comedic movie, or sitcom, which makes you chuckle so hard at times that your stomach muscles start to hurt and your jaw muscles become sore. Dr. Mike Miller. Mike Miller a research cardiologist at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, tested the effects of laughter and listening to your favorite dose of good music, and found out that watching an amusing movie and listening to your preferred dose of music opens up your blood vessels, allowing blood to circulate more freely all through the body. “Turns out music may be one of the best de-stressors by even playing or even listening to music, said Dr. Miller. However, there is a reverse effect when you are listening to music that you don’t particularly like, so make sure that your daily dose of music is pleasing to you. I personally like artists such as, Eminem, Drake, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Cee Lo Green, and many others, but I can’t imagine that every person would envy my choice of music. So, I try to compromise with my peers with a dose of music that we all enjoy.

So listen to your favorite tunes whatever they might be to put your body at ease and to make those stressful times and moments melt away a lot more faster and as a result they become easier to deal with, because facts from statistics for the most part don’t lie and are not deceptive. Statistics might come from a sample size, because it would be more complex and pricey to get the results from a whole population, but it is through these samples that we can find considerable verification about how the effects a good dose of music can truly have. Music helps out so much, that it has been implemented in a lot of hospitals across the country, because the results have been proven to help patients sleep better, decrease their pain, and relieves their stress and improves their moods.

Good soft music is just as good as a massage. This was discovered by a study conducted by Karen J. Sherman, Phd, MPH a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute. “We were surprised to find out that the benefits of a massage were no greater than those of the same number of sessions of thermotherapy or listening to relaxing music,” said Dr. Sherman. So, just sit back, relax, take deep breaths and listen to your favorite doses of good music.

Listening to music at work can make you more productive as well, and many people maintain that having their serving of a dose of good music while at work helps them work better. Research from University of Windsor Canada showed the effects a daily dose of good music had on the work performance of software developers. The software developer participants’ moods changed positively, it enhanced their perception and their creativity increased. Also, the study found that if music was taken away from the work environment their creativeness and curiosity diminished. In a business where imagination is needed music was an outstanding source of becoming more innovative and coming up with fresh ideas, and as a result more innovations in software were developed. The music can be more of a sedative or relaxation type of music to really ease those tensions and stressful working situations. However, highly-strung music can work as well, legendary writer Stephen King once wrote that he listened to hard rock when he writes his books. So choose that daily dose of good music that works best for you, because one of the many beauties of the people in this world is that everybody is distinctive and different in their own way and the fact of the matter is some people work better edgy. People are advised to pick and choose the music that better enhances their work performance.

I preferably found that a nice daily dose of chilled out down tempo music works the best for me. I suggest that people should listen to music at work to perk up their work performance and to just make your workday change for the better. I love music and that’s why I started this blog to look into the facts about music and the different ways that it helps us, to what Lebron James listens to before a basketball game. I would imagine that more of an up-tempo style of music works better for athletes to get the players pumped up and ready to play. So, are you getting your daily dose of good music? It is just what the doctor ordered.

Taking from the Underground

There is no secret that mainstream rap artists are searching for ideas, and who could blame them with the decline in record sales and global piracy further hindering and making this issue all that much more worse. There has always been a little bit of peeping going around to see what underground rap artists are doing to enhance their market capability. I ran across a subject that was very comical and attention grabbing to me in a way. It was an article that I came across while surfing the “World Wide Web”, in which, there was an article relating to three hip-hop artists. The article was discussing and creating a contest on which artists out of Kanye West, Lloyd Banks, and Crooked I had the best weekly rap series.

The rationale to why I am saying that the article is amusing to me is because the article was titled “Which Rappers Had the Best Weekly Series”, which was forming a competition between the artists for the readers to judge. The article was by Calvin Stovall of XXL magazine, which either accidently or knowingly forgot to mention that Crooked I started this trend in the first place and Crooked I is no slouch when it comes to rhyming. In fact, some say he is the best period. Mr. Stovall glorifies Kanye West for his G.O.O.D. Friday series and explains that Kanye is a trendsetter, which he most certainly is and there is no argument in that department on my end, but not on this particular topic. Kanye is unquestionably a remarkable artist and his new album “My Dark Twisted Fantasy” is a must buy for hip-hop music lovers. Kanye started his G.O.O.D Friday series as a catalyst to create more momentum and energy for his new album, “My Dark Twisted Fantasy.” The album is brilliant and I don’t think Kanye even had to do a weekly series to build any momentum towards people wanting to go out or download his new album.

