Every year we name the Top 20 tracks that we bumped throughout the year, whether that be in class, at home or in our cars. As our studio focuses on Hip-Hop, Dance, RnB and K-Pop, the list reflects that focus. Hit us up with some tracks that we've inevitably missed, because we can't get around to listening to everything!  Merry Christmas!

Pure Funk 

Top 20 Tracks 

of 2013

1. Ciara

___________

Body Party

Based on the early 90's hit 'My Boo', this sexy smooth RnB jam ended up being too slow for the clubs and too raunchy for the charts. Which is a shame, because it contains one of Mike Will Made it's best beats and perhaps Ciara's sexiest vocal performance (which is saying something). Don't forget to check the video too, featuring Ciara's real-life beau Future trying to chat her up.

2. Kanye West

___________

New Slaves

When I first heard this track as Kanye debuted it on SNL, I was not sure what I had just witnessed, which I'm sure was a reaction most people watching would've had. After several years of EDM RnB and '808s & Heartbreaks' style Hip-Hop, 'New Slaves' was a course correction sonically, and an layered call-to-action lyrically. It set the table for his polarizing album and equally polarizing rounds of talk-show appearances.

3. Daft Punk 

___________

Get Lucky

Daft Punk, Nile Rodgers and Pharrell. We should be so lucky.

4. Kanye West 

___________

Bound 2

The track is now better known for it's 'new uncanny' video and related parodies, but the song itself was an ode to the nostalgia of love and was couched in gourgeous soul samples and Charlie Wilsons angelic vocals. It's also hilarious too.

5. Blood Orange  

___________

Never Good Enough

This track had me constantly hitting rewind for at least a month. Although the nimble bassline suggested a sultry love song, what we got was a tribute to a doomed relationship. "I never was in love, you know that you were never good enough".

6. A$AP Rocky Feat. Drake, 2 Chainz & Kendrick Lamar 

___________

F**kin Problems

So much to love about this song. Rocky holds his own against some pretty tough competition, Kendrick turns his pep talk into a pep rally, Drake drops down and gets his Nelly on and 2 Chainz drops in for the chorus as only he can do.

7. Rihanna 

___________

Loveee Song feat. Future (Brenmar Club Edit)

This song lived with me for a couple months as Track 11. It wasn't until I got frustrated and googled it that I found out it was a sneaky bootleg from the ubiquitous Brenmar.

8. Katy B, Geeneus and Jessie Ware 

___________

Aaliyah

Calling your song Aaliyah is setting yourself up for failure. Luckily that's exactly what the song is about, as two of the best british dance pop singers of this generation find themselves having to leash their men around the ethereally untouchable Aaliyah. Part tribute, part floor-filling ode to jealously, the Batman and Robin of bass music weave back and forth through this slinky heater from bass vet Geeneus.

9. Alunageorge 

___________

Just a touch (Brenmar Remix)

Alunageorge wore on me by the end of the year. Ubiquitous singles were flying all over the place and they began to wear out their welcome. Luckily Brenmar was around to beef up the already excellent Just a Touch and unleash it's potential as a dancefloor crusher.

10. Chance The Rapper

___________

Chain Smoker

After a year in which he's supported Eminem and Kendrick Lamar, It's hard to believe that this track and all of Chance's success came from a mixtape. Acid Rap was a complete surprise when it came out, a Hip-Hop album influenced musically by Juke and any number of other regional sounds that provided a unique base for Chance's desperate sing-rap narratives. Chain Smoker illustrates the juxtapositions of his work, with footwork and a Bruce Hornsby sounding piano loop, with Chance going in with a vocal turn that sounds forward-thinking and nostalgic all at the same time.

11. Duke Dumont feat. A*M*E

___________

Need U 100%

Leading the charge of the House brigade with Disclosure was Duke Dumont, a veteran DJ with a preternatural ability to craft instantly likeable tunes. The langurous vocals of A*M*E* helped out with that.

12. Pusha T and Kendrick Lamar

___________

Nosetalgia

Pusha had 'dope' tracks this year, but none had the street-level feel of this stripped back banger. Then the white-hot Kendrick Lamar comes through asking if "you wanna see a dead body?" and it was done, son.

13. Sophie

___________

Bipp

How do you subvert EDM without becoming a joke or an instant target. Drop the bass and pitch up your unashamedly sincere vocals. A unique one-off that remains listenable because of the sum of its parts. Do it, it'll make you feel better.

14. Lorde 

___________

Royals

No artist outside of Kanye caused more trouble this year. By becoming one of the first artists to strip back RnB to Bass and space instead of maximal EDM, Lorde had already done something drastically different from her peers. That she then laced her first couplet with disses to the Bling dynasty currently dominating Hip Hop and Pop pushed her over the edge. The right artist for the times.

15. Drake 

___________

Worst Behaviour

Some virtuoso rapping from Octobers Very Own. Drake at his hardest, this track stood out amongst the rap balladry of #NWTS. When Drake gives space to the track and asks us to "Remember..." the track really comes for your money like ODB. Plus the video is hilariously awesome.

16. Kingdom feat. Kelela

___________

 Bankhead

Kingdom gifts Kelela a spacey, bassey beat that presages Yonce's latest musical direction and signals a new force in RnB.

17. The Range 

___________

Metal Swing

I put on the Range's debut album Non-Fiction with no expectations of what I was about to hear. It very quickly sucked me in, and this slow-burning bass-driven piano looped track worked its magic immediately. That the instrumental is interrupted bya repeated fractal vocal clip of a cockney grime artist querying a threat in rhyming slang is just relish. Give in.

 18. Disclosure

___________

Latch

Somehow I actually missed Latch on its first go around, but I certainly made up for it once I picked up Disclosures stellar debut album Settle. Sam Smith's yearning vocal is leant extra sincerity via the insistent house rhythms cooked up by the Lawrence brothers. I won't be letting go of this tune for a long time.

