give all of my energy and love to the world

Music buzzers said he would be one of the top hip hop up-and-comers, and they were right.  B.o.B. has hit musical airwaves with a bang.  I am among the many who have fallen under the charm of his fresh perspective.  Signed to Atlantic Records while still in high school, Bobby Ray first got attention with his ganja-loving track "Cloud 9" and Atlanta anthem  "Haterz Everywhere."  His debut album B.o.b. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray was released April 27th of this year, one month earlier than prévu, due mostly to the commercial success of his smoothtastic "Nothin' on You" track featuring Bruno Mars.

 My other favorites of the album are "Past My Shades" featuring Lupe Fiasco, "Airplanes, Part II" featuring Eminem (!!) and Hayley Williams of Paramore, and "The Kids" featuring Janelle Monae.  "Ghost in the Machine" and "Fame" are great too.  Oh goodness, I love em' all - "Magic" featuring Rivers Cuomo of Weezer (!!) really gets 'ya jammin'.  His revamp of hip hop - pulling influences from the 80s, rap, funk, rock, techno, and other greatness - has given the industry a musician sure to leave an interesting mark.

I'll leave you with some of B.o.B.'s own words:

"When I grew up it was really hard for me to figure out why I felt that way, like I really felt like I was from another planet. Now, it's the opposite. All of that time I spent developing my talent and really analyzing myself, now I feel like I can express all of that and give all of my energy and love to the world."

 I feel like nothing I could say would do this boy justice, so just click on the links provided and see for yourself.  Plaisir.

une semaine fabuleuse en images

Je reviens d'une semaine de vacances fabuleuse dans le Sud de la France.  Quelques images pour vous dessiner ce qui m'a traversé l'esprit pendant ces derniers jours:  

Petit rappel de qui est le boss.

Groupe trip-hop/hip-hop/électro marseillais qui vient de changer ma vie musicale avec leurs volumes I et II.

Rouler.

Film réalisé par Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko !) en 2006 avec The Rock, Justin Timberlake, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Wallace Shawn, et d'autres.  Une film complètement fou sur une sorte de fin du monde.

La Cale Sèche à Toulouse: bar à rhum qui ne déçoit pas.

Petit session de fraises bio des champs à coté de Nîmes.  Confiture délicieuse.

Mami à 81 ans!  Allez, repas surprise.

En haut du Pic St. Loup.  Righteous.

La prochaine fois qui je serai à Montpellier avec la famille sera dans une année.  Ciao, bises.

on a visual level

Shabam -- it has been decided: I am going to make music videos for a living.  All the crazed hype about Gaga's "Telephone" clip inspired me.  Music videos have lost (or never had?) their well-deserved reverence and it's time that their potential be appreciated.  MVs don't have to merely accompany a song; they can tell the lyrics' story on a whole new visual level - and that's cool.

Over Easter weekend I trained down to the South of France, where I told my family of my professional career's new destiny.  One of my cousins guided me toward the unofficial video for Soko's giggle-tastic "I'll Kill Her."  Soko, or Stéphanie Sokolinsk, is a french singer slash actress brought to fame via the internet with this lightly angry anthem with a humoristic twist.  She sings the lyrics as if she was reciting them on the front step of her lover's place.  As the song plays out, you can imagine "the other woman" peeking from behind his shoulder, beach-blonde hair in tow.  You can't help but fall in love with the songstress as her soft voice and adorable french accent cushion the murderous refrain line.

The black and white of the fan-made [Joerg Barton] music video of the track is fabulous.  

I can't wait to be living the dream.

refreshing

I love rearranging my room, but I can't really do that here - the blog was a perfect substitute.  So super duper refreshing is the feeling I get when I look at a newly organized web page.  hallelujah

Today has been rather refreshing all together - even on the academic front.  My second prof for my "Cultural Triangulations between Africa, Eruope, and North America" course finally arrived today, Mike Ladd.  He was absent the first two weeks of class because he was on tour in New York.  That's right, my prof is famous... and not in the i-am-an-important-uppity-diplomat way that most professors are at Sciences Po, but in the cool-spoken-word-performer kind of way.

