Back in 2002, she rocked the world with Dr.Dre-produced hit ‘Addictive’- which garnered two grammy nominations – and her debut album, ‘Truthfully Speaking. Now she makes a return, with a aim to keep her fan addicted with new single, ‘RnB’ Love.
‘R&B’ is a feel good slow jam, possessing that spine-tingling that immediately evoke those nostalgic feelings.
Truth Hurts says of her latest offering: “RnB Love is a feel good joint I wrote to express my deep desire to get myself and the world back to what truly matters through the original meaning of Musick (Muse the Sick) — the way it was back in the day when you would hear a song that was so beautifully written lyrically and melodically, it would literally change your whole perspective, mood, and feeling about life and love depending on what the vibe of the song was. I remember RnB that made me wanna be in love and made me want to be loved so penning this joint is my effort to get us back to love in the midst of so much pain, hate, and turmoil.”
After her chart topping single,’ Addictive’ and debut album ‘Truthfully Speaking’, Truth Hurts went on to tour with the likes of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg Lauryn Hill and Outkast. Truth Hurts released her sophomore album ‘Ready Now’ on Raphael Saadiq’s label, Pookie Entertainment.
Now she returns with her highly-anticipated single ‘RnB Love’, which serves a sneak preview to her upcoming album, ‘She-P #revelations’ described by the R&B sensation as a “grown woman’s musical diary”. Check out ‘R&B Love’ below…
Jersey’s alternative hip-hop artist and self-proclaimed misfit REG MASON unveils his introspective new single ‘HANDSHAKES’,’ featuring fellow NJ rapper and long-time friend GINI. Surfacing as a stream of charismatic consciousness, Mason separate his childhood dreams of being a musician from being a member of the music business. Produced by CURT, the old-school hip-hop inspired production tickles a nostalgic spot in the brain, filled with soulful, horn-led instrumentals that perfectly lay the foundation for Mason’s ferociously catchy bars to take center stage. ‘HANDSHAKES’ is an ode to entering adulthood, as Mason step into this next phase of his artist career with his eyes set on the prize, all while embracing his newfound mantra of it’s not personal, it’s just business.
According to Mason, the energy between the two emcees in ‘HANDSHAKES’ recreates a snapshot of what it looked and felt like to be rapping as young teenagers growing up in Union, NJ. “We would walk up and down our main street outside of our high school on Burnett Avenue and rap for hours. “HANDSHAKES’” is a recreation of the excitement and creativity that fueled us to rap as kids. The beat reminded me of childhood bliss, so the lyrics practically crawled out of me and took on a life of their own. “HANDSHAKES’” allowed me to reflect on the years I’ve spent creating my own world within my music, including the growing pains and the pushback that came with it.”
The accompanying music video (co-directed by Mason and CURT) is set at Mason’s uncle’s house in Orange, New Jersey, where he spent most of his days as a kid and found his love for music. The scene captures the artist-producer duo creating the track with GINI, shining light on the spontaneous, gritty, no-nonsense Jersey chemistry that fills the room. The scene is interpolated with home-video footage from Mason’s father’s camcorder that was captured when he was a kid, resulting in a whirlwind of nostalgia that serves as a nod to the passage of time, furthering his message of “no matter how much life as a musician throws at me, we’re all just tending to our inner child.”
Alongside ‘HANDSHAKES’, Mason released his debut album TESTDRIVE, last Wednesday (2nd August). The single signifies Mason’s coming into himself as an artist more than ever, crafting a sound uniquely his own while solidifying himself as one to watch as he continues his run of self-reflective, experimental hip-hop…check out the video below…
R &B sensation SANEIT‘s (pronounced Suh-Neat) along-waited EP, ‘Automatic’, is a culmination of clever nostalgic samples from the late seventies right through to the mid-noughties, so expect to hear the familiar sounds of soul/R&B heavyweights, Rose Royce, Michel’le, Mary J Blige, Faith Evans and Bobby V – with the sultry Chicago twang she’s known for.
Throughout the years, Saneit has shown herself to be focused, driven and passionate about honing her gift and this project is the sum of that work. Her voice brings back the style of R&B many people wish was more prevalent in music today, while also providing a contemporary and unique twist to the genre.
Saneit’s confidence and love for her work is a testament to her growth and the control she takes over her creative process. Although, she writes her own music, this project is collaborative; she teams up with songwriters Jean Michael, Trayne Write Hits and Grammy nominated vocal producer, David Je.
So if you’re missing that real R&B, well this mini collection is for you. Have a listen below…
Must Listens: Automatic, Be The One, Pray For My Enemies
The acclaimed Chicago rapper-producer and Pivot Gang Co-Founder SABA has teamed up with Cleveland rapper Krayzie Bone of the trailblazing GRAMMY Award-winning hip-hop group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony for new single ‘Come My Way.’
An ode to nostalgia and Saba growing up in his hometown Chicago, the latest offering is taken from Saba’s highly anticipated third solo album Few Good Things dropping on 4th February “Come My Way”, features Krayzie Bone’s signature flow adding a classic and familiar sound that helps ground the Daoud and daedaePIVOT co-produced track.
