Thursday, January 29, 2009

Obama







It is with great pleasure that I introduce Narv. He is a contributor to thegoodvibez blog and her is his first post.

Obama, renewed hopes

It is with great enthusiasm that the world watched last week’s inauguration closely on their screens. Whether you were a little boy in Kenya watching it in a café or a young adult watching it on your computer between classes, the popular tuned in and made sure to catch this moment of history. Flocks of people made it to Washington, braved the cold weather and congested streets to witness this exciting moment.

At the height of this event, President Barrack obama has come to represent the hopes of many, the hope s of our current generation that has witnessed a downright spiral in moral values and the hopes of generations before that helped pave the way for this truly historical moment. The civil rights movements, Martin Luther King, Mohamed Ali, and Malcolm X all helped set the precedent for this young Afro American to take up what is considered by many the highest seat of power in the world. Arguments can be made about the limited autonomy of the presidential seat and the power to bring about change. However, the sheer hustle and true brilliance of this man cannot be denied. How he got here makes for a wonderful and truly inspiring story. I recommend reading Obama’s book “the audacity of hope” for those who are curious and want to get past the first level of general knowledge about the current American president. How he got there, his stories, his challenges, his first days as a senator, the long drives across the state of Illinois and time away from family, the numerous town hall meetings, and the 12-14 hour workdays…

There seemed to be a huge level of excitement around this presidential race from the onstart from both the American people and the outside world. We are all connected after all, and American foreign policy affects people beyond the American borders. American economic policies stretch out and affect even the remotest of countries. More significantly, our world is a lot closer in this day of Globalization, online communication, poverty/hunger and ideological conflicts.

The situation was terrible and the American voters desperately needed a change and so history has it that they elected the best man for the job. That they voted for a black man was not something that many people would have thought possible in this day and age. Not long ago, whites and blacks could not ride on the same bus or eat in the same restaurant. The change has been building behind the scenes and that change has finally culminated into electing an African American as the president of the United States of America. The stats are obvious; the majority of whites is passed this thing of race and colour and is at least smart enough to recognize the real issues out there. They did not vote along color and in fact voted for what they felt was the best possible man for the position. This symbolic moment in our history has come to represent so much. It means that hard work pays off and that if an ordinary man from multi ethnic background, raised not in the riches but in the regular school and social system like most of us, can achieve this level of success so can the rest of us.

The time has come to embrace this change and use it as a platform to launch ourselves from and continue to improve our endeavors (work, family, artistic...). Because this is a blog about music and we are talking about music and change, I recommend a track by Jay-z entitled “my president is black”. Jay-Z called it “feel good music” and actually dropped the track in time before any new album. It has good lyrics that convey what this moment in history is all about. Time for change, time for new hopes, and more importantly, time to get to work!

Narv

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Jay-Z + Radiohead = JAYDIOHEAD





I’ve had this around for about two weeks now and after sleeping on it (actually after seeing how many raves this is getting) I decided to give it a chance.

A few years back there was the Jay-Z Beatles (The Grey Album by Danger Mouse) after I got my hands on The Green Album (Al Green beats with various hip hop artists) now Jaydiohead and this one is my favorite one. Minty Fresh Beats (who is that guy ?) a newcomer and that’s the beauty of the internet a talented young artist can show and prove what he’s made of.

Cool concept, hopefully you are familiar with both names if not well here’s your chance. The album is dark (well if you know Radiohead you’ll know what to expect musically).

Comments and suggestions are appreciated, peace & I’m Out.

DOWNLOAD

Monday, January 12, 2009

thegoodvibez#017





Thegoodvibez#017

My first post of 2009 and I’m starting this year with a banging hip-hop mix cause ya’ll ask for it. I dropped a few big names in there that differs from my no name underground scene but I’m still showing love for the underdogs.

My favorite tracks are: Save Ya by Elzhi featuring T3 from one of my favorite albums from 08 (The Preface) and what blows me away is Elzhi’s lyrical ability to amaze me even tackling lighter subjects like relationships. Luda is back with Press The Start Button and I love the ways he uses the name of videogames as metaphores on this track and that beat is just demonic a straight up booty shaker, last but not least it’s The Cool Kids with Bassment Party from The Bake Sale EP another of my favorites of 2008. On this track The Kids just brought it back to the old school and it works on all the levels, the beat the rhymes, the flow is just nice, I love that old school hi-hat sound. I also have to show love to Young Chris featuring Wale with Searching and I’m highlighting this track mostly because of Wale (His Mixtape About Nothing was genius).

