Common
I've had a Neo-Soul / R&B / positive hip hop revival. All this instead of Christmas music. Couldn't get into the holiday spirit this year. Usually I at least want to listen to Christmas music (especially Charlie Brown Christmas), but this year, it's all be John Legend, Alicia Keys, and Common. I've always enjoyed Raphael Saddiq ever since Sophia introduced me to him last year, but for some reason, I could never branch out beyond Saddiq and Estelle.
After re-watching Samurai Champloo a couple months ago, I got back into the soundtrack (all 4 albums) and realized there were some similarities between the hip hop there and buddha bar music. Obviously Nujabes (the main artist - japanese hip hop artist) had more hip hop influence and less ambiance, but there was still that chill factor. So I checked out Nujabes, and he had a few tracks with Common, an american hip hop artist, I believe. What really struck me was the chill beat, not oppressive and trendy, almost ambiance, with some accent sounds, with horns or light synth. Nothing like todays hip hop and electro hop. Common also had some real positive, yet catchy hooks and lyrics.
Some more time went by and I got into Pandora and John Legended that shit. Well, I've fallen in love with nearly everything him and Alicia Keys have ever produced. Both artists really strike chords in my soul (or lack there of). There lyrics are simply amazing and their piano and other instrumental skills really portray the meaning of soul (or in this case, Neo-Soul). Ne-yo has come up, and while there is a slight connection between him and recent John Legend (Evolver), he's definitely more R&B. Then Common showed up on my John Legend Pandora Station.
Common is definitely hip hop, but his back beats are purely Neo-Soul. Old school horns, back up vocals, and a chill, but still, hip hop beat. And his lyrics are not just a positive spin on modern day hip hop, where they talk about reforming from hoes and blow, cars and money. No, his lyrics are a hip hop paradigm shift. Rather than proclaiming his "on top of the world" attitude that I feel like popular hip hop exhibits, he proclaims a sense of humbleness and reality. The common man's hip hop with a positive outlook, rather than just a spin. It might be why he's not main stream, but if he's on Pandora, he is at least moderately popular. For anyone enjoying chill hip hop and a step away from money, sex and hoes, he's definitely worth checking out. He has a plethora of material out there and I haven't heard a bad song from him yet.
Well, besides music, life has been good. Work has been busy, but I guess that's a good thing. Love life is the same as always, single unless something complicated comes along, but usually single. I don't ever make anything easy on myself. But that's okay. I've been coming to some important realizations lately about love and life.
I don't settle. I guess that means I keep looking for the perfect one, as fruitless as that endeavor is. But it'll keep me from entering something with which I won't be happy. But it does make me WAY picky, and seemingly uninterested in people, when the do actually intrigue me. I guess Taddeo stated it best when she said I was complicated. Case in point, I don't make things easy for myself.
I've also realized, I'm always going to run into girls either just out of a relationship or still affect by their previous one. Why is that? It's because it is the ONLY time, desirable women are single. If you take a girl who enjoys a relationship (though not necessarily required to be in one), and combine her with attractive qualities (looks, personality, similar interests), she's not going to be on the market long. Why? Because every other single guy like me has been waiting for her to come around. And why is it that a great deal of them come out of complicated or difficult situations? Because they would've been married otherwise. Which is good and bad. It's good because they didn't make a mistake and get married/divorced. It's bad because they were ready and waiting for marriage and it's only because shit got bad enough that they bailed. Granted this is an EXTREME generalization. Take for instance, someone who is cheated on. Until the knowledge of the cheatee is encountered, life would essentially be on track. It's not necessarily that the girl made a bad choice (beyond choosing a cheater, but that's a different story and discussion), but her mate did, and thus ruined things.
So, I'm going to be hard to please and I'm going to keep running into difficult situations. I've just basically got to focus on myself, become comfortable with who I am and be who I want to be. Complete my persona and personality. Once I am truly me and running with my life the way I want to live, someone will fit into the puzzle. Until then, it'll be hard to complete the puzzle when I don't have all the pieces.
After re-watching Samurai Champloo a couple months ago, I got back into the soundtrack (all 4 albums) and realized there were some similarities between the hip hop there and buddha bar music. Obviously Nujabes (the main artist - japanese hip hop artist) had more hip hop influence and less ambiance, but there was still that chill factor. So I checked out Nujabes, and he had a few tracks with Common, an american hip hop artist, I believe. What really struck me was the chill beat, not oppressive and trendy, almost ambiance, with some accent sounds, with horns or light synth. Nothing like todays hip hop and electro hop. Common also had some real positive, yet catchy hooks and lyrics.
Some more time went by and I got into Pandora and John Legended that shit. Well, I've fallen in love with nearly everything him and Alicia Keys have ever produced. Both artists really strike chords in my soul (or lack there of). There lyrics are simply amazing and their piano and other instrumental skills really portray the meaning of soul (or in this case, Neo-Soul). Ne-yo has come up, and while there is a slight connection between him and recent John Legend (Evolver), he's definitely more R&B. Then Common showed up on my John Legend Pandora Station.
Common is definitely hip hop, but his back beats are purely Neo-Soul. Old school horns, back up vocals, and a chill, but still, hip hop beat. And his lyrics are not just a positive spin on modern day hip hop, where they talk about reforming from hoes and blow, cars and money. No, his lyrics are a hip hop paradigm shift. Rather than proclaiming his "on top of the world" attitude that I feel like popular hip hop exhibits, he proclaims a sense of humbleness and reality. The common man's hip hop with a positive outlook, rather than just a spin. It might be why he's not main stream, but if he's on Pandora, he is at least moderately popular. For anyone enjoying chill hip hop and a step away from money, sex and hoes, he's definitely worth checking out. He has a plethora of material out there and I haven't heard a bad song from him yet.
Well, besides music, life has been good. Work has been busy, but I guess that's a good thing. Love life is the same as always, single unless something complicated comes along, but usually single. I don't ever make anything easy on myself. But that's okay. I've been coming to some important realizations lately about love and life.
I don't settle. I guess that means I keep looking for the perfect one, as fruitless as that endeavor is. But it'll keep me from entering something with which I won't be happy. But it does make me WAY picky, and seemingly uninterested in people, when the do actually intrigue me. I guess Taddeo stated it best when she said I was complicated. Case in point, I don't make things easy for myself.
I've also realized, I'm always going to run into girls either just out of a relationship or still affect by their previous one. Why is that? It's because it is the ONLY time, desirable women are single. If you take a girl who enjoys a relationship (though not necessarily required to be in one), and combine her with attractive qualities (looks, personality, similar interests), she's not going to be on the market long. Why? Because every other single guy like me has been waiting for her to come around. And why is it that a great deal of them come out of complicated or difficult situations? Because they would've been married otherwise. Which is good and bad. It's good because they didn't make a mistake and get married/divorced. It's bad because they were ready and waiting for marriage and it's only because shit got bad enough that they bailed. Granted this is an EXTREME generalization. Take for instance, someone who is cheated on. Until the knowledge of the cheatee is encountered, life would essentially be on track. It's not necessarily that the girl made a bad choice (beyond choosing a cheater, but that's a different story and discussion), but her mate did, and thus ruined things.
So, I'm going to be hard to please and I'm going to keep running into difficult situations. I've just basically got to focus on myself, become comfortable with who I am and be who I want to be. Complete my persona and personality. Once I am truly me and running with my life the way I want to live, someone will fit into the puzzle. Until then, it'll be hard to complete the puzzle when I don't have all the pieces.