It seems to become a regular thing. Azealia Banks freestyles over a beat that ain’t hers, gets called back and then throws a tantrum. Earlier, Dutch producer Munchi found out about her view on copyright, but even more her inability to discuss it calmly. New victim? Youtube-made superstar Baauer.
Yesterday Azealia Banks released a freestyle on a track of Baauer, which blew up thanks to the brilliant Youtube-meme The Harlem Shake, named after and featuring his track with the same title. At this time there are probably more people that know the shake than people that know Azealia Banks. So, in this case, it’s not so much a case of using less famous tracks to gain credit yourself (as was the Munchi-case), though Baauer decided to let Azealia’s video be takendown.
In consequence, not seeming to have learnt from earlier beefs, Azealia goes all out against Baauer and some of her earlier victims. To her those guys are “pussies” who “don’t belong in hip-hop”. Not even for a moment she seems to realize that without those pussies, she wouldn’t even have a beat to rap on.
Azealia Banks always gives the boys something new to talk about.
“This is my studio, this is my parking spot.” Are supposedly the words that started a fight between Chris Brown and Frank Ocean. ‘A Huge Fight’ if you were to believe TMZ’s headline, but it turned out to be just a little brawl.
got jumped by chris and a couple guys. lol. i only wish everest was there.
It happened at a LA Studio, apparently used by both Brown and Ocean. As ego’s collided, one of Frank Ocean’s gang would have attacked one of Chris’ and it escalated to a bit of spruce. There’s no footage until now, so you can’t really be sure who started it. However, both Chris Brown himself and Frank’s Odd Future crew are not completely strange to fighting. A brawl was bound to happen. Though, it is notable that there is apparently some kind of competition between Chris Brown and Frank Ocean. As it is not likely that this competition is enacted on musical grounds it’s probably just a collision of ego’s. In that context this isn’t that interesting, it’s just a suitable event for gossip sites to gain visitors with spectacular headlining.
cut my finger now I can’t play w two hands at the grammys.
I like to see though Frank Ocean’s playing it down just like me, joking on Twitter. We don’t want brawls, we want his Grammy-performance. And a new album please.
2013 is great already in terms of former heroes returning to the scene. After Destiny’s Child’s new track, Justin Timberlake also announced a new album and released a new track. Seems like JT is finally done with acting and gets back to what he does best: making music.
Rumors started January 10th, as Timberlake tweeted that date with no further notice. It turned out to be a video-teaser for his new track. As the track was released on Monday, everyone had an opinion. It became a big buzz, to which Justin Timberlake himself made a big contribution on Facebook too.
Everyone under 15 thinks Justin Timberlake is an okay actor who’s now trying to sing.
Opinions on Suit & Tie weren’t unanimously positive however. What was the problem? Did JT set the expectations too high with his teaser video, or did everyone expect something better from him after waiting for so long? Is it just publicity for the new MySpace? Suit & Tie didn’t get everybody going and I have to admit I’m still not blown away by it.
the timberlake song is ridiculously good i don’t know what crazy pills the internet is taking.
However all that, I’m really happy to see the lost son Justin returning to music. The single is #1 on iTunes and already on its way to become the best-selling single ever. Noting how stoked Justin Timberlake is about it himself I can only assume the album will be great too.
Solange spoke out last Saturday, but it wasn’t her warm singing voice we heard. On Twitter, she had some critique on cultural tourism in music-blogging. Her point may seem crystal clear and waterproof, but there are some side notes to be made in my opinion.
Some of these music blogs could actually benefit from hiring people who REALLY understand the culture of R&B to write about R&B.
Alright, fair point, can’t disagree, but isn’t this a bit obvious? Everybody would want the right people on the right spot, right? Also, she’s rejecting critics solely on arguments of authority, stating that they, in contrast to herself, don’t understand the culture of R&B. Does Solange determine what the culture of R&B is purely because she’s an artist in that genre? Fair enough, she’s probably more literate in the culture. But from this point of view, a music blogger could just reject her critique by stating that she isn’t very proficient in blogging.
And that wasn’t a rant.It was an observation and a request.
On the other side, I think it’s a good thing that an artist speaks out the way Solange did. Of course, music blogs should use Solange’s ‘request’ any way they like in the same way artists should use critiques any way they like, but I believe a music-environment with mutual feedback can be good for all parties. The first fruit of this is a fact already.
A week ago Bruno Mars’ second album was released. The album became the fastest selling solo album of 2012, and quickly received lots of acclaim, positive and negative. A.V. Club rated it a C+, the Guardian was a little bit more lenient and granted it three stars. During all critiques though, nobody questioned Mars’s professionalism, except for one artist.
Two days after the release of ‘Unorthodox Jukebox’, French producer Breakbot openly questioned the originality of one of Bruno’s new songs, Treasure, which, according to him, has much resemblance with one of his own songs: Baby I’m Yours of his ‘By Your Side’ album. Breakbot isn’t making a big fuzz (yet), but is clearly expecting a reaction.
@brunomars “treasure” is a pretty nice song, but it REMINDS ME OF SOMETHING
Comparing both songs it’s clear what Breakbot’s getting at. The refrains sound pretty similar, but the rest of the song is just different. Also, it’s not like Bruno stole Breakbot’s brilliant melody. Disco’s just winning terrain in pop-music and Mars’ Treasure is a consequence of that. Maybe that’s why Bruno Mars decided not to answer the French DJ, or is it because his Twitter-account is obviously run by his management? Considering all this, it might be better that Breakbot isn’t making the resemblance bigger than just a tweet (yet).
Do you want to compare the two songs yourself? Check them both here:
