One of the many benefits of Twitter: learning about new music. I follow several artists, and this week two of them Tweeted new music. First, Talib Kweli’s new video for “State of Grace” with singer Abbie Dobson (the n-word a few times, but this is mellow stuff, I promise):
If you’re looking to get into hip hop, I can’t think of any better place to start than Kweli. He’s lyric-focused, so his rapping is generally very clear (you’re not going to have to strain to hear what he’s saying), and he has the sort of distinctly East Coast style that I’ve always thought was more accessible. He also likes to work with great producers, particularly his good friend and partner in crime Hi Tek, often rapping over beds that make good instrumentals on their own, so even if you don’t want to follow the lyrics there will be something to groove to. Plus he collaborates with everyone, East Coast, West Coast, Southern, Midwestern, doesn’t matter. He seems to enjoy working with young artists to increase their exposure, and he made an entire R&B album with singer Res just because he thought it was a crime that she was less successful than she was (and it’s a great album!). So going through his catalogue would give you a pretty good sense of what hip hop’s about.
This isn’t the first new track that I’ve learned about from his Twitter feed, either. A couple months he Tweeted this song, with Rah Digga (from Wednesday’s women in hip hop post) and Black Thought:
The other music I learned about this week came from Kendrick Lamar, who Tweeted that label-mate SZA’s debut album, Z, was now available. Lamar has a verse on one of the songs, Babylon, but I have to admit I like the version that was released last month without the Lamar verse:
I have no idea how to describe that. I mean, it’s a little bit electronic, a little bit hip hop, a little bit R&B, and a lot young. I suppose my description would be, “This is youth.” As I said, this is from SZA’s first full-length release, and it’s clearly the work of an artist in the process of growing into herself, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve heard so far (in the last 24 hours), and I’m certain my son will love it.
Any new music in your life? How do you learn about it?
I mostly learn about new music from skipping around on NPR. I haven’t been listening to anything new though, rather clinging to my old favorites. Like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE97XSWGI6YReport
Er, left out some words. Skipping around on YouTube, *sometimes* on NPR. That’s what I meant to say.
Or also when my former student workers post things on Facebook.Report
When I had more time I used to pay attention to Paste Magazine.Report
Oh, of course I also get new music from you and the rest of the MD folks. Obviously.Report
Oh man, that’s my favorite HBMS song. But I that anytime I hear just about any of them, because damn that’s an album. Especially when it has Cat Power:
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That’s really nice.Report
i learn from the usual channels (aka all of them)
kweli is a super nice guy.
i am mostly rocking this for the next few weeks:
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try #2
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what happened?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6x1VMOb6TEReport
Well now I’m awake!Report
oh and just to be a jerk:
“I have no idea how to describe that.”
chillwave, dude. don’t you remember 2010? it feels like the last five years have been awash in overly reverbed vocalists and skittery high hats.Report
It’s definitely what all the kids are doing. My son sends me music a lot, and half of it has that sound (the other half is comprised of hip hop and dance/dubstep-like stuff). It’s better than Lorde, though.
Oh, and I’ve seen Kweli several times. He does seem like a really nice guy. And Black Star makes him hip hop royalty (as does “Get By”).Report
I learn music from my daughters, but most of that is KPop. Makes me hate globalization.Report
In which the professor discovers a downside to free trade.Report
The idea that pop music should be authentic never really got on in East Asia. A lot of the pop music in Japan, Korea, and the Chinas is very manufactured and over-produced by Western standards. The good thing about the lack of authenticity is that authenticity can be a very over-rated value many times. The bad part is that you don’t have a lot of variety, at least from my perspective, or much in the way of genuine talent in the most popular acts.Report
James, ewww… though I admit that some of the catchy American electro-pop my son likes is just as annoying to me.Report
In doing the radio search for a new station, I discovered that 89.7 out here is AN AWESOME STATION OH MY GOSH and they played a new song that immediately got under my skin. I only caught the song’s name and the middle name of the thrice-named singer and so I got to work and I called Maribou and left a message that said “Dude, I only know that the song’s named ‘gold’ and it’s by something Vincent something.”
She wrote me an email shortly thereafter that said:
Jeez Louise, Jaybird. I told you to listen to this guy a couple of months ago. Here’s the video.
So I hope you like that song. Maribou told me to listen to it.Report