04.26: It’s finally here! Check out Beyoncé’s and Andre 3000’s take on the late great Any Winehouse“Back To Black.” The very highly anticipated cover will be featured on The Great Gatsby soundtrack, which will be made available May 7th. Don’t you just LOVE how haunting and seductive Beyoncé’s voice sounds on this? Sadly I could have very much done without Andre 3000's part.
05.02 UPDATE: The CDQ version can now be streamed below via NPR.
TIBS EDIT: Gotta send a special shoutout to Chicago's own Hollywood Holt, who produced this record. The story of how that happened made the Chicago Reader and is a fun, quick read here. #TreatedCrew!
After looking over this weeks Top 5, four out of the five songs are really that kind of zone out to music so I hope you all get that same feeling that I did when I was putting this list together. Lets not waste anymore time and get into these tracks.
Easily the most anticipated song that so many people have been looking forward to in a long time. I compared it to the Mayan calendar, and though the song didn't live up to all the anticipation that it had recieved it still did better then the Mayans. I think it was a solid return for Justin, an I'm still pretty confident that the final album is going to be dope as hell.
There isn't much that can be said about this song that hasn't already been said. The obvious new attraction to this song is hearing Big Boi and Andre 3K on the same song again. Hopefully we won't have to wait another couple of years before we hear them together again because this just reminds us how great they are together.
This is a song that I fear people might have over looked because of the unfimiliar name, but your hearing it here first. Mr. Gage is dope. I've known about him because I'm homies with his camp SUH, but this is my first time hearing his music and I am very impressed. Stay in tuned with this guy.
Murph Watkins finds himself in my Top 5 yet again. Every time I hear new music from him I can't help but to think a better version of Curren$y and this song furthered that idea. Listen for yourself and tell me I'm wrong.
The final song on this weeks list is a definite change of pace compared to the other four songs on the list. When I listen to this it serves its purpose, which to me is club/riding music. If your looking for a dope track to kick off the night to "Millions" is for you.
So that's this weeks list, hope you liked it and if you didn't feel free to tell me about it.
Here is the remix to "Pink Matter" - the original version that was supposed to feature OutKast reunited, but ultimately only Andre 3000 made the channel Orange version, since they didn't want the OutKast reunion to happen on someone else's record.
Big Boi's verse is new - and this one's a must-grab for any Frank fans, any OutKast fans... any music fans.
As planed earlier this summer both André 3000 and Big Boi from Outkast were supposed to appear on Frank Ocean's Channel Orange. These plans fell through because of Big Boi who explained himself through Twitter, he "didn't want an Outkast Record Coming out on anybody else LP." However, André 3000 still kept his spot on the album.
Plans have now changed and a few days ago Big Boi representatives confirmed a new version of "Pink Matter" which will include Frank Ocean and André 3000 together with Big Boi. This will mark the first Outkast appearance in 6 months.
This doesn't seem to be a one time thing since Big Boi announced on Twitter today that him and André 3000 will also make an appearance on T.I.'s "Sorry", there is still no date to when the single will be released but now we all have something to look forward to.
Last week, T.I. stopped off in Chicago as part of his nationwide promo tour for Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head, and above is our informative and highly entertaining new sit-down with Julian On Da Radio!
Informative? Because T.I. reveals a couple of interesting anecdotes in relation to the album, including the one artist he had not really known before collaborating for the album. And which were some of the toughest tracks and collabs of the 127 (!) that he recorded for the album, that didn't make the final tracklist. (SPOILER: One is "Trap N****" f/ Pharrell).
Highly entertaining? Because Julian premieres a new segment called "60 Second Quickies", where he asks rapid-fire questions to Tip in 60 seconds, where he has to answer with the first thing that comes to mind. Watch and see an unfiltered T.I. be caught off guard, or have the exact answer that will make you laugh out loud.
"60 Second Quickie" Examples:
What's the largest sum of money you've ever deposited in your bank account?
Who is someone, living or dead, you would have dinner with?
What is something perfect to have on a date?
