Cole takes shots throughout the album that don’t directly seem related or to be addressing Kendrick (until the end) but instead address us as a whole: there is no one better than him. First track in and you can already tell he’s HUNGRY.
That’s the first time The Afros come to mind, and it vanished just as quickly
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Almost two years ago, when underground Hip Hop rappers 88thKey and Súle released “Retrogrades”, their
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I suppose it’s a little odd that I prefer an artist because of a remix
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From South East London, upcoming artist Ashley Stacey has just dropped his newest single “Do
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This is Toronto emcee Saipher Soze’s fourth full-length album. When he first started out, he
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Angelically, Lauryn Hill opens this gut-wrencher with quite lonely vocals – a refreshing yet gloomy follow-up to “The Beast.” This back-and-forth presents as a theme throughout the album, exhibiting the musical range of not only Hill but the trio as a whole.
On August 3rd, 1995 everything changed for hip-hop outcasts – Andre and Big Boy aside – Black Thought and Amir Thompson aka Questlove. The Roots are a creative achievement.
With his poetic social commentary, Kendrick Lamar never fails to engage us politically, and DAMN was similar to his previous release. Some of the most insightful and thought-provoking quotes are “XXX.” (police brutality), “FEER.” (who is praying for Kendrick Lamar), and “YAH.” (religion). However, “FEAR” is the album’s most significant track—not any of the three above tracks.
It’s always been so amazing to me that you can listen to just a few seconds of a song, and it can bring up so much emotion and memories. The 9th track off of Kanye West’s “My Dark Twisted Fantasy” may not be the most popular, and calling it his best would only create a war.
Esme Bianco – star of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ – recently came out about the abuse she dealt with for years. By now, Manson can’t call the claims of abuse “bullshit” Evan Wood, previous personal assistant, ex-bandmate Wes Borland, Trent Reznor, and several other exes have called the filthy man out. Despite this, he still labels them as “horrible distortions of reality.” Keep Reading
Indus Valley Kings is a hard rock band from Long Island, NY. The group recently released their brutal album ‘Indus Valley Kings.’ The album was remarkable and gloomy in the most positive way possible; it was unrestrained, charming, and made me want to turn the volume up as high as it could go. Keep Reading
The Nova Twins (Love and South) have recently gained the spotlight as a POC alternative rock duo. Not only is their music perfectly dance-punk and beautifully hardcore, but they are also striving to bring awareness to the POC rock community considering white males have dominated rock for years. Keep Reading
Rhino Records recently announced Fleetwood Mac’s deluxe album ‘Live.’ It made its initial debut in the late 1980s and will be available later this year. Major Fleetwood Mac fans – like myself – are practically shitting their pants as we speak. The 3 CD and 2 LP vinyl edition will be purchasable by April 9th. However, most pre-orders are available now. Keep Reading
Young, Planetary is an upcoming rock band based in Boise, ID. They released their album ‘Locations I Can’t Place‘ last year. The album has quite a large 2000s punk feel, from the catchy lyrics to that beloved raspy-screaming-effect all the way to their radiantly skilled drummer.
Elliot Mazer – better known as Neil Young’s producer – passed at 79 after suffering from dementia for years. Boonie Murray confirmed to Rolling Stone that a heart attack caused his death. Though he is already greatly missed, it’s not hard to say he lived his life to the very fullest. “Elliot loved music,” stated Murray. “He loved what he did; he was a perfectionist. Everybody has so much respect for him, and he’s been suffering for a couple years.”
Legendary Ozzy Osbourne has still been excluded from getting the COVID vaccine. However, he isn’t hesitant about getting the shot, even with all the ignorant accusations and conspiracy. His overall thought process is that he’s put so much shit in his body (and “snorted everything snotable”) how can the vaccine do much worse?
David Bowie wrote perhaps his most career-defining single in the early 70s titled ‘Changes‘. The song marked his chart debut and became the anthem of youth’s freedom. ‘Changes‘ is a reflective song about defying your critics and stepping out on your own. The lyrics read “And these children that you spit on/As they try to change their worlds/Are immune to your consultations/They’re quite aware of what they’re going through.” The single was nothing but a masterpiece. Keep Reading
The badass duo Death From Above 1979 has made yet another return. For nearly four years – since ‘Outrage! Is Now’- we’ve gotten nothing from them. However, the recently released single ‘One + One’ announced their fourth LP. To pre-order the album, click here, and to watch the music video for ‘One + One,’ go here.