19. Rhye 

___________

Open

The violins, the falsetto and the lyrics that could sound ridiculous if spoken directly to an actual person. But driven through the airy vocals of canadian singer Milosh, you find yourself unable to resist the coo. You'll be a fool for their belly.

20. Justin Timberlake

___________

Suit and Tie (Four Tet remix)

I had to get some Justin on here somehow, even if its via a Four Tet remix.




Honourable Mentions

CL – The Baddest Female, Blood Orange - Chamakay, Disclosure - White Noise, The Juan Maclean - Feel Like Movin', Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines, G-DRAGON – Coup d'Etat, A$AP Rocky - Peso, Kanye West - I'm on it, Kelela - Do it again, J Cole - Power Trip, Jay Z - BBC, Drake - Started from the bottom, Schoolboy Q - Collard Greens, Young Jeezy - RIP, Rustie - Slasherrr, Disclosure - When a Fire starts to burn, Chance the rapper - Good Ass intro, DJ Snake - Bird Machine, Justin Timberlake - Don't Hold the Wall, Ace Hood - Bugatti, Mystikal - Hit me, Beyonce (almost all of her album)

My clothes are falling apart and the head of Zappos doesn't care

So, three things have happened recently that are inter-related and have caused me to do a complete 180 on my wardrobe.

1) I started reading Elizabeth Cline's Overdressed: The high cost of cheap fashion. It made feel that I shouldn't indulge in cheap fashion anymore, and the reason was twofold. One, the obvious one, that the people that make my clothes are not paid enough to do it, and live in poverty and 2) the fashion industry has devolved into a world where clothes are defined by great design, but not great quality.

2) A bunch of my clothes, which I bought from a trendy fashion chain and are trendy like clothes I've never had before, have started falling apart. Now, considering the cost and effort of repairing them, I have been considering replacing them. They were cheap and cost me $30, so why not just replace them?

3) Kanye West was interviewed by novelist Bret Easton Ellis last week and had a great quote, which book-ended a lot of the stories in Elizabeth Clines book and struck a chord with me as a philosophy worth following. He said “I got into this giant argument with the head of Zappos that he’s trying to tell me what I need to focus on,” West told Ellis. “Meanwhile, he sells all this shit product to everybody, his whole thing is based off of selling shit product."

He also said he was “super dedicated to awesomeness, and making things better.”

So why does Cline despair about the industry and why does West feel that he needs to make things better?

The fashion industry, made up of industry giants like Zara, Forever 21, ASOS, Zappos and many more, are just not able to give us quality product.

Yet they are able to give us great design. Why? The demand we as consumers put on them to keep prices low and the speed in which we need them to get the clothing lines out to us.

The process of fast fashion means they literally copy styles right off the runaway and get them in and of the stores quickly. Lax copyright laws mean that styles can be copied without recrimination. This is great for you and I, as design teams can slap the latest photos from Paris fashion week into a computer program and have the finished product on the retail floor in two weeks.

But where are the designers in all this? Aren't they responsible for the clothing they put out? No.
A designer designs, and if the price point for their designs is too high to keep to low prices consumers demand, then operations teams in the fashion houses will ask for a cheaper design or they will redesign it themselves. Designers in places like Forever 21 barely even see their designs make it to the retail floor.

Look, I'm not slagging people for buying cheap clothes, lord knows we lived through too many years of poor design. I'm just asking you to consider where your clothes come from (Bangladesh, China), what they're made of (non-biodegradable Polyester) and think about what this industry is doing to the people that have to work in these factories and live in these cities. And think about what it's doing to the way we perceive fashion. With great design should come great quality.

There are ethical fashion choices out there, companies that won't accept anything less than quality products that are also fashionable.

And people like Kanye, who want only the best for us, and who want to move on from a world of unethical and poor quality fashion, are what we desperately need.

www.ethicalclothingaustralia.org.au/‎

Hip-Hop won't kill EDM, it will kill itself

I've been reading with interest the back-and-forth diatribe's between the top dogs of EDM and it's detractors. The one thing that I seem to see a lot on the side of those who have a stake in the future success of EDM, is a perceived optimism about it's future. I thought that instead of running my mouth with uneducated opinions, maybe I should let others speak for me.

The post below is comparisons of quotes from articles and books about the 90's and early 00's dance scene and the current EDM scene. I thought it would be good for all of us to look at the current scene in context, and also reflect on it's similarity to previous scenes. I haven't even covered all the elements of the scenes, missing such crucial effects as the criminal element, but you'll get the picture.

If you don't understand your past mistakes, you're almost certainly doomed to repeat them.

Corporatization 

As soon as the money-makers arrive, the dilution of quality begins.

You started to hear the murmerings of disquiet in 2001, when normally booster-ish dance mag Muzik claimed that the entire industry was in denial about the oncoming crisis. Attendance in clubs was declining, record sales were sliding, the only real growth area was chill-out compilations...

The next generation of cool kids were turning away from faceless techno-bollocks, toward more face-full music...

Dance musics mainstream was imploding,leaving an array of micro-scenes and little undergrounds orbiting a collapsed centre...

