I know it’s been a little minute since you’ve from me on this platform BUT I’M BACK and I have launched my podcast, The Gold Spot.
What it entails is the same thing you’ve been reading on this forum, except in audio version and you actually get to physically hear from your favorite artists. Check out the trailer below and subscribe to The Gold Spot Podcast on all streaming sites.
Wale doesn’t stop working! He dropped his newest EP on Friday June 19th, ironically Juneteenth. The album addresses the current state of the word, which is police killing innocent black PEOPLE, the uproar it’s causing and the lack of justice that needs to be served. His first song “Movin Different” has excerpts from the news reporting on protests. His next song “Empty Wishing Well” featuring amazing vocals from Eric Bellinger. The song is about everyday things with a touch of lovey dovey in there. “Blue Yellow Green Pink White” has the Cha Cha Slide” sample, which is a given that this song is more of a dance upbeat record; it reminds me of “Debbie” on the Wow…That’s Crazy album.
“JUNE 5th / QueenZnGodZ” speaks on what happened on that day a few weeks ago; more protests and justice still not being served. The best verse in this song is
“We the sports and the music, do the math we the culture.”
He talks about the Karens of the world and the popular excerpt from Tamika Mallory’s speech not long ago–
“I don’t give a damn if they burn down Target because Target should be in the streets like us.”
That was in response to Rayshard Brooks being killed. The song then goes into the “QueenZnGodz” song states that we, women are Queens and the Men are Gods, which is really mythological.
“Shit Don’t Stop” is another banger with Eric Bellinger; Wale talks on him still being here on earth is due to someone praying for him because it’s so much going on in the world and the odds are against him, a black man. The next song “Maajo” is another upbeat dance record but Wale briefly talks about COVID, people wearing masks and even The Last Dance.
Overall, this was a great EP especially since he dropped his last album back in October, which didn’t disappoint. Wale has a way with staying current with the times and keeping a sense of relevance to a dedicated, intimate fan base. He may not seem mainstream and may even be underappreciated, but the real fans of his know what’s up.
Kehlani dropped her 3rd album It Was Good Until It Wasn’t and per usual, she didn’t disappoint. From features with Jhene Aiko and Lucky Daye to her dope interludes and outro.
Kehlani is one of those artists who isn’t 100% mainstream but you know who she is. She hasn’t had a top 10 or 20 song on the charts but she’s still respected. Yes, she’s been brought up in the media mainly for her relationships with Kyrie Irving, then PARTNEXTDOOR, and as recently as YG. But don’t let her relationships overshadow her great music, if anything let them be motivation for you to listen to her music and find out some tea on why the relationships didn’t last.
Anywho, the titles of the song are self-explanatory. “Toxic” is about being in a toxic relationship or situationship; “Change Your Life” is about changing a man or woman’s (because Kehlani is sexually fluent) life and uplifting them and making things more positive for them.
Can we talk about the skit “Belong to the Streets” and how it goes into “Everybody Business?” It’s plain and simple; people will talk crazy about you without even knowing the whole situation in which they are talking about. Prime example, her past relationships and people saying she cheated on Kyrie with PARTY. “I Hate The Club” is about hating the club but wanting to go because you want to see someone you’re interested in. Every other song is straightforward. What was special about this album was her “Outro” freestyle song, which is by her friend and artist Lexii Alijai who passed away suddenly earlier this year. She was also on Kehlani’s 2015 mixtape You Should Be Here.
For those who aren’t fans of Kehlani, can you give her a chance before judging her by her past relationships? She may be a toxic Taurus but she makes GOOD music and deserves some credit that she doesn’t receive.
If you listened to the album, what are your thoughts?
Wale is one of the most slept on, underrated artists. Yes, he can be deemed as emotional at times but what it really is, is passion. He’s passionate about his craft and creative AF so when he’s slept on, of course, he takes it personally, especially since he’s been about for over 10 years and has radio hits and features.
