Melt In Your Ears: New Music from Trey Songz & Jamie Foxx

A few weeks back I posted Trey Songz’ remix to Usher’s Lil Freak and questioned how much longer Songz had planned to ride his Freak-A-Leek image. When I heard this latest leaked song, I started to imagine this change in direction may be coming sooner than I thought! In For the Sake of  Love, Trey sings about being willing to do whatever it takes to keep the Love alive between him and his S/O.  This is one of the better songs I’ve heard from Trey in a long time! Trey sings,

” ‘Cuz there is nothing I won’t do/ for the sake of our love…
I’m gonna be a commitment, its one to  say it, but I’m gonna be there – Believe that.“

Even better news is that the track is produced by Just Blaze. Who knows the sample?? Listen below…

Download: Trey Songz – For the Sake of Love

Like some good Ciroc or Grey Goose, I can only take Jamie Foxx in small doses.  I can get hysterical with him as a comedian and can respect him as an actor, but I can’t always take his music seriously. Not that I don’t like his music, or deny his singing talent, I just get the corny vibe when he sings at times…

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J.U.I.C.Y: R&B Beef Part II: Ciara is comin back at Keri??

via Ultimate-Ciara.com

I guess after mostly keeping quiet while artists like Keri Hilson stole her swag had their shine, Ciara has decided to hit the naysayers back with her buzz single & video, Basic Instinct (You Got Me).

Sooo, from a Marketing perspective, this is a good look for Ciara because not only does it give her the bad girl ATL image that her fans have been craving for so long, it incites the R&B Beef, which as we learned from Keri’s attempt last year, is a great way to drum up publicity. The video showcases Ciara’s dance skills, body and budding rapping skills *cough cough* They say she been hanging around 50 too long. From a fan’s perspective, I say Get It Cici! You been gone too long. I am liking a lot of what I am seeing and hearing from her new project.

This marks the first time we are hearing some cuss words out of Ci’s mouth, which I am sure we can’t blame on Dream…

“You Got Me…Madder than a muthaf*cka,

I can’t lie,  a b*tch madder than a muthaf*cka”

Also leaked recently, is another track called Up and Down. Ciara sings about how she can make her love go up and down. The vocals on this track are actually pretty good and I’m feeling the overall feel of the song. Damn, Dream & Tricky Stewart just might save homegirl’s career. Listen below.

Download: Ciara – Up and Down

Still In The W(Rapper): Ciara feat. Ludacris – Ride it

“He love the way I ride it/ He love the way I ride the beat, like a freak-freak-freak!”

Ciara is on the Grind once again! Her label appears to be behind Ciara on her new project titled Basic Instinct. Ciara recently quipped on her album during a red carpet interview,

“When you get the record you’re going to get a really fun vibe.You’re gonna get an even more sensual side and also confident and cocky. I got like such an attitude on this record, but in a fun way. Kinda had fun like exploring and experimenting with that, so you’ll get all that in one.”

Ciara released her new single, Ride featuring Ludacris. She recently shot the video and released pictures from the set. As I suspected, the song is a certified Banger! Produced by TheDream & Tricky Stewart, Ludacris lends his vocals to the track that remind us of his features on Ciara’s Oh and High Price songs. Fans complained that they wanted more of the Goodies Ciara back and less of the LoveSexMagic Ciara, so Tricky & Dream are the best team to bring that flava out. We already know the video will be hot, so I guess we have something to look forward to this Summer after all…

What do you guys think of the song? Is Ciara back?

Ciara featuring Ludacris – Ride

Music News ROLO: Trey Wakes the Neighbours & Ciara Got that Bank!

Trey Songz has released yet another video off his popular Grammy-nominated album, Ready. I still liked Trey Day better than this album, but I’m glad Trey is getting his well-deserved shine, even if that meant him having to whore himself as the ultimate sex symbol for the ladies…no complaints here, I guess. I read someone comment on a blog that Trey was coming for R.Kelly’s spot since his songs evoke that same freaky-as-I-wanna-be mentality that R.Kelly used (and still uses today) to get people’s attention. We can safely say many children were concieved from Kelly’s music in the 90s so I guess time will tell how successful Trey’s music is in doing the same.

Trey filmed Neighbours Know My Name with Victoria Secret’s model Jessica White. I heard she was rumored to be Ne-Yo’s new girlfriend…maybe not after this video!! The red-light special look of the video was definitely a good look.

Image courtesty of Exposay.com

Do the ladies love Trey’s new video? And do the fellas love Jessica White?

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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image via StraightFromTheA.com

Aside from globe-trotting, being a fashion muse for couture houses and appearing at various club openings and parties, Ciara has been hard at work on her fourth album with TheDream(Team) and Tricky Stewart. I predict some Heat will result from these studio sessions. However, this new track released from these sessions, In The Bank must have been the debris used to start the fire…that didn’t catch on. But we must remember, this is just a BUZZ record. It is meant to get people talking, curious and even to get us ‘hating’ on Cici.

