lauryn hill: can’t take my ears off of you.

LAURYN HILL may have been hiding from the spotlight these past years, but she hasn’t been a stranger to my iTunes.

Today, my two favorite things collided as Louie of i guess i’m floating honored Ms. Hill with a post-Sister Act II post. It inspired me to make this post featuring some b-sides, remixes, rarities, collaborations, and unreleased songs.

Considering Lauryn has been keeping it on the hush for the most part, no one is really sure when her sophomore studio album will be released. Apparently a great quantity of music has been recorded, including a collaboration with The Wailers. On top of this, The Fugees have reunited to record some new songs, two of which you can hear below. However, I have to echo the sentiments of The Village Voice in saying, “Turns out that a Fugees reunion wasn’t really what anyone was waiting for; we just wanted Lauryn to start rapping again.” Wyclef and Pras really aren’t great rappers. Do I need to even mention “It Doesn’t Matter”?

DOWNLOAD: zip file of b-sides, remixes, etc., or download individually

TRACKLIST:

  1. Lauryn Hill & Tanya Blout- His Eye Is On The Sparrow (Sister Act 2)
  2. Lauryn Hill- The Sweetest Thing (Love Jones)
  3. Lauryn Hill vs. Junior Senior- Doo Wop Move Your Feet (Mash-up)
  4. Lauryn Hill- Ex-Factor (A Simple Breakdown Remix) –(single)
  5. Lauryn Hill- Lost Ones (Remix)
  6. Bob Marley & Lauryn Hill- Turn Your Lights Down Low (Chant Down Babylon)
  7. Lauryn Hill- Rebel (Studio Version)
  8. Lauryn Hill- Selah (The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood)
  9. The Fugees- A Change Gonna Come (The Fugees Greatest Hits)
  10. The Fugees- Take It Easy (single)
  11. The Fugees- Wanna Be (leaked)
  12. Nas f/ Lauryn Hill- If I Ruled the World (It Was Written)
  13. Common f/ Lauryn Hill- Retrospect for Life (One Day It’ll All Make Sense)
  14. Carlos Santana f/ Lauryn Hill & Cee-Lo- Do You Like the Way (Supernatural)
  15. Kanye West f/ Lauryn Hill (sampled)- All Falls Down (College Dropout demo)
  16. John Legend f/ Lauryn Hill- So High Cloud 9 Remix (single)
  17. Method Man f/ Lauryn Hill- Say (4:21: The Day After)
  18. Talib Kweli- Ms. Hill (Right About Now)
  19. Ted Leo- Ex Factor (cover)

BUY The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
BUY Lauryn Hill MTV UNplugged 2.0

BLOGWATCH: Arjan Writes points us in the direction of a great Tigarah remix. Download many free remixes by Mr. D at Tigarah’s website. Stereogum urges us to get our hype on while we still can.

kelis: i don’t just like this, i like this like this

Kelis is a fascinating individual. I once deemed her the “American R&B equivalent of Bjork” due to her eclectic repertoire, and I didn’t just come up with that title because of her collaboration with Bjork. She’s all over the place. One minute she’s falling apart and floating in a creepy, gothic wasteland, and moments later she’s a pop culture phenomenom. She’s an R&B sensation, yet she’s a rockstar. She’s a commercial failure, and a dance music superstar. She’s a child! She’s a minimalist! She’s the first girl to scream on a track.

Now, she’s back with an 808…and a new haircut. And, oh yeah, a new album. Her new single “Bossy” has been met with mixed reviews by fans, and it isn’t quite causing a storm on the charts. Despite this, there is much hype among fans about Kelis Was Here, which is full of collaborations with today’s hottest producers– Scott Storch, Cee-Lo, will.i.am, Linda Perry, Swizz Beatz, and more.

Speaking of those hot producers, let’s talk about a recently leaked track done by Swizz Beatz (Beyonce‘s “Check Up On It”, Busta Rhymes‘ “Touch It”). The song is called “Like You”, and though it’s been met by mixed reviews on the net…it’s amazing. Sampling the opera diva song from The Fifth Element, “Like You” is a combination of fifth grade vernacular (“I don’t just like you, I like you like you”) and sleaziness (“He’s making me hot…or is it his cock?”). This is something only Kelis can get away with.

Something about this track creeps me out though…A month ago, my friend Anna and I decided we were going to record a mini-movie called “KELIS: THE OPERA”. The plot involved two milkshake stands, both alike in dignity…well, actually one of them was operated by an evil guy. Also, our main number “Milkshake” involved a synchronized swim routine.

After having developed this idea, I can’t help but think that Kelis has stolen our thoughts, using them as inspiration for this song. I guess I’ll be able to confirm this theory for sure when her next music video has aquatic choreography.

