I don’t know how to explain what Usher has been doing but I really don’t like it. He went from songs like “Confessions” and “Caught Up” to “Yeah” and “Love in This Club”, but I really hate the songs he has released lately, especially almost every song off his latest album, Raymond v Raymond. Maybe my expectations were raised after “Love in this Club” was released but seriously Usher, can you get back to using your great vocals and smoothness rather than songs like “OMG” and “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)”.

Below is a song which leaked today called “Hot Toddy” (I know it sounds like another over played song like “OMG”) which features my favorite rapper, Jay-Z and I think is better than the Usher songs currently getting overplayed on the radio. As a bonus track I uploaded “Red Light” an underrated song off his Confessions album as a bonus track.

Update: If the track can’t be played off the blog, then just click the song’s title.

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fdontstopthedope%2Fusher-feat-jay-z-ester-dean-hot-toddy-cdq  Usher feat. Jay-Z & Ester Dean – Hot Toddy (CDQ) by dontstopthedope
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbeforethebigs%2Fusher-red-light  Usher – Red Light by BeforeTheBigs
ENJOY!

Tags: Confessions, Ester Dean, Hot Toddy, Jay-Z, Raymond v Raymond, Usher

This song has been around for a few months now, but the music video is funny and the beats are really catchy.

Download

These two rappers are big pot smokers, displayed by many of their songs including this one.

Tags: Cleveland, Kid Cudi, Los Angeles, smoking weed, snoop dogg, stoners, that tree

So we know this is an old track as Fresh Espresso’s debut album Glamour came out in 2009, but I think this is an awesome song that you need to hear and I included another song we posted when we talked a few weeks ago on The Birth of Seattle Hip-Hop, which is also a great song, maybe even better. Listen to the instrumentals more than the vocals and rapping.
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbeforethebigs%2Ffresh-espresso-04-vader-of-the-rap-game  Fresh Espresso – 04-vader-of-the-rap-game by BeforeTheBigs
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Ffreshespresso%2Fdiamond-pistols  DIAMOND PISTOLS by FreshEspresso

ENJOY!

Tags: Fresh Espresso, retro-futuristic, Seattle

So we haven’t posted a ton of mashups on this blog but I thought I would give you a few that I heard lately that I like a lot and really want you to enjoy!
Below are three mashups, two of them reminding me of why I love summer and the last by DJ Slink mashing up two of my favorite artists who are really going to blow up soon: Vampire Weekend and Kid Cudi.

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fstevenstennis%2Fbasic-physics-stuntin-with-a-milli-lil-wayne-phoenix-pretty-lights  Basic Physics -Stuntin with a Milli (Lil Wayne & Phoenix & Pretty Lights) by StevensTennis
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fgidiculture%2Fnotorious-b-i-g-back-to-cali-gurls-katy-perry-remix  Notorious B.I.G – Back To Cali Gurls (Katy Perry Remix) by GidiCulture
*Update: Katy Perry’s people removed above song from Soundcloud. Sorry

http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fandreconcourd%2Fdj-slink-vampire-weekend-vs-cudi  DJ Slink – Vampire Weekend VS. Cudi by andreconcourd

Which song do you like the most?

Tags: Basic Physics, Biggie, DJ Slink, Katy Perry, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Notorious B.I.G., Phoenix, pretty lights, Vampire Weekend

This song recently came out if you pre-ordered Mike Posner’s debut album 31 Minutes To Takeoff which is set to release August 10th. I cannot tell you how excited we are for the rest of this album, but for now enjoy Posner’s second single off his debut album.
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbeforethebigs%2Fmike-posner-please-dont-go  Mike Posner Please Don’t Go by BeforeTheBigs
ENJOY and leave comments!

Tags: 31 Minutes to Takeoff, august, august 10th, Benny Blanco, Blue Devils, Coach K, debut album, Duke, Duke University, Hip-Pop, JJ Reddick outside shooting, Mike Posner, Nolan Smith, Please Don\'t Go

Did you know RAAAAAAAANDY, Aziz Ansari’s character from the film Funny People is coming out with a mixtape, working with Dave Sitek (guitarist of TV on the Radio). Well it should be a funny comedy mixtape and if it’s as good as The Lonely Island’s comedy album, then I would be satisfied since that album was hilarious. Here’s a very funny video about the mixtape and below is a song RAAAAAAAANDY put out for the mixtape.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hza_5WtJq8g]
Here’s the website for details on the RANDY Mixtape!
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbeforethebigs%2Fraaaaaaaandy-aaaaaaaangry-with-eight-as  RAAAAAAAANDY – AAAAAAAANGRY (with eight A’s) by BeforeTheBigs
Also Judd Apatow and Aziz Ansari are currently in development to make a movie based off the RAAAAAAAANDY character which we will update you on once we find out more info. Enjoy!