Thegoodvibez#017 track list:

1-BK Anthem ft. MC Lyte / Jay-Z
2-Move / Q-Tip
3-Announcement (Feat. Pharrell) / Common
4-Save Ya (feat. T3) / Elzhi
5-Angels / Ghostface Killah & MF Doom
6-Crack A Bottle (Ft. Dr. Dre & 50 Cent) / Eminem
7-Thugathon ft Lil Fame of M.O.P. / 1982 (Statik Selektah & Termanology)
8-Conglomerate (Ft. Young Jeezy & Jadakiss) / Busta Rhymes
9-Press The Start Button / Ludacris
10-Mash (feat. Rapper Big Pooh & Kay) / DJ Revolution
11-Bassment Party / The Cool Kids
12-Get 'Er Done / Jake One feat. MF Doom
13-Funky Piano (Feat. Bishop Lamont, Crooked I, Styliztik Jones) / DJ Revolution
14-Ladder Of Success (feat. Phonte, Wordsworth, K-Hill, Masta Ace) / DJ K.O.
15-Searching ft. Wale / Young Chris
16-Take It Back (Featuring Marsha Ambrosius) / Talib Kweli
17-All Good / Illa J


Comments and suggestions are appreciated Peace & I'm out

DOWNLOAD

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Best albums of 2008

It’s somewhat cliché to do a best of what ever year that flew by so here I am doing just that. This year was great in music I discovered a lot of new artists and I just want to share my discoveries. There’s no category I’m just breaking it down to you.

- King Khan and the Shrines / The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines

My top 2008 would not be completed without King Khan and the Shirines with The Supreme Genius of King Khan & The Shrines. Mix some classic 1960s-style garage-rock/psychedelic sounds, jumping James Brown funk/soul on crack, and more than a little James Chance & the Contortions' edgy avant-jazz/punk/funk. Then put a Canada-born, Germany-based fireball of Indian heritage up front, and you've got King Khan & the Shrines. Their first album for U.S. hipster-indie label Vice finds the band pumping out high-energy rock & soul on all cylinders. Guitars awash in fuzz and wah-wah compete with bleating horns, frenetic drumming, and, of course, King Khan's impassioned, larger-than-life delivery on an album you can't help but dance to.

- Illa J/Yancey Boys

I got into Illa J late in 2008 and the album is simply sublime. It seems that these tracks we're left overs from J Dilla and Illa J reworked them threw some melodic lyricism and there you have it. Yancey Boys is in my best albums of 2008 (that I will eventually post). I hope to see more releases from Illa because so far, so dammmn good ! (

-Seu Jorge/América Brasil O Disco

The raspy voiced Brazilian is back with America Brazil and this album is his most complete yet. It’s a mixture of Funk, Rock, Samba the album is colorful, sometimes energetic and sometimes mellow but always on point. The whole album is in Portuguese so I couldn’t understand the lyrics but I was able to feel the warmth of the album as I was drawn to authenticity of the Brazilian sounds I just wished that I was there. This album is easy to absorb but we still notice the subtleties in every song.


-Santogold/Santogold

She might have remained a bit player but for a double-sided single unveiled late last year. 'Creator'/ 'L. E. S. Artistes' was a scintillating double-whammy of electronic pop music. The raucous 'Creator' marked Santogold as a worthy successor to dancehall polemicist MIA, with the added allure of being able to hold a tune. 'L. E. S. Artistes' compounded the thrill with an indie power ballad harbouring a little homage to New Order's 'Blue Monday'. Pop music has been stretched in all sorts of contradictory directions before, but Santogold's fluency with her diverse source material - dub reggae, the Go-Go's, hip hop, sucked-cheek pop - was seriously intriguing. Add to this a slew of ultra-hip collaborators - Diplo, Switch, Spank Rock and more - and Santogold was shaping up to be one of the debuts of the year.

-Q-Tip / The Renaissance

"The Renaissance," which in itself is a comment on the current rebirth of hip-hop, also serves as a rebirth for Q-Tip, whose last album, "Amplified," was released nearly 10 years ago. And as he has fallen out of the public eye, some may wonder if he still has what it takes. Well, let it be known - this "Renaissance" is a work of art. Each track is crafted differently, yet, at the same time, seems to fit hand-in-hand with the next. Top-notch beats, all of which were produced by Q-Tip with the exception of one, flow seamlessly from start to finish over the album's 13 tracks, creating a soundtrack for lovers of hip-hop as well as casual listeners to appreciate.

-Elzhi / The Preface

It’s much harder for me to write a review about something I genuinely like, mostly because my sense of humour revolves around deconstructing things in a cynical manner. This album isn’t overly innovative, but it’s effortlessly executed, tasteful and has a unique, upbeat but still aggresive attitude that weaves the whole album into a cohesive piece, something that a lot of rappers making the leap to a solo album fail to do.
The lyrical themes range from colours to guessing games to free association, something also refreshing compared to other Detroit rappers such as Frank ‘n Dank and Guilty Simpson. 2 stand-out tracks are definitely Motown 25 (feat. Royce Da 5′9″) and D.E.M.O.N.S. which are both produced by Black Milk and featured on his ELEC mixtape, leading up to his recently release The Tronic, If you give The Preface a listen without expecting something life changing, it’s difficult to fault.

-Padmo / Change The Channel

As a big fan of the 40 Winks crew I recommend this beattape, Padmo' made this for fun. It's kind of a beattape with some older material. Each beat symbolises a tv-channel and each channel has a different vibe Change The Channel is a nice instrumental ride, each track is seasoned to perfection but has an individual feel. I got that early 2008 and I’m still bumbin’ it on the regular. Think of early Herbaliser fused with DJ Shadow.

I hope you enjoyed my late best of 2008 post and I will keep doing my thang for 2009.

Peace & I'm out !