Music usually becomes muzak only after it has been chart pop for a good while... Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash

As with every genre before it, corporate influence in a previously untouched genre is cause for handwringing, not least because the dilution of the music seems inevitable the bigger it gets. Live Nation’s acquisition of Hard was especially upsetting, because of Hard’s reputation for supporting underground as well as marquee artists and respecting the purity of the experience. For instance, the upcoming line-up for Hard Summer 2012, in Los Angeles, places big names like Skrillex, Nero and Boyz Noise alongside more boutique artists like Araabmuzik, Buraka Som Sistema and Brenmar. With the influence of Live Nation, one wonders if this sort of juxtaposition will continue to flourish or if ticket prices will become even less affordable? Alternet.Org, 2013

According to Billboard, Sillerman's strategy is likely to be an "end-to-end program encompassing on-site presence at SFX-owned events; endorsement from SFX-managed artists within paid, owned and earned media channels; editorial support from SFX-owned entities; and newly developed mobile or other technologies to tie it all together." In other words, a vertically integrated marketing behemoth. In the same way that Google is an advertising company that runs a service allowing you to type questions and find answers on the Internet, SFX will be an advertising company that just happens to put on concerts. Phillip Sherburne, Spin 2013

Drugs

Drugs go hand-in-hand with dance music, and users have always suffered in the long-term.

In ecstacy subcultures, too, there tends to be a point where the MDMA honeymoon phase comes to an abrupt end; again and again, from Manchester in 1990 to Los ANgeles in 1993, the descent into darkness occurs. Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash

But what happens when an ethos built around a drug collapses, yet people keep getting high? Think about the Summer of Love of 1967, when the LSD utopia of San Francisco devolved into a haven for crime and drug abuse. Think about Altamont, where the chemicals that enabled a generation’s divine visions later inflamed the violence that left Meredith Hunter dead. We've felt the quakes of this same force in the mainstreaming of EDM in the last half-decade, where lyrics about the indestructibility of love, the clarity of the horizon, and the remedy of the bass have given way to Miley Cyrus’s braying electronic anthems about “dancing with Molly.” Themes of transcendent universal harmony have dissipated into bitter Tweets about how Olivia Rotondo and Jeffrey Russ ruined EZoo for everyone else. This force hasn't knocked the revolution off its axis, per se—it has simply made the axis illegible.

It’s too soon to tell how the Electric Zoo tragedies will influence the cachet of either the music or MDMA use in America, though many believe they go hand-in-hand, to such an extent that it’s hard to determine exactly which came first. The Atlantic, Sep 2013

The music

Dance music itself has always turned dark when it's back was against the wall.

Two things replaced Rave’s smiley-face fervor with skrewface attitude. The first was ‘darkness’, the trend for producers to deploy sinister atmospherics and sick-joke soundbites that reflected the paranoia and psychic malaise engendered by excessive, long-term Ecstasy use.

The second factor was ‘blackness’, as ragga, dub and Hip Hop influences (already percolating in Ardkore) broke Rave’s ties to House and disco. Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash

Right now the EDM scene is an uneasy coalition between the slamming rocktronica of Skrillex and Bassnectar and the fluffy feel-good trance-house of DJs like Avicii, Kaskade, Swedish House Mafia, and Steve Aoki. On one side, there's Hard's Gary Richards who wants to push electronic music even further away from rave's disreputable and daft past. On the other, there's Electric Daisy Carnival, which has preserved not just rave's hands-in-the-air euphoria but some of its subcultural ritual aspects too. Simon Reynolds The Guardian 2012

Soon as  they like you, make em unlike you. Kanye West, Yeezus 2013

Compare Simon Reynolds accounts of the demise of Ardkore rave and rise of Jungle in 93, with the quotes of Hard Festivals Gary Richards. Is the more serious Hard festival just as reactionary as Jungle was in 93? Is this the death of rave-style EDM?

Since 1993 and Rave’s slide into the twilight zone, Hardcore has periodically been convulsed by debates about “where did our love go?” Some mourn the eclipse of bonhomie by moodiness and attitude; many of these disenchanted ravers sloped off to form the Happy Hardcore scene, currently massive in England and Scotland. Others defend the demise of the euphoric vibe, arguing that Jungle’s atmosphere isn’t moody, it’s ’serious’. This faction pours scorn on the happy ravers for their cheesy music, white gloves and other nostalgic trappings of the rave dream, which is felt to be not just lost, but utterly discredited. Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash

Hard's Gary Richards can't stand the glove-dance phenomenon: "I'm like, 'look at the stage, not your friend's fingers". But by suppressing this element from his events, he's effectively reducing the participatory aspects of rave that gave it so much of its charm and distinctiveness as a subculture. Simon Reynolds, Resident Advisor 2013

Hard Festival's Richards wanted to lose the "goofy fashion" side of rave that EDC revels in. "Why do we have to dress up like idiots to listen to this music? All those girls in the furry boots, they look like Clydesdale horses!" As "hard" suggests, Richards presents electronic music as modern rock: an old spirit encased in new digital flesh. Simon Reynolds, The Guardian 2012

Three Questions about Creativity with Christopher Hastings

A few weeks ago I was put on to the hilarious comic strip adventures of a character named 'Dr McNinja'. I was skeptical at first as to whether I would like it, but within a few minutes the odd sensibility of the humour, coupled with great illustrations, suckered me in.

I, like most men, was once a boy, and when I was young I appreciated the beauty of a well-drawn comic. However, as I got older I stop reading comics, passing over them because I mistakenly viewed them as lesser intellectual fare. I was probably too busy reading The Corrections.

I eventually realized my mistake, and comics like 'Dr McNinja' continuously remind me of the value of a great story and beautiful visuals.

The illustrator behind the 'Dr McNinja' series is Christopher Hastings, who created the comic back in 2004 and is now a writer/illustrator for Marvel, among other things. Being blown away by 'Dr McNinja', I decided to get in touch with  Christopher to find out the secrets behind his creative success.

 The first question I wanted to ask was where it he got his inspiration from in the first place, where did he start? As it turns out, he began drawing as a child, and found he couldn't put down his pen.

 "I've heard it said before that all children are artists until they decide to stop. So I just never stopped".