Tags: Aziz Ansari, comedy, Dave Sitek, Funny People, Judd Apatow, Justin Bieber, RANDY Mixtape, The Lonely Island, TV on the Radio

It seems over the last 10 years or so that many successful rappers have begun acting. Common and Ludacris are the most notable ones who have appeared in films such as “Wanted” and “Just Wright” (Common) and “2 Fast 2 Furious” and “Crash” (Ludacris). However, recently many rappers are starting to do the same.

T.I. has appeared alongside Denzel Washington and Common in “American Gangster” (2007) and will star in “Takers” which hits theaters next month. He has also appeared in an episode of Entourage and we will likely seem him in many more feature films in the near future as he has taken his talents from the radio to the big screen.

Scott Mescudi known by many as “Kid Cudi” does not have much acting experience and has only released one album so far. He is currently working on another one which is set to hit stores in September of this year. However, he has experimented with acting a little bit. He has appeared in a handful of episodes as “Domingo Dean” in the popular HBO series “How to Make it in America.” Though his role was not a big one, he proved here that he too can be a successful actor while release platinum albums.

Many other rappers have also had some success in acting. Andre 3000 from Outkast and appear alongside Mark Whalberg in “Four Brothers” and Will Ferrell in “Semi-Pro”, among others. 50 Cent and Eminem have appeared in movies which are based off their rise to music prominence in “Get Rich or Die Tryin” and “8 Mile”.

Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube have also had his fair share of movie appearances and many more rappers in the near future could do the same. With the entertainment industry offering many opportunities to these young artists, there is no question that more will follow what their successors have done.

Tags: 50 Cent, acting, Andre 3000, Common, Denzel Washington, Eminem, entertainment, film, going hollywood, Ice Cube, Kid Cudi, Ludacris, Mark Whalberg, movie, rappers, snoop dogg, T.I., Will Ferrell

Kinetics & One Love is an electronic/hip-hop duo from New York City. Graduates of Cornell University in 2009, Jeremy “Kinetics” Dussolliet and Tim “One Love” Sommers have recently made a huge splash in the music industry after signing with Warner Music Group as songwriters which led to them selling the rights to “Airplanes” to Warners. This helped pave the way for B.o.B’s hit single which we all know and love.

Tags: B.o.B., Cornell, Fading Back to Normal, Hayley Williams, Kinetics and One Love, Original Airplanes

No this isn’t a summer playlist, but we are planning on giving you a 2010 summer greatest hits playlist and the music video below best fits in that playlist because in my opinion this is the best summer song of the year.

Tags: Best Coast, Kid Cudi, summer, Vampire Weekend

Watch out for J. Cole. One this rapper who hails from North Carolina debuts his album, Cole World. J. Cole was born in Germany, then moved to North Carolina then got an academic scholarship to St. John’s University, where he graduated magna cum laude. After he graduated he released his debut mixtape, The Come Up. But it wasn’t until Jay-Z heard the track “Lights Please” off his 2nd mixtape, The Warm Up, that J. Cole became the first artist to sign with Jay’s record label, Roc Nation.

The Warm up is more refined than The Come Up and gives you idea of just how raw yet appealing his rapping skills are on the tracks he is given. Below I attached two of his most recent songs, including one that will be his single for his debut album which comes out later this year. Also you can listen to “Lights Please” one of my favorite tracks by him.

Check out this song which came out this week:
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbeforethebigs%2Fj-cole-premeditated-murder J. Cole – Premeditated Murder by BeforeTheBigs
Check out “Who Dat”, the first single off his debut album Cole World:
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbeforethebigs%2Fj-cole-who-dat J. Cole – Who Dat by BeforeTheBigs
Check out “Lights Please”:
http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fbeforethebigs%2Fj-cole-lights-please J. Cole – Lights Please by BeforeTheBigs
ENJOY!

Tags: Cole World, J. Cole, Jay-Z, Lights Please, North Carolina, Premeditated Murder, Roc Nation, St. John\'s University, The Come Up, The Warm Up, Who Dat