The Rap Up: Episode No. 18
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The Rap Up: Episode No. 18

More Life… More Waiting.

Despite Drake’s extensive catalog of heart melting love ballads, he’s pretty cruel when it comes to teasing release dates. Each of Drake’s most recent projects; What A Time To Be Alive, Views, and the short lived collaborative mixtape with Kanye West, were all punctuated by frustrating teasers, trolling, misdirection, or flat out heart break. As we all know, the Kanye collab never actually saw light. The case is very much the same with More Life. After a cryptic photo posted to Instagram by Drake, and a similarly misleading post by his father, fans were all but convinced More Life would see life this weekend. Without belaboring the point, the absence of More Life on my iPhone is still painfully clear. The release date is anyone’s guess at this point, however a Friday release would be logical. Regardless, More Life is on the precipice of being in our hands, and all reports point to it being well worth the wait.

Chance Gives Chicago Public Schools a Chance

Chance The Rapper held a press conference at a public school in Chicago to announce that he will be donating a million dollars to Chicago’s schools. Chance is exactly the person you can assume that will be that gracious to give back to the kids from the streets he came from. Chance is being an example for many artists from the city to give back. “Our kids should not be held hostage because of political positions”. For the kids, the kids are the future and with the current climate of the state Chicago is in right now there’s no one I’d rather see step up than a man of the people. Chance has been very active in the Chicago community, alongside Chicago native rappers like Common. It’s a good look to see Chance give back to those who the world has abandon or looked down upon because of their status.

(Written by Terrence Mroz & Garrick Gray)

If you missed last night’s show, watch the full episode below! Also, visit our Radio Laurier Facebook page for more videos and news. Remember to comment, share and like!

The Basement: Jan 15th – Topics, Playlist, Featured Artist

Cruel Winter

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The Basement: Jan 15th – Topics, Playlist, Featured Artist

Kanye West – Cruel Winter, to be released Feb 2017

TOPICS

On this week’s show, we started off by discussing the recent kidnapping of an unnamed special needs male by 4 black aggressors in Chicago. In addition to torturing the victim, they forced him to say, “f*** Trump” and “f*** white people”. All of the suspects have been arrested and charged with “charged with aggravated unlawful restraint, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated battery and a hate crime”, according to an article on The Sun detailing the incident. We explored how this incident only served to heighten the already tense relations between black and white people. On the popular image sharing site Imgur, a user posted a picture of the article, claiming that the story was barely covered in the news, despite the story being covered by a multitude of national media outlets. The comments on the photo only served to illustrate the heightened tensions between races. Many people both in the comments of the post and in general, saw this incident as an opportunity to target and vilify the Black Lives Matter movement and denounce the validity of white privilege. What we felt people were failing to recognize is that that the actions of radicals within a racial group, like the KKK or ISIS, do not represent the entire populous. We also briefly touched on the recent incident in Texas in which a teenager, Zachary Kabir Anam, shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a police vehicle. Talking about this story led to the discussion of the valid of media’s reporting and sensationalism as well as resorting to violence as a means of protest when it appears that peaceful discourse is ineffective.

During our pop culture segment, we discussed the upcoming albums in 2017 we were excited to hear. Some of these albums include Process by UK soul-crooner, Sampha, Cruel Winter by Kanye West and AABA by Joey Badass. We also talked about Drake’s rumoured upcoming project, More Life and his status as a legend. There’s no question Drake has time and time again proven both his proficiency at penning relatable lines and his delivering catchy, infectious bars and melodies, but we felt that he would benefit from taking a break from the music scene. This would give his fans a chance to miss him and additionally, let the members of his record label OVO shine and be able to escape from under his shadow.

For the people/opinion segment, we discussed New Years’ resolutions and whether or not they are truly effective in people wanting to make a change in their lives. In addition, we talked about the right and wrong way to approach someone when interested, the right situations to do so and how to overcome apprehension to make that first attempt at contact.