Furthermore, check out the story behind the interview that I posted last week when, literally at the conclusion of our interview, T.I. bumped into Marlon Wayans at the elevator. Crazy! It warrants mentioning that, even though T.I. was on a time crunch, he was real genuine and grateful to us and we'd like to reciprocate the same to T.I. for his time and positive energy. Gowhere You Love!
And lastly, the video also contains some footage from the Trouble Man listening party we attended later that night, and I'd be remiss not to drop some thoughts on one of my favorite artists' new album.
- Of the singles that were previewed prior to today, "Sorry" f/ Andre 3000 and "Trap Back Jumpin'" are heavy in my rotation.
- "Can You Learn" featuring R. Kelly features a strong chorus from the latter and is a track with substance that I was expecting from Kellz' other high-profile rap collab earlier this year.
- "Guns And Roses" featuring Pink will be that Billboard single that charts the highest off this album. And it's a legit one with a relatable concept (how you can't stand someone not being with you, but can't stand them when they are), some dope rhymes from Tip, and sultry vocals from Pink. Another *Tibs Fav.
- "Wonderful Life" featuring Akon is my favorite concept from T.I. on the album. In a couple of verses, he speaks to himself from the perspective of his dad, and late friend Philant Johnson. An all-caps *TIBS FAV. off that alone (and Akon does his thing as well).
- "Hallelujah" is perhaps the most left-field of records you'd expect from T.I., but when you think harder about it, it's really not. Tip channels a gospel style singer for the chorus and an appreciation to the one above! The type of feel-good record I've been vibing with the most these past few months, and a fitting conclusion to the album.
- Everyone went bananas for "Memories Back Then" featuring B.o.B & Kendrick Lamar - a track that unfortunately won't make the album with the sample that's intended (as described in my post of the download for it earlier today)
- Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head is a strong album from beginning to end, and continuing to grow on me. I hesitate to put it on the tier of Paper Trail and King, however, but as a T.I. fan since the beginning, I'm not disappointed in the album. A must-grab come tomorrow, December 18th.
I'm back at it with my Top 5 Songs of The Week. This week is was pretty easy for me for some reason, I listened to all the songs and these 5 jumped out at me right away. So that being said lets get to the list.
I know I don't put these in any type of order but this song is my number one song of the week, and I might add it to next week's list just because it's that damn cold. Alicia and Maxwell are two of the most amazing singers of our generations and them together just furthered that belief for me.
The Boy Illinois is getting ready to release his next project 'The Memiors Of Gilbert Gaston' and he has two dope single leading up to that release in early December.
Big Boi did it again. So far from the songs that have dropped from Big Boi he has taken full advantage of the features he has. T.I. and Ludacris killed this, the beat is hard as hell, Big Boi did his things as usual, and he even added a thought provoking sample at the end. 'Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors' is going to NICE.
T.I. is a two time winner this week. It's hard to see any song with Andre 3000 on it not being in the top songs of the week, and I am not going to test that theory. T.I. spit a solid verse and 3k did something that he doesn't often do by letting us into his personal life when mentioning the apologizes to his mother, Big Boi, and "Baby Mother".
The Dream to me is real hit or miss. I really liked his first album but hated his second. This song reminds me of the music from his first album so I'm hoping this album will continue down this path and be a hit overall.
So that's this weeks list from me hope you all enjoy. Always feel free to comment with your thoughts and opinions. Til next week, two fingers to the side(that's peace to you don't get it).
New single off the upcoming album, Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head.
Didn't like how this started right away with T.I.'s verse, but it was already starting to grow on me halfway through. By verse 2 I was rockin' with Tip, but it was Dre lettin' loose with a long verse and singing outro that makes this track. As for the other elements, I like the female vocals on the hook, but I'm not feelin' the production as well. Solid overall, and I could bump this up to 4 stars and *Tibs Fav. status eventually.
Tomorrow (or perhaps sometime later tonight), we're going to get to hear the new single from T.I. featuring none other than Andre 3000. I think "Sorry" is the opposite feeling I'll have when this drops soon. Off the upcoming album, Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head, dropping December 18th.
This last week of November is off to a big start, isn't it?
