Hey guys, remember “212″ or “Fuck Up The Fun” which were both super fun, lyric dependent Azealia Banks songs? Well, “YUNG RAPUNXEL” is nothing of the sort. “YUNG RAPUNXEL” is the first single off of her upcoming full length, Broke With Expensive Taste, which still has no release date after being hyped for more than a few months. Banks has moved away from the solid rap game and more towards the electronic scene, which probably has something to do with the fact that she snagged a major record label deal since the beginning of her career. This song relies heavily on the creepy, deep beat, and much less on the lyrics/screaming that Banks does throughout the song. Honestly, I find “YUNG RAPUNXEL”, just as a song, as mediocre. I probably will not even listen to it again, after writing this article. But…this video, though!
I did not think that witch-hop could be displayed in visuals, but this video does a pretty damn good job. Complete with mouth-eyes (yup), bashing riot police in the face with champagne bottles and random owls flying everywhere, the “YUNG RAPUNXEL” is nothing if not shocking, which is what Banks and her label is striving for these days. Maybe none of those feuds were real at all…maybe her label just wants a bunch of unnecessary drama. Or maybe not. I don’t know. Keep doing you Azealia.
Check out the unnerving video for “YUNG RAPUNXEL” below.
Charli XCX, an English singer, is jumping on that 80s/90s lo-fi music video style that Sky Ferreira and Casket Girls have done with their own previous music videos. The difference is, where Ferreira’s video was more on another drugged out level, and Casket Girls’ video was more of a parody of the Internet’s existence, Charli XCX’s video makes pains to be the most hip thing you have ever seen. And even though that should make me hate it, I really cannot bring myself to crinkling my nose and closing the YouTube tab I have open. Maybe it is that spiked collar, maybe it is just that she is soooo Internet right now or maybe I just really should accept that even though I write for a music blog does not mean I have to hate everything (Editor’s note: this is debatable).
True Romance, her upcoming full length, is scheduled to drop of April 18th, so keep an eye out for that if you want some more auto-tuned songs about puppy love. Check out her video for “What I Like” below and get ready for a really meta slumber party with lyrics about smoking and “husband and wife shit” while being shown girls jumping around with a dog and blowing bubbles.
I had a hard time attempting to classify The Casket Girls, so I resorted to see what they called themselves on Facebook and was met with “eerie-pop”. I really have nothing else to say about this video, because that pretty much nails it.
Okay, I lied, there are some other things I want to say about it. First of which is check out those nails at :48!! Also, this video ironically has the option of viewing it in HD but still has 90s-esque video quality (and outfits). In a word, this entire video is a flashback. Check out The Casket Girls’ “Heartless” video below, which is off of their full length, Sleepwalking.
Damn. It’s been a minute since we have seen something dark from Drake, but I think this video has filled that hole. Without any featuring of central lighting, the video for “5AM in Toronto” relies heavily on the creeped out beat and Drake’s lyrics more than anything else. With a bunch of smoking, slo-mo and girls, “5AM in Toronto” is here for you to get weird to. Check it out below:
Every thug has to have a soft side, and I guess that is why I am so into this song. Also, Mac Miller is in it so it is kind of an obvious winner in my book because I have a weird obsession with him (yes, I even like “Turkey Love“, the 21 minute song he released about a month ago. Die hard fans put cha hands up!). The song is a pretty solid pop song, after you get over the fact that the song is probably 60% chorus. Ariana Grande’s voice reminds me of a young Mariah Carey, especially at the end when she is hittin’ them high notes.
I have been blasting this song for a minute now, and the video is just the next step for my obsession. Basically it is just Mac and Ariana being cute and taking pictures of each other or playing with balloons (and a make out session at the end. Hot). I feel like this is the type of thing that pop songs should have more of, aka solid beats, good voices (sans auto-tune s’il vous plaît…) and some cheesy but cute rap verses.
If you are ready to have some fun, check out the video below. If you don’t like fun, love or pop, don’t worry, I’ll be returning with some more hard core rap beats soon. But until then, check out Ariana Grande’s debut into the music scene below:
Oh, Iggy Azalea, where do I begin with you. I guess I’ll start off with the fact that Iggy is no stranger to the WGWI website; I have written about her a few times and after every article I am a little more confused as to how I feel about her. As an Australian white girl who grew up in the southern United States who raps, she is an anomaly the rap game has never seen before.
Iggy is my favorite type of person because she is able to blend between fashion and the rap game. Her quality of rapping is up for discussion BUT I appreciate her interesting and less ~mainstream~ take on the rap game.
Her video for “Work” dropped early last week and has perplexed me since then. I love the video because it is all about a hot lady walking around people who do not deserve to be around her because she’s so awesome, but then again…I don’t know. I feel like there is a huge difference between the beat for the chorus and the verses, and also in the tone of the lyrics. I know she wants to be able to have almost every song be a dance track, especially her single, but maybe there should have been a splice between the two for this particular song. However, I think she is just beginning and everything musically will fall into place for her. Now the problem will be for my friends to start learning the difference between Azealia Banks and Iggy Azalea and we will be in business.