PLAYLIST
Travis Scott – Biebs In The Trap Ft. Nav
Isaiah Rashad – What’s Wrong Ft. Kendrick Lamar & Zacari
Vince Staples – Señorita
H.E.R. – Focus
J.Cole – She’s Mine
Savannah Dumetz – Naked

FEATURED ARTIST
This week’s featured artist is Toronto based crooner Rimy Low Key, who blends soul and 80s synth pop to create his own R&B style entitled “Psychedelic Soul”. According to Rimy himself, “I started taking music seriously after I lost my house in a fire and needed to get back everything I lost and more”. His song, Hesitate, tells the story of a hazy, substance-fueled late night rendezvouz devoid of the pleasantries and blasé, illustrated by lines like, “Oh I came for the games for the fun/ I ain’t trying to fall in love” and “cup inside of cup when I found you/are you down for round two?”. Hesitate channels Rimy’s overall inspiration for making music as he channels his frustrations and vents on experiences he’s had with love and relationships. Once the archetypal ‘nice guy’, Rimy soon found that it led to fruitless endeavours in a society of youth where people often fail to reveal honest intentions and play frivolous games. As such, these experiences led him to distance his emotions from intimacy, no longer seeking love, which are all themes reflected in the song Hesitate. The song was produced and mixed by Versedl, a Toronto based producer in collaboration with Akeel Henry, a producer who has previously interned for Noah “40” Shebib and produced for Roy Woods, Jeremiah, KidInk & 11:11 to name a few. Th dark and heavy, brooding instrumental serves as the perfect canvas for Rimy’s soaring vocals to paint a vivid picture of one night of passion, lust and sinful satisfactions.

Check out the song on Soundcloud below:

Follow Rimy on Social Media
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rimylowkey/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rimylowkey
Website: http://rimylowkey.com

Featured Channel: The Journey
This week we also had the pleasure of talking about Garrick’s recently launched YouTube channel, The Journey, which is a lifestyle themed vlog series featuring a range of content from fitness vlogs to comedy skits and so on. Garrick has been a long time member of The Basement and all of us are extremely proud of the content he’s currently creating via his YouTube channel. Show him some love and check out his latest video below:
https://youtu.be/pRMqtrH4DoI

The Basement: Dec 4th Recap – Topics, Playlist
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The Basement: Dec 4th Recap – Topics, Playlist

4-your-eyez-only-2016
TOPICS

On this week’s show, we started off show by talking about a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York called ICHIRAN. The ramen-restaurant is gaining popularity because of the unique service it offers, described in detail this article on Grubstreet.com. The restaurant is designed in such a way that the patrons don’t have to have any significant form of social interactions. They sit in private booths, write down their orders on paper, and get served through small windows in their booths. We explored the anti-social implications of a restaurant that essentially eliminates any need for interactions with other humans. This conversation also lead to a discussion tipping and the service industry as a whole. In the restaurant industry, servers are traditionally paid less than minimum wage, and tipping is often expected (but not mandatory) and is usually determined by the quality of service provided by the server.

During our pop culture segment, we discussed J. Cole’s upcoming album entitled, “4 Your Eyez Only”, after releasing a documentary via TIDAL featuring two new songs. On one of the new track releases, “False Prophets”, he levies subtle criticisms towards the current state of rap, commenting on the behaviour of other artists like Kanye West and Lil’ Yachty. We also talked about the constant comparisons of current artists to past legends. For example, The Weeknd is often regarded as the modern Michael Jackson, but the issue that arises seems to be that it does an injustice to both artists. While it may be fair to say that there are notable similarities between the two artists, they both have individual characteristics and careers that shouldn’t be lumped together. Calling The Weeknd the new Michael Jackson puts The Weeknd in a position to fill larger than life shoes, and also in a sense, takes away from the legacy left behind by the late Michael Jackson (rest in peace).

For the people/opinion segment, we explored people’s personal preferences in relation to physical attributes when dating. Sometimes, people have specific physical attributes that are mandatory for them to feel attracted to someone else. We talked about whether or not it’s shallow to have these preferences, what some of these preferences are, and when these preferences go too far.

PLAYLIST
Popcaan – Ova Dweet
Gallant – Open Up
Chance the Rapper – Summer Friends
Daniel Caesar – Get You Ft. Kali Uchis
Noname – Freedom Interlude

Williams & Williams in the Morning – December 2, 2016

Marc and Troy took over Radio Laurier snap chat on Friday.

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Williams & Williams in the Morning – December 2, 2016

Insta: willysworld_2 Twitter: Twillis_7, willdogg30 Facebook: williamsmornings

It’s about that time of year when we all need a little inspiration. Who better to turn to than the master of inspiration, DJ Khaled. We were lucky enough to be graced with his presence today as he flew in from his latest show in Antarctica last night, and gave one of the best interviews in Williams & Williams history. We learned that his favourite pizza topping is artichokes, his favourite donut is Boston Cream, he would hate it if we only called him Khaled, and that he loves to say “grind”. Like way too much. Anyways, thanks DJ Khaled for taking the time to drop in. The theme of the show being inspiration station, we turned our Friday’s Five segment into a Friday’s Fifty, and rhymed off all the “_____ation station” phrases we could think of, and what they mean. For the sake of laziness, here’s our top 5:

5) Intoxication station – the bar

4) Procrastination station – the library

3) Documentation station – the border

2) Marination station – chicken in a bag, or the couch

1) Innovation Station – Thomas Edison’s basement

As always, thanks for tuning in and interacting and we hope that you’re feeling a little more inspired. Cheers to the weekend and remember, party without the smoke.

