Jessica Jolia‘s got an extensive list of collaborations and a clout that surpasses many up & coming R&B artists. “Want You” has a seductive cadence- hinted at by the cover art, red lipstick with dripping saliva – and is almost insatiably voracious in terms of achieving its goal at being a mellow yet catchy end-of-summer jam. The melody comes in and is intersected by a bass groove reminiscent of recent radio dance hits. She first appeared on ABC’s Rising Star and has continued pursuing music incessantly- she’s done collabs with Dr. Dre, Rita Ora, The Chainsmokers, and plenty others.

“Sometimes,” her debut single, popped up on Sister Code with Amber Rose, and she eventually worked her way up to performing on Ellen and The Late Show. You can stream the track on Spotify above, and can follow Jessica Jolia on Twitter, Instagram, and Soundcloud.

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The post Jessica Jolia’s End-of-Summer Bop “Want You” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Rob Diioia‘s from a small town in Pennsylvania; the immediate consequence of this being the dispersion of culture and new sounds. Rob’s oftentimes gritty lyrics reflect lower class living and the dreams that are married to that lifestyle. RESPECT. covered “Ain’t Shit Free” around a month ago, which spoke candidly about the aforementioned struggle, but “Tangerine$,” Rob’s newest single from Look What I Found, talks about looking up and down at success and the voracious desire to get it. Rob does this by way of a melodic instrumental kitted with bright sounds and dabbles of bass.

Rob was inspired by a vacation he took to Florida; “I saw everything I wanted, the tangerines, the girls, the clothes, the palm trees, the cars, the beaches, the lifestyle, but I knew it all comes with a price, need that dollar sign to get that, I just got a taste of it and fell in love.” the cover art reflects the cocktail of commodities Rob experienced; a bra, banded bills, palm trees, and tangerines, which Florida has a gargantuan amount of.

On HipHopSince1987, the site where Rob Diioia premiered his track, he also spoke about his upcoming project. “This project, is a different outlook on everything, spending more time at home, seeing some old friends who might be stuck, uninspired and just unsure of their futures or goals. I want this album to speak to anyone who might not have that confidence to chase their dreams, or whatever they want, As I say shit, look what I found! If you go for it, we ain’t there yet, but this is all possible.”

Stream the track above, andyou can follow Rob on Twitter, Instagram, and Soundcloud.

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The post Rob Diioia Craves Higher Living in “Tangerine$” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Image credit: Press Photo/Ultra Records

Genre-blending is a sign of contemporary music making. As Steve Aoki will put it in his interview, it goes farther than mixing and matching music genres, but all forms of expression and knowledge- mixing science with electronic dance music, hip-hop with rock, long hair with Bad Brains t-shirts. Inevitably the outcome is going to stray down a path of innovation above all else. On his latest venture, Steve dabbles in the already intersecting genres of hip-hop and electronic music and adds his own twist to it. Kolony has guest appearances from many of hip-hop’s prominent figures; Lil’ Yatchy, Migos, Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, amongst others.

As aforementioned, the blend is always going to stray down a different path than what’s typically heard. Many of Steve’s tracks are dirty; heavy distortion on top of heavy bass that emphasizes the trap influence. The latest single, “Lit,” with Gucci Mane and T-Pain, features a drop that aggressively drags itself across the record, with the wobble’s distortion being the most noticeable effect. The entire track-listing won’t be one big head band (despite Steve’s clear affinity for punk-rock), since the next track, “Without U,” is much softer in tone, though still emphasizes rhythmic structure and fast pacing over a peaceful aesthetic.

“How Else” features a beat that “jumps,” a style known and popularly used by ILoveMakonnen, and sees Steve Aoki dabbling more in different vibes of trap. He very much so has slow bangs and head bangs on this record. Rich The Kid adds to this with his usual energy and charisma. The hook on “Night Call” features Migos crooning over it, alongside bars from Yatchy, similar to those off his recent drop Teenage Emotions.

