A blog about the music I listen to, the music videos I like, and most other music-related subtopics.
Welcome!
In this blog I hope to discuss my favorite music as well as share information on my favorite artists. I'd also like to create music and video playlists at some point. I'm just getting started so I hope you stick around.
Mykki Blanco, born in Orange County, California in 1986, is a rapper, poet, and performance artist. Blanco identifies as trans/multigendered and has gone by male pronouns at some points in life and female pronouns at others. For the purpose of this article (for clarity and consistency) I will use female pronouns because Mykki Blanco is a feminine persona.
June 17, 2011 Blanco published a poetry book via an OHWOW imprint; it was titled "From the Silence of Duchamp to the Noise of Boys". May 9, 2012 Blanco made her music debut with an EP based off the poetry book "Mykki Blano and the Mutant Angels". The EP included songs 'Head is a Stone' and 'Join My Militia'.
November 9, 2012 Blanco released her first mixtape "Cosmic Angel: The Illuminati Prince/ss". It featured singles 'Wavvy', Haze.Boogie.Life', and 'Kinpinning (Ice Cold)'. May 21, 2013 saw the release of another EP "Betty Rubble: The Initiation", which featured the songs 'Feeling Special' and 'The Initiation'. In May the following year Blanco released "Spring/Summer 2014" EP.
October 28, 2014 Blanco's second mixtape "Gay Dog Food" was released; it boasted features from Cakes Da Killa, Cities Aviv, James K, No Bra, and Kathleen Hanna.
June of 2015 Blanco made public her HIV+ status. She didn't expect to receive as much support following her announcement as she got - she even thought that it would hinder her music career. Thankfully she was wrong and later that year was signed by !K9, an independent label. On September 16, 2016 Blanco dropped her debut album "Mykki", which included the songs 'High School Never Ends', 'The Plug Won't', and 'Loner'.
For Fans of: Brooke Candy, Zebra Katz, Cakes Da Killa
Download Link:
Website: MykkiBlancoWorld.com
Credits: MusicRoamer, Gay Star News, Wikipedia, MTV
Bleta “Bebe” Rexha born August 30, 1989 is a singer/songwriter of Albanian-Macedonian descent. Her first foray into the music industry was in 2010 as vocalist of Black Cards - a side project created by bassist Pete Wentz while his band Fall Out Boy was on hiatus. The intention was to release an LP but after a series of delays only ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Fame’ was released. In January of 2012 Bebe Rexha left the band to pursue a solo career. Rexha followed that up with posting covers and a few originals online such as 'Ride Till You Die' featuring Voli.
Warner Bros. Records signed Rexha as a solo artist in 2012. She then began to write songs for other artists such as ‘Like a Champion’ by Selena Gomez and ‘Glowing’ by Nikki Williams. Her most notable co-writing credit is on ‘The Monster’ by Eminem featuring Rihanna; the song won a Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Performance and reached number one on the on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
On May 12, 2015 Rexha released her first EP “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up”. The EP was supported by two singles: ‘I Can’t Stop Drinking About You’ and ‘I’m Gonna Show You Crazy’. She continued to write for and be featured in other artist’s songs from ‘Me, Myself & I’ by G-Eazy to ‘Hey Mama by David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj and Afrojack. The latter song didn’t initially credit Rexha even though she sings the chorus and background vocals but as of June 2015 it does credit her as a featured artist.
In 2016 singles ‘No Broken Hearts’ featuring Nicki Minaj and ‘I Got You’ were released. Initially meant for her debut LP the songs became a non-album track (No Broken Hearts) and the only single off the first installation in an EP series called “All Your Fault”. On January 6, 2017 “All Your Fault Pt. 1” was released.
The first single from “All Your Fault Pt. 2” ‘The Way I Are (Dance With Somebody)’ featuring Lil Wayne was released May 19, 2017 with the full project following on August 11, 2017. The second single off the project ‘Meant to Be’ featuring Florida Georgia Line was released October 24, 2017. It reached number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs for 26 weeks becoming the longest charting Country song by a woman.
A third installation of the “All Your Fault” series was planned but instead morphed into an LP titled “Expectations”. Both ‘Meant to Be’ and ‘I Got You’ will appear on the album as well as promotional singles ‘Ferrari’ and ‘2 Souls on Fire’ featuring Quavo. The album is set to be released June 22, 2018.