Here is audio from todays show:

Download all our shows here

Songs:

Hello Friday – Flo Rida

Stronger – Kanye West

Boom Boom Pow – Black Eyed Peas

Eye of the Tiger – Survivor

World’s Greatest – R. Kelly

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

Going Through Hell – Rodney Atkins

Lose Yourself – Eminem

Cheers – Rihanna

The Rap Up: Episode No. 11
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The Rap Up: Episode No. 11

tyga-ferrari-081616-lead-620x413-620x400

Young Money < No Money

Tyga celebrated his 24th birthday last week, including appearances from friends, family and a subpoena. Thats right. While its not clear if the subpoena he received is 100% related, Tyga has incurred yet another lawsuit for missed payments on his red Ferrari. The same red Ferrari that has already been repo’d twice. Either way you slice it, thats not a great look for Tyga. However, despite the numerous (almost regular) lawsuits involving Tyga’s missed payments with landlords and car dealers, he’s managed to escape them all without serious legal penalty. This leaves us with two questions; is Tyga making the lives of his landlords/car dealers hell because why not-lifestyle of the rich and famous-I’ll pay you only when i have to? Or has Tyga found himself a sugar mama in Kylie Jenner? After all, she did recently buy him a brand new Bentley truck. Perhaps he’s making quiet and smart investments, but at the very least we know all of this mulah didn’t come from Birdman during his time with Young Money (Hip-Hop zing).

Get Well Soon

We all have a type of love for Kanye West, whether it’s that we love to hate him, or just simply love him. Kanye West is arguably one of the greatest artists of this generation. Kanye recently had a mental break down and was admitted to a Los Angeles Hospital. Kanye is currently under watch and is battling mental health issues. Kanye West has been going on rants, cancelling tours, and leaving in the middle of shows. At some point we have to stop and ask ourselves, what’s going on? Dealing with mental issue can be a difficult thing on an individual, because in most cases it’s a life and death situations. We sometimes forge that some of these entertainers are actually human beings with real feelings and emotions. We haven’t seen that with no other artist, like we have with Kanye West. Keep Kanye in your prayers as he battles his demons and hopefully overcome it and come out a better individual and stronger mentally.

 

What You Should be Listening to This Week

It has been a crazy week so far in the Hip Hop world. We received great music from YG, and The Weeknd. The west coast gangsta dropped an 8 track mixtape (that should have been an EP) with nothing but bangers called Red Friday, on Black Friday. He starts off the tape with an intro of a female saying that the trilogy to his “Just Re’d Up” series is coming soon. The tape includes a part 2 track to his and Meek Mill’s “I’m a Thug”. It had features from the verse king 21 Savage, Mr. LA aka RJ and an up and coming artist named Mitch. The Weeknds album Starboy was more than we all expected. It is a soft, soulful yet edgy sound. This catchy sound track included features from Kendrick Lamar, Daft Punk and Lana Del Rey. In other album news, Lil Wayne announced a new project titled Funeral which he assures us is on the way, and Mos Def also announced his final album titled December 99th coming our way December 9th. November has been a warm month from all this heat we’re getting. We hope we get even more in December until then go check out these new albums.

(Written by TJ Mroz, Garrick Gray & Yafet Berhane)


Songs Played This Week:

Ain’t Tryna – Future

St. Brick – Gucci Mane (E)

Bone Marrow – G-Eazy Ft. Danny Seth

Patient – Post Malone

Six Feet Under – The Weeknd

Sidewalks – The Weeknd Ft. Kendrick Lamar

I Be On – YG Ft. 21 Savage

I Know – YG Ft. Mitch

Still – G-Eazy

Famous – Ray J & Chris Brown

Let’s Ride – 2 Chainz Ft. Ty Dolla $ign

Fresh – Lil Uzi Vert & Gucci Mane (E)

U Were Always – Wiley Ft. Skepta & Bellz (E)

Suggested Articles:

The Morning After… The Weeknd

The Basement: Nov. 27

Blogging 101 (Reference Guide)
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Blogging 101 (Reference Guide)

(EXAMPLE OF IN-DEPTH BLOG)

Summer Sixteen Tour

Drake and Future finished off their second Summer Sixteen show in Atlanta last night, by bringing out hometown favorites Gucci Mane, Young Thug and Usher.

