NEW VIDEO: Lloyd "Cupid"

Here is the official video for Lloyds second single "Cupid." The album "King of Hearts" is expected to be released on April 19.

Miguel Covers Brittany Spears' "Hold It Against Me"

Miguel can simply do no wrong in my eyes. Especially when he's covering pop songs and turning them into soul jams! For Billboards "Monday Mashups" Miguel took a crack at the Brittany Spears hit "Hold It Against Me." One word describes this cover "Perfect." He turned this song completely around into something us soul fans can jam too... In the video he talks about what he thinks Britany's reaction will be to his rendition of the song and my guess is that it will be -__- (straight face!) lol

THIS IS A MUST HEAR!!!

NEW Music: Aaries "Cover Girls"

If you happen to be a hard core fan of Musiq Soulchild you should be familiar with soul singing sisters Aaries. Or more specifically you may remember their feature on Musiq's " Settle For My Love" off his now classic debut album Aijuswanasing. Well if you are a fan of Aaries,you will be happy to know that they recently released a new mixtape titled "Cover Girls." The mixtape consists of covers of some new and old music along with the Musiq track "Settle For My Love." My favorite track would have to be their acoustic version of the Emotions song "Don't Ask My Neighbor," I love the twist at the end where they added "Nothing Even Matters" by Lauryn Hill and D'angelo. They also added their rendition of the often covered Chrisette Michelle song "All I Ever Think About Is You." I'm hoping this is leading to a full length album because I'm definitely interested in hearing more from them. Check out a few songs and download the mixtape below.











Download the mixtape here: http://itsaaries.bandcamp.com/

Ryan Leslie "Joan of Arc"

New music hit the net today from R.Les titled "Joan of Arc" off his upcoming 3rd album "Les is More." I love the beat on this song. I'm excited for a new Ryan Leslie album his production is always interesting, in a good way! Check out the song below:


"F the he say she say, the Blame game blasting Kanye on the freeway..."

R.I.P NATE DOGG

West Coast hip hop and R&B legend Nathaniel D. Hale better known as Nate Dogg passed away at age 41 last night (March 15th). He was known for colaborating with many and providing memorable hooks for hip hop artist in the industry such as Dr.Dre, Snoop Dogg, Warren G to name a few. Not to mention being one part of hip hop crews DPG and 213 with Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Daz and Warren G.

So many memories come back to me from listening to his music.I remember being in the 6th grade when Regulators came out and somehow buying the single on tape and listening to it non stop. Nate Dogg was a West Coast hip hop and R&B pioneer and legend and his contributions to west coast music and music period will live on forever...

Dela ft. Blu "What U Wanna"

Producer Dela teams up with Blu for this awesome track "What U Wanna." Love this, can't wait to hear more from Blu...

Bilal ft. Common "Sorrow, Tears and Blood" Unofficial Video

The song Sorrow, Tears, and Blood" is from Bilal's 2006 album, "Love For Sale" which unfortunately leaked and then shelved by his record label. The video consists of footage from an LA performance from Bial and Common...Where was I?!!! This video is awesome, 10 guess as to why I love it so much...lol

NEW MUSIC: J. Cole "Killers"

An unreleased J.Cole track titled "Killers" leaked yesterday. J.Cole tweeted that it was an older track which happen to make it's way to the internet and didnt seem to know how...The song is dope, so I will take it however it comes. ;-)

Still no word on the release of his first studio album...

Check it out..

J. Cole - Killers by Hypetrak

NEW VIDEO: Steph Jones "Southern Love"

Steph Jones released a new video for his song "Southern Love." I really like this song its got a pretty cool vibe.

Check it out:

NEW MUSIC: Musiq Soulchild "Alphabet"

I really love Musiq Soulchild's collection of music and was honestly excited to hear that he had a new album in the works for this year. I realize for an artist of his calliber and being 5 albums in the game it's hard to find your place in today's music scene. Musiq Soulchild is so talented, I'm just hoping he doesn't stray too far away from his successful formula. I feel like true R&B and Soul artist struggle to survive with POP music capitalizing the industry nowadays.I'm thinking with this album he will have to present that wow factor so much to the point that people are saying "Have you heard that new Musiq Soulchild?" in order to make this one a success. I know he flies under the radar most times which is cool, but I know we are all starving for a good soul album from Musiq. I have my fingers crossed that this will be a good one to add to my Musiq Soulchild collection. Well enough of that rant...

Following the release of his first single with Swizz Beatz titled "Anything" Musiq released "Alphabet." I like this song and think it will grow on me over time. The new album, MusiqInTheMagiq is scheduled for release on May 3, 2011.

Check it out:

JoJo covers Jill Scott's "Whenever You're Around"

Any opportunity that I can get to post on Jill Scott and the dope picture above, I'm going to take it! lol. While we all wait (patiently of course) for JoJo to release her 3rd studio project "Jumping Trains" she has cleverly managed to distract us with a mixtape and videos. She recently posted a video of her singing an acapella version of Jill Scott's "Whenever You're Around." Reminding those that don't know, she is a definite force to be reckoned with! While no one can compare to Jill, she definitely does a great version. I love her voice and loved her last two albums, I'm hoping her new project is released sooner than later.