An entire career making EDM hits, and popularizing his name through the sound of that world, it isn’t surprising Steve Aoki would want to switch up the vibe. Hip-hop just passed rock as the most popular genre in the U.S., with some of the most popular sounds including the trap-esque sound dabbled in on the album, Americanized dancehall riddims, and autotuned R&B crooning over dark, slow instrumentals. Steve’s album is a sign of the times; a blending of genres, though very much geared toward “the now.” It’s abundantly clear that he can do hip-hop; after all, both popular EDM and popular hip-hop are very much geared toward finding and maintaining a consistent atmosphere, most of the time being an upbeat one. All in all, the album does exceptionally well for its purpose, which is mainly to turn up to. It’d be doubly interesting to see Steve try out hip-hop production for rappers and singers whose main focus is lyricism and aesthetic; the Kendrick‘s, the Frank‘s, the Tyler‘s.

Steve sat down with RESPECT. to discuss his fears of scorpions, musicians being influenced by non-musicians, and his lack of care for critics.

Image credit: Ultra Records

RESPECT.: What are you afraid of?

Steve Aoki: What am I afraid of with this album?

That, sure, but I meant, like, generally speaking.

So in life then? Uh… scorpions. Definitely scorpions (laughs). In Las Vegas there’s a lot of them, especially by my mom’s house. And one scorpion walked up my brother-in-law’s leg and it just, like, attacked him. He didn’t even know what was in his leg, and he felt the creep and started freaking out, and so did the scorpion, so it just attacked him.

He’s okay though, right?

Yeah he’s good (laughs). I always remember that story and, like, I don’t want a scorpion crawling up my leg but you don’t have to worry about that in New York City.

Alright, we got rats over here, though.

Yeah I mean, maybe a big rat that like jumps on you, you know with like teeth coming out- I don’t know about that. Alligators too, and swamps and stuff.

Sounding like you don’t like animals too much.

No I love animals! I just don’t want any of the ones that are gonna eat me in any sort of way; I don’t wanna go in their territory and like, be their prey.

I definitely wouldn’t wanna fuck with that either, I understand. On a different note, the list of collaborations on your album is extensive, and it also stretches across genres; Louis Tomlinson all the way to Lil’ Yatchty. I wanted to know what you think your average listener looks like.

Well, when you think about how music is listened to now, there’s not a barrier between genre to genre. I think the same fan that loves Migos loves Louis Tomlinson, along with Martin Garrix or Steve Aoki. And they may not know all the music from all the artists, but they can hold a conversation and say “yeah, I fuck with this, I can definitely sing along to that,” you know? And I’m lucky because I’m living in that kind of climate, especially with streaming music and how accessible it is, you know? It’s like, what is the underground anymore? As soon as a song is out in the internet, it’s just there and accessible. It allows the underground to be heard, like, all the time. Then it goes back to genre bending because so much music is out there, which means an average listener can look like anyone.

I want to work with everyone. People that inspire me. I’m not even talking about only musical artists; I wanna work with scientists and the like. Having JJ Abrams on a song was a big deal to me. I got Ray Kurzweil, the guy who popularized the idea of Singularity, on a song by me (and on an interview). Those songs don’t get talked about but they’re, like, humongous deals to me. If I could choose, living or dead, someone to do a record with me, it would be Bruce Lee. I love to do records with people who inspire me no matter what they do.

Not even rapping or singing on there. Just, like, to be on the record.

Yeah! I even hit up Elon Musk to do a record with me. And I mean, Neil deGrasse Tyson already did a record with Logic, but I hit him up too. I got Bill Nye on my next record. I just want that energy, ’cause at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about. Energy will spawn creativity, and the thing about that is you don’t know where it’s gonna go. You might be one particular kind of producer, or musician, or artist, but if you’re inspired by something that’s like, outside of your norm, it’s gonna lead you down a path that’s gonna surprise people.

