My Kind of Remix

I want to recognize remixes that aren’t done as often- not sure if there is a formal phrase for them- I personally call them chopped and screwed mixes.  Not chopped and screwed as in Houston/DJ Screw/Sizzurp music, but songs that are screwed around with, chopped up a little, and slowed down.  See, most remixes fall into two categories.  The first is where the song remains the same, you just have a rapper do a cameo and add a verse at the beginning, middle, or end.  A recent example is Big Sean’s “Dance (Ass).”  The song you hear on the radio and the video out is the “remix” with Nicki Minaj.  But for those of us who have the album,  the ‘remix’ it is basically the same exact song just with Nicki’s verse.  Another example is the “N*ggas in Paris” remix with T.I.- same exact song, just now featuring T.I.  These remixes are for the most part boring, unless you get someone spitting something absolutely amazing and raising the song’s stock by a lot.  (see: Fat Joe and Wayne’s “Make it Rain”-  made superbly better in the remix feat. R Kelly (“Don’t ask me what my name is, stupid bitch I’m famous”), T.I. (one of his best verses), Rick Ross, Ace Mac, and the ever hand-rubbin Baby):

Second you have the remix where any popular slow song is simply turned into a techno song.  Recent example: if you were in a bar or club in the last year, that was the remix for Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” sending every drunk vagina to the dance floor, screaming along to the lyrics.   We all are aware that tech savvy DJs can turn any song into a dance number.  This transformation takes absolutely zero effort from the artists themselves.

One type of remix I approve of is where the beat stays the same, but the artist completely leaves the song (except for the hook) and a whole new slew of artists take over.  The “Make it Remix” is sort of one of those.  But I have two better examples: the first is a lesser known remix I thought was very well done:  Jeremih’s “Birthday Sex.”   The original song is catchy, good beat- but I definitely listen to the remix featuring Pit Bull, Trey Songz, Tierra Marie, Stat Quo, and Ludacris more often.  Pit Bull and Ludacris have funny, witty lyrics pertaining to ‘birthday sex’ (Luda sounding particularly sexy demanding “shut up do what I said”).  Tierra Marie’s voice is very pretty and a nice female addition to the song.  And who doesn’t want to listen to Trey Songz crooning, “No limit to sex girl, I’m bout it, bout it.”  Original and remix below:

Next is a remix I love, but just a warning- it is very, very dirty.  Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy” was completely taken over by the then-ladies of rap:  Trina, Shawna, and Foxy Brown.  All women, all very unlady-like, but all a little…bad ass.  Original and remix below:

So now we come to my favorite type of remixes- where the artist actually has to go back to the studio and record a different version of the same song.  It’s not just about tweaking some things – like singing the same thing slower.  It requires creativity: different, yet similar beats that still connect to the old song, new lyrics… a completely new twist.  Here are a few I want to give a shout out to:

Nelly’s “Ride wit Me”  If you are in my age group, most old school Nelly will send you into a memory bliss of your college years.  “Ride wit Me” is off Nelly’s first album, a great song, but what I loved equally was the remix he did with John Mayer (yes, that John Mayer, not singing, just playing guitar).  Original, and remix below:

Another great one is Usher’s “Love in this Club” (great beat, one of my favorite Usher songs).  The remix was beautifully made, using the same beat, just way softer and slower, and featuring Beyonce and Lil Wayne.  All the lyrics are re-done, but still completely relevant to the point of the song- making love in a club (I love how I am writing about an ode to having sex in public).   Original and remix below:

Last song is my favorite remix.  I don’t know how popular this is, but back in college, in my Napster days, I found this remix and just fell in love with it.   It is Destiny Child’s “Say My Name.”  Now before you roll your eyes, it sounds NOTHING like the original (except for the very end).  Timbaland is a genius.  He took the girls back into the studio and made them re-sing and create a completely different version of the making-your-man-say-your-name anthem.  He also added a guy talking throughout the song, an element not seen as much these days.   Anyways, give this song a chance, the beat is brilliant, one of my favorite songs from my college years.  I’m not even including the original because that’s how good this remix is, blows the first out of the water, just like those two original members of DC…

Finley Quaye- “Dice” (The O.C. “The Countdown” Episode)

Call it a cheesy teeny-bopper show, but The O.C. introduced us to some great music (even had me contemplating pursuing a career as a Finder-of-Music-to-Set-as-Background-For-Television-and-Movies because it seemed like such a fun job).  Finley Quaye’s “Dice” is such a great song, and I love how the director set it to these multiple scenes from The O.C.‘s new year episode- made it look like a music video.

So if you didn’t get your magical kiss last night, vicariously live through these fictional characters and enjoy one of my favorite TV moments:

Machine Gun Kelly, “Chip off the Block”

As we reach the end of 2011, it’s time to name my favorite song of the year.  I did enjoy a lot jams released in 2011: Young Chris “Racks,” Chris Brown “She Ain’t You,” Roscoe Dash “Good Night,” Drake “I’m on one,” “Proud of You,” J Cole “Can’t Get Enough,” Wale “Focused,” B.O.B “Strange Clouds,” and almost all the “Watch the Throne” album, but my favorite song goes to one I just heard recently.  I may be a little late jumpin on the Machine Gun Kelly (MGK) train, but here goes…

I was in overdrive this year focused on work , so I fell a little behind in keeping up with new music.  (Shout out to my boys MM and H for keeping me on track!)  As a somewhat futile attempt, I set my DVR to record Sucker Free Sunday on MTV2 each week, and then would try to put it on sometime while working from home.  On this particular day a couple of weeks ago, I was grueling away and had zoned out on much of Sucker Free.  All of a sudden I look up to the beginning of this video with Waka Flocka Flame… and this skinny tattooed kid named Machine Gun Kelly.  Not gonna lie, what initially attracted me was him, wilin out shirtless with his sideways snapback cap (anyone who knows me is likely unfazed right now).  “Who is this cat?!” I exclaimed out loud.  The song, “Wild Boy” is a catchy, standard song- but then I noticed a couple of times that his flow was really good (much better than the sloppy mess Waka Flocka spit out).  So I sent a quick email out to my boys (subject: Who is this cat??!! with the YouTube of “Wild Boy” attached) and then started looking up more of his stuff (a quick time-out from work).   I watched another one of his videos online, for “Chip off the Block” and he just become more adorable to me. Within minutes my friends had responded, sending me the “Wild boy” single as well as a link to MGK’s newest mix-tape.  I downloaded it, made myself a CD, and got back to work.

The next morning I’m driving to court and put on the CD, listen to “Wild Boy” then the rest of the “Lace Up!” mixtape.  It’s really good, full of good beats and a variety of messages.  More than a few could be released as singles.  Then I recognized the song from the one YouTube video I watched the night before, “Chip off the Block.”  As I listened to it, loud in my car, my mouth dropped open.  I wanted to just have a passenger next to me I could turn to and exclaim, “Did you just hear that shit?  What the fuck!”  He kills it.  The beat in “Chip off the Block” is great, and this kid, who can’t be more than 21 years old, absolutely kills it.  I am pretty sure for the whole next week I had this song on repeat every time I drove and when I worked out.  Eminem, one of the best, just released his one of his best verses (in competition with “Forgot About Dre”) last year with “No Love:”

If you listen to that, then “Chip off the Block,” you can see this kid has the potential to be the next generation’s Eminem.  The whole flow: rhythm, tempo, rhyming…  Asher Roth and Mac Miller are just decent from what I’ve heard so far, and I am somewhat familiar with Yelawolf- he is good, but I think MGK is better.  And he is cuter and will gain better acceptance by female fans- which was one of Eminem’s assets.  Again, I repeat, not Eminem level yet, but has the potential.  MGK has been signed by Diddy’s label, that is actually how my friend H heard about him, by following Diddy on Twitter.  This is what I get for unfollowing Diddy a couple months ago (all he was tweeting about was drinking Ciroc responsibly so I got annoyed one day and hit “unfollow”)  If I had only known his tweets would get some substance…

So MGK is the kid to watch in 2012.  Download his mix-tapes, better yet if you have my email address, email me directly and I’ll send you “Chip off the Block.”  Don’t just watch the video- you’ll get distracted by everything going on, and it gets interrupted a couple times, and have I mentioned how cute he is?  But seriously, put this song in your headphones or car or whatever and listen.  He’s good.

Tears for Fears, “Head Over Heels”

Ah, pure fucking perfection (I apologize for the sudden increase in my usage of f-bombs, but there is too much passion when it comes to certain things in Little Star’s life).   Remember that mix-in of high pitch singing I recognized in the previous post- which is a staple to good 80s music?  Well “Head Over Heels”  is the epitome of that.  If you thought I loved Level 42, you should see my face light up with this song; as soon as I hear that all too familiar keyboard start to play.

“I wanted to be with you alone, and talk about the weather.”

WHERE ARE LYRICS LIKE THIS NOW?   I’ll tell you- they don’t exist.  People are singing about sex, sex, and sex.  Not to say they weren’t singing about sex in the 80s, but not in the vulgar fashion they are now.  The first line of this song is one of my favorite lines ever.  Gentlemen, there is no faster way to get panties dropping than to send your love interest flowers with a simple handwritten note:  “I want to be with you alone.  And talk about the weather.”   It is so pure and beautiful.  When you show someone that is simply all you need, all you want- you are bound to get a whole lot more.

Its been years and I can’t figure out exactly what this song in its entirety is about.  But I love it.  I love the original lyrics (if I have to hear ‘heart’ rhyming with ‘apart’ one more time in any song…), I love the lead singer’s voice, I love the hauntingly beautiful music, I love the quotable lyrics (“But traditions I can trace against the child in your face”, “You keep your distance via the system of touch”, “Don’t take my heart, don’t break my heart, don’t throw it away”, “With one foot in the past now just how long will it last?”, “It’s hard to be a man when there’s a gun in your hand”, “This is my four leaf clover”) despite the fact I don’t understand what they mean when they all come together.  My guess is it’s about a love that he knows ultimately isn’t going to work out.

I also want to give a shout out to the movie Donnie Darko, I first saw this film about 5 years ago, and I still don’t understand what the hell the movie is about (just like this song) but I flipped the fuck out when all of a sudden “Head Over Heels”  started playing.  The way the director played THIS song, MY song- was unlike any other song in the movie (which are all classics by the way, the soundtrack is GREAT)- it wasn’t just a background song to a scene, he put this in to almost make a mini-music video within the movie.  Awesome.  I have included for your viewing and listening pleasure.

xo, Star

Level 42- “Something About You”

Let me begin by saying I fucking.love.this.song!   To say I just love it wouldn’t do my feelings justice.  This is not only one of my favorite songs from the 80s, it is one of my favorite songs of life.  There are certain songs you just have a connection with- you FEEL them in you- this is one of them.   As soon as I hear the beginning chords, I am immediately taken back to the 80s, to the fashion, movies, music, clothing- everything of that time.  It just puts me in the best mood, and makes me want to get up and dance.  I wish I was older in the 80s so that I could have actually been out at a bar and hear this come on, and dance to it.   I have this extended club version of it in my ipod I will attach, along with the original song.   I almost prefer the extended version.

There is not much more I can say, except that songs like this are a classic example of the 80s- how they mix hitch pitch singing in, that typical 80s keyboard sound, and the lead singer’s voice is something you cannot find these days.  Great voice.  I know I normally go into much more depth in my reviews but this is an instance where I just want to share the song and hopefully the good feelings I have when I hear it.

