The Blot Says...: Mark Ronson

Showing posts with label Mark Ronson. Show all posts

Monday, June 9, 2008

Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing

The Blot has been waiting for this latest release from Washington D.C. rapper Wale for what seems like forever. This Seinfeld themed mixtape was announced a while ago, and while the release date kept being pushed back, the anticipation for it kept rising. Well, while I was out of town Wale finally released The Mixtape About Nothing for free through his website Elitaste.com.

Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing Album Cover

I haven’t gotten to listen to it yet, because I am downloading it as I type this, but the reviews I’ve read have all been really positive. Wale is definitely the next hip-hop artist primed for a big breakthrough. Wale’s well deserved hype was brought to my attention when he started to work with UK producer Mark Ronson, who put a verse Wale recorded on a remix of Lily Allen’s “Smile.” Since then he’s performed at the 2007 MTV Music Awards and had his single, “Nike Boots,” selected by iTunes to be given away as a free single. Wale was even selected as one of the “Eight New Faces To Watch In ‘08” by Entertainment Weekly. (link) Since then Wale was signed by Interscope Records and now releases his highly anticipated album, The Mixtape About Nothing.

10 Deep x Wale - Serenity Now T-Shirt Front and Back

The mixtape is 19 tracks long and can be downloaded for free as a .zip file below. If you like the album you should hit up 10Deep.com, where a t-shirt commemorating the release of Wale’s The Mixtape About Nothing is being sold. The 10.Deep x Wale: Serenity Now t-shirt sells for $40.00 and every order comes with a hard copy of The Mixtape About Nothing.

Wale – The Mixtape About Nothing (.zip file)

The Mixtape About Nothing Track Listing
01. The Opening Title Sequence
02. The Roots Song Wale Is On ft. Chrisette Michele
03. The Feature Heavy Song ft. Bun B, Pusha T and Tre from UCB
04. The Freestyle (Roc Boys)
05. The Perfect Plan
06. The Kramer
07. The Crazy
08. The Vacation From Ourselves
09. The Remake of A Remake (All I Need) ft. Tawiah
10. The Grown Up
11. The Manipulation
12. The Artistic Integrity
13. The Star
14. The Skit (Untz Untz)
15. The Cliche Lil Wayne Feature (It’s The Remix baby!)
16. The Bmore Club Slam
17. The Chicago Falcon Remix ft. The Budos Band
18. The Hype
19. The End Credits

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Rhymefest and the King of Pop

While most of you probably don’t recognize the name Rhymefest, I am sure most of you have heard his work. Rhymefest co-wrote and won a Grammy for his work on the song “Jesus Walks” from Kanye West’s 2004 debut album The College Dropout. In 2006, he released his first album Blue Collar on J Records/Allido Records. The CD while underperforming in sales was truly a great album and Rhymefest is one the most gifted hip-hop artists to come around in a long time. It really surprises The Blot that Blue Collar did as poorly as it did considering how many great songs it had on it and guest appearances by Kanye West, Q-Tip, Mario and O.D.B. along with songs produced by Mark Ronson, Just Blaze and Kanye West. Many of you may recognize the name Mark Ronson from The Blot’s Favorite Albums of 2007. Ronson produced the hit records for Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen before releasing his own album, Version, last year. If you haven’t heard Blue Collar and are a fan of catchy, intellectual hip-hop you should pick up the album on iTunes. I think you will be happy you did.

I bring all of this up because Rhymefest dropped last week what is sure to be one of the best concept mix tapes of the still extremely young year. In anticipation of his latest album El Che, Rhymefest has released Mark Ronson Presents: Man In The Mirror, a Michael Jackson dedication album. Now I know what most of you are all thinking, who wants their name associated with Michael Jackson anymore? And I can’t quiet blame you for asking that, but the truth is the man’s The King of Pop and his music from the 60’s to the 90’s is still some of the best music around. With that being said I was pretty weary of the mix tape’s theme because most people that try to recreate or remix an artist of Jackson’s caliber usually aren’t that successful. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised and found that the mix tape wasn’t much of a recreation or a remix but really exactly what Rhymefest claimed it to be, a dedication album. It’s hard to explain but I enjoyed it and thought some of you might like it as well. The mix tape is free and you can download it here, but be aware it has a lot of expletive language in it:

Download Rhymefest’s Man In The Mirror Mix Tape
(right click and choose Save Target As to download the entire album in .Zip file)

It seems like good timing for this mix tape’s release considering this year marks the 25th anniversary of the release of one of the greatest albums of all time, Thriller. If you hadn’t heard already, to mark the occasion Jackson is going to be rereleasing a 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller with six 2008 remixes of the most popular songs off of the album by some of the biggest names in pop music. I want to actually apologize to the biggest names in pop music here and now because that might have been exaggerating. Instead the album features Will.I.Am, Fergie and Akon and a remix by Kanye West. The songs have already been leaked on the internet and to no one’s surprise aren’t really that good. I’d think these “remixes” are a tad unnecessary and are going to be pretty dated five to ten years from now. Hopefully by then Fergie and Akon will have been wiped clean from the music landscape only to be remembered for their brief reign over the pop music. That being said, I’m a sucker for all things old school Michael Jackson and will probably have to pick up this 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller much like I purchased the Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection box set a few years ago.

Rhymefest talks about his mix tape and the new 25th Anniversary Edition of Thriller on his blog at his MySpace Page. You can read the entire entry here, but be aware it, like the mix tape, has some choice words in it. I thought I’d include some of his thoughts (edited of course) for you to read below:

This album was made because I am a fan of not only Michael Jackson, but of great music, in general. I have been listening [recently] to some of the remixes of MJ's 25th anniversary of THRILLER, and my analysis is that they're...aight...but personally, as a fan, I expected a bit more. I put my heart into this s**t and took a risk to bring you an edgy, creative, refreshing perspective of Michael Jackson in rare form.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The Blot’s Favorite Albums of 2007

So instead of dragging out my favorite albums of 2007 into 2008, I thought it better to wrap it up so I can move on to more interesting stories circulating around the web. Therefore, in no particular order, here are more of The Blot’s Favorite Albums from 2007 that you should check out and give a listen!

As I stated earlier I’m not including the obvious selections like Kanye West’s Graduation or The Polyphonic Spree’s The Fragile Army. If you haven’t picked up those two albums yet nothing I say is going to get you moving. Instead, I’m focusing on some great albums that haven’t gotten the publicity they deserve. And yes I know some of these artists were on SNL this year, but let’s be honest who’s watching Saturday Night Live anymore? I’ve gone ahead and listed the label and type of music underneath each artist in case you’d like some additional information on each artist before heading out to check out each musician’s website. Do some surfing and enjoy…

Lupe Fiasco – Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool
[Atlantic/1st & 15th] Hip-Hop