So many artist nowadays, to add on, say they’re inspired by movie directors. I forget who it was, but someone I was watching said they were inspired by Quentin Tarantino, and somehow incorporated elements of his filmmaking into their music.

Yeah, when you think about Quentin Tarantino and the feel of his movies, you immediately think of the soundtracks too. So you think about Django Reinhardt and you think about how he played an impact on that movie. Or Hans Zimmer in Interstellar. You know? You can’t watch that film and be moved without Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack for that. Which goes to show how everything’s interconnected.

It’s like, what you see, what you hear, what you feel, and whether it’s what you wear, or how you represent yourself, or… how you have your hair- your hair like that (very long up top), or my hair being very long- or the shoes you wear: it’s all connected, it’s all just playing connect the dots and figuring out the person.

Totally. Relating back to all the people you just listed- Neil deGrasse Tyson, JJ Abrams- have you ever felt, because of your international exposure, creatively stunted? Like, not experimenting with a certain sound/aesthetic, or wanting to put someone you were personally inspired by on there but feeling like you’d get judged by fans for it? 

I stopped caring what people thought I really long time ago. I mean, of course it does hit me, and my team weighs in and gives me insight on if something doesn’t sound right, so I keep my ears open. But, the critics out there, if I worried about what they thought, I wouldn’t be here.

Your sound would be totally different. 

Yeah! And of course I’m gonna have critics, especially for this album. People that loved my previous work but don’t like the new stuff- it happens all the time. But I can’t let that guide my decisions and what I wanna do.

So I’m very much “in the now” you know? Like, whatever’s a part of me now is what I wanna make, because whatever you make is like a timestamp. It’s like your tattoo of this time period, and 25 years later I’m gonna be thinking about something else. Even six months later, I’m gonna be inspired by something else, and I’m gonna act on that in that moment. And it’s funny too because you’ll go back and listen to your old music and be like “Oh God, oh God! I can’t believe I was like that!” And I stopped doing that too. Because that was a very important point in time, where you made that, and of course it’s gonna be different.

Everything is a timeline. Genres included. 

Yeah exactly. I also think about, like, old tattoos. I tattooed a band’s logo (Gorilla Biscuits) on my back when I was 18. And I don’t listen to them as much anymore, but it’s what I fucking loved when I was 18!

A post shared by Steve Aoki (@steveaoki) on May 6, 2017 at 4:20pm PDT

Check out Kolony (most of it) below, and keep up with Steve Aoki on Twitter, Instagram, and SoundCloud.

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The post RESPECT. Interview: Steve Aoki Talks Fears, Quentin Tarantino & Getting Scientists on his Album appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

The internet age speaks to dubious artists of any practice that felt the climate of their chosen industry was unfriendly toward newcomers. The case remains alive and breathing today, though more and more talents put their work on the internet for easier display to a wide audience. Producers, singers, artists, filmmakers; the other side of the coin is a depressing one, though. Until you get cut a check it’s difficult times with money, ironically in a culture which places so much emphasis on it. Rob Diloia‘s grasp on this is visceral in his lyrics on “Ain’t Shit Free,” where he reflects vividly on coming up and hustling against odds both external and internal, and learning that everything, regardless of if the cost is monetary or emotional, has a price tag.

Small town mindsets are difficult to kill and a move to the city can help put it in a coffin. After relocating from a small Pennsylvanian town to New York, Rob’s work ethic and infatuation with music grew up, though the daunting thought of success and the challenging path to it held him down, and it led him to move back to his original town, where he felt lost and with no ambition. It took no time for him to see that it’s a common scenario, as plenty of his friends were in similar situations involving lost identities.  The thoughts and reflections comes pouring out on “Ain’t Shit Free.”

Rob Diloia’s Look What I Found is preceded by the aforementioned single, as well as “Out Front” and the title track. You can follow Rob on Twitter, Instagram, and Soundcloud, and look out for the full project out sometime soon.

