New R&B Mixes

Isn't it interesting how you can communicate through music? I especially appreciate R&B love songs and songs about the complexity of romantic relationships. Music has helped me get through some trying times, its helped me recall and re-experience beautiful moments, its helped me express feelings I couldn't quite articulate on my own accord, and its allowed me to understand other peoples' feelings. It truly is a wonderful thing... With that said, allow me to introduce a few R&B mixtapes I've put together over the years that tell stories- but don't read too far into them (LoL)!!

The first is a 2-part saga... I'll just call it Moving Mountains Vol I & II. The first part tells the story of a couple in love, who face some serious obstacles. One of those stories is about a man who wants his woman back after he's made mistakes. He makes some changes but getting her back proves not to be as easy as he may have hoped... You'll wonder how it ends... but it doesnt! Features songs by J. Holiday, Alicia Keys, Bobby V, Keyshia Cole, Anthony Hamilton, Jagged Edge, Mario, Sade, Jaheim, Usher (title song), Jay-Z (yes Jigga made the cut!), and Musiq Soulchild.

Part two picks up later on in life... It tells a harsh story that deals with the resentment both parties feel toward the other and progresses into healing only to find that the feelings are still there- and they may or may not be mutual or even real! If that's not reality, then I will just quit now. Relationships can be very confusing and this mix really addresses those complexities and intertwined emotions that make or break bonds. I'm not sure where I will go with Vol III... Featuring Stevie Wonder, N.E.R.D., Kanye West, Beyonce, The Dream, Ryan Leslie, John Legend, Prince, Jill Scott, and Ginuwine.

My third mix features good music by Avant, Tank, Joe, Dave Hollister, and Ginuwine. This is a good one. The story behind this one isn't as complex and the Moving Mountains series but its good in its own right! I call it "We've Come Too Far." This one starts off with a man who is looking for love and finds it. No relationship is perfect so we take it there but then evaluate whether its a relationship worth working for and end with Dave Hollister's song; Destiny. Very well put together if I must say so myself.

Two more- for now! The first is called "Enchanted" and it features Joe, Usher and Jamie Foxx. This one sets the mood so be careful! I also have a seriously ill Jodeci mix that requires contraception before playing, unless your goal is a make a baby... because that is exactly what will happen if you pop this mix in unprepared- STRAIGHT UP!! HAAAAAAAAA...

Jay said it best on Renegade, "do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?" Pay Attention!!

Lupe Fiasco

So I had my iTunes DJ going when I came across Lupe Fiasco's Dumb It Down.... Basically, I turned the DJ function off at that point and put that joint on repeat! How could I have forgotten about the jedi and let him slip out of my rotation? I know he flies over the heads of many but in these days and times when I don't even listen to rap (cuz this new crap mostly is not hip hop), I need him to remind me that true emcees do indeed continue to breathe, and won't ever leave (you like that one- LoL!).

It felt good to rediscover his genius. I began to reanalyze the meaning of the song and remembered the many double entendres, intricate drawn descriptions, hidden meanings, deepness, crazy flow patterns and cadences, and outright dopeness in the song.

Some of my favorite lines:
* "so trill and so sincere- Yeah, I'm both them there.
Took both pills, when the bloke in a trench coat and the locs in the chair had approached him here" Hopefully you all caught that one- its one of his easier lines to comprehend. An obvious reference to the matrix. I like it because I can see clearly the scene where Morpheus offers Neo the red or blue pill....

* "Now as far as the hearing, I've found it. It was as far as the distance from an earring to the ground is... of the doorknockers on the ear of a stewardess in a Lear... She fine and she flyin, I feel I'm flying by'em 'cause my mind's on cloud nine and in her mind at the same time"

* "Something really stinks, but I Spinks/Sphinx like Leon Or lion in the desert"
this is just dope line filled with double entendres... but the meaning is what makes this so dope. You know the hip hop game stinks but he cant smell it like the sphinx- or lion in the desert whose nose was cut off by Alexander The Great. You might have to study to fully comprehend his lyrics.

There are so many others in the song, those are just a few. There's a sequence in the 3rd verse where he talks about making the water rise to the level of an airplane but does so in a way that requires the listener to pay close attention. Anyway, you need to pull The Cool out of the library and get your eat on. I really hope he drops another album some time soon and it better not be The E.N.D. like he promised. Check the video below: