“Papi never run away” – loving that lyric!
Okay, I am so thankful for this version of Drake’s hit ‘One Dance’! To be honest, I was getting a little sick of the original, mostly because it was overplayed on the radio.
But this!!! I am so digging this island vibe and dancehall flow.
Listen below! And stay tuned for the official music video because over the past few days, the 6 God was spotted in South Africa filming for it.
“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh my gosh.”
The above Usher lyric was my exact reaction to his performance. Everyone else did great, but like Usher. He played ALL the old school jams. Banger after banger, he did not disappoint.
Okay, let me start from the beginning of the night. Syd and I arrived DTLA (downtown Los Angeles) just before 7pm, and that was obviously ample time to stop at a bar to get a pre-concert beverage. Refreshing AF. We entered Staples Center, took our seats (in the nosebleeds, ugh) and patiently waited for this ish to start. Wait, I actually forgot that before getting to our seats, we popped in on the 100 level section to catch the end of MadeinTYO perform his banger ‘Uber Everywhere.’ They even played it back with the Travi$ Scott remix. Travvy didn’t show up though – bummer.
KEHLANI | Okay, now we’re back in the 300 level seats. Kehlani killed it. I’ve never seen her live before, so I was eager for her performance. Her vocals are on point. I sort of wish she had a stronger stage presence. Again, this was only me seeing her for the first time – I’ve seen video snippets of her other shows, and they were more lit than last night. Just my initial thoughts! But overall, she is so very talented. #girlpower
BRYSON TILLER | Now onto the baby making music maker himself, Bryson Tiller. That was my second time seeing him live (first time back in January), and he did an amazing job. I know I mentioned this in my write-up about his concert back in January, but I wish the stage lighting wasn’t so dark. It clearly has to be the vibe and look he’s going for, but it’s difficult to see him. I want to see that face! And it’s harder to capture pictures/videos. Regardless, he had the crowd (both the ladies and dudes) moving and singing. Success.
USHER | Okay. Now onto the main attraction. Seriously. U-S-H-E-R-R-A-Y-M-O-N-D. I saw him perform at his UR Experience tour, and while that was good, I thought last night’s performance was better in terms of song choices. I feel like he danced way more during UR Experience, but last night, he pulled out ALL the old songs. How can one artist have SO many hits? I’m so serious. Even the slow songs, people were jamming. Although, two people near us fell asleep – SMH. They aren’t about that concert life. Back to Usher.
From songs off of his Confessions album (listening to that now) to Looking 4 Myself to 8701 and more, he slayed it. Usher was really the first R&B artist that I started listening to, and I credit him for my love of R&B today. And while I’ve danced my whole life, again shout out to Usher who every time I see him perform or watch a music video of his, it makes me love and appreciate the art of dance even more. I mean, my very first hip-hop dance was to Usher’s ‘Yeah’ in the 8th grade. And last night he closed with that song, and I obvi remembered the dance moves to the chorus, so I got to perform that while Usher was singing it live. GOALS AF. Bucket list item – check.
Wait, and how could I forget to mention all of the special guests Usher brought out?! In order of appearance: Snoop Dogg, Wale, Young Thug, and Ice Cube. EP-IC. I actually teared up a bit when Ice Cube came out because it made me think of the movie Straight Outta Compton and NWA and the hip-hop culture in general, and I just love it so much.
Okay, instead of me continuing to ramble, peep my Snap story last night. Apologies that it’s so far away. For tonight’s Lil Wayne x 2 Chainz concert, I’ll be significantly lower and am actually thinking about doing a Facebook Live stream for parts of it. Keep an eye out! And if I don’t do that (depending on cell service and battery), def follow me on El Snap (@ergense) to see Tity Boi and Tunechi.
Hey, yinz and happy Friday!
Today’s post is a little different as its part of Eventbrite’s summer series: getting people to squash FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and to get in the habit of GOMO (Going Out More Often). For those of you who don’t know me, I suffer from FOMO quite often. I mean, have you seen how many concerts I’ve been to? Once I see a lineup or tour announced, I start to stress out about who the surprise performers are going to be and that if I think it’s going to be someone epic, how I have to be there. The FOMO is real!
How does one treat FOMO? The cure is simple – get into the habit of GOMO! That’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s working really well for me. The FOMO has decreased.
What do I have lined up, you ask? Well for starters, I’m attending two concerts this weekend – one being tonight!
THIS SUMMER’S (AND FALL’S) GOMO GO-TO’S
I am SO dang excited to go to those concerts you have no idea. And depending on what other concerts pop up this summer, I’ll do my best to attend those as well because you know I can’t be missing out – and neither should you!
