Drake, “Trophies”
Drake got tired of the jokes about him being sensitive and came back with a harder track. Triumphant horns drive the beat—produced by Hit Boy and co-produced by Hagler and Noah “40” Shebib—as Drake raps about winning. He has great numbers, money, great cars and material possessions, fly women and… you get the point. He even emphasizes “this is not a love song.” This one goes the typical rapper route, but it does knock so check it out.
Timothy Bloom, “Stand in the Way (of My Love)”
The slept on Timothy Bloom has some new music coming our way with “Stand in the Way (of My Love).” Bloom declares to the woman he loves that he’ll wear her down. If she doesn’t love him back yet, she will one day, because he’s that committed. The lyrics are just as intense as the soulful, kind of bluesy melody, with Bloom crooning, “I’m afraid I’m gonna lose my mind and do something crazy/Pull the moon down out of the sky until you love me baby/I’m like the raging sea/The scorch of a summer/Nothing like the devil but I’m bound to take you under.”
Since leaving Interscope Records, the two-time Grammy winner has been working on his new self-titled album, coming January 7.
Keke Palmer, “Private Dance”
Keke Palmer taps into her passion for pop music with this ditty about a night out with the girls. She shifts focus when a cutie on the dance floor catches her attention. The beat is a simple hodgepodge of synths and drums with a chopped and screwed voice peppered in for more pizzazz. Keke doesn’t really sang here. Instead, she does a cutesy falsetto, singing seductive lyrics like, “If you working on getting this body, then I’m working on leaving this party.”
Rapsody, “Illuminaughty (Chinchilla)”
The North Carolina native, signed to 9th Wonder’s Jamla Records, decided to break out of the musical monotony with a rappity rap song. The 9th Wonder-produced beat is low-key, and the focus here is more on Rapsody’s lyrical prowess as she drops gems about how nice she is and her frustrations about being labeled a female MC when “it’s apparent that she can handle men.” She condemns such inanity with lines like, “I’m a poet baby/Laureate don’t relate to ratchet.”
“Illuminaughty (Chinchilla)” is part of the upcoming compilation album, Jamla Is the Squad, hosted by Statik Selektah.
Starrene Rhett Rocque is a pop culture junky who often fantasizes about becoming a shotgun toting B-movie heroine, and aspires to save the world from the impending #ZombieApocolypse… In reality she’s a freelance entertainment journalist/blogger who muses about music, TV, movies and love. Follow her on Twitter @GangStarrGirl or at GangStarrGirl.com.
