If I was president

Staying in Wyclef's word, now I'll show you his new song, If I was president. As everybody could know, Wyclef nominated himself on the prime minister election of Haiti. Then, in the end he changed his mind. On his website we can read:

“After weeks of quiet but painstaking reflection with my wife and daughter, I have chosen to end my bid for the presidency of Haiti,” said Jean. “This was not an easy conclusion to reach; but it is one that was thoughtfully made, taking into account many, many competing factors and weighing the course that will best advance the healing of the country and help it find the quickest path to recovery.”

But the song turned out to be very good. Especially its lyrics took effect on me:

If I was president,
I'd get elected on Friday,
Assassinated on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday,
Then go back to work on Monday...

Hope you'll work for the welfare of Haiti, and make music as well (his new album will come out soon).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pq_3OheqzU

Wyclef Jean - The preacher's son

A few years ago in late afternoon I got an sms from my father: please turn on the amplifier , I'm taking home some black music which rocks. That was this album. He arrived home and we immediately put it in the cd player, and the deep sounds filled the room. Wyclef Jean moved into our life...

... and he's still with us, especially when we want to do some loudness, hear some black rhythms and cool music. He presents this album by the following words:


In the history of the world, something significant happens every 2000 years. Behold the testimony of time, behold the music of the next millenium, behold the revelations of "The Preacher's Son". The date of my birth, October 17th, marks the date of the death the Haitian revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines. This link to such a profound and powerful man has helped me to understand that I too can be a revolutionary, that I too can use the tools and gifts that I have been given to affect change in the world. This is my tribute. And your invitation. Welcome to "THE PREACHER'S SON".


And yes, this album is created carefully, taking attention to its little elements as well. As Steve Harvey tells us in the intro, it is soothing, it's grooving, it is the truth, it's old, it's new, it's for everybody. 

Every song is a little world, with many singing voices, dense arrangement, deep basses, awesome rhythms and melodies. Many musicians participated in the making of this album, for example: Missy Elliott, Carlos Santana, Sharissa... and the result is a colourful, interesting bunch of songs. Songs about love (I am your doctor, Baby), memories (Class reunion), our future (Next generation), and so on.

I'm your chiropractor

Please lay down on a sofa

And let me massage your back

So I can tell you what's wrong...

Don't forget to check The carnival also by him, with the awesome and never-again-repeatable Guantanamera, and visit his website, where you can watch the concert videos addressed to twitter and facebook.

I am your doctor:

Me and the devil

This song deserves a mini-post. As I wrote it in the previous one, Me and the devil is the single song by Gil Scott-Heron, from his brand new 2010 album, I'm new here. It's a rather new performance of Robert Johnson's Me and the devil blues.
His voice turned into a really unique sound. An excellent video was made for this song, too, and here music and picture work together perfectly. We can peek into another world which opens when darkness falls - strange people appear in the streets. Painted faces. Lights in the darkness. Far noises. New kind of nightlife.

In the video, after the song there's a fantastic part where Gil Scott makes a monologue with a deep drum pattern and beautiful string melody (it's another track on the album, Your soul and mine).

"A new record from Gil Scott-Heron, forty years after his first solo album, is a cause for major celebration and something that the world needs now more than ever."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OET8SVAGELA

Video for the album

Visit his website: www.gilscottheron.net

Move on up

During my soul video seeking I found a cool classic piece which is really worth to show. It's Move on up by Curtis Mayfield, one of the old big names of soul. You can listen to this song on his first album, Curtis which was released in 1970 (I also recommend The other side of town on that album). It's almost nine minutes long, and with the inimitable "move on up" singing it's cool from its first sound to the last. At 4:00 a drum and percussion pattern appear and later a beautiful guitar sound combined with bass provides the basic notes (check out in the live version, it's even better). Solos come in, and it gets bigger. Awesome.

The melody struck in my head so much that it has been playing for weeks now. And still doesn't want to stop, though it isn't problem.

I also published it on Facebook, and one of my classmates liked it and commented: something like that it isn't Kanye West who changed the world, he can just copy well. First I didn't understand it but later I was told by another friend that Kanye remixed this song. I know he's around No.1 in today's r'n'b music, though I'm not a fan of him. I like Love lockdown, that's interesting for me. I searched for this song, but it turned out to be that its title is Touch the sky instead of Move on up. At last I found it and found it cool. It surprised me, the melody got slowed and the lyrics wholly changed. What only remained from the original song is Curtis' voice deepened, which sounds great with the deep bass pattern.

Original version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z66wVo7uNw

Radio/tv version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpD8FpGpBjE

Live version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzsCP5QfcdU

Kanye's version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwQbuAGLj4

Empire State of Mind

There was a time when I was fond of hip-hop music, but that time passed by long ago. I don't really often like today's hits either, but there rare occassions when something keeps running in my head and I realize that it's quite good. Now Jay-Z did it to me with one of his latest singles featuring Alicia Keys: Empire State of Mind, or shortly New York. With the fascinating melody in the refrain and the nice New York related words in the lyrics it has been a cool colour patch in my days recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8