Still Life review.

Review: 3 out of 5.

Here, another underground artist, the visionary Graphic Designer and Rapper Kieron Boothe has made it with "Still Life". This mix-tape is the demonstration of his artistry. He worked with Aaron London, a singer-songwriter, MC and producer. From East London, Kieron has done well and revealed putting out another mix-tape very soon. My opinion, I have listened and I got to say, the originality is there and the content is quirky. No, that's not the right word for it, I think a perfect term is hybrid. Oh yeah, it's U.K. Hip Hop but this one crossed genres. I spoke to Kieron and insisted Grime is not where he'll go to. That, I can understand, but I'll get to that later.

Good:

Kieron really went all out in this collection of awe-inspiring tracks. Still Life is clearly about the many aspects of his entire life that has shaped up in his work. Every list of music, ripe for the picking, has a taste of who Kieron is as both an artist and the mistakes, problems and willingness to move forward. There are crazy times and other times he would share in this set. The mix-tape has many subjects people from aged 16 and older can relate to, but this ain't the usual school boy aggregation that fuels all of our teenage hormones (twenty somethings included). This is on a whole new level of development, I continue to listen and the hooks really do hold you in place. That is thanks to singer, Amanda Mellid, who sung and hit notes as pleasant as a Robin. Still Life reminded me somewhat of the Wretch 32 album, Black & White, though less about opposite ends of contrast and more of a half way point between vague and exposed. It is balanced and just about right, which bring me to the amalgamation of the crossed genres I said before.

From the rhyming to the production, most of whom composed by Aaron London, the airplay that came to a total of approximately over 32 minutes was amazing. While the crew swung by with songs as uncanny as Awkward, fast enough on point with any beat boxer and Mistakes featuring Mellid herself. This is the ballad or rainy day feel that showed the depth of how far he could plug away and elevate your conscience. On Still Life, the title track of the same set, I couldn't get over that punch line Kieron made "So I went from a boy to a teen, now a teen tryin' tah live a man's dream, Man it's real stuff, then it all went Almond's, real nuts". That was cool and the rest which followed blew up and combined everything neatly. I could go on and on, though it could drag on the whole review. Oh No weren't bad, the chorus was more on the irritating side but Kieron saved about a large majority of the song. Nice touch on the guitar, though.

Bad:

Not much I can say about the negative sides. Most tracks were likable, a couple stood out more than others. The only thing I didn't like was there are too many "fillers" and what I mean by that is a tune used only for the soul purpose of "chilling out" or "raving". Examples of these are Blue Sky, Oh No, Awkward and Dead End featuring Aaron London and Labrinth. While Awkward and Dead End were fine, Oh No was a bit much. I also felt they put a lot in at once, plus they were some that was a downer at times. I needed a high, something upbeat instead of mellow and only steady. It made Mellid not having much to work with even if they did fit her tone. Apart from this, it was a brilliant run and I did enjoy it.

Overall:

Great performance from Kieron, excellent concept and execution by many of the artists such as Aaron, Mellid and Labrinth and well mixed, composed master pieces by XX and again Aaron. I am blown away from the lengths that has gone into this mix-tape. It did come about as overwhelming at certain points and the hybrid flew easily through a pretty reasonable duration of air play. It fell right into place and the ideas didn't encircle. They are close to Karat gold.

- Written by Kbon.

Black and White review.

Review: 4 out of 5.

Been awhile since I did Chicks and Vans review, but here I am, any person who are fans of this page send me any possible or manageable piece of media, be it films, TV, music and games to review. Now, I plan to review the ground-breaking artist, Wretch 32. The first time I heard this artist was about 4 years ago, when Grime was on a hiatus. I have a few of his mix-tapes which I need to go back to. What I do know is this artist has been in the game for a long time and only just broke to mainstream. He is a very clever MC who has well constructive lines that build with one after the other. As the title suggests, Black and White is about the positive and negative aspects of his experiences, which I believe shows the artists' character, rather than settle with a narrow concept that is to me generic. I think Wretch 32 stands out more than most UK Grime MC's, in that he refuses to be put into a category. Is it enough though? You wretch, he did it!