In the Name of the Father- Gavin Friday & Bono

I cannot speak of my love for this song without telling the story of the great lengths I went to find it.  We have to go back many many years, to my 8th grade year at Morningside Academy.  Yes, I am the product of a Christian private school- complete with uniforms and weekly bible memorizations.   For some reason, one of our teachers, Mr. Adams, brought in this David Copperfield magic show video to show our class.  Don’t ask me the relevance.  If any of you are familiar with David Copperfield- he likes to jazz up his magic acts with pretty women, cool music, dramatic movements, and crazy lighting.  It’s fun to watch.  So this particular live show begins, with this magic trick involving David and this pretty girl disappearing into a fan, and then ‘magically’ appearing on the opposite side of the arena.  Our class watched the whole show, but I couldn’t get over this first act.

To start with, it was put together really well- a little romance, a little mystery.  But THE SONG.  Do you know how some songs you hear a couple of times before you decide, “hey I really dig this song” and then there are songs where as soon as you hear it- something clicks- and you instantly know you love it.  Well I instantly knew.  It starts out slow, with a man (soon to be revealed) singing and then instantly gets faster with the addition of this odd bagpipe-drum music…then gets slow again, with this man crooning to his love “come to me, come lie beside me, oh don’t deny me, your lies…”  And the magic act was synced perfectly to the song.  I HAD to have this song.

Now let me give you some background as to where the world was technologically when I was in 8th grade.  To begin with, this David Copperfield video was in fact, a video tape.  Secondly, the compact disc (“CD” for short) had become mainstream the year before- at least in my world.  i had gotten my first CD player and CD in 7th grade (in case you’re curious, the first CD I bought was ‘janet’ by Janet Jackson, and my second CD was the Best of the Doors 2-disc set- I listened to them over and over and over…)  Thirdly, our home had a computer, but we didn’t do much with it.  There was no internet.  I repeat, there was no internet.

So without the world at my fingertips, how in the world would I find my song?

I started with announcing to the class “Does anyone know who sang that first song?”  Mr. Adams was nice enough for me to rewind the tape and replay it for everyone.  I got a bunch of blank stares.  Then Mr. Adams was nice enough to let me forward the tape to the credits, hoping my song would be there.  No luck.

I went home and told my family about this magical song (no pun intended).  My mom loves David Copperfield and said she wanted to watch it.  No problem- I went back to school and begged Mr. Adams to let me borrow it.  We had two VCRs so we made a copy of the tape.  Now I had the song in my possession and I went hard to work.

I started out by taking the video to my uncle’s house.  He knows more about music than anyone in my family.  He said he wasn’t sure, but he did affirm what I was thinking- the voice sounded like Bono’s from U2.  He had a couple of U2 CDs but the song wasn’t on them.  Ok so its not U2, but it sounds like U2…I started asking anyone and everyone that came to our house.  At the time my mom had her own custom-drapery business going on in our garage, and many of her clients would stop by to check out how their home drapes were coming.  They all had to sit through the David Copperfield magic act before the left.  (“Um, no I have no idea who sings this song.  Listen kid, we gotta run.”)   I called every radio station and put the phone up to the TV speakers.  Not one of the disc jockeys had a clue.  I started to hate the world.