ChokLitFactory Exclusives: Top R&B Albums of 2009 + Producers of the Year

In addition to the top songs of 2009, we added a list of the top albums as well as the top producers that kept the unique beats coming this year. We are going to keep these lists pretty short & sweet and in no particular order.

Top 10 R&B Albums of 2009

Maxwell – Black MidSummer’s Night

Mariah Carey – Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel

TheDream – Love Vs Money

Chrisette Michelle – Epiphany

R.Kelly – Untitled

Alicia Keys –  The Element of Freedom

Pleasure P – The Introduction of Marcus Cooper

Ryan Leslie – Transition

Trey Songz – Ready

Whitney Houston – I Look to You

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R&B Producers/Songwriters of the Year:

The Dream & Tricky Stewart – These are the official go-to guys for Urban Pop & R&B these days. You want a hit record? You hit up these two. 2009 was no different for the Producing pair who racked up hit records for Fabolous (Throw it in the Bag), Snoop Dogg (Gangsta Love), Rihanna (Hard) and Mariah’s full album. We will definitely be hearing more from this pair in 2010.

Los Da Mystro – One of my favorite producers, Los has recently branched out from doing songs for TheDream, producing R.Kelly’s Like I Do and Trey Songz’ I Invented Sex. You may also remember Los’ work from the Dream’s Walking on the Moon, Rockin That Sh*t and My Love.

Ryan Leslie – Not only is Ryan Leslie an incredibly gifted artist and songwriter, he is an amazing producer as well. Aside from producing his dedicated work on Transition, Leslie has also contributed tracks to Chris Brown’s Famous Girl and Mary J. Blige’s Said and Done for 2009.

Now Playing: Mariah Carey’s Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel + Plus news on her Remix Effort

Once I fell behind on my album reviews (too much good music being released!) I made a conscious effort to at least continuing purchasing good music, since good music is what this Blog is all about anyways, right? So on a whim while picking up my Jay-z tickets a couple weeks back (concert was great!), I picked up Mariah’s newest effort, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. The linear notes showed that Mariah had solely worked with producer dream team The Dram & Tricky Stewart, which definitely excited me. The album did not disappoint. It starts off strong with one of the year’s most cunning and vengeful tracks, Betcha Gon’ Know where Mariah taunts a cheating lover,

“Betcha Gon Know how it feels and we fade to black
And you see your whole world collapse
I’m gonna lalalalala laugh…..
Right in your face boy”

Mariah is scathing on the opening track. She also gives a more in-depth treatment to the Dream’s demo for Can’t Wait to Hate You, that we posted on a while back. Mariah’s version, renamed H.A.T.E.U includes more of her writing and more of her signature high-pitched vocals. Many of the songs on Memoirs include more heartbroken love songs from Mariah – a bit unexpected since she is happily married to actor Nick Cannon.  She is feisty, unapologetic and extra sassy on songs like Up out My Face and Standing O. But Mariah also has her standard beautiful love ballads as well, including Angels Cry and I Want to Know What Love is (a remake of Foreigner’s original hit). One can see the influence Trick & Dream have had on Mariah on songs like Ribbon. With the chopped & screwed DJ voice in the background, Mariah sings,

“I got your lovin’ on my mind
You got me wrapped up, packed up
Ribbon with a bow on it”

MariahCArey – Betcha Gon’ Know

Mariah Carey – H.A.T.E.U

Even though Memoirs has not been as successful on the Charts, it is some of Mariah’s better work since the original Emancipation. It has been revealed that Mariah will be releasing a remix album soon that will include a lot more features (Trey Songz, R.Kelly, Gucci Man and Big Boi to name a few) as well as remixes to most of Memoirs songs. R.Kelly tweeted recently that he just finished recording a prelude to Betcha Gon’ Know in the wee hours of the late night. I know I am beyond excited for this effort that may also include new songs as well. Mariah is currently filming a video for H.A.T.E.U. Below are two proposed track listings for Mariah’s remix album.

Music News ROLO: Trey Songz Disses the King, Mariah’s New Album, Maxwell’s next Single

So everyone is going crazy over the new Trey Songz diss track aimed at the reining King of R&B, R. Kelly. D.O.A Kellz is Trey’s new publicity stunt song to promote his new album, Ready, hitting stores this August. Apparently, Trey’s first two released singles have not drummed up enough attention for his project. I am a bit saddened by this, because I would drink Trey’s bathwater really like Trey and think he is a great artist – and I hate when good artists have to resort to these tactics (Keri Hilson…anyone??). In the song, Trey gripes that nobody wants to hear R.Kelly doin’ auto-tune, asks why Kellz cut his braids off (Trey laughs, “who you tryin’ to be, ME?”), claims Kellz is tryin’ to bite TheDream, calls T-Pain a “copycat” and even takes a slight dig at Pleasure P (but why?). Also, Trey laments, “Shout out to C.breeze, you still a friend to me” …No comment.

