Month: October 2021

Hamilton’s last studio album, 2015’s What I’m Feelin’, found him reuniting with producer Mark Batson, the man behind his most beloved early hits like “Charlene,” “Can’t Let Go,” and “Comin’ From Where I’m From.” The album was his sixth consecutive album to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B album charts, peaking at number two.

This time around, Hamilton was on the lookout for  a more cinematic sound that embodied 1970s Blaxploitation era soul. However, to achieve this sound, he wanted some “fresh energy.” Thus, he made the surprising decision to reach out to top hip-hop producers like 9th Wonder, Jermaine Dupri, and Lil Jon.

“9th Wonder has proven time and time again with Jay-Z or any producer he’s worked with, Rapsody or whoever, Kendrick Lamar, and just he knows how to bring those sounds out,” Hamilton said. “With JD, he knows my voice, he knows what it should sound like. So, he knows how to pair it with the right music. With Bink?  Bink is absolutely a monster with choosing old soul samples, as you can hear on ‘I’m Sorry,’ and a few of the other records.”

Hamilton says that he notices that the younger generation is “pulling away from the original R&B and classic R&B a little bit.” So, he wants to remind them that he’s inspired by hip-hop just as much as he’s influenced by legendary soul acts like Otis Redding and Bill Withers.

Such an amalgamation isn’t more prevalent than on the Rick Ross-assisted “Real Love,” beautifully built around an interpolation of Ahmad Jamal’s “Swahililand,” a nod to De La Soul’s “Stakes Is High” which samples the same song.

Love Is The New Black is one of Hamilton’s most dense lyrical dives into heartache, betrayal, and turmoil. Songs like the atmospheric “Threw It All Away” and sparse, guitar-driven “You Made A Fool of Me” were drawn from observations and conversations that Hamilton had with people whose relationships unraveled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People were splitting up and getting divorced, and love was getting hit pretty hard upside the head,” Hamilton said. “And hearing these stories, it’s like, ‘wow, I got to create some music for these people, some to give you hope and some to give you the OK to leave, to bounce because it’s not healthy,’ and just to have a well-rounded emotional release with this album.”

The pandemic made Hamilton look within himself as well. As one of the first musicians to give an at-home performance for his fans via social media last year, Hamilton reflected on how the COVID shutdowns forced him to slow down and smell the roses himself before giving his fans something to look forward to in such bleak times.

“In one aspect, it gave me a much-needed rest and time to kind of sit back and see all I’ve done, you know, what I’ve given to this art and to my fans, to appreciate it,” Hamilton said. “And then once it was time for me to, you know, to start performing again, I wanted to make them feel that, even through social media or the internet, I wanted, virtually, I wanted to make them feel something that I felt like was missing in their lives.”

Hamilton has returned to touring, however, after being hospitalized for two weeks with COVID-19 himself in December. He feels ambivalent about being in front of crowds again. He urges fans to wear masks at his gigs, which he says is “the best way of not transmitting the virus.”

But he’s nevertheless focused on delivering for his fans as he brings these funky, lamenting new songs to the stage.

“It is time to go back out and give the people what they need,” Hamilton said. “But then there’s a part of me that’s like, ‘man, are we moving too fast? Should we wait a little longer until things really kind of taper off?’ So I kind of have mixed emotions about it, but I’m going to do my best to be as safe as I can and [see] if I can make it safe for other people.”

Before the track making it into the top 10 club this week, “Wockesha” nearly crossed the barrier a month ago, when it reached a then-best of No. 11 on the chart dated Sept. 4. Its upward progress, however, paused thanks to the arrivals of Kanye West’s Donda and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy in consecutive weeks. Through the impressive streaming reach of both acts and rather lengthy albums (Donda hosts 27 tracks, while Certified houses 21), West and Drake both overwhelmed the top 10 with new songs in their respective debut weeks that forced “Wockesha” and other current hits drop on the list. As the flood subsides and chart tides return to normal, “Wockesha” and other challengers mount successful rebounds.

That isn’t to say it’s all about West or Drake, though. “Wockesha,” which had climbed the chart before Donda and Certified, improves its own standing thanks to its growing reach with R&B/hip-hop radio programmers. Although the single reached No. 1 on the plays-based Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for two weeks in August – September, it improves 3-2 on the current list as it added 7% in plays in the week ending Sept. 26, according to MRC Data.

Similarly, the tune is also a former champ on the audience-based R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, and though it dips 2-3 on the newest list, it still gained 7% to 17.2 million in listenership in the tracking week.

