Will.i.am - T.H.E.

Will.i.am's performance of T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever) featuring Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger at the AMA's was nothing less than dope in my book. Like no other performance I'd ever seen before, it held my attention every second of the song. Hopefully you guys enjoy it as much as I did.

New Kingdom

Discovered by Chase Alexander just last summer, New Kingdom is a four member band from Los Angeles. Their incredible sound comes from singer Noah King; Oren Yoel on keys; bass player Joe Rausch; and drummer Evan Turner.
Their music has a feel that most can dig, with lyrics that almost everyone could completely relate to. Infusing rock; pop; funk; and soul into their songs, it's hard to just lump this band into one genre of music. They have been making their way in their career since 2008 playing live shows in California. In making a name for themselves, they have shared a stage with top performers such as B.o.B.; Janelle Monae; and Asher Roth. Earlier this year, they were also featured on MTV's show, The Seven's, highlighting upcoming bands and their music.
In June of 2010 New Kingdom released their first project, entitled "Naked Time". It's a seven track EP, with all seven songs being nothing less than great. They also released their debut video for the first song off of the EP, titled Stepped On The Scene. This video not only portrays their talent, but also the crazy amount of energy they have to help showcase it. In a world where music is not just enough, New Kingdom has the energy that makes you want to hear and see more.

Stepped On The Scene


Stream "Naked Time" to hear all seven tracks if you need to be further convinced.

If I've done my job well enough, go ahead and download "Naked Time" and rock out with your...well, just rock out.

Jared Evan

Chase Alexander put me on Jared Evan, singer/rapper from New York, years ago with his first mixtape "Radio In My Head". Since then he's come out with two more, entitled "Back and Forth" and "unCOVERED". I'm sure most of our viewers haven't heard of him yet, but he's been stirring up a lot of noise since 2008; including opening for Lupe Fiasco, touring with OneRepublic, performing at SXSW music festival, and having his debut single In Love With You featured on HBO's hit show Entourage just a year ago.
A song off of his second mixtape, "Back and Forth", that I immediately liked is Weight of The World, featuring Stat Quo and Roscoe Dash. It has a cool beat, is pretty catchy, and actually quite motivational. But if anyone's like me, I turned you off just by mentioning Roscoe Dash. Although he's still doing that ratchet shouting, I can admit that it's still a pretty decent verse. Enjoy.



If you liked what you've heard, check out his mixtapes at jaredevan.com

Big Boi x The Black Keys: The Brothers of Chico Dusty

I stumbled upon a mash up a while back of The Black Keys album, The Brothers, and Big Boi's latest album, Sir Lucious Left Foot...The Son of Chico Dusty. If you've never heard of The Black Keys, they're a dope rock duo to check out; with 7 albums under their belt, El Camino being their latest as of this year. And if you don't know who Big Boi is, nor heard of his latest album...get out from under that rock. Here's a couple songs off of the tape:

"Go Get Tangerine" (especially a good one for my fellow Jets out there...)



"Afraid of The General" (ignore the video, the song does work)


If you like what you've heard, click the highlighted link to download the mixtape: The Brothers of Chico Dusty. Enjoy.

Red: I Should Tell Your Mama

I was showed this a while back. It's absolutely hilarious yet kind of amazing all at once. The lyrics are funny but this is all him. Hope you enjoy it as much as I first did.

Flint's Finest

Growing up I was real accustomed to the heavy, underground, rough sound of The Dayton Family. Coming out of Flint Michigan. Like most cities today Flint is very impoverished. However there is a rose that grew from the concrete. Jon Connor. In 2009 I attended the African American Festival at Heart Plaza in Detroit. After the festival a street team was handing out CD's. This CD was Jon Connor's "The Calling Pt. 2: The Second Coming." Like most free hand out CD's I usually toss them out. There was something about this CD that made my friends and I pop it in the player. We were blown away by this mans talent. Still to this day one of my favorite tracks is "It's Gonna Come." Just a beautiful track that most people can relate to. After releasing his album "The Salvation," Connor has been getting a lot of buzz. Today on 12/12/2011 he released his new project "Season 2." Hit the link down bottom to enjoy a very talented rapper.



