Tag: "Outkast"

Outkast member Big Boi has carved a nice niche for himself with his last two solo efforts, and this Spring he will finally take his eclectic sound on the road with a recently announced US headlining tour.

“We starting it off in my own backyard . . . that’s right up the street,” Big Boi tells Rolling Stone. “They’ll show me love before we get out there in the midst of the world.”

The 45-city run kicks of April 18 in Georgia and will take the MC coast-to-coast (and back again) before wrapping up in Brooklyn, NY on June 20. You can view a complete list of tour dates below.

This outing marks the first tour for Big Boi since the December release of Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors. Fellow Atlanta rapper Killer Mike will be open.

4/18 Athens, GA – Georiga Theater
4/19 Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
4/20 Charlottesville, VA – University of Virginia
4/21 Baltimore, MD – Sound Stage
4/23 Providence, RI – Lupo’s
4/24 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl
4/25 Williamsburg, VA – College of William & Mary
4/26 University Park, PA – Penn State University
4/27 Philadelphia, PA – TLA
4/30 Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue
5/1 Chicago, IL – Vic Theater
5/2 San Francisco, CA – San Francisco State University Continue reading ‘Big Boi Announces Massive US Headlining Tour’

It has been quite a while—6 years in fact—since Andre 3000 has released a full studio album. Outkast‘s 2006 soundtrack for their movie Idlewild, is the last major release by the hip hop/R&B artist. Since then he has only been on featured tracks or his own sporadically released single tracks. This has raised a lot of questions and rumors among his fans, especially as to whether or not there will be an Outkast reunion.

According to Complex.com, Andre 3000 explained  in a Rolling Stone interview just where he stands currently as an artist, and frankly, he is not sure. He says that “things are kind of up in the air with me, and some days, I feel like yeah, I’ll do it. Some days, I feel like, I don’t. I don’t know the future of music right now. I have no idea what I do. I honestly don’t.” Andre also mentioned that he feels a judgmental pressure from fans and critics who are watching his every move in the music world “because I don’t do it much, they analyze every word and before, you could’ve had a shitty verse and people just forgot about it. So it’s different now.”

As for a reunion with Outkast, he simply states that he has tuned out all rumors and expectations because “it makes me mad to read it sometimes,” he says, “I don’t read the Internet.”

Meanwhile, Andre’s former Outkast partner Big Boi is set to release his next solo album, coincidentally named Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors, on December 11th. Hopefully Andre will get back into the swing of things, and perhaps the two will join forces once again, but as of now, that seems unlikely.

If you like Outkast or Andre 3000, check out OurStage artist MIRK.

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Hip Hop Artists Get A Bad Rap

Sometimes, your average, run-of-the-mill hip-hop just won’t cut it. You need some beats and rhymes that are a little…different. This week, OurStage’s own technical liaison Jordan has put together a playlist for all those alternative hip-hop fans out there. Here’s a mix of rappers who are all thinking outside the box, creating odd combinations of sounds and lyrics to form a synthesis of head-bobbing tunes. These unusual rap songs from artists like Outkast, Philadelphia Slick, Gorillaz, and many more are sure to give you a whole new way to look at rap music. Post up, and contemplate the unique stylings of alternative hip-hop.

More like this:

• SoundTrax: Headphones On, World Off
• Soundcheck: Hot Summer Hip-Hop

Vicious Corleone

Before he became Vicious Corleone, Terance Williams was just a kid with a thing for Atlanta rap, who happened to have a dad with a thing for Queen, The Eagles and Journey. You can hear the convergence of those two schools in the rapper’s self-described “Southern rebel music.” Vicious mixes ‘90s hip hop with up-tempo, bass-heavy hooks and rock riffs—an intentional departure from both the dance hits and trap music that rule the Atlanta rap scene. On “Shots Fired (Reload)” snippets of sirens and 8-bit audio come in lashes, whipping up the audience. “M.P.B.” (that’s “Music, Party, Bullshit”) combines scraps of different beats, over which Vicious delivers his manifesto: “We don’t want to be doctors or lawyers / We ain’t Huxtables.” But don’t think that the rapper doesn’t have ambition. In “100 Miles and Running” he sets his sights high, saying, “I’d settle for Kelly Rowland / Ms. Knowles is taken.” Atta boy.

As he prepares to release his sophomore studio album, Take Care, fans and critics continue to speculate whether Drake will top his platinum-selling debut. According to the twenty-five-year-old Young Money superstar, he doesn’t have much to worry about.

Last week, Drake told the L.A. Times, “To be 100% honest … I wasn’t necessarily happy with Thank Me Later. People loved it [but] I just knew what I was capable of with a little more time,” he said. “I’m very confident in Take Care. I definitely made the exact album that I wanted. Will it appear that way to the world? I’m not sure, because its definitely different. It’s not fifteen ‘I’m On Ones’ It’s not  ’She Will’. I’m very happy with Take Care. More so than I’ve ever been with a project.”