Captain Frederickson is a DIY/indie band initially formed in 2015 Buffalo, NY. However, half of the band is currently in Reading, England. They put out their first single on May 2, 2018, titled ‘Toast Tuesday.’ With four other singles and an album available on Spotify, they plan to publish ‘Absolute Disaster’ on February 12.
The song Basket Case featured in Green Day’s album Dookie was shockingly written in the group’s headquarters. A place of which singer Billie Joe Armstrong ate, smoked, slept, and recovered from harsh performances. It was less of a crashpad than it was a shabby student basement in California college of Berkley.
At the time, Billie was only 22 years old, and he heavily struggled with panic and anxiety-related disorders. Not only that, but the band was still trying to pick their feet up from the ground. They weren’t one of those groups that make the classics without really breaking a sweat. In fact, after putting out the now hit, it stalled at 55 on UK charts.
The complex lyrics go on to scream in between chorus, “Sometimes I give myself the creeps, sometimes my mind plays tricks on me. If all keeps adding up, I think I’m cracking up.” In the past, Billie was fearful to the extreme about losing the plot; he later claimed that what helped him was writing down his thoughts, which evolved into “Basket Case.”
“Basket Case is about anxiety attacks and feeling like you’re about to go crazy. At times I probably was. I’ve suffered from panic disorders my entire life. I thought I was losing my mind. The only way I could know what the hell was going on was to write a song about it,” Billie went on to explain.
The song just keeps getting better as it unfolds. According to Billie, he writes in the first person no matter the story he’s trying to get across, regardless of whether it’s his own thoughts or some general idea.
The following lyrics go on to say this:
“I went to a shrink to analyze my dreams, she says it’s lack of sex that’s bringing me down. I went to a whore, he said my life’s a bore, and I quit my whining cause it’s bringing her down.” This refers to bisexuality. He came out to his fans of liking both sexes. The song overly makes connections to myself, and I am assuming thousands of others, if not more, can emotionally relate.
The band grew enormously, transitioning from local shows to performing big in arenas. But Green Day did receive quite a lot of backlash though there was more love than hate.
“When it came out, we had no control over who liked it,” recollects drummer Tré Cool. “We had a bunch of super-fivin’ marines going, ‘Yeah, cool, you’re my favourite fuckin’ band, bro!’ You have no control, so you just go, ‘Oh, great, whatever’. We were playing too many Coliseum-style shows. All these ice rinks around Europe, the US and Canada – it gets really impersonal after a while. It became like, ‘OK, let’s play Basket Case again’.”
‘Fans’ voiced concerns and claimed that they pushed certain subjects way too far. A note even ran around reading, “Billie Joe must die.” So as anyone would in regards to their feelings and work, Green day clapped back, saying: “We’re not going to try and write Basket Case 12 times in a row for one record.”
Basket Case is seemingly one of the best Green Day songs that carries quite a bit of baggage with it. The song went on to become a pop-punk hit that nearly every rock-head knows. Just at 22, Billie created a masterpiece that not only sounded brilliant but connected with thousands.
Recently Neil Young has announced the release of 1982’s ‘Island in the Sun’, which has the new title of ‘Johnny’s Island.’ Geffen Records rejected the album. So he set out ‘Trans’ instead. Keep Reading
Actor Evan Rachel Wood opened up about being abused by musician Marilyn Manson this Monday. Wood claimed he started grooming her at a young age and the abused lasted throughout their relationship, which began in 2007 (Wood was 19 and Manson was 38).
Wood wrote in the form of an Instagram post, “The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him before he ruins any more lives. I stand with many victims who will no longer be silent.”
“He cut me off from my close friends and family one by one, by exhibiting rage in some form or another when I was in contact with them,” she declared during her testimony. “He had bouts of extreme jealousy, which would often result in him wrecking our home, cornering me in a room, and threatening me.”
Wood felt scared for her life as he many times threatened to kill her. An in one instance nearly had. During an explosive situation, Manson kneeled her down in the bedroom, tied her hands and feet so that he could beat and shock her with a device. Another time in 2009, after Wood left him, he told an interviewer, “I have fantasies every day about smashing her skull in with a sledgehammer.”
Manson stayed silent throughout the day until later that evening, he posted this statement: “Obviously, my life and my art have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality. My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how – and why – others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”
Many other victims came forward before Wood. Such as actress Charlyne Yi who claimed he harassed her in a thread of now-deleted tweets, and Dan Cleary, a former assistant to Manson.
Record label Loma Vista, who released Manson’s most recent work, stated they would no longer support him.
“In light of today’s disturbing allegations by Evan Rachel Wood and other women naming Marilyn Manson as their abuser, Loma Vista will cease to further promote his current album, effective immediately,” they said announced to Twitter. “Due to these concerning developments, we have also decided not to work with Marilyn Manson on any future projects.”
The Pretty Reckless’ frontwoman, Taylor Momsen, has recently shared her thoughts on the gender divide in the rock industry. As a little girl, Momsen’s musical idols all happened to be male, but as she tells The Forty-Five, it wasn’t because of what “was going on in their pants.” She worshiped John Lennon, The Beatles, and Chris Cornell because she “connected to what they were saying and what they were emoting.”
She continues saying, “You should judge music simply on what’s the best song/who’s the best singer. That should have nothing to do with your sex or gender… Good people are good people, and good musicians are good musicians — it’s as basic as that.”
Momsen claimed that she has been through plenty of “fucked up encounters” throughout her career. She claims, “People have been telling me for years that there is misogyny and sexism in music. I think the older I’ve gotten, the more I can look back on certain situations… Maybe someone said something to me that I took as a compliment at the time, and I look back and realize that it was a misogynistic comment that wouldn’t be considered PC now, but I never felt that in an aggressive way.”
Memsen’s band is set to release their fourth album ‘Death By Rock And Roll’ on February 12. They have previewed the work with its title track, ‘Broomsticks’, ’25’ and the Tom Morello-featuring ‘And So It Went’.
Looking back on Nirvana, Dave Grohl remembers there to be quite a bit of “dysfunction” inside the band. Though he profoundly mourns Kurt’s death, Dave claims that they wouldn’t have stuck together if they weren’t musically connected.
They had blown up without much notice, creating classics and affecting the rock industry in the most beautiful way possible. However, as Dave goes back in time, he titles Kurt Cobain as someone he didn’t know. It’s proven that the band didn’t have a deep personal connection.
“Of course, we loved each other. We were friends. But, you know, there was a dysfunction in Nirvana that a band like Foo Fighters doesn’t have,” he described. “You also have to realize, from the time I joined Nirvana to the time it was over was only about four years. It wasn’t a long period of time. Was I close to Kurt as I am to Taylor Hawkins? No.”
While playing the comparison game, later band members had more of a brotherly connection to Dave as well as a musical connection. The relationship with Nirvana was seemingly spiritual.
“I truly believe there’s some people you can only communicate with musically. And that seems that’s an even greater, deeper communication. There are people that I might feel a little awkward talking to, but once we strap on instruments, they’re the love of my life,” remarked Dave.
Though they didn’t have a personal relationship, Dave was still distraught after Kurt’s death. The tragedy of it all left him wondering if he was ever going to play music again. Especially anything by The Beatles, who were Kurt’s favorite band.
“Once it was over, I couldn’t imagine stepping on stage or sitting down at a drum stool and playing music anymore. It would just bring me back to the heartbreaking place of losing Kurt.”
When a part of the band Foo Fighters, Dave wrote a single song about Kurt. He broke his silence with his work titled ‘Friend of A Friend’ after refusing to open up for so long. The lyrics go on to say, “He plays an old guitar/ With a coin found by the phone/ it was his friend’s guitar/ That he played.”
They even go on to touch the topic of Kurt’s addictions, “He drinks too much/ ‘Cause when he tells his two best friends/ I think I drink too much/ No one speaks.”