Season 2 (Mixtape)

House Party: Meek Mill Feat. Young Chris

This is my anthem right now. I can play this 24/7. AND THIS IS HOW MY SUPER BOWL PARTY IS GOING TO BE. CRAZY!!!!!

Meek Mill - House Party - Music - More Music Videos

The Best Of November

Best Album of November:

Childish Gambino: Camp



This man has made a classic on his first solo album. Such a great listen. If I had to give a runner up I would of given it to Yelawolf's: Radioactive.

Best Movie:

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas



Best Video Game:

Modern Warfare 3 (Hands Down)



Many hours have been spent on this. With friends home for the holidays... More DUTY SESSIONS!!!

And finally...

Best Mixtape:

Nipsey Hussle: The Marathon Continues



Nothing better than a mixtape that sounds like an album. This project was beautiful, and BANGS in the Candy Painted PT. Go download this mixtape now and support Neighborhood Nip.

Christmas Break

Although it is less than two weeks away from Christmas, I am not feeling the holiday spirit at all. It seems like time sped up to Christmas being right around the corner. Now I don't know about anyone else, but I have important things to do with my money..not including spending it on gifts [unfortunately]. I would love to spend money on those I love so they can have what they want, BUT since that's not going to happen this year, I'm going to enjoy the season the best way I know how: with friends.
If you have good friends, you'll view them as your second family; and considering that it is break, all of your good friends should be home from school, so go see them! Make some fun plans to do what you guys like. Catch a movie; have a drink; go to a club; whatever it is, make sure you make time for your friends this season. You don't need much to have a good time so don't be lazy or uncool, do something fun and enjoy yourself!

A Day I'll Never Forget

Thursday December 1, 2011 Aka. The Day I'll Never Forget. Riding in the car with good friends Michael Scott and Sterling Savariau. Where were we going? We were headed to Chicago for the Watch The Throne Tour with Kanye West & Jay-Z. The 4-5 hour drive there was very easy. Having conversations and rap debates passed the time easily. The hardest part about the trip was getting off the freeway in Chicago... WHAT A MIND FUCK. Besides that, we picked up a friend and headed to the United Center for the concert. Our seats were up high, but who can complain with free tickets to the biggest rap heavyweights in the game. Around 9:30 the lights dimmed down and the crowd went nanners.
The concert opened with H.A.M., a lead single and bonus track off the "Watch The Throne" album.

I finally appreciate this song. I am not going to go over every track they performed... But I should.
My top 3 tracks from each artist would have to be in this order.
HOVA: #3. Big Pimpin'
#2. H To The Izzo
and my #1.

Hell of a performance by that man. H To The Izzo will forever be my favorite HOVA track, but something about this track made it very special. I don't know if it was the elevated platform, the lights, the rapper made out of lasers, or just the quality. Whatever it was he won me over.

Being in Kanye's hometown best believe he tore it down. I have never heard a crowd go so loud for their hometown hero. Although I have also never seen Eminem perform at Comerica Park.
With that being said, here are my top 3 Yeezy songs.
#3. Can't Tell Me Nothing
#2. Diamonds From Sierra Leone... WITH JAY AS A GUEST!!!!
But my #1 was.

After performing this I had chills for the remainder of the show.

Kanye gave a speech and a tribute to his mother, and after performing "Niggas In Paris" 2 times, the show was over.


................

BUT NO ONE LEAVES WITHOUT AN ENCORE!!!!
I would have loved to see Jay come back and perform "Encore" But instead the United Center was turned into the biggest club that i've ever been to, as they performed "Niggas In Paris" another 6 times.


This is something you have to experience for yourself. The idea of this performed 8 times sounds terrible. But each time got more and more and more and more and more and more HYPE.

This show will go down as the best experience of my life. As i tweeted after @ADayDaName "Look... If jesus came back......... I would rather see that watch the throne concert.... In chicago again..best fukkin concert of my life"

And that is the truth. I have been to many great concerts such as... Wale before he was huge, performing with live instruments. KiD CuDi before his first album with a suprise laser show. The Clipse at the Shelter. Meeting Fashawn after performing at the Shelter... And the list goes on. But any word to describe this concert has no effect on how powerful and spectacular it was.