Now having attended more concerts than I can count, I’ve learned a thing or two about concert-going etiquette, and I’d love to share these tips with yinz. See below :).
DO’S –
DON’TS –
I hope the above tips help you and my upcoming list of concerts motivates you to get out more, especially this summer! Life’s too short to sit around and Netflix and chill your days away.
Now you can take it one step further and actually be the one to start the GOMO effect. Create an event in your city with the help of Eventbrite’s ticket selling platform. So whether you go to an event or bring the event to you, I hope yinz take a dose of going out more so you don’t catch a case of FOMO.
Happy Friday, yinz!
It’s here, and it’s flames. Well from at least what I’ve heard so far, I’m into it. Especially that Drake x 2 Chainz track, ‘100it Racks.’ Last night Future and DJ Esco (aka the coolest DJ in the world), posted the artwork shown below on Instagram, and it got everyone hype AF. Well, it’s here, and you should listen to it.
TRACKLIST
01. DJ Esco – Project E.T. Intro [Prod. By DJ Esco & DJ Mustard]
02. DJ Esco – Check On Me (Feat. Future) [Prod. By DJ Esco & DY]
03. DJ Esco – Right Now (Feat. Future) [Prod. By DJ Esco & Cassius Jay]
04. DJ Esco – 100it Racks (Feat. Drake, 2 Chainz & Future) [Prod. By DJ Esco & Southside]
05. DJ Esco – Juice (Feat. Future)
06. DJ Esco – My Blower (Feat. Future & Juicy J) [Prod. By DJ Esco & Tarentino]
07. DJ Esco – Too Much Sauce (Feat. Future & Lil Uzi Vert) [Prod. By DJ Esco & Zaytoven]
08. DJ Esco – Who (Feat. Future & Young Thug) [Prod. By DJ Esco & Metro Boomin]
09. DJ Esco – Party Pack (Feat. Future & Rae Sremmurd) [Prod. By DJ Esco & Southside]
10. DJ Esco – Married To The Game (Feat. Future) [Prod. By Southside]
11. DJ Esco – Stupidly Crazy (Feat. Casey Veggies & Nef The Pharaoh) [Prod. By DJ Esco & DJ Mustard]
12. DJ Esco – Thot Hoe (Feat. Future) [Prod. By Southside]
13. DJ Esco – Super Dumb (Feat. Rambo So Weird) [Prod. By DJ Esco & DY]
14. DJ Esco – Champagne Shower (Feat. Future & Rich Homie Quan) [Prod. By DJ Esco & Moon]
15. DJ Esco – Deal Wit It (Feat. Stuey Rock) [Prod. By DJ Esco, Cameron Cartee & J Platt]
16. DJ Esco – Benjamins Burn (Feat. Future) [Prod. By Metro Boomin]
tracklist via Complex.
Currently available on LiveMixtapes.com, I quickly downloaded the app this morning to stream the fire. Don’t want to download the app? All good. I got yinz. Stream it on their site here.
What a way to start off Friday!
So, last night was pretty epic for a Tuesday night. I attended an event hosted by Vevo (major props and many thanks for the invite!) that highlighted their breakout artist of the year. This year’s being Jidenna. Now, I must admit that I don’t listen to Jidenna on the reg and really am only familiar with his ‘Classic Man’ song. However, after seeing him live and hearing the new music he has lined up… holy. smokes.
The man is a natural entertainer. From his facial expressions to his dance moves to his way of working the crowd, Jidenna has gained a new fan from me. It also helped that he was performing literally right in front of me. So cool.
At the NeueHouse venue in Hollywood, Syd and I checked in and were greeted with complimentary champagne. There was an open bar with cocktails named after Jidenna songs and trends – very tasty BTW. And as if the drinks weren’t enough of a treat, cue the mac and cheese bar and french fry cups. I mean. My dream. But yes, thank you again to Vevo for being the host with the most!
Now back to the real star. Check out my Snapchat story (ergense) from last night to get a better feel of what went down with Vevo’s breakout artist of the year!
Okay, I need to get way better about posting music videos on this thang. Well, and better about posting in general. Any ways.
I just world premiered this music video from my bed, and I love it. It’s nothing too complex – but just so cool. And if you check out my Snapchat (ergense), you will hear what I think of this video. Again, it all goes back to being cool and to me Rihanna is the Queen of Cool, 100%.