Another key inspiration for Christoper was that not only was this an activity he liked to do, it also gave him direction for the future.

"But I think when I started dramatically improving when I was about 11 years old, I started to really identify as an artist".

These days, motivation doesn't seem to be a problem for Christopher, but even he finds that stepping away from his work increases his desire to get straight back to it.

 "I think my brain just won't let me stop being creative. If I manage to have a weekend I can step away from work, I'm pretty itchy to get back to it by Sunday evening".

Sometimes the desire to be creative isn't enough for you to actually put pen to paper, so it helps to find activities or places that encourage you to act on your desires.

"If I'm going to get writing done, I definitely have to get in the right headspace, and usually that means making some sort of locational change. A short walk, and settling down at a coffeeshop or a quiet pub usually does the trick. Sometimes I'll take my laptop to sit on my fire escape if it's pleasant out. Really it's just about telling my brain "Time to relax. Time to write." and those little habits click it into place".

If you truly enjoy creating, then it should be pretty obvious, just as it is for Christopher. If you have to force yourself to do it every time, and if it not turning out the way you thought it would, maybe try something different. Or may be just try a change of scenery.

Listen to your creative impulses and put yourself in a place that optimizes your ability to indulge them.
Don't forget to check out the talented Christopher Hastings and his crazy creation 'Dr McNinja' via his website drmcninja.com

Christopher writes for the legendary Marvel Comics from time to time, and his credits include writing Fear Itself: Deadpool and  Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe. You can find out about all these and more at his personal website  http://christopher-hastings.com/

Three Questions about Creativity with Kelly Williams Brown

I found Kelly Williams Brown's book 'Adulting' a few weeks ago in a happy accident of fortune, and I decided to give it a read. The book lists 468 easy (ish) ways to become an adult, offering tips and advice to 20 somethings who are facing that all-too-scary prospect - moving out of home for the first time.

The book is full of the type of simple wisdom I wish someone had shared with me when I was a rudderless man-child living in a two room flat in a dodgy corner of town.

Besides being practical, the book was hilarious and creative, and so I decided to get in touch with Kelly and find out how both her book and career came about.

First I wanted to know who or what inspired her to start her writing career.

Both my mom and grandmother were journalists before me, and it always appealed to me as a career. But beyond that decision — which was more a rational, OK, I want to write, how can I get paid for that?-type of choice — I am someone who has always made things. When I was a kid, I was CONSTANTLY writing plays or doing paintings or working with clay. But since writing is my job now, I tend to spend my down time pursuing other creative things — right now, I'm doing a lot of crafting and trying to master Copperplate calligraphy.

Deciding on your passion and going for it doesn't seem rational to a lot of people, but it totally is! What can be more rational than making a goal and the trying to achieve it? It's easy once you've decided what you want to do.

Kelly also touched upon an important point - when your passion becomes your job, you run the risk of losing your enthusiasm for it. Finding other creative outlets in which to indulge your creativity is important.

Aside from her inspirations, I also wanted to know how she keeps herself motivated.

For me, I always need outside deadlines and expectations. I wish I was the kind of person who was self-motivated enough to write an entire book by herself without an editor breathing down her neck, but I'm not. 

For people like me, it can be really helpful to feel accountable to something outside yourself — even if it's just paying your friend $5 a week to text you every day and ask what you've made.

There are tons of things you can do to make you feel accountable for your work, whether that be paying a friend like Kelly did, or even websites like stickk.com that offer to keep you in check for a small fee.

Finally, I asked Kelly what she does to jump-start her creative brain. To anyone who's struggled to get fired up at work in the morning, her response was pretty familiar.

Deadlines. I'm serious. If you (not you personally, but one) always waits until you're in this perfect beautiful creative mood to make things, you will make almost nothing. Far better is to force yourself, to develop that discipline, to realize that maybe you will make four truly mediocre things before that one great thing. No one in the world who wanted to be great at, say, basketball, would only practice when he or she was 100% feeling it. Make it non-optional. 

There's nothing more motivating than the pressure of having a time limit in which to get your work done. As much as we like to romanticize the creative work process, at the end of the day it comes down to you in front of your blank canvas, working your butt off.

Just keep working at it.

I suggest you check out this talented writer at the following outlets:
http://kellywilliamsbrown.com/
http://adultingblog.com/
@KWilliamsBrown on twitter
Or friend her on Facebook

Or you can purchase the awesome 'Adulting' HERE

Here's Kelly promoting the book

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Review: Kelela - Cut 4 Me (free mixtape)

Bells and synth's precede the thumping bass of Kelela's 'Guns and Synths', the first track off her exciting debut album Cut 4 Me, a relative calm before a deep-pitched storm.  Once the boom drops, her casual flow and distinctive, if slightly restrained voice, bounce off the rubbery low-end like a pinball, pinging from the right speaker to the left, into your eardrums and zig-zagging between your neurons.

This is exemplary bass music in 2013, with spare and echo-y percussion fighting for space in the track amongst the rawkus rumble of the bassline, with this beautifully nimble songstress cutting through it all with elastic, airy vocals and lyrics that move from anger to doubt to contentment to seduction.

LA producer Nguzunguzu picks up the pace on the second track 'Enemy', with post apocalyptic Timberland percussion partnering nastily with the bassline allowing Kelela to sound threatening without her ever actually having to be so.

She knows her way around a tune. However, lacking the twitter-ready antics and the musical maximilism of most of the current R&B fore-runners and also-rans, Kelela is forging her own path, and the musical (not just r&b) landscape in 2013 is better for it.

Producer NA laces 'Do it again' with a subtle, thrilling production that threatens to unleash into a Rihanna-like mega chorus, but instead opts to keep us in suspense before tumbling into a breakdown that falls just short of the dancefloor and peters out beautifully like the extended tease it is.

