Kendrick Lamar Sells Out Australia

Pimp Pimp, Horray!

Those were the chants that started out Kendrick Lamar's sold out show at the Rod Laver Arena a few weeks ago. Kendrick needed no opener, and didn't have to come out for an encore, as he left it all on the stage during his show which pushed on to almost 3 hours of pure KDot. This was one of the best shows that we had seen in a while, as the whole crowd was into the music and nobody was killing the vibe. The only fight we saw was in the line for beer, which is to be expected, but even this ended with a handshake and some goodwill.

Kendrick started out with the classics, going through through the music from good kid, m.A.A.d city and Section 80 - until he reached back to some of his originals from the early 2000's - asking who had been there since day 1 to a booming response. The one thing that Kendrick did leave out for the Melbourne show was his fan led freestyle of M.A.A.D City, like he did in Houston, but given the rap talent in the room, it was probably for the best. Not saying this was a bad thing, but being in Melbourne, there was probably the most beards and longboards there has ever been at a Kendrick Lamar concert.

Angus & Julia Stone on Manly Beach at The Australian Open

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of traveling back to our old local, Manly Beach, for the Australian Open. This is an annual week long competition for skateboarding, surfing and art - drawing out the largest crowds to experience the true aussie beach lifestyle.

This year the headliner for the event was none other than the globally notorious brother and sister combo of Angus & Julia Stone - who we discovered we're locals themselves hailing from Sydney. In contrast to the DJ that followed them on stage, Angus & Julia have a very quiet and peaceful sound that calmed the beach, while the waves crashed alongside their melodic strumming. Returning from LA where they produced their latest self-titled album with the legendary Rick Rubin, this duo was a massive draw card, as they exposed us to their new and old music, finishing with Big Jet Plane (our favorite).If you ever have the opportunity to come to Australia this is the week to do it. Just stay on Manly Beach, don't plan anything, and enjoy the laid back lifestyle.

Tame Impala Live in Melbourne

Earlier this month we headed out to Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an outdoor venue in Melbourne (read lawns) to see a major stage of Tame Impala's national tour. The group toured Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (for 2 shows in their hometown) - heading exclusively into outdoor amphitheaters to promote their latest album Currents. They put on a ripper of a show for hours, playing through their entire selection, accompanied by a visual trip, and ending with fireworks (literally), It was clear it wasn't just the nationalism that sold these shows out across the country.

While this group is extremely well known in Australia (with Currents even being named the ARIA Album of the Year), they have only recently started to make major waves across North America. With their psychedelic rock feeling similar to much loved bands like MGMT, Neon Indian or Empire of the Sun, their sound provides a perfect vibe to graze to at the beach, mountain-side or for an easy afternoon backdrop. Although the band has been around for a long time, last year was clearly a breakout year globally - with blog aggregator hypem declaring them the 4th most blogged band of the year. Here's another mention for ya mates. If you haven't stumbled across these guys just yet, take a look at their album below (start with Let It Happen) - could be a nice addition to your selection. Or if you're feeling in the mood - get your horn out and listen to one of their older tracks - Elephant.

It’s not friendly, but it’s where I lay up…

With the release of What a Time To Be Alive – Drake and Future have added another notch to their rapid fire campaign of content into the hip hop market. Drake has been more strategic than ever lately, with this mixtape controlling the top of the charts, and his unrelated single Hotline bling, holding the #1 position on iTunes singles – while everyone continues to salivate for Views of the 6 – his upcoming release that has been building buzz for years now (or so it seems...).

This mixtape was released exclusively to Apple Music for a couple weeks, managing to rack up over 25m streams, before going live to Spotify and all the other outlets. Spotify has been responding to these exclusivity agreements, with the same effectiveness as it had when dealing with TaylorSwift, which is unfortunate. Spotify did have a good head start before Apple got into the market, locking down a lot of smart people (see linkedin for an expensive group of Ivy leaguers and ex-consultants), but we still see the music landscape continuing to fragment, which could actually be a good thing?

