Eminem Video Picture, and Lupe Changing Plans...Again

A quick one on a picture that has been doing the rounds on the internet: an image from Eminem's upcoming video, believed to be called 'We Made You'.

Lupe Fiasco has switched things up again and will be calling his upcoming album We Are Lasers. Apparently, he’s been working on it for about a week and is 60% done.

The initial idea of LupEND is cancelled, whilst its original 'replacement' The Great American Rap Album is on hold, he is 'still aiming for two albums this year'. (What is it with everyone dropping 2 albums this year?!).

He also stated that "There’s not too many hip-hoppers on this one...got a slot for Bun B though...contemplating Cudi...". A Lupe/Cudi collaboration would be absolutely epic.

See below for a brilliant freestyle from Big Sean at SXSW Festival (spelt wrongly in the video as SXSX!) in the US. This video is taken from a friendly freestyle battle being had by Kanye, Big Sean and Really Doe.

Some Videos and News To Enjoy

Kicking off with Wale: His first major single has been debuted on US radio, and as previously mentioned, will be 'Chillin' featuring Lady GaGa. (There's an unfinished version of 'Chillin' that's been around for a while, which doesn't have Lady GaGa and Wale's verses are slightly different.)

Anyway, keep an ear out for this, as hopefully it will be a big breakthrough for Wale.

A few videos below, including the video for Asher Roth's 'Lark On My Go-Kart', which is pretty funny, and a quality live performance of 'Sky Might Fall' by Kid Cudi, which proves that he can actually sing quite well. The last video is of 'Buggin' Out 2009' from a recent mixtape by J. Period, 'Tribute to Q-Tip'. (FYI, Buggin' Out is an old A Tribe Called Quest song, in case you didn't know)

The track features Consequence and Kid Cudi, and is a very good song that I've had on repeat for a while. Both Cons and Cudi drop nice verses, and the video is a fun one.

Enjoy!

A Lot of News

It's been a busy few hours.

Firstly, the artwork for Asher Roth's upcoming album, Asleep In The Bread Aisle, was released a few days back. Click the pic for a better view.

A funny picture, although according to Asher we should 'look into the picture and try and find the hidden meaning'. Maybe 'bread' is money, and he's just taking a nap in a money-filled genre/industry? Doing his own thing?

Decide for yourself. He has stated many times that the album won't just be light-hearted efforts in the vein of 'I Love College', which is given further emphasis by the above statement.

Still a great picture though.

The artwork for Asher's next single, Lark on my Go-Kart, is also light-hearted, and can be seen here: http://i.kanyelive.com/uploads/7f8739_asher-go-kart-cover.jpg. Seems as though this should be a fun track too.

Secondly, 50 Cent is following Eminem's suit and also apparently looking to release 2 albums this year. The first, Before I Self Destruct, is scheduled for June.

Thirdly, Wale's debut album has finally been given a confirmed title-Attention: Deficit.

Can't wait to hear this, as Wale has easily become one of my favourite rappers of recent times, on the strength of his mixtapes and features. The first single is also confirmed to be 'Chillin' featuring Lady GaGa. This can clearly be seen as a move to break the mainstream, and will hopefully work out for Wale.

Finally, and most importantly, Kid Cudi has 'announced' that he is 'retiring' from music after his debut album. In a long post on his blog yesterday, he announced that he was sick of the fame, and sick of people claiming he has 'changed' since becoming famous.

This may be simply an impulsive reaction, or a truthful statement. One factor was inevitably the recent altercation at a Reebok event that he was scheduled to perform at, during which he was rumoured to be arrested-all very unusual for someone who is known for being so 'normal'.

(One side of the story says it's because he was wearing Jordans when he turned up and wouldn't change, whereas Cudi claims it was because they were 'unprofessional' and the sound systems sounded like 1980's boomboxes)

Add into this recent comments by Wale on Joe Budden's YouTube channel about Cudi. Cudi and Wale's friendship is well-documented, and they are apparently quite close, however Wale feels 'it's now a different Cudi'. (The video can be seen here-watch it, just to see how funny Wale is!-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP9XORSXQNs).

It's unclear how this will all turn out, and could all be an empty, angry threat that will be (hopefully) taken back. I'll keep you posted.

Kid Cudi-The Sky Might Fall

What is thought to be the next single from Cudi's album has leaked...sort of.

Firstly, this song has been used on recent trailers for the new Transformers film coming out this year. Obviously, it was difficult to hear much of the song, but it sounded good.

Then, a video of him performing the track live came to light, and again sounded pretty decent, definitely sounding like a Kanye production, almost like a leftover beat from 808s and Heartbreak.

The track properly leaked last night, and can be found at various sources. However, there a lot of talk that Cudi/his management are infuriated at the leak, especially as the leaked version apparently isn't the finished version and might 'put people off'.

Doesn't seem to be the case for me, as the song sounds pretty damn good. Out of respect for his wishes, I won't be posting a link, but I'm sure if you want to find it, you will.

UPDATED: Kid Cudi-Day 'N' Nite OFFICIAL Video

Here it is folks. Ignore the one doing the rounds at the moment, even though it's on TV and stuff, it isn't actually an official video, as well as the fact its for the Crookers remix.

(Which, by the way, irritates me. Don't get me wrong, it's a funky track, but doesn't really make sense as the original is a lot more chilled, lyrical and thought out...)

(UPDATE: SCROLL DOWN TO SEE FOOTAGE OF CUDI AND KANYE ON BET-MUST WATCH!)

Anyway, the video itself is definitely a nice one. It's got some pretty cool cartoony effects which nicely highlight the confusion and isolation of the 'lonely stoner', as well as adding colour and vibrancy to what is a creative track that sounds like nothing else you've ever heard.

