Vizzy Vizzy Vizzy Vizzy

I root for XV. The guy makes really, really good music 85% of the time. Great stuff. And his newest effort even ups the ante as he only has one major miss in the catastrophic "Gettin' Busy". Everything else is great. Even though it never made it onto wax, I did love the fact that he gave my dude brandUn DeShay a winning verse on his "Bruce Lee" contest joint. I've been checking for XV's stuff ever since, even though he had a day-and-a-half squabble with Charles Hamilton. But then again, who hasn't? Vizzy has quite a line-up with him on this one with guest features from Talib Kweli, Mike Posner, Killer Mike, Colin Munroe, GLC, and more plus the production of Seven, Omen, and Woody. That's on some other kind of indie monstrous.

XV - Vizzy Zone

Tracklisting:
1. Theme To Vizzy Zone
2. The Flying V
3. Tunnel Vision
4. Gettin' Bizzy
5. We Zonin'
6. Reset Button (feat. Talib Kweli)
7. Nevermind
8. She Go, I Go (feat. Chiddy Bang)
9. Falling Awake
10. Mirror's Edge (feat. Mike Posner)
11. Vizzy Zone (feat. KiD CuDi)
12. Passport
13. Isn't It Awesome
14. May The Force Be With You (feat. Killer Mike & Mac Miller)
15. Familiar
16. Best Is Yet To Come (feat. Colin Munroe)
17. Ending Credits (Interlude)
18. Talk My S***
19. Mirror's Edge (Remix feat. Bun B, GLC, & Mike Posner)

... and do the John Wall.

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Bull$#!@ing

He's honestly not one of my favorite emcees out, but I can definitely understand what Kanye sees in Big Sean. Sure he's got a completely deadpan delivery and his subject matter can venture on the repetitive side of redundancy, but he can definitely spit and has a penchant for great beat selection and strong hooks. If you mess up on the music side of things when under the executive direction of Ye ... I don't know what to tell ya. Here's Finally Famous, Vol. 3. Just pretend Don Cannon isn't there and that "Supa Dupa Lemonade" isn't that old.

Big Sean - Finally Famous, Vol. 3

Tracklisting:
1. Final Hour
2. Meant To Be
3. What U Doin? (Bull$#!@ing)
4. Money & Sex (feat. Bun B)
5. Five Bucks (5 On It feat. Chip Tha Ripper & Curren$y)
6. High Rise
7. Crazy
8. Home Town
9. Supa Dupa Lemonade
10. My Closet (feat. Sayitainttone)
11. Too Fake (feat. Chiddy)
12. Fuck My Opponent (feat. Tyga)
13. Made (feat. Drake)
14. Ambiguous (feat. Mike Posner)
15. Love Song (feat. Saui)
16. Memories
17. Glenwood (feat. Kanye West)

... and do the John Wall.

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Runnin' on Walls

So my laptop got stolen for a minute. My bad.

Since I've been M.I.A. (no "Paper Planes") for a lil' while, I just wanna throw up a crazy nice collabo joint that you should prolly already have in your collection. If you aren't already a huge fan of one of the dudes on this track, then you don't like anybody. And I don't know about you, but I just really like this song.

XV - Mirror's Edge (Benzi Remix feat. Mike Posner, Bun B, & GLC)

... but do take my word for it.

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Rockstar Posner

Well ish. I did it again.

Mike Posner -

A Matter of Time

Just mentioned him while bigging up Novel and realized I've never posted anything from him. If you downloaded the Wale Feature tape then you caught him anyways and prolly remember his voice. The first track I heard from him was his remake of Soulja Boy's stanky "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" which I really, really liked. But that's to be expected cuz I'm a definite sucker for singers with raspy voices. Macy Gray, anyone? Matter of fact ... Mike kinda sounds just like when my friend Steven does his Macy impression. Hmm. I'mma have to look into that.

So I then retroactively downloaded his recent mixtape that'd been floating around and absolutely loved it. The song that knocked me off my rocker was "Cooler Than Me" with his associate from G.O.O.D. Music, Big Sean. Darn near a perfect song in my book from the crazy catchy production, beautifully written hook, and overall delivery and connectivity through the lyrics. You can count on that being on my "Best Of 2009" list for sure. It's got that kinda staying power from the first spin you give it. And if the tracklisting is to be believed, Poser produced all but one track on the whole thing, so dude's multi-talented beyond his eerily distinctive voice and impressive songwriting. Whenever an R&B singer can distinguish himself from the rest of the industry pack of Mario/Marques Houston/Omarion/Usher clones, then they're definitely someone took look out for. Don't be late on recognizing this man.

Bonus Singles -

Mike Posner - F'ed Up (Love Lockdown Freestyle)

3OH!3 - Don't Trust Me (Benny Blanco Remix feat. KiD CuDi & Mike Posner)

Mike Posner - Kiss Me Thru the Phone (Benzi Remix feat. Izza Kizza)

... but do take my word for it.

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A Novel Mixtape (or Two)

Swear, I always feel like I gotta stamp "LATE" on my forehead when I post certain people's mixtapes. I've been having them on rotation in my iTunes and mentally marked as essential favorites, but I forget to speak out on them. The latest of these instances is the dude Novel. I was just bumping the fire newly leaked (which I will buy!!!) Slaughterhouse album and my favorite song happens to be a auditory sample of perfection called "Rain Drops" which features a monster chorus from ... you guessed it. I'd put Novel right up there with Mike Posner as my favorite newer R&B voices out there. You can pick either's vocal chords out from a mile away. And just because he's been putting in work, here's plenty of Novel fodder if this is your introduction to him.

Novel -

I Am (Future Black President) EP [iTunes link]

808s & Mixtapes

Suspended Animation

Just because he's so smooth and how he slides into crazy nice falsetto runs he brings up comparisons to Dwele and a tiny bit of D'Angelo, but the man finds just as perfect a home on more up tempo tracks and breaks free entirely because of his way better than par mic skills. I guess it's kinda that Trey Songz lane, too, except Novel can for real, for real rap. Or Drake if Drake could really sing. No knock on Trey or Drake, but Novel kills both of them. Badly. The 808s retake is a great nod to a couple Kanye works as well as other select popular tracks he goes over, while creating a much heavier atmosphere on each and every one. Probably my favorite track is his epic remix of "Amazing". It's simply ... well, you guess. Suspended Animation is unequivocally an album quality collection that fully enthralls you in everything Novel is going for as a fully recognized artist. His remixes of KiD CuDi's "Sky Might Fall" and Gary Jules' "Mad World" especially are beautiful renditions that fully stick with you in every sense. If you enjoy it enough, which you will, then cop the less-than-5-dollars EP. Come on ... you can do it. I promise that missing one McDonald's combo ain't gonna hurt you.

... but do take my word for it.

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