By Azra Kassam
For newly accepted freshman, the idea of going to a new school, making new friends and becoming a full fledged “college student” might seem a little daunting. That’s why we’ve created a playlist to go with your new experiences and make the transition a little easier. From all nighters to dorm parties to just chilling out, there’s a right song for the right college moment. Buckle up, kids. You’re in for the ride of your life.
Pulling an all-nighter
“Fur Elise” — Bass Hoven dubstep mix
The first all-nighter I ever pulled was for a course during the first semester of my first year at university. Canadian History, to be exact. And the only thing stopping me from pulling my hair out and collapsing into a ball of hysterical tears at 6 am was that I managed to find music to motivate me all night. The perfect “study music” has to be relaxing, but it also has to be upbeat enough to keep you from falling asleep on top of your essay. This Bass Hoven dupstep remix of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” is an electronic spin on a classic and will keep you focused, yet alert during your night of studying. You can thank me later when you get an A on that paper!
Your first dorm party
“Sweet Nothing” — Calvin Harris & Florence Welch
Let’s face it. As much as your Residence Fellow will stress over and over that “parties are strictly prohibited” or you’ll “get fined for playing beer pong in dorm rooms” or “running in the hallways with glass bottles is a one way ticket out of residence for good” (can you tell I broke every rule possible?) there WILL be parties, and they WILL be fun. Bust out Calvin Harris and Florence Welch’s new collab “Sweet Nothing” at your first party and you will immediately gain popularity points for having the greatest playlist ever. With Flo’s larger than life voice and Harris’ pounding house beats, “Sweet Nothing” will make your first party a memorable one — if you can remember it at all.
Working out at the school gym
“Vava Voom” feat. Lupe Fiasco — Bassnectar remix Read more…
The 54th Grammys are on tomorrow night and is hosted by none-other than hip-hop legend LL Cool J – and if you can’t be there, might as well stalk those who are via Twitter.
We pulled together a little list of musicians, music critics, comedians and other accounts that are essential to give an inside look at music’s biggest night. Check them out below:
THE MUSICIANS:
@AdamLevine: Maroon 5′s frontman and The Voice judge is performing with the freakin’ Beach Boys and Foster The People.
@BlobTower: Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon – a Twitterholic and up for two major awards.
@BrunoMars: He’d catch a grenade for you and he snagged a few nods.
@CoryMonteith: That Canadian dude from Glee tweets as much as sings.
@Deadmau5: Toronto’s DJ with a nod and a performance this weekend.
@Drake: Stay tuned for lonely thoughts at the after parties.
@JustinBieber: An up-and-coming tween sensation that has some potential.
@KanyeWest: He’s up for seven awards and he likes to talk. A lot.
@KatyPerry: She’s performing, up for a few awards – and she’s Katy Perry.
@LadyGaga: Mother Monster is performing, up for a few awards.
@LLCoolJ: Host for the evening; stay tuned for a snapshot or two from behind the scenes.
@TheLonelyIsland: Everyone’s favourite SNL-group headed by Andy Samberg.
@LupeFiasco: Nominated for Best Rap Performance.
@MileyCyrus: She will be in attendance.
@NickiMinaj: She’ll be performing, nods for her collab with Drake and Best New Artist.
@Questlove: The Roots’ drummer that is “your favourite twitterer’s music critic.”
@Rihanna: She likes to Tweet That Tweet – let’s see what she has to say about Chris Brown’s performance.
@Skrillex: 24-year-old producer is up for Best New Artist.
@TaylorSwift13: No doubt this nominee will be Instagraming all night long.
@WizardCud: Kid Cudi might not be as philosophical since quitting weed, but remains vocal.
@ZooeyDeschenel: Fresh from her SNL-hosting gig Saturday, she’ll be all adorkable at the award show.
THE MUSIC CRITICS:
@AlanCross: Canadian music-history icon will keep us confirmed.