So watch the video below, and let me know what you think! Oh, and pay attention to the cube RiRi is dancing in. Let’s just say it looks a lot like that ‘Hotline Bling’ box Drake was busting a move in. Hmmm…
Regardless, I’m team Rihanna and team Calvin. Enjoy!
Oh, and HOW COULD I FORGET. It’s still June 16 on the West Coast, so since that’s the case I’d like to wish a happy birthday to the late Tupac. How can you resist such a face?
And Kendrick Lamar’s birthday is tomorrow. Two of the GREATS born a day apart? Incredible.
Love yinz!
PI don’t know about yinz, but I need some happy social media posts in my life right now. Good thing there are a lot of good and exciting things currently happening in the hip-hop (and sports) world!
First and foremost, I can’t believe I didn’t post about the freaking PITTSBURGH PENGUINS winning the STANLEY CUP. I mean. I’ve been waiting for this moment since 2009 when they won their last Cup. So, so proud of and happy for this team of yinzers. Wondering where I watched the game? The couch. And I couldn’t have been more content. A big congrats to the Pittsburgh Penguins and glad the Cup is back in the city of Pittsburgh. I hope everyone who is at/went to the parade today had fun and stayed safe!
Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Penguins Instagram & Twitter pages
Now, back to hip-hop…
YG | STILL BRAZY
Late last night, well late for East Coasters, YG dropped his highly-anticipated album Still Brazy. It’s currently only streaming on Apple Music (subscribe if you haven’t already) and will more than likely be available on more streaming services on the actual release date of Friday, June 17. And if you’re in LA on Friday through the 28th, stop by YG’s pop-up shop and art installation on Fairfax!
LIL WAYNE RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL
After TWO seizures and emergency plane landings, Lil Wayne is out of the hospital and doing well. To reiterate, this is a ‘positivity post,’ so I won’t be ranting on bashing him (and never would actually) on why he shouldn’t be drinking that lean. Seriously. Life is too short, Weezy. But very glad he’s doing okay!
BEYONCE x FLINT, MICHIGAN
Beyonce back at it again with the good deeds. Most recently, Queen Bee has donated more than $80,000 towards the Flint water crisis. More specifically, the money went to the United Way of Genesee County at a Detroit high school in partnership with Bey’s philanthropic platform, BeyGOOD. As if that wasn’t generous enough, 14 Detroit-based high school students were selected to receive “college gifts” for educational expenses and surprised with tickets to Beyonce’s Tuesday night show at Ford Field in Michigan. Love, love, love reading about this type of stuff! More on Bey’s good deeds here.
DRAKE x VIEWS
Shout out to Drizzy Drake whose recent album VIEWS just went DOUBLE PLATINUM. It’s official via the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America). From what I thought wasn’t his best project, I do find myself listening to it more and more. From the album, One Dance, has now spent five consecutive weeks at #1, while VIEWS itself has spent six. As for overall streams – VIEWS has surpassed the one BILLION-stream benchmark in the U.S. So epic. 6 God status for real.
KANYE WEST x SAINT PABLO TOUR
We on a ultralight beam! For real. As Kim’s Tweet promised, Kanye revealed the tour dates yesterday morning for his HIGHLY-anticpiated tour. The tour starts in August in Indianapolis and wraps up in October in Sin City. He’ll be making two stops in LA at The Forum on October 25 and October 26. And sorry, yinz, he isn’t stopping in Pittsburgh. You have some options though: drive to Philly to see him on October 4 orrrr fly to me and get lit at The Forum. Although, I don’t know why, but I think it would be dope to see Ye perform in Seattle. Really not sure why, but in my head it seems cool. General sale tickets go on sale this Saturday. Cop them or miss out on what will probably be a sold out tour.
Oh and can’t forget what else Kanye delivered yesterday. Later in the evening Kanye added the final (assuming so) version of the song ‘Saint Pablo’ to The Life of Pablo album. He’s been making changes to the album since it dropped in February. This only continues to make me think that TLOP is a work of art. Always evolving and changing! And it’s another reason why I like and respect Kanye. He takes his projects and passions seriously, as do I, so I can appreciate him and his ways. UPDATE: Kanye added additional tour dates. Check those here.
And to conclude this post, I’d like to shout out Disney World for donating $1 million to the victims of the Orlando tragedy. My thoughts go to the families and friends of those who are no longer with us, and my prayers go to the innocent lives who were taken way too soon. I really hope the Facebook bantering and blaming simmers down because what truly matters is that we all come together during a time like this to lift one another up and fill the world (real and digital) with positivity and to remember those lost. I’m sure they wouldn’t want all this finger pointing.
