Back again with another unique feature for GWHH - a review of N*E*R*D’s newest album, Seeing Sounds, just released in stores this week! Simply click the ‘Reviews’ tag above and check out our previous reviews! (Here I Stand,Tha Carter III, & The Glow In The Dark Tour in Chicago)
Seeing Sounds is a perfect title for the album; right away, the listener can see the hip-hop production mixed with rock, a unique element that defines N*E*R*D* with a sound unlike anything listeners have ever heard. The reason for the title goes deeper than that as N*E*R*D member, Shay states,
“It’s a mixture of senses that may cause a person to experience colorful hearing, auditory smell. For example, you might see something, and it might trigger a song. You might hear something, and it might trigger a taste in your mouth. When we created this album, it was the music we envisioned while creating it. We decided it would be the appropriate title for the album.”
Their vision was executed very well in the music and I think fans of hip hop and rock alike will enjoy parts of this album, at the very least. The personification of this vision for the album has to lie within one of my favorites - “Spaz”. As Pharrell describes,
“[The song] ‘Spaz’ is [a] nostalgic, hip-hop feeling with some drum and bass. It becomes a big, tall monster. It’s almost like this big gorilla looking down at you. If he smacks you, he kills you. His fingers are the size of your body. That’s kinda what we’re doing. We’re facing this big monster of, of what we know is out there, of what we see, that big monster of energy.”
While the production of the album is its most consistent attribute, I would say the lyrics throughout Seeing Sounds are the most inconsistent. The track, “Love Bomb” contains elements of both brilliance and non-sense, in fact, and illustrates similar patterns seen throughout the entire album.
“Can’t you see?
This is the Truman show baby
Cuz when they fight who dies is you
Ohhhh what if you unscrew me?
We’ve got the same gear and the same tools
But how you gonna catch up with your head hanging down
Whatcha see staring at the ground?
But I believe, even without a clue
You’ve got sunlight
And it can be your guide
No more political dreams
Not another excuse
Don’t need another love song when you the love bomb..
To just blow us away
To freakin’ blow the lights out
Turning night to day
And root from other way
Just to make it right now
Fuck what the government say
We gotta save some lights now
Is it ok?”
- N.E.R.D. “Love Bomb”
The important idea to note about the lyrics, however, is that the “non-sense” I’m speaking of can actually be interpreted positively as seen above in “Love Bomb”. They spread their message with a very unique approach that I’m not sure I like, or even fully comprehend sometimes, but I definitely respect. The lyrics are quite unique, that in some cases, it provides for some deep reflecting to try and understand what they mean behind the “non-sense”. The one area I believe the lyrics can improve in is in the choruses. One of the first things I concluded after a couple listens of the album was the repetitiveness of almost every chorus. Sometimes a simple phrase is repeated every so often (See: “Everyone Nose”, “Anti Matter”, “Spaz”, & more..) that it takes away from the depth of the verses and limits the album’s lasting appeal. I still do enjoy most of the songs, but will I still feel as strongly a couple weeks, even months down the road when the repetitiveness of the choruses sway the meter higher on the annoying scale? Time will determine that, but it is one concern of the album that holds it back a little bit. Luckily, in almost all the tracks, the beats are never the same throughout and actually switch very drastically for certain bridges, which provides for fresh tracks and doubles as an effective strategy for a listener trying to perceive the group’s vision of Seeing Sounds.
Overall, this album is a MUST-BUY for any fan of hip hop OR rock as Seeing Sounds has some strong crossover appeal to fans of both genres. It is certainly one album I will be blaring through the speakers throughout the summer. As an added bonus, DL one more track from the album called “You Know What”. It was the one track that jumped out at me (and Lupe :D) as an instant classic when I popped in the album for the first time the other day. Be sure to pick up the album ASAP if you don’t have it already. If you hurry to your nearest Best Buy, Circuit City, or Target sometime today, you can still pick it up at its first-week discounted price of $9.99!
