"You say you got baggage well i'm packed too, plus I got a sex pistol pointed right at you, bang"
Roc Nation's latest soon to be world wide sensation Rita Ora recently unleashed her debut single, RIP, onto the airwaves and it has not stopped playing since. Most of us had already heard the song in it's original format, written and performed by Drake.
Well it was only a matter of time before both versions were put together. Which is what is done on our Choon of the Week, with the remix also featuring Tinie Tempah's verse as well as some vocals from Drizzy.
"They say I been gone for a hot minute, who put my rolex on the radiator"
When Labrinth signed to Simon Cowell's SiCo imprint, it was obvious big things were to come. Well take this remix to his mammoth track, Earthquake, as a perfect example of what the producer/singer/rapper/songwriter can do.
With his status rising and rising, Labrinth is able to call on the help of the likes of Kano (who had already remixed the track on his Jack Bauer mixtape) and Wretch 32 on the remix.
Surprisingly, we also get a brilliant verse from Busta Rhymes who, in typical fashion, rides the beat like he has been spitting over UK grime/dubstep beats for the whole of his career.
we would be more positive if there wasnt so much heart-ache
"...parents from a different era, they tell you work and go school, but that doesn't help you ball when your up in Merah"
After bigging up the track for many weeks Bashy finally dropped the audio and video of Heart of Stone, the first track released off his upcoming EP The Great Escape.
With features off upcoming stars Lady Leshurr and Black The Ripper, the song also contains another great hook from Dot Rotten, who cannot seem to do much wrong at the moment.
Bashy definitely kills it with his first verse, trading consistent punchlines as always, and is a nice build up to his eagerly anticipated EP.
"Please put away the cameras, cos we just in the club getting MC Hammered"
The Urbanite's Choon of the Week this week is a remix from one of the heaviest tracks off of Young Jeezy's latest mixtape, Thug Motivation Pt 3: Hustlerz Ambition. It seems like Jeezy wasn't satisfied with just having two lyrical masters in Jay Z and Andre 3000 on the original track and he has now raked in the talents of Canada's finest, Drizzy, to lend his support to the chilled out song.
The choon sees Jeezy state his love for the rap game, Jigga his love for the streets, Drake his love for a chick (as always) and Andre 3000 his love for a potential sweetheart.
"damn girl why so much? You bout to blow your cover when you cover up. Don't you know your imperfections is a wonderful blessing, from heaven is where you got it from"
Kendrick Lamar is a bit of a weird artist. You would think that with the Dr Dre affiliation, coupled with the fact that the 24 year old is from Compton, the rapper would continue the tradition of west coast gangsta rappers. What you get from Lamar, however, is something completely different and is exactly what the rap scene today needs - an intelligent rapper that is comfortable talking about the problems with our generation today.
After watching TOWIE this week (yes, The Urbanite is a fan of trash tv, and what?!) one of his songs from his critically acclaimed album Section 80 sprang to mind as scene after scene showed pretty young women with way too much of that stuff on their faces.....
On 'No Make-Up' Lamar sends a simple and important message to the girls of our generation - sometimes, sometimes, less is better.
The west-coast rapper is shaping up, along with A$AP Rocky, to be one artist to watch this year and with Dre behind him it is hard to see how he will be stopped. If you're going to see Drake this year on tour, then make sure you watch out for him as he will be supporting the Canadian rapper.
"Forget chilling in the hood, I'll be in the ocean, I need some space to breath the city's too closed in".
It goes without saying that The Urbanite is a fan of Frank Ocean. Weeks go by when he is practically all we talk about. So when beat-box extraordinaire Faith SFX decided to remix Ocean's iconic single Swim Good, eyebrows were raised.
With the use of no other instrumental other than his own voice, the UK's beatboxing champion creates a medley composed of the Dr Dre produced Nas track Affirmitive Action (off the classic It Was Written album) and Swim Good. Who knew that the beatboxer could sing as well? Vocally the song is on point and is polished off with a great verse from Edmonton - North London resident/rapper, and one-time contact of The Urbanite, Black The Ripper.
The choon has been on repeat for the past few weeks and has already exceeded 79,000 views on YouTube alone.
