benjamineffiong

It was back in September last year we got word that fast-rising New York-based singer-songwriter Jon Bellion would be crossing the Atlantic in April as part of UK tour. Now, with less than a month to go until the first show at London's O2 Shepard's Bush Empire on April 6th, what better way to warm things up than with a fresh new remix of his current, and most successful single 'All Time Low'?

The track itself never saw an official UK release, despite peaking at #16 on the Billboard 100. It seems that with some impeccable timing Jon Bellion would reveal an alternate version none other than 'man of the moment', Stormzy, who is himself fresh from creating all sorts of history by capturing the UK #1 Album spot with his debut effort Gang Signs & Prayer.

Stormz delivers a stellar verse here in typically unapologetic fashion, giving reference to a personal experience, and adding some truly British rigour to this otherwise rather polished Indie-pop number.

I’ve of course had on repeat Jon's Billboard top five-charting debut studio LP The Human Condition, released last Summer via Capitol Records. Amongst other favourites on the project such as '80's Films' and 'Overwhelming', 'All Time Low' formed the basis of an extremely well constructed body of work featuring some phenomenal production (handled largely by Mr Bellion himself).

Listen to Jon Bellion's remix of 'All Time Low' complete with guest verse from Stormzy below. Also peep the upcoming dates for the UK tour, and grab The Human Condition on iTunes.

A quick social media-promo clip for I put together for UK singer-songwriter Mullally’s visit to Lue:B‘s show on Radar Radio, London.

(Literally shot this on my phone haha.)

Shot/Directed: Benjamin Effiong Edit: Mark "Happi" Babatunde Music: Krs.

Release Date: June 1, 2016

Some new visuals from the multi-talented Paigey Cakey. This one titled 'Do It For The Vine' is produced by Karmah Cruz & Jobe and serves as a warm up for her brand new project titled 'The Right Page' due out soon.

Personally I think this track is dope! Definitely looked like a lot of fun to shoot also.

Hit the play button below and Harlem Shake with me!

I was first introduced to Rico Love's music around '09-'10 when I heard his tracks with Oak on that legendary 'Best of Oak 2008' zip file (haha).

Since then he's been getting it in... To put it bluntly. You've probably heard his signature "Turn the lights on!" tag on Beyoncé's 'Sweet Dreams' for example - Yep, he produced that.

If we're talking further song-writing/production contributions we could be here all day: Diddy-Dirty Money 'Hello, Good Morning', Usher 'Daddy's Home', 'There Goes My Baby', Kelly Rowland 'Commander' and 'Motivation', Mary J. 'Mr Wrong' as well as albums such as Trey Songz' 'Chapter V', Ross' 'God Forgives, I Don't', T.I. 'Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head', Brandy's 'Two Eleven', as well as producing hits such as "These h*es be Actin Up" and French Montana's 'Ain't Worried About Nothin'.

Ok, so fast forward to right now, and Rico now owns his own label, Division 1 (under Interscope), where he has under his wing former Roc Nation singer Teairra Marí and of course most recently Tiara Thomas. *exhales*

After dropping his Discrete Luxury EP (*nods* 'They Don't Know' = banger) he followed this up recently with this new El Presidente project - an EP of fresh new freestyles.

Now... I'd already heard the freestyle on 'Shabba' he did.. Madness. Looked at the track-list and saw 'I Don't Want Her', and thought "NAH it couldn't be Eric Bellinger's track?.... that's been my TUNE for the past 3 months!!!".

Sure enough.. Rico Love had dropped off a little something crazy on this League Of Starz-produced banger. 

Take a listen to it below.

You can take a look at my latest written contributions to SoulCulture by clicking the link below, which will take you to my author page. :)

New York-based singer/songwriter/producer I/O (Ayo Olatuniji) releases his latest video for 'Wasted My Time', a track lifted from his excellent 'Isolation' EP (released back in July 2012).

You may have caught the 'One's To Watch For 2013' feature I put together for my good pal over at lovefrombrendaj.co.uk earlier this year where I briefly introduced I/O as one of my tips for the top.

Visually I find this clip captivating. The CGI elements incorporated by film-making duo BRTHR also add to the sense of eeriness brought together by the track itself. The concept of 'time passing' is a prominent theme.

Definitely one you'll have to watch a few times over to understand.

Watch the full video below.

Like what you see/hear? Get a further insight into the making of the video by checking out the BTS footage below.

I/O on: FaceBook | Web | SoundCloud

This is one of several tracks that really caught my attention from his debut solo-self-titled album - a personal fave.

This production on this track is too weird. A looped guitar sample, and some 808 with a swarming synth bass on the pre-chorus. The album's production overall is OFF THE CHAIN. Melodies = dope, harmonies = dope, tone = proper, song writing = good. 

If you're reading this I suggest you get acquainted.. + fast. Listen to 'Neighbour' below, and check out the rest of the album here.

'Travis Garland' was released on Sept 10  on Stereotypes Music/RCA Records, and  is available on iTunes now. My stand-out tracks are indicated below.

01 – Where To Land * 02 – Motel Pool **** 03 – Easy ** 04 – Abby Lee 05 – Clouds 06 – Pullin My Hair 07 – You Made Your Bed (So Lay In It) * 08 – Neighbor ***** 09 – Other People 10 – Modern Life 11 – AllSheWannaDo (feat. Casey Veggies) ** 12 – Homewrecker 13 – Blue Electric Roses 14 – Chariots of Fire ** 15 – 1 Of 1 (Bonus Track) ***

*more info:  http://noisey.vice.com/blog/listen-to-travis-garlands-new-album

I recently had a listen to ASAP Ferg's debut album 'Trap Lord', released August 20, 2013 on Sony/RCA Records. Check out what I had to say on the album in my full review, written for Notion Magazine by clicking the image below.

On the afternoon of July 1st, 2013 I interviewed London based Hip-hop lyricist/artist Smiler down at Warner Bros.

We spoke at length on him touring the UK with Professor Green, working with Ed Sheeran and of course his brand NEW mixtape 'The Coming' which is out now.

Something new from a French producer STWO who I've been watching for a while now. I wrote a few words for SoulCulture on this new track.

Click the image below to check it out.

Check out my review for SB.TV of the official soundtrack album of the recently-released 'Django Unchained' movie (directed by Quentin Tarantino). Click the image below.

Also, be sure to give the album a listen yourself HERE + cop that on iTunes.

My interview from London-based rapper Smiler's recent press day is now online!

I went down to Freedom Bar in Soho (1 July, 2013) to an event called Pop Review to catch the performance of emerging UK singer/songwriter David Stewart.