By shelz.
Hot damn hoe, here we go again with another edition of And the Beat Goes On. The start of April finds our friends at Young Money embroiled in all sorts of messy mess and looking like they need an interim leader in Wayne’s absence. Minaj is touring with Rihanna and then she isn’t. Drake just caught a June upstage from Kanye West. Jae Millz still has his bottom lip poked out about the Freshman 10 and shots are coming from all angles. I’m not sure who is steering that boat, but they need to get back on task quick fast and in a hurry.
Why Young Money you ask? Because Shanell just dropped a mixtape I respond. It’s a half baked project from a young lady who has a great natural talent but is in serious need of some vocal coaching. I know artist development is rare these days, but this girl is going to need a little help to be great.
The first cut on her Shut Up and Listen tape proves just that. She picked a pretty unremarkable song from Ryan Leslie’s last album and added to the blandness of it all. Free Weezy. These kids need their Daddy.
02 – Shanell – Choose You Remix Feat Ryan Leslie
Next we have Joe Budden, dropping it over Alicia Keys “Unthinkable.” Still more lean banter from the Slaughterhouse fellas, guess the monkey is still on Hip-Hop’s back and yes I know it was a metaphor. Anyway, Budden speaks a bit about the phony baloney money talk, women who are attracted to that phony baloney talk and his favorite folks; bloggers, haters and groupies. There is also little about buzz that turns out to be a mirage. I like this.
After a substantial absence, we have some new material from Bobby Valentino. Considering how long he has been gone, you would think his step back into the spotlight would be a well choreographed one, but no. He’s put together a rather meh mixtape. Trey Songz drops a street album every 16 hours and does much better than this so I’m a little disappointed with Mr. Ruxpin. Anyway, here he is over 8-Ball and MJG’s “Space Age Pimpin”. Where is their new album by the way?
Moving on, we now come to Nipsey Hussle and his shot at taking over “Run This Town.” I’m not blown away by the guy lyrically, but I love his voice and his delivery. He sounds genuine, like he actually believes what he’s saying and that is missing in Hip-Hop right now. Plus he introduces Italian shoes to German gas peddles. Cute.
Last is Talib Kweli snatching Fat Joe’s “Ha Ha (Slow Down Son)” which is pretty much just the intro to Soul II Soul’s acapella version of “Back to Life” looped all to hell with some thump added so the woofers can work. Of course it’s dope, it’s Kweli. Just listen.
Talib_Kweli-(Ha_Ha)_Slow_Down_Son-2dope
I guess that’s it for this week except maybe this final remix of that ridiculous Katt Stacks nonsense. How anyone could make it through an evening with a woman who sounds like she has a hair ball is beyond me, but there has been parody after parody based on these soon to be forgotten videos. Before she falls out of our collective conscience lets take a look at one of the funnier remakes. Rosa Acosta does female bloggers? And one of them pays for the puddy? Watch on folks and see you next week.
[pro-player width=’425′ height=’344′ type=’video’]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkYdKhkPbl0&feature=player_embedded[/pro-player]
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