While there may not be a flying stage, Drake and Futures Summer Sixteen tour has been shaping up to be a “can’t miss” showcase of special guests. In Chicago, the pair brought out Kanye West; in Detroit, they brought out Eminem; and in Ohio, the one and only Lebron James. Considering that Atlanta is Future’s home town, its no surprise the city was blessed with two tour dates, and a chance to see four of the cities most popular artists join the stage.

During the first night in Atlanta, Drake and Future started things off with a bang by bringing out Gucci Mane, and 2 Chainz. With the bar set high, fans expected another big night from the What a Time to Be Alive rappers, and they did not disappoint. During the second night of their stop in Atlanta, Drake and Future welcomed Gucci Mane back to the stage, but this time accompanied by Young Thug, and Usher who performed their new single “No Limit”. With some of the cities biggest names all sharing one stage, the crowd could barely keep it together. Check out some of the reactions and videos below.

WOP @laflare1017

A photo posted by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Aug 26, 2016 at 10:14pm PDT

 

GUWOP HOME! Concert was LIT!

A video posted by Justin Floyd (@justinfloyd) on Aug 27, 2016 at 6:57am PDT

No limit baby! Usher!! Young Thug!! #allsummer16 #summer16tour #summer16 #ATLSHAWTY

A video posted by Jodie (@itsmrsjodie) on Aug 26, 2016 at 7:56pm PDT

 

URIV got the #summersixteentour🔥 lit on @bryanmichaelcox @jermainedupri jam “Confessions”…

A video posted by Shawn Stovall (@shawn713vip) on Aug 26, 2016 at 8:02pm PDT

With Miami next in the Summer Sixteen schedule, all focus shifts to the sunshine state. Considering Rick Ross’s most recent comments regarding Drake and Meek Mill’s beef, its likely Drake and Future won’t be bringing the big man out, however that shouldn’t effect what’s sure to be another memorable two nights in Miami. 

 

Songs Played This Week: 

“Jumpman” – Drake & Future

“Big Rings” – Drake & Future

“Live From the Gutter” – Drake & Future

“Scholarships” – Drake & Future

“Don’t” – Bryson Tiller

“Let Me Explain” – Bryson Tiller

“Goosebumps” – Travis Scott Ft. Kendrick Lamar

“Nikes” – Frank Ocean

 

Suggested Articles:

 

The Rap Up: Episode No. 10

After Class: Week 10

 

(Original article written for RESPECT. Magazine by TJ Mroz – August, 28, 2016)

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BLOG REQUIREMENTS:

Your role reaches beyond the studio as a member of the Radio Laurier DJ team. You have the opportunity to contribute to our web content as a blogger. There are a few rules to follow, but at the same time, remember to have fun with it! Treat life good, and it’ll treat you good back.

Things you MUST do:

  • Sort show into correct category (every show now has one) (only 1 category)
  • Set featured image + add image into post (can be the same)
  • Include track list (helpful for those who missed, required by music assistants for charting)
  • Insert show title + something consistent (e.g. Week 09 or Episode 09)
  • PROOFREAD before publishing
  • Add proper tags (only names)
  • Say correct/full name before using nicknames (Meek Mill > Meeky Mouse or Drake > 6God)
  • Post within 24 hours after show airs (website, Facebook, Twitter, etc).

 

Things you SHOULD do:

  • Bold artist names on first mention
  • Album/mixtape names bold and italicized on first mention; just italicized following
  • Tour names capitalized (Legend of the Fall, HIHORSE’d, Summer Sixteen Tour)
  • Insert links, embed tracks & videos (YouTube, Soundcloud, Apple Music, etc).
  • Add “Suggested Article” section at bottom of post (link fellow RL blog posts)
  • Share your blog on personal social media and tag Radio Laurier

 

Things you NEVER do:

  • Curse – if you’re quoting inappropriate language from an artist use *** for rest of word (i.e. s***, f***)
  • Slander (if it’s a personal opinion, make that clear)
  • Post inappropriate material or photos
  • Remove credit (i.e. if you cite an article or quote, insert the link)

 

(Written by Khadijah Plummer & TJ Mroz )