At the end of April afro-pop artist Davido released the official video for his trending hit single “La La,” a collaboration done with Ckay. The song is featured on his latest album, “A Better Time,” published in November 2020.
Click here or on the image above to watch the video and remember to like, comment and share.
This coming Saturday, May 8th, BoldMindz Art Distributors Inc. and Forever Dope Management Inc. will present a mother’s day edition of the Ori Fest. It will be held at the Omega World Center – 3951 Snapfinger Parkway – in Decatur, Georgia.
Conscious hip-hop artist Sa-Roc has been confirmed as the headlining act. She will be supported by emerging talents Noelle Kay and Sheriese Nicole. For additional information and links to tickets click here.
On Tuesday, North Carolinian lyricist J Cole took to social media to announce that his new album, titled Off-Season, will be coming out on Friday, May 14th.
In the post, he shared what appears to be the album artwork along with the caption: “Just know this was years in the making.” According to our calculation Off-Season will be Cole‘s 10th album.
Paul Day, who is publicly known as UZMAN, is a Jamaican-Canadian rap artist based in Toronto, Ontario. He started making music and performing as a child in the early eighties. By the beginning of the 90s he had studied and mastered recording, editing and mixing, and had also gotten a firm grasp on the songwriting process, as well as an understanding of how music distribution works.
UZMAN’s first musical inspiration was the visuals for Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message.” Both the record and its video captured a time when inner-city youths were becoming more outspoken about things happening in their communities. Although that entire era had an impact on him, it is that record in particular that really made him commit wholeheartedly to a career as rapper. Additionally, his Jamaican roots has always influenced his creativity, so much so that most of his songs are fused with either reggae or dancehall styles.
His love for Jamaica’s music, lifestyle and culture has even led to him collaborating with notable Jamaican sing-jay Jah Mason. In 2013 both men recorded and released the hit single “Night Life.” The song received heavy radio rotation on some of the biggest stations in the Caribbean, North America and parts of Europe; and eventually entered the top ten position on several charts. It even went number one on the NYC reggae chart (Funk Master Flex’s Franchise Record Pool). In addition to collaborating with Jah Mason, UZMAN has also worked with international recording artist Junior Reid, as well as some up-and-coming Jamaican talents.
The story behind the Junior Reid collaboration is as follows. Producer Jahronomo INC, who is well known and respected in the Canadian entertainment industry, did a radio version of UZMAN’s other breakout single, “Wine and Grind.” The song quickly got the attention of world renown remix King DJ Power, who worked on a new mix of the single with legendary reggae artist Junior Reid. The remix helped to propel UZMAN’s career, which eventually led to a monumental performance at the Island’s national music festival in West Kingston, The Jamaica Jamboree. Similar to “Night Life,” “Wine and Grind” was also featured on several charts and was given significant radio rotation.
A few years ago, UZMAN took a brief hiatus from recording and releasing his music, so that he could focus on managing and guiding some emerging dancehall acts.
He turned his attention back to his career in 2021 by sharing a new single titled “Stress Less.” The record addresses the rise in stress related illnesses and deaths stemming from the covid-19 protocols. “Stress Less,” which was created to put listeners in a more positive mood, is delivered in a manner that makes it very easy to digest, even for those that aren’t necessarily into hip-hop.
In a recent article by The Globe & Mail, it was reported that suicides went up sharply during the pandemic. Additionally, there have been countless stories from various news outlets highlighting the rapid rise in depression across North America because of the corona virus. Being an experienced MC, UZMAN was very careful to broach this extremely serious topic in a light-hearted, fun, but powerful way.
UZMAN and his team are now concentrating on promoting the new single, as they simultaneously prepare to head back on the road when live events resumes.
I have to start by saying that this is what they call an opinion piece. In other words, everything that I write in this article is mainly reflecting my opinion based on my history of listening to both Jay Z and Nas, especially during the period when they were engaged in their clash.
Knowing how passionate I am about what happened between them, I will force myself to keep this short (only a few lines) because if I don’t, this could become a book.
So basically what I want to say about Nas and Jay doing a collaboration on DJ Khaled‘s new album is that it is really great for the genre. These are two of the most respected lyricists in the hip-hop industry and they had a fierce battle, which resulted in a lot of hip-hop lovers (myself included) taking sides. So it is really good to see them coming together to show unity and maturity.
That being said, I have never personally gotten over the way Jay attacked Nas (lyrically), while Nas was focused on his mother’s illness. To me that was so low and wrong, and it was then that I lost a lot of respect for Jay Z. Additionally, I have always felt that Nas crushed him in those back and forth clashes. To me Nas is the more superior lyricist.
However, both men have moved on and I guess I should too, but it’s hard. Click here or on the image above to check out the official video for “Sorry Not Sorry,” performed by Nas and Jay Z.
This Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 9th at 9 pm ET/PT, legendary soul artist Patti LaBelle will be a guest on “DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic,” which airs on BET. Johnny Gill, another R&B giant has also been confirmed for the program.
For those not familiar with the show, the way it works is: from his sound-system at home, DJ Cassidy links virtually with R&B and Hip-Hop stars, as they sing along to their records, each “passing the mic” to the next.
Despite the pandemic in 2020, dancehall / soca lyricist E.G. had a fairly good year, this is as it relates to his career as a recording artist. Though his music is normally centered around partying, clubbing and more uncontroversial content, he felt compelled to do a record about the racial tension that was dominating the news at the time.
As such, last Summer, while there were ongoing protests against systematic racism in America, England and parts of Europe, E.G. recorded and released “Stand With The Protesters.” As the name implies, the very controversial record outlines why he sided with the thousands of people who were marching in the streets on a daily basis demanding change. The success of the song led to a remix featuring Mr. AMG, Ras Xtr3me and J Shadda, which was released in the Fall. The new version received a wider audience and helped to grow E.G.‘s fanbase.
Now, as the police killings continues in the United States – where E.G. is based – he has decided that going forward he will be doing a lot more songs addressing social issues; these will be done in addition to his usual club tracks. To that end, he has launched his own record label, Tripple S Music, and has begun construction on the Tripple S Recording Studio.
The implementation of the new label and studio is to ensure that his creativity is not stifled, putting him in a position to quickly release socially sensitive songs as the issues arise.
MARIA JACKSON 27 MAGAZINE 