http://versesfromtheabstract.wordpress.com

Toronto, Detroit, Chicago and New Orleans unite on this huuuge track. The internet has been going crazy for this, especially Eminem's verse which is outstanding. If Relapse 2 is more The Warning/his verse here than Relapse 1 we are in for a treat. Kanye is brilliant, as he has been all year and Drake holds his own well. Lil' Wayne has been pretty heavily criticised for his verse on here, but I think it's good. He only sounds substandard because the other 3 do so well. The ridiculous amount of material he is on kinda makes it fair enough if he sounds a little tired now and again...wiki says he has featured on 38 tracks so far this year. Fuck.

This track is brilliant. DL below



Forever feat. Kanye West, Lil' Wayne and Eminem-Drake

Read more...

First official single from Blueprint 3. This could well be Jay-Z's first chart hit in the UK for a long time. It is very very very good. As pitchfork says, Kanye does kinda walk away with it...best verse I've heard from him since Graduation. mp3 below

Jay-Z-Run This Town feat. Kanye West and Rihanna

Read more...

First good material Kid Cudi has released since A Kid Named Cudi mixtape. Features Kanye west and Common and samples Lady gaga.
Read more...

Not only to you get to go and see one of the best live performers of his generation, you get to see him on this stage!! Aparently he's only playing 1h10m though, would be interesting to see the setlist. Wouldn't be surprised if he only played Through the Wire off TCD, lots of 808s methinks. Love Lockdown, Heartless, Paranoid, Amazing, Welcome to Heartbreak are almost guaranteed. Also, the rest of the line-up is pretty sweet. Q-Tip, Kid Cudi, Calvin Harris, Mr Hudson and Example are definately all worth catching. Tinchy Stryder and Chipmunk will probably be awesome as well, as much as they both annoy me. Kanye mp3 below.

Went to see the Hangover last night, and they played this Kanye track, reminding me of just how good he is.
(mp3) Kanye West-Can't Tell Me Nothing
In one of the final scenes, at a wedding the singer sings 50's Candy Shop as well. It is brilliant, go and see the film!

Read more...

not quite sure why im posting this, as kanye is one my favourite rappers/producers but still...his verse is far too long, and his voice is shocking, its flat and dull, just not regular kanye. i actually like the original, once kanye finishes his mammoth bad rap it kicks off and is a pretty good beyonce song! youd think a track called ego would suit him, i guess not....still its nowhere near as bad as the video below, which would be the worst song ever, if it wasnt so funny.

sorry if you watched that and wasted 4 minutes, 22 seconds of your life
Read more...

Having a full time job makes it difficult to post on here, oh well im ill today so here are a few exciting pieces of music i've been listening to this week...

We Were Promised Jetpacks
Seriously good, scottish Frightened Rabbit esque indie. Remind me a bit of the Walkmen as well. Album comes out next Monday (15th), definately worth buying, its awesome. Here a couple of tracks for you to preview.
We Were Promised Jetpacks-It's Thunder and It's Lightning
We Were Promised Jetpacks-Conductor
Mos Def
"The Ecstatic" is out today, sounding good on first listen, especially the following track "History" featuring Black Star collaborator Talib Kweili. Aparently a Black Star album is scheduled for a 2010 release!
Mos Def-History feat. Talib Kweli
Jay-Z
D.O.A (Death of Autotune) has been released as a street single for the September 11 release of Blueprint 3. Although Kanye was speculated to be producing the entire album, this is produced by No I.D.
Have a listen here
Keri Hilson
Yeah you read it right. Knock you down is huuuuuuge. Ne-yo proves his worth once again.
watch the video here
Keri Hilson is gonna be massive.
Milburn
Live set just been released to the internet, recorded at Manchester Urbis in 2006. Here is I Know Something You Don't Know, a song which previously had only been heard live, or on bad mobile phone recordings. Over a year now since they split :(
Milburn-I Know Something You Don't Know (Live at Manchester Urbis)

still got shit loads to listen to and catch up on!!

Read more...

its possibly a little hip-hop biased...and i decided to only include one song per artist otherwise it would pretty much have been the tracklisting of Ready to Die...