DOWNLOAD: KELIS- Like You (shoutout to Plavalaguna for this one)

PRE-ORDER Kelis Was Here, to be released August 8th

BONUS TRACK: KELIS- Get Along With You (Fake ID Remix)

BLOGWATCH: Check out The Gossip covering Aaliyah‘s “Are You That Somebody?” over at the space (link courtesy of mammoth press). Your Standard Life has Bright Eyes at Bonnaroo, and You Ain’t No Picasso has it as a zip file. If that doesn’t float your boat, maybe one of the 50 SONGS over at i guess i’m floating will…featuring Sufjan Stevens, Destroyer, Oh No! Oh My!, Beirut, Phoenix, and more.

ms. jade– whatever happened to…?: funky fresh dressed edition.

Timbaland‘s Beat Club Records was created ca. 1999/2000, but around 2004 the label dissolved. This forced most of the artists to venture alone into the music industry for a new home. You may remember some of these artists. Hell, some of them may still be playing on your radio. Some of them.

Bubba Sparxxx (“Ugly”): Despite a mediocre debut and his critically acclaimed, commercially ignored sophomore slump, Mr. Sparxxx is getting some radio play with “Ms. New Booty” and “Heat It Up” thanks to Big Boi of Outkast‘s Purple Ribbon Label.

Petey Pablo (“Raise Up”): Petey was last heard on Ciara‘s song “Goodies”. He also had a minor hit with the Lil-Jon produced single “Freek-a-Leek”. Currently, Mr. Pablo is signed to Death Row Records and will be releasing his third album Same Eyez on Me in late 2006 or early 2007.

Tweet (“Oops, Oh My”): Due to mismanagement and promotional problems over at Atlantic Records, Tweet‘s second album It’s Me Again did not do as well as it should have. Tweet has been working on collaborations with Monica, Jessica Betts, Fantasia Barrino, and possibly Chili of TLC. Her new album will feature a duet with Whitney Houston and production by Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Dre & Vidal (Usher’s “Caught Up”), Kanye West, and possibly Rich Harrison (Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love”).

Sebastian (featured on “All Yall”): Sebastian is actually Timbaland’s little brother Garland Mosley. In his early career, Garland was a ghostwriter for Timbaland. He has never released an album, but was featured on several songs. You can actually find him over at the space.

Ms. Jade (“Feel This Girl”, “Big Head”): Hailing from Philadelphia, Ms. Jade struggled to enter the rap game because of comparisons to fellow Philly native Eve. By sheer luck and hard work, she was signed to Beat Club Records. Once she got there, she built herself upon respect for her skills (not her body) stating, “I’ve never been the type of person to fit in. I’m not into the sexual bandwagon. I want somebody to listen to my music because they like it, not because they think I’ve got nice breasts and a big butt. I want them to like my music because I’m nice. It’s as simple as that. I’m not a copycat. There’s not another female rapper like me. I’m nice, so respect it.” She hoped to land movie roles, support her family, and become a fashion mogul…but apparently her “niceness” was not enough. Though her album produced three singles, included a collaboration with Jay-Z, and led to a tour with Nelly Furtado & Ludacris…Ms. Chevon Young essentially fell off the planet around 2002.

Google her. Wikipedia her. There is no information about where Ms. Jade went off to. Did she decide to make use of her beauty school diploma or is she back in Philly peddling fake Gucci bags? Though Ms. Jade never produced a Top 40 single, her flow was critically acclaimed by both the industry and the streets. If she was so determined to make it in the game, why isn’t she still making music with or without Timbaland? On that note, if Timbaland once said, “You don’t understand, I didn’t like no female rappers until I heard you”…then why hasn’t he picked her back up for his new label, The Mosley Music Group? Is she still alive? Is she still rapping? Did she ever exist?

Call home Chevon. We’re worried about you!

LAST HEARD: MISSY ELLIOTT f/ MS. JADE- Funky Fresh Dressed
LAST SEEN: Video for “Gossip Folks” with “Funky Fresh Dressed” interlude

NOSTALGIA: MS. JADE- Feel This Girl
NOSTALGIA: MS. JADE- She’s a Gangsta
NOSTALGIA: Watch music video for “Ching Ching” featuring Nelly Furtado & Timbaland

BUY Girl Interrupted, BUY Under Construction

BLOGWATCH: This is a looooong overdue shoutout to shitparade for Max‘s awesome June DANCEPARTYSCENESTER MIX.

CORRECTIONS: “Big White Spaceship” by Pharrell Williams is not actually from his upcoming album, but is an early track produced by a collaboration between Timbaland, Pharrell, Magoo, and another individual. The name of their production group was Surrounded By Idiots. In fact, several of the tracks on the leaked copy of In My Mind (on some file-sharing networks) are NOT new. “Maybe” is actually a song by Pharrell’s group N*E*R*D off of their album Fly or Die.

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