Daily Ghetto: Young Buck - Stomp

Copious gun sounds, heavy beats and lyrics about cars and hos - must be a Southern rapper.

This track comes from the former G-Unit members Young Buck and The Game as well as a final verse from Ludacris.

The beat on this song is plain nasty and the hook as catchy as anything.

Definitely give Young Buck's debut album Straight Outta Ca$hville a listen - loads of top guest artists like 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks and members of D-12 are on it.

Blast this song hard and enjoy!

Stomp

Daily Heavy: Slipknot - Duality

The biggest band to come out of the whole nu-metal craze of the late 90s?
I think so. Sorry Korn and Limp Bizkit.

This whole genre gets a lot of flack from "real metal fans", but I'm proud to say I love nu-metal in all its guises.

I'm a sucker for brutal down tuned guitar riffs and punishing bass.

I've chosen to post Duality as the first Slipknot song on this blog purely because it is the first of song that I heard from them.

In fact I saw the video - the crazy one where the band and hoards of their fans absolutely destroy someone's house.

Something has to be said that bands that don't take themselves too seriously, but have the balls to do things like:
Wear masks, hit bins with baseball bats, have copious amounts of pyrotechnics at concerts - and give each other special band numbers, instead of names.

You can't mistake Slipknot for any other band - in neither appearance nor sound.
Hate them or love them, they are a huge band with a massive, borderline obsessive following.

Expect plenty more from Slipknot in the future.

Duality

Daily Ghetto: Tony Matterhorn - Dutty Wine

Ok so in case any of you missed it today was the good day of Carnival in London.
In case you don't know Carnival is an excuse for the black yout of London to get slewed (drunk), the gyaldem (women) to grind up p'on random guys in the streets of Notting Hill, and then in the evening the gangs come out and stab each other up (it actually happened yesterday).

So in honour of the Carribean spirit of Carnival, I'm posting one of the signature songs that makes all de gyal go wild - the infamous Dutty Wine. Just watch the video and you'll soon understand that this is in fact referring to a rather dangerous dance move that women partake in. Watching all the scantily clad dancers start gyrating when this song comes on at Carnival is always fun.

When it comes to Carnival time, I'm always down for repping Jamaica so ladies, make sure your weave is on tight, an wine up yu head!

Dutty Wine

Daily Heavy: Dream Theater - Forsaken

Dream Theater have elevated themselves to progressive metal legends over the last 25 years or so.

A band so jam packed with talent and technical ability, each of its members are revered for being masters of their respective instruments.

This song comes from their 2007 album Systematic Chaos, and has all the elements that make a classic Dream Theater song - excellent use of dynamics between the verses and choruses, a perfectly locked in rhythm section courtesy of Mike Portnoy and John Myung, authoritative riffs and blazing lead lines by guitar legend John Petrucci, perfectly placed and considered keyboard accompaniments by Jordan Rudess and majestic vocals by James LaBrie.

Listen out for the absolutely spectacular guitar solo about two thirds of the way through the song and do yourself a favour and listen to this song more than once - you need to, to fully appreciate the mastery of this sort of composition.

If you are into metal and haven't checked out Dream Theater yet, then you need to understand that these guys are to prog metal what Metallica are to thrash metal, or Black Sabbath and Judas Priest are to classic heavy metal.

I've linked to Dream Theater performing this song live - because they are one of the tightest and well practiced bands out there.

Forsaken

Daily Smooth: Sisqo - Unleash the Dragon

So this is the first song from Sisqo's debut album of the same name.

I've always liked Sisqo's distinctive voice since the Dru Hill days, as well as his outlandish style.

This song has a killer beat and some nice vocal layering.

Oh and to anyone that is disappointed that the first Sisqo song I've posted isn't the one about a skimpy piece of ladies' underwear, fear not - it will be posted in the future.

Unleash the Dragon

Daily Ghetto: Huey - Pop, Lock & Drop It

Oh Yeah!
This song has a big beat and some nasty bass.

This video could not be any more ghetto - girls that the casting crew pulled off the block, Huey rapping in an empty swimming pool, grills, ice, chains and some hood-assed barber shop.

For some reason DJs in the UK don't play this song in the clubs. Why they don't is beyond me.
This is a massive tune, with room shaking bass.

Blast this through a good sound system to fully appreciate this one!

Pop, Lock & Drop It

Daily Heavy: Funeral For a Friend - All the Rage

These guys became one of my favorite bands very quickly.
After listening to their 2005 album Hours I was taken by the catchy guitar tracks, and strong rhythm section.

This is the opening track from that album, which includes some of the band's most popular songs such as "History" and "Streetcar".

It is a typical FFAF song - a clear lead and rhythm guitar split, Matt Davies' soaring vocals and the standard post-hardcore breakdown towards the end.

Expect to see much more from this band posted here in the future.

All The Rage

Daily Smooth: Silk - Freak Me

Well this song gets straight to the point doesn't it?

"Let me lick you up and down, till you say stop" - Jheeze!

The fact that this song comes an album called Lose Control says it all really.

Put this on while you are entertaining a lady and you will be in!

Silk are another member of the slew of 90s vocal harmony groups / boybands that came out in the wake of New Edition.

I like them all, and Silk certainly specialize in writing sexually provocative songs.
I mean who else would write a lyric like: "Coz tonight baby, I wanna get freaky with you"?

Freak Me

Daily Ghetto: Chamillionaire - Ridin'

There's a bit of a story behind this song:

Back in 2005 I went to Jamaica to work for my great uncle for 3 weeks.
My absolute DON of a cousin, Nathan, had all the freshest tunes from the USA pumping on his car stereo. We would drive around Kingston in the height of summer, windows down and Chamillionaire blasting. I went back to the UK having heard this song, that hadn't even hit urban radio stations Choice and 1xtra - I felt like a BAWZ.

I love this song because as well as having some hard bars from Krayzie Bone in the second verse, it always makes me think of the fantastic time I had in Jamaica.

As a tribute of sorts Ridin' always gets blasted whenever I'm driving around London and I feel like getting hyped up.

This is Chamillionaire's biggest hit by a long way.
Wind your car window down and blast this as loud as possible.

I've linked to the proper version of the song  - not the pussy edited version the record label made Chamillionaire record for the music video.

Ridin'

Daily Heavy: Cold - Happens All The Time

It's becoming more common to find out about new or lesser known bands through playing videogames these days.

For all those that owned the original xbox360 console (the good version, not the rubbish arcade one), you might remember that this song was part of the preloaded music on the hard drive.

I looked into Cold a bit more and came to absolutely love their music.
I'm a sucker for downtuned guitars and big, borderline over the top choruses.

Give their 2005 album A Different Kind of Pain, from which this song comes, a listen - it's really good stuff.

 Happens All The Time

Daily Smooth: Omarion - Ice Box

Omarion - what a smooth guy!
I've always thought he was much better off as a solo artist rather than being in his old boyband b2k.

This song is produced by the legendary Timbaland and comes from the 2006 album 21.

I unashamedly dance around to this song when it comes on - after watching the video you'll see why.

I fancy myself as a bit of a dancer and catting Omarion's moves is too hard to resist.

Omarion was recently signed to Rick Ross' record label, Maybach Music Group, and expect to see some songs from MMG's Self Made Vol.2  posted under either a Daily Ghetto or Daily Smooth in the future.

Ice Box

Daily Ghetto: Dorrough - Boy I Grind

I love me some Southern rap!

This is the first song from Dorrough's 2009 debut album Dorrough Music.

Some of this guy's bars make me laugh out loud:

"Yeah bwoi yo bitch my piñata, beat that pussy just like piñatas"
Need I say more..

Boy I Grind

Daily Heavy: Asesino - Regresando Odio

Tony Campos from Static X and Dino Cazares from Fear Factory wearing executioner style masks, screaming in Spanish... a brief description of the extreme metal side-project that is Asesino.

This song  - it means "Returning Hate" in English - is straight up brutal.
Pounding drums, 8 string guitar madness and Tony Campos' guttural roars always get me fired up!

Expect to see songs from the respective members' main projects being posted here soon.
In the meantime blast some insane Mexican metal.

 Regresando Odio

Daily Smooth: New Edition - Can You Stand The Rain

After having posted a Boyz II Men song for my last Daily Smooth, it was only right to put up a song from the original legendary boyband.

New Edition were a bit before my time - I was born in '90 - but when I realized that this group inspired Boyz II Men to form, I knew that I needed to check them out.

In case you haven't realized it yet this group is jam-packed with talent:

Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie Devoe formed Bell Biv Devoe while New Edition were on a break in the early 90s.
(Scrubs fans - you know them even if you think you don't)

Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill are two of the best lead singers period.

Oh, and to round them out Bobby Brown was an original member.

BOBBY BROWN... need I say more!

This song is lead by Johnny Gill - his voice is just too smooth.
The harmonies as the song progresses, as well as Ralph Tresvant's soaring vocals, tip this song over the edge.