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The post Rob Diloia’s “Ain’t Shit Free” is the Anthem to Starving Artists and Creative Minds appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

“Wassup Wit It” utilizes a clever “Tempted to Touch” sample to add to the seductive mystique the track gives off. Similar to Rupee‘s 2004 track, Aston Rush and Ye Ali are grasping with feelings of longing, confusion, and temptation because of one woman’s ostensibly mixed or vague signals. “Show me why the last n*gga done fell in love with it” shows the depth of desire and the lack of proper explanation of emotions by the woman at hand.

The instrumental can be likened to the American-dancehall beats that’ve been littering the mainstream in the past year; it’s easy to see this as another jam to be blasted in every basement party across America. The track was produced by The Understudy and Da MvPz, the former having produced one of Aston’s previous singles, “Private Party (Side Chick).” Stream the track below, and follow Aston on Twitter and Instagram.

https://soundcloud.com/astonrush/wassup-wit-it-feat-ye-ali/s-0lgsh

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The post RESPECT. Premiere: Aston Rush’s “Wassup Wit It” Calls on “Tempted to Touch” To Assist with the Groovy Vibe appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Aided by the visual and creative direction of Yoni Lappin, who was taught by Saam Farahmand, Mura Masa‘s sonic depiction of youthful essence is visceral; a tinge of carelessness and seemingly unrelated body of songs on his album aim toward the use of that adjective. The minimalist album artwork and list of relatively young features aid in crafting that aforementioned “fresh”sound, delving into a sound and aesthetic that’s oftentimes set as a goal though never sees fruition.

Perhaps the only reason this could be said is the visuals that supported three of the songs on the final track listing; “Love$ick,” “1 Night,” and “What If I Go” all feature young faces in industrial backgrounds, and Yoni Lappin’s direction ostensibly consists of him recreating sects of an ordinary day in the life of British youth. Any clip from any of these visuals could very well occur at the same time, and on any day of the week. Often filmed in grainy textures to add to a makeshift and more visceral feel, the sonic accompaniment furthers the atmosphere.

There’s no air of direness to any of the situations portrayed in each video; Harmony Korine‘s Kids saw a three minute compression and went across the sea to England. Though Izzy Cofie‘s character in “Love$ick” glares depravation and depression in the face, it doesn’t stop him from kicking a ball around with his people and sharing smiles with them at the backend of the video.

Mura Masa’s – Alex Crossan’s – debut album adds to the air Yoni Lappin gallantly and succinctly depicted in the visuals. While jubilant on the surface the air of melancholy flirts viciously with each track, as it always seems to do in his music. Buy the album here, and follow Mura Masa on Instagram and Twitter.

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The post Mura Masa’s Debut, and the Sonic Examination of English Youth appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Buffalo’s Levi incorporates a minimalist sound on his new track “FIGARO,” created alongside 2rrey & GoneToHeaven. The stripped down beat sounds like standard trap rap, but the cadence the three MC’s deliver their debaucherous serenades is what differentiates the track from the standards. Sliding across their bars about women and fame, the instrumental’s wobbling and trap high hats is borderline experimental; the beat sometimes takes a break from itself with arbitrary interpolations of noises, before resuming back to the three MC’s lyrics. The track ends with a very confident yet soberly spoken line, “Flexing up on you,” repeated over and over until the track fades out. The cover art to the track mirrors the aesthetic of minimalist designers prevalent in hip-hop culture, ie Raf Simons, with the nature of the artwork mirroring a physical copy of a CD box.

https://soundcloud.com/94-ronin/figaro-ft-2rrey-gonetoheaven

You can keep up with the artists on their respective Twitters: Levi, 2rrey, and GoneToHeaven.

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The post Levi’s Liquid Slick “FIGARO” with 2rrey & GoneToHeaven appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.