On the heels of Drake’s signing to Young Money/Cash Money, Kanye West has shot a video for Drake’s “Best I Ever Had”.

Considering that Drake has a huge female following who live and die his music, not sure if Kanye’s blatant approach on the video will do well to please Drake’s female contingent. The coaching segment including pretty predictable cliches that a 15-year old could decipher isn’t as clever a move as Kanye may have thought, however it comes of somewhat humourous nonetheless.

Visually the video is well shot, just could of avoided perpetrating a somewhat simplistic gimmick throughout the entire video, with the “D’s” and tight ball shirts.

Look out for Drake’s debut full length album Thank Me Later due for release this fall.

One of the most beautiful MJ (yet simple) MJ tributes that I’ve seen of yet. Someone told me about this a few days ago, so I tracked it down.

Detroit’s Dwele G builds “Human Nature” piece by piece with some loop software. I remember how wicked this cat is when I hear stuff like this, reminds of the slew of UK/European tracks and remixes he’s done over the years.

Yahoo! homepage usually provides a whole lotta crap in terms of editorial coverage, however, this gem appeared today and I had to share this as my first official tribute post to the great Michael Jackson.

I know I could have penned some personalized editorial, or linked a bunch of people speaking about MJ, however, it seems even more appropriate to show proof of how admired and respected Michael’s music and the connected dance/theatrics were on a global scale.  This impact really expresses how much his music meant to millions around the world, and how huge a loss this is to such a wide demographic.

The Cebu prisoner dance (taped a couple years ago) is a facet of prisoner rehabilitation in The Philipines.  Dances like this are said to be related to Sinulog, a Mardi Gras-like event, where large groups of colourfully dressed performers will perform various dances in the streets.

This performance is incredible!

Check out a new mixtape of past and current material by (Ian) Kamau.

Kamau was one of our NXNE featured performers and blessed the stage with his powerful words on our Saturday night showcase.

Take a minute to download this mixtape and look for Ian Kamau’s new album coming September 9 (09.09.09).

Download: http://www.zshare.net/download/616892724d78a9fe/

I’m loving that great soul music can still exist, despite the lack thereof in the commercial realm of crap R&B out right now.  The same applied to hip hop, there is great hip hop ot there, but I don’t think the polar differences are that obvious when comparing R&B/soul.

9th Wonder has been working with up-and-coming singer Tyler Woods on new material, and a debut album will be released through a deal with Duck Down Records, a bond that 9th Wonder has utilized in the past to release projects.

Someones gotta tell 9th to loosen up and put some rollerskates on – shit, he doesn’t have to be dancing with them on, but at least get in character.

Times Neue Roman new single “Roq Roq” has been chose for inclusion in the EA Sports game “Fight Night: Round 4″ (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3), scheduled for release on June 30.  The song will be available through digital download on iTunes exclusively beginning June 16.

The single has some WICKED cover art provided by Air King for Monyak, influenced by the classic toy/game “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.”  I always saw these Robots in TV commercials, but never got to play with one of these as a kid – I’m so envious.

A track that I’ve been bangin’ all fall/winter, has finally dropped with an official video for the summer months, definitely a summer joint that had to be extended to 2009.

Produced by the beat-wizard Statik Selektah, and what looks like the first official single off Glasses Malone debut album Beach Cruiser dropping late-summer.

Tona and Lyve release the second official single from the new album Direct Deposit “Fast Pace” featuring Sauktrates and T.R.A.C.K.S. (of Irs) on vocals.

Previously:  Tona and Lyve discuss Direct Deposit (new album)

As a super-hard ass critic of DJ’s, my hands down favorite on the decks from my home and native land (Canada) would be Skratch Bastid. Homeboy kills it every time I see him, and spins in a way that any crowd from downtown Toronto club district to backwoods shack in Vernon (B.C.) can connect and relate to the music. Customization to a crowd I think is key, especially in Canada, where you can have such polar differences between crowds – and the Bastid does this very well.

To boot he produces his own music, often used in mixtape format, as well as remixes – one of which was just released yesterday. Bastid has remixed Wale’s debut “commercial” single featuring Lady Gaga, putting a whole new spin to the track, while creating a percussion type base that is close to home to Wale’s DC Go-Go music roots. The result is great!

For the remix, I wanted to go with something more organic to make it different than the 808- & synth-heavy original. To keep it DC, I sampled a break from go-go band Trouble Funk’s “Let’s Get Small”, which Boogie Down Productions used on their classic “Criminal Minded”. From there, I layered 2 other breaks that BDP used in that song (Isaac Hayes’ “Breakthrough” and Syl Johnson’s “Different Strokes”) and added some more samples and loops to accompany certain lines that Wale raps. The result is an uptempo, mega-mix style remix, suitable for the clubs, the jeeps, the streets, bar mitzvahs, weddings and ipods. 110%!

The remix can be found on his new mixtape 110% which should be released this weekend.

You can view a remix to the video below, and download the remix here. All you DJ’s who may have been scared away by Lady Gaga’s presence on the original, may want to considering downloading this one and adding it to your digital crates.

Bastid is currently touring Canada on the 110% Tour.  View the dates here.

Wale just announced a show in Toronto at El Mocambo on July 3.  Get details on facebook here.

As it happens, likely the best sounding Raekwon track of recent that I’ve heard stems from an a ad for Los Angeles based Carlyle luxury auto leasing.

Take note – no credit checks!