I know I’m a couple years behind but I finally finished watching The Wire. About a month ago I watched seasons 1 and 2. Now this past week, I just marathon-watched seasons 3-5. Damn it’s such a good show. Dare I say the best I have ever seen. I mean, well, of course I loved it. It is #85 on the list.

Anyway, I’m still trying to cope with life without anymore episodes of The Wire to watch. So today to honor its magnificence, I chose two songs from the show to post. The first is the Tom Waits version of the opening theme song, “Way Down In The Hole,”  and the other is the song that was sung by the officers at the wakes in the bar for fallen officers. This song is “The Body of an American” by The Pogues – some good ol’ Irish folk.

Tom Waits – Way Down In The Hole [YSI]

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The Pogues – The Body Of An American [YSI]

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Cole’s Wake in The Wire

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVznnoptsmM[/youtube]

So who is Karmin? I wish I could tell you, but I really don’t know much about the band. However, they definitely caught my attention with a recent Youtube video. Karmin, a duo from Boston, performed Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now.” At first, I wasn’t overly impressed with the sound of it, but once the girl got to Busta’s verse, I was blown away. She can certainly flow and then jump right into the hook even after being out of breath. And do me a favor, don’t compare her to Nicki Minaj just because she sounds a little like her in this track.

I’m also posting Karmin’s cover of Jessie J’s “Price Tag” because I am so impressed with Amy’s flow in these songs, but this also highlights some of her singing ability. Oh yeah and she plays guitar.

Nick and Amy of Karmin do their own original songs but seem to be making their name with the covers right now so they have two Youtube channels. Check out their covers here and originals here. And here’s where you can check out their website.

Karmin – Look At Me Now [YSI]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khCokQt–l4[/youtube]

Karmin – Price Tag [YSI]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ6L6sC6QTU[/youtube]

Ok, I couldn’t end this post with just two covers. Here’s one of their originals, too! This is one band I’ll be keeping my eye on. I really dig their sound. And now that you’re hearing an original, go buy their music!

Karmin – Take It Away [YSI]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn6V-sSkxSQ[/youtube]

Some rappers are creative enough to create their beats completely from scratch. Other sample classic songs from both hip hop and other genres. And yet the newest movement of rappers seems to be sampling indie artists. Yet A-1 isn’t following any of these examples. On his latest mixtape, he’s rapping over beats based on television themes. Gimmicky? Yeah, sure. Fun? Oh hell yes!

I first came across him this San Francisco area rapper when a friend of mine posted his Black Ranger rap on Facebook. I was sold right away. I love the gimmick and he’s an excellent lyricist on top of all that. Make sure to check out his site here and his Youtube. He’s got videos for so many songs.

Below are two of his songs: Black Ranger, over The Power Rangers theme, and All That!, over the Nickelodeon show of the 90′s theme. The videos are there too. Get his mixtape from his Bandcamp.

A-1 – Black Ranger [YSI]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krFVwSzM1S0[/youtube]

A-1 – All That! (The Nickelodeon Song) (ft. TLC) [YSI]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZC2sZkyoFA[/youtube]

Between all his projects from Blink to +44 to Boxcar Racer to even more, Travis Barker still finds time to defy death, remix, and release a solo album. And he’s no stranger to mixing up his musical style. Barker’s the drummer for the Transplants and has been remixing hip hop artists since at least 2004. And speaking of busy, I even got to see him perform (AKA being on stage with Travis) with Authority Zero back in 2006.

Now he’s released his first solo album, Give The Drummer Some, after releasing a mixtape earlier this year. Barker really wants to make a statement as a producer/drummer in the hip hop world and has said that he will not be defined by a single genre. He’s paired up with some of the top hip hop producers today including Neptunes, RZA, DJ Khalil, and many more. And beyond that, there’s no shortage of the most well known names in hip hop vocals on these tracks from Weezy to Cudi, Raekwon to Twista, and what seems like everyone in between.

Considering his background as a drummer, he knows exactly what to do to drop that backbeat in these tracks. He hits hard and I think if there was once concert even I’d like to see, it would be a live version of this album with all vocalists performing. Below are two of the tracks from the album. You can get the entire album here. I wish I could say I’ve been able to listen to the entire thing so far but I only had my lunch break to listen and write. I can’t wait to get home from work and listen to the rest later. But damn I love what I’ve heard!

Travis Barker - Knockin (ft. Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, E-40 & Dev) [YSI]

Travis Barker - Let’s Go (ft. Yelawolf, Twista, Busta Rhymes & Lil Jon) [YSI]

**Oops, wrote this yesterday but only posted today. Just pretend you’re reading it on a Tuesday**

For those of you who don’t know, Lupe’s long awaited and highly anticipated album, LASERS, finally got released today. And I wanted to love it. I did. I mean it’s Lupe. He’s one of my favorite hip hop artists. His lyrics are smart. He’s smart. It holds context.