Lloyd Banks now that’s another story, he probably did need to be a little bit more in the ears of fans in prospective hopes of generating more build up for his latest album “The Hunger For More 2”. Lloyd Banks followed Kanye’s lead and started a weekly series of his own called “Blue Fridays”, in which he dropped a new freestyle or song every Friday before his album came out. There is now more talk that more artists are going to begin their own exclusive days of releasing weekly music. That is a good way of exhausting and wearing out a good thing.

Now back to Crooked I, a member of the rap group called “Slaughterhouse” (Joe Budden, Royce Da 5’9, Joell Ortiz, and Crooked I), which were recently signed to the artist of the decade Eminem’s label earlier this year. Before Crooked I was a member of Slaughterhouse, he dropped his own set of weekly series called “Hip-Hop Weekly.” Crooked I did a weekly freestyle for every week of the year over other artist beats, which got him rave reviews and his fan base grew immensely. This is the kicker, Crooked I started his weekly rap series in April 2007 and finished it for a brief moment on April 2008, until he started up another new weekly series called “Hip-Hop Weekly Reloaded, which was building off of the accomplishment of his first weekly series.” The fans wanted more and Crooked I was willing to deliver more crisp lyrics to them, and believe me I know because I am a fan myself.

Crooked started his Hip-Hop Weekly series once more on August of 2011. He had promised the fans that he was going to drop another weekly series when he was done with the first set of weekly series. Of course, Crooked I doesn’t have no copyright protection for his weekly series, but now Crooked I claims he is going to end his weekly series for good, because as he said in one of his songs there are too many other rappers jumping on board. The funny fact of the matter is that other rappers are getting praise for doing their weekly series and are being called innovative in their weekly series efforts, but Crooked I started the trend in the first place. Since, when is playing the role of the imitator being innovative? I don’t know the answer to that one, but possibly someone can fill me in on that one. Crooked I says he is going to come up with something new, because as he said in one of his verses I set trends and I do not follow them. He stopped his weekly series after 15 weeks. That is why the whole article in XXL and other magazines publications I am certain are doing the same thing are being comical to me on this subject. I know Crooked I isn’t as big as Kanye or Lloyd Banks for that matter, but his recognition is definitely rising and he can thank a lot of that to his weekly rap series that really showcased off his talents. They are trying to compare the weekly series between three artists, in which, they are asking fans who had the best one and not stating the fact that Crooked I started the whole weekly series in the first place is not right in my eyes.

This is just my opinion, of course on the whole matter. There is no better weekly series, because these guys didn’t all come together and start the marketing tactics in a formed agreement. The inventor was Crooked I, but it seems like he is the one suffering for his innovative and creative hard work. There should not even be a competition in my opinion and Crooked I feels very disrespected by both the magazines and the artists alike. I know that there is no secret that mainstream rap artists like to see what’s going on with underground artists, just look at the mixtape.  The whole thing I think is a matter of respect when it comes to the Crooked I getting snubbed in this situation. Crooked I just sought a little bit of notoriety, and he didn’t even mention Kanye’s or Lloyd Banks’ names at all, but he did bring up a a small number of publications. Crooked I mentioned that he was concluding his weekly series and he had something new in store, which excites me because I am a big fan.

If you haven’t heard any of his weekly series yet, I would recommend that you Google Crooked I. If you are a fan of hip-hop music you would most likely enjoy them. All Crooked I sought was for Kanye West, Lloyd Banks and others that were following suit to pay homage, by the means of a simple thank you would of been sufficient perhaps. Crooked I set the trend, so there shouldn’t be a discussion on whose weekly series was the best. Kanye had a lot of features on his weekly series as well, and Crooked I only had a few every now and then. He displayed his talents by himself to increase his following and to prove that he has been slept on for so long. However, this is just my opinion on the matter, please share yours.