As I listen to OVOSound Radio on Beats1, (which Drake is getting paid 19 million annually), he clearly has bought into Apple and their business model for music. At this point Drake is a business himself, with many more ventures than just music. To start, the man has more partnerships than a Nascar driver, with product and companies named in his music taking him to the next level in terms of endorsements (call your ass an uber I got somewhere to be / I get boxes of free Jordans like I play for North Carolina / I avoided the coke game, went with Sprite instead / I just got me the Mercedes Pullman, if you haven’t heard about it you should hit up Google / I pull the knife out my back and cut they throat with it momma, I'm Game of Thrones with it momma / Versace Versace Versace, etc.).

All of this is exciting, but it is nothing like what he has done for Toronto. In my time, I have never seen a city rebranded like this – moving from the street name effectively moving from T.Dot to the 6ix in less than a year. The content marketing strategy he has is unrivaled, even in the corporate world. The level of community that he can bring with things like OVOBounce, OVOfest, Nomad, section 416 at the Air Canada Centre is ridiculous, and if this isn’t a case study on how to capitalize on popularity I don’t know what is. He took this to the next level with the beef with Meek Mill – putting the city behind him (with meme’s at OVOfest) – and delaying him at the border, to prove that Toronto can stand up. On top of this, being the Global Ambassador for the Toronto Raptors has improved his position and the team’s – allowing him to solidify his credibility in the scene, and letting MLSE truly launch the We the North campaign with almost guaranteed results.

In the last couple of years Drake (and supporting cast) has put Toronto on the map, and while 'Merica is a different beast, if Kanye can be President, it’s safe to say Drake can be at least Mayor of the 6.

     

Hi-Top Brass Band at The Manly Jazz Festival

Living down in Manly, Australia definitely has a few perks; the humid climate, iconic beach, but most notably the festivals that take place right outside our window. The most recent of these was the Manly Jazz festival, which had hundreds of artists come in to perform on the main strip and accompanying bars over an extended weekend. We managed to get a good sampling of the music, which mainly consisted of old school jazz and funk, (bringing us back to the alleyway bar scene in Toronto) - but one group manged to break the fog completely - The Hi-Top Brass Band.

Akin to their name, this is a collection of gentlemen utilize a variety of brass to drive a strong back story to the vocals, which are not your typical growls of jazz, but rather a spoken word new age rap. We caught For The Money and Roll Up which probably drew one of the biggest crowds of the week - with the whole corso full up with the locals jamming along. Luckily these guys are willing to share a few tracks on their Bandcamp, which you can find below, to check them out at your own leisure.

Rufus - Live in Newtown, Australia

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of making it out to a little suburb/town outside of the city to take in my first concert on this side of the world. It was only fitting that this first concert was held by Rufus; an indie group that’s originally from Sydney, but was likely one of the only native groups that I had heard of before making the trip down here. Releasing Atlas last year, this tour was sort of a homecoming for Rufus to celebrate the new album, which the crowd certainly reflected. Aussies certainly know how to enjoy themselves and this was definitely one of those times they showed it. Inside of a packed concert hall at the Enmore Theatre in Newtown, Rufus pounded out hits like Take Me and Desert Night to make for an experience that went late into the night. If you haven’t heard of this group (they’re not THAT Australian), check out those two tracks below – which should help visualize the night a bit more than I remember.

Rufus - Desert Night

KYGO

Hailing from Bergen Norway, house music producer KYGO has been slowly making a name for himself throughout the blogosphere. Explaining KYGO is simply a reiteration of how I discussed producer duo The Chainsmokers a while back. These so called remix artists are beginning to be recognized as musicians instead of being viewed by music snobs as music thieves. Artists like KYGO put their own unique musical touch on each project and allow fans to fall in love with their distinct production. This isn't the first time music has started an evolution that certain segments of people have a problem with and it sure as hell isn't going to be the last. I personally enjoy the fact that these artists have started to become individual entities within the music industry. I'm not going to bore you with an extensive explanation of these tracks so I'll make it quick.

The re-work of Ed Sheeran's "I See Fire" combines slow melodic production with some unique oriental sounds. Ed's voice compliments the production elements of KYGO perfectly for a great mix. My next favorite is actually a re-work of a cover which, so basically remix inception. Henry Green takes on the song made it all real for MGMT so many years ago "Electric Feel". KYGO adds some production elements and really makes the track pop. And lastly, the track that has made my early mornings slightly more bearable as of late, Dolly Parton's "Jolene". He pulls some influence from what it seems to be old Westerns and or Quinton Tarantino films. Regardless, the song features some great production and unbelievable manipulation of the sample.

