Introducing: Luke Christpher- The Social Network x Rooftops x The Rescuer

Now a days any highschooler who is somewhat tech savvy and has a little cash can formulate a rap career. But, as much as I enjoy the common weed smoker raps that these kids produce over what ever sample is popular at the time, 17 year old rappers like Luke Christopher are hard to come by. I've been holding on to this kid for a while and am finally going to do him justice by posting him for Straight Goods followers. The first song that intruiged by ears was "The Social Network" which features a unique sample of the classic Radiohead song "Creep". On this track Luke Christopher lyrically takes us through the tumultuous times of being a teen ager as he spits his 17 year old  awesomeness over the dope choir sample. As I began my blogger ways of researching this new found talent I found another gem in "Rooftops" that features none other than Asher Roth. The fact that the kid was able to convince Asher to do a song with him just proves that i'm not the only one that see's the unbelievable potential in Luke Christopher. The piano oriented beat is amazing and both Luke and Asher absolutely kill it. The most recent track from the kid is "The Rescuer" that despite having some Kanye influenced auto-tune also see's the kid spit hard over a crazy beat that I don't even know how to explain. Apparently a full length mix-tape is in the works, which will be available on his site http://www.lukechristophermusic.com/


Luke Christopher- The Social Network

Luke Christopher- Rooftops Featuring Asher Roth

Luke Christopher- The Rescuer

Chiddy Bang - Peanut Butter and Swelly

You know I got one more for ya before I hit my lair for some much needed recovery. Chiddy Bang kind of fell off the radar there for a while, but they've definitely been putting in the work they needed to stay relevant in this industry. Chiddy (the rap side of the duo) recently picked up the Guinness world record for the longest freestyle at 9 hours, 16 minutes, and 22 seconds, (without breaking for more than 3 seconds) and the duo's also been slowly leaking tracks off their latest mixtape, Peanut Butter and Swelly. That tape's scheduled to be released on the Taco Bell facebook page tonight at 10pm, (sellout?). I was going to wait to link that up nice for ya but they're just playing their music off of Ustream right now, so I'll have to edit this later or something to include the real tracks when the link to the download surfaces. You can watch the release on the Ustream as well here, but you have to like the taco bell fb page first, which is lame as.

Here's what I got off that tape so far.

Chiddy Bang - When You've Got Music (Feat. The Knocks)

Chiddy Bang - Guinness Flow

Drake - Take Care Preview

 
 I don't know if you follow this thing called the internet, but if you do you'll see that there's another rapper that's been getting more than his share of buzz these last couple of days. Our local Toronto hip hop connection, Drake, has been throwing music everywhere in a variety of styles in these last few days. Drake's been covering all his bases; going over an indie sample courtesy of SBTRKT, getting time in with Rick Ross and Weezy F, and finally doin his solo triphop thing on top of a BTSTU sample I've heard a couple of times before from SG regulars Intuition & G-Eazy. So why are we getting so much from the kid all at the same time? Drizzy's currently ramping up for his sophomore album Take Care, in which he seems to fall back to his old style that everyone fell for in the first place. The track Dreams Money Can Buy is apparently the intro to the album, so hopefully the single will bring back Drake, and Toronto, to the spotlight where they deserve to be. Drake always seems to make sense to me and doesn't waste a line, which is something rare in the rhyming game these days. Appreciate this.

Drake - Dreams Money Can Buy

DJ Khaled - I'm On One (Ft Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne)

Mac Miller - Love Lost / People Under the Stairs

 Lately there's been a ton of good music being released all over the hip hop scene, but I haven't been able to keep on top of it because of this weird thing called a career that I seem to have tangled myself into. That being said, I'm going to try to throw as much music as I can at you tonight before I have to go back to hustlin' in the big city in the mornin'.

Mac Miller's been laying down tracks fairly consistently since he's blown up on the scene. Good on the kid, he knows if he falls off now the dream might be over... so he's chasing it, getting on some of the biggest samples and doing his thing. To save some time I'm not going to go into much detail about either of the tracks I'm going to drop on here, but they both have great samples and you should definitely look into them for some further enjoyment if you like what you hear. Keep it goin Mac Mills, I'll definitely support ya again if you come back to Toronto.