This feeds perfectly into the interstitial 'Go all night', a hot (and all too short) bass-driven number that could be a lost The-Dream track, if it didn't resist igniting and instead be content to ease away slowly into the night.

Kelela's leading falsetto drives the beautifully restrained Kingdom track 'Bank Head', which was for many the track that introduced her to the world. The tune kicks up for the second verse with double time drums and persistent handclaps, and Kelela's multitracked low and high pitched vocals weave in and out of each other and then merge seamlessly time and again to cast a hypnotic spell.

An insistent kick drum drives the title track, and Kelela use it's impact to great effect as an instructional tool, imploring her fictional partner to 'talk to me, give me what I need, would you please, breakdown'.

'Keep it cool' could've sounded corny, with it's bloops and barks, but Kelela finds her percussive flow amongst the chaos and easily navigates us towards the bass-heavy chorus. It's another 'banger', produced by yet another bass luminary in Jam City. To the casual fan, the producers names in this albums credits may seem like heiroglyphics, but in their genre they are all about as good as it gets. For Kelela to have been able to not only solicit tracks from each of these talented producers, but to also beautifully integrate her vocal with each of them, is somewhat of an achievement.

It also helps that the music sounds consistent over the course of the whole record, which is itself a rarity.
It's a pleasure to step into Kelela's world for a whole album, and it feels especially refreshing after a year full of twerking, roaring and pouring.

Get this now. It's available for FREE download HERE

Three Questions about Creativity with Kelly Angel

Drawing is one thing I was never good at, and so I'm extra impressed by people that are good at it.

Right now, one of my favourite artists is Kelly Angel.  I like Kelly's work for several reasons. One, she is very talented.  Two, she draws a lot, meaning I get to see new creations from her quite regularly. Three, the variety in her work is astounding.  There's variety not just in the type of art that she puts out, but also the tone and the subject matter.  She can turn out completely different pieces of work from one day to the next.

There is also a wicked sense of humour that pervades her work.

I know little about Kelly, other than she's from the UK, she's a cat lady, and she's really creative.
Wanting to know more, I asked Kelly about where this well-spring of creativity comes from. Whilst she couldn't point to anything specific in her history, she did touch on something that I've always felt helped push me to be better; having a sibling who gets what you're into and wants to pursue it as well.

I don't really know who or what inspired me to start drawing. I've always remembered doing it and enjoying it. I was lucky enough that pretty much everyone around me was really supportive - my parents, teachers etc. It also helped that my sister was so close and we're both pretty creative so we'd draw and paint a lot together. 

Like all of us, Kelly finds it hard sometimes to motivate herself to work, but she knows that there are things you can do to ensure you push past your immobility and just start working.

Sometimes I find I need to force myself to be motivated until I feel motivated. Also, I've found if you set yourself deadline(s) (say, if you have a webcomic that updates every week on a certain day) can be helpful. 

And whilst the work can be it's own reward, hearing positive words can also be helpful.

It's always really great to get feedback from people. Knowing that people are looking at your work and are enjoying it is always motivating.

I always like to finish by asking our creators for tips on getting in a creative state of mind, and Kelly articulated her process in a such a refreshing way.

I think I'm always in a creative state of mind, or most of the time anyway. However, there are a lot of things that really inspire me. It could be anything - a TV show, movie, book, cartoon, even an ugly dog I see in the street or something that piqued my interest. Watching videos of people draw/paint is really inspiring for me. It's interesting to see how different people work and watching how they build something potentially amazing from nothing. 

Sometimes it's nice just to do something for the simple pleasure of doing it and not worrying about the outcome. Mindlessly doodling on paper or just playing around with different tools is fun. There's no commitment or expectations to meet, it's just fun.  

Watching clips of other people creating was not a technique that I had thought of, and is something I'll definitely be adding in to my repertoire.

If you have any intentions of indulging your creativity, you could do a lot worse than heed Kelly's words, whether that's being always on the lookout for inspiration around you or just creating for fun to jumpstart your process.

Do yourself a favour and check Kelly's work out at the following links:

http://www.anythingcomic.com
https://www.facebook.com/KangelArt
http://kangel.deviantart.com/
http://kangel.daportfolio.com/gallery/751186

Review: Pusha T - My Name is My Name

The album name is a quote by the character Marlo Stanfield from the TV show The Wire, a young drug king-pin who was more street than he was savvy, which proved to be his ultimate undoing. In its original context the character used the phrase as a way of re-iterating to his underlings that his name is his standing in the streets, which he views as his streets.

In the same vein, Pusha T views his career in this way.

As one of the original crack-rap dough boys, who 'came from the bottom' and arrived at the top, he felt he deserved all the plaudits usually reserved for Lil Wayne, Jay-Z et al. Imagine his dismay then, upon his ascension into Kanye West's G.O.O.D Music stable, he found himself a peer to an endless stream of fake rap hustlers and wannabe thugs. Then imagine, him having to wait 4 years to release this record. You'd be pretty pissed.

His name is his name, and the rap game is his streets.

This street mentality and underdog desperation informs his music, and the best tracks on My name is my name are the ones with the barest, rawest beats. Pusha's voice, with it's arch timbre, obliterates soundscapes, making it almost impossible for him to rap over extravagant and lush instrumentals without sounding like he's not supposed to be there.

Then again, maybe that's the point and the more commercial tracks are illlustrating his one-foot-in-the-door approach to his image. His name is his name, and whilst he may be rapping over The-Dream's gorgeous beats, or soliciting hooks from Kelly Rowland, he's may feel he's still in his streets. To our ears though, he still sounds better when he keeps it gutter, and lucky then that he spends most of his album there.