Future feat. Drake and Juicy J - SH!T (Remix)

The moment has arrived...and it's a little lackluster to be honest. But that's a good thing. Let me explain. So this all dates back to the Control verse and Kendrick calling out Drake among a myriad of the game's top young rappers in what I thought was a very harmless line about competition. The game disagrees...and ever since, there have been responses, beefs, and minced words about how people felt about it. Drake has highlighted in interviews that he thought calling people out by name was a cheap ploy that anyone could have done, that the verse was forgettable (honestly do you know how that verse begins?), and that if there's beef let there be beef ("when I saw him it was all love though so it was confusing"). Kendrick responded by saying that Drake and him are peers, and that despite getting his start on Drizzy's, Club Paradise Tour, he's okay if they're no longer cool. This was only exacerbated when K. Dot performed at the BET Cypher and dropped, "and Nothing's Been The Same since they dropped Control, and tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes."

So then we waited...and waited...and then we waited some goddamn more. Talks about how Drake has to respond, that Kendrick isn't on Drake's level in terms of their respective resumés, and who really is the #1 MC in the game have persisted. Today, Drake released his response on Future's, SH!T, which features lines like, "I hear ya talk about your city like ya run there, then I brought my tour to ya city, you my son there" (Drake just came off a sold-out show at Staples Center in Kendrick's city of L.A.), "and if a nigga say my name, he the hot shit, and if I say that nigga name he still the hot shit, fucked up" (Drake likes Kendrick and his music...what is he supposed to say he's whack?).

I know people will disagree...but I think this was the smartest move the kid from Degrassi could have ever made. I mean, this is Drake's first official "diss" record and this is the most polite shit I've ever heard. I know that hip-hop is a bloodsport and there are definitely winners and losers (see 50 Cent vs. Fat Joe or Rick Ross vs. 50 Cent to see how fickle the game can be). However, this situation does not need a victor.

Drizzy and Kendrick are the top MC's in the game and it would be stupid for Drake to go after him. Kendrick has no shot at touching Drake's touring, sale records, or female-fan base, so a battle back and forth could only hurt Drake's credibility. Of course there are still some Old Heads who think that by not responding aggressively or not saying Kendrick's name in the verse, that Drake has lost...but the game has changed. You need to be smart now, not impulsive. Kendrick had nothing to lose when he spit at that cypher, after all...half of the hip-hop community makes fun of Drake. But you know what...100% of them respect him.

This was a smart, safe, and Jay Z like move from the OVO Camp. Sure Jay went at Nas back in the day (where baby mommas and physical appearances were all touched upon) and shit got ugly...but Jay didn't have Roc Nation Sports, Rocawear, the Brooklyn Nets and D'Usse Cognac to lose at the time. The kid from T.O. doesn't need this petty shit. Spit your game, drop them hit records, and show the world how a 27-year old from Canada rolls with his own record label (OVO Records), clothing line (OVO), sports affiliation (Toronto Raptors), shoe partnership (Air Jordan), soft drink deal (Sprite) AND wears the crown at the same time.

I just think it's funny how they danglin' the bait, but I'm the one that's killing niggas on the hooks though...

The Straight Goods Monthly Recap

Let me introduce you to the Straight Goods Recap - the latest development by SG M+E, a podcast styled radio show, covering all of the best music we featured on the site monthly, as well as the various music and stories that managed to slipped through the cracks.

Run by SG M+E's newest member, "The Prince", who comes to us with a background in running a radio show at the Wilfrid Laurier University called Verses from the Abstract for the past few years. Since The Prince has now finished his university career, we jumped on the opportuntity to bring him up into the big leagues of the SG empire - http://www.radiolaurier.com/category/shows/verses-from-the-abstract/.

Listen to the first official SGM Recap below, but we will be featuring this ongoing podcast/radio show in the right sidebar, so it will be easy to listen to and catch up with SGM at any time. As always, send your feedback or ideas for improvement to info@straightgoodsmedia.com

We're always listening, as you should be.

