It’s about that time when couples wear matching red and white outfits, Flowers and Chocolate are bought, corny love lines are sent out, and every other Hotel is booked. Valentine’s Day is near, and you know the music will be showing up. Singer Tamika J is one of those Artists you’ll be hearing with her latest offering, “What’s Mine“. Teaming up with Kris Karz for Kngly Studios, we get a smooth tune about wanting the love and affection of that person you’re glad to say is yours. With Tamika’s vocals, don’t be surprised by the goosebumps, and the feeling like she’s singing directly to you. The song is a part of a roll out from Kris Karz as he looks to release more singles he has produced later this year, and kick off a new season of “Kngly Live” which is currently in production. Cover design by Sarkastik Ambassador and Hi Jae. Needing that dose of loving? I’ll show you how I do my thing. Happy Knglytine’s Day. Check out the track below.
February 6 marks the day two Reggae legends were born, Bob Marley, and Bunny Rugs. Bob Marley started out in Trench Town, and became a larger than life Icon while Bunny Rugs made his mark as a Solo Artist, and Lead Vocalist for one of Reggae’s most successful Bands, Third World. While many pay respects to them today, we’d like to look back at a few songs that further immortalized them through samples. Samples will come from Bob Marley’s solo singles, or with The Wailers, and from Third World Band during Rugs’ time. Enjoy!
In case you weren’t aware, the Trap Music trio Migos released their highly anticipated “Culture 2” Album a few hours ago. Featuring 24 tracks, fans are in for a treat as Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset are here to give you that fix. While the Album features the singles “Motorsport“, “Supastars“, and “Stir Fry“, a familiar sounding set of vocals can be heard in track 13, “Crown The Kings“. If you guessed right, the legendary Bob Marley & The Wailers has been featured on the Album in the form of a sample. Borrowing from the 1973 track, “Get Up, Stand Up“, the chorus can be heard throughout the production which was handled by Quavo and DJ Durel. “Get Up, Stand Up” was written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, and featured on The Wailers’ 1973 Album, “Burnin’“. Various versions of the song have been recorded by Marley, Tosh, and Bunny Wailer. It has also been covered and remixed by the likes of Tracy Chapman, Damian “Junior Gong” Marley, Shaggy, The Rolling Stones, and has even been parodied on an episode of “Futurama“. “Culture 2” is available now on all streaming services.
Recording Artist Rhiya Luna (formerly Shie Musik), joins the list of Artists who start off the new year with music! Teaming up with Nuh Response Production, she releases the uptempo “Again“! Featuring production from Kruze of NRP, Rhiya handles a Dance/Pop fusion beat as she delivers lyrics like “Love me harder, like yuh nah see me again…“. For those who like to have some fun, and for those who’ll party the night away and make moments last, this is for you! The production was a little off in some parts, but Rhiya has managed to handle it in her own way. The single is currently available on Apple Music, and Rhiya promises to drop more music in the coming weeks as a part of her comeback campaign. Make it last forever. Check out the track below.
Overseas based Recording Artist Voiide has been on the scene for quite some time giving listeners a dose of his Dancehall and Hip Hop influenced sound. Recently he made some noise with his latest single, “JEFE“, and today he adds the official Music Video to the roll out. Directed by ShotByGod, Voiide speaks on his way of life in terms of how he handles friendships, business, confrontations, and the ladies, and he cannot be easily swayed to change as it’s in his genes. The track was also produced by Smitty Links. With his DMS Way (Different Mind State) movement, he seeks to make his presence felt even more in 2018 as he plans to release more music covering various themes. “JEFE” the single is now available on all Digital Music Retailers including Amazon Music, Spotify, and Apple Music. Not even Bleach can keep up with his dirty ways. Check out the video below.
Recently, Recording Artist Royal Blu and Producer Tim Foresta finally released their long anticipated project, the “sinG with God EP“! Featuring 5 tracks, listeners were treated a mix of awesome lyrics, melodies, and production that will have you rocking and rewinding to catch the lines. Recently we got a behind the scenes look at the creative process with Blu and Foresta, more specifically the situations that led to the making of each track. Tune in!
Royal Blu: For “Let’s Get High”, I remember being in studio and one of my Engineers who helped with recording the session was intentionally smoking near the booth so it could aid in me capturing the feeling of the song (haha). Leno Banton and some of the REM crew was in the studio session as well, and they’re like the Ganja gurus. So it made even more sense.
Tim Foresta: “Let’s Get High” was a very interesting process. I only had this rough loop of the hook part of the beat. I had no clue where this could go, but it had a vibe, so I sent it to Blu. He then was able to write an entire song with three verses, hook, basically a whole arrangement on this simple loop. He sent it to me via voice note. I was blown away and it instantly became clear what kind of a song this will be. Within an hour most of the ideas you hear now came to my mind. That’s also what I like about working with Blu. The process doesn’t follow the simple pattern of I send a beat, he writes a song – done. It’s always different.
Blu: I haven’t really said this anywhere else, but the song “Believe” was actually written out of me being hurt. I had a song called “Wrote You This Song” that was originally set to be a part of this EP, but didn’t make the cut. It was the first song Foresta and I ever did, but we didn’t work in studio together for it. He was still in Germany. But basically, that song was about singing to my past self and letting him know that things get better in the future. Because the past self I was singing to at that time lost all the files for his song, the studio I was working with got ripped down, I was betrayed by friends, lost loved ones. It was a depressing time. So that energy carried over into writing “Believe” because I wrote those two songs very close together.
Foresta: Believe. In 2014 I was in South Africa shooting a Documentary about Zimbabwean refugees, living in the streets of Cape Town looking for work. It was an idea by director Thandi Sebe, who at the time wanted to write a Theatre play about it. Growing up in Cape Town, she always saw these groups of men gathering and always wondered who they were and what they do. So, while doing this Documentary I composed some music for it as well and this is where the idea for Believe came from. In the end I didn’t use that beat in the documentary, but interestingly enough the topic Blu found for it perfectly fits the scene of the film that inspired me coming up with it.