I went to every music store in the mall and around town, describing the song (“its slow, then these bagpipes come in”), reciting the lyrics, humming the tune (very unsuccessfully, I swear i’m tone deaf).  Then one fateful day, when I was at Spec’s music store in Jensen Beach, chatting it up with one of the workers about this amazing song, he suggested, “Well why don’t you bring the video in and we can have a listen?”  My jaw dropped.  I immediately begged my mom to take me home and bring me back.  I came back with the tape, and the employee put it on.  Now if you can imagine, a Saturday evening at a popular music store (this was in the days before music downloading, so these stores got a lot more action), there were people coming in and out and the TVs hanging from the ceiling are usually set to top 40 music videos or artist interviews, documentaries…and all of a sudden, a David Copperfield magic show is on.  Everyone stopped and started watching.   I knew I would never get this opportunity again, so I walked up and down the aisles announcing “If anyone can identify this song, please tell me!”   This grungy, bearded hippie-looking employee comes out from the break room and goes “Oh yea, this is Bono.”  I ran up to him “It is???  But i’ve gone through every U2 album!”     “Oh, no this is just Bono.  This is from the movie In the Name of the Father.”  and he casually walked to the movie soundtrack section and picked up the only copy of the CD that they had.

I bought the CD of course.  I remember it was like 17 or 19 bucks.  And only one song was good on it.  But finally I had it.  And you know what, it was worth it.  I still regularly listen to the song to this day.

Here is the full song…

And below is the link to the David Copperfield act to it….

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/467865/david_copperfield_the_fan/

“Kiss of Life” – Friendly Fires

I have my days of unemployment to thank for discovering this song.  Due to no job and no real responsibilities, I got into the habit of staying up super late at night.  And 2am is the token time that MTV (which don’t forget stands for Music Television) actually plays its music videos (I could write another essay about the death and demise of MTV, but it’s just too depressing.  It used to be the shit- and now it has been reduced to the most god-awful TV shows- teenage pregnancies, dating shows involving parents, buses, and terrible one-liners, and let’s not forget the groundbreaking Hills…puke).  I admit the first couple times I saw the beginning of this video, I thought, “WTF” and changed the channel.  And then one night, I gave the song a chance…WOW.  This song is the shit!!!  I’ll tell you why…

The beat- you cannot help but dance and move to this- especially if you have good TV speakers to catch everything.  If you don’t- download it and listen to it in your car or home stereo.  It’s good music.  Something about the message of the song, the video, and the beat reminds me of both Peter Gabriel and Midnight Oil’s “Bed’s are Burning”   This song doesn’t belong in this decade- which is exactly why I love it.

The video- it’s so simple- and yet so weird.  A bunch of tribal-type dressed people on a beach, jammin out.  But the lead singer, the star of the video- apparently didn’t get the “breezy beach wear” memo- he is decked out in a black collared shirt, black pants, and beige loafers with no socks….WHAT THE FUCK.  it’s so funny, but somehow brilliant and it just works.   What also makes this funny is the guy looks like he could be one of Prince William and Henry’s cousins- he should be out riding horses or playing croquet- but here he is, praising the beauties of earth and rockin out on a beach.   I love the way he dances- he obviously doesn’t care what he looks like- he is just letting the music move him however it wants.  We all should do that sometime, just put on a song and dance away…

Ode to “Lollipop”

While en route from Milwaukee to Madison the day before Thanksgiving, I grew sick of listening to Paper Trail (which had been in my cd player for three weeks straight) and decided to go for a lil blast from the (recent) past – Lil Wayne’s The Carter III album.

After listening to the first 30 seconds of a couple of the first tracks and semi-enthusiastically nodding my head along- I skipped over to 12 and turned the volume way up.

I’m driving on the highway, enjoying the scenery, and this pleasant study-free hour of my life- the first beat of the song starts, and I think to myself- “This song is BRILLIANT.” For many reasons.  Sadly, this was my impetus for starting a blog- while many blog to share life experiences, political opinions and rants with friends and the general public, I would like to share my love for Lollipop with you.

2008 has had some great hits, especially in the hip hop area -which is mostly what I listen to. Hip hop is fun, great beats, gets you pumped up, and of course is great to dance to.  The lyrics aren’t supposed to be deep or particularly smart- its music and an escape from the realities and stresses of life!  But I digress.  So what did 2008 have to offer- big hits like Flo Rida’s “Low” and Usher and Jeezy’s “Love in this Club” (which is my runner up song of the year- but that’s a whole other blog).  And then there were the catchy hits that were great at the time, but eventually will fall into the category of semi forgotten: “Sexy Can I”, “Superstar”, “Bust it Baby Pt 2”, “Boss” etc.  “Love in this Club” is a true classic to me, but besides that- I think Lollipop has the most staying power.  As I said before, it’s brilliant.

