The Strange Generation

Whats poppin its your boy Zain, the young don, 2015's very own casanova, yet again hitting you with another classic straight from the vault of Microsoft Word. This week I'm discussing the unconventional artists and the underdogs who have the ability to change the landscape of music, these individuals are specifically  from my generation and worth talking about.

Popular culture is continuously evolving and the next gen of talent seems to becoming quirkier and even more eccentric than the previous, all generations have these individuals or these groups or duos. However when it comes to the next batch, I believe that we will have our hands on some out of the box unusual, explicit, bolder artists that are not afraid to break down certain barriers

Spooky Black for instance is making waves around the world with his sad R&B tones, singing over mellow, spacious instrumentation, his topics include disappointment, death and ultimately loss. Most of his videos are of him in the middle of some forest, looking awkward. His voice however is wonderful, and people are raving over his sound. He’s not your typical r&b dude, we can all agree on that, he’s someone to look out for. Allan Kingdom is a rapper and collaborated with Spooky, they both are part of  ‘The Stand4rd’

Abhi/Dijon are a phenomenal r&b duo, Ive been listening to these guys for a while, their music is an ode to classic r&b, their soundcloud have nothing but hits, they are young and have mature content, watching them perform live and actually seeing what they look like took me back as I didn’t expect them to look like that, my stereotyping was incorrect and seeing who they are really gives me hope for my generation.

Toro Y Moi, is if Pharrell and Timbaland had a child and if that child decided to do hypnotic disco music, he is one of the very few who is quite outlandish in his image but shy and reserved with discussing his art. Records such as 'So Many Details' & 'Say That' are unique in its execution, specifically the visuals are stylized in quite a different fashion. i admire his work and i believe he is an artist young people should certainly look up to. 

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Albums out of thin air

What’s happening guys and gals it’s your boy Zain here; the young bachelor, the seductor, the connoisseur of fine music and anything urban and popping today or yesterday, this is my first post and indeed it is a monumental occasion that will for sure change your life regardless of who you are or what you do In life.

I want to talk about albums and promotion stunts these days or perhaps the lack of album promoting, a new age phenomenon that gets the public excited, imagine your favourite mainstream artist dropping a project overnight without any prior notification or singles, an album that when you wake up there’s news of 17 tracks on it, and the world goes nuts because of it. An album that is followed by several visuals, having absolutely no idea that such a morning would exist. That’s what Beyoncé did with her self-titled album and clearly succeeded at. Selling 80,000 units in its first three hours, 430,000 digital copies and 120,000 in the second day.  Critically acclaimed and one of the greatest secrets hidden from the public, an age when almost anything can be leaked and exposed. Impressive, especially from such a prestigious artist.

Beyoncé’s husband Jay Z also released an album ‘Magna Carter Holy Grail’ earlier in 2013, and only let the world know a week prior. A deal with Samsung allowed the project to happen, the advertising hit the Internet and was shown on YouTube before any clip played. Using YouTube advertising to its best advantage.  Within the trailers you had some amazing producers working on the album along with Jay talking about it, just pure artistry displayed.

J Cole let the world know only a few weeks prior of release of ‘2014 Forest Hills Drive’ no singles, Cole seems to be coming from more of a humble place, releasing a couple of trailers discussing his current mind state. It all revolved around him wanting to be happier as a person, the album reflects his anger of social and political injustices and the need of materialism and capitalism being a poison within mainstream society. The album went Gold and a well-taken risk on Cole’s part.

D’ Angelo released his new album literally 14 years after his last and it has always been considered one of the most anticipated albums of all time, especially in the R&B sphere, D’Angelo is considered one of the greatest. ‘Black Messiah’ had a trailer that lasted under a minute with no idea of a release date, this got the public excited and only a few hours later did we realize that it would be released that very night. The Internet went crazy and Black Messiah saved classic R&B in 2014.

It seems as though the theme of little promoting shook up the world in the last 2 years and will continue to do so it seems as though this method works, people care about names and labels more than anything else and if you have it then take that advantage. It may be too late as this has been done a few times now, there is however still time to make it a unique execution.

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