The 5 Best and 5 Softest Bars from Drake's, 'NWTS'

Let's make one thing clear...no one on this site is a bigger fan of Aubrey's music than the kid, but goddamn does he make it hard on the fellas at times. No one has ever come so close to claiming rap's throne and at the same time earn a name like Young Garnier Fructis from a legend like Big Ghost. Nonetheless, Drizzy unleashes his 3rd solo album, Nothing Was The Same on the world tomorrow and like I've called for months...I expect him to push a million units first week (even with the leak). For those who do not understand the magnitude of that statement, only 16 albums in history have done so (Jay-Z's, MCHG and Lady Gaga's, Born This Way are not acknowledged by Billboard Charts due to Amazon/Samsung promotions).

With that being said, how better for SGM to look at NWTS than examining the 5 illest and the 5 whackest lines of Drake's story:

5 Best:

T U S C A N L E A T H E R
Bench players talkin' like starters, I hate it
Started from the bottom, now we here, nigga, we made it
Yeah, Tom Ford Tuscan Leather smelling like a brick
Degenerates, but even Ellen love our shit

O W N I T
Bunch of journalists been searchin' for a story
My ex-girl been searchin' for a "sorry"
Couple bitches tryna have me on the Maury like nigga 'it's yours'
You should be supportin'

W O R S T B E H A V I O U R
And it's back to L.A. open the mail, starin' at the check
Enough to make you throw up, man it's gross what I net
I'm with my whole set, tennis matches at the crib
I swear I could beat Serena when she playin' with her left

T O O M U C H
Back rub from my main thing, I've been stressed out
Talking to her like back then they didn't want me, I'm blessed now
Talking to her like this drop, bet a million copies get pressed out
She tell me, "Take a deep breath, you're too worried about being the best out"

P O U N D C A K E
Overly focused, it's far from the time to rest now
Debates growing 'bout who they think is the best now?
Took a while, got the jokers out of the deck now
I'm holding all the cards and niggas wanna play chess now

5 Softest:

O W N I T
Next time we fuck, I don't wanna fuck, I wanna make love
Next time we talk, I don't wanna just talk, I wanna trust

F R O M T I M E
When I got Summer a Michael Kors with my momma's debit
A weak attempt at flexin', I'll never forget it

C O N N E C T
How beautiful our kids would be, girl, I don't need convincing
How every conversation starts with "This time will be different"

F U R T H E S T T H I N G
And I hate that you don't think I belong to ya

C O M E T H R U
Baby I heat up the stove, you do the dishes ya know?

Strong effort from Drake and the OVO crew this time around. He's proven he can be more concise with his raps and evolve musically outside of his comfort zone. With a week to sit with the album, I still like the sound/story of Take Care better, but I doubt many will agree. FuckyoubitchI'mmorethanhigh...

ODESZA - My Friends Never Die [EP]

Seattle music scene continues to impress.  I don't know if there's something in the water over there or whether it's due to shopping exclusively at Whole Foods, but these beatniks seem to know what they're doing when it comes to producing a hype track.  

ODESZA is a production duo made up of Harrison Mills (Catacombkid) and Clayton Knight (BeachesBeaches [shout-out t-sedany]).  With glitched out vocals and sweeping basslines, their sound is as if Dillon Francis and Purity Ring had a love child. Their EP release, My Friends Never Die, has been out for a month and for those of you as late to the party as I, enjoy a free download at their site here.  

Stream the 5 track EP below.  Volume ^ please:

Lil Wayne - Dedication 5 (Mixtape)

Back again with my obligatory Lil Wayne post.  However, this is the first time in a long time that I can say I am genuinely pretty excited about a weezy release.   I'll keep my WAYNE IS BACK testimonies to a minimum, but I will say that this is a substantial improvement from what we've heard from him lately.  I'm willing to admit that we'll likely never see another verse like what he did on the Knuck if you Buck Freestyle, but I don't think Tunechi is quite ready to clumsily ride his skateboard into irrelevancy yet.  I think I got almost half-way through the mix-tape and only heard 2-3 lines about pussy. Baby steps.

Weezy raps with a bit of a chip on his shoulder, and the beats are feugo.  The song with Chance might be his best release in years.