The Weeknd - The Knowing

The Knowing, brought to you by The Weeknd, is featured on his first mixtape, "House of Balloons". This video is very deep, and in my opinion, completely genius. Enjoy and grab both of his mixtapes "House of Balloons" and "Thursday".

This is a powerful song without the visuals, which is why I included the song alone, and then the video (listen first).



For those that understand and/or have a huge like for music, you'll get what I mean when I say there's a different feel to the song when only listening to it, and then listening to it with the visuals.

Styles P. Feat. Rick Ross & Busta Rhymes - Harsh

One of my favorite tracks out right now. Cop Styles album "Master Of Ceremonies" now.

Biggest Scam Ever? (Pt. 1)

SCAM: n. A stratagem for gain; a swindle. To swindle (someone) by means of a trick

College is a scam. There is no way around that being a true statement. We are told from day one: go to school, get good grades, and go to college. By 18, figure out what you want to do with your life and go to a good college that will get you there. Make one of the biggest decisions of your lives, and work towards that for at least the next four years. Now of course, that's not how they tell us. They sell it to us with dreams of being rich; affording expensive things; traveling based on your simple whim...this is what entices us to feel that need to go to college. But, to be fair, it's not only that; it's also because having an education can truly better your life, especially when you have people in your life that never had the chance to go and their lives turned out less than spectacular. So don't get me wrong, school is a blessing that many aren't even afforded, I'm just saying it isn't always the right choice for everyone.

We are never told about the many rich or well-off people who never even finished college, let alone attended one. I imagine it's because if enough people are told and really believe that one can make it without college, no one would go...which would in turn collapse this whole "system" we are made to believe in. But in efforts to not sound flat out crazy, I'll simply say, not going to school CAN be a good thing. Although I feel everyone should at least try, school isn't for everyone, and sometimes making certain people follow that type of structure can ruin the greatness they intended on doing. Millionaires that put off school for their passion, for instance, if they had stayed in school and done what they were "supposed" to do, they would not have the money they have today, and might never have gotten it. We may not have had certain great inventions we know and love today, because someone put off the skills they already had to go to school and have them give them a piece of paper that suddenly makes them qualified.

Biggest Scam Ever? (Pt. 2)

Now I'm not saying that doctors, lawyers, etc. shouldn't have to go to school...of course they do. But, if someone has a natural talent for computer design, going to school can always better them, but does that take away from the genius that was naturally in them? It's very unfortunate that a person can have a set of skills (that they've either taught themselves or was naturally smart enough to pick up on) but cannot start a career because they don't have a diploma, a simple piece of paper saying they are now qualified to do what they could've been doing since the age of 3. The simplest way I can put it to you is an artist, any artist. Some of these rappers, singers, poets have never been taught all of their skill. The ones who could naturally sing beautifully; grabbed a pair of drumsticks and produced a dope sound; picked up a paintbrush and painted an amazing picture. Aspects of a true artist can't be taught, so forcing someone to think school is the ONLY way to their dream is not fair to those people.

After being told for however many years that we "have" to go to school basically to be anyone of importance, we go away to school to have all of our money taken away from us. Tuition; books; meals; gas; the list goes on; we are just hit with tons of fees once we actually go to college. So what I'm basically hearing is: You have to go to school to get a good career, but I'm going to charge you all this money, sort of making it impossible for some to even attend. So you either are assed out and can't go to college = no career or you take out loans to go to college = a good career + loans that you'll be paying back for years after college. If you take out student loans, you generally have to pay these loans back within the first six months of you being out of school. So for those, like me, that's ever thought - I'll take the semester off, work and save money, to better focus on school the next semester I go back - WRONG. When you don't go to school, you'll have to start paying your student loans back. So it's really, you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't. Sink into a bigger whole of debt because of school, or continually stay broke because you have all these loans to pay back. Now, I don't know how anyone else sees it, but the way I see things: if you are telling me I have to do something, I try to do it, and you tell me I have to do it in this certain way with certain terms and stipulations that don't necessarily benefit me, that's a scam.

Dom Kennedy- Locals Only

"Locals Only" can be found on Dom's From the "West Side With Love". The song has one of the chillest beats ever and a set of visuals that has an arsty flair to it. Enjoy!

Chip Tha Ripper- The Entrance

"The Entrance" can be found on Chip's "Gift Raps" mixtape. If you're unfamiliar with Mr. Ripper then please, get acquainted below!