The album it comes from, Heart Break, is phenomenal - give it a listen, and enjoy one of its best tracks.

Can You Stand The Rain

Daily Ghetto: Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz - Uhh Ohh

"Get crunk in this muthafucka"

With an opening line like that, you know it's going to pop off when this gets played in a club.
While Waka Flocka Flame is the guy when it comes to getting a club pumped today, Lil Jon was the guy 5-10 years ago.

Give his 2001 album Put Yo Hood Up a listen through before you hit a club and you'll want to fight someone once you get in.

Crunk music gets a lot of crap from other rappers; but they are missing the point - lyrical trickery and content aren't what Crunk artists are going for. It's all about a nasty beat and packing as many "niggas" and "muthafuckas" into 4 minutes as possible.

Blast this through your system and get yourself pumped!

Uhh Ohh

Daily Heavy: Meshuggah - Rational Gaze

Before all this "djent" business turned from the sound of a low tuned palm muted guitar, into a frickin' genre of music (thank you sevenstring.org Periphery fanboys!), Meshuggah really stood alone, as the pioneers of using 8 string guitars for crushing, complex time-signatured metal.

This song is from the first album that Meshuggah used 8 string guitars tuned half a step down to F.
Technically the 8 strings were first used when Meshuggah re-recorded the guitar parts for the 2006 re-release of "Nothing".

The original came out in 2002, and at this point, Meshuggah's guitarists had to make do with down tuned 7 string guitars, to get that low F.

The link below is the 2006 version of the song Rational Gaze, and I still cannot get over how heavy and powerful the groove of the opening riff is.

Enjoy

Rational Gaze (2006)

Daily Smooth: Boyz II Men - Never

This is a big one.
As far as vocal harmony groups or "boybands" in the classic sense go, I'd be hard pressed to choose my favorite. It is a toss up between Boyz II Men and New Edition.

I'm going with a Boyz II Men song today purely because I had their 1997 album, Evolution, pumping in my car today on the way back from Newcastle.

Never's lyrics explain themselves, but the treat here, as with most Boyz II Men songs, are the beautifully harmonized choruses.


Boyz II Men - Never

Daily Ghetto: Waka Flocka Flame and Giggs - Gangsta Hop

Waka Flocka Flame has mastered hype club tunes; this of one of many Waka Flocka songs that will be posted - he gets a lot of hate, but I can't think of many artists that get me as pumped before going out on a Friday night!

This version of Gangsta Hop is on a recent Giggs mixtape: Take Your Hats Off.
Giggs drops some bars at the end of the track to top it off nicely.

Gangsta Hop

Daily Heavy: All Shall Perish - Prisoner of War

All the Olympic action made me almost forget to post today!

This song is just insane; taking cues from the more melodic death metal bands of the 90s i.e. At the Gates and In Flames - this band came out with the album The Price of Existence in 2006 and it still stands as one of the best in the "Deathcore " genre.

The outro and solo are what makes this song so memorable for me. The dissonance in the ending chord progression gives the song a somber feel, and the guitar solo mirrors the rhythm riff, before ripping into a sweep picking frenzy.

Check out All Shall Perish and expect to hear more downtuned mayhem in future Daily Heavy posts.

All Shall Perish - Prisoner of War

Daily Smooth: J. Holiday - Suffocate

Here's a track from one of my favorite modern R&B artists.
The album it's from, Back of my Lac', really hits home on a lot of topics.
This song in particular is clearly about the deep emotions you feel when you truly love someone.
Enjoy J. Holiday's smooth voice, there will be plenty more from this album on my blog in the future.


J. Holiday - Suffocate

Daily Ghetto: Three 6 Mafia - Sippin' on some Syrup

I love Three 6 Mafia; there's nothing like riding around in your car, windows down, with three 6 blasting.

This is from the 2000 album When the smoke clears.
If you don't know what 'sizzurp' is then urban dictionary is your friend. Inform yourself on some ghetto terminology.

Note the obligatory cussing at the start of the track - love it.

Sippin' on some Syrup

Daily Heavy: Cynic - Evolutionary Sleeper

Finally my first post.
After annoying my friends on Facebook by posting the music that they are missing out on, I decided I needed to blog about it and give a bit of background info about each song that I post.

First up is one of my favorite alternative metal bands, Cynic.
This song comes from their 2008 masterpiece Traced in Air.
Listen out for the tasteful guitar solo towards the end.

Evolutionary Sleeper