@GerrickKennedy: Music writer for the Los Angeles Times likes to tweeter.
@JianGhomeshi: Canadian radio personality loves his music.
@RobSheff: Rolling Stone’s resident music critic – knows a thing or two about the industry.
@RyanSeacrest: This guy is so addicted to hosting things that he’ll likely tweet as if he is hosting the damn show.
THE COMEDIANS:
@JimmyFallon: The Late Night host that’s a fan of everything – especially music.
@NealBrennan: New York comedian that is worth following year-round.
@RobDelaney: He tweets like breathing – why aren’t you following him already?
THE OTHERS:
@TheGrammys: Pretty self-explanatory
@Fave: One of the official Grammy bloggers.
@KickKickSnare: An official blogger for the Grammys – been snapping a lot of candid pics of the parties thus far.
@RedCarpet: E! Channel’s official red carpet twitter account with photos and commentary for every major red carpet event.
Hot off the release of his third studio album, “Lasers”, Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco is back with a new mixtape titled “Friends of the People.”
Lupe had a much earlier release date in mind for the mixtape but things had to be put on hold so he could climb Mount Kilimanjaro with famous faces like Jessica Biel and Kenna.
Hopefully, with this mixtape, Lupe can continue climbing up the charts. The 12-track album included “The End of the World” which samples M83′s track “Midnight City”, a song heard in every Urban Outfitters around the world. What is msot intruiging about the upcoming release are the cheeky song titles. There’s one titled after acclaimed actor Joaquin Pheonix and another one named after his favourite item on the McDonalds menu. Let’s not forget track six, which looks like something a high-school stoner titled, ”WWJD He’d probably LOL Like WTF!!!”
Prefix has all the deets on how you can download Lupe’s techno-infused mixtape.
Take a look at the track-list below and listen to the closing song via SoundCloud.
1. Introduction
2. Lupe Back
3. Friend of the People (ft. Dosage)
4. Double Burger with Cheese
5. Joaquin Phoenix (ft. Lil Ronnie)
6. WWJD He’d Prolly LOL Like WTF!!!
7. Lightwork
8. Life, Death & Love From San Francisco
9. SLR
10. SNDCLsH In Vegas
11. Super Cold
12. The End Of The World
Rapper Lupe Fiasco has called President Obama a “terrorist” during a television appearance, reports Rolling Stone.
Blasting the U.S. president during an appearance on CBC’s ‘What’s Trending,’ the rapper attacked the president’s foreign policy and declared him to be a “terrorist.”
“To me, the biggest terrorist is Obama in the United States of America,” Fiasco said. “I’m trying to fight the terrorism that’s causing the other forms of terrorism. You know the root cause of terrorists is the stuff the U.S. government allows to happen. The foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists.”
Fiasco went on to say that has no desire to vote in the 2012 presidential election.
“I don’t get involved in politics,” he said. “It’s meaningless. If I’m going to say I stand behind this person and write on a piece of paper that says, ‘Yeah, I stand for this person,’ then I have to take responsibility for everything he does cause that’s just who I am as a human being. So politicians aren’t going to do that because I don’t want you to bomb some village in the middle of nowhere.”
Although the statement is a little extreme, I see where he is coming from. I’m very often discouraged from voting as I don’t ever fully agree with the runners and their plans. But I think a vote is better than no vote. You should have a little say in who runs your country.
After a party at an abandoned Atlanta suburb house had Soulja Boy running from the police, the rapper told fans on Monday that he was in studio under the production of Kanye West, MTV.com reports.
The unusual pairing was enhanced by a previous rumour that West had fled to India after missing the BET hip-hop awards last weekend.
Soulja Boy was reportedly booked during the filming of the music video for his new track “Gangsta Muzik.” After spending a night in prison he was released on $550 bond.
A team of artists including Justin Timberlake, singer Kenna and rapper Lupe Fiasco are set to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, in an attempt to raise awareness for the water crisis.
Kenna told Elle magazine the water crisis is something the singer can personally relate to. “My dad almost died as a child from waterborne diseases in Ethiopia, and he had talked to me about digging a well there, and I thought, ‘I have too many friends who would be concerned with the subject of clean water. Maybe I can help out.’ ”
Lupe Fiasco is cool. Never mind the glasses, the affinity for kung-fu and comic books, not to mention the unconventional way of hiding metaphor upon metaphor underneath hip hop beats and catchy choruses. He’s cool simply because he doesn’t give a damn if he is or not.
See Fiasco exists in a game that has been hindered by one-hit chasers, gangster wannabes and MCs more concerned with dance moves than lyrical sustenance. It’s cool to glorify violence and sip gin and juice in the current hip-hop world. But Fiasco’s not buying what the mainstream is selling. Amidst the Soulja Boys and the T-Pains here’s a guy that cares more about words like honesty and integrity than million-dollar bling and Courvoisier.
“At the end of the day, it’s about when you leave the business and go home. It’s about if you feel comfortable about what you put out into the world,” Fiasco tells andPOP from his studio in New York.
The Chicago-born lyricist has given the world mind-bending rhymes, gritty story-telling and positive idealism that has elevated him into critically acclaimed status. He’s got three Grammy nods, four BET Hip Hop Award nominations, a GQ “Breakout Man of the Year” recognition, and a nod from XXL magazine as one of rap’s rising stars under his belt – and he hasn’t even dropped his sophomore album. But critics aren’t the only ones to take notice of the socially inept wordsmith. Fiasco’s debut album, “Food & Liquor” (a play on the ying and yang of Lupe’s own personality), sold around 310,000 units.
“I always think it’s fun to get that same effect [of mainstream artists] and keep that integrity and artistic merit,” he says. “I look at it as a challenge. For me it’s about how I can talk about, you know, giant robots and make it fresh.”
Giant robots aren’t the only obscure topic to hip-hop that Lupe has taken on. Songs like skate park anthem “Kick Push” and “Cool,” an ode to a zombie hustler, penned by the practicing Muslim (born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) have made waves in the rap game. He’s been hailed, like fellow Chi-town alum Kanye West before him, as the saviour of mainstream conscious hip hop. Lupe Fiasco, however, is a reluctant hero.
“Everybody’s conscious. G-unit is conscious. 50 Cent is conscious. Everybody’s aware of what’s going on around them,” Lupe says defiantly. “For me it’s more about putting positive things into the world as opposed to negative things in the world.”
But when it comes to artists that are conventionally tagged as “conscious,” Lupe fits the bill. He’s got Common’s spirituality, Kanye’s swagger, Kweli’s intelligence and Mos Def’s complexity. And if he continues to show off his intricacy and simultaneous musicality, the young MC could be catapulted into the hip hop history books. Right now though, he’s just barely scratching the surface of commercial stardom and doesn’t seem to care that he’s facing some bumps along the road to eminence.
Most recently, during a performance at the VH1 Hip Hop Honours, Fiasco flubbed the lyrics to classic A Tribe Called Quest jam “Electric Relaxation” of the group’s legendary album, “Midnight Marauders.” Before that, Lupe had gone on record to say that he was not a Tribe fan growing up and had never even heard “Midnight Marauders.” Industry heavyweights and fans alike slammed Fiasco’s lack of respect for the hip-hop pioneers.
Then, Vibe magazine added to the growing drama now referred to as “Fiascogate,” by publishing an article maligning the 25-year-old MC and wrongfully using comments about Tribe that Fiasco had made prior to the performance.
In Fiasco’s defense, when the Tribe album was at its peak in the early ’90s, he was probably still riding around Chi City on training wheels. Yes, it was before his time. Yes, Vibe lost significant journalistic credibility by vilifying the rapper and using his quotes out of context. But, bloggers are still pissed, his peers are still weary and the damage of Fiascogate seems to be too deep to mend.