Thanks yinz for reading – be back soon!
Yinz. I don’t even want to say anything because I’m too afraid to jinx it, but if we win you know what… I will actually lose it and have the most #californyinz moment. Honest. Even.
But I just want this post to be out there and to be semi ready to go should anything happen…
Soon, I’ll be heading into our conference room at work to turn on the TV and watch the Pens do their thang at Consol Energy Center. Serious FOMO I’m not there.
Be back soon…
“Ah, Yeezy Yeezy how you doing huh?
It’s my birthday, I deserve to be greedy huh?”
-Kanye West, ‘Birthday Song’ (2 Chainz ft. Kanye West)
Music producer, rapper, songwriter, sometimes singer (cue Auto-Tune; hey, it makes those non-singing rappers’ songs more melodic).
If you couldn’t tell, I’m a huge Ye fan. And since today is his birthday, he definitely deserves a californyinz birthday post. I’m going to highlight what Ye means to me and why we could all benefit from being even just a tad bit like him in our day-to-day.
“And if you can do it better than me then you do it”
“Cold” – Cruel Summer
PERFECTIONIST | I mean the man was making changes to TLOP since the day it dropped in February. Kanye wants the sound to be perfect and delivered with the best quality. He is hands-on with his fashion line because he wants it to be perfect through his eyes. So yes, be more of a perfectionist like Kanye. Who likes something half-assed anyway?
“We all self conscious, I’m just the first to admit it”
“All Falls Down” – The College Dropout
RISK TAKER | Kanye took a major risk on 808s & Heartbreak by not only introducing the sound of Auto-Tune (with the help of T-Pain) and the use of 808 drums, but by also being at his most vulnerable. This paved the way for other artists to take on the same approach but in their own creative ways. So be like Kanye and take those risks. You never know the outcome for you personally and who else you may motivate and inspire!
“I done talked a lot of ish, but I just did the numbers”
“Facts” – The Life of Pablo
EXECUTES HIS VISIONS | We all know Kanye is a man of many ideas. Well props to him for turning most of if not all those visions into realities. Major key to success. So if you’re questioning whether you should bring your own ideas to fruition or not, think of Kanye and BE GREAT. Don’t skip out on missed opportunities.
“They got my mouth wired shut for like six weeks… but I’m still here for y’all right now”
“Through the Wire” – The College Dropout
PASSIONATE | Music, fashion, family, friends, the fans. The passion Kanye emits for all of that and probably more is one of the reasons I like him so much. For me, his passion is contagious. Much appreciated. I think if more people found and expressed their passions in the same way as Ye, the world would be a more productive place.
“And if they hate, then let them hate, and watch the money pile up”
“The Good Life” – Graduation
Aside from his passion, what I appreciate most about Kanye is that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks. Yes, you should care a tad about what people think (you don’t want to be rude) but at the end of the day you have to look out for yourself and do the damn thang.
Now, I will leave yinz all with this FULL video of Kanye performing his 808s & Heartbreak at the Hollywood Bowl. This was truly one of the coolest concerts I’ve ever attended. Not only getting to see one of my favorite artists perform, but this 808s album happens to be one of my favorite projects from Ye and probably in general. TLOP isn’t far behind :). But anyway, please watch if you have some downtime. Well worth it.
Can we talk about the songs I’ve been feeling? K good.
With ‘Damn Daniel’ references and mentions of his ‘gorgeous’ paper trail mixed with some King Push, how can you not like ‘Drug Dealers Anonymous’? The song is the first single off of Pusha T’s upcoming album King Push. And if Jay is featured on one more song and we don’t get a new Hov project, I’m gonna lose it.
Listen here!
Yassss. I am so down for a RiRi remix, especially when it’s a song from her last album (and one of my favorites) ANTI. With a dance floor beat (again, my fave), KAYTRANADA gives Rihanna’s ‘Kiss It Better’ a makeover. Why I like this? Well, one it’s Rihanna and two because it puts a more upbeat spin on the song.
Listen here!
Now for this selection, I probably wouldn’t normally highlight a Wale track, but any man who can hit a falsetto (aka Eric Bellinger), I’m down for the get down. The ‘Spare Time (Remix)’ is one I definitely bump in my car. While a rare pairing for a remix, I think it works well – it’s good in an unexpected way!
Chune in here.
And for the grand finale, no it’s not an entire Travi$ Scott project which we thought we were going to get, we do have a new song featuring Young Thug and Quavo. It’s lit! Thank you to the plug for sending this my way. I just can’t get enough of Travy. Pick up the phone here.
Californyinz 