Urban Legends Radio

Currently only streaming part time, Urban Legends Radio will soon be going 24/7, like a full time radio station, broadcasting to you, the best Hip Hop out there. With an archive of thousands of tracks, ranging from old skool, through to current, there will be a variety of everything.

Bookmark this address - http://robdavies.youstream.fm/ *COMING SOON*

Heres this week's current playlist. If you have any suggestions, please email me. requests@live.co.uk - Playlist updated one a week

Playlist

50 Cent - OK, Your Right

Asher Roth/Keri Hilson - She Dont Want A Man

Beyonce - Sweet Dreams

Birdman/Jay Sean - Written On Her

Black Eyed Peas - Gotta Feelin'

Black Eyed Peas - Meet Me Halfway

Cam'ron - Spend The Night

Cassie/Diddy - Must Be Love

Drake/Trey Songz - Successful

Eminem - Beautiful

Flo Rida/Nelly Furtado - Jump

Isreal/Fabolous - Gemini (Remix)

Keri Hilson/Kanye West/Ne-Yo - Knocks You Down

Jay-Z/Kanye West/Rihanna - Run This Town

Jeremih - Birthday Sex

Jeremih/Juelz Santana - Imma Star (Remix)

Jim Jones/Ryan Leslie - Precious

Maino/Lloyd Banks/Swizz Beatz - Million Bucks (Remix)

Mariah Carey/Gucci Mane - Obsessed

Mario/Sean Garrett/Gucci Mane - Break Up

Mary J Blige/Drake - The One

Maxwell - Pretty Wings

Mook N Fair/DJ Webstar - Who's Your Daddy

Mr Hudson/Kanye West - Supernova

Nelly/Diddy - 1000 Stacks

OJ Da Juiceman - Say Aye!

Plies - Becky

The-Dream/Kanye West - Walkin' On The Moon

Vic Demone/Juelz Santana - Drink It Out The Bottle

Whitney Houston/Swizz Beatz - Million Dollar Bill

[Review] Ja Rule - The Mirror

There are some artists that have created the Hip Hop audience that we have today, mainly the mainstream rappers. To bring a few to mind, most of those first became exposed to rap music by hearing music from Eminem, Nelly, 50 Cent, P Diddy, 2Pac, Biggie, and of course Ja Rule.

I remember the late 90's, and early 2000's when a new Ja Rule album meant a couple of top ten hits. These were the days when Ja was often collaborating with the likes of Ashanti, R Kelly, and Jennifer Lopez. However, as 2009 is now upon us, Ja Rule'sstring of hits has seemed to dry up, with now major release in over five years, and no major collaborations. In this time, rap music has changed, in a worldof Auto-tune, Flo Rida and record labels pushing album titles back, and it seems Ja has become victim of board room politics in the last couple of years.

2007 was suppose to be the return of Ja Rule. The Mirror was going to drop in the summer, along with Papoose, Nelly, 50 Cent and much more. By September, only 50 Cent had released an album from this list, with nothing in sight from the others, and a year later, we were gifted by a poorly promoted Nelly album, which many fans will say is below par in comparison to previous releases. Yet, Ja had released a couple of singles - 'Free' which features a new RnB voice, Ashley Joi, 'Uh Oooh' which had vocals from Lil' Wayne (later to have verses from Murder Inc members as well) and finally, 'Body' with Ashley Joi again. All received average ratings, and poor chart positions.

Early 2009, and there was still no official release in sight, but now a song with Robin Thicke had leaked across the internet. Was this a sign that it was on its way? Soon after, a mixtape entitled 'The Atkins Files Vol.1' was released for a free download on his Myspace page. Fans were hoping that this wasn;t a case of Ja Rule releasing all of his material away for free, and had simply given up of having a record label, promotional companies and advertisers trying to work together to get him back up the charts. Looking back now, it was.

By now, much of the album had leaked, although the source was still unkown.

However, at the end of last week, various news sources (MTV included) were reporting the the full album would become available for free download. For me, this was a sad sight, as although I am a huge fan of Ja and could not wait to hear another installment of the Queens rapper's life, it also means that any chance of getting himself back up on BET, MTV, The Hits, TMF and other music video channels, along with regular spins on Hot 97, BBC Radio 1 in the UK now look very unlikely.

The material that has leaked (whether or not this was going to be the official album or not) lacks substance. Ja Rule has failed to deliver any classic material, despite having five years to come up with something. There are no top producers involved with this, and a lot of the beats do not sound like something that a rapper that was once on MTV Cribs would think to be good enough for people to buy.

The track 'Free' actually turns out to be a bonus track, and for me, this is one of the best songs on the album. The other song which stands out for me, is 'Judas' - a bizarre diss towards former collaborator, Ashanti, who has since left The Ink to do her own thing, as well as a verse dissing DMX. There is also a subliminal diss towards 50 Cent, as Ja raps "Up in da club....I'll put that tenth bullethole in the top of your head." Whether or not 50 Cent can be bothered to attack back to someone he feels lost the feud years ago remains unlikely.

So are the glamour years over the Ja Rule? It looks like it. The record label dont want to waste money on a project they do not think will sell, and unfortunatly one of raps biggest stars is the victim. Dedicated Ja Rule fans will claim that Ja will return with something else in the future, but considering the only way to get played today, is to put music for the clubs out, this is something which is nothing but a memory for Ja.

I admire Ja for thinking of his fans first. It seems that they mean more to him than trying to make more money. However, the quality of music itself may disappoint many of them.

3/10

Now On Pipeline Radio

You can listen to my weekly show on Pipeline Radio, by going to here http://podcast.com/show/70472/Pipeline-Radio/ and search for Urban Legends with Rob Davies.

On the show this week, I play music from Fabolous, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Common, Outkast, 50 Cent and more!

[Review] Fabolous - Loso's Way

Artist: Fabolous

Album: Loso's Way

Label: Def Jam
Release Date: July 29th 2009

Featured Guests: Jerimih, Kobe, Keri Hilson, The Dream, Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Red Cafe, Paul Cain, Ryan Leslie, Ne-Yo, Trey Songs & Marsha Ambrosious.

Producers: StreetRunner, The Runners, DJ Khalil, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Ryan Leslie, Jermaine Dupri, Christopher 'Tricky' Stewart, Blackout Movement, Miguel for 'The Council', Sid V for 'Duo Live', The Alchemist, Just Blaze, Sean C & L.V.

In a time when rappers depend on dance routines, ringtone sales and fancy autotune effects to be able to sell records, it is sad to say that there are very few real' rappers out there, and by real, I mean traditional lyricists, who use wordplay, punchlines and complex rhyming technique to impress fans.

Sure Jay-Z will continue to make songs for the time being, after all, he has a new album lined up for later this year, and Nas dropped his 'Untitled' album just last year, but they are artists that began their careers when MC'ing was what gave you the answer whether you were going to make it or not. Minus all of the old heads of rap - the Jay-Z, Nas, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, Pharoahe Monch and so on, the list of artists that got to where they now, in the recent era of hip hop by real lyrical skill is very minimum. In fact, I am counting them now with my fingers....as the other hand types.

Sure, Eminem has a complicated rhyming technique that wows even those that want to hate, and Cassidy delivers clever punchlines, that leave listeners of his music like they've just seen a magic trick - they wonder how he does it, Lil' Wayne plays around with words meanings to create tricky (and sometimes hidden) metaphors, T.I. and Ludacris also have impressive rhyming techniques as does Juelz Santana in his own style, but one has always stood out to me, and that is Fabolous.

While other rappers look for words that rhyme, Fabolous is looking for sentances that rhyme, also known as multi-syllabic to those who have studies English at school. On top of that, Fab's rhymes are powerfull in the street, and he has such as style that can be adapted for the radio, and for the club. And as if we just see 'Loso' everytime a single drops, he is also featured on many remixes of other songs that come out, meaning he has countless amounts of versus out there.

