• Music

    Willow Smith – Female Energy (Freestyle)

    First, I would like to share that my week is starting off beautifully! Cheers to making it through the retrograde with my head on straight. I am happy to have completed something which I have thought to do for years, but held myself back out of fear and anxiety associated with it. After months of trial and error, I have reached my goal and I am proud of myself. I want whoever comes across this to remember that you will only go as far as you allow yourself to go. Nothing is absolute, and you can touch anything you focus on. It is easy to give up on the things…

  • Music,  Video

    ValDagrain – Easy Feat. Son Lux

    The new visual from Val DaGrain takes my love of this song from his 2 Cents EP to the next level. I am ever grateful for music with messages as important as this. I respect and appreciate those who are able to articulate themselves to touch us with ideas that might be commonly experienced, but are not commonly addressed out in the open. It is a bit rare to see a music video that closely follows and enhances the song it features, which is one of the many reasons why I like Easy so much. Take a moment to watch this beautiful piece below to understand just what I mean…

  • Music

    Lion Babe Feat. Childish Gambino – Jump Hi

    Lion Babe is finally back to ease the wonder of their growing group of listeners. Since they released Treat Me Like Fire (featured in a previous post here) over a year ago, we haven’t heard any other music from them, leaving most of us questioning when we will hear a project. Earlier today, the group debuted their motivational new single Jump Hi featuring Childish Gambino via BBC’s Radio 1. This one is another one to have me shaking my hips before and dureing my adventures into the night! I tuned in to catch the interview where Jillian Hervey and Astro Raw both explained what they’ve been working on as far…

  • Music

    Snoh Aalegra – Bad Things Feat. Common

    If you have been paying attention, you will notice that there is great music being released all over this week! It is almost overwhelming, almost. I am happy to share this new premiere song that instantly resonates, with its opening lines “I do bad things to good versions of me. I find good things in bad versions of me.” Bad Things is a new single by a singer from Sweden with an enchantingly soulful voice, Snoh Aalegra. You might recognize her from a song she did previously with No I.D. and Trakmatic called Burning Bridges. While the beat to this one left me bobbing my head from the start, it…

  • Music,  Video

    thestand4rd – Simple Needs

    I am setting this new video by Alex Howard here, hoping that it will add some magic to your day. It fits in perfectly with this year’s second blood moon upon us. I previously mentioned this mesh of up-coming singers, rappers, and producers called The Stand4rd in a post about Allan Kingdom’s elusive Future Memoirs. The quartet, which features Allan Kingdom himself, Spooky Black, Bobby Raps, and Psymun, has premiered a fourth song via soundcloud, along with this visual to match. The video is packed with mystifying images and effects of nature, which seems to be a recurring theme in a few of their individual visuals as well. Some of…

  • Music,  Video

    Jesse Boykins III – Show Me Who You Are

    I am still in awe of the prodigious Love Apparatus by Jesse Boykins III, from the visual project he delivered to match the album, to his sensual, soothing harmonies. He earned a place on my recent list of favorite song-writers, and I feel that you should listen out for him as well. He just released this new visual for what might be my favorite song from the album, Show Me Who You Are! Enjoy and follow the links for more Jesse Boykins. jbiiimusic.com soundcloud.com/jesseboykinsiii twitter.com/JesseBoykins3rd

  • Music

    Brandy Shanice – Eclection

    The first I heard of Brandy Shanice was her Mos Def-sampling collaboration with Danny Watts, who happens to have been the subject of my first music-related post here on the Frolic this past January. Like Watts and his other collaborators, she caught my ear tension (see what I did..) immediately. The same song that introduced me to her jazzy vocals now has a spot amongst the beautiful sounds on the debut project she recently released, Eclection. Brandy Shanice has the sort of voice which pulls you to where she is in an instant. There is so much strength in her delivery that you feel her every word, regardless of your…

  • Music

    Cub-J – Love Abuse

    The music I am receiving leaves me energized, like clean, nutritious food. I cannot stress how magical the divine timing is when art reflects what I am experiencing in my own life. We love that, don’t we? The flow continues with this freshness I pass to you today. Love Abuse is some destined collaboration between Chicago rapper Cub-J and up-coming producer Adam Rubman, known as Rubz. The mixtape is Cub-J’s premiere project. In its entirety, I feel it to serve us a story for every form of love, touching on a bit of everything while dwelling on the the common romantic idea the word “love” prompts. This is a creative…

  • Music

    Mick Jenkins – The Water[s]

    Water’s more important than the gold. If you have not yet heard Mick Jenkins, here is your glass. His second release since last year’s Trees and Truths mixtape caught me. I let this one marinate for over a week and there are still too many words that come to mind for me to comfortably summarize its importance. I will express that Mick Jenkins has managed to draw the attention of many while seeming to appear out of space with a theme of what we need more of. That is the beauty of his latest labor of love, The Waters! It is smart and so necessary while being full of blissful…

  • Music

    Val DaGrain – 2 Cents EP

    This is one of the best things I have heard since summer began! Released those few months ago, New Jersey native Val DaGrain’s 2 Cents finally drums against my ears and I’m in love with the sound. It successfully struck my heart in an instant. The blow was soft, though. A few of my favorites are Be Free, Easy, and 1ove. The EP embodies much of what intrigues and continues to excite about music, hip hop music, current hip hop music, and the generation’s use of their individual voice. I like the dateless feel while it references the 90’s through much of the production. I also really enjoy unique samples,…