Good:

Black and White has gone in, working his magic. Luck is not an option he plays as he went out to a whole lot of trouble in finding an retrospective, medium tempo, hard base, electronic but fresh take on British Hip Hop and Pop. Released in August 2011, his single, Traktor was one of my favourite tracks. I saw the music video for that and its very rectifying. Wretch has even added dub step, acoustic and anniversary versions of some of his songs in the deluxe edition, which shows he has an appreciation for other genres of music. Either this, or Wretch became smart and went the "Tinnie Tempah" route and crossed genres in order not to target a particular audience, rendering it a niche in the market. What is great about it, among other things, like being with many artists to name one of them; Chipmunk, he moved to new territory without moving too far from his roots. His work has cut out for him and he shows a strong essence of those he collaborates with.

The one big trait about Wretch 32 is that he is not all that serious, the way he executes his lines at each end of a bar is quite offhand without being so blase and he raises his tone that uplifts you at the same time. Most of his tracks mainly talk about his childhood, teenage years and career. Not only that, but misguidance, financial problems, growing up, his exploits and parent's. You wouldn't really call this Grime at all. In fact, about 10 miles away from it. There is just songs for everyone here, tracks like "Never Be Me" featuring Angel "Anniversary (Fall in Love)" ft Alex Mills and "Please Don't Let Me Go" ft Darren B are nostalgic, dreamy and have a common use of synthesizers and is down tempo reminiscent of electronica in a way. While "Unorthodox" "I'm Not the Man" and "Sane's the New Mad" have a moving quality to it.

Bad:

There's not much downsides to his album, except the style is a little sparse, which isn't a bad thing as such. It just makes it hard to define what it is. However, music is an art form that is expressed through sound. It is not really meant to be contained. On the other hand, there's a point where you have to settle down with subjects or approach that sticks with your interpretation without being unstuck. Another thing is "Black and White" and "Air" were both the least type of tracks I liked. I will not go hard with judgement with Air but the first track I said out of the two has to be, it was the first one on its track listing, hence the reason I've had a crack at it the way I did. It must be a good impression from the start, otherwise the listener may not have a reason to listen to the rest. Black and White (the track not the album, keep up) was a solid intro to everything for what's to come, even some of his words I was thinking "Come on, you can do better than that". It was just slow, flat and could have had a great impact. Although "Dark side of my life", "Light side of my life" were good analogues for the whole concept that drives the piece.

Those who don't have the Deluxe Version, this doesn't apply to what I'm about to say here. Those who do, you can pay attention to what I said earlier on in this review. Wretch added many remixes, if you will, to the album. Now I personally favoured acoustic versions of "Tracktor" and "Don't Go", he even made dub step as well. The other version was terrible, especially "Tracktor" in Friction remix. It gives you a choice though, which I believe the budding artist was aiming for. One more thing, even though Wretch had evident teamwork he did make some bad choices, for instance, Chipmunk featuring on his track "I'm Not the Man" did not add substance. Instead it detracted from the material, away for a bit. I'm not usually this critical over a respected MC's alliance with other artist's, but a few were not good, one of them on "Air".

Overall:

Black and White has got to be one of the best album's this year, while Wretch won't be seen on the "Jeremy Kyle show", I am confident when he comes back with a new album it is just as good. A fresh take on UK Hip Hop, this edition has the best of many different world's including Pop, Dub step and the like. His great strength is his bars, swagger and tracks "Never Be Me", "Please Don't Let Me Go" and of course "Tracktor". A little hiccup with the kind of collaboration he's associated with but he didn't lose focus and carried on until I saw hope. Many can enjoy his second outing into mainstream.

- Written by Kbon.

Barnation World review.

Review: 3.5 out of 5.

I'm back everyone,

Last month has been crazy. I left my review scribe of movie reels and settled in, now talking about music. What I have for you people here is a person from up North who I met a few times on set during his videos. He is laid back and is pretty safe. He calls himself Blaze Barnation. I have listened to his mix tape and I heard that he produced some of his own songs. That is a great art to have, considering most wannabe artist's or genuine ones scramble to find producer's and worry about gettin' signed to the best label. Music is not that easy to get into. Forget X-Factor an' that so-called reality-pansy rubbish, it's deeper than River Thames. Anyway, back to Blaze, it's not a bad mix at all. In fact, it can be marketable.