However, when it was announced that Fabolous was going to put out a concept album, similar to American Gangster by Jay-Z, which was based on the film under the same name, I was a bit doubtfull that it would work. Rumours circulated the internet as to which film the album would be based around, until finally, it was announced that the album would be called Loso's Way, a take on the 1993 Al Picino film, Carlito's Way. There was also talk that the album would have no guests at all, which again gave me doubts, as Fabolous' best songs come when somebody else sings the hook. However, severall months down the line, I have the album right here in front of me, and I have heard Ne-Yo's voice, Keri Hilson's voice, Jeremih's voice as well as Jay-Z, The Dream and so on.

Already, after only one listen through of the album, songs are beginning to stand out and become favourites of mine. Track 3, 'Imma Do It' which features Kobe, and produced by DJ Khalil - the song delivers a catchy beat with hook, as well as probably one of the best verse on the CD (the 2nd verse).

The same can also be said for Track 5, 'Everything, Everyday, Everywhere' with Keri Hilson and Ryan Leslie. Ryan is a producer whom has impressed me lately, since he produced 'Precious' for Jim Jones earlier in the year. However, if your looking for something for the street, then that is also on this disc - 'Salute' with Lil' Wayne draws comparisons of the street life with working in the army. There is the usual Fabolous use of money music, as well, as well as a Ne-Yo featured love song.

Anyone who may have been worried that this album would not be the traditional Fabolous album, will be wrong. If may not be the commercial success that From Nothin' To Somethin' was, but then again, T-Pain is not on this CD.

Real Fabolous fans won't be disappointed, but the only way to describe the feel of this album is to say that it is not as 'street' as the first couple of Fabolous' discography, but not as 'RnB' as the last - if that makes sense? For me, I've been waiting on this for months and months, and I'm considering it as being my favourite so far in 2009.

9/10

*EXCLUSIVE* Joe Budden: "Im gonna diss myself"

New Jersey rapper Joe Budden told his followers on Twitter and via his blogTV site, that he will put a record out dissing himself.... over the beats of ever rapper that has ever dissed him in the first place.

Joe, who has had feuds in the past with artists such as 50 Cent, The Game, J-Hood, Royce da 5'9, Method Man, Ransom, and most recently, Inspectah Deck, called up fellow Slaughterhouse rapper, Royce (with whom he squashed the feaudd with) and put him on speaker phone, discussing the idea.

Although Royce seemed cautious about the possibility of bringing artists into the limelight which he has ended feuds with and made peace, he generally gave it the thumbs up.


Joe claims the reason behind this would be to "do something better than what they ever did" and that it would be difficult to respond back to.

Joe Budden is currently engaged in a feud with Inspectah Deck, and diss records between the two artists have appeared on the internet over the last couple of weeks. Whether or not the record comes about remains to be seen, but dont forget to keep checking the blog for more info.



Below is exclusive Rob Davies audio taken from the blogTV conversation.

Joe Budden calls Royce live On BlogTV

2009 BET Awards

Every year, the world of RnB and Hip Hop celebrates at the BET awards in L.A. The event is televised and watched by millions, and talked about by millions more. It is a celebration of urban music both new, and old, with an award at this event considered prestigeous.

However, the 2009 awards were marred by the sad death of pop legend, Michael Jackson, just three days before the event. Organisers of the show had only a weekend to transform the schedule, scripts and order of the awards, transforming it into a tribute show for the legend.

The show, this year hosted by Jamie Foxx opened to various artists performing a selection of Jackson's hits. The show then ended with Janet Jackson giving an emotional speach, followed by Foxx and Ne-Yo singing 'I'll Be There', a song Michael had performed while part of the Jackson 5.

However, on a happy note, the awards also had a selection of performances from some of the biggest names in music. New sensation, Drake was onstage with Lil' Wayne, as they performed a duet with their hits 'Every Girl' and 'Best I Ever Had', Wayne having just scooped the award for the best Male in Hip Hop, beating T.I., Kanye West, Rick Ross & Young Jeezy.

