I'm only posting this because it's local… and I'm just doing what I can to support the local community!

"On and On"
Artist: Famoe
Featuring: Makio (From MTV's Making the Band Season 4)
Production Company: SureFire Music
Location: Northern Massachusetts
Year: 2009
Label: SureFire Music Group
Myspace: www.myspace.com/thisisfamoe
Website: http://www.famoe-music.com/

This is an exclusive video (from the good folks at the Secret Society Club) of Kid Cudi and Henok Achido doing their thangs in Sweden at the Hultsfredfestival. Now, I know that I've mentioned millions of times that Henok is one of the best rappers… out, but now I feel the need to re-emphasize that fact and remind everyone one more time that this guy is going to become a global hip-hop icon when it's all said and done.
The people that follow Henok, that go to his shows and buy his music are fans of him for one reason and one reason only… because he's a good rapper. Not because he's rapping on trendy instrumentals, not because of his sneakers, or his borough… they just want to hear him rap… because he's clearly a good rapper. Nothing more nothing less. He's not following himself around with a camera, he's not walking around in shutter shades, he's not wearing the ball-gripping skinny jeans. His female fans aren't daydreaming about his image, they just wanna hear him rap. His male fans aren't envious of his clothing, they just wanna hear him rap. Most of today's new 2009 and 2010 acts are entertainers, they're not just rappers. They sing, they dance, they hop around on stage, they post funny youtube videos; they entertain people. They have little gimmicks; their clothes, their looks, their videos, their blogs, their sneakers, their dj's. Henok just raps, and that's it. They're aren't a lot of new rappers like that. Ghetts from the UK is one of them, but that’s really it. No matter how much you cut and slice it, Henok Achido is the real deal. No if, ands, or skinny jeans about it.

I labeled this as "Funny Video", because it's clearly a "funny video". A funny video with a great beat and some good lyrics, but overall, A FUNNY VIDEO! If you're not familiar with NGP, they're one of the hardest working hip-hop quartets in New York City. They're known for their unique sense of humor and their mascot which is a big yellow chicken. They're managed by Robert A. Celestin of RACLawFirm.com under his Intelligent Music Entertainment company. There's nothing really more to say, the video speaks for itself! Check out the details below for more info:

"Took Your Girl"
Artist: No Good People (NGP)
Manager: Robert A. Celestin
Producer: Concept
Director: Pumatrax aka Joe Puma
Location: New York City
Label: Intelligent Music Entertainment
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nogoodpeople
Twitter: http://twitter.com/nogoodpeople

I remember when all the hip-hop websites were featuring Charles Hamilton, calling him the next big thing in hip-hop, and praising his lyrical skill and delivery. What happened?

After a few media incidents, a lot of his die-hard fans have jumped on the "I hate Charles Hamilton" bandwagon.

I think a lot of people are forgetting that Charles Hamilton is linked to one of the strongest hip-hop management teams in New York City, and he's still signed to one of the most profitable record labels in the world. His career is far from over. His lyrical skill hasn't changed, if he was good in 2008 then he's still good now. So what, he got publicly embarrassed. I'm sure you've been embarrassed at one time in your life. Everyone makes mistakes. His public affairs have nothing to do with his lyrical skill.

Where are all the Charles Hamilton Fans?

Let's get into this one, new music from Million Stylez of Sweden. This is a brand spanking video released about 9 hours ago, thanks to Universal Music in Sweden. The video for Million Stylez new single, titled "Love We Deal With", is directed by David Dawoodi, who is best known for his unique advertising spots for Adidas, Playstation, Budweiser and Lexus. This video, which looks like it was filmed on a moderately low budget, contains many great shots with numerous camera angles that showcase the musicians doing a live performance in an empty concrete building. Overall, it's a great video shot by one of the most creative directors in Sweden.

"Love We Deal With"
Artist: Million Stylez
Director: David Dawoodi
Country: Sweden
Year: 2009
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/millionstylezonline
Label: Adonai Music/Universal Music Sweden
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQEuoTC1En8&feature=channel_page

As much as I hate to say it, Asher Roth is still a one hit wonder. This shouldn't come as a surprise… "Asleep In the Bread Aisle" was reviewed as one of the worst rap albums of 2009 (according to Pitchfork Media) and with the exception of XXL (who gave Asher Roth an overly inflated album review), every major music critic rated "Asleep In the Bread Aisle" between 2 and 3 stars… out of 5. This is not a good sign for any new artist, especially Asher Roth who was initially given all the resources that he needed to create a timeless album. "I Love College" went platinum after 12 weeks, an incredible accomplishment for a new artist. It's just too bad that the millions of "I Love College" purchasers didn't go out and buy his full length album or his second single.