But I just don’t like this new album on the whole…

I don’t think Lupe got too far out of his comfort zone with this. The majority of the songs are a real basic trying-to-be-catchy hook with 3 verse format. And his content is standard Lupe: government criticism, do what I do, haters gon’ hate. And from one song to the next, the whole tone can shift from happy to sad and

All that being said, there were definitely some songs I did enjoy. Two of which are below. The first is Till I Get There. It’s catchy uplifting and I actually enjoy the hook. The other song I chose was Shining Down. It came out close to 2 years ago and was the first release off this “upcoming” album. Now two .years later, that song isn’t even an official track and just a bonus song, yet one of my favorites from the album still.

Lupe Fiasco – Till I Get There [YSI]

Lupe Fiasco – Shining Down (ft. Matthew Santos) [YSI]

Whether or not you like the show, you have to admit that NBC’s Chuck often has a an excellent soundtrack accompanying it. (Maybe not quite as good as Scrubs but still up there with it). The Music Ninja is always posting up the newest tracks featured in Chuck, but today I’m doing something a little different.

In last night’s episode, they used a song by the band Slow Club, a band I’ve never heard before. But I really enjoyed the song and looked into them. Turns out I’m really digging their sound. They’re an indie pop folk rock band. Yeah, I know. Some of those descriptors are the opposites of each other but I’m not sure how else to describe their sound. They appear to have been releasing tracks since 2006 but only released their debut album, Yeah, So, in 2009.

The three tracks below are songs off of their album and “When I Go” was the track used in Chuck last night.

Slow Club – When I Go [YSI]

Slow Club – Trophy Room [YSI]

Slow Club – Giving Up On Love [YSI]

I love these guys! I don’t care if their music is simplistic and juvenile. I love these guys. They’re just so much fun! I was fortunate enough to get to see them headline twice last year. It was definitely a good thing that I saw them twice because the first night may have involved a but much of Grey Goose and Red Bull. Oops. But there I was decked out in my zebra pants, checkered vans, and lens-less sunglasses. Yet, I fit right in. Why? Because I came to party. And for as much as I know this next statement will upset a good friend of mine, I will even be so daring to say that these guys party harder than Andrew WK.

Well good news for all us LMFAO fans! They are releasing a new album, Sorry For Party Rocking, in 2011 and hopefully touring again. The first track from the album has been released called “Party Rock Anthem.” And just like all their songs before, it’s built on a solid beat thats meant to move your feet ass. As I listen to it again, I cannot wait to “lose my mind” to it when I see them live again in the future.

The second song today is from their last album and is prob my favorite, especially because of the original video that came out with it…

LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem [YSI]

LMFAO – Yes [YSI]

Stupid stupid stupid snow. Snow’s always just coming into my life, ruining my plans, and then disappearing as though it was never there.

Last night I was supposed to go see Hoodie Allen in Philly and this young man, Tayyib Ali, was going to be one of his opening acts. But the show got cancelled due to the snow and Hoodie being trapped in NYC. When I first heard who the opening acts were, I looked into them a little. Tayyib is an 18 year old emcee out of Philly and has at least 3 mixtapes that I can find with his most recent being Eighteen. His lyrics are creative, fun, and witty, which is really what you need in the time of new emcees like Hoodie Allen and Chiddy Bang. Of course it helps, he’s kinda got the looks of Pharrell.

Here are two selections from his mixtape Eighteen available here for free:

Tayyib Ali – Kid Again [YSI]

Tayyib Ali – Eighteen [YSI]

These guys have done it again! Back in October, The Lonely Island announced an upcoming album for 2011. Just this past weekend, they gave us our first taste of that album.

The Lonely Island is comprised of SNL’s Andy Samberg as well as Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. They released their first parody album, Incredibad, back in 2009 and even had a song, “I’m on a Boat” ft. T-Pain, nominated for a Grammy off of it. Now it’s time for another soon-to-be-hit. This time, however, they recruit the help of a different autotuned voice, Akon.

Last night on Youtube, the video had 3.8 million views after just two days of posting. Today, it has 7.8 million…

The Lonely Island – I Just Had Sex [YSI]

The Lonely Island – Natalie’s Rap [YSI]

I really enjoy the sound of these guys. Plain and simple. They were introduced to me by a friend a couple years ago and I didn’t get into them right away. Now I just really dig it. Below are two of my favorite Gaslight Anthem songs.

Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound [YSI]

Gaslight Anthem – Old White Lincoln [YSI]