04. Hero f/ Keri Hilson (Prod. by Polow Da Don) *Tibs Fav.
05. Black President (Prod. By DJ Green Lantern) *Tibs Fav.
06. Association f/ Stic Man (Of Dead Prez) (Prod. By Stic Man) *Tibs Fav.
07. Legendary (Mike Tyson) (Prod. by Salaam Remi) *Tibs Fav.
08. Ghetto RMX f/ Joell Ortiz (Prod. by DJ Green Lantern)
09. Seen It All (Green Mix)
10. Esco Let’s Go (Prod by DJ Khallil)
11. N.I.G.G.E.R. (Slave and Master) (Prod by DJ Toomp) *Tibs Fav.
12. Be A Nigger Too RMX f/ Dante Hawkins (Prod. by DJ Green Lantern) *Tibs Fav.
13. Surviving The Times (Original Cool and Dre Version) *Tibs Fav.
14. Nas Timeline - Mixed by Statik Selektah (Nararated by Nas) *Tibs Fav.
15. Outro f/ Richard Pryor
Nas “Be A Nigger Too”
VIDEO PREMIERE!
Above is all NEW Nas for ya - the long awaited mixtape, The Nigger Tape, with DJ Green Lantern AND the VIDEO PREMIERE of “Be A Nigger Too”. It’s impossible 2 go through and listen and hear Nas without him stirring some thoughts and emotions in you and I think he proves it once again with this mixtape (STILL bumpin’ “Hero” and will be for awhile..!), setting the stage for his album, tentatively titled Nas, in stores July 15th! Below are a couple solid trax from N*E*R*D (another bonus track… Seeing Sounds in stores 2morrow!) and One Chance! Enjoy!
FULL, CDQ, BONUS track off upcoming album, Seeing Sounds, in stores 06.10 (U.S.) *Tibs Fav.
***Apparently, the official title for the song is “Lazer Gun”, so I just made the switch now.***
Seeing Sounds in stores 2morrow!! ..And here’s a track that didn’t make the album, and well, Idk why cuz I’m really feelin’ it. Typical N*E*R*D which is a good thing cuz its got the unique beat, the unique lyrics, and an overall sick vibe. All 3 members straight up bring it and I love how the beat changes up in the verses and the chorus. MUST-DL! And as an NBA nut, I loved this… “That’s like Larry Bird 2 come school Jabaar!” Hah, DL above & enjoy!
~ Sgt. “The Laser Gun Carrying, Milky Way Mastaaa” Tibs
Some quick hit vids for ya eyes and ears. Not much else 2 say, cept Dwele… jyeaa!! Dwele is sick. He should blow up, esp after the extra exposure from “Flashing Lights”. Gotta run, but enjoy!
FULL, CDQ, Track off upcoming album, Seeing Sounds, in stores 06.10 (U.S.) *Tibs Fav.
“Really Amazing…Love Bomb, You Know What,
Sooner Or Later are all instant classics…
Windows is fun as hell…
and everything comes across even better live…
LOVE BOMB IS AMAZING…thats 3 amazings…”
- Lupe Fiasco, describing N*E*R*D’s upcoming album, Seeing Sounds
Don’t just take it from me, take it from Lupe Fiasco as Seeing Sounds is approaching release, enjoy a couple trax off the album! Lupe is dead on about “Love Bomb” as the song conveys an interesting, thought-provoking message over a mellow melody. Pharrell sings it and the song is immediately ear-catching with an attractive chorus and an instant affect lyrically. The lyrics aren’t as straight forward tho as it takes a few listens 2 grasp what Pharrell is sayin’ here. The other full track u can find on GWHH - “Time For Some Action” really displays the group’s unique production and makes for a great opening track for the album.
BELOW, check out the latest from Cleveland rapper, Chip Tha Ripper! The song has been up on his MySpace for a lil bit, but the mp3 is available for DL now! Chip definitely shows some talent in the verses, matching up with a catchy chorus that might be able 2 take off. And I’m a lil late on this (checkin’ our email, haha) but the single from Chicago R&B singer Ben One is out now and it features Shawnna (frequent Ludacris collaborator). It’s a pretty nice track and I like the lyrics above all in that song. Enjoy!