Mac Miller - Lost Lost (Prod. Black Diamond)

Mac Miller - People Under The Stairs

Outasight- Figure 8 Mix-Tape Review

Full time manual labor and a lack of internet connection has put me in an unfortunate stint of not blogging the music I’ve been jamming. The one mix-tape that I looked forward too for so long and have been enjoying for the past couple of weeks is Outasight’s newest 5 song EP “Figure 8”.  As an artist I was never originally drawn to the talents of Outasight for his rapping abilities but for the fact that he can actually sing. Don’t get me wrong the man can spit a verse but this mixtape really puts the eclectic element of Outasight’s music on display. The title track “Figure 8” is damn catchy and if there were a radio station that stopped playing Pitbull for 5 minutes and put on something like this, I would tune in every mourning (after the edge mourning show of course). One of my other favorites thus far is “Everything” that adds a little Ska element to the mix-tape but “So What” is giving it some solid competition as it is damn catchy. Overall, every song is on “Figure 8” is entertaining and makes me wonder if there is a full length CD in the works…one can only hope.  FREE DOWNLOAD

Outasight-Figure 8 

Outasight- Everything

Outasight- So What

Boostin for the Sake of the Little Guy

 
Here at SG music we get a lot of tracks sent to us through our email (straightgoodsmusic@gmail.com) and we do our best to keep on top of them and post our picks. Lately we've been getting a ton of music submissions from a variety of artists though, so I'm going to attempt to give a few of them the shine they deserve before their tracks get outdated. If you want to find out more about these artists, you got to keep your head up because most of them don't have much set up at all to follow up their music. This post is going to focus purely around hiphop as thats the majority of what we've been getting sent, but don't get it confused, we like all kinds of music here at SG.

First up is Damani Dorsey, an artist who claims that he's got a unique sound from every other Philly artist out there. This is true, and when you hear his smooth flow that catches his production perfectly, it's easy to tell he's not making this up. Damani has already picked up some experience on the scene already, recently opening up for Wale at Cheyney University, and he's working on releasing his new mixtape titled Story of our Lives some time during the summer months. Check PSA coming off that mixtape, and get a feel for what Philly can bring.

Next on the list is the Sleeping Giants, a duo out of Virginia. This group that caught my attention with their sample of Florence and the Machine's Howl. I'm a sucker for a good sample when it's used correctly, and these guys speed it up, and let it play out during the bridge, not the chorus, which is a tight find for their style of rap. Made up of Jay Onwuka and Mike Gibbs, Sleeping Giant is looking to break into the industry quick while their still young (17). If they keep following clean samples like this they've got a future to find for sure.

Sleeping Giants - Beast

Finally the last rapper I'm going to cover in this post is Uno Hype, another young kid at the age of 17. This time out of Maryland, Uno Hype's tracks were sent over to me by a rep from Bombay Knox, his mgmt company, which exposed me to his Gangstarr, lean back style. The production done by Jay Card sets the scene for this kid to go off, and it's looking like this is another artist to watch in the ever evolving rap scene. Check his latest single, CB4, off his sophomore mixtape, From the Ground Up, which is set to drop sometime in the near future.

Uno Hype - CB4

The Decemberists

I had this super long post all written up about Indie-Folk-Rock music featuring a few artists that I've been into, but I wasn't able to post it because I've been fighting to get the wireless internet to work for about 2 weeks now. Over that time, I kind of fell out of love with one of the artists that I was going to post so I'm rewriting the whole thing because I'm unemployed until the 25th and have nothing better to do with my time.
There are a bunch of good hip hop mixtapes out there right now, but I haven't been able to get any of them because my student house stopped paying for internet 3 weeks ago and I'm lucky to get google to load, let alone anything else. As a result, I've been going through a lot of the stuff that I added to my itunes just before we lost the internet. At that point I was on a real non-hip hop phase and The Decemberists are what I replaced it with. They are a indie-folk-rock group from Portland that released their 6th studio album at the beginning of '11 titled The King is Dead. Their music has the feel of indie rock, except the addition of some folk influences and a bit of country. On their own, I've never really gotten into country or folk individually but when you combine them with indie rock... it makes something pretty great. Both of these songs are from The King is Dead.