Opening track 'King Push' finds a comfy spot between Hip-Hop and Trap, putting Pusha centrestage, allowing him to reclaim his throne and restate his manifesto. "I rap niggas, about trap niggas, I don't sing hooks".

The industrial pots and pans rattle of 'Numbers on the board' sounds even better in the context of the album. The "ballers, I put numbers on the board" refers both to basketball scores and making money, this duality re-inforced with lines like "mix drug and show money". Just letting you he's still a "legend in two games, like I'm Pee Wee Kirkland".

When Pusha moves into the world of 'show money', the street impact is lost. 'Street Serenade' and 'Hold on' feature great verses that get lost amongst lush instrumentals.

'Suicide' redresses this problem, with Push and former Re-Up Gang collaborator Ab-Liva going all in over a brash and bold Pharell beat. It's like '06 Hell Hath no fury all over again.

Wedged between underwhelming The-Dream and Kelly Rowland tracks is 'No Regrets', a spritely trap piece that would've sat well on Yeezus, executive producer Kanye West's opus.

Kanye and DJ Mano contribute a buff Pharell-like instrumental with 'Who I am', with Pusha outshining young guns 2 Chainz and Big Sean.  'Nosetalgia' follows, and whilst it may be the simplest beat you'll hear all year, Pusha and Kendrick Lamar tear into it like starving lions feasting on a recent kill. It's that raw.
A couple of strong tracks finish off the album in the already released 'Pain' and the Pharell-produced 'S.N.I.T.C.H.'.

Although let down by the songs that make concessions to the bare-bones sound in search of the elusive commercial airplay, My name is my name delivers on it's title and reclaims his streets, calling out those who are keeping it reel, as opposed to keeping it real.

Three Questions about Creativity with Baratunde Thurston

Three weeks ago I'd never heard of Baratunde Thurston. Then I heard an interview with the comedian/author/entrepreneur on Marc Maron's WTF podcast. He sounded like an interesting dude, and what became apparent very quickly in the interview was that he was a man with a lust for life and and that he had seemingly bottomless reserves of energy and creativity. I quickly bought and read his great book, How to be Black.

I would go through his bio for you, but it's too damn long! You can check out his many ventures on his website here. Suffice to say, his curiosity for the world is insatiable, and when I find people like that, I just want to saw open their heads and probe their brains.

So, how does a dude who grew up in crack-era Washington DC, end up going to Harvard and selling a New York Times bestseller?

I've talked before about finding your lane, your passion, and going for it in whatever way you can. Baratunde discovered this early, thanks to a school friend.

I was a math and science kid almost entirely through high school and had no great appreciation for writing academically or for fun. A schoolmate of mine suggested I write for the high school newspaper. His name was Dave, and I don't know why he thought I'd be good at it, but he was right, and I was hooked.  

Once you've found something you love to do, find ways to keep it going.  

Once I got to university, I joined the daily college newspaper, but that wasn't enough. My frustration with how little my classmates new about the news inspired me to create a comedic newsletter called NewsPhlash. I ran it all four years, and the spirit of that experiment still powers much of my writing today: an attempt to deliver occasionally useful information in a comedic and entertaining package. 

Once Uni is over and you have to enter the real world, following your dream and indulging your creative self gets a lot more difficult because you have more responsibilities. Again, find ways to keep doing what you love, keep exploring to discover new passions, and find ways to motivate yourself to keep going.

I get excited about new things in general -- new outlets for expression, new ways of communicating the same message, so I think I'm naturally drawn to experiment with the shiny new things. Competition also keeps me motivated, both competing with others and also with my past self. I like trying to out-do what I've already put out in the world. The last motivator is impact. On occasion I'll get feedback from someone who's been affected by my work, and it's just enough to keep me from abandoning the entire enterprise for whiskey-soaked afternoons at the pub. 

Motivation comes in many forms, and you need to use it your advantage. Know your motivations and use them to power your output! 

So now you should be a curious and motivated person; but what about those times when you've just gotten out of bed, plonked down in front of the computer and your neurons aren't ready to fire up just yet. What do you do?

I prompt myself with raw material from the world, usually in the form of news. I also take moments to look back over my own recent notes and public statements to see if a new pattern or thesis emerges. On any given day, I may not be adding anything brilliant to the world, but if I take an hour to look back over a few months of work, sometimes I see something new or larger than any individual piece. All this is something I might call The Devour Method. Getting myself saturated in media/information usually inspires some connection, new thought, and then a thesis or project to commence.

What are you interested in? Dance? Well, maybe watch a bunch of you-tubes of street choreography to get you pumped!

Here's the takeaway - find your passion and follow it with everything you have, work out what motivates you to do it, and use the world as your jumping off point.

Baratunde has become a success through indulging his creativity in a variety of ways. He also knows what keeps him going. Finding your passion is just the beginning. You need to discover what gets you going and what keeps you motivated, and make those changes a part of your life.

Baratunde Thurston runs the company cultivatedwit, an awesome start-up that aim to develop solutions at the intersection of technology and comedy, by humorous storytelling and through ushering new products into the world in fun and interesting ways.

Baratunde is also an accomplished stand-up comedian. Here's he speaks at SXSW on the power of comedy.

Three Questions about creativity with Adam Parson

I've been around dancers for almost 15 years now, and have seen creativity in all it's forms, but if there is one thing I've learned, it's that you never stop learning.

Late last year, American contemporary choreographer Adam Parson came through the Pure Funk studio as part of an Aussie workshop tour. Now that in itself is nothing special, we get choreographers passing through year round, but Adam's story struck me as interesting.

Here was an amazing choreographer, a dude that has worked with some great artists, been around the world and has incorporated dance into a bunch of different mediums, and yet his bio says he started dancing at 26 years old.

Yes, you read that right.  At a time when some professionals are starting to think about winding down their careers, his was just beginning.

