I’ve been following as Azealia Bankscareer has slowly taken off. Signed by Kanye West, she’s not shy of saying what she’s thinking. It is her mouth that sometimes gets her into trouble as she has beef for many of the other female MCs in the industry. The cover of Dazed & Confused has caused some controversy, and it has been banned from at least 7 countries.
Her latest song, however, is definitely one of my personal favorites by her after the hit single, 212. What I like about the song is the early house-vibe she has kept from her very first hit. I think she has a unique style. If she stays in that path I might just like the rest of her works.
Besides music on Youtube, I like to watch other various types of videos out there. There are endless tutorials on variety of things, there are cute animal videos but then there also are vloggers. This vlogger was recommended to me and I’ve been laughing ever since with her videos! She is hilarious and quite sarcastic. The latest video she posted was about music so I thought, okay, let’s post that one here.
Here’s one for the music, as I feel like I’ve been lacking in that department lately. I just heard this song, and I didn’t have to hear it for very long to know that I would love it! And I do. What do you think of this song?
M.I.A is back with a bang! Yesterday, I was wondering why she was featured in Madonna‘s new single Give me all your luvin’. Now I notice M.I.A‘s latest track Bad Girls video. What’s funny is that both of these videos were uploaded on the same day. Coincidence? I personally don’t believe in coincidences. Perhaps it was a marketing technique.
When I first heard a piece of this song in M.I.A‘s Vicki Leekx’ mixtape, I was interested. For me it’s all about the beat, then comes the melody/singing, which can make it or break it for me. This song I could have on repeat.
I came across this song by accident, it was a huge hit 9 years ago and I couldn’t stop listening to it! I feel like I’m old now, listening to all this stuff from back in the day. This song brings out so many thoughts, memories and feelings. I played it a lot when I had a crush on someone. I kind of wish I didn’t associate to the crush because it is a great song… I guess I could try and shift the association to that time of my life. Oh, to be young again!
Ok, so I’m confused. Music industry just seem to surprise me, fascinate me yet frustrate me to the fullest! First off, how come some singers become DJ’s out of nowhere? Since David Guetta came into the picture dance music, specifically house music, came to a turn. In Guetta’s early days, I have to be honest and say, I didn’t care for his music all that much. I thought it was great though because the dance industry needed to be more acknowledged more. However, when any genre, artist, or band becomes mainstream (lots of radio play, exposure in charts, huge hits) – ignoring the fact that it is great achievement for the artist/genre – can be dangerous. When things get big enough, everyone wants to do it, leading to it being the trendy thing of the moment. Also the fact that, when things go to mainstream, they become more commercial - how else would it sell? When it’s commercial, it sounds like any other artist. Now I realize this is generalizing and there are dangers to saying this but bare in mind this is my opinion. And, what about any other underground artist or band? Or real musicians?
Going back to David Guetta… being into a huge fan of dance music as well as house music – and having worked in the industry – he made house music cool, he made DJ’ing cool (although, when hasn’t it been cool?)! I’ve got nothing against that, at all. It just annoys me to the tee when everyone else wants to do it as well. In case you haven’t noticed, all the biggest hits at the moment are dance songs. I wouldn’t call it even house anymore, just poppy dance. The latest trend seems to be to mix hiphop with dance. Take for an example Nicki Minaj who is a female rapper, now one of the biggest rappers/artists out there at the moment, has collaborated with Guetta. I respect Nicki as a rapper a lot, the flow she has when she only raps is awesome, as soon as she starts to sing though, I lose my respect for her. She is not a singer, and the singing she does is very poor (did you see the American Music Awards from last year?). Nicki is just an example – David has had collaborations with nearly all the hottest singers at the moment. What a lot of people don’t know, is that he has not made his own music (perhaps as of recently but for the longest time he didn’t!), there was someone making the tracks for him, and that is now a Grammy winner, a Dutch DJ called Afrojack. (You know Beyonce’s Run The World (Girls) - the background is by Afrojack, and it was a hit before Beyonce made it even a bigger hit.) Around Christmas and New Year’s some artists showed their – poor – DJ’ing skills, including Alicia Keys, Kanye West. I’m just tired of following trends, and for everyone else to follow trends as well. Would you jump off a cliff if everyone else did it, too? Where has our individuality and standing out (in that sense) gone?
The reason why I’m writing all of this, is because I came across a new artist, Azealia Banks. Kanye West played her 212 -song while he was behind the decks. When I first heard that song, I thought to myself it’s actually quite a good song. After learning that she actually wants to make more hiphop rather than house, well you can guess what I thought, great another hiphop-house crossover. Haven’t we heard enough? Come up with something original. Take a listen to the song below.
If you want to be a rapper, making hiphop music, then I think that’s what you should come out with. Mind you, I had to do a bit of research on her and found out that she was asked to be in this track. When I heard the original track, I immediately recognized the song! The song is actually by a DJ called Lazy Jay, entitled Float My Boat, and was a hit a couple of years ago. Azealia actually has another House song, called Liquorice. When listening to her earlier work, again, she is not a bad rapper. Unlike Nicki Minaj, she can sing too.
I’m just a bit confused as to which direction she wants to take in her music. What will her branding be? On her Twitter, she suggested she may have been signed by Kanye West himself. I’ll be curious how she will differentiate herself from the other artists, but especially how she will brand herself. What position will she take in the music industry? Time will only tell.