“There’s a backlash of people who built me up in their own image,” he says. “They wanted me to be something and when it came out that I wasn’t that, you know, people were pissed.”
Lupe should give props where props are due, they say. Lupe should know Tribe lyrics because the group paved the way for mainstream, positive, okay-to-listen-to-around-the-parents hip hop. The same type of rhyming that has brought Fiasco measured fame and glory is what Tribe is infamous for. The thing is though, Lupe never hid the fact he missed out on the “Midnight Marauders” mania. Fiasco has made it clear that his hip-hop role models came in the form of Nas, Jay-Z, Pharoahe Monch, and Mos Def, not Tribe or even De La Soul.
Lupe Fiasco is as stubborn as he is divergent and remains unapologetic for the mix-up. He doesn’t care about being popular and makes no apologies for being honest about his influences.
“The reason I remain unapologetic about the whole situation is because it was taken out of context. I’m not going to apologize for the lack of journalistic integrity of somebody else,” he says.
“I’m not going to apologize for my life. If I didn’t grow up listening to something, I didn’t grow up listening to it.”
Then Lupe—cartoon-loving geek turned hip-hop trendsetter—starts to show a little vulnerability. He’s like that kid in school that hung out alone and never conformed to the in-crowd. He may not care if you agree with him but he still doesn’t like being bullied.
“How unfair is it to say that you don’t belong to a certain club or certain community or that you can’t belong because of what you listen to?” Fiasco’s opinions are unwavering. “You can’t be punishing someone for their pre-requisites. You’re punishing someone for their life,” he says.
With his sophomore disc, “The Cool,” on the horizon (due out Dec. 18), Fiasco may not care about impressing his misguided peers, but he does adhere to the needs of his fans.
“It’s not like I’m making this album for 15 kids and hoping that 15 million kids are going to get a long with it. I’m making it accessible enough for the masses… and at the same time have it deep enough and cryptic enough that it has a storyline.”
“The Cool” is a conceptually risqué work of art. The album’s title is inspired by a standout track from Fiasco’s debut of the same name. This time around, Fiasco introduces three new characters who all have one thing in common; they’ve dug themselves out of their own graves, literally. The concept is darker and deeper than “Food & Liquor,” Lupe says, and is rooted in an attempt to make uncool things, cool.
“So you can have kids who want to go skateboard now as opposed to kids who wanna’ go sell crack, as opposed to kids who think it’s cool to carry a gun to school,” he says.
The first single off “The Cool,” “Superstar,” scored Lupe the ultimate (conventionally) cool collaboration. Acclaimed music video director Hype Williams, or “the Martin Scorsese of hip hop” according to Fiasco, has been responsible for directing videos of everyone who’s anyone in hip hop. And yes, that means the booty-shaking, women-degrading videos. While Fiasco won’t hate on the director’s past projects, he is candid about how he made sure Williams didn’t compromise the rapper’s moral integrity during the video shoot.
“Hype’s taken you places visually that are just astonishing in hip hop,” Fiasco says. “But do I agree with a lot of stuff he made? No. Did I say ‘Yo Hype there is too much girl in that shot’? Yes.”
At this point, simply saying Lupe Fiasco is in touch with his conscience would be a gross understatement. He’s utterly aware that his words do more than just strike a chord, with the ability to grip hearts and challenge minds from beginning to end, Lupe is taking full responsibility.
No dissertation needed here; just soak in the unequivocal coolness of hip-hop’s most incorruptible MC.
“You know how they ask people what they want to be remembered for?”
Fiasco pauses for dramatic effect.
“I always want to be remembered as the person that didn’t lead you astray. You might have thought my music was whack as hell but as long as I didn’t lead you astray that’s enough for me. Because that speaks volumes in the next world as opposed to this world.”
