djbigc214

NICE BEAT

NICE BEAT

DA SNOWMAN

ANOTHER ONE

cant go wrong with this

banger

Allegedly "shrouded in mystery" despite a social media presence (with accompanying photos) on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Soundcloud, and YouTube, as well as major support from fellow Torontonian Drake, alternative R&B act the Weeknd -- a solo outlet for vocalist Abel Tesfaye -- surfaced in March 2011 with House of Balloons. A nine-track, 50-minute mixtape made available for free download on the Weeknd website, House of Balloons was based in morose ballads filled with drug references and sexual longing. Sonically, there were clear traces of radio-friendly contemporary R&B à la Trey Songz, Jeremih, the-Dream, and Drake, while also appealing to listeners who favored left-of-center, production-over-songcraft exponents like Spacek and Sa-Ra. The mixtape, made by Tesfaye in collaboration with producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo, among others, garnered widespread coverage -- most of which was gushingly positive -- within days of its March 21 release. A second mixtape, Thursday (August 19), preceded several appearances on Drake's album Take Care. Echoes of Silence (December 21), the third Weeknd mixtape, followed just before the end of the year. The following June, "Crew Love," off Take Care, reached the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. A few months later, he was featured on another charting single, Wiz Khalifa's "Remember You." After Tesfaye signed with Universal Republic, the three Weeknd mixtapes were remastered and bundled with three new songs for Trilogy, issued in November 2012. The set debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart. The following April, Tesfaye won Juno Awards in the categories of Breakthrough Artist of the Year and R&B/Soul Recording of the Year. Trilogy was certified platinum by the RIAA the next month. Kiss Land, much darker in tone than its title implied, followed in September 2013 and debuted at number two. Out of its several singles, only "Live For," featuring Drake, touched the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Tesfaye had much more success with a series of non-album singles that followed. "Often," released in 2014, was a Top Ten R&B/Hip-Hop hit. He was featured on Ariana Grande's "Love Me Harder," which reached the Top Ten of the Hot 100 and went platinum in the U.S. "Earned It," featured in Fifty Shades of Grey, repeated the same feats. In 2015, Tesfaye issued "The Hills," a booming ballad, and "Can't Feel My Face," a disco-funk throwback, as the first two singles from Beauty Behind the Madness. The former cracked the Hot 100 Top 20, while the latter reached the chart's Top Ten. The album was issued that August and debuted at number one. ~ Andy Kellman

Follow @theweeknd on twitter!

http://theweeknd.co/BeautyBehindTheMadness


 

this is jammin

R&B singer August Alsina spent the first several years of his life in New Orleans, Louisiana, but his mother moved his family to Houston, Texas to gain distance from the troubled lives led by his crack-addicted father and stepfather. In 2007, as a young teenager, Alsina uploaded covers of songs by Musiq Soulchild and Lyfe Jennings, which racked up thousands of views on YouTube. His home situation deteriorated, and he moved back to New Orleans, where he turned to dealing drugs. The shooting death of his brother was a wake-up call; motivated to develop his talent as a singer, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia and recorded a 2012 mixtape, The Product, which featured Lloyd on the track "Sucka." Early in 2013, Alsina released "I Luv This Shit" as the first single from his second mixtape, The Product 2. An EP, Downtown: Life Under the Gun, followed in August 2013. "I Luv This Shit" subsequently peaked at number 13 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart and crossed into the Hot 100, where it reached number 48. Alsina's proper debut album, Testimony, was released in April 2014. It featured appearances from Rick Ross, Pusha T, and Fabolous, and reached number two on the overall albums chart. ~ Andy Kellman

Follow @AugustAlsina on twitter!

http://AugustAlsina.com