I couldn't fathom it. How could someone have the motivation and the confidence, or whatever it took, to make it such a cut-throat industry starting that late?  I had to find out, so I got in touch with Adam and tried to find out the secret to his success.

His response was so great, I had to just repeat it word-for-muthaeffing-word.

Bob: What was it that inspired your decision to start your career at 26.

Adam: Being a computer engineer and accounting manager for a top computing company in Georgetown in Washington D.C. was a great job. I loved using my nerdy side to figure things out and be responsible for running the company on the back end, but I missed doing gymnastics which kept me in shape. (I ended up being 230lbs working at McDonalds before getting this job, and then sitting for 8 hours!)  When my sister asked me to take her friend to the dance studio and I walked in and saw all the energy going on, I has hooked!  It was as simple as that. It was like combining my nerdy side and my gymnastic side into organized movement. I knew that whatever I did from now on would have to incorporate both and it was super inspiring challenging myself to be able to do this at an age when most people are moving into their "steady" careers. 

Bob: What(or who) was it that encouraged you to keep it up, as I realize it must have been hard work when you were first staring out?

Adam: My first teacher Terry Peyton was my biggest champion, she pushed me like no other, while guiding me when I would get frustrated. She saw the potential in me and made it happen.  "What" encouraged me was taking ballet. My teacher Elan Cooper was instrumental in instilling in me the importance of ballet. I took to it like I was learning a new computer language, it was fun to figure it out! 

Bob: What do you think has been a key factor in allowing you to continue to be a creative as a choreographer?

Adam: Growing up in Kenya would be one, going to a British boarding school with an international student body would be another, but mostly having teachers like Cindera Che, Terri Best, Helene Phillips, Randy Allaire, Keith Clifton, Charles Anderson, Eliana Alexander and a piano Player named Betty(who taught me the differences in notes and intonation).  These people helped to shape me to the choreographer that I am today by seeing who I was and not trying to change me to fit their image, but rather helped me find my own voice. 

The big takeaway that I got from Adam's inspiring story was pretty clear - don't settle for what you have if it isn't what you love.

Whatever it is that you're passionate about, chances are it is what you should be doing. That's not to say it won't take a lot of hard work and commitment, and that you have to surround yourself with people who both push you and support you, but when you find what you should be doing, you'll know it and you should go for it.

Responsibility and fear of change may compete in your psyche for supremacy over what you finally decide to do, but ultimately doing what you want will benefit not only you but those around you.

Experiment and found out where your passion truly lies, and then go for it. Even if, like Adam, you're not 18.

It's never too late to start.

The Best Film You've Never Seen: Robert Elder on Inspiration

I've been writing for a long time (one of the benefits of getting older), and  yet I still struggle sometimes to find subjects to write about.

What usually breaks me out of a funk is when I see or hear something that fires off a neural connection in my brain.  

You never know what it might be.  It could be a word, a song or a story that someone is telling you. As long as you find a subject and then a unique way of looking at that subject, you're on your way.

In the case of  journalist and film critic Robert Elder, his inspiration came after years of talking to master filmmakers like Richard Curtis, Richard Linklater and Danny Boyle. 

Elder had an idea to write a book where directors were given the chance to defend one movie they thought was underrated or unfairly maligned. The result was his book The best film you've never seen.

After reading the book I spoke to Elder what inspired him to write it.  Here's what he had to say.

"I love movies, always have, and what I love most is sharing good films. It's like when you're in high school and you invite friends to watch something that's obscure, or exposure them to a deep cut in a musician's catalogue. Also: Having done a lot of director interviews as an entertainment journalist, I often found that they were most animated when talking about OTHER people's films."

If you're getting stuck trying to find motivation to spark that creative fuse in your brain, talk to people. Everybody has a different perspective, and everyone has something to offer.

Talk to enough people and the inspiration will come. Jonah Lehrer talks about 'urban interactions' being a catalyst for creativity in cities, and he's right. Put a bunch of interesting people in small promixity to each other, and ideas begin to flourish.

So next time you've got the mental block, step away from the laptop, pull out the ear-buds and go chat to someone.

You'll be surprised what happens.

The Best Film You've Never Seen by Robert Elder is available for purchase HERE

The Big Payback: Hip-Hop, creativity and finding your angle

Dan Charnas, Chino XL & Rick Rubin

If you’re a fan of Hip-Hop or of music in general, and you haven’t read The Big Payback by Dan Charnas, then you are doing yourself a disservice.

It chronicles Hip-Hop from it’s birth behind DJ Hollywood's turn-tables, and follows the tumultuous journey of a marginalized musical genre that exploded in the 90's as a fully-fledged commercial juggernaut.

Like Hip-Hop itself, Charnas is somewhat of a pioneer, as prior to his book there was no definitive chronological history of Hip-Hop.

Charnas is no stranger to Hip-Hop’s creative process, in fact he was running the American Recordings rap department in 1991 and released such notable tracks as Sir Mix-A-Lots ‘Baby Got Back’ and DJ Kool’s ‘Let me clear my throat’.

I asked Charnas about his motivations for writing the book, and whilst his answer was simple, it highlighted a technique that many creative people never consider.

“The book demanded that it be written, and I was the only person who wanted to write it!”

If you’re having trouble kick-starting your creative catalog, think about the things you enjoy. Is there an aspect of those things that’s unique and worth documenting? 

Dan Charnas found a unique angle by tackling a subject that no-one else wanted to.

How will you challenge yourself? 

Order The Big Payback: The History of the business of Hip-Hop at Dan's website HERE

From innovator to accumulator - Jay-Z reaches Hip-Hop's Holy Grail

Most of you are probably too young to remember, and those old enough probably didn't realize it was happening, but back in the 90's, Jay-Z had his finger on the pulse.  He knew what was hot, and he jumped on it.