The Decemberists - Don't Carry It All


The Decemberists - This is Why We Fight


Bonus song - I went to a Rural Alberta Advantage concert the other day and one of the openers - Hooded Fang - caught my ear. Their music has the folk and rock influences of The Decemberists but with a bit more of a pop feel. I believe this song is more or less their lead single

Hooded Fang - Laughing

Second Chance - Peter Bjorn & John (RAC remix)

I find myself coming back to PB&J time and time again, as just like the sandwich, it always seems to be exactly what I need to fill myself up. This Swedish indie rock group has recently released their 6th studio album, titled Gimme Some, where they seem to have found their way back to their roots in that raw indie sound everyone has come to love. For some reason when music is good, it is typically good in a wide variety of settings, genres, or samples. PB&J has proven in the past that their music typically falls into this category, as after a release it tends to be swarmed by producers, rappers, and remixers who are looking for their next big hit. RAC (Remix Artist Collective) is one of the unique groups on this trend, and after you're done listening to Second Chance a couple times, I suggest keying your attention to their remix of the track, which brings a whole different electro feel to the song. You've got to fight for your second chance just like everyone else if you really want it, as they say "It's a fraction of a hope but it's hard to control."

Peter Bjorn & John - Second Chance

Peter Bjorn & John - Second Chance (RAC Remix)

Grieves- Together/Apart Mix-Tape "Bloody Poetry" X "On The Rocks"

 I don’t know what in the hell they put in their water, but over the past few years I have found my self becoming a fan of an abundance of Seattle rappers. As I just recently found out that Grieves is from the Seattle the eclectic instrumentation apparent in his music explains his overall vibe. I’ve never been one to listen intently to lyrics but instead my fascination with hip-hop stems from the variety of influences that come together to make a hip-hop beat. For me the way an artist’s delivery flows with the beat is the most important aspect of any rap song. As I listen to Grieves track “Bloody Poetry” the way the smooth piano riff complements his flow takes me away into the music. Everything about Grieves feels real, from the battered hoodie, fitted cap and refusal to loose the lip ring to the emotion that listeners can feel through his unbelievable hook making abilities. The release date for the mix-tape has been set as June 21st so wait patiently for this talented MC's awaited project. 

Ellie Goulding- The Writer (Alan Braxe Remix)

 
Ellie Goulding is getting her share of play these days. As her music catches on at an increasingly fast pace, people are starting to realize that the UK bombshell's music isn't just going to be a staple in England anymore. Alan Braxe, a popular dance producer out of France, is just one of the many people picking up on Ellie, as he has taken a song off one of her albums I mentioned before, Lights, for his latest production. By tuning in on the underlying melody and only exposing Ellie during the chorus, Braxe is able to create a track that could hold down many a poolside, dance floor, or any other setting. Ellie Goulding's getting more respect than remixes these days though, as she was recently chosen to perform at the royal wedding which comes with a ton of media coverage.

Ellie Goulding - The Writer (Alan Braxe Remix)

New Sh*t - E-Dubble

 I've been a closet e-dubble fan for a while now.. i always felt his sample selection and his flow.. but something about his music always threw me off. Erase the last sentence - i'm an official fan. E-Dubble is on the verge of a full album release (he may have already released it) and he continues to provide us with music to rock to on a daily basis. check the song below as he takes tom petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance and turns it into a current day banger

E-Dubble - Tired

Ladyhawke - "My Delirium"

So I've been a ghost as of lately. Graduating university, moving out, and trying on various pairs of big boy pants has taken it's toll on me, so in the next few minutes I'm going to try to get back on this musical horse. Coming from school into real life has been a trip. It's weird to think that this is the point where I'll be setting the direction for what the rest of my life will consist of. As I arrange my future I struggle to find that middle ground between making money and having a time, as although in some cases these are not mutually exclusive, if you want to be real it seems like you're almost always going to have to sacrifice one for the other. Why am I telling you all this? For some reason the music I end up listening to always seems to reflect whats going on in my life, and my latest addiction of Ladyhawke's My Delirium sums up whats happening to a tee. The simple hooks based on 80's guitar riffs set the stage for this reality escaping song, and Ladyhawke aka. Pip Brown, brings that shy coolness up from New Zealand which I can't get enough of during this post-graduation haze. I originally came across the track in Forum's recent snowboarding production, F it, where the youngbloods add even more life to her song. Enjoy their part, and the track below.

Ladyhawke - My Delirium

Forum's F it - YoungBloods (Full Part)