He is a lefty(! - not sure why i like this, but i do) and today he taught us about "Negrophilia," the term used to describe the interesting fascination European's had with black culture in the 1920s.  After class, I ran to a computer to listen to his stuff, I'm impressed.  He's collaborated with lots of other artists - pianist and composer Vijay Iyer, the german electronica group Terranova, english rapper Juice Aleem - and has a genre that's hard to pin down.  Apparently he was a drummer in a punk band in the 80s.

I can't believe he's my teacher.  queered (cool + weird)

corny quirky suburban white kid

So I was web-world browsing and came across Asher Roth's name, which reminded me that he had an album out there that I hadn't yet explored. I jammed to "I Love College" a while back [side note::check the legit remix to this song by an up-and-comer from Boston, Sam Adams], but was just now able to thoroughly follow up on Asleep in the Bread Aisle. And boi, am I glad that I did.


I really love all twelve tracks -- I wouldn't even feel right stating favorites, they're all all-that. Oh, fine - "As I Em," "She Don't Wanna Man," and "Fallin" - yummy. His smooth voice and chill rhythms provide a completely satisfying musical moment. Plus, touches of Cee-lo and Busta Rhymes render the album indestructible.

The self-proclaimed "corny quirky suburban white kid" released two mixtapes previous to this album - Believe the Hype in 2006 and The Greenhouse Effect in 2008 - both of which got him attention. Until hearing Jay Z's "Hard Knock Life" Annie sample (!!!) and falling in love with hip hop, Asher was jamming to Oasis and Dave Matthews. His unique chemin to the music is understood through his simple but highly-politicized lyrics.

When it comes to his industry, he says he is "a fan first." Well Mr. Roth, same here, glad you're there with us.

$

Don't you just hate it when you find out about something uber special after it happened, and thus you are unable to be a part of its specialness? Exhibit A:

This past Sunday, Ke$ha was live at Queen, a club on the Champs Elysee in Paris. Although a tad shamed by my love for Ke$ha --- pronounced like the beginning of ketchup but then with a 'shaa' at the end instead of a 'tchup,' ya dig? --- I can't deny that she intrigues me. I've listened to the tracks of her debut album Animal, and honestly I'm not supper impressed - although I love jamming to "TiK ToK" and "Dinosaur" makes me giggle. But I just dig her style.


The dollar sign did throw me off at first, but it turns out she put it there out of irony in that she's the female voice of Flo Rida's "Right Round" and got zero cash for it. From her family's appearance on The Simple Life in 2005, to her dumpster-diving episodes, to her tours with Calvin Harris(!) and Mickey Avalon (!!!), I just think she's cool.

Some have premonitioned that Ke$ha is going to be the new Lady Gaga, after she topped Gaga's 10, 859 weekly radio airplay record by a few hundred plays, but I don't think they flow in the same stream. While Lady Gaga aims to be revolutionary and break barriers (which she is doing quite fabulously with), Ke$ha's chillin and just not giving a fuck.

I look forward to see what she gets into next.

thank you metropolitan

Although taking the Metro isn't always exhilarating, it does have value: Music.

As you rush through the underground tunnel, not only do you have the opportunity, every once and a while, to spot local not-known-as-of-yet artists just jamming , but you also get to peek at the mega advertisements and get a sample of all of the upcoming concerts and album releases. One of the first times I took the Metro during this séjours I caught a glance of a Wax Tailor poster. First introduced to me by one of my frenchie cousins, this dude is crazy. He just released his third album 'In the Mood for Life' (tru dat), following his first two masterpieces 'Tales of the Forgotten Melodies' (2005) and 'Hope & Sorrow' (2007).

Dude buddy is mega touring and will be in the US of A in October, do try and catch him.
Check him on waxtailor.com

I have been playing the eff out of his music video "Say Yes" featuring ASM. For your sake, give it a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRz-_u2tN0c

Ciao Amis.