Exclusive Weekly Features on Mk.gee, Quasimoto, and Leven Kali

Cool Mornings

Mk.gee

With absolutely wild sounds and textures, Mk.gee takes the spot for the cover artist of the week. From the experimental sounds to the mysterious image he portrays, it’s hard not to be intrigued. My favorite song of his is “Candy”, which is off his latest album “Two Star & The Dream Police”, but I went with “Overtime - pt 2” off of “A Museum of Contradiction.” The reason I went with the later song was because I felt like it portrayed his sound best. You get a taste of all of the crazy textures and ambiance that he brings to all of his music. Make sure you give him a listen!

🇯🇵 Japanese Nostalgia

• “Love Was Really Gone” - Makoto Matsushita

  • One of my favorite city pop songs to listen to slowed down, this classic is a staple in the city pop genre. If you’re new to city pop and like it, please go check it out or DM me on Instagram asking for me to make a playlist. There are a lot of familiar songs that I could bring to the table and show you guys!

  • P.S. - Listen to the whole song and hear how beautiful the ending is.

📼 Old but New

• “86Sentra” - NxWorries

  • With a group comprised of Knxwledge and the superstar Anderson.Paak, it’s extremely hard to miss. This song was a chill single off of their most recent album “Why Lawd?”. The rest of the album is a great listen, so if you’re looking for a lot of old-school samples, soul, and acoustic drums, go give them a listen.

Turnt Afternoons

Quasimoto

Quasimoto is the alter ego of Hip-Hop legend Madlib. If you don’t understand how good/influential Madlib is, then please go listen to “The Unseen.” I find myself blurting out “Come On Feet” at the most random parts of the day. Madlib is most popular for his collaboration album with the late MF DOOM in their project “Madvillainy” (an influential underground classic by the duo) as well as his collaboration with Freddie Gibbs on projects “Piñata” and “Bandana”. This is just an understatement to how good and influential he is though, so if you like 90s Hip-Hop, sampling, and just good music in general, please go listen to Quasimoto.

🤩 Overnight Celebrity

• “MILLION DOLLAR BABY" - Tommy Richman

  • Unlike the name suggests, Tommy Richman is not an overnight success. Although one feature (“Upset” - Brent Faiyaz, FELIX!, and Tommy Richman) and one song (“MILLION DOLLAR BABY”) have seemed to catapult him to success after signing to Brent Faiyaz’s group ISO Supremacy. With his first song on Spotify being released in 2016, it’s been a long time coming for him. With his unique sound and vocal tone, it’s hard to write him off as a one-hit wonder. I’m personally excited about his upcoming album “COYOTE”. It’s understandable if you don’t like him because of his stylistic choices, but don’t write him out!

🇺🇸 Virginia Boys

• “Wamp Wamp (What It Do)” - Clipse feat. Slim Thug

  • I have to say I’m very biased with this song because the drums and bounce on this are ridiculous, but this is to be expected whenever something is produced by the Neptunes. For those who don’t know, the Neptunes are comprised of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, who are both iconic in their own right. In this song, they are producing with frequent collaborators Clipse, which consists of Pusha T and No Malice. The product of what happens when these two get together is a flow and production that you do not hear anywhere else to this day.

  • A song that is very popular by them is “Grindin’”, which is a staple to the Virginia sound and overall early 2000s sound.

Vibey Nights 

Leven Kali

Leven Kali, a very talented singer, songwriter, and producer takes the cover for this playlist. From writing for Beyonce, being featured on Playboi Carti’s “Flex”, and even writing for popular K-pop group EXO on their song “Tempo”, Kali brings a fresh sense of sound that is distinct. You can hear the use of sounds of pop, funk, and soul from both old and new in songs such as “EEK” and “HOMEGIRL”. If that wasn’t enough, his album “High Tide” has zero misses on it. Bold statement, but very true. To keep things short, regardless of the kind of music you tend to lean towards, you will like Leven Kali. Go give him a listen!

🕶️ Icon Living?

• “Fallen - Electric” - Jaden

  • A lot of people know Jaden (a.k.a Jaden Smith) for his song “Icon” which was off of his album “SYRE” in 2017. What most don’t know is that Jaden has a whole electric EP called “SYRE: THE ELECTRIC ALBUM”. This album is a collection of songs from the album “SYRE” redid in a downtempo manner. This EP is full of lush textures created by synths and a lot of electric guitars (hence the name of the EP). This EP is one of my favorite albums to chill and relax to, and I think you will like it too! The song from the playlist is off of that album and will take you straight to it.

🔨 Nailed It!

• “Up And Down” - Teezo Touchdown

  • With Teezo Touchdown gaining popularity with features on “UTOPIA” by Travis Scott, “For All The Dogs” by Drake, and “CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST” by Tyler, the Creator, he makes for someone who is shaking the game up. The reason is because of his ability to bend genres and create styles and sounds outside of the norm. He is also a noticeable fashion icon because of the nails in his hair, which overall adds to his rockstar persona. One of my favorite features of his is the end of “7969 Santa” off of “For All The Dogs”. Go check it out after you relax to “Up And Down.”

Playlist of the Week: 
SoundCloud vibes

This week I decided to make a playlist that is pretty different from the norm, which is the sounds of SoundCloud. People may call this type of music raw, trendy, bad, or worst of all they may say “This sounds like a TikTok song.” Pulling from sonic elements such as video games, hyper pop, and trap music, there are a lot of subgenres to these types of sounds. I’m here to highlight some of the songs that may get you into this unique style of Hip-Hop.

⬆️ Shifting Gears

• “In my feed” - CapzLock

  • Being known for his chill energy and melodic melodies, CapzLock is young in this scene and is only going up. His sound resembles the likes of the early SoundCloud days of emo rap stars Lil Uzi Vert and NAV. If you're a fan of vast melodies and easy-going lyrics, go check him out!

🥤 Chopped Not Slopped?

• “スライドスルー” - 808escobar

  • With sounds similar to the chopped and screwed movement, 808escobar makes hard-hitting 808s and slowed melodies sound crazy! Although his discography is short on Spotify, there are some more songs on his SoundCloud which I will link below. It may seem like his career was short, but he now goes under a new alias known as “perc40” which can be found on Spotify (though he seems to have dropped the sound that he had for his 808escobar project). Make sure to go check him out!

  • https://soundcloud.com/808escobar