30 Sec. Snippets Of Every Track On The Album! *Tibs Fav.
N.E.R.D. - Seeing Sounds - Tracklist:
Intro/ Time For Some Action
Everyone Nose (All The Girls Standing In Line For The Bathroom)
Windows
Anti Matter
Spaz
Yeah You
Sooner or Later
Happy
Kill Joy
Love Bomb
You Know What
Laugh About It
Above are the 30 second snippets of all the tracks off N.E.R.D.’s upcoming album, Seeing Sounds! A lot of the beats are captivating on first listen and they are all included on an mp3 that is about 5+ minutes long! Below u can find some NEW music from Chris Brown (2 tracks that will be on the re-release of Exclusive), T-Pain, & a dope Lupe Fiasco Interview with NBC Chicago! Couple quick CB notes… never was really high on “Picture Perfect” and the RMX doesn’t really add much IMO, but I do love CB’s new 3rd verse. And 2, I believe “Heart Ain’t A Brain” was included in the rush of trax that followed Exclusive after its original release in November… from the DJ Babey Drew leaks. This version is supposedly the full version that will be appearing on the re-release - Exclusive: The Forever Edition in stores next Tuesday, June 3rd! Oh also, if u’ve noticed, we haven’t been posting any of those fan-made videos on the Glow In The Dark Tour… well, we will post official videos, including the first one below as Kanye West addresses the Chicago crowd on 05.23.08, courtesy of MTV News. Hopefully a DVD will be coming well after the tour concludes! Enjoy!
Sophrosyne: The sound minded Kanye West knew what he wanted, how he wanted it done, and how to execute it. Every detail had felt like he had delt with it personally. I have never seen another artist try so hard to deliver such an incredible performance. Thank you Mr. West, and thank you for the very personal artist book that was given out after the show titled “Thank You, And You’re Welcome.” The artist book was very well done; Kanye speaks the TRUTH. As an artist I really appreciate all the hard work and effort that was put in, because let’s face it, presentation is everything. ‘Ye appropriated the concert experience to the art form that it’s supposed to be. Mixing a phenomenal “theater” experience w/ his spine chilling records booming through the UC was quite the experience. “Graduation” is really the album that kicked off all of this out of the box ingenuity for the music business, especially the two very artistic “Flashing Lights” videos which blew my mind. The show deserves a 5 star rating for the 5 star performances from Lupe & FNF, N.E.R.D. Rihanna, and Kanye West. [Max G.]
Lupe Fiasco kicked off the show with “The Coolest” over the “Let There Be Light” Justice beat, as expected and it was even sicker live! That got me right into it as he brought out the lovely Nikki Jean for “Hip-Hop Saved My Life” and “Little Weapon” with Bishop G gettin’ in his verse. The highlight of Lupe’s set was “Go Go Gadget Flow” as he sped through the Chicago-inspired hit at an even faster break-neck speed, dropping the beat for the 2nd verse and going a capella at like 1000 words per second it seemed. Haha, the crowd got really into it and fed off the energy from Lupe and his guests and that moment was just ridiculous. “Paris, Tokyo” took on an interesting sound as Sarah Green provided the chorus and a beautiful solo 2 conclude the song, wow. Her voice was booming! Lupe then introduced the Chicago electronic duo, He Say She Say, as they performed “Crash Dummie”. I loved it and was prolly one of 10 people in the UC who knew the words, but I hope others came away impressed. Matthew Santos was the next guest 2 arrive as Lupe & himself performed “Fighters” followed by “Superstar”, which the crowd went nuts for! And then Lupe fittingly ends his set with “Daydreamin’” as him and Bishop G just lost it on stage with Santos and Sarah Green providing some backup vocals, setting up the stage for N.E.R.D., Rihanna, & Kanye West! (Such a beautifull daayyy…!) I’ve seen Lupe Fiasco