What was not hot in late 90's was Southern Hip-Hop.  This was a time when Nelly was dreaming of a baseball career, Outkast were rapping about space aliens and Lil Wayne was a 14 year old in a group called the Hot Boys. At that time, the East and West Coast's were popping for Hip-Hop, but Jay-Z knew the Dirty South was coming.

Whether it was recruiting UGK for 'Big Pimpin', jumping on remixes with C-Murder or recording with Junevile, Jay-Z knew that the Southern rappers and producers had fresh sounds and slang and he wanted in. This was Jay-Z the curator, the taste maker, back when he had both the juice and street knowledge to know what was hot and how he could integrate it with his sound. He also had the respect of the Hip-Hop community, and Southern rappers were eager to be in the Jay-Z business.

Fast forward to July 2013, and Jay is dropping his new album Magna Carta Holy Grail. Although Jay still pimps for Southern producers Pharrell and Timbaland, his business is no longer searching for the next musical wave, it's searching for the next iconic product.  In this case it's Samsung and Jay's choice to sell 1 million of his albums through purchase of the new Galaxy S4. It's marketing genius no doubt, but what about the music?

I'm searching through the album looking for something new, artists that we've never heard or beats incorporated from other genres, and I'm coming up short.

Sure, there's new producer WonderGurl, a 16 year old wunderkind, and some vaguely dubstep beats on MikeWillMadeit's 'Beach is better', but I'm not seeing much in the way of innovation or curation.

The first track on the album 'Holy Grail' is the magna carta of intro's. Timbaland on the beat, JT on the hook (for a minute and a half no less), it's death by chocolate in a song. There's no innovation here, just a One Republic track with a skittery Timbo beat riding under it.  'Picasso Baby' and 'Tom Ford' fair a hell of a lot better thankfully, two designer bangers full of references to items even more pricey than their titles. Unfortunately, it downhill for a much of the rest of the album.

'Oceans' tries to conjure up visions of slaveships juxtaposed against fancy yachts, as Hov envisions his ancestral struggles while kicking back on the bow of a 30 footer. The muddle of historical pain and celebratory boasting fails to conjure up much at all on repeated listens.

'FUTW' rides a more laid-back version of the Picasso beat, with Timbaland showing more soul than ever before. However, the subdued production gives Jay an excuse to lay back on the couch and converse about Homeland, among other things. The dirty basslines continue with 'Crown' and 'Heaven', both also failing to inspire much more beyond slight head-nodding, the latter almost derailing completely with a superfluous R.E.M. lyric.

'Part 2 (on the run)' feels like a early 00's Mary J Blige remix, but for those still hanging in, there's respite.  The double feature of the too-short 'Beach is Better' and 'BBC' would have stood out on a tauter album, here they're almost lost in the blander back-end.

Besides a few highlights, the album comes off as flat, or as some critics have posited, safe. No longer the innovator, Jay is sitting on cruise-control, rolling out stadium-ready bangers and filling the album out with some old school leaning productions for the true heads.

It's a little sad, because in becoming big business, he's lost sight of what it was like when he was a start-up.
As he said himself "the streets is watching", just as back in the day he was watching the street; taking little known genres and feeding them to the masses in three minute highlight packages. These days though, he seems content watching the hands on his Hublot watch, counting down the days to his retirement.

Review: Killer Mike & El-P - Run the Jewels

Run the Jewels is a collaboration between Brooklyn veteran rapper/producer El-P and Southern stalwart Killer Mike. They came up through vastly different channels. El-P was the definition of backpack-rap in the 90's with the seminal group Company Flow, while Killer Mike was anointed out the gate having found affiliation with Outkast and Goodie Mob at the peak of their powers.

After linking up a couple years ago, El-P hit the boards hard. He dominated the Hip-Hop landscape last year by lacing both his and Mike's solo albums with stellar productions like 'Big Beast' and 'Drones over Brooklyn'.

Following the critical praise of both Cancer for Cure and Mike's R.A.P. Music the two had struck up such a firm friendship they decided to tour together and put together this album.

As for the music itself, it sounds a lot better than a free collabo album rightfully should. Title Track 'Run the Jewels' leads off the album and sets the tone for the other 9 tracks. No nonsense Hip-Hop with with aggressively boastful lyrics. It jumps out of the gate with amped guitar lines, hard drums and sinister synths. They double down on the braggadocio with '36 Chain', a straight up banger with what sounds like someone playing bells in a tunnel deep in the mix and some nasty drums.

'DDFH' slows the pace a little but ups the intensity and paranoia, and even includes a chorus (although 'Hey Hey Hey' hardly constitutes a hook). 'Sea Legs' opens with swirling Bollywood arpeggio's and finger snaps with El-P sliding in just before a sub-Timberland drum pattern kicks  up the pace.  Mike comes out fighting, declaring "I rival your idols" among a litany of other boasts and threats.

'Job Well Done' sees the boys looking back over the waste they've laid over their careers, and everyone from men to women, monks to dolphins gets it. It's a lap of honor after surviving a war and "walking through the ashes, saying 'didnt we do well'?". Killer Mike uses 'No Come Down' as an excuse to tell a story about getting so high that he "Traveled to the moon", made love to a woman and came back to earth to find out they were brother and sister. Must have been a crazy trip.

'Get it' is about just that, and while the dexterous El-P dreams about the simple life, one filled with "the company of women with opinions and fat asses", Mike is still in angry mode, unleashing on Catholics, Cops and Goofy rappers.

In the end, there's no real concept to this album, other than two rap vets in their prime throwing heat over some of the winters hottest beats. So good, you almost feel bad getting it for free. In their own words, go get it.

Get the album HERE for free.
 

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