For Fans of: Zara Larson, Halsey, Selena Gomez
Website: http://www.beberexha.com/
Credits: MusicRoamer, Wikipedia
Born Khalif Diouf on April 6, 1989 in Manhattan, New York, Le1f (pronounced "leaf") is a rapper and producer. His first foray into the music industry was as producer of tracks for Das Racist - including their first ever single 'Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell' (2008).
On April 9, 2012 Le1f released his debut mixtape "Dark York", which featured the viral single 'Wut'. The song going viral is particularly noteworthy because Le1f is an openly gay artist in Rap - a genre known for being homophobic. The lyrics in 'Wut' don't shy away from discussing his sexuality with lines such as "I'm the kind of jawn closet dudes wanna go steady on" and "Ukrainian cutie- he really wanna cuddle, the fever in his eyes he wanna suckle on my muscle."
In November of 2012 Le1f had a feature on 'Fuckin the DJ', a song off Mykki Blanco's mixtape "Cosmic Angel: The Illuminati Prince/ss". The same month he also released an EP with artist Boody; it was called "Liquid" and featured the single 'Soda'.
On Januray 28, 2013 Le1f released his sophomore mixtape "Fly Zone", which featured the song 'Spa Day'. The project included features from artists such as Spank Rock, Haleek Maul, Kitty, DonChristian, SAFE, and Rahel.
On September 18, 2013 Le1f released his third mixtape "Tree House", which includes the song 'Hush Bb'. In an interview with Fuse the rapper said of the project, "Tree House is all these love songs over experimental trap beats... I want people to have sex to it."
Le1f released his debut studio album "Riot Boi" on November 13, 2015. The album contains songs that feature artists Junglepussy, House of Ladosha, DonChristian, Miss Geri, and Dev Hynes.
Singer/songwriter Priscilla Renea was born on September 14, 1988 in Vero Beach, Florida. She says she always knew that she wanted to be a singer and sang wherever she could from high school football games to her father’s Navy events. She states that her dream was supported up until high school at which point she was encouraged to get what she calls a “real job”.
When Renea found out about Youtube she started uploading videos of herself singing and found fans. She was one of the first to utilize Youtube as a stepping stone for a career. She released music independently before being signed to Capitol Records. Her debut album “Jukebox” was released December 1, 2009 and contained the singles ‘Dollhouse’ and ‘Lovesick’. The album only sold 1,200 units in its first week but was lauded by critics. After the second single ‘Lovesick’ failed to garner chart success Renea’s label stopped promoting the album.
Renea turned to writing songs for other artists and found much success. She wrote songs for artists including Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Mary J. Blige, Train, Pitbull, Miranda Lambert, and Madonna. Her versatility is notable - she’s written in the R&B, Country, Hip Hop, and Pop genres and her new music showcases different sides of the artist.
Renea’s first placement after her own album was in 2009 with a song called ‘Happy Hour’ by UK singer Cheryl Cole. The following year Renea wrote four more songs for Cole including the number 1 UK hit ‘Promise This’; for Rihanna she wrote ‘California King Bed’ a song that has been certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. For those who don’t know the certifications are based on sales of songs (in this case digital sales) starting at 500,000 copies for Gold, 1,000,000 copies for Platinum, 2,000,000 copies for Multi-Platinum, and 10,000,000 copies for Diamond.
In 2011 Renea co-wrote songs by Kelly Rowland, Demi Lovato, Cher Lloyd, and Mary J. Blige. She also wrote ‘My Last’ by Big Sean and ‘Who Says’ by Selena Gomez and the Scene; the former was certified Gold and the latter was certified Triple Platinum. In 2012 she co-wrote songs by Madonna and Bridgit Mendler. She also co-wrote the Gold certified ‘Popular Song’ by Mika which either featured herself on guest vocals (the explicit album version) or Ariana Grande (the clean single version).
2013 was her biggest year yet. She wrote songs for K. Michelle, Tamar Braxton, B.o.B., and Chrisette Michele. Her biggest hit was ‘Timber’ by Pitbull featuring Kesha, which went Six Times Platinum! In 2014 she co-wrote ‘Somethin’ Bad’ by Miranda Lambert featuring Carrie Underwood which went Platinum. In 2015 she co-wrote songs by Mariah Carey and Monica as well as ‘Worth It’ by Fifth Harmony featuring Kid Ink which went Triple Platinum. In 2016 Renea co-wrote songs for Nick Jonas, Meek Mill and Pusha T, Fantasia, and Sabrina Carpenter; ‘Thumbs’ by Carpenter went Gold. In 2017 she co-wrote songs for Brooke Candy, ZZ Ward, Train, and Kelly Clarkson; ‘Love So Soft’ by Clarkson went Gold. For a playlist of some of the songs written by Renea follow the link here.