Top songs:
Aim-Good Disease feat. Stephen Jones
Its all about those soft trumpets and his awesome voice, brilliant chillout music.
Amy Winehouse-I heard Love is Blind
Winehouse at her lyrical peak, this song makes me laugh every time. The light guitar works perfectly with her voice and delivery.
Death Cab For Cutie-The New Year
It's taken me maybe 100 listens and 6 years to work out how good this song is. Amazing
Fleet Foxes-Meadowlarks
Its all about the voice on this. They will own Glastonbury
Jack Johnson-Banana Pancakes
In Between Dreams is pretty much essential beach music...and he has the knack of writing simple but quite beautiful lyrics.
Jay-Z-22 Two's
Ridiclously good.
Justin Timberlake-Take it from here
Is it sad that this is one of my all time favourite songs? He needs some Neptunes production on his third album because thats what made Justified what it is, a classic pop/r&b album. Take it from here combines chilled, brilliant guitar with Tmberlakes soft, smooth voice. Brilliant
Kanye West-Diamonds from Sierra Leone (remix) feat. Jay-Z
Both merk this song. Late Registration is an amazing album.
Mos Def-Do it now feat. Busta Rhymes
The only track on Black on Both Sides to rival Mathematics. The sparring between them is like a more militant version of Q-Tip/Phife Dawg, great prodcution by Mr. Khaliylas well.
Nas-The World Is Yours
My current favourite on Illmatic.
Notorious B.I.G.-Machine Gun Funk
The best rapper of all time. Only Jay-Z and Nas can come close.
A Tribe Called Quest-Electric Relaxation
Q-Tip might be playing glasto!!!
Zero 7-Destiny
Amazing song. Amazing lyrics. Brilliant.

Top albums:
The Notorious B.I.G.-Ready to die
Jay-Z-Reasonable Doubt
Zero 7-Simple Things
Kanye West-Late Registration
Frank Turner-Love, Ire and Song

Read more...

KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.
that must have been ridiculously expensive...it was worth it, best video ive seen in ages! this isnt the next single, "amazing" is, dont know if this will get released or if kanye is just making vids for fun
Read more...

All the talk was about Chris Brown/Rihanna's absence but there were some great performances...vids and mp3 below...

Estelle & Kanye-American Boy, the crowd are so placid, but still good!

Al Green, Timberlake, Boyz II Men and Keith Urban-Lets Stay Together

JT is surprisingly awesome on this! although Al Green's voice outshines him
Radiohead-15 Step

Gwyneth is on it! Brilliant.
Coldplay & Jay-Z-Lost?/viva la vida.

So good! Always preferred the acoustic version and the Jay-Z version to the album version!
And saving the best 'til last...
M.I.A., Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Kanye West, T.I.-Paper Planes, Swagger Like Us

M.I.A. is such a legend, apparently her baby was due on the night! Such a wicked performance. Jay does best! Anyone else think T.I. looks a bit out of place? His verse is my favourite on the song, but he was worst on the night.

And here is the album version of the brilliant 15 step.
Radiohead-15 Step

Read more...

So i pussied out and couldnt choose a no.1 but these are my top 10.





loads almost made it....

Read more...

Obama won!
reposted after removal

1. Kanye West-808s and Heartbreaks
I wont write alot here, because it will end up turning into a rant ( a postive one), so if your interested, here are my initial thoughts on Kanyes 4th.
I now admit this isnt a hip-hop album, it is almost undefinable. Its a pop album i suppose, but nothing like any pop albums before it.
Best track: Kanye West-Welcome to Heartbreak feat. Kid cudi (no link im afraid)
Bonus: Young Jeezy-Put On (feat. Kanye West) his verse on this is ridiculous, and a brilliant set up for 808s...
2. Q-Tip-The Renaissance
2008 was a year of hip-hop discovery for me, a year of A Tribe Called Quest discovery and in turn Q-Tip's awesomeness. This album is fantastic. Its such a positive record, both lyrically and musically. Gettin Up (one of the 2 Dilla productions) is so chilled and upbeat its brilliant. Other highlights include Move (the other Dilla production, Jackson 5 sampling), and Believe (my favourite) and a classic chillout hip-hop song. It was so lovely to have an uplifting hip-hop album this month after being depressed by 808s darkness haha! After 9 years away from releasing his own music, Q-Tip is firmly back on top of hip-hop.
Best track: Q-Tip-Believe (feat. D'Angelo)
Bonus: A Tribe Called Quest-Luck of Lucien
Aparently he will be on one of the 3 new Prince albums this year!
Metacritic (81)
3. The Killers-Day and Age
Another disappointing album, and now my overexcitement has died down probably their worst so far. I was so excited for this album, but its a dud. The first 3 tracks are awesome, electronic classic Killers, but after that the album falls flat. With the excpetion of I Cant Stay, the remainding tracks blend into obscurity. Bloody hell that was negative.
Best track: The Killers-Losing Touch
4. Beyonce-I Am...Sasha Fierce
Beyonce also released her worst album to date, with a double album to represent herself (I Am...with big ballads a la If I were A Boy but much worse and boring!) and her alter ego (Sasha Fierce, upbeat tunes a la Single Ladies). The first half of the album may as well be chucked away, Beyonce has made much better slow songs (Irreplaceable for one), but it has always been her upbeat tunes that I have liked. Sasha Fierce provides 2 awesome examples of this in Single Ladies and Diva. Although im not quite sure of the lyrical gist of single ladies, its a big tune. And Diva I probably just like because the beat is as close to A Milli you can get without actually sampling it. Bangladesh produced A Milli and Diva surprisingly enough. Her vocals are actually brilliant on it. Anyway, it has nothing on her first 2 albums in terms of consistency, and it is lacking a BIG guest appearance from Jay-Z! I am hoping for a Diva remix with him sparring with her about being a hustler or some shit.
Best track: Beyonce-Diva
Metacritic (62)
5. T.I.-Paper Trail (UK release)
Not listened to this enough yet to make a full judgement, but not a huge fan on first couple of listens. Live your life is a ridiculously good song though, and Whatever You Like although badly written and generally silly is also great. Not quite sure of the moral message of Live your life, but its so infectiously good I cant complain.
Best track: Live your life feat. Rihanna
Metacritic (73)

