More than just Beyonce...

November was a good month for music… I discovered a new “genre” of music, a couple new artists, and am slowly working on my Beyonce annoyance issues… (Although this “scientific evidence” still cracks me up). So let’s get to the music shall we…

New discovery this month: Grime. I was scrambling to find a couple new songs to download on October 31 when I saw my friend from high school’s status update on Facebook talking about the new “Dizzee Rascal” album. I’d never heard of Dizzee Rascal, but the fact that he had an album would indicate that he’s music of some sort, so I looked him up… and discovered a whole new subset of rap/hip-hop; Grime! If you want to learn more about the “genre” then feel free to check out Wiki, but essentially it seems like electronic based underground hip-hop that also draws from reggae and other world music… the beats are “choppy” and it’s not particularly danceable… but it’s interesting which, to me, makes it great ipod walking music.

I downloaded 2 songs from artist Dizzee Rascal…. Hmm Dizzee is an interesting fella.. I don’t know what area of London he’s from, but his accent is horrendous. He sounds like he has a big wad of fish and chips stuffed in his yap… and a really big swollen tongue. I guess his delivery is part of what makes him popular, and I would agree that it’s interesting, but I’m really glad that he made it in music, because I don’t know what he could have done with his life with that accent…

Anywhoo… I downloaded 2 songs from his 2003 debut CD “Boy in Da Corner”- “

I Luv U”

“Fix Up, Look Sharp”

I likes them! Great walking music. Interesting lyrics (from what I can hear)…. Obviously not anything of substance, and I’m not sure if I’ll be downloading any more, but trying to discern Dizzee’s mushmouth definintely kept me occupied for at least a few train rides to work… and for that he gets a solid B

The other song I downloaded this month was Greenlight from John Legend… another singer who I generally don’t have positive words for…. His “crooning” just works my nerves… “Weee’re just ordinary peeepollll-raaa! We don’t know which waaay to Goooo-rra!” No Johnny. Just stop it. But I have liked a couple of the songs he’s done with other artists as of late. He has a nice duet with Estelle on her album “Shine” called “You Are”. I happened to catch the video to his new song “Green Light” on Thanksgiving (in between the 65 and 66th replay of Beyonce’s Single Ladies video) and I loved that song. I had kind of heard it a few times in passing, but I dismissed it because it was John Legend BUT the song was featuring Andre 3000 who I LOVE. And the song is pretty hot. It’s not Johnny’s usual rat pack wanna-be crooning and honestly Andre 3000 is so charismatic it’s hard not to like anything that he does. (I even loved that ridiculous Fonsworth Bentley video with him and a very uncomfortable looking Kanye West). Anywhoo great song. Great beat. Very danceable… Perfect song to put on when you’re drinking Grey Goose and getting ready to go out for the night! Take a listen- I give this song a solid A-

Oh I also downloaded Beyonce’s entire CD…. Yeah…. I can’t say that I love it… I do like a few of the songs, and she’s always good for up-beat gym songs.

New Ish* Fo Yo Ears (September)

What up folks!
Here's the first installment of New *ish for your ears in which I will be sharing the songs the 2 or more new songs that I acquired during the month (Goal #4)

The September edition consists of songs from Little Dragon, Magic System and Beyonce's little sister.

Little Dragon- Little Dragon's music is kind of hard to explain... The group is from Sweden and the music is usually labeled as "electronic" or "electronic pop". I first heard the song "After the Rain" on ProjectVibe, which is the online radio station I listen to at work. I thought the song was really odd the first few times I heard it, but then it started growing on me and I decided I liked it and wanted to see what the rest of the CD was like. I really like the CD. It's good ambient type music to listen to when you're in a chill mood and reading or writing, etc. Here's a few selections



The second piece of "new" music I acquired this month was from the group Magic System, a music group from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. I'm pretty sure this song is really old... I've heard it numerous times before and really liked it. I was at my apartment watching BET Jazz (I think?) with a friend and it came on so I asked him what it was and downloaded it on the spot. Apparently the style of music is called Zouglou and it's popular throughout Africa, the West Indies and France.


The last song I downloaded this month is STRAIGHT pop, but I'm not ashamed because I like it. It's the new song by Beyonce's little sister called, "I Decided". I like some pop music (as many of you know), it's great for working out or improving your mood. I hadn't really heard much about Beyonce's little sister up until a few weeks ago when this song came out. I really liked it! I listened to the rest of her CD... not so much. I wasn't sure why I liked this song so much, but I did some research and found that it was (written?) and produced by the Pharell... I like the majority of things that little ferret produces so I wasn't shocked that I liked this as well... Plus I sing about as well as this chick does so it's a GREAT karaoke song for me!


So that's it for September.... Look out for next month's post!