On April 6th 2018, Renea released a dual music video for the songs ‘Gentle Hands’ and ‘Heavenly’ via the Paper Magazine website. The article included an interview with the singer who said of the music video, “I want viewers to walk away feeling magical and full of love because I love, love. This video beautifully showcases my personality, my tender and loving side along with my goofy side."
On May 21, 2018 TheBLACKMedia released an interview with Renea on their Youtube channel entitled “Priscilla Renea The 2018 Interview: Talks Youtube, #1 Hits, Sexism And More”. The video is just 2 minutes over an hour long and contains interview interspersed with performance shots. If you want to learn more about Renea’s childhood or hear about her long journey to where she is today then I highly suggest you watch it here.
Priscilla Renea’s sophomore album “Coloured” will be out June 22nd and will feature a country/blues sound and the songs ‘Family Tree’, ‘Gentle Hands’, ‘Heavenly’, and ‘Lets Build a House’. All four songs are available to listen to on Youtube here.
Website: http://www.priscilla-renea.com/
Credits: Wiki, Paper Magazine, Music-Map, TheBLACKMedia
For Fans of: Chrisette Michele, Elle Varner, Ledisi
As much as I love musicians who are allies to the LGBT+ Community I wanted to showcase music by individuals within the community. Listen to the playlist here.
GUY.exe by Superfruit
Secrets by Mary Lambert
Strut by Adam Lambert
Sanctify by Years & Years
Bloom by Troye Sivan
Strangers by Halsey ft Lauren Jauregui
Flesh by Simon Curtis
Thinkin Bout You by Frank Ocean
Same Love (Freestyle) by Roes aka Angel Haze
Delicate, Petite & Other Things I’ll Never Be by Against Me
Hey by Le1f
Stay by Steve Grand
Boyfriend by Tegan and Sara
I’m the Only One by Melissa Ethridge
What I Need by Hayley Kiyoko ft Kehlani
Wake Me If I’m Dreaming by Rocco Katastrophe
Kingpinning (Ice Cold) by Mykki Blanco
This Promise by Sam Tsui & Casey Breves
Devil’s Backyard by Mya Byrne
Someone to Call My Lover by Alyson Stoner
Housewife by Jay Brannan
Make Me Feel by Janelle Monáe
Call It Off by Shamir
Kaleidoscope by Courtney Act
I hope you like at least some of the songs on the playlist. Let me know if there are any artists that you'd like added to the playlist. Thanks everyone! I hope you're all having a safe and happy Pride!
Singer/songwriter Simon Curtis first gained recognition for the role of Royce
Du Lac in Nickelodeon’s 2009 TV musical “Spectacular!” Later that year he worked with
producer Jeff “Jaidon” Wells to focus on his music career. The result was the electronic
album “8 Bit Heart”, a concept album about a robot looking for love. Curtis released the
album for free via his website where more than 150,000 copies were downloaded within
the first two weeks of its release. This was a notable feat considering it was all done
independently. ”8 Bit Heart” features the songs ‘Delusional’, ‘Diablo’, ‘8 Bit Heart’, and
‘Beat Drop’.
On June 7th, 2013 Curtis released his second album “R∆” via the iTunes store; “R∆” stands for Robot Army, a reference to his fans, and features the singles ‘Superhero’ and ‘Flesh’. Upon its release the album reached #20 on Billboard’s Dance/Electronic Albums Chart.
Curtis released a free EP entitled “WWW” on October 12th, 2013. Upon the release of the project he was criticized for the album artwork being “too gay”. In response Curtis officially came out saying “Love that I’m getting so much heat for my new album artwork being “too gay” on national coming out day… with that said, I am gay.”
On March 20th, 2014 Popjustice announced that Curtis had joined fellow singer/ songwriter Ro Danishei akaWolfy to form electropop duo Wrathschild. On February 23rd, 2015 the duo released their debut EP “Birds”, which featured the singles ‘Fall into Love’ and ‘Angeles’.
Curtis released another freebie in January of 2015, an EP called “Love, S”. The EP features four new tracks as well as two remixes of “R∆” single ‘Flesh”.
Curtis released “Super 8 Bit Heart” to iTunes on January 8th, 2016. It is a reworking of the songs from “8 Bit Heart” so if you enjoy the free version consider purchasing this version. Listen to it on Youtube here: Super 8 Bit Heart Playlist
For Fans of: Adam Lambert, Sam Sparro, Britney Spears