LIVE 3 times now and I’d have to say that this was my favorite of the 3 as he brought the perfect amount of energy to kick off the show, gave us a couple surprises, and perfectly organized the song order and guest list, allowing his fellow FNF artists shine in such a big spotlight…although no GemStones for Friday night :(. The United Center finally filled in by “Superstar” and its energy did not dip one bit as after a quick 15 minute intermission, N.E.R.D. came out and straight up rocked the house. Pharrell & Co. were simply goin’ crazy, hitting their groove with “Rock Star” and continuing with “Spaz” (featuring a surprise dance performance from Chris Brown!), then “Lapdance”, “Everyone Nose”, & their biggest hit (so far) with “She Wants To Move”, bringing up some lucky ladies in the first couple rows to ‘move’ on stage. They got myself and the crowd a lil’ more active as we were swaying, spazing, jumping, and just going crazy by the last few trax! After a lil’ longer intermission, out came Rihanna, who had her moments on stage, jumping from hit 2 hit. I thought she did pretty good and was relieved that her voice didn’t sound significantly different than on the radio; it’s just that… for most of the crowd, I would think the energy dropped off a little bit, especially after Lupe and N.E.R.D. and the anticipation for Kanye. While I liked Rihanna’s set, it just didn’t seem 2 fit, but I suppose that’s debatable since she definitely had the crowd going for “Don’t Stop The Music” and her finale, “Umbrella”. Just one more intermission and out comes Kanye West on his futuristic space set 2 “Good Morning”. It was almost surreal at first for me and it took me a few trax 2 fully appreciate what I was seeing. He jumped through track to track with no breaks and a sick storyline where his spaceship crashed and his control center dying. The organization was pure genius. He gets on his “Spaceship”, performs the song, cuts it off as the spaceship is crashing, and bam! “All Falls Down”! The beginning/middle of his set included many hits like “Diamonds” (wow @ looking at the whole crowd w/ the diamonds in the sky), “Flashing Lights”, & “Through The Wire” 2 name a few. I was lovin’ these performances but had this unsatisfied feeling in the back of my mind… like I know he’s still got somethin for us. He finally hit “Hey Mama” and as expected, the emotional performance even further ignited the crowd as the United Center got a lil more louder than ‘loudest’ when Kanye motioned for the crowd, singing “I wanna scream so loud for you!”. Whoo, and so begins the “chills” segment of Kanye West’s set. Up next, as I correctly predicted, “Stronger”! Stadium status right there. Everyone was going 2 lose it, we all knew it was going 2 be something special, and Kanye delivered! “Is this what you’ve been waiting for?” was the embedded theme on ‘Ye’s chorus’ as he was spazzing on his suddenly higher, spaceship platform stage. Magnificent. Up next he came up with “Homecoming” as the preceding “Hey Mama” and “Stronger” catapulted him and his spaceship for their return 2 Earth! And of course, being in Chicago, “Homecoming” had an even greater, special meaning. When Kanye got 2, “And if you don’t know by now, I’m talkin’ bout CHI-TOWN!”, there’s no way the hometown crowd was lifted 2 another level (unless u were the 40-yr old lady a couple rows in front of us with Stronger shades, no one else sitting w/ her, and no reaction at all, haha!). ‘Ye ad-libbed a couple “It’s my town! CHI-Town!” lines in the subsequent chorus and we were at the palm of his hand! For his grand finale, Kanye was now able 2 “Touch The Sky”, which again carried greater significance for us as fellow Chicago boy Lupe Fiasco came out 2 another huge ovation for his 3rd verse. My personal favorite moment came at the end of Lupe’s verse with the lines, “Now let me end my verse right where the horns are like, uhhh!”, as Lupe, Kanye, AND Tibs jumped up with the exclamation point on a fantastic concert! Wow, what a great feeling. The last 4 songs were Kanye’s best performances IMO and left me shakin’ well afterwards. Kanye introduced his helpers on the night and left us all with a personal, emotional, and uplifting message that u can see parts of in the recapped YouTube video below! Also, check out the tracklist of the performances in order from Lupe Fiasco & Kanye West! [Sgt. Tibs]