*Side note: Didn’t R.Kelly write & produce the song Grub On, off Trey’s last album? That was one of the better mid-tempo jams on Trey Day. That being said, I co-sign with Trey that I cannot stand R.Kelly tryin’ to do the T-Pain/Ron Browz/TheDream thing. You are a LEGEND, Stay in your damn lane! I’m done!

Listen to the track below!

Trey Songz  – D.O.A Kellz (DISS Track!)

source

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Now Playing: Album Review: Electrik Red – How To Be a Lady

What a perfect formula: Dream songwriter Terius Nash writing lyrics, producers Tricky Stewart & L.O.S managing the boards, Urban powerhouse Def Jam backing the project, and 4 beautiful, fun video-girls turnt sangas along for the ride. Sounds like a Platinum album made in Heaven, right?

I may be one of few (or many) people who were not feeling Drink in My Cup or W.f.y (We F*ck You), the singles first circulating around the ‘Nets when Electrik Red first appeared on the scene. Def Jam head L.A Reid was touting their album as the Female version of (Dream’s first album) Love/Hate. Blasphemy, I proclaimed! I pretty much refused to acknowledge the girls until they released a little song, So Good, which was a perfect mix of sweetness and sass, vulnerability and street smarts; the making of a Lady in today’s day & age. So now, Electrik Red had my attention. After throwing Lil Wayne on the remix to So Good, they had the attention of the 106 & Park crowd as well.

So now, faced with listening to the entire CD, I had my reservations, but still left an open mind to enjoy the music. I cannot say the ladies disappoint. Still, I must issue a minor disclaimer: You need to listen to this CD a good couple times to fully appreciate it. After a day of repetitive listens, I am proud to say I am ready to dish out my hard-earned cash for this album.

Now Playing: Ciara – Fantasy Ride

Finally Fantasy Ride has landed! Are we excited? Not overly so, but we’re glad my girl was finally able to release this long-awaited album.

I was so excited for Ciara’s new album after feeling her last album, Evolution, and hearing the concept for Fantasy Ride – a 3-disc compilation album that had three parts to it: Crunk-Town, Groove City & Kingdom of Dance. With producers like The Dream & Tricky Stewart, and Danja assigned to helm the project, my excitement levels rose even higher – it was about to be C-Season!

Sadly, things did not pop off as planned. Some of you may know that Ciara fired her longtime manager Phillana Williams and decided to sign on with Jonny Wright’s (Britney Spears & N’SYNC back in the day) Management Group.  Since then, she had released her T-Pain duet, Go Girl, to very little criitcal fanfare, and scrapped the 3-disc set ideas for Fantasy Ride. Also, regretably, Ciara has been all over the place musically and image-wise. One day her style is reminiscent of Rihanna’s goth-chic look, the next, she is reminding us of her Crunk & B days **sigh**. Ciara’s music hasn’t been any less coherent. She did release the Polow-produced Neva Ever, and brought out the hip rolls for the video, but then switched it up with Justin Timberlake in her overly sexual video for Love Sex Magic.

Now Playing: Album Review – The Dream, Love vs. Money

 I finally copped this CD today after snoopin around for it in Sunrise Records, after the HMV associate told me with a confused facial expression, “I guess we sold out of all our copies” To be honest, I was about to call it a day after that, but I hope knew my Readers are waiting on this one! Since then, I’ve had the CD on repeat as it copied itself into the iPod and the Nokia. Thoughts so far? I’m down.

Love vs. Money avoids the dreaded sophomore slump  simply because it starts off again where Love/Hate left off. Same producers, but same innovative beats; similar lyrics, but different issues; same monotone voice, but yet, more depth. So the good news is, Terrius “TheDream” Nash is evolving, but not enough to isolate his audience (*cough* Kanye *cough*) or to establish his music as groundbreaking. If you enjoyed his debut album, you will enjoy this one. You may even respect TheDream more, because you realize he is not a fluke, one-hit wonder-artist.

Surprisingly enough, I first heard about TheDream about 6 years ago when I listened to Nivea’s most recent album, Complicated. I caught his name in the production credits and also caught him rapping on a couple of her songs. His swag wasn’t exactly developed just yet, but you could tell he had talent. Even with his solid work at best on Complicated, I knew TheDream was unique. I later became a fan, like most people after hearing Shawty is the Shit, then copping his first CD and playing the HAIL out of it, along with most of my family. He was like a breath of fresh air in the music that was out at the time. Possibly TheDream’s greatest advantage over these other R&B cats is the creative control he has on his projects. A true artist.