Ludacris also released a feature saturated album this month. T.I, T-Pain, The Game, Rick Ross, Chris Rock, Chris Brown, Jamie Foxx, Lil Wayne, Nas, Jay-Z and common are just a few of the artists on the album. Its still pretty rubbish. The Nas/Jay-Z featured track is by far the best song, the Nas verse is brilliant.
Ludacris-I Do It For Hip-Hop (co-starring Nas and Jay-Z)
"They say I’m so low key, I’m socially awkward
Only those that really know me are the ones that I talk with
They smile in the light, hate in the dark,
you call it beef, to me its's just a fuckin’ walk in the park
Because you are who you are when nobody is looking
That's who you are so when the cash and cars is gone, the day after tomorrow
Don’t be askin’ to borrow, ski maskin’ it hard, like the way you rap in your bars
I could ride on you and whoever, devise new endeavors
I’m as live as hive full of predators
Twenty thousands different species of bees
Some half poisonous sting, some just pollinating their leafs
It's just like rap, some will buzz some will attack, compromising their own life in fact
Sixteen years since my first sixteen, pardon the rest of my niggas
But I’m the best whoever did it" Nas
I bought Illmatic for £3.60 from zavvi yesterday, good times.


Read more...

The hardest list i've ever written?

25. We Are Scientists-Ghouls
24. Guillemots-Falling out of reach
23. White Lies-Death
22. Q-Tip-Believe (feat. D'Angelo)
21. Estelle-American Boy (feat. Kanye West)
20. MGMT-Kids
19. Cut Copy-Hearts on Fire
18. Kid Cudi-Day N Nite (Crookers Remix)
17. Friendly Fires-Paris (rerelease but i dont care...)
16. The Hold Steady-Stay Positive
15.The Last Shadow Puppets-My Mistakes are Made For You
14. Goldfrapp-A&E
13. Laura Marling-Tap At My Window
12. Santogold-L.E.S. Artistes
11. The Streets-Heaven for the weather
10. Kanye West-Welcome To Heartbreak feat. Kid Cudi
9. T.I.-live your life feat. Rihanna
8. Coldplay-Lovers in Japan
7. Frightened Rabbit-The Modern Leper
6. Death Cab For Cutie-I Will Possess Your Heart
5. Bon Iver-Skinny Love
4. Vampire Weekend-Bryn
3. Frank Turner-I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous
2. Death Cab For Cutie-You can do better than me
1. Lil' Wayne-Lollipop (Remix) feat. Kanye West

I tried to avoid duplicates, so I suppose this wasnt 100% accurate.My no.1 choice is a bit of a spur of the moment thing. Kanyes verse is so strong, but Lil Wayne out does him.
"I got so much chips I swear they call me Hewlett Packard
I got so much chips you can have a bag if your a snacker"
genius

Read more...

no explanation needed. just listen. link below

Kanye West, Lykke Li, Santogold-Gifted

im listening to the new wiley album. i dont undestand why one of the best grime producers in the world/uk has an album in which he only producers (coprod at that) one of the tracks on it

Read more...

