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Slated to be the 2nd single off Drake’s debut album, “Thank Me Later”, this Kanye West produced track spotlights Drizzy’s singing talents. The beat sounds like it was from Kanye’s “808’s and Heartbreaks” era. Radio friendly and catchy, this will be a chart topper.

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Classic Neptunes production laced with JT’s falsetto make up the ingredients to this feel-good summer jam by The Game.

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“Bring it to your body
After the afterparty
And heading on to the hotel lobby
Riding me like a Ducati
Faster than a Bugatti
I’m Like Whoa Kimo Sabe
Good Golly
Shorty a freak or she been practicing Pilates”

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After returning from my first Coachella experience, all I can say is; I’m pooped. With so many acts performing, the non-stop, go-go-go atmosphere left little in the tank. And even though we were running around with our heads cut off, we still didn’t get to see everybody we wanted to. B.o.B was one of those. Not sure if he played this song or not, but its bonkers. Eminem’s verse is a must listen.

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Fresh to hit the UK music scene is Ellie Goulding. Recently nominated as BBC’s “Sound of 2010″ (previous winners include, Adele, Little Boots and Corinne Bailey Rae), Ellie’s single “Under The Sheets” receives a hip hop treatment by Philly based Chiddy Bang.

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“Yes my penmanship is influential, spit that’s sick that’s influenza, so hip-hop I can influence ya, and I’m already great muthaf&*# potential.”

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You get two bonafide stars in a group and that sounds like a recipe for some hits. Lil Wayne and Drake make up part of the Young Money team and Bedrock has been hittin’ the radio non-stop. Pass The Dutch is also a song you can’t pass up on.
“Yeah I’m quite fine, but shorty much finer.
And I just get behind her, and smack her like E-Honda”

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Ramble John Krohn, better known as RJD2, is a relatively unknown DJ out of Columbus, OH. Generally working with independent artist, this song produced for Kenna hits a unique chord that is worthy of a listen. The bells remind me of Christmas.

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Timbaland has long been a master of making beats. Add amazing artists and you have bonafide chart toppers. Off of the upcoming “Shock Value 2″ comes this song featuring Justin Timberlake.

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Love him or hate him; you must acknowledge his talent. Kanye West brings us back to happier times when hip hop beats were fun and uplifting with this track from the Coach Carter soundtrack. With it’s upbeat tempo, this is definitely a summer cut. Now if I could just figure out how to get summer back…

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Haven’t been able to skip over this track while in my car yet… And that means something considering I have had this cd for quite sometime now. Alicia lends her voice for a catchy “sing-along” hook and Jay puts down some poignant verses.

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After a game changing mixtape drop of “A Kid Named Cudi” Kid Cudi has just released his first studio album entitled “Man on the Moon: The End of Day”. The future is bright for this young artist who has already worked with Kanye and Common.
This track nicknamed “The Wake and Bake Song” shows Cudi’s unique ability to rap over tracks that are not traditionally considered hip-hop beats. While he doesn’t quite have the lyrical skills as other newcomers such as Drake, I completely respect his fresh approach to hip-hop.
If you like this song check out past Kid Cudi songs we’ve posted: I Poke Her Face, She Came Along and Embrace The Martian.
“Cause in the end they’ll judge me anyway so whatever.”

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Reminiscent of the “Swagger Like Us” Rap Pack we have another rap quartet on this cut. I’m loving these collaborations because we are seeing the evolution of the battle. Back in the day rappers would go back and forth on different tracks. Nowadays we get the best on the same song with the same beat and the comparisons are inevitable but so is the camaraderie.
And the results?
1. Kanye West (Metaphors for days and pop-culture references keeping it fresh!)
2. Eminem (All I can say is that Eminem came with it. It’s nice to know he’s still got it. Just as he says “He’s wondering if he should spit this slow, f*#@ no, go for broke.” He definitely did.)
3. Weezy (This may go down as the best third verse I’ve ever heard on a track. He said “I will never stop, like I’m running from the cops, hop up in my car and tell my chauffeur to the top!”)
4. Drake (A talent for sure, but he’s still refining his style and delivery.)

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Sampling from Jay-Z’s track bearing the same name, “Sunshine” is another song that brings the summer heat. At initial glance, Phyllisia is stunning. She was first spotted sharing the stage with Ne-Yo on his Closer video. I was taken back when I found out she could actually sing. Total package??

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Ryan Leslie is putting the funkiest beats out right now and it holds true on this track for Fabolous. Keri Hilson lends her vocals to create a shaker.
PS. If you ever wanted to see “the making” of a track, here you go.

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Jamie Foxx has done it again. The consummate entertainer has put out a remix of Digital Girl featuring a Drake verse that steals the spotlight. And that is hard when an Oscar winning movie star/standout comedian, a Multi-platinum award winning artist and one of the hottest producers in music are all on the track with you.

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From here on out I’m going to stop discounting artists as one-hit wonders. First there was Soulja Boy, I never thought he’d come back from ‘Crank That’ fame, but he followed up with ‘Kiss Me Through the Phone’ and ‘Turn Your Swag On’. Now Jeremih comes through with this hit after ‘Birthday Sex’.

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This is hotter than the BBQ. Good Lookin Boom Dizzle.
“Ok, I do it for the Love.
Bunk bed flow, always one level above.
If I’m in your starting five, you will never need a sub.
And I’m never looking down so I always know what’s up.”

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In an ode to the late Michael Jackson, The Game created this collaboration with some of the top artists, past and present. It seemed fitting that The Game pay his respects. He explains it well in the song but MJ was pretty instrumental in defusing the beef between 50 cent and The Game. This song was originally posted with Palow Tha Don, Usher and Mario Winans supposedly in the track but I don’t hear it.