B.o.B. - E.P.I.C. (Every Play Is Crucial)

I Had no idea this was dropping today. Go ahead and download it here at 25 Below. B.o.B. is a very talented artist that I, as well as many others, have been listening to for years. So enjoy the follow up to his previous mixtape "No Genre." Lets hope for an album soon!

AND THERE'S A TRACK WITH EMINEM!!!!!!!

DOWNLOAD HERE

Face Pubes

I'm not sure if you guys have noticed, but the beard has made a huge come back in the last few years. Once reserved for lumberjacks and wilderness experts only, the beard is now appearing on the faces of athletes, rappers, fucking hipsters, and actors. Let's take a look at a few, shall we?

Rappers:
Rick Ross- When you think beards and rap music, Rick Ross is often the first thing to come to mind. Not the originator but definitely helped propel beards to a higher level of prominence! Bawse Beard.

Stalley- Rick Ross's newest signee also rocks a huge beard... I myself think that's what got him signed. Dude's music is nice, but doesn't really fit the MMG sound. Must've been the beard.

Joe Budden- Ladies love Budden. Most think it's because of his raw honesty. I think its the lightweight beard though. Thick enough to assert it's dominance, but not overbearing like those previously mentioned.

Fucking Hipsters:
Fuck Hipsters and their dirty unkempt beards. They bring shame and disgrace to the beard world.

Athletes:
Brian Wilson- If you're not into baseball then you're probably not familiar with the name Brian Wilson. But, if you watch tv you certainly know his beard. Dude is the star of a few commercials. He's appeared in ads for both Taco Bell and NBA 2k12. That beard is black ops.

Actors:
Joaquin Phoenix- Which came first the beard or the crazy? Probably the crazy but the large scary looking beard aint helping. At. All. Y'know its men like him that give beards bad names.


I hope this list has given you a new found respect for the beard! Try putting the razor down for a while growing your own immaculate beard. Could be the best decision you ever make! Well as long as you're not a fucking hipster.

A Change In Music

Over recent years, there has been a prominent rise in White rappers. Now in 2011, it has become less of a joke or uncommon to see one. These artists are also gaining their respect based solely off of their skill, rather than the fact that they are White. As a lover of different sounds and genres of music, it's very pleasing to see artists getting the respect they deserve because they make great music and less because of the color of their skin.
As many of you may have heard of these artists, you should actually take the time out to listen to their music. Yelawolf, who just dropped his first album "Radioactive" under Shady Records; Rittz, who has a dope mixtape out by the name of "White Jesus"; Mac Miller, who so far has the number one album in the country "Blue Slide Park"; Asher Roth, who has a number of mixtapes under his belt as well as an album "Asleep In The Bread Aisle"; and Action Bronson, who's most recent work is his collaborated album with Statik Selektah "Well Done".
I'd like to especially take the time out to tell you about Action Bronson. I'll keep it short and simple for you, though: Dope Rapper. He has a very nice flow, from Queens, New York. He doesn't fall into the common styles of rapping you often hear today, and even has a line in his song Miss Fordham Road (86 87 88) joking about just that. The production on his latest album Well Done was perfect. I got an old school hip hop feel from it, that just puts you in a feel good place. I definitely recommend giving him a few listens and grabbing up his music, you won't be disappointed.
I decided to do this post and highlight some of these artists for the simple fact that some people ignore great music just because of the appearance of these artists. If you've checked out the site before or know me and the team, you know we won't steer you wrong with good music. So open your minds and give these artists a few good listens before passing judgement. Enjoy.

Fuck The Radio

I have been highly pissed lately. My CD player in the Candy Painted PT Cruiser has failed on me so I have been forced to listen to the radio. Sum N a Bitch. Songs I really enjoy from albums... I absolutely hate now. There is no need to play the same song on 4 stations 8 times each in an hour.

The radio's daily rotation is one of the most god awful things I have ever heard.

I used to love the song "Ni**** In Paris" by Jay & Ye... Cant fukkin stand it now. I think it was once a good song. Hearing it played fast, 7 times in 30 minutes, etc. This song is ass now.

Every time I seem to turn on the radio "Marvin Gaye & Chardonnay" by Big Sean is wailing in my ear drum. I cant stand to listen to anything after that.