"more accurately we acted as if jacking was cool, snatching niggas out there shoes then wear their jackets to school"
If there is anyone in rap right now that brings the best out of Nas it is Rick Ross. The pair's recent hook-up, Tower Heist, was an excellent hood-tale that became the only good thing that emerged from the movie of the same title. With the release of his much anticipated solo project Rich Forever, Ross teams up again with the Queensbridge veteran on one of the songs of the mixtape.
Both verses on Triple Beam Dreams are deep and intense. Up first we have Nas sounded like the rapper he was back on Illmatic and It Was Written; crafting a vivid and descriptive story about a drug dealer and the morality that goes behind the art of street hustling.
"How could I sell this poison to my people's in my mind, they dumb to destroy themselves is how I rationalise"
Ross finishes off the Justice League produced banger in typical fashion, mimicking the flow and alliteration that Nas displayed first with devastating effect as he takes shots at anyone who doubts him ("fuck boy you caught up in my dream, counting cream on the cover of a magazine"). It rounds off a neat follow on from Tower Heist and kind of makes you dream of the two making a joint mixtape together (now that would be pure gold).
It goes without saying that Nas destroys the track, and with Ross also on fine form there was only ever going to be one outcome for this song. It's an instant street classic and sets the tone for the new year.
"He don’t care none about no fame, he addicted to the game, some niggas rob, some niggas slang, do whatever to maintain"
This week's choon is slightly old, having featured on DJ Drama's fantastic mixtape Third Power in the middle of last year.
If you haven't heard of Future before, then you definitely will this year. Responsible for a feature on Y.C's massive track Racks on Racks, the Atlanta rapper made some big moves in 2010 with his mixtape True Story.
With his laid back style, akin to Wacka Flocka, and the addictive chorus, this choon is a banger and the official video is sick as well. Other notable tracks to look out for on his mixtape are Tony Montana, which Drake has jumped on for the remix.
"Bet you miss me now baby, I bet you'd kiss me now baby, especially since you know that this ain't nothing and I only just begun"
As soon as The Urbanite saw this tweet on Thursday morning, there was only ever really going to be one artist behind this week's 'Choon of the Week'. The Weeknd has grown from strength to strength this year and it is a measure of his stature that he was able to shut down twitter on both sides of the Atlantic this week with the release of 'Echoes of Silence'.
Like his previous two mixtapes, this one already sounds epic and contains a number of songs that instantly stand out. For obvious reasons the opening track, 'DD', is an instant classic, with the cover of Michael Jackson's 'Dirty Diana' being a trending topic within hours of the album being released. It could quite possibly even be one of the best covers of a Jacko song we'll hear.
But one other song on 'Echoes of Silence' stands out far greater than 'DD', purely due to it's lyrical content.
"So I'ma let you, taste hurt. I ain't washing my sins. I aint washing my sins"
It's been a bit of a slow week for new music this week. 50 Cent has carried on dropping new songs off his new mixtape, 'The Big Ten', a few of which are real bangers and is definitely worth a download. As is Kano's 'Guns Over Girls', which sees the East Londoner back to his usual form and, again, is an album worth downloading.
Other than than, the scene has been a bit quiet this week. Which has made it slightly difficult to choose a 'Choon of the Week'. For this reason, The Urbanite is going to settle on a song that came out in February on one of the hottest mixtapes of the year, but has only had a video made for it now.
Since The Weeknd entered our lives, a number of unofficial videos for various songs off 'House of Balloons' and 'Thursday' have come out, but none of them have been as ludicrously complex and artistic as the video for 'The Knowing'.
Set in Ethiopia in the 1970s, the futuristic video takes us forward to a planet called Ethia X in the year 16311 AD. Without wanting to spoil the video, or write an essay, the basic concepts of the video are about the civil war in Ethiopia in the 70s, which is used as a metaphor for a man's relationship with women. Listen to the lyrics and watch the video carefully, it should make more sense.
And if it doesn't, then read this explanation here.
And if it STILL doesn't make sense, then just enjoy the song. Because it is a choon.
The Urbanite's 'Choon of the Week' has been missing for the past few weeks - blame Drake. Since 'Take Care' was leaked weeks ago it has been a little hard listening to new music. But as soon as word broke that the following track's existence surfaced early last week, it was time to stop listening to Drizzy moaning about relationships and time to go back to listening to music that you want to rave to.
