I know it’s Tuesday, but Kanye gave us new music yesterday, so I have to share even though I hope yinz have already listened to it.
New Kanye x Kendrick below!
And although the song is called ‘No More Parties in LA,’ I have to apologize to Mr. West because there was definitely a party in LA on Saturday. Birthday post coming soon!
Majid Jordan and Kendrick Lamar are back with two new tracks. Some of you may not be too familiar with Majid Jordan, but they’re a Canadian duo (part of OVO Sound) who make beautiful music! I listen to them a lot at night when I’m getting ready for bed or just trying to be productive.
Listen to their new song ‘King City’ here! Their self-titled debut is set for a release on February 5. Looking forward to it!
Now I hope yinz all know who Kendrick Lamar is. He premiered his new song, ‘Untitled 2,’ on Jimmy Fallon tonight. I absolutely love that he’s getting so much POSITIVE recognition. The Compton native recently performed in LA over Christmas – a free concert to residents in the area. And he also was the Grand Marshal for the Compton holiday parade. He shows so much city pride. Kendrick is also up for ELEVEN Grammy nominations. That is one less in a year than MIchael Jackson’s record-breaking 12 noms in 1984. Incredible. I love it.
Watch his performance below!
Also, Kim tweeted. See below. You Kanye fans should be super pumped about this. I know I am! Looks like Ye might be bringing back the GOOD Fridays format for SWISH! Yeeeeee.
In today’s favorites, you can simply listen to the playlist below! While I probably didn’t capture all of my favorite songs, these are the majority of them. You’ll see lots of Drake (obviously), Future, Chris Brown, Ty Dolla $ign, and The Weeknd to name a few.
Happy listening – especially if you’re at work and need something to get lit to while mentally preparing yourself for your New Year’s celebrations. And while I normally give yinz a playlist curated on Soundcloud, that streaming service doesn’t always have the originals of songs. So this time, you’ll have to listen via my YouTube channel. 🙂 Perk: Some tracks include the music video. I’ll be adding throughout the day should I think of any other bangers that dropped this year. Enjoy!
Got the blog going up… on the (last) Tuesday (of 2015).
I didn’t go shopping today, but that’s okay because J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar gave me the best gifts of all – two remixes to one another’s songs.
First, J.Cole rapped over Kendrick’s “Alright” and then K.Dot blessed us with some bars over J.Cole’s “Tale of 2 Citiez.”
Again, I’m not home right now so the SoundCloud embedding is sort of annoying on a phone, so you’ll just have to click below to listen. 🙂
Hope you enjoy as much as I did!
J.Cole – “Black Friday”
Kendrick Lamar – “Black Friday”
Before we get into any music news or celebrity happenings, please take my words of advice…
I’ve been without a phone for the past week – I have a new one now (thanks, mom!) – but not one picture of the past four years of my life in California is on there. That was over 5,000 pictures and more than 300 videos. Do you know how many concerts, memories, celebs, that were documented?! Oh well. I just keep telling myself there are way worse things that could happen (which there definitely are) and now I’ll just have to do more epic shit. Excuse my French, but it’s true.
On to the Weekly Wrap-Up…
Adele is back (praise!) with her newest single, ‘Hello,’ off of her upcoming album 25. Not only is there a new song for us to listen to, but there is a video, as well! Dang, does she have some pipes.
Watch the quite heartbreaking but powerful video below.
How dope is this! Kendrick Lamar, just a young boy from Compton, performed at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra. This is so great. He performed songs off of To Pimp a Butterfly on Tuesday during this monumental event.
Thanks to Peter Hutchins for catching this footage! Below is K. Dot’s performance of ‘Alright.’
We can’t forget about the real highlight of the week – the Internet’s reaction to Drake’s music video for ‘Hotline Bling.’
Below are some of the best ones.
Speaking of Drake, his birthday is tomorrow! Wahoo! And happy birthday to Derek and belated birthday to Maria. 🙂
Have a great Friday, yinz!
The dates and locations for Kendrick’s ‘Kunta’s Groove Sessions’ tour have just been released! Tickets are available at Top Dawg Entertainment’s website. The dates are as follows:
October 20 – Washington, D.C. – Kennedy Center
October 22 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
October 24 – Columbus, OH – LC Pavilion
October 25 – Chicago, IL – United Center
October 27 – Atlanta, GA – The Tabernacle (with Jay Rock and The Wesley Theory)
October 29 – Dallas, TX – South Side Music Hall (with Jay Rock and The Wesley Theory)
November 1 – Washington, D.C. – Lincoln Theatre (with Jay Rock and The Wesley Theory)
November 8 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum (Real 92.3’s The Real Show – sort of bummed Kendrick isn’t doing a separate, solo performance)
November 10 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater (with Jay Rock and The Wesley Theory)
[Article originally published on October 5]
While there’s not really any clear information about this yet, Kendrick Lamar took to Instagram about 30 minutes ago with the following post and caption. It’s billed as the ‘1st annual’ Kunta’s Groove Sessions tour. I have a pretty strong feeling one of the cities will be Los Angeles (insert praying hands emoji).
Many thanks to the ‘fan club’ (@parkercole12 & @sneaky_neek) for alerting me of this! Updates to come as more info is released.
I’m sure most of you have heard the original version of ‘Classic Man’ quite frequently on the radio. At first, I wasn’t a fan, but it did grow on me. Now with the addition of K.Dot for the remix, I am definitely digging it.
Check it below!
Praise the weekend is finally here!
ONLY IN LA…
…will you find Kendrick Lamar standing on top of a traffic light in downtown LA (on Figueroa and 11th – near Staples Center) to film a music video. The video will be for his track ‘Alright,’ off of his most recent album To Pimp A Butterfly. He already shot part of the video in Oakland, CA over Memorial Day Weekend.
Check out Complex’s article here to see videos of the Compton emcee filming.
#BEYONCEALWAYSONBEAT
Earlier this week the Internet went Ham Newton with the hashtag #BeyonceAlwaysOnBeat and posted videos of her performing but to different songs. It’s actually quite hilarious and props to everyone who created a video. One that has been circulating a good deal is the ‘Single Ladies’ music video but to the Duck Tales theme song. It had me quacking up. Watch it below.
BEHOLD
I can’t forget to make mention of my West Coast best, Bre, who is currently driving cross country back to Philly to start a new job.
While I am so very happy for her to begin her new adventure and chapter in life, I will be missing her dearly – truly a wonderful person inside and out! She has made my over 3.5 years of living in California pretty darn memorable – thank GAWD you also found The Purp – also saying bye to that too 😦 I can’t say much more because then I’ll start crying (yes, I have emotions), so this will do. One of these days though I will write up a post about this epic friendship and where/how it allllll began – over a bottle (we didn’t drink the entire thing) of Captain Morgan, of course. Love you, Bre, and see you sooner than later! 
Happy Friday, yinz!
This week’s playlist, in no particular order, features 10 songs that I’ve been listening to on repeat the past couple days. There’s a little Nick Jonas (strange, I know), French Montana, Rihanna, and others. Surprisingly Drake isn’t on here. Give it a listen! Any songs you like? Don’t like? Never heard before? Would love to know!
SERGE’S SELECTIONS
FRANK OCEAN TO RELEASE ALBUM IN JULY 2015
On Monday, April 5, Mr. Ocean finally took to his Tumblr to announce the follow-up album to his 2012 release ‘Channel Orange.’ This has been a long time coming – the man was MIA for about a year. The long-awaited album, plus a supposed magazine, are set to drop in July (insert praise emoji). The publication will be titled ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ – it should be called ‘Kylie Don’t Cry’ – I know how excited you are for this. The album has yet to be titled.
KANYE WEST TO HEADLINE POWER 106’S POWERHOUSE
I made sure I was fully awake at 7:15am sharp on Monday morning to hear the official lineup for Power 106’s annual summer concert, Powerhouse. Getting more and more excited as each artist was announced, it wasn’t until the end that they brought out the big dog… Mr. Kanye West. The rest of the lineup includes: Ty Dolla $ign, Ludacris, Tinashe, G-Eazy, Nipsey Hu$$le, Kid Ink, Casey Veggies, Logic, B.o.B. and Tech N9ne. Pre-sale tickets went on sale Wednesday morning – obviously I snagged a pair (can’t wait, Parker!). I must say, I’m pretty amped to see Luda perform, as well. Powerhouse takes place on Saturday, May 16 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
KENDRICK LAMAR’S REEBOK COMMERCIAL DEBUT
This I just want you to watch because Kendrick is epic, LA is epic, and these Reeboks are about to be epic.
Californyinz 