[MP3] Justin Bieber feat. Migos – Looking For You

In which Bieber makes his best fake Chris Brown record and drags Migos in to give him some street cred. I’m not sure how I feel about Migos dropping n-bombs (and ‘b-tch’ references) all over a Justin Bieber record though! Smdh….

Update: in follow-up to my last comment above, I should have known!

[MP3] Grandtheft – Keep It 100 / Let Me Tell You Something EP

More traptastic goodness from the hometown homie, Grandtheft with also local heroes, Key N Krates featured on first track, “Keep It 100”. CLICK HERE to hear more by Grandtheft previously featured on the Kitchen.

[MP3] Leafhouse – Reds Feat. Emay

Y’all remember the Hamilton, ON MC, Emay right? Big fan of this guy, and have posted a lot of stuff by him but still mystified why he’s hasn’t been more embraced by whatever’s left of the backpack hip-hop community or the indie music types that gravitate to the Shad, Cadence Weapon and D-Sisive types rappers and the Rhymesayers/Stones Throw style of alternative hip-hop. This track is one Emay did with electronic duo, Leafhouse for their self-titled EP. More from Emay:

In this song I’m a person that has a peculiar attraction towards blood from a young age. Kind of a metaphor for having inner demons that are pent up for so long that they eventually burst forth by necessity.


Previously on The Kitchen:

– Emay – II “WarmupSongdoe” [MP3]

[MP3] Kardinal Offishall – Tattoo (The Names Are Known Rudebwoy Mix)

Regular readers here at the Kitchen already know about the T.dot hip-hop crew, The Names Are Known (dj NaNa, I.JAMES.JONES & Pangea Delphi) through our support of their excellent J(N)AMES mixtape. Now here goes their remix of fellow T.dot hip-hop veteran and stalwart, Kardinal Offishall‘s latest single, “Tattoo (Rudebwoy)” featuring a sample of our own ‘rudeboy’ mayor, Rob Ford who can’t seem to stay out of trouble even when he’s ‘safely’ tucked away in rehab. Smdh…

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[MP3] Nikki Yanofsky – Necessary Evil

Barely out of her teens Canadian jazz-pop star, Nikki Yanofsky has long been a staple of local Toronto station, JAZZ-FM but she is swinging for the crossover fences with her latest album, that just dropped.

If I had to make a comparison, her big voice over jazzy pop with hip-hop beats sound on this new album is reminiscent of Christina Aguilera‘s Back to Basics album that featured production by Gangstarr’s DJ Premier. It starts with opening track, “Something News” (hit the jump to hear it) which kind of actually isn’t, except maybe in the context of her using the sample of “Soul Bossa Nova” which is already well known from its use as the Austin Powers movie theme music and as the main sample powering 90s Canadian hip-hop act, Dream Warriors‘ hit single, “My Definition Of A Boombastic Jazz Style”.

But I guess it kind of makes sense for her to use it as she has apparently become a protege of sorts of the legendary Quincy Jones, who wrote and performed the original “Soul Bossa Nova”, in his Global Gumbo All-Stars collective as I learned at his amazing Q&A Panel with JAZ-FM’s Russ Porter at CMW a couple weekends ago.

But my mind was really blown when she sampled Dr. Dre‘s “What’s The Difference” on the album’s title track second single, “Necessary Evil.” (note: the album is actually called Little Secret, not sure why I thought it was Necessary Evil??) I’m pretty sure no Canadian A&R made that creative decision, unless he was this kind of Canadian A&R guy! (I bet Blu Cantrell is probably kind of tight too though, huh?) Overall though, while not a bad effort, I might have liked this album better when Melanie Fiona made it five years ago!

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