What’s up world? New lunar month, new newsletter platform.
Please enjoy a music-only newsletter while I work out this transition!
You can follow along to these and future newsletter songs on your streaming platform of choice:
Apple Music • Spotify • Tidal
Conveniency
Another awesome track from Jungle/Drum & Bass producer Nia Archives. Her recent songs have the perfect combination of fast-paced percussion and light airy vibes. Her stage name is also the inspiration for the title of the shared playlists I linked above.
Something I Need
Found via a Beats by Dre x Girls Don’t Cry commercial, this funky R&B song really feels like floating (check the commercial).
Beyond the connection to Beats, I learned that Koteri is the band of Arab superstar Amr Diab’s son.
This was a really “small world” moment for me because my wife has been introducing me to more and more Arabic music lately, including Amr. However calling the internationally known and literal best-selling Middle Eastern artist Amr Diab an Arab superstar is selling him short, in fact–
Ally El Wadaa
Based on my beginner’s knowledge of his illustrious career, this 2003 song is one of my favorites.
I’ll be sharing more Arab and global music in these newsletters, but for now, back to my hip-hop roots!
Ready For Love
“Ready For Love” by Wiz Khalifa & Girl Talk
This song is so funky and features Wiz at his vintage hook-singing best. As a huge fan of Wiz’s early mixtape career, this has quickly become one of my favorite Wiz songs.
It’s off the group project “Full Court Press” by Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T., and Smoke DZA featuring absolutely fire production from Girl Talk.
I found the “Full Court Press” project via its prior single “Put You On”, which I heard while looking for new clothes, yes shopping in-store!
And just for fun, since it auto-played alphabetically while writing this up, here’s a bonus throwback: “Put Your Records On” by Corinne Bailey Rae.
Aang
This is the latest single from my favorite music collective of the past few years, Pivot Gang.
Slight explicit lyrical content heads-up on this one. On that topic, shout-out to Apple Music’s recent “Safe for Work” hip-hop playlist.
I found Pivot Gang through their member Saba, whose sites I’ve wrote about previously, and who has a new mixtape on the way. Stay tuned and in the meantime why not re-peep my footage of his 2018 LA tour stop.
Feeling Good
“Feeling Good (Joel Corry Remix)” by Nina Simone & Joel Corry
I can’t find when and where I Shazamed this one but I’m glad I did. Good vibes and a modern remix of a classic song that I really dig.
Carefree
“Carefree” by KingTrey, Mick Jenkins & femdot.
Mellow, vibey, and laid-back hip-hop.
I haven’t listened to KingTrey before this but Mick Jenkins and femdot made this a must-listen and all 3 deliver.
It also has a familiar sample that some may recognize. WhoSampled won’t help you with this one, but I’ll submit this sample and finally give back to the WhoSampled community. This is also a great time to reference this fascinatingly complex analysis of WhoSampled data from a few years ago.
For any other Mick Jenkins fans who may have paused reading the last song and artist, yes Mick Jenkins also has a solo song named “Carefree”.
It was the lead single off his 2020 7-track EP “The Circus” which was the perfect prelude to his 2021 “Elephant in the Room”.
Foe tha Love of $
“Foe Tha Love of $ (feat. Eazy-E)” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony
And finally, this 90’s classic (are we old yet?) was the title inspiration for this fourth entry of the newsletter.
Most of my recommendations aren’t too lyrically explicit, but if that’s not your thing, plug your ears on this one.
Peace
Thanks for reading!
Once again you can listen to these songs, as well as past and future shared music here:
Apple Music • Spotify • Tidal
Peace and Ramadan Mubarak!