Lets look at the numbers. According to Soundscan reports, 10% of the people that are purchasing "I Love College", are also buying his debut album. "Be By Myself", his second single, features Cee-Lo of the duo Gnarles Barkley. Even though the song carries a Gnarles Barkley style of rhythm, the millions of Cee-lo fans, that always support his music, completely ignored this collaboration effort. If a record with Cee-Lo can't help a mainstream artist break into the Billboard Top 100, then there's something terribly wrong. The third single, "She Don’t Wanna Man", is currently being shipped out to major radio stations worldwide. It features platinum selling singer Keri Hilson, who, as of last week, currently has a top five smash hit with Kanye West called "Knocks You Down". Now, if Keri Hilson fails to boost an artist into the Billboard Top 50, Top 100, or Top anything, then something is "seriously" wrong.

Asher Roth, as of today, fits the mold of 90's era one hit wonders like: Lou Bega, The Brian Setzer Orchestra and Los del Río. He joins those artists by having that one timeless song that's going to be played at parties for the next 50 years. He, like many other one hit wonders, has a song that works in only one setting; a song that can sound out of place if it's played anywhere else.

Now, being a one hit wonder isn't a bad thing, it's actually extremely difficult to become a one hit wonder in today's music climate. One hit wonders have to create a great song, a timeless song, a song that is so big that it overpowers and outsells it's album by a massive percentage.

"I Love College" is a sheer musical accomplishment. It's very difficult for a brand new artist to go platinum off of their debut single in less than three months. It simply doesn't happen to most rappers in 2000's era. So one-hit wonder or not, Asher Roth, and SRC Records have accomplished an amazing feat and deserve all the credit and respect for making music history out of a debut single. The lingering question will be… Is SRC Records more concerned with milking every last penny from "I Love College" than they are in promoting his other great singles from his debut album.

Today, Asher Roth is a one hit wonder, tomorrow… who knows.

Beyonce has just released one of her best videos of 2009, with "Sweet Dreams". This was the first song that was leaked off of the album "I Am… Sasha Fierce", back in March of 2008. After about a year and some change, the video is finally released to the general public. The song was originally met with mixed reviews by many of the international critics that first reviewed it, however, in America it was seen as a potential ground-breaking smash hit. By releasing it in the summer of 2009, Beyonce's "Sweet Dreams" fits perfectly with many of the top singles in the current American mainstream radio rotation including Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow", Jeremih's "Birthday Sex (Dance Mix)", and Lady Gaga's "LoveGame". The timing of this record couldn't have been any better. "Sweet Dreams" is on it's way to become one of the biggest songs of 2009.

Now, the astonishing feat lies with Beyonce releasing six singles from her album "I Am… Sasha Fierce". It's very very rare for any artist in this era to release an album with six hit singles. Beyonce's previous album "B'Day" had a whopping seven singles, something that is absolutely unheard of in popular music. The late Michael Jackson, in his hey day, was creating albums with seven, eight and nine singles; the same goes for Janet Jackson and Bruce Springsteen. But in the 2000's, the era of music downloads, dwindling CD sales, and not to mention… a recession, releasing an album with six or more singles twice in a row is an amazing accomplishment. This album is on pace to sell another 5 million units globally before the year ends.

The video for "Sweet Dreams", is just monumental… there's simply no other way to put it. Beyonce obviously pays homage to other futuristic dance videos that came before it such as Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson's "Scream" video, which is known as the most expensive music video of all time. She was also influenced by the innovative fashion designer Thierry Mugler who recently became the main costume designer for her "I Am…" tour. "Sweet Dreams" is now reinvented with the launch of this new earth-shattering video and the newly released deluxe single is going to be a global success. The CD and digital release date for the United Kingdom is going to be on August 3rd 2009.