Not a minute goes by where they wont play "Someone Like You" by Adele. I think the girl is very talented. That talent seems to go away after hearing this track 50 times in a day.

One song from a while ago I still cannot listen to is "Roses" and "Hey Ya" by Outkast. One of my favorite groups of all time, made 2 excellent songs that almost lost all meaning to me.

I understand now why the generation a few years older than me say the 90's were the glory days. They explain how you would hear a song maybe 2 times in one day, not 40. This is the generation these days though. These little teenie boppers love hearing the same shit over and over claiming its "their song." Does this not get old to them?

The 25 Crew

Because I am such a prick, love 1up'ing people, and prooving a point, I just did a little tally of who contributes most to this site. Between myself, Fred, and the creator Chase Alexander... The #3 spot for contributions goes toooooooo.....

#3 CHASE ALEXANDER with 15 total posts since the site has been created.

And the runner up to the top prize coming in at

#2 FRED with 23 posts.

Well well well that leaves yours truly.

#1 contributor to 25below is

A DAY DA NAME. YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY this is now my 24th post, barely passing Fred. Great run competitors. Who will take home the 25below ICE TROPHY NEXT YEAR.....?

2011: A Year For Music Pt. 2

Back in March I did a post about anticipated projects. Some came out and were phenomenal, others were very disappointing, or some anticipated projects didn't even drop (Ahem: Muscle Car Chronicles). Well with a month left there are some projects coming out im sure people are waiting to listen to.

November 29:

Jet World Order: Curren$y

December 13:

In Non We Trust Ep: Crooked I
Rejuvination: Juvenile
Mac & Devin Go To High School: Snoo Dogg & Wiz Khalifa

December 20:

The Dreamer, The Believer: Common
Careless World: Rise Of The Last King: Tyga
Thug Motivation 103: Hustlerz Ambition: Young Jeezy


AND MY MOST ANTICIAPTED... THAT I DIDN'T MENTION TO TO A SPECIAL SUB POST IS.....

THE ROOTS: UNDUN



Their 2010 Album How I Got Over, was one of my favorite albums of that year. If it wasn't for the voters (friends) in the year end countdown I would of gladly put this album at #1. There is nothing better than live instruments, great lyrics and rhymes on an album. This should be a well crafted follow up

Be Knowledgeable

Almost everyone has heard the phrase, "We fear what we don't know." That is pretty much a basis of human nature. At times, it may not even necessarily be fear; it's the fact that if we don't understand it we don't feel that it is important enough to try to understand it. Either way, you should try to learn what you don't know.
There are so many advantages of learning new things, whether it's someone else's reasoning behind an opinion or just a skill. Many people say they don't like something simply because they don't understand it. You will truly never know what you don't like if you don't give an honest effort. You never know what could come up where you'll have the skill or knowledge to help out because you took the time to learn something new.
So try your hardest to step out of your comfort zone; keep a clear, open mind; and do/learn something new. You never know, you just may gain a new interest.

What's Real?

REAL: Being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verifiable existence.
Synonyms: actual - true - genuine - veritable - virtual - factual

Nowadays, many people hate on music and artists for being too soft. A question to ask if you find yourself saying this is, "Is this real music?" Of course, we all have our own opinions and often times, very different. But before saying an artist or their music sucks, make sure you're not shooting down real music. Just because it may be "soft"--or most of the time something you can't connect to--does not make it any less real to those who do connect to it. Just because you may not connect with the music because it's not your cup of tea doesn't mean that the artist sucks and doesn't make real music. No matter who denies it, any given emotion is something every person in this world will go through on some level at some point in their lives. So how is it right to call certain music that you may not connect with yet soft, yet music that you may never in your life connect with (gangs, murdering, having sex with tons and tons of girls) is a completely acceptable choice of music?
As a lover of music, I like and listen to music that I can connect with to a certain extent. In these times, if a man raps about drugs and sex, he is widely accepted; even if you're a nerdy white kid from the suburbs that clearly does neither. Yet, if a man raps about how he has been heartbroken or played by so many women, it is still seen as soft by that same kid who always gets shut down and knows first hand what that artist is talking about.
When and why did it become so wrong for a male rap artist to honestly share how he feels? Would you rather said artist rap about a fictional life that he's only heard others live? As an adult, does it really make sense to say a man is any less of one because he is honest about how he feels, in a not-so-unmanly way? And most of all, how is it not soft or unmanly for a male artist to sing about these same "soft" topics? I would think, if anything, it would be less manly for a man to 1) sing and 2) sing about how he feels. Now don't get me wrong, I love R&B, male and female, but if sharing how you truly feel and what's true to you is an unmanly thing to do, why is it solely seen as wrong by male rappers?
Hating on an artist for showing their real self is quite an unreal thing to do; and in this day and age when everyone is quick to call someone else fake, the next time you hear a male artist rap talk about a woman he wanted but couldn't have, think about how real it is to their life and how much it honestly may connect to yours.

