Looking at the clock it’s about that time. Everyone’s going into end-of-year list mania at the moment, and being that I always struggle to fill any sort of best-of list beyond the first 4 entries, I’m gonna do my 2008 summaries by writing about select things I feel warranted attention/recognition in the 08.

Music is a funny game, the formula to having a hit song seems dead simple. Write something great, people like it – hit. This is true in the simplest sense, however as we all know, many good songs come and go without making the impact of say Lil Wayne  “Lollipop”.  Sometimes the reason for a songs failure to crack it is easily traceable, other times not so much. Here’s two songs which I thought would have been bigger in the 08.

John Legend feat. Andre 3000 – Greenlight

This seemed like a bit of a no-brainer. I wasn’t expecting #1 status, due to John Legend not being “youth” enough for the Chris Brown, Rihanna generation. But I still figured it’d hit bigger than it did. Dope hook, nice upbeat production, sounds and tempo are all very current, and it has a great feature from 3000 who for my money takes guest verse of the year honours (again). It’s all there… yet I’ve still only heard it on radio a handful of times. Perhaps people felt this upbeat stuff was too much of a reach for him ? Or perhaps the fact that I can’t embed the actual video from YouTube indicates that his promo was fucked up ?

Ryan Leslie – Addiction

Damn, I thought this one would do it for him. After giving a smash hit to Cassie and building up some loyal stans on YouTube, it seemed like Leslie just needed that one song to push him over the edge.  Upon hearing this I felt he had it – great hook, really mean beat, and he even managed to make Cassie sound good. Plus you figured her name on it would help get him onto those playlists which his name alone wouldn’t. Again tho, I heard this on radio a handful of times then… gone.

Admittedly he did fail on the videos though. He did 2 of them, both were hella late, and neither featured Cassie. Wierd for 3 reasons:

1. She’s his artist
2. She features on the song
3. She’s better looking than any of the girls he had in the vids

Ahh well, 2 great songs in my opinion. What are you fullas thoughts/picks for slept on hits this year ?

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It’s a rare occurence when you come across a movie premise that makes you think “fuck.. i wanna see that” strictly off the premise alone. I’m a bit of a tightarse when it comes to cinema, i.e I’ll read up on reviews, suss if i like the directors past work etc before giving a flick the time of day. Every now and then though, something comes along where I don’t give a fuck about any of that and am dead-set on watching it. Such is the case with these 2 gems:

Slum Dog Millionaire

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”

Soon as I saw the words “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” combined with “India” – sold. How can she slap.

JCVD

Jean Claude Van Damme plays himself in this crime comedy that opens with the aging action star on the low end of his career, fighting a drug habit, his daughter’s custody case and now a major P.R. problem — for he’s soon to find himself in the middle of a bank heist, with the world looking on and the Muscles From Brussels as the number one suspect.

Being that I spent the majority of my formative years watching Bloodsport and Kickboxer the concept of Van Damme possibly not doing his “splits – punch in the nuts” move in a film is mindblowing. Drug habit, daughter being ashamed of him.. this is top notch stuff.

Anyone who’s got the hook ups for either of these flicks link us up A.S.A.P

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The Charles Hamilton vs Soulja Boy “beef” had distracted me so much I didn’t realise that Hamilton’s video for “Brooklyn Girls” had dropped.  Classic N.Y hip hop steez in the video, I’m feelin it. This one’s for Slick and anyone who got hooked on this after episode 3 of Entourage this season.

As a sidenote, Soulja Boy really is fucken hilarious. He already bodied Ice T at this youtube shit, and Charles seemed to be faring no better till he dropped this T-Pain parody today. It was rather dece, but I still had more LOL moments just watching Soulja talk shit in his vid. I can’t wait to see his response to Charles latest antics.

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Man, Dawnraid are coming through with all the catchy singles at the mo. This time it’s Big Rex with “Them Eyes” which also features J Williams.  This shit reminds me of Mr Smith era LL, which is personally my favourite era of LL. I know some hardcore hip hop fans are probably scoffing at that statement, but whatevs. Slick song.

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Yup yup, check here for my spiel. I almost like this as much as Junior Spesh. Shouts to Mr Sicc and Tek for doing it up. Mean.

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It’s been a long time coming, but Heaven and Hell the solo debut from Devolo is available instores and online today. I’d been feeling all the stuff that Mark had been leaking from it over the last few months and now all you “try before you buy” dudes can peep the album in it’s entirety over on Devolo’s myspace.

I feel he’s always had a certain charm that has shone through in his work. In part due to his ability to come up with catchy melodies,  but I think there’s also a certain authenticity/innocence in his stuff which most folk can relate to. He’s just got “islander styles” for lack of a better description – where some dudes would sound contrived trying similar things, his local steez always comes through and gives off the vibe like “this dude is a good cunt” when you hear him. You can watch the video for his new single “Too Shy” above, that hook is the catchiest shit out. Sounds like it’s gonna be good lp for the summer.

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I wish I could say I’d been following our election as much as the U.S one, but I can’t. Our one just lacks the entertainment value and sheer WWF-ness of our American counterparts, which is actually a good statement on the average intelligence of our country. I recall wondering how it was even possible for someone like Palin to be considered for a mayoral role, let alone a fucken vice presidency .. but then you watch vids like this and it all makes sense LOL. It buzzes me out trying to imagine some of the U.S candidates in our election, and how they’d fare with the NZ public. I’d like to think we wouldn’t be having it.

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Man, I’m runnin this song hard right now, props to Jordan for putting me on. Dope verses/performances from Dro and T.I, and you gotta give this Yung LA dude props for bein a new artist that actually has a different sounding delivery. Mean.

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“.. in contrast and despite the lack of legitimate evidence, i believe you to have been involved in a fair amount of homosexual activities. Activities I and my companions look down upon.”

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I was a big fan of his performance of this at the VMA’s, even had it on repeat on Youtube just so I could keep hearing it. Subsequently I couldn’t wait for the recorded version to leak, but was slightly disappointed cause it sounded demo/unfinished – to me at least. I’m all for keeping things slightly unpolished if an artist feels the demo of a song has a performance or energy they couldn’t capture with future takes and more re-working, but the hook on the last version of “Love Lockdown” just sounded like he’d put down lazy guide vocals and never gone back to fix them. The hook sounds enunciated properly now, and doesn’t sound like he’s taperin off/runnin out of breath from clapping at the same time. The drums on the hook also got more oomph too, more like the VMA performance. Killer.

Kanye West – Love Lockdown version 3

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