"Sweet Dreams"
Artist: Beyonce
Producer: Jim Jonsin and Wayne Wilkins
Writer: Rico Love
Album: I Am… Sasha Fierce
Video Director: Adria Petty
Year: 2009
Country: USA
Label: Columbia
Beyonce's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/beyonce
Adria Petty's Website: http://www.adriapetty.com/

This is J-Son's newest video for his single "My Window" (produced by Addeboy vs. Cliff). The background vocals were sung by Yaiya, a Swedish pop singer who is currently prepping the release of her new song, titled "What's4Dinner", which features Eboi. The video was directed by the animation and stop motion wizard Arvid Tappert. Arvid Tappert has produced video clips for many major companies and he's also won dozens of awards throughout his amazing career.
The stop motion team which worked on the video did a phenomenal job in making seamless transitions during the frame by effects. Stop motion videos can be very difficult to produce, yet Gifford Film managed to make those visualizations very look easy.
The chorus of "My Window", which is sung in a similar fashion of Seal (from his album "System"), is about waking up with and knowing that you can accomplish anything that your mind can manifest. This song contains a valuable message about the importance of staying positive and making all of your dreams come true.
J-Son has a new album titled "Never Half Steppin", which is scheduled to be released during September of 2009.

"My Window"
Artist: J-Son
Featuring: Yaiya
Music Producers: Addeboy vs. Cliff
Director: Arvid Tappert
Production Company: Gifford Film
Cinematographer: Hannes Isaksson
Strop Motion Photographer: Klara G
Set Designer: Anja-Lisa Rudka
Compositing: Sam Brandhild, Robert Eskekarr, Claudio Salas
Album: Never Half Steppin
Release Date: September 2009
Country: Sweden
J-Son's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jsonsb
Label: Same Blood Entertainment
Contact: Thierry@Sameblood.com

Here's a new freestyle from Kano aka one of the best rappers in London. Apparently he found (or made) a looped instrumental of Jay-Z's "Death of the Autotune" and decided to speak his mind about the current state of rap music. In Death of Everything, Kano implies that autotune isn't the only thing that's currently wrong with hip-hop. He makes numerous references to the fact that most new artists rely on paying famous musicians to feature on their songs in order to sell records. This track may go over your head, so listen to it more than once.

Download: Download and Share

"Death of Everything (Death Of Autotune Freestyle)"
Artist: Kano
Original Artist: Jay-Z
Sampled: Janko Nilovic & Dave Sucky – In the Space
First Premiered: BBC Radio 1xtra
Country: UK
Year: 2009
Kano on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/kanorecordings
Label: Bigger Picture Music

Watch Drake's "Best I Ever Had" on TripletimeXL.com

This may be one of the few times you'll hear me mention Drake on this site, unless he continues to work with skilled seasoned video directors like Kanye West (yes I said it). Kanye West needs a lot more credit for his artistic talents, especially when it comes to videos, he never disappoints. I've read a lot of negative reviews on Drake's "Best I Ever Had" video (which was directed by Kanye West) from people that simply aren't Drake fans and that are greatly overlooking the brilliance of this video. You can hate the artist, but, don't hate the video. You can hate the director, but do not hate the video… because the video is amazing. Starting from the opening shot which sets the scene of a high school gym with raining confetti and a basketball team made up of "video models" running in slow motion in a comedic, yet sexy way, which pays homage to the slow motion effects used in the television series Baywatch. Kanye West made the video classy, and humorous throughout the entire way, by including a storyline of a girls basketball team that cares more about looking good for their coach (Drake) then they do about winning. This video is sheer entertainment. It's a creative concept that allows the hired music video models to be utilized as actresses instead of dancing props (like in other rap videos). The fictional school in the clip is named after Drake and it pays a slight homage to the real Drake University. The team that they're playing against are suppose to resemble the multi-championship winning Bishop Ford Academy in Brooklyn, New York, and Kanye West made sure to include multiple shots of the team banners hanging on the wall.
One common complaint from online critics is that the song has nothing to with the video and vice versa. My question is, why should it? Did any Brittany Spears music videos have anything to do with her songs? No. Did any P. Diddy music videos (other than "I'll be missing you") have anything to do with his songs? No. Were all those music videos brilliant… yes (with the exception of a couple flops). It takes a large amount of skill to take a song and make a video piece that is five to ten times bigger than the original song; and Kanye West achieved this feat with this video.

"Best I Ever Had"
Artist: Drake
Director: Kanye West
Setting: Bishop Ford Academy, Brooklyn, NYC
Album: Thank Me Later
Country: Canada/USA
Year: 2009
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thisisdrake
Label: Young Money/Universal
Booking: booking@bryant-management.com