Lil Wayne Ft. Drake - Right Above It

Great song and good to have everyone's favourite inmate back but really this is just a thinly veiled reason to post that amazing picture.

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For The Record: June

Lots and lots of good albums released this month. Here are my picks of the best...

The Drums - The Drums
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today (album of the month)
Delorean - Subiza
Drake - Thank Me Later
Kele - The Boxer
Pulled Apart By Horses - Pulled Apart By Horses
Perfume Genius - Perfume Genius
The Morning Benders - Big Echo
Scissor Sisters - Night Work

Also reccomended: Rusko, Robyn, Ratatat, We Are Scientists, Fol Chen, The Mynabirds, Islet, Giggs, Happy Birthday, Tobacco.

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Drake - Thank Me Later

Actor turned rapper Drake’s first album proper sees the Toronto native flitting between champagne egotism and introspective self-doubt in a way that can only be described as post-Kanye. Taking West’s ‘808’s and Heartbreak’ as a blueprint, Drake adds his own spin on things looking at life from the view of a young buck climbing the ladder of success as opposed to one already at the top looking out. The results are positive with Drake standing head and shoulders above the competition and establishing ‘Thank Me Later’ as one of the debut albums of the year.

The firepower around Drake is as enviable as it is prestigious. Alicia Keys joins him on album opener ‘Fireworks’, a track that gossip hounds will tell you is about the time Drake got caught in a romantic episode with Rihanna. “What happened between us that night it always seems to trouble me” he spits, clearly confused at the fact he got played when, as he is so keen to tell us throughout, he is usually the player. Keys lifts the track with a chorus that, whilst not quite ‘Empire Of The State’ level, is one that she can line alongside ‘Fallin’ and ‘No One’ as one of the best.

The stars come and go with Nikki Minaj massively impressing on the chrome swagger of ‘Up All Night’ only tempered by The Dreams cameo on ‘Shut It Down’, a song that sees Drake doing smooth but coming off a bit desperate. As is so often the way however it is when Drake flies solo that he truly soars. With his ability to sing his own choruses there is an extra string to Thank Me Later’s bow that gives it a unique feel as well as a pop twist to the hip-hop formula that doesn’t rely on drafting in a motley crew of pop names du jour. This fact in complete crystal clear form is ‘Over’, Drake’s calling card and one of the most solid gold hits of the year. The flow is unstoppable, the chorus blockbuster, production untouchable - it’s very unlikely anyone will get near to being as good as this for a long time.



‘Thank Me Later’ is the sound of a star in ascension. This album will propel Drake to super stardom, he might be a big name on the underground right now but it won’t be long before he takes up residence in casual hip-hop fans collections either. Lil’ Wayne and Jay-Z make late appearances on this record but what is most telling is that their voices don’t feel like big names giving a young buck a leg up but more like professional equals matching each other all the way. Something gives us the feeling that it won’t be long until the next generation of super stars are looking to Drake for the same influence he has taken from his peers.

8/10

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Major Lazer/ La Roux - Houstatlantavegas Pains feat. Drake

For all the talk of La Roux's hair, family, 80's nostalgia or her voice the one things people seemed to miss was just how heartbroken she sounds when she sings. Currently riding a wave of success Stateside, La Roux has teamed up with Diplo for the server crashingly popular mixtape Lazerproof and whilst, as expected, much of it brings a tropical tilt to Elly's angst-pop it is this re-working of 'Grwoing Pains' that leaps out that bit more. Spying the fragile bravado behind the harsh exterior of La Roux this delicate remix strips back the bouncing synths and lays things bare. A scene stealing cameo from Drake and a tear stained Jackson vocal later and you have a good song re-defined as a great one.

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VIDEO: Drake - Over

I meant to mention this last week but forgot. Brand new video for forthcoming smash hit single from Drake. Nobody has straddled the line between supreme confidence and self loathing quite like this in a long time.

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Why is UK rap so keen to drag up the past?

Looking at the charts is never a good way of understanding what is going on in music but over the past twelve months the UK top 40 has shown a definite shift in the success of UK grime and rap.

Just last week Skepta became the latest name to crash his way into the charts with the single 'Bad Boy'. He follows the likes of Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk, Ironik and Wiley in a list of London rappers and MC's achieving mainstream success and acknowledgement. What is intriguing however is the means by which they are crossing over from the underground to the commercial radio stations and television music channels. The key appears to be in sampling a well known song and using it as a hook in your own. Practically everyone is doing it from the top to the bottom and it's paying dividends as more and more names go from cult to household status.

Sample culture in hip-hop is nothing new however when you consider that everyone from N-Dubz to Dizzee Rascal have had huge hits backed up by well known samples you begin to suspect that a formula has been found and is now being exploited. What is confusing is that none of these samples are from interesting, credible or even untapped sources. No, we're talking about Elton John, Underworld and even the Andrew Oldham Orchestra blasting out of teenagers mobile phones here. Take the aforementioned Skepta and 'Bad Boy'. Using the hook from 'Born Slippy' it tells the tale of how Skepta is a bad boyfriend, regularly failing to compliment his girlfriend. The official video has been viewed over a million times on YouTube and entered the charts at number twenty five despite a lack of radio play or national advertising.

The success of artists like Skepta and N-Dubz makes for a refreshing change from the processed and packaged acts they share chart space with but you have to wonder why someone young in 2010 wants to sample INXS like Professor Green has done on 'I Need You Tonight' or Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer' as featured on last year's number one smash from Chipmunk and DJ Ironik. Perhaps it makes a single stand out on a radio play list and it almost certainly appeals to major label bosses looking to smooth the edges of grime for mass consumption but it feels like originality is being lost in the process. Even Dizzee Rascal, a man who needs no tricks to have a hit, is guilty, using 90's rave anthem 'Dirty Cash' on his single, err.. 'Dirtee Cash'.

There are parallels in America too, only instead of decade old trance and Mum friendly names from the eighties it's names like Vampire Weekend and Santigold being used to great effect. Drake, a Lil' Wayne protoge and former actor, rose to prominence by releasing a mixtape including him rapping over Lykke Li's 'Little Bit' whilst Kid Cudi recently added his own verses to Vampire Weekends 'Ottoman'. This could well be a move to appeal to blog reading, alternative music fans but it certainly seems better than Tinchy Stryder sampling Olive's 'You're Not Alone'. Moreover, US stars have recently had big British success using samples of alternative acts via Chiddy Bangs 'Opposite Of Adults' (sample= MGMT 'Kids') and Jason Derulo who took Imogen Heap's 2005 track 'Hide and Seek' and turned it into a smooth R'n'B hit. These two examples show that you don't need to wait until Magic FM have played something before you can use it.

There is hope however. Tinie Tempah, himself a recent chart topper, uses an M.I.A vocal hook on his track 'I'm Hot' – a highlight from his 2009 mixtape. Hopefully more will follow his lead or even better, start creating things of their own. Until then all we can do is watch on at what is dredged up from the riverbed of the past.

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Drake Ft. Santigold and Lil' Wayne- 'Unstoppable'

1) I'd love to see a girl who dresses like SJP and lives like Princess Diana.
2) This is the best Santigold work since 'L.E.S Artistses'
3) Auto-tune won't get Lil Wayne very far in prison
4) Drake is going to be massive next year

MP3: Drake- 'Unstoppable'
MP3: Drake- 'Forever'

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