Check out both versions below:

NEW MUSIC:Dom Kennedy- "The Original Dom Kennedy" Mixtape

One year after the release of the successful "From The Westside with Love" mixtape LA's very own Dom Kennedy released a new mixtape last week via his twitter titled "The Original Dom Kennedy." In a recent interview with Complex Magazine Dom Kennedy discusses how the new tape differs from his past work:

"It differs because I never really cared too much. In terms of me as a person, as a figure in rap, as a brand, I always wanted to stand for something. Musically, I never really stood for anything until this moment. I had songs before. I always wanted to have good projects, a good image, and dress nice. But until now, I never really had a sound or wanted to take a stand in terms of how my music was sounding." -(Complex.com)

One of my favortie tracks on the album is "Bet You Want Me (Now)" produced by THC..The production on this song is crazy with great lyrics to match."Don't Tell me you're in love and it's only been a month" lol.This new tape will certainly be one for the summer...

Check out the track and download the mixtape below...





Download the new mixtape here: http://www.dopeitsdom.com/

Kanye West "All of the Lights" REMIX

Kanye West remixes "All of the Lights" with help from Lil Wayne, Big Sean and Drake. With vocals from Rihanna, Kid Cudi and A.Keys who were all on the original version.

Check it...

NEW MUSIC: Jennifer Hudson- "Angel"

Finally, here's a JHud track that I can rock to! A couple of songs have leaked from her album but the most recent "Angel" which was produced by Swizz Beatz and written by Alicia Keys is very solid. The more I listen to this song the more it grows on me. I can also hear A.Keys all over this song, love the vocal arrangement these two put together. Check it out below and let me know what you think...

Angel - Jennifer Hudson by HDMI44

Bilal, Oh how I love thee let me count the ways..

Here is a recent video of Bilal performing at the Shrine in Chicago...I will NEVER get tired of the song "Think It Over" or this man and his voice...

Check it out:

Bilal - Think It Over (Live at The Shrine - Chicago) from Cam Be on Vimeo.

ARTIST TO KNOW: Frank Ocean

Last month 23 year old New Orleans singer Frank Ocean of Hip Hop crew "Odd Future" released a solo mixtape, Nostalgia/Ultra. I heard about the mixtape by way of a conversation on Twitter between the Concreteloop team about how dope the mixtape was so of course I hoped on the site to check it out. Well I was definitely impressed by this album. He kind of reminds me of a cross between Ryan Leslie and Miguel in a way. It's a great mix of pop, alternative and even a bit of R&B/soul. I just downloaded this mixtape and I've already listened to it twice. (As you can see I'm pretty excited about it since I posted on it so quick). I love a good new artist find! It looks like I'm not the only one who loves Frank Ocean's style as he has recently been signed to Island Def Jam! Frank Ocean describes his unique sound/style below:

“My name is Frank Ocean. I grew up in New Orleans. I'm from Odd Future. I wrote Nostalgia/Ultra in spring 2010. I think I have Synesthesia. I feel more like some type of visual artist than a musician when I'm working. I just mean my process is more about imagery. Maybe people wanna call it a certain genre because I'm a black guy singing. I don't really mind. To be honest, I don't think much about it. I categorize it in iTunes as Bluegrass or Death Metal usually. I'm pretty sure I have Synesthesia though. I also wear a Kippah from time to time. I smoke Marijuana for anxiety. Oh, and I used to battle-rap in highschool.”





I thought it was so dope that he sampled Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing" he did such a good version of it and the vocals are amazing! Love, Love the beat and vocal arrangement on "Swim Good" another favorite is the up tempo "Novacane." This song sounds like something that should be on the radio. "American Wedding" is on repeat, the song which uses a sample of the Eagles hit "Hotel California" if nothing else shows his depth and versatility. (Also reminds me of why I love the Eagles so much, with the guitar solo at the end). Although I appreciate the great free music, I feel like this tape should have been released by his label as an album . It would've done great on itunes for sure. Frank Ocean is definitely an artist to know and definitely has the ol "Mpossible stamp of approval." If his label pushes him to the masses I bet he will be well received, especially since he already has a pretty strong cult following due to being a member of Odd Future.

Here are a few of my favorites from the tape:










Download Nostalgia, Ultra here:
http://oddfuture.tumblr.com/post/3364680732/frank-ocean-just-released-his-album-nostalgia

Follow him @frank_ocean

Raphael Saadiq "Stone Rollin" Album preview

Raphael Saadiq recently performed a few songs from his new album "Stone Rollin" during one of his "Saadiq Sessions." I've been trying to get the scoop on this album ever since I heard the impressive track "Good Man." Saadiq mentions in the beginning of the video that its a cross between his "Instant Vintage and "The Way I See it" albums. I feel like that was a great way to keep me interested because if you put those two albums together it would most certainly make one classic project. Sounds like a pretty good start to me but unfortunately we have to wait until May to hear "Stone Rollin" in full... Hopefully this video will hold us over until then.

Emily King "Every Part" (Preview)

Emily King gives us a nearly 2 minute preview of a new song called "Every Part." Although there is no news on her upcoming album, I do appreciate her producing previews of whats to come. Check out the song below, she sounds amazing as usual.

NEW VIDEO: Sara Bareilles "Uncharted"

Sara Bareilles recently released her new video for one of my favs from Kaleidoscope Heart "Uncharted." I love how artist like Pharrell, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Josh Grobin and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland all make hilarious cameo's in the video. Love the concept!


Check it out below:

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Kelly Rowland ft. Lil Wayne "Motivation"

This is what I'm talking about Kelly! I thought for a minute there we lost Kelly completely to pop music, like many other R&B/Pop artist. The new song "Motivation" featuring Lil Wayne is said to be from her upcoming album which currently has no title and no release date. Although I'm sure her upcoming album will have a few pop songs I'm crossing my fingers that she holds on to her old DC3 roots and adds a few R&B tracks as well. I'm also hoping that she will work with Solange on this album because I personally love their collaborations, they make great music together! Check out Kelly's new single Motivation below...