Wale released the video for “Sue Me” yesterday and it was powerful. If you’ve been out of the loop, he got the line “Rooting For Everybody Black” from Issa Rae. She said the infamous line in 2017 on the Emmy’s red carpet. She spoke out about it stating she didn’t want to be there anyway and it showed on her face. When asked who she was looking forward to winning, she said….what she said.
Okay, so back to Wale. The video depicts the life of what some black men do everyday and go through–living in an urban neighborhood, listening to their music through headphones, speaking to folks in the neighborhood, minding his business, etc. Even going into a Starbucks and being wrongfully profiled and arrested. Sounds familiar right. –>Check out the real story HERE
Crazy right! Well, the irony of all this is—Wale depicted the day in a life of a black man BUT the main character is a white man. The roles were reversed from the beginning of the video, starting with a picture of a black family on a box of tooth paste; the “white oats” being Melanin Oats; depiction of BLACK JESUS instead of the typical white Jesus depiction; a billboard for “White People Meet dot com”; newspaper headlines, “Are We Ready For A White President” and “The Horror That Happened In Central Park” that shows 5 white men. It even shows the race reversal of being in Starbucks and seeing two innocent men arrested for no reason and Wale added the real video clip of the incident that happened in April of 2018.
afropunk.com
hotnewhiphop.com
Wale showed a scene with the boy visiting his father in prison and explaining to him a new law that is being passed for people with nonviolent drug offenses to be appealed. The father said, “there’s no hope for people that look like us.” That correlates to the present day, especially with Covid-19. Wale clipped in a video of a man in prison who recorded the conditions they are living in. The inmate is explaining the Care Act that is for people who aren’t gang members, sexual offenders and/or not on death row. With the inmates being at risk of catching Coronavirus, the prison can send you home on home confinement [house arrest]. The man went on to say that the prison won’t let them leave because the prisons make money off the number of inmates they have. SAD.
Leave it up to Wale to enlighten us all; Black, White, Asian, about what is going on in the world. Not only does he speak on his feelings and normal life shit but he speaks on relevant life issues. He needs the recognition that he DESERVES. Check out the dope video below and SUPPORT WALE!
This past Friday was packed with new music. I guess these artists decided to release some anticipated music for us during this quarantine.
Da Baby- Blame It on Baby
Da Baby released his 3rd album Blame It On Baby, with some nice features such as Roddy Rich, Quavo, A Boogie, Meg Thee Stallion and Ashanti. He’s known for having the same sound and flow but he switched it up some on this album.
The Dream – Sextape 4
This is his 7th album and he is usually lowkey with his drops these days. He only has one feature on this album, which is Jhene Aiko; how could you resist putting her on an album. If you’re already a Dream fan, then you’;ll easily vibe to this but if you’re a distant fan, it’ll take you longer to get into this album.
Dvsn- A Muse in her Feelings
They dropped their 3rd album and per the norm, it has a sexy sultry sound. They can’t do wrong honestly, especially with the features they have on the album like PARTYNEXTDOOR, Jessie Reyez and the lovely Snoh Aalegra. This, to me, is considered a full album; it has 16 songs, an array of features and a little kick to it.
Kelly Rowland- “Coffee”
Kelly has popped back on the scene with this sexy single “Coffee” which coincidentally mimics her poppin melanin. The cover art is dope and hopefully we’ll be getting an album from her by the end of the year. She’s been dropping singles for the past two years but her last album was Talk A Good Game in 2013. Come on Kelly, we waiting for an album!!
21 Savage featuring Summer Walker- “Secret”
This was a different collaboration but needed. This pair decided to sample Xscape’s “Little Secret” and it doesn’t sound bad. Honestly, it’s starting to become a trend for Summer to sample 90’s hit like “Come Thru” featuring Usher, which was sampled from his song “You Make Me Wanna.” Another is “Summer Reign”, which was Rick Ross song she was featured on, that sampled “Rain” by SWV. Summer isn’t making it sound bad, but let’s hope it doesn’t become her “thing”. Granted, she has more non-sampled songs than sampled songs so let’s keep it at that.
What did you think of these drops over the weekend? Comment below and let me know!