And music that you want to rave to is always what you get with Tinie Tempah. Whilst 'Discovery' was a good album, Tinie's credentials as a certified party starter was only really solidified after he dropped 'Foreign Object' and a few other features, proving to the world that he was not a two-hit wonder.
It says a lot for Tinie's stature that he has the hottest rapper in the game at the moment, J Cole, opening for him on his UK tour and on 'Like It Or Love It', the two tour mates are joined by Wretch 32 to deliver us with a banger.
With bars like that, you kind of wish J Cole had grimy beats like this one on a regular basis. Produced by S-X, the tune is sick and deserves more recognition than being just another tune on a soon free to download mixtape.
"Tell the car to go to aura, funky buddha, whiskey mist or mayfair. I hope I meet some money love, so she can show me love, NYC to UK I might stay there"
This week was a great week for new music. As Drake released the tracklist for his new album, with choons like "Motto" featuring Lil Wayne being one to watch for the future, we were also treated to a BIG cypher from the finest actors in the UK scene (hats off to Channel 4 and Top Boy on that note) and also a crazy freestyle from Justin, yes Justin Bieber (see here). All this without mentioning Professor Green's new album, which is also sick.
But there was only one choon that was going to make this week's 'Choon of the Week'.
When Amy Winehouse sadly passed away, music lost a gem that defined a generation. Rather than care about how she died, The Urbanite's main concern was whether she did a Tupac and left large volumes of unreleased material. With producers like Salaam Remi continuing to work with her even during her most chaotic years, you knew that if she did the choons would be amazing.
"I'm grown, I ain't watching the throne, I'm sabotaging it"
When BET released the videos for their annual cyphers, the Hip Hop world debated for days which team tore down the set. The Maybach Music crew obviously brought pure heat, with Rick Ross and Wale in particular shining. As did Blind Fury (when is he going to blow?!) and Busta Rhymes (as always) in their respective groups.
But as a collective, the award for the best cypher has to go to Team Shady. Featuring the biggest and best new rap group put together, Slaughterhouse, the cypher sees Eminem, Yellawolf and Slaughterhouse drop line after line and metaphor after metaphor.
After putting the whole thing on my ipod this week, I've changed my mind on who killed it the most about six times (one for each rapper). Yellawolf makes a strong case, as does one of my favourite rappers during secondary school, Joe Budden, who has been sorely missed from the rap scene.
But for sheer ingenuity, the award for best verse in the cypher must go to Royce. His "Hi Rihanna" lines got me cracking up, and trended on twitter for quite a while after that as well. He has been the leading light in Slaughterhouse and completely merked the album, which more or less rounds up a great year for the resurrected Detroit rapper.
So even though I am a little late, the Shady 2.0 BET Cypher is The Urbanite's 'Choon the Week'!.
"...wondering what is on your mind, it must be hard to be that fine, when all these motherfuckers wanna waste your time...i'm so proud of you"
To our dismay Drake recently announced via his blog that he was delaying the release of his much anticipated album, 'Take Care', until November. I'll be honest, The Urbanite was pissed. After hearing J Cole and The Game smack it this year with their albums, we were waiting on Drake to come along and blow us away with his new album.
Well, the Canadian rapper has more than made up for this delay with the release of a new track off the album. Featuring everyone's favourite female rapper, Nicki Minaj, the tune sees the Young Money duo doing what they do best: riding an infectious beat and providing us with quotable lines for days.
Make Me Proud' is naturally our 'Choon of the Week', which is some feat considering Nas and Rick Ross dropped a banger earlier on in the week and Kelly Rowland, of X-Factor fame, released her latest single which is bound to be a number one.
If someone had told me a few years ago that I would be hearing Snoop Dogg on a tune with Professor Green, P Money and D Double E I would have told them to stop smoking what Pro Green smokes. But that is what Mistajam premiered this week on his show.
Over a brilliant dubstep beat from True Tiger, Snoop et al goes in hard with some witty and catchy lyrics in a way that only Snoop knows best.
Listen to the tune and tell me you don't want to run around your room shouting "bluku bluku" in true D Double style! And for that reason "Be Like Me" is our 'Choon of the Week'.