Find the full download and a couple of choice favourites below:

FULL MIXTAPE DOWNLOAD

Justin Timberlake - Take Back The Night

How do you critique the man who seems like he can do no wrong? How do you give him a pat on the back without crowning him as 'The New King of Pop?' As someone who has watched this man's career in awe since, yes, even his 'N Sync days, the answer is...you shut up, press play and hope that there isn't another 7 year hiatus that stops him from making music (even if the single artwork is laughable).

Take Back The Night, may sound simple upon first listen but the mix is absolutely exquisite. The song serves as the first single off of The 20/20 Experience (2 of 2) even though (1 of 2)'s Tunnel Vision just got released. While JT has never claimed to be Dylan-esque in his lyricism (just see the "Hi my name is Bob and I work at my job" debacle here), the combination of his voice and Timbaland's production leaves you giving a fuck less. Quincy and Michael left a lot of fluff on Thriller's, 9 tracks and things seemed to work out okay for them.

But the absolute best part of Justin Timberlake's lengthy repertoire is his mastery of the 'breakdown.' My God. How can one guy turn something so lame into something so catchy? Fellas, don't act like you haven't answered his request to call out "It feels like somethin's heatin' up..." on Senorita or beatboxed along as Lovestoned turned into the ballad I Think She Knows. JT knows what works for him and while at 32 years of age we may never again see the total fashion, dance and musical domination we did in 2006, at least we know he's got a lot left in the tank.

The Straight Goods Media team will be at Rogers Centre on the 17th when Jay-Z and JT kick off their Legends of the Summer tour in Toronto. Full report to follow. And the horns say...

SGM Show Report: Blue Scholars

The Blue Scholars stopped by Toronto on their current tour and SGM was able to check out the show. To my shock, disgust, excitement and a couple other emotions there was nobody else there (okay, a bit of an exaggeration), but in all seriousness you guys need to get out to these shows. The Blue Scholars threw down a great set playing songs of both albums and Opening act, Bambu killed it. Grynch and Sol came along for the trip and got the crowd going with a couple bangers including all “All I Wanna Do”. I want to say I wish the crowd was bigger just because these guys are some of hip hop’s finest and deserve to sell out the ACC (and do play some massive shows out west), but jamming front row and getting to meet the artists makes me just fine with the way it is. If you aren’t familiar with; The Blue Scholars, Bambu, Grynch or Sol Check them out and the visuals below.

Concert Review: K-os at the Casbah, Hamilton

As someone who loves live music, living in Hamilton really puts you at a disadvantage when it comes to good concerts. So when I found out at 9:30pm last night that K-os was at our very own Casbah we obviously jumped on the opportunity. Probably the best 15 dollars I have spent in a very long time. Maybe its because i've been reppin the Canadian kid since the superstar pt.zero days or simply because the man put on one hell of a show... who knows. Either way the quality of live show K-os put on was astonishing. The live instrumentation was incredible and his DJ was doing some nasty things on the turn tables. And if your not a K-os fan, here's a great place to start.

Logic - Young Sinatra (Mixtape)

So I Finally got around to checking out up-and-coming Maryland based emcee Logic’s mixtape “Young Sinatra” and I’m impressed. Logic brings an effortless flow to a solid tape definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for a break from all this dubstep/electro hip-hop. I’m looking forward to see what he can bring in the future. Here's a couple early highlights from the tape.

Logic - Shine On

Logic - Mind Of Logic (Feat. Camille Michelle Gray)

Following: Star Slinger

Star Slinger, an electro producer from the UK, has been noticing the recent success of A$AP Rocky (among other artists) and has gone ahead and given them his eclectic touch. Star Slinger takes on songs that don't particularly have weak production and always seems to come out with something interesting - regardless if it's completely different. The fast paced additions he adds to the music he chooses seems to breathe it life while not taking too much from it, which can be a problem with this kind of refixed material sometimes.

Star Slinger's relationship with artists seems to be working both ways for him though, as he was approached by Gambino to rehash Freaks and Geeks and Drake gave him a nod for his efforts on Over My Dead Body, the intro to his most recent album, Take Care. I'm always sort of perplexed with how fast these artists get their remixes to field so quickly, but I guess that's all a part of their game, you don't want to miss an opportunity.