10. “Daydreamin’” f/ Bishop G, Matthew Santos, & Sarah Green
Kanye West LIVE @ Glow In The Dark Tour 05.23.08
01. “Good Morning”
02. “I Wonder”
03. “Heard ‘Em Say”
04. “Through The Wire”
05. “Champion”
06. “Get ‘Em High”
07. “Diamonds From Sierra Leone”
08. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”
09. “Flashing Lights”
10. “Spaceship”
11. “All Falls Down”
12. “Gold Digger”
13. “Good Life”
14. “Jesus Walks”
15. “Hey Mama”
16. “Stronger”
17. “Homecoming”
18. “Touch The Sky” f/ Lupe Fiasco
***NOTE: Neither Lupe or Kanye did every track in its entirety. Correct me if I’m wrong on the order, but I’m almost positive that it’s all correct! [Sgt. Tibs]
05.24.08
From Left 2 Right: Max G., Nikki Jean, Sgt. Tibs
We went over 2 Saint Alfred’s for the last-minute meet & greet with one of our favorite up and coming artists - Nikki Jean! We were greeted warmly right away, and had a good chance to meet face to face with such a good interviewee and talented artist. It is refreshing 2 see an artist give back like this and put forth a lot of effort 2 give fans like us a chance to not only meet her but get to know her as a person. She was so nice and warm 2 everyone and we wish her nothing but the best of luck in the future cuz she flat out deserves it!
(Note the first official Limited G (Max G.’s clothing line) shirt with the GWHH logo in glow in the dark paint, which aspired a certain glow at the tour. Chyea!)
Finally as a bonus below, check out YouTube-piano sensation David Sides as he plays the Lupe Fiasco mega-hit - “Superstar”! Enjoy! [Sgt. Tibs & Max G.]
I wanted 2 share the final, RED ape cover of N.E.R.D.’s Seeing Sounds, an album that I am getting increasingly excited for with all their hot trax that have leaked already! Since we all love art work up here at GWHH, I had 2 share this album cover that I really like, and so there’s no confusion, I don’t got a new N.E.R.D. track in case that’s what u were thinking. Instead, you can peep 5 solid NEW trax, the first one by Mickey Factz and Lauryn Hill… a great mellow track that is lyrically on point. I’m def feelin’ that 1 along with the NEW T.I. verse and 3 NEW R&B trax below! Peep them (and our 2 EXCLUSIVE MIXTAPES from yesterday) with a lil’ scrolling below! Enjoy!
***NOTE: At the time now and for the next few hours, zShare is currently down and you can’t DL or upload files at the moment so I did this batch of trax with Mediafire.
Producer: Deezle & Jim Jonsin - FULL, CDQ *Tibs Fav.
Now if you’ve been followin’ GWHH for awhile, u’ll know I’m not the biggest fan of Weezy, but in fact, “Lollipop” was one of his songs that I didn’t have 2 switch right away and now Kanye brings it on the autotuner with the highly anticipated RMX! I’m not huge on the autotuner trend that is hitting all the major artists now as well and I can see it getting out of hand fast, but not yet at least. U already know Kanye is ridiculous in his first verse, just like u already know, our boy Lupe Fiasco straight up kills any beat, like the dirty south collaboration with friend Bun B! Love their verses. Below, there’s another good hip hop track from the legend KRS-One. Also, u may recognize “Body On Me” from a couple weeks ago with Nelly and Akon only, but it turns out it is Ashanti’s song and her next single. And Yung Berg also drops his next single so peep and DL all the NEW trax above & below! And take a look at the video PREMIERE of N.E.R.D.’s “Everyone Nose” while u wait! Enjoy!
N*E*R*D - Seeing Sounds - GWHH Review