"...Music is my first girl but she don't mind when i'm sleeping around"
There was a time when Kano was the finest MC on the UK scene. Remember, back when he dropped P's & Q's in 2004 and quite literally murdered Wiley on Lord of the Mics? His flow was near flawless and he always managed to get hold of the best beats in the game, bringing producers like Davinche and Rapid with him.
Somewhere down the line he fell off and, whether it was a combination of his label failing to back his music evolution (his 4th album, Method to Madness, was very experimental and didn't spawn any mainstream singles) or Kano not working hard enough, the UK scene seemed to pass him by as Tinie Tempah and Dizzee Rascal achieved the success that Kano deserved.
Well, the UK's finest has still been in the game. A few weeks ago he appeared in Orange Hill's latest single, Wine the Best, ft Fatman Scoop and Busy Signal - a tune that is sure to be getting the clubs pumped up for the rest of the year. But this week, however, saw the release of another tune that reminds us just why we rated Kano so highly when we were younger.
Produced by Mikey J, "E.T" is epic. The beat seems to come in all over the place but the ways in which Kano, Wiley, Wretch 32 and Scorcher ride it brings me memories of when grime was underground, edgy, and above all, good.
The only debate remains which verse is the best (at the moment Kano's 2nd is ridiculous and winning but this changes every time i hear Scorcher end his verse). One debate we won't be having is whether this is the 'Choon of the Week'.
"Follow your moves all week on twitter, probably make a gay nigga reconsider"
It's not like The Urbanite to promote the same artist and album week in week out. We pride ourselves on having such an eclectic and wide ranging taste in music that we can promote different artists on here every week.
Well J Cole has just killed that this week with the leak of his debut album, Cole World - The Sideline Story.
Put simply, the album is epic and gives The Game's R.E.D album competition for the title of album of the year. Along with the tunes that you have probably already heard of and love, including 'Who's Dat', 'In the Morning', 'Mr Nice Watch' and 'Lights Please', other notable tracks to look out for include 'Cole World' and 'Nobody's Perfect', featuring the return of Missy Elliot!
So it was a no-brainer that for two weeks running the North Carolina rapper gets the title of 'Choon of the Week'. The most difficult thing to decide this week was which choon off the album received the award!
Ever since he dropped his legendary verse on Jay Z's 'Star is Born', J Cole is someone that The Urbanite has watched closely. Our expectations were raised with the release of his classic mixtape 'Friday Night Lights'. And his performances on tour with Drake last year built him a solid fan base in the UK.
So it goes without saying that I am looking forward to his album, Cole World.
And what an album it is going to be. Lead single 'Just Can't Get Enough' is brilliant (plus it makes me think of Nandos), with Trey Songz providing a perfect chorus. But the latest song leaked off the album, 'Mr Nice Watch', is something else and is this week's 'Choon of the Week'.
With an infectious beat that was produced by Cole himself, the track finds him in serious form. And to top it all off, Jay Z returns the favour from 'Star is Born' with an unsurprisingly flawless verse.
Leading the charge at this year's Mobo's with four nominations, this year has been a great year for Tottenham's finest, Wretch 32. Though his top ten album isn't exactly a classic, it has produced a number one song and some great club tracks like Traktor.
Saying that, one track does stand out and if the wise people at his Ministry of Sound Label use their common sense and release 'Sane's The New Mad' as a single, it will be Wretch's consecutive number one.
Don't believe us? Well it is our 'Choon of the Week', so we don't care!
"I can't see a damm thing. I can't feel, a damn thing"
Could Canada be the new home of rnb? Well that is the question that we've been asking here at The Urbanite as we have spent the past two weeks jamming to the latest mixtape from Canadian crooner and Drake's new best mate The Weeknd.
Although 'Thursday' as a mixtape itself is a treat, there is one song that stands out.
Featuring a great guest rap from Drake, 'The Zone' perfectly sums of the appeal of The Weeknd - soulful voice, great melody and brilliant production.
The Urbanite recommend enjoying The Weeknd and his mixtapes now, because if there is one thing that we know about Canadians with mixtape buzz it is that their albums are not always better than the mixtapes. Just ask Drake himself.