M.I.A. won the award for the best female in Hip Hop, as Beyonce scooped the predicted award for the Best Female in RnB. After collecting the award, Beyonce was sat down by Jamie Foxx, as Jay-Z entered, much to the audience's suprise to perform his latest single, 'Death Of Autotune.'

Here is a full run down of the awards.

Best Female For RnB

Beyonce

Nominated

• Keri Hilson


• Keyshia Cole


• Jennifer Hudson


• Jazmine Sullivan

Best Male For Hip Hop

Lil' Wayne

Nominated

• Kanye West


• Rick Ross


• Young Jeezy


• T.I.

Groups

Day26

Nominated

• N.E.R.D.


• Three 6 Mafia


• The Roots


• GS Boyz

Best New Artist

Keri Hilson

Nominated

• Kid Cudi


• Ryan Leslie


• M.I.A.


• Jazmine Sullivan

Best Gospel Artist

Mary Mary

Nominated

• Regin Belle


• Shirley Caesar


• Smokey Norful


• Trin-I-Tee 5:7

Best Video

Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

Nominated

• Beyonce - If I Were A Boy


• Kanye West - Heartless


• T.I./Rihanna - Live Your Life


• Jamie Foxx/T-Pain - Blame It

Best Collaboration

Jamie Foxx & T-Pain (Blame It)

Nominated

• Keri Hilson/Lil'Wayne - Turnin' Me On


• Ron Browz/Jim Jones/Juelz Santana - Pop Champaign


• T.I./Rihanna - Live Your Life


• Yung L.A./T.I./Young Dro - Aint I

Best Actor

Taraji P. Henson

Nominated

• Beyonce Knowles


• Rosario Dawson


• Jennifer Hudson


• Angela Bassett

Lifetime achievement Award

O'jays

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Rob Davies

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[Review] Ace Hood - Ruthless

Artist: Ace Hood

Album: Ruthless

Label: Def Jam

Release Date: June 30th 2009

Featured Guests: Rick Ross, Ludacris, Akon, T-Pain, Jeremih, The-Dream, Lloyd, Jazmine Sullivan, Birdman, Ball Greezy & Schife.

Producers: The Inkredibles, The Runners, Tricky Stewart, The-Dream, Schife, G4 Music, Cardiak, and DJ Nasty & LDV

It doesn't seem a few minutes since we first heard the unknown vocals of Ace Hood over DJ Khaled's Out Here Grindin', but already a second album is here upon us. Ruthless aims to beat the success of his debut album, Gutta which was only released in November 2008.

And we've seen something similar to this before, when we first heard Flo Rida rap on one of Khaled's tracks, alongside established artists such as Trick Daddy, Trina, Rick Ross, and Dre. In fact, Hip Hop has sored in Florida since Khaled came onto the seen, giving new artists the chance to get exposed to the Hip Hop movement, and to an international audience via his CDs and shows.


The first single off the new album, Overtime, featured the vocals of Akon and T-Pain, which gave it the ingredients to be a hit. The song has had relative success on Hip Hop stations, but whether or not it can pull the album sales, remains to be seen.


The track on the album which stands out to me, is track 6, Love Somebody featuring the vocals of Jeremih, probably one of the biggest RnB prospects for 2009, fresh of the Birthday Sex record. The track is a slow love song, produced by The Runners. Another song standing out is Born an OG featuring Ludacris, and especially Luda's verse.

Overall, I consider this album to strengthen Ace Hood's position as one of the leading Southern artists currently in Florida. While Plies is seeiming to drop a new CD every few months, it is looking like Ace is starting to get on that trend. He must be carefull not to be putting too much out there in such a short time, or like Plies, Hip Hop fans may get tired of him. I was a little bit disappointed that the album wasn't as 'heavy' as the list of featured artists and producers promised, but still something I would buy.

7/10