STREAM: R. Kelly - Feelin' Single
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So, here's the scoop on this one: R. Kelly, our protagonist, goes to the club. He runs into an ex-girlfriend. He does not find this to be a favorable situation. He then does what Kellz does when backed into a corner. He goes out and finds someone new! With disco underpinnings and a light weekend vibe, Kelly is mining the late-'70s this time around and it's quite fantastic.
PRIMER: Queer Culture & Music
Posted by Elise Peebles
Tags: primers, guides, playlists, spotify playlists, dance, electronic, hip-hop, rap, rnb
When I was growing up in a city with a tanked economy, dark basement parties were the only places to be. Sweating it out to the thundering bass of hip-hop and r&b was a right of passage, and whoever could shake, twerk and drop it the best was crowned king or queen.
Music and dance have always been forms of empowerment for disenfranchised communities around the world, and urban creativity has produced some of the most popular music genres to date through cultural cannibalism: a process that intertwines multiple marginalized identities and cultures to create the best sounds and craziest moves.
Urban queer culture, our subject here, has had a profound impact on pop music in the past fifty years. Ballroom and drag scenes reinvented house music in the '80s and birthed voguing – a dance style that mixed performance art with break dancing and inspired Madonna, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga to name a few.
Today, queer culture continues to reinvigorate genres and trends. Ideas of sexual and bodily expression mix with dancehall call-and-response to create bounce – a genre that hails from the project buildings and poor neighborhoods of New Orleans. Also called "sissy bounce," this music is usually fronted by genderqueer men (like the legendary Big Freedia) and recently got into the hands of influential artists like Diplo and Nicki Minaj.
DOWNLOAD: Chet Faker - No Diggity (Blackstreet Cover)
Who doesn't love "No Diggity?" Maybe those without hearts or souls! Luckily for the rest of us, there's been a development on the 'I like the way you work it' front – a fantastic cover of the Blackstreet-plus-Dre original by Melbourne downtempo electro artist Chet Faker. While most covers nod and pay tribute to a classic, Faker does something more immense and mysterious, completely changing the song's tone towards a sleek, cinematic, sex-in-the-pool sort of vibe. His EP, Thinking In Textures, comes May 22 on Downtown Records.
STREAM: AlunaGeorge - Just A Touch
It was fun pretending that the wigged-out "R&B" emerging on labels like Tri Angle Records over the last few years really had mainstream pop potential. Oddly, though, a new crop of artists like Grimes are actually coming through with the capital-p Pop, making wobbly weirdo music that also legitimately bangs. AlunaGeorge does it, too. "Just A Touch" mixes the bubbly confusion of contemporary British music with slick, attitude-filled American R&B. Hear more on the You Know You Like It 12-inch, which is available now digitally and out on vinyl June 12 via Tri Angle.
DOWNLOAD: Michael Francis - Don't Wake Me Up (prod. by Roycee / J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League)
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Emotive and club-ready, "Don't Wake Me Up" is a real coming-out party for Michael Francis. He gets the singing-plus-rapping style du jour totally down, and the production by Roycee and Rick Ross-associates J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League brings a big beat and massive oscillating synthesizers. Francis' album Cold Heart Chronicles is coming in the next month or two, so stay tuned.
STREAM: Usher - Climax (Diplo & Flosstradamus Remix)
(Photo: Loren Wohl)
Usher's "Climax" is major, but, yeah, you already knew that. You are also probably thinking, 'Wait, Diplo already produced this one.' And yes, he did, but this remix courtesy of electro masterminds Diplo and Flosstradamus gets the song ready for a whole different kind of club. There's still an emphasis on the slow-grind, but the sub-bass is immense like sex during an earthquake. Beats are skittering, fall out of time and then eventually drop like hot wax all over the place. Whew.
STREAM: Frank Ocean - Whip Appeal (SBTRKT Remix)
I love when a quick-fix remix totally works. That's the case with this SBTRKT spin on Frank Ocean's "Whip Appeal." "Made this edit to play at my Williamsburg gig last week," he writes. "It's nothing crazy. Just some beefed-up production over an already-dope track." That's accurate!
STREAM: Kirko Bangz - Drank In My Cup (Remix) (feat. 2 Chainz & Juelz Santana)
There's no doubt that "Drank In My Cup" is a real-deal jam. Over a year after its initial release, the track's ubiquity continues to grow and now Kirko Bangz has dropped his official remix with the unlikely combo of 2 Chainz and Juelz Santana. Chainz has been murdering his recent features and this one is no exception, but it's the now-rare appearance by a sleepy, lifeless Juelz Santana that's the main attraction here.
