Known for his work with Lupe Fiasco, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Chris Dave and Oddisee, to name just a few, and his DJing in support of the likes of Erykah Badu and Questlove, British producer Eric Lau steps back into the limelight with his second album One Of Many, showcasing his skills as a songwriter as well as a producer.
Flying Lotus’ new LP Until The Quiet Comes is about to hit play the world over. Shaped as a 46 minutes opus of jazz-fusion, this fourth album is so daring and so complete it can only be qualified as a masterpiece.
Looking back at the top posts on SoulCulture last week, we brought you the nominees for the 2011 MOBO Awards, new music and free downloads from Stacy Barthe, Chris Brown, The-Dream and Tyler The Creator and new music videos from Meek Mill and Rick Ross and Pusha T, plus an interview with the captivating Ms Erykah Badu. Read on, read on..
NEWS
The nominees for the 16th annual MOBO Awards were announced with team UK leading the way, and we brought you the full details of the ceremony which will be co-hosted by Jason Derulo and is set to feature a special performance from Boyz II Men - get the full story here.
Chi town rapper turned actor Common and author Adam Bradley, known as the hip hop scholar, will soon be releasing Common's autobiography One Day It’ll All Make Sense; named after the widely respected lyricist's third solo album. Synopsis: In One Day It’ll All Make Sense, Common...
For many Erykah Badu fans, Ms Wright can do no wrong. The songstress, rightfully heralded by many as an icon within modern-day soul, seemed aware of this when taking the stage in London’s Brixton Academy on Saturday evening, resulting in a complacent and flawed set.
London-born, Bournemouth-raised, singer-songwriter Louise Golbey works hard, very hard. Without a record company or even management behind her she has over the years steadily built a solid reputation on the live scene as one to watch. All this has been achieved whilst holding down a part-time job. Still, the hectic schedule hasn’t taken its toll on Louise’s disposition. The ever-genial songstress exudes even more warmth off-stage than she does on.
Golbey’s musical journey seemed to have been written in the stars. She comes from a long line of entertainers; a grandfather who played violin for silent movies, a pianist uncle, a mother who’s an amateur vocalist and a multi-instrumentalist father. Louise herself first treaded the boards at six years old having been exposed to musical theatre by her mum. Meanwhile her Hip Hop loving brother was introducing little Louise to pioneers such as De La Soul and her interest in soul music was piqued by her parents’ Motown collection.
There are just certain artists that evoke a special feeling from fans and fellow musicians alike. An artist that, no matter the battle plan, you'd still opt to musically walk into war with them blindfolded. It's a trust that very few artists are able to get from their fanbase - but somehow Erykah Badu has been able to hypnotize me (and a gang of others) into being willing to do this since she stepped on the scene in 1997.
The evolution of Erykah is a type of transformation that's rarely seen, at least in this modern generation. She has the ability to adjust and shed certain skins similar to jazz artists of yesteryear and has a way of convincing her audience that they need to change with her too.
Whether or not New Orleans born rapper Jay Electronica will eventually be known as Hip Hop’s last great hope or merely Hip Hop’s latest great hype is a question which has agitated and befuddled the underground Rap community since at least his 2007 release Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge), in which Jay rhymes over snippets of Jon Brion's immaculate score for the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The answer to the question is, of course, what hundreds of Hip Hop fans left their homes for and why they turned up in droves last Thursday night at Camden’s Jazz Café - where Jay was to stage his debut headline performances.
After filling the crowd with more anticipation than the air in 600 balloons by emerging on stage over an hour later then expected, Jay goes straight into a short tribute to the late J Dilla and then asks the crowd to raise their fingers up in a moment of commemoration. The surprising thing here is how quickly the audience obeys and how strangely at ease this man is on stage. Jay is so at ease, in fact, that he starts drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels, invites a fan up to have his picture taken and eventually starts discussing his favorite football team.
After several more of these comfortable interludes it occurs to me that these people aren’t here to find out if Jay is pure hype or true hope. These people already believe that Jay Electronica is the greatest rapper alive and are here just to tell him. And Jay is, of course, here to milk the admiration. Which he does with style, charisma and finesse.