Also, if you are not interested in Iggy that much, maybe this very insightful YouTube comment will change your mind: “I just came for the ass.” I mean…it is kind of worth it?
Check out “Work” below and let us know what you link.
When WGWI first discovered Azealia last winter, we were enamored with her “Fuck Up the Fun” flow and have been on this girl’s bandwagon ever since. With her following releases, such as her mixtape this summer of Fantasea and her subsequent videos, it is safe to say that I am a pretty big fangirl. Despite all of the Twitter beef that she has been engaged with recently with other musicians and Perez Hilton (is he still a person who exists?), I think that Banks has mad talent and has a voice that needs to, and will be, heard no matter what her opponents might think.
As for the song and the video themselves, the song has the typical Banks flow, with my favorite line being “she claiming uptown, and then she bring it down, right?” The video is very low-key, with her rapping and also dancing in a recording room. Her hair is so on point throughout the entire thing, not to mention her fashion sense. Man, I really can’t get over her. But I digress. Watch Azealia Banks’ “Harlem Shake” Remix video below:
Maybe you’ve had a bad day. Maybe you had a really awkward run in with your ex while he is with his new girlfriend. Maybe you tried to buy shampoo and while smelling it, it squirted all over your face. Maybe you are depressed because of something that happened in your past. Or maybe you are sad for no real reason. If any / all of the above applies to you, then please just skip the next paragraphs and start playing the Youtube clip included below. But be warned that you will probably just feel even more depressed, but the good kind where you are slightly happy because at least someone understands what you are going through.
I think that The Weeknd has lived through most of the experiences that most 20-somethings have had, but at an extremely magnified level. Considering how “Trust Issues” just speaks every single word of every single person who has ever been wronged, how “Initiation” describes every college party when you are one of the only girls there and how “Echoes of Silence” made me instantly start sobbing once I heard it, it would appear that Abel Tesfaye has seen (and done) it all. Weird that he’s from Canada. I thought everyone there was super nice and polite? They go through terrible life changing events, just like everyone else? WHAT?
But, back to “Twenty Eight”. The song is one of the few added onto Trilogy and not featured on any of his previous releases. For an analogy on how he feels about becoming part of the mainstream consciousness, “Twenty Eight” is all about how Abel brought home a girl who was already in a relationship and then the ensuing problems (‘cus there always be problems); even though this is well tred territory for the hip-hop and R&B scenes, Abel takes the approach of how this is an incurring problem rather than the typical “NOW SHE NEVAH WANT HUR MAN YAAA I’M GOOD AT SEX THINGS” that many rappers and other R&B musicians employ. Instead, he laments about how “Girl you could’ve been the one / Now gotta change my number twice a month / When you could have simply kept it on the down low”.
The Weeknd is known for their depressing themes, beats and videos, and therefore “Twenty Eight”‘s video is no different. It features Abel in an interview and a somewhat brothel (?) as well as a ghostly looking girl figure who is watching him from a television. It is clear there is some connection between the two of them, but since most of the allure of The Weeknd is the mystery associated with his videos, we don’t get a real answer. The video is a trip, and features a lot of boobs (so this is definitely NSFW!). But, if do happen to be at work, maybe play the video in the background and just listen to the song because this is another instaclassic for The Weeknd.
Check out “Twenty Eight” below and let us know if you know what it all means in the comments:
Sky Ferreira is basically my personal favorite “anti-Lana del Rey”. And with saying that, I feel like I may have just lost all of the street cred that I may have ever accidentally stumbled upon. What I mean by that is while every little awkward “quirk” about Lana seems to me to have been created by the industry, man, Ferreira’s weirdness seems all together genuine. Either way, Ferreira is cool, collected and maybe a herion addict all of which you can tell from her twinkling song, “Lost in My Bedroom”, and the somewhat eerie music video that goes along with it. Also, just a quick touch of irony, the video goes up to 1080p in video quality, but still looks just as gritty as the 480p.
This song and video are both completely fantastic with their somewhat 80s throwback feel, the soothing tones of Ferreira’s voice and the plinking synth which continues throughout the entire song. Check out the song and video below (which I jacked from Pitchfork. Do I gain my cred back because of that?):
As one of the only girls I know who has a deep affection for rap, especially mean rap, I am really excited to have discovered Angel Haze. She’s a bad bitch from New York who might actually cut you just for no reason (just watch the video). The lyrics on this are sick, and this song is not about the beat which adds to how fucking low-key this whole track is. I am really down with Haze, and am excited to see what happens with her career in the future. Perhaps New York’s Azealia Banks will have to make some room at the top of the NYC Bad Bitches pyramid…but until then, check out Angel Haze’s “Werking Girls” below, and prepare to be blown away.
