The Way I Am

So something interesting was recently brought to my attention.  Hip-hop vs. Shakespeare.  When given the task of determining whether a line is from a famous rap song or from one of the playwright's works, the answer is quite difficult to come to.

You see, Shakespeare was a self-educated man who spoke with deep meaning.  Rappers (although not always) do the same thing.  They take their feelings and modern day issues and address them in their raps, but do so with a lot of emotion.

So, I thought we would play a little game.  I am going to give you a line from either a work of Shakespeare or a line from a contemporary rap song and you will have to guess what it is from.  No cheating!!!  Ready?  Let's go.

1.  "And I rest again peacefully."

2.  "Hell is empty and all the devils are here."

3.  "I must be cruel only to be kind."

4.  "Then I hope this take away from my sins."

5.  "May the Lord protect me as the world gets hectic."

6.  "To destroy the beauty from which one came."

7.  "The most benevolent king communicates through your dreams."

8.  "I was not born under a rhyming planet."

How do you think you did?  Well, you had a 50/50 chance, right?  Let me explain the answers.

First, let's look at number one.  Hip-hop or Shakespeare?  Hip-hop.  This line is from Eminem's song "The Way I Am."  Number two is...Shakespeare.  "Hell is empty and all the devils are here" is from  Act I, Scene ii of his play The Tempest.  Number three should have been a piece of cake!  It was from Act III, Scene iv of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.  Know Kanye West's song "Jesus Walks?"  That was the answer to number four.  "May the Lord protect me as the world gets hectic" sounds like a line from Shakespeare.  Wrong.  It's a line from Nicki Minaj's "Autobiography" which means number five is hip-hop.  The answer to number six is hip-hop.  It 's from Jay-Z's song "You Must Love Me."  Number seven is a tricky one.  If you guessed hip-hop, you are correct!  It's a line from a Wu-Tang Clan song.  And finally number eight, which is surprisingly Shakespeare, Act V, Scene ii of Much Ado About Nothing.  

Little Me

Little Mix just released their sophomore album basically everywhere except the US!!  Thanks, girls (sorry for the sarcasm).  Salute features their brand new single "Move" which is available for download on iTunes.  At least we get that to help make this dreadful wait a little bit better.

Well I am a huge fan of the X Factor UK.  There is a portion of the show called The Xtra Factor and Little Mix performed a song from their new album called "Little Me."  I fell in love with it immediately!

[Source:  YouTube/The Xtra Factor]

This is a piano version of the song, but it is still as good as the recording.  I just think they sound beautiful in this.  The four girls - Perrie, Leigh-Anne, Jade, and Jesy - sound amazing together.  Their voices all compliment the next girl's perfectly.  This song has the same sound as their first album DNA, so I like that, too.  

Summertime Sadness

The lyrics to "We Can't Stop" and the title Bangerz for her album have made Miley Cyrus one of the most well-known names in the music biz.  Despite her recent decisions (which have been viewed as "trashy" by some) I love her.  She has an incredible amount of talent and is perfect in so many ways.

I also love BBC Radio 1, the radio station in the UK. Well, Miss Cyrus was there the other day and did a cover in the Live Lounge of Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness."  I have nothing to say except it was incredible.  Lana has such a distinct voice that I have felt no one can really mimic, but Miley does it beautifully.  Here it is:

[Source:  YouTube]

I am also blown away by how well she sings this live.  I sing Del Rey songs around the house and I always have a hard time.  I saw her in concert in 2009 for her Wonder World Tour and she was flawless then and continues to be flawless now.

She gets a lot of crap from so many people, but my cousins and I will always be true Smilers...forever!  Love you, Miley xx <3

Stutter

I want you all to check this out.  Notice how I wasn't asking you to, I was telling you to.  It was written by a friend of mine on Twitter, Amelia, @playful_kitty9 (yes, that means you should follow her).  This is from her blog with Tumblr and on this post she talks about my favorite thing...music.

In her "Notebook Challenge" for November 9th, she talks about "Stutter" by Marianas Trench (the band I spoke of last Tuesday), One Direction's "Story of My Life," "If We're Alright" by The Wanted, and "Wildlife" by Hedley.  The post is done so well!

You really have to read it yourself because she wrote it so she deserves 100% of the credits.  She says things "so much better than I do."  The way she explains her feelings and views on each song is done in such a way that I have to think of a way to tell you.

Amelia speaks of each song for about a paragraph and talks about the lyrics, the artist, the beat - all in six or seven sentences.  When I first read the post, I immediately felt what she felt about the song in such a short amount of time.  I have only listened to one of the four songs, yet I already like the "unknown" songs, just from what she wrote.  If you haven't read it yet, read it now.  Here it is again, just in case you skipped the one at the top.

I'll Follow the Sun

Beatles '65.  This is an album wanted by many, yet difficult to find.

A family friend at church found out yesterday about my record collection (I am almost at 200) and today brought me his copy of the number one hit.  Another one for the collection woohoo!!!

November 23, 1964 was the day the vinyl hit stores through their label, Capitol.  In America, the album went from the number 98 spot to number one.  The Beatles had their release at that position for eight extra weeks.  The track list goes as follows:

1. No Reply
2. I'm a Loser
3. Baby's in Black
4. Rock and Roll Music (written by Chuck Berry)
5. I'll Follow the Sun
6. Mr. Moonlight (written by Roy Lee Johnson)
7. Honey Don't (writeen by Carl Perkins)
8. I'll Be Back
9. She's a Woman
10. I Feel Fine
11. Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby (written by Carl Perkins)

It was released in both mono and stereo versions and holds eight out of fourteen songs from Beatles for Sale.  It also includes the song "I'll Be Back," which I believe is from A Hard Day's Night, and singles "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman" which were released as singles in November 1964, a month before the album was released.