Speaking on the collaboration, Saba says: “When I think back on first discovering Bone Thugs-N-Harmony as a child, it immediately stood out to me as unique. I started paying attention and really learning how to rap from listening to them and trying to recite it. It felt honest and completely true to themselves — authentic in a way that doesn’t come around very often and in a way that will be impossible to recreate. Their mix of melody and rhythms that I had never heard is what connected with me in a way that other music just didn’t. It inspired me to be more creative.“
A successful independent artist, Saba has rooted his career in authenticity and musicality that’s made him one of his generation’s most important and unique voices. A major player in the Chicago scene who’s enviable career has seen him collaborate with and produce for the likes of Chance The Rapper, Noname, Mick Jenkins and more.
Following his first foray into making music at the age of 8 in his early adolescence, he built a recording studio in his Grandmother’s basement on the Westside of Chicago where he and a group of neighbourhood friends formed Pivot Gang. They began taking trains across the city to join creative youth organisations and perform at open mics.
Coming from a deeply musical family, Saba was influenced by his father, a Chicago R&B artist named Chandlar, at a young age who would bring him to the studio with him to record sounds of soul, R&B and jazz. All experiences that developed his sonic palette, sharpened his writing and performance skills and led him to be self-taught on a variety of musical instruments – an innate talent and musicality that has led to support from Pitchfork (8.7 Best New Music), NPR (#1 Hip-Hop Album of the Year for CARE FOR ME), Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Fader, FACT, Complex and more.
With new music on his slate for 2022, Saba is prepared to continue pushing musical boundaries on his climb to rap’s upper echelon.
‘Come My Way’ is available to stream now across all digital platforms via The Orchard. Have a listen below…
Following the success of his last album Augustine’s Legacy, which was dedicated to his late father and his first child and has now accumulated over 16 million streams on Spotify alone, Texas-based international rap artist S.O. releases new EP. ‘Larry Ginni Crescent’, which sees him tracing his footsteps back to his hometown in Nigeria, where he was born and raised. The new project is nostalgically named after the street in Lagos, Nigeria that S.O. lived on as a child called Larry Ginni Crescent.
Written and composed by S.O. and produced by long-time collaborator and Grammy Award nominated producer GP, alongside burgeoning Nigerian producers TBabz (Travis Greene, Faith Child, Aaron Cole) and SteveRawd, the Larry Gini Crescent EP is driven by lead singles ‘Kinda Love’ and the previously released ‘Corner (O Ti De)’ – the former is a summer-ready afropop love song from S.O. dedicated to his wife, where he exudes the virtues of their love, while the latter is an infectious head-bopping track that sees S.O. boasting about who he has in his corner, as he sings “no babalawo in my corner, just God putting things in order”.
Chronologically, the EP opens with the infectious up-tempo ‘Prosper’, which was penned in direct response to S.O. losing his grandmother last December and sees him putting an afrobeats twist to the popular Bible verse “no weapon formed against me shall prosper”. Elsewhere on the EP, S.O. is full of gratitude on the uplifting sing-along number ‘Good To Me’, while the up-tempo dance floor filler ‘That One’ sees S.O. fusing afrobeats, rap and a motivational message together to great effect. The EP then winds down with the sexy R&B driven ‘Want You’ and the afrohouse influenced ‘Wonder’ with its cautionary tale about battling sin and temptation.
Speaking about the inspiration behind his new Larry Ginni Crescent EP, S.O. says: “This is a project that is connected to my African roots – Larry Ginni Crescent is the name of the street I lived on as a child back in Lagos, but it’s also deeply sentimental for me and it is dedicated to my grandmother who passed away from COVID late last year. As a proud Nigerian, I have always loved my heritage, from the food and the language to the music and the culture, and afrobeats is one of the branches on the Nigerian tree that’s rooted in the diaspora.
This project has been something I’ve wanted to do for a while and the lockdown opened the door for that. I got to collaborate with two special Nigerian producers TBabz and SteveRawd, as well as my long-time collaborator GP. Not only am I a Nigerian but I am also a Christian and that comes out in this project. So ‘Larry Ginni Crescent’ can be described as deeply Christian and deeply Nigerian. From the songs about faith, to songs about love, everything connects to this one point – al that we do, all that we experience, can be used for our art. I hope it moves you”.
With over 40 million global streams and sold-out shows across America, Europe and Africa, and having also lived in Lagos, London and now Texas, S.O. is the true definition of an international artist. Since his now classic debut mixtape 5 Solas, S.O. has gone on to chart in the top 10 on the Billboard Heatseekers album chart, in the top 30 on both the Billboard Rap album chart and the Billboard Christian album chart, and in the top 5 on the iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap album chart across his four albums and two EPs. As his new project Larry Ginni Crescent arrives, S.O. is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Check out the blog’s song recommendations below:
Must Listens: Corner (O Ti De), Good To Me, Kinda Love, Want You
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