Drawing closer and closer to her release date of August 12th for her new LP, Janelle Monáe is releasing some of her more political songs out to get young voters riled up about this year’s election! “Mr. President” is a political burner, written and produced by Nate Wonder, Chuck Lightning and Monáe herself.
The song, with its blaring horns, has been said to be reminiscent of Lauryn Hill, however Janelle has a delivery all her own. “Mr. President” is one of the gems that will be featured on her August release, Metropolis, which hits stores and online everywhere next week, on the 12th. Make sure you pick up the EP and look out for her full album in January.
Solange Knowles has exclusively sent Concrete Loop her new “freestyle”, a Dear John to the big wigs at the labels. She did it over Kanye West’s “Everything I Am” and here is what she said about the song on her blog, HADLEY STREET JOURNAL:
“Unfortunately I’m in an industry where diversity is not celebrated the way it should be. When some people see and hear something different it feels foreign to them and they don’t like that. Everyone has a choice of what they like and that’s a beautiful thing! But record labels, managers, publicist, journalist, media etc… have a tendency to see something work and try to reciprocate that with another artist thinking that’s what makes success. To me what makes success is letting people be truly who they are.
When I heard Kanye’s ‘Everything I Am,’ I instantly fell in love. I felt my story somewhere in his. I felt his frustration yet acceptance of who he was. So I decided to put my own little twist on it!”
Also view Solange performing in the UK on the The Charlotte Church show, when you keep reading…
New music is slowly being leaked from multi-talented Raphael Saadiq’s newest project, The Way I See It (due September 16th on Columbia Records). The new album definitely has a throwback Motown feel (with new promo photos to match).
Saadiq on the inspiration for the album:
“I was cooling out and surfing in Costa Rica and The Bahamas,” recounts Saadiq, “and ran into people from all kinds of places. I noticed everybody was listening to classic soul music. When I came back home the music for this album flowed organically, naturally. Since I have my own studio, I was able to perfect it, take my time to make it right. I was able to live with it, day after day and that had a lot to do with how the album turned out.”
Whitney Houston joins forces with hitmaker Akon to bring you some new music. “Like I Never Left” is a cool mid-tempo love song, but when listening, I kind of think it has two meanings. I detected a bit of, I don’t know, an apology from Whitney Houston in some form? Almost as if she wants her fans to overlook what’s been going on in her personally life, and just embrace her again as the icon that she was.
Whitney has been performing, so hopefully this will be her comeback for the new album that people have been talking about for a while now. Supposedly, she is also working with Ne-Yo for this upcoming project.
Check out Nina Sky’s first official single, “Curtain Call” from their sophomore album, THE MUSICAL. The single features Rick Ross (who has the inet on buzz right about now..) and will be on radios soon.
THE MUSICAL we be released in October, via J Records/Polo Grounds Music. Production includes Kerry “Krucial” Brothers, Ryan Leslie, Salaam Remi, Cool & Dre, Stargate, Neo The Matrix & more.
You might remember us featuring this group in our artist to look out for section at the top of ‘08, as well as our artist spotlight section. Proton is back with their new promo single for their upcoming mixtape, “Magazine Dreamz.”
They are currently are working on their new mixtape, the follow-up to their 2007 album, Girls & Ghetto Sh!t. The guys were in the studio, and were listening to Biggie and they did their own version of his joint, “Dreams.”
But Proton says they aren’t trying to sensationalize the concept in the song, but it’s simply a tribute to Biggie for their mixtape. They are definitely shooting to put their mixtape out within the next couple of months, as well as putting the finishing touches on their third album.
Angela Simmons recently released a new promo song entitled “Center of Attention” to promote her shoe line Pastry and their newest sneaker releases. Angela runs the successful venture with her older sister Vanessa Simmons.
Make sure to peep pastrykicks.com for behind the scenes access to the music video/commercial taping. The video will be directed by Bryan Barber and is set to premiere July 24th, exclusively on the official website. In the meantime, check the sisters out during the new season of MTV’s “Run’s House”.
Check out this exclusive from Teedra Moses, “So Cool.” Teedra (who is actually one of my favorite artists), released her debut album, Complex Simplicity back in 2004 and I’ve been checking for her ever since. I actually got a chance to speak with Teedra not long ago, and she is working hard on her second album, The Young Lioness, which we’ve been waiting for a long time.Teedra wanted to let all of her fans know that when it’s out, it’s going to be right and well worth the wait.
“So Cool” is a really mellow, dope song. You can definitely hear Teedra’s Prince influence in the Drone One-produced track. What I love about this track is that it’s different for Teedra, but it still has that Complex Simplicity familiarity. I’m definitely digging it.
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You might remember us featuring this group in our artist to look out for section at the top of ‘08, as well as our artist spotlight section. Proton is back with their new promo single for their upcoming mixtape, “Magazine Dreamz.”