It may sound weird, but I love the artists that aren’t mainstream. Often at times, when artists become mainstream, they create music that tailors towards the radio. Producers, songwriters, writers, etc know how to create a song strictly tailored towards the radio. You do have some artists that are so hot, that when they drop a single that isn’t a radio song, it doesn’t matter because they have such a huge following, that no matter what they produce and drop as a single, people are going to gravitate towards it, such as Meg Thee Stallion’s B.I.T.CH record. CLEARLY, that song isn’t meant to be on the radio but since it got so much attention on social media, Meg and her team edited it down to be radio-friendly.
BUT, there are artists who make poppin music, who’s poppin on Apple Music, YouTube, Instagram, etc but their music doesn’t get much play on the radio; those are the artists to cherish and watch out for. These artists are the ones who make that unique music, that different shit, that “I wanna clean the house, write in my journal, and reflect” music. Here’s a list of those dope artists:
Xavier Omar
Okayplayer.com
He’s been making some dope music for a while now. His biggest hits on Apple Music are “Afraid”, “Runnin’ Round”, and “Blind Man”. I love his sound and he’s one of the artists that you want to keep near and dear to you without them being mainstreamed and their sounding changing for radio standards.
Snoh Aalegra
exclaim.ca
Ms. Aalegra is getting noticed out here. She does have one song on an r&b station but she’s not 100% mainstream. Snoh is Swedish and she crossed over to American music. Her popular songs are “Woah” and “I Want You Around” which is on the radio. She’s becoming more noticed and more than likely will become full mainstream by the end of the year.
Kiana Lede
Hypebae.com
This lady has been singing covers on YouTube for years now; (that’s how she got my attention.) Some of her most viewed covers was “Come and See Me” mixed with “Location”, “Hotline Bling” and “White Iverson.” She just made her way into mainstream with her single “Ex”. Her latest song is “Forfeit” but it’s not on the radio. Kiana should be recognized because she’s been working her ass off, making herself noticeable for years now. GO KIANA!
Alina Baraz
medium.com
Alina Alina. She’s a Ukrainian artist born in the US and she makes that sensual sexy music. She’s been lowkey on the scene since 2015. Some of her best hits are “Electric” featuring Khalid, “Fantasy”, and “Floating” featuring Khalid again. She has an album coming out this year in which she’s released music from it. Her music hasn’t made its way to a radio in my city (St. Louis) but she’s an artist who’s going to go far even if her music doesn’t make it to the radio.
Nao
Dazed.com
Nao is another great artist who’s sound is just as melodic as the above artists. Her popular songs include “Another Lifetime”, “Bad Blood”, and “Orbit”. She hasn’t released any new music since her last album Saturn. 🗣WHERE YOU AT NAO??
Victoria Monet
Hawtcelebs.com
Victoria has been recognizably making music for 5 years but her music has been generating in Apple Music playlists and more streaming sites for some time now. Her single “Ass Like That” is personally one of my favs. Another one of her reason singles is “Moment”.
Sometimes when you hear the same artists on the radio, you get over them real quick and you want to listen to something different. Try listening to these artists and if you’re already to listening to them, keep it up and support them.
Comment your favorite song by these artists if you’re already fans.
Music is the best therapy and the best way to occupy yourself during this down time. A lot of music was dropped this month and even last month; if you need something to listen to, here are some R&B and Hip-Hop projects you can dive into.
Young Jeezy- Twenty/20 Pyrex Vision
hypebeast.com
The Weeknd- After Hours
hypebeast.com
Childish Gambino- 3.15.20
talkmuzik.com
Megan Thee Stallion- Suga
pitchfork.com
PartyNextDoor- PARTYMOBILE
djbooth.net
Jhene Aiko- Chilombo
urbanislandz.com
Lil Baby- My Turn
pitchfork.com
Yo Gotti- Untrapped
genius.com
Bonus:
Snoh Alegra- Ugh, Those Feels Again
If we’re still in the house a month from now, be on the lookout for another list lol.
Danii Gold 