Good:

Blaze really knows how to set the mood as he often variate his tone on a particular beat while still keeping his flow locked. He has a very distinctive style which can go from a monotone to an upbeat Garage, Dub step, pace. You can tell which area his background comes from within this genre. The good thing is that his delivery is quite unique and I'm here scratching my head trying to figure out what artist could he be influenced from, British that is. I'm thinking of maybe Bashy, Ghetts or K-Coke but I could be wrong. Not sure, but I'm not gonna wrestle and rack my brain too much on it. Its better left another day.

There are some great tunes out there, but the good thing about this is its a different story every track. Every track is like a new chapter that progressed until the bitter end. The content is great, but I feel there is something missing. I will get onto the other side of it later, but I want to tell you some of the hardest bars on the mix-tape. I won't spoil it, but even though one of his tracks was not on my top list "A Star" featuring Drea was slow and quite built with electronica, but not hardcore. The beat was decent and had a strong voice from the singer. Blaze spit lines I liked "Tupac was talkin' about changes, something that can uplift our nation" and this one "But just cause I'm stuck an' coulda been ballers, but you're not, your more like a supporter". Those two bars are honest, smack in the middle and had meaning. Yes, Tupac was talking about changes. Another thing is "ballers", living the fast lane don't always give easy pickings and if you support that you are just as contradictory as them. There are more tracks I want to dive into.

The favourite tracks I have listened to is "Sometimes I Don't Want to Be Alive", "Legend", "I Am a Champion", just to name a few. The best guests alongside Blaze was Dominic, Abstrakt E, Blink and Sylvia. It feels more mainstream somehow, but I think it will catch on quickly if it hits the right circuit. The mixing was well put together and goes in and some of the tracks sound almost like remixes of each other, but its not, which is strange but yes, he came out the box. The way he ends on a line is a nice touch, something many rappers tend to do these days. He makes it his own though with his flow. Those are the best things about the mix-tape, as he swung punch lines right in a match.

Bad:

Now, with the highs always come with lows. I will be fair, there is not many tunes I listened to in the UK that are like this. I'm a hard judge, I don't try to go for commercial stuff. Not that there's anything wrong, but it has it's short coming's. One thing I have a problem with is his bars are sometimes not clear. I'm not someone who listens to music just for base, and I admit it's sick but I want to hear the lyrics as well. Those are what get me when I jump and start bopping my head. I need it, otherwise I miss out. Another thing is the tracks such as "A Star", "Let go", "Gorgeous" and "Lost With Nowhere to Go" has base and melody that is almost too similar. People may lose interest quickly, but the rest of the mix-tape such as "hood tracks" like "Rain on dem" help to compensate. I'm not into his other track "R-Kelly", but I think it's Blaze just having fun. I gotta say, the "R-Kelly swagger" is corny but catchy. Not a bad run, it's pretty swell.

Overall:

Barnation World did manage to make you feel at home with some very fitting tracks which can easily hit the mainstream. He is a talented rapper and producer who knows what he is doing, there is respectable delivery that goes right in but I feel it needed more work to push it to the right side of the spectrum. The biggest praise was the acts by Dominic, Abstrakt E and Blink. I think if the singers like Drea and Grace had more qualms, it would have potential to push it into the next wing of success. The next review will be P.U.K's EP and after that, is a surprise.

- Written by Kbon.

Thank Me Later review

Review: 3 out of 5.