The beginning of a song is crucial- it should catch the listener’s attention right away. (bonus points if the beginning strums having the effect of girls screaming “that’s my song!”, downing their drinks in one gulp and running to the dance floor).  And sometimes it’s better to have a slower, bass-less intro before you getting into the real stuff.  I love the beat in the beginning- sounds like some alien space ship beeping.  Then Wayne comes in with his signature raspy-bullfrog-mumbling voice, with the first of my three favorite quotes from the song: “Say he so sweet I wanna like the rapper” “So I let her lick the rapper.”  Ok, so the double meaning may be a bit elementary – (giggle) “He means, rapper- not wrapper- get it?  Lick the rapper???”  But to me, it’s such a great line. Even sexy, really.  As every fan sings along with Wayne, “So I let her lick the rapper.” our mouths can’t help but form a lil cocky smirk as we say the words- and for a second we are all a drunk-on-cough syrup-high-on-god-knows-what-dread-locked millionaire rapper, with a hand-picked groupie who is about to go to town on a…wrapper.  Despite your beliefs, morals, values regarding this situation- you have to admit it’s a smooth line.

I shall continue to dissect the song- now the bass and chorus of the song begin. No brilliantly written lyrics here, just the simple “Shorty wanna thug, bottles in the club” Thugs, clubs, shorties, bottles- what else is new in a rap song?  But it’s the beat and the singing of Static Major (RIP) that creates this unique almost haunting melody that’s very catchy and addictive.  I know haven’t gotten sick of this song yet.

I enjoy how the song is distinct in the beats from the chorus (the dragged out “thuuuuuuug”, “cluuuuub”), from other parts like the shorter-tempo’ed- “Drop it like its hot.”  Later in the song, the 2nd of my favorite quotes comes up – “Call me so I can make it juicy for you.”  No real reason for loving it- just it’s the quote most fans took from the song and ive seen it quoted many places.  It’s just silly and cute and fun. “Call me! So I can make it juicy for you!”

As said before, the lyrics in this song are especially lacking in any meaningful message, and they tend to just repeat themselves. Basically, the girl likes him and wants to pleasure him. Shock.  Really it’s about the beat.  BUT I have to give credit to the lyrical genius of the following line, in what has to be my favorite quote of the year- “And when I’m at the bottom she Hillary Rodham.”  Hilarious. Love it.   As I am a long time supporter of the Clintons- have met Bill, have read Hilary’s biography, and just think she is awesome. A very head-strong, successful, focused woman, and lawyer, ahem… this quote completely does her justice. Lil Wayne hit the nail on his inappropriate sexual anology right on the head. No other woman would have worked better than Hillary (change it to Monica and you get an image of a soft, chubby, blushing ho, excuse me, girl. Definitely not the strong dominating persona of my girl Hilary) Of course it helps that Rodham rhymes with bottom. But it’s a great shout out to Hilary. Bottom line- I love that bottom line.

(Since this is a blog I’m guessing I don’t need to throw out the disclaimer out that this is all MY view- no one else’s -and no one has to agree with me or respect what I have to say.)

Lastly, just in general- when the song starts- it is plain hot.  I consider myself a respectable girl, and would never categorize myself with any of the women that are portrayed in rap videos such as Lollipop, but this song sounds damn sexy and definitely has panty-dropping potential.  It’s slow, but not slow enough where you can’t get your dance on.  Especially if you’re in a club, or Club Civic (my lil Honda may be beat up and old- but what chu know bout the two JL 12s in the truck?)

So there you go- my song of the year.  Enjoy.