The Canadian rapper hopes to showcase his growth as an artist and a person in the nineteen-track album, which includes two bonus songs. With features from Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, The Weeknd, Andre 3000 and Rihanna, among others, Drake said he hoped to create a “consistent” project.

“This album has consistency. You will not hear a piece of music that does not belong,” he said. “The words were really important to me. When you get a young artist and they are on the rise, often the music becomes not what they have going on in their lives or surrounding things, but it starts to lose substance. You can always be like, ‘Man I’m the …’ but I think you have to thread some life in there so there’s something that will last.”

While at times some songs do sound awfully familiar, Take Care does show some lyrical and emotional growth from the young emcee, providing a more introspective, honest look at the inner workings of Aubrey ‘Drake’ Graham. The albums leaked last week, (not bad for such a highly-anticipated project) and hit stores today.

Here, a brief review:

“Crew Love”: One of the more puzzling tracks on the album features The Weeknd, who showcases his strong vocals against Drake’s usual flow.  The beat is a back and forth of slow and fast and doesn’t really pick up until minute two.

Continue reading ‘Soundcheck: Album Review — Drake’s ‘Take Care’’

We hear cover songs all the time. Entire bands exist for the sole purpose of covering the work of another artist or group. Big name musicians perform the music of their fellow artists all the time to pay tribute to the ones who inspired them. And more recently, we’ve seen up-and-coming singers become famous from posting their cover songs on YouTube. Fourteen-year-old Greyson Chance, who has already released his debut album, got his big break from covering Lady Gaga‘s “Paparazzi” at a school event. OurStage’s duo Karmin has received over 40 million views on one of their captivating and unique hip hop covers. Just a couple of weeks ago, they performed at the iHeartRadio festival among artists such as Lady Gaga and Jay-Z. But with so many people recording and performing cover songs, we have to wonder “what makes the good ones stand out?” We’ve found some of our favorite from the Cover Bands Channel to show you!

Karmin

Take, for example, the talented a cappella group called Rockapella, who covered Vampire Weekend‘s hit “A Punk”. The group took a song that is upbeat, fast-paced and performed by a full band, and recreated it with just their voices. Their version is slowed down and focuses on the harmonies created by the members of the group. It sounds more soulful and catches your attention right from the start.

This was a brutal exercise, listening to at least large chunks of every Number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 for the years between 2000 and 2010 (I should have stopped at 2009, but I’m a glutton for punishment). Anyway, in order to avoid repetition, if a song was a Number 1 in more than one year (carried over from a previous year), I only considered it for the first year in which it hit the top spot. I thought I might see some kind of trend in quality of pop music, but no such luck—highs and lows abound throughout.

2000

Best: “Smooth” by Santana featuring Rob Thomas. Rob Thomas tries really hard to wreck this song with his awful singing, but it’s still really catchy. Sorry Rob, but I’ve come from the future to tell you that you’ll have more success offending listeners with your solo record.

Worst: The epic and universal terribleness of “Arms Wide Open” by Creed beats out such dreck as “Everything You Want” by Vertical Horizon and a song called “I Knew I Loved You” by a band that wrote the name “Savage Garden” on a piece of paper, looked at it and said, “Yes. Let’s name our band that. That’s not totally stupid at all.”

Dishonorable mention: “Independent Women Part 1” by Destiny’s Child, for opening the song with a shout out to Charlie’s Angels, the movie in which it is featured, and for kicking off the verse with the lyric, “Question: Tell me what you think about me.” Yeah, that’s not a question, that’s a command. What do I think about you? I think that you’re too pushy and have a tenuous grasp on parts of speech.

Continue reading ‘The EditoriaList: Best And Worst #1 Singles 2000-2010′

Weapons of Audio

Brotherly love has led to some indelible musical acts: The Isley Brothers, Van Halen, Hanson. Then there are those that don’t work out so great (See: Oasis). Weapons of Audio seem to have what it takes to go the distance: ambition, serious chop, and a blood bond. Brothers Jeremy and Floyd Daniels are from the Atlanta scene that gave rise to hip hop innovators like Outkast, Cee Lo Green and Janelle Monae. Their music showcases the same soulful eccentricity that those acts embody, with a killer rock sensibility. “If You Want Me” is a hip-pop juggernaut that’s part Cameo, part Andre 3000 and part Prince. Grinding guitar riffs get the party started, building up to a new wave-soul chorus. It’s dance party seduction wrapped in distortion. “I ain’t gonna stop until I hear you scream,” Jeremy sings on the hook. Give the brother what he wants.