Consecutively, “Wockesha” nabs two new radio peak positions. On Rap Airplay, it scores a 3-2 lift and a 10% audience boost, while it pushes 16-13 on Rhythmic Airplay  thanks to 20% more plays in the week on the radio format.

“Wockesha” appears on the rapper’s latest album, A Gangsta’s Pain. The set, released in April, marked Moneybagg Yo’s first No. 1 project on both the all-genre Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.

"From the days i was struggling in class failing trying to get candidacy for the college of recording industry to coming back and becoming a honorary professor show you that hard work with passion pay off," Tay Keith says, reflecting on his latest achievement. "S/O my alma mater acknowledging me and my team and letting me come educate and motivate the youngins who in the same shoes i was in just a few years ago. Respect always been some thats earned and it aint given and real ones always win in the end."

According to Complex, Tay Keith’s  label Drumatized Records will soon be launching an internship program in tandem with MTSU, which will reportedly give students the opportunity to work with the label's executive staff and learn about music industry business practices such as royalty splits, publishing, BMI submissions.

Check out the producer's  reaction to being named an honorary professor at MTSU below by clicking on the link. Congratulations, Tay Keith!

He wanted to record, but the only way he could communicate with anyone outside of prison was through a phone. So, recording on high-tech equipment was a no chance.

Then he met Michael A. Betts, II, the director of Duke’s Department of Continuing Education in the Center for Documentary Studies. Betts was working on a project when he met Braxton. Six months later, he received an unexpected request from the death row rapper to help him record his music.

“We talk about music clarity all the time. We spend money for high fidelity equipment regularly and we knew we weren’t going to overcome the sound the compression that the phone has,” Betts recalled.

Like all music, it became a matter of collaboration.

Betts called Mark Katz, who tutors Hip Hop and runs The Beat Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Katz sent up an SOS to industry friends.

“I put it out a social media,” Katz said.

He called for reinforcements to find a way to get a recording from a phone to a releasable recording. He found help, but it was not a simple process.

“It’s been hard. It’s been a journey. More than a year of trying every different possibility. Ya know anything that they could work on and there’s still limitations,” Katz said.

So, they decided, instead of fighting the phone sound, to embrace it.

“That’s actually a portion of his brand. He’s coming through the phone from behind the wall,” Katz said. “A lot of people say, this doesn’t sound like it was recorded over a phone “

Then there was a matter of timing. There was no way for Braxton to hear the music through headphones, only through the phone.

In the end, Braxton hopes the recently released single will do more than just provide a beat to entertain.

“I realize the decisions I made in my yesterdays had gotten me to the point where I was over 15 years ago,” he said.

And while he takes full responsibility for his actions, he wants those who are wrongly convicted to be heard.

That’s what the song is all about.

“With my music, I wanted to say something that’s important. I didn’t just want to use my music and the platform and the opportunity that I have just for entertainment. Of course, I love entertaining, and I love to sing and rap, but I wanted to have some type of message included with my music,” Braxton said.

As far as any profits that may come, he has a plan for those.

“I want them to give the money to family members and victims of crime,” Braxton said.

Big Doodie Lo got released on August 27 via EMPIRE and OTF Records with collaboration from Lil Durk, Moneybagg Yo, King Von, Pooh Shiesty, Big 30 and Yung Mal.

Welcome to O’Block went Gold! 🐐 LLKV 🕊 pic.twitter.com/wsfRFbUh7Y

— Long Live Von 🕊 (@DurkioxVon) September 23, 2021

King Von’s Welcome to O’Block album was certified gold by the RIAA on September 20 and his estate decided to celebrate the late Chicago rapper’s achievement by releasing a capsule collection of merchandise with designs approved by Von himself.

Kim Jones and Travis Scott first met way back in 2015 while Jones was still running operations over at Louis Vuitton. If KJ sees talent in another creative individual, he’s always looking to push the boundaries of fashion and expand his palette.

“It’s not about talent or celebrity, but if someone produces something I find cool, I want to interact with him. Travis knew exactly what he wanted. He understands what young people want, knows how to appeal to them. He also knows what the brand is about. We wanted it to be Dior with Travis’ element on top.”

During the Cactus Jack Dior fashion show in June, Travis Scott premiered a pair of unreleased songs with one tentatively titled “Escape Plan” which could be his next single. The profile claims his long-awaited UTOPIA  album will arrive before 2021 ends, so his ragers can still hold out hope.

HMM SOME ONE ASK ME HOW IM STARTING I SAID THIS IS HOW. 

WHO CAN REMEMBER THIS BY TONIGHT. pic.twitter.com/Ra76ejg77H

— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) July 24, 2021