At the moment, i feel like i owe Kanye an apology. I may not have written it on here, but I was worried about this album. Love Lockdown never hit me like other Kanye singles have, I couldnt wait for this album, but i was scared it would not live up to the sort of magic he is capable of. I listened to the haters, I thought it might be a poor T-Pain rip off, a showcase of Kanye's poor singing. I needn't of been scared. this album is ridiculously good. It is definitely a different direction to anything he's done before, a move away both musically and lyrically from the heavy sampling fast flowing egotistical Kanye of his past 3 albums. This album is much more personal, and (admittedly my rap/hiphop knowledge is pretty limited) the most vulnerable/personal hip-hop album I have ever heard. Kanye has been heartbroken, both by his well publicised split with Alexis Phifer and obvi the death of Donda West. This album is almost as if Kanye is having a mid life crisis at the age of 31. Kanye has lost his fiancee, and his mum, he is a lonely, bitter guy and this is translated brilliantly on this record.

Say you Will kicks the album off telling a girl "dont say you will, you do", presumably to Alexis, its an awesome tune, really low-key start which suits the rest of the album, i like the interpretation given by "beatalchemist" on songmeanings. "Welcome to Heartbreak" is one of the album highlights for me, with kanye pondering his loneliness, comparing himself to his friend. While his friend is celebrating his children, all Kanye can show off are his material possessions. Lyrically this is awesome, and the production (as on the whole album) is classic kanye brilliance. Love Kid Cudi's chorus as well, woul have been nice if he couldve had a verse, but i guess it would have taken away from the personal meaning of the song...Heartless (single no.2) just keeps growing on me. this is the closest to the "old Kanye" on the album, witty lyrics and great production, and rapping! track4 sees another personal highlight for me "Amazing" with young Jeezy, with the best use of the 808 on the album, Kanye shows that cocky persona is still there, and Jeezys verse is actually awesome. Check out this live video i posted of amazing and put on. Kanyes verse in put on is just ridiculously good, almost like a set up to this album. Anywho, after love lockdown (which does sound better in the context of the album), mr hudson guests and co-produces on paranoid. This was originally gonna be Kid Cudi, but Mr Hudson replaced him! love this song so much, reflecting on his relationship and basically how it broke up i guess. awesome production on this, the music almost reflects his bitterness and frustration with Alexis. Robocop is another brilliant track, my current favorite, continuing the theme of paranoid, with Kanye explaining that "Shorty kinda crazy but it turn me on" haha. Robocop is definitely single/club material. Street Lights is so chilled its brilliant and Bad News, despite maybe a little too much autotune effects, is great. See You In My Knightmares with Weezy makes Barry Bonds look like a joke freestyle, Lil Wayne sings the riff really well! More depressing but brilliant stuff. Coldest Winter is about Donda, its heartfelt, its great.

Overall, a fantastic album. people shouldn't be so dismissive of thus album because its not the hip-hop Kanye has produced before. What other hip-hop artists are this innovative and brave to make such a vulnerable and alternative album?

just because its funny...
50s views on 808's
""I heard, like, seven songs. There's a place for it. I think people will enjoy it if you're actually in love or going through something. I think Kanye's going through an interesting point in his career.
"I don't think the public will forgive (West) for it, but it's interesting. I think it's T-Pain's record, but I'd rather buy it from T-Pain.""

Lol, i dont think people in love would particularly enjoy this record for this reason. the vast majority of this record is about being out of love. 50 cent could never make a record like this. he probably would never be able to articulate his feelings into even one song, except for liking money and fit girls. (NB i do love i get money/pimp(snoop remix)/in da club/21 questions/window shopper/heat/ayo technology) but apart from that 50 has never made a good song.

repost; DmCA takedown. i find it very unfair that the DMCA only seems to remove posts about huge artists like kanye, coldplay and the killers who have huge no.s of fans and money, rather than small artists who are potentially hurt by illegal file sharing on blogs. anyway, links have been removed...sorryyy


Read more...

on BET 106, both kanye and young jeezy absolutely merk this, on amazing and put on...
amazing is such a brilliant song. musically and lyrically this album is just so special. more thoughts/links to come friday probs
Read more...