Are You Living Your Life?

How many people wake up and are truly happy to go to a tedious job or school everyday? You get up; get ready; head out; to go to a place where you do the same, exact thing everyday. Are you even doing something that makes you happy? Something that can help others? Are you getting something tangible out of it? Or are you just doing what you "have" to do...that you've basically been told you have to do all of your life?
When you think about it, life is one big box that most of us are put into. The box is the "standard" to how we live our lives: go to school; graduate high school; go to college; get a ["good"] degree; start your career; marry someone; have kids; put them into the same box; and support them until they can support themselves. Now, with all of that being said, I'm sure you can imagine the type of people that automatically get the opportunity to be outside of the box.
For most, this is not an ideal life. What person wants to live such a structured, monotonous life where they have no control in the bigger picture? Yes, you can control which career you go into; who you marry; when you have kids, but essentially, you do this because it is what you know you are "suppose" to do. Let's take a step back and look at our school structure. Unless you go to a special school, you will learn what "they" want you to learn. You get the same, typical education that everyone else gets...but are you like everyone else? You know when you graduate high school the next step is college. You're "prepared" for this your whole life, but are you really prepared to make the huge decision of what you want to focus on in college, to do for the rest of your life, at the young age of 18? You go to college for at least four years and you basically do the same thing just about everyday. You graduate, [hopefully] get into the career field of your choice, and work until you're stable enough to create a family. Now outside of the given nights out with your friends; birthdays; vacations, have you ever really had time to yourself to figure out what it is that you really want to do with your life? Outside of any other influences--not because of how financially set you will be or because it's what someone has, in a way, forced upon you, but because you 100% made the decision to do what you are doing with your life thus far, were you the one that made the decisions to get you where you are today?
Not to lessen your life and accomplishments thus far, but often times we accept being in this box because it is simply the norm. And deep down, many people have the urge; the drive; the passion to do so much more with themselves but suppress that feeling because it strays away from what we're "suppose" to do.
It sometimes can be the simple decision to pick up a pen and write down your thoughts to start a book; you may not do it because of the fear that it is not what you are "suppose" to be doing. As simple as it sounds, and truly is, many of us fear to do what we truly want to do because we are afraid of what it will effect. Those fears come in different ways, though. You may not see it as fear, but that's all that it is from stopping you from living outside of the box. The fear can come off as a fear of success: What if what you want to quit your 9-5 for really becomes a success for you? Are you ready for that to happen? The fear can come off as a fear of failure: What if what you want to quit your 9-5 for actually fails? What will you be able to do then? Sometimes that fear manifests in you as a feeling of it being wrong: You may crave wanting to live outside of the box, but you fear that you won't be accepted the way you should be if you try to do so. Most of us don't tell anyone that we feel as though we are living inside of this box; when we get the feeling and urge to live outside of it, we feel like it's not that big of a deal, it'll pass, and that we can just keep living the "standardized" life that we are used to.
When you have that passion and drive for something other than what you are doing with your life, it's time to answer your calling and fulfill your purpose. Don't fight the feeling that you have because you may be the next great thing outside of the box. All great people that you may look up to made the decision to step and stay outside of the box. Life is obviously not promised and is way too short for us to not live the way we want to live. Don't be afraid to try to step out of the box, let alone fear feeling that way. When it gets down to it, you know who you are better than anyway else ever will so you should never let anyone tell you to stay inside of a box that doesn't fit you. Live your life the way you want, and however you can.