It even offers you a different spin on the lyrics, with segments implying the subject is someone who doesn't enjoy the fame in the 'day', and can't just live a normal life. (Kanye West anyone??).

And of course, the fact that the subject is a stoner.

The second video is from the BET show where they premiered the video. The video has Cudi rapping (I thought he was freestyling, but the singing part implies that it may be a song from his upcoming album) and Kanye previewing his verse from 'Maybach Music Pt. 2', scheduled to be on Rick Ross' next album. Both are pretty good, especially some of Kanye's lines (the 'extra dyke' line is hilarious!).

Enjoy!

Welcome To HeartBreak

Looks like we got a video for it. However, Kanye West has confirmed that this will NOT be the next single. It is being released as apparently 'there is another video out there using the same techniques we do in this one', so he chose to release it. Oh and the pixellation in the video is deliberate.

To be honest, I'm a massive fan of this video. The combination of the effects, transitions and colours make for a perfect representation of the song.

He also confirmed that the next single was going to be 'Amazing'. Doesn't make sense that the See You In My Nightmares artwork was released the other day, but I suppose that means at some point we'll be getting that too.

Enjoy!

KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

And The Top Albums of 2008 are...

A little later than promised-sorry! However, I've built up a decent stash of news to post on here in the coming days, so keep it locked over the next week when I can get back to updating daily.

Unlike the previous list, this list will contain 15 albums. This is solely because 2008 has been nothing but music for me, most of it being old stuff that I had never heard and classics that I had skipped across.

As seems the case with a lot of older albums, they tend to be more consistent as a 'block' of music, as opposed to having one or two blindingly outstanding tracks, this being the reason that I could keep the best songs list down to 10.

The same rules apply to this list as the previous one:

-Albums that you only heard this year, the release date DOES NOT have to be 2008.
-Any genre!

Once again, please get involved, it's always good getting some interesting discussion going on.

It doesn't matter if you have or haven't commented before. You don't need to know me/any of the other regular people who comment to get involved!

Here goes, and again in no particular order:

Quietdrive, Deliverance
Nas, Illmatic
Kid Cudi, A Kid Named Cudi Mixtape
Lil' Wayne, The Leak EP/Mixtape
Lloyd, Lessons In Love
The-Dream, Love Hate
Eric B. and Rakim, Paid In Full
Jay-Z, Reasonable Doubt
Wale, Hate is the New Love Mixtape
N.E.R.D., Seeing Sounds
Sway, The Signature LP
Lloyd, Street Love
Sean Garrett, Turbo 919
Kanye West, 808s and Heartbreak
Fall Out Boy, Folie a Deux

By request, I will be posting up a list of my favourite 'songs to hear in a club' of 2008. If there are any other "top 10/15's" that you would like to see on here, let me know.

So...Best of 2008?

It's been a pretty quiet weekend for music/fashion news and exclusives, a trend that I expect to continue until the end of the week at the least.

So, let's do something that inevitably you will see all over TV: What are your favourite songs of this year (in any category)?

They don't necessarily have to have been released this year. My list contains songs that may have been released before 2008, but I only heard this year.

(In a day or two, I'll put up a similar post asking you for your albums. Save that for then.)

Don't be afraid to get involved. I seem to be getting a lot of visits, but only a tiny percentage of you are commenting!

Without further ado, 10 of my favourites (in no order):

-Kanye West, Welcome to Heartbreak Ft. Kid Cudi

-The-Dream, Falsetto

-Quietdrive, Rush Together

-Wale, W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.

-Sean Garrett, Lay Up Under Me

-The Roots, Criminal Ft. Truck North and Saigon

-Saigon, Believe It Ft. Red 5ive

-GemStones, We On Ft. Lupe Fiasco

-Lil' Wayne, I'm Me

-Mayday Parade-I'd Hate To Be You When People Find Out What This Song Is About

Get involved!

Kid Cudi on BBC Website

Looks like Kid Cudi isn't only being highly rated by me, but BBC.co.uk seem to agree. Take a look at the article, linked below. A brief read, but good to see nonetheless.

Keep in mind though that the Day 'n' Nite video they link to is actually a fake. Cudi has officially stated that it was a rejected video for the song, but somehow got leaked. I read that he was far from pleased about this.

They also mention Lady GaGa, who I was giving a bit of hype earlier in the year . Keep an eye out for her, may not be your style (somewhere between pop, r'n'b and electro) but she will become a big name.

Enjoy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7766434.stm

A Kid Named Cudi

A massive recommendation from me to you-download Kid Cudi's (only) mixtape-A Kid Named Cudi. It was released back in the summer, but I only really got around to listening to it quite recently.

There's something very different about him that I can't quite put my finger on, and naturally that makes me gravitate towards him. He seems to cross Kanye's style with Lupe's lyricism.

By that, I mean he verges on singing at times, has a certain charisma about him and seems to be able to adapt his style to a lot of different beats, but his lyrics are far from predictable-a lot of them are about being 'on the moon'.

Hence his album is going to be called Man on the Moon.

And of course, he nails the chorus on Welcome to Heartbreak.

Oh, and the fact that when we met him at the NEC, he was a really nice guy and took pictures with us. Whilst smelling of weed. (see below for relevance of this comment).

The mixtape is available free on the official site: http://www.kidcudi.com/.

Tracks to look out for:

Maui Wowie (about getting some super-strength weed...!!)

Embrace the Martian (he actually features on this track, it's by Crookers)

Down and Out (really good beat, and a nice mix of rapping and singing)