What's happenin',

I'm here again this time to do a review on one of the most recent and best rappers and singers' in the game now from non other than Young Money Entertainment. Yeah, that's right, Lil Wayne's crew. I'm going to do the latest album of the Canadian artist, Drake, this is his first studio album made and it's called "Thank Me Later". Now I first listened to his tunes from his mix tape "So Far Gone", his third mix tape, but it turns out he's been doing some other mixtapes as far as 2006 such as "Room for Improvement" and "Come Back Season", which I definitely need to get a hold of. Some people out there compare this artist to Kanye West. For me, this is really true and I could see the similarity between them. It is from both their mannerisms and their flow that makes them out to be very compariable. To be honest, I felt this album was pretty good, but not as good as his last mixtape. His lyrics spoke a lot of volumes but I just feel this album didn't really jump out to me in the way that "So Far Gone" did. Anyway, the artists features Lil Wayne himself, Nicki Minaj of course, a young abrasive Trinidadian diva, The Dream, Alicia Keys, T.I., Jay-Z and Young Jeezy.

This album was released on June 15th 2010, which has been signed onto the Cash Money, Young Money and Universal Motown label and one of the producers of this was Kanye West. The single is "Over", I've seen the music video of this sometime in April-May as there has been leaks going around on the Internet. That is the 2nd favourite track of mine, the visuals on that video is really good and how it was laid out was really well done. No vocoder crap, I'm thankful for that, keep it real. To me, a vocoder only works on certain artists' like T-Pain but what I'm curious to know is why do most artists' use that? I mean, is it really that necessary or just part of the cool factor the same way visual effects are carried out in some films? Anyway, off topic, let's get back to my review. There's other tracks on this album like "Karaoke", "Fireworks" or "The Resistance", which are more love orientated or independent moving songs more focused on either family and relationships between either hardships with girlfriends or thereof problems faced with friends and parents, mostly domestic. On the other hand, there are tunes such as "Over", "Unforgettable" and "Fancy" that remind us why a majority of us really love Hip Hop. The verdict? Well since there is a track on it such as "Miss Me", featuring Lil Wayne I was dissatisfied with this. I mean Mr Carter, seriously, you can do better than that. It is hard to decide because it was good, don't get me wrong but personally, it could have gotten much better. I will break this down in three stages that I have done in the 4.3.2.1 review.

The Good:

I appreciate all the different beats on it, some of them, "Unforgettable" remind me funny enough of the slow jams from the 90's that we all need to get back to. Good artists should drop the whole quick-album-run-of-the-mill cash making scheme that all have sunk to these days. As stated by David Banner in an interview on Vibe magazine, it's all of the record producers fault who get cardboard cutout musicians and it's not about how good you could rap anymore. This is true and if we don't get anyone to do something about it before it's too late the rap, hip-hop genre will be destroyed. Passion talk for another time, I love the balance in here because most albums I listened to recently don't have that, it's got feel good tunes which make you repeat the words every time and nod your head whereas the others almost tell a story through metaphorical speech which comes off as a small biography. I'm glad he's talking about variable subjects here. "Fancy" has a well good ring to it that could blast off in the nightclub somewhere. I just like the chorus on this.

The Bad:

I would have given this at least a 1/2 in front of the 3, but this didn't really do enough to value that. There was not much depth to his lyrics, not much punchlines and the music felt a little all over the place. It was as though it was contemporary R&B in this mixed with Rap and other things in this, which makes you wonder in your head "What is it I'm listening to?" before checking the label and going yeah "Parental Advisory - Explicit Content". Drake needs to stick to what he knows. No actually I take it back, be versatile with your music, but not too much that it dilutes it with a litre of water of different stuff thrown into it. This means not too many guest appearances and rap with things in good context like what he did on his last mix tape. Those are the main points that had brought this down. Otherwise it was a good listen and I wish the rapper all the best with his music. He's got potential and if he keeps it up could probably be a next Kanye West. This album has pretty good recognition out there and is received very well. He is listed on the Billboard Hot 100 at the top five.

Overall:

Drake makes up for his less construed lyrics in content with a slow paced, relaxed, rap story which keeps you wanting more as he delivers. His vocals help level the balance of his smooth base and takes all of us on a soft cruise back to what slow jams were. The good choice of instrumentals shows us what he is made of and that he cares about the quality. Although it does not help when you are thrust with different vibes meshed together. Those who are more interested in pop are not left behind. There's a little of that in there as well. I would listen to this over and over again, but it's mainly targeted at those who are looking for just a chilled out evening or wants rhymes.

- Written by Kbon