Young Money

Drake dropped the new video for his latest single "Over" just a few days ago and as an advocate for his lush throaty rap I feel it's my duty to share it with you.



Currently "Over" is working out as a bit of a grower: it certainly doesn't strike me with tingles of excitement in the way that "Best I Ever Had" did and yet there's something soothing about the streaks of light juddering in the video, the constant builds, the shrieks of the strings. To be honest, Drake could do a voice-over for Pingu and I'd still love it.

On a Young Money note, Barbie wannabe and Usher groupie Nicki Minaj recently attracted some venom in the form of a Guardian music blog on "the rise of the titillating female rapper".
I read this piece with interest and can't help but agree with the author: it seems that "the shift in expectations of women has led to a new reality: a successful female artist must not only be talented, but also able to titillate the gaze of an assumed male viewer."

Don't get me wrong: I massively enjoyed Minaj doing it for the girls with Young Money and doing it to get the girls with Usher, her lyrics are blinders and her delivery slicker than your average, but Latoya Peterson makes a fair point. Not only are women like Minaj (and Kelis before her) asserting a large degree of male aggression in their approach, their overt sexuality in the pelvic grinding, wide eyed blinking and cleavage shots favoured by the former surely only serves to enforce weak female stereotypes rather than breaking new ground and providing the pop world with strong female role models. Where's Lauryn Hill when you need her eh?

Peterson's conclusion resonates strongly: "while the same tropes still hold, one can only hope that eventually the increasing female representation in rap will lead to women challenging the norms of the male-dominated space, not just performing in it."

Let's just hope that there are women out there who, rather than being inspired to strip to teeny tiny knickers and get their boobs out, are inspired by the likes of Minaj to prove that there are women who can be successful without becoming a cheap gimmick of an age old stereotype.


© Miranda Thompson 2010
DISCLAIMER: The video links hosted on my blog are not being presented as my own. If you believe that the copyright in your work has been violated through this post, please contact me through the blog.

Sunday Afternoon Selection

This afternoon my house spent a bizarre hour meeting randoms and seeing more male gentalia than I care to recall on chat site du jour, Chatroulette. Items of note? An “encounter’ with the Jonas Brothers (we were conned), sexing couples, dirty men young and old, lonely Asian dudes in empty IT rooms, juiced Americans and a French doctor, all whilst screaming and waving at anyone who came into view dressed in appropriate disguises, namely sunglasses, scarves and my polar bear hat.

In between all the mayhem and chaining myself to my desk to try and prepare for dissertation doom, I’ve needed some serious tunes to get me through the day. So here they are:

First up, a sprightly boptastic tune from Vampire Weekend meets Ra Ra Riot sideproject Discovery. A mass of punchy drums and dancing electronica, it’s just an easy, toe tapping listen.



The whole album “LP” is a musical treat; from Ezra Koenig offof Vampire Weekend lending his familiar vocals to “Carby”, or the intensely amazing reworking of “I Want You Back” with some slow burning bass and twinkling synths.

Love of my life Ellie Goulding takes the next spot on the podium with her cover of Bon Iver’s “Wolves”. I’m going to throw a whole load of words out there you could dangle off this beauty; haunting, electrifying, eerie, ethereal, hazy, and gorgeous, its music to sit and watch the snow and stars by. I massively enjoy the crackling fireworks effect at the end, apparently due to a faulty cable. My girl crush escalates out of control by the moment.




In my head, I want to join the Young Money crew so that I can be BFF with Drake. It’s about 99.566611 % probable that this isn’t going to happen, since I currently live in Bumfuck Nowhere UK and can’t rap to save my life. I can passably mime though.
So here’s to the next best thing; downloading his fitter than fit mixtapes. I recently got my paws on “So Far Gone”, mainly for my dream combination of Lykke Li and Drake combined on Li’s delectable “Little Bit”. Press play and slide from Sunday to Monday in a haze of heat-beating percussion and soothing vocals. This video is a little bit adorably cute as well.




Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

© Miranda Thompson 2010
DISCLAIMER: The video links hosted on my blog are not being presented as my own. If you believe that the copyright in your work has been violated through this post, please contact me through the blog

Ballin'

I began playing basketball last year, and despite being nowhere near Michael Jordan or even Zac Efron standards, I bloody love it.

Thursday night sees the stage set for lay ups, free throws and the occasional on court wrestle accompanied by a soundtrack I’ve been compiling via Facebook to get my playa in crime pumped for the evening’s festivities. From Mis-Teeq decked out in pink velour and cork wedges to Lil Bow Wow actually dropping some plays into his lyrics, here are a few gems dedicated to celebrating my sport of Kings, Bball.


What better way to slam drunk straight to the point with Bow Wow’s oh so appropriately titled “Basketball”? “Yeah, now basketball is my favorite sport
I love the way they dribble up and down the court.” Couldn’t agree anymore with you there.



A playa can pick up a lot of useful slang from his slightly high pitched spitting, from “faking” or using the “MJ fadeaway” to even getting the DL on Bow’s favourite play (the alley – oop, for future reference. I have no clue).
What with the bouncing dreads and thick white headbands I don’t think the sport can be made to look any cooler than in this video y’all.


Could it get any better? With the magic combination of UK girl garage meeting Montell Jordan’s classic “This is How We Do It”, hells yes. Alright, so there’s not actually any basketball played here, but do enjoy the crowds of ripped men pressed up behind the girls courtside and of course, the angelic Alesha’s gravel rap. That voice is wasted on Strictly.



No basketball related post of mine would be complete without the inclusion of a joyous extract from the seminal High School Musical, the film that inspired me to attend the nearly naked Safer Sex Ball decked out in red and white “Wildcats” crop top and shorts combo from the children’s pyjama section at New Look. Good times.



Feel the thrills as the clip builds to a climax, try to ignore Vanessa’ Hudgen’s face and remember that “The way we play tonight is what we leave behind”, an inspirational mantra ripe for inscribing on a T-shirt.


Finally, the velvety voiced Drake. Quality, quality song and a great spin on the standard boobs and bitches rap video, featuring a girl’s basketball team blessed in the chest department who seem to have mislaid their sports bras in outfits my scrappy shorts will never live up to. This video doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s refreshing to see a bit of humour mixed in with the bouncing. Girls will wince, guys will gawp.



On a further sporting note, I know I've blogged about it before, but the Matt and Kim's Daylight has been taken to the next level with a banging remix by Troublemaker and featuring De La Soul. It's also being used for the Fifa 10 soundtrack, something I hope footie fans will appreciate. Enjoy!




© Miranda Thompson 2010

DISCLAIMER: The video links hosted on my blog are not being presented as my own. If you believe that the copyright in your work has been violated through this post, please contact me through the blog