A$AP Rocky - Peso (Star Slinger Remix)

Drake - Over My Dead Body (Star Slinger Remix)

Childish Gambino - Freaks and Geeks (Star Slinger Remix)

A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP

If you've heard A$AP Rocky and his crew yet, you may have wondered who these guys are and where they suddenly all came from (like me). A$AP Rocky aka. Rakim Mayers, (supposedly after Eric B. & Rakim) was born in the Bronx, raised in Harlem, and thus has some ingredients to be a legit street rapper... yet he has much more momentum than usual for his position. The A$AP crew has a story for all this buzz though, as Rakim has recently landed one of the biggest deals for an unsigned artist, with Sony/RCA giving him a 3 million dollar budget to sign his crew, A$AP Worldwide, to an album and to make a solo project for himself. It may be offsetting to see a seemingly unknown artist get so much given to him when he hasn't been proven yet, but that's the route the industry has taken these days - people are hungry for new material. Download A$AP Rocky's first mixtape, LiveLoveA$AP and keep an eye out for the groups full album, these guys are still a question mark. It seems if you want something great to happen you need to take a risk sometimes.

A$AP Rocky provides a little insight into his life in his interview with Fader, where they follow him around his newly claimed neighborhood in NYC. ASAP was originally named the Always Strive and Prosper crew, but it's not until they start talking about what it means to them that Rakim shows that he's a little deeper than he comes off, stating,

"[A$AP] stands for Acronym Symbolizing Any Purpose, that's why my shit say asap life, cause my shit is acronym symbolizing any purpose to life. You know what i mean, asap means life that's why the name of my album is liveloveasap. livelovelife. asap is life. everything is asap."

Hear a few tracks below from his mixtape and look out for A$AP Worldwide to be making things happen... they've got the money for it and producers are starting to flock.

A$AP Rocky - Kissin' Pink (Feat. A$AP Ferg)

A$AP Rocky - Trilla (Feat. A$AP Twelvy & A$AP Nast)

A$AP Rocky - Peso

Lupe Fiasco - Friend of the People (Mixtape)

Wild cover art. After listening to Lupe Fiasco's new mixtape a couple times my emotions are a mix between relief and joy. Let's be honest here, Lasers was not a good album, clearly there was some issue with Lupe's label pressuring him into recording a certain type of music and the end result was a bunch of lackluster radio singles. The Cool and Food & Liquor were great albums because they were essentially concept albums, meant to be listened to from start to finish if you wanted to get the full experience of the record. This mixtape isn't a concept album or anything like that, but it is entertaining. Lupe stays relevant rapping over the likes of M83, the Glitch Mob, the Bassnectar remix of Lights, Nero, and a few others. Lyrically, Fiasco is back to his politically charged style, except for some reason he comes off slightly less crazy on this project. Try out a couple of my early favourites below and download the rest here. Also, if you're interested in finding out the rest of the songs he goes in over, head to this link to see the back cover.

P.S. some of you may not like the third song I posted all that much since its kind of hectic but its got this Rage Against the Machine vibe that fires me the fuck up

Lupe Fiasco - The End of the World (M83 - Midnight City)

Lupe Fiasco - Super Cold (Glitch Mob - Bad Wings)

Lupe Fiasco ft. Dosage - Friend of the People (SebastiAn - Jack Wire)

Omen- Afraid of Heights Mixtape

Now-a-days I feel rap has become utterly faddy. Whether it is the electro influence that has come to consume pretty much all pop and a majority of new rap, some sort of dark wolf gang ish or of course the ever popular frat rap. As rap fans we have become consumed with these catchy forms of hip-hop. But for me rap has always been about one thing... passion. Being able to feel that the topic an artist is speaking about is the God's honest truth makes connecting to the music much easier.  Whether they are spitting real life shit or conveying passion through the art of story telling, sometimes I need some substance as opposed to fancy beats.

I've know this Omen character simply as one of J.Coles extended crew. With the release of " Afraid of Heights" listeners are able to get a feel for what Omen's all about. Have I completely dissected the album... of course not, I'm a student... I ain't got time for that shit, But I have found of couple of gems and would definitely suggest giving the album a go. Are you gonna find any friday night bangers... No, but  your definitely in store for some crafty lyricism... enjoy.

Download Mixtape | Free Mixtapes Powered by DatPiff.com