thanks to someone from the KanyeLive forum^^^^

after queuing from 3pm, and getting three people from the barrier, it was 50000% worth it. the show kicked off with a GOOD music showcase type thing; kid cudi (awesome), consequence (joined by tony williams), some random girl and then mr hudson (played full 30 minutes). mr hudson was brilliant, held the crowd so well, even though the band were only taking up bout a 1/3 of the stage! the steel drummer/backing singer/missy elliott lookalike was amazing. Kanye is producing their new album, including the new single "There will be tears", which is a beautiful blend of Hudsons wrting/vocal talents with Kanyes production epicness.
Kanye came on bout 9ish, and was fucking amazing. The whole show/spaceship story was great! The massive screen at the back was ridiculous, as were the drummers/backing singers at the front with protective masks on! The setlist was awesome, put on was surprisingly one of the highlights, as was i wonder. and hey mama. and every other song. Kanye also did 2 megalong freestyles, one before Hey Mama (about being depressed about losing his mum/gf) and the other near the end about the press. the first one was so emotional, kanye is so fucked up/vulnerable. Think the 2nd one might be the live track on the end of 808's but not sure. the night was rounded off by estelle(!) on amaerican boy, which got the bestest crowd reacton. i love estelle haha. one of the best shows ive ever been to. 808's is leaking very fast, but im gonna wait til it comes out/a proper leak comes out. i heard the jeezy collabaration and its awesome, as is the mastered robocop. cant wait for the 24th and for kanye to return to the UK.

listen to Hudson's new song
check out Kid Cudi
look at some videos from the date
watch kanye's freestyle

i so badly wish id gone to the afterparty.
De-La Soul\Nas/Mos Def/Kanye/Will.I.Am/GOOD music family/damon albarn!!!!
check ot some vids here. mos def playing definition!!! and ms fat booty!! loving the shout out to hudson!
watch on semtex tv
Read more...

1. kanye has remastered love lockdown again! this is after it has been released, this version will surely be on the album? who knows really, i guess it shows how ready he is to improve his work. i can only really notice the difference towards the end of the song...he has upped the mp3 on zshare, with the link available on his blog here
2. kanye has also remastered the next single off 808s and heartbreaks, heartless. it didnt need it tbh, its such a great tune, but have a listen/download (on Kanyes blog again) from here
3. the video of heartless has leaked. awesome
   

Heartless from kwest on Vimeo.

4. kanye performed at the EMAs this week, love lockdown and then american boy with estelle. pretty dam good, estelle is a brilliant singer live, her album is quality as well!!

EMA from First and last name on Vimeo.

4 days!!!

edit: first date was last night in Belfast, and he played the "US setlist" (with a few tweaks) which is...

1. "Good Morning"
2. "I Wonder"
3. "Heard 'Em Say"
4. "Through the Wire"
5. "Champion"
6. "Get 'Em High"
7. "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"
8. "Can't Tell Me Nothing"
9. "Flashing Lights"
10. "Spaceship"
11. "All Falls Down"
12. "Gold Digger"
13. "Good Life"
14. "Jesus Walks"
15. "Hey Mama"
16. "Don't Stop Believing" (Journey Cover)

[Encore]

1. "Stronger"
2. "Homecoming"
3. "Touch the Sky"
4. "Love Lockdown"

i can live with no slow jamz....just...
Read more...

Check out the paint editing on the picture!!
Santogold and Mr Hudson both confirmed as tour support for thr UK glow in the dark tour, maybe another will be added (Estelle?!) , its certainly not Rihanna/Lupe/N*E*R*D, but it's still pretty awesome.
Santogold-Lights Out
Santogold-L.E.S. Artistes
Santogold-Creator
Mr Hudson & The Library-Cover Girl
Mr Hudson & The Library-Everything Happens To Me
Mr Hudson & The Library-Ask The Dj
Read more...

This is fast becoming a brilliant song, the new version is top quality. Read Kanye's thoughts on making the new version here
Read more...

very very different...I actually really like it!! The Auto-Tune works really well, although I do wish Kanye rapped in this song, lets face it, he's not a singer...Production is amazing as usual. Only complaint is the rapping really, Kanye raps in Swagger Like Us using the Auto-Tune so why not on this? Actually, Kanye merks this style on "put On" with Young Jeezy. The new album is out December the 16th, called "808's & Heartbreak" its gonna be very interesting, aparently he sings on every track!! This could either be very special, or a complete disaster...wonder how many tracks off the new album he'll do when I see him in November? Check out Love Lockdown from the VMA's, pretty awesome, the neon heart is tooooo cool. In other kanye news, he (along with Timbaland and the Neptunes) is producing a few tracks on the new Beyonce album, should be good...
Read more...