Watch The Throne!

The first thing I did this morning was to download Jay-Z & Kanye West’s ‘Watch The Throne’.

Grab it here

Top 10 Albums of 2010

On the first #musicmonday of 2011, I want to share my favourite albums of 2010. Usually I rely on iTunes’ play count to get my favourite tracks and albums of the year. You will realise the list is dominated by hip hop. I listen to that a lot.

1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

2. B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray - B.o.B

Bobby Ray’s debut is my number 2 for 2010. The compositions are great, so are the samples. B.o.B displays his singing, composition & rapping skills on the album. I was banging this album non-stop in 2010 and some of the tracks still appear in my playlists.

3. Recovery - Eminem

It is no coincidence this album was the top selling hip hop album of 2010. Eminem goes hard on this one. 

4. Thank Me Later - Drake

Most anticipated album of the year if you ask me. I brushed it aside initially but when I finally got to listening to it, I was totally hooked. 

5. Love King - The-Dream

Hands down, my favourite R&B album of the year! The-Dream is a genius. He delivers for me a classic album; better than his previous albums.

6. Doo-Wops & Hooligans - Bruno Mars 

Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars. Bruno Mars. Doo-Wops & Hooligans is a great album especially for a debut. 

7. Teflon Don - Rick Ross

Although I think Deeper Than Rap is better than Teflon Don, it is a pretty good album. Rozay doesn’t disappoint on this album.

8. Distant Relatives - Nas & Damian Marley

Best collaborative album of 2010. It is good blend of hip hop and reggae. I hope the duo delivers another album. 

9. Rockstarr - Taio Cruz

Technically, this is a 2009 album but it was the 2010 US release that caught my attention. This is my favourite pop album of 2010. I love every track on it. Dynamite is my banger!

10. Raymond v. Raymond - Usher

I like every song on this one. I was greedy for more, I had to find the tracks which didn’t make the album. Slippin didn’t make the album but it has a message for every man out there.

Now I recognise that there are some albums I probably missed. Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday is not on my list because I didn’t give it a listen and I think it still wouldn’t have made the list. 

Mike Posner’s 31 Minutes to Takeoff is one album I missed. It was released right after I lost my mac so I didn’t get to give it a good listen. The singles were good so I reckon, the album was too. 

I also feel The Roots’ How I Got Over should be in the list somewhere…. but which album do I drop from the list. Consider is part of the list then.

Let the music start!

iTunes Moment: Ego Trippin’

There comes a time when there’s no good album out there to listen to. When this happens, you go through your library for a good old abulm to listen to or you just allow iTunes Genius or Shuffle to do the magic for you.

Today, iTunes Genius Mixes did it for me. It pointed me to a song off one of my favourite 2008 albums and I just had to jump on the album. My Hip-Hop/Rap Mix pointed to Waste Of Time - Snoop Dogg Feat. Raphael Saadiq. OMG! I gotta get on Ego Trippin, I said to myself. That’s what I need. That’s what I have to listen to.

Ego Trippin’ is a 2008 album by west coast rapper Snoop Dogg. Ego Trippin’ sounds a lot different from his other albums Doggystyle, No Limit Top Dogg, Da Last Meal, Rhythm and Gangsta [The Masterpiece] etc. This one is softer. Back in 2008, I used to bump this album all day. I remember bumping it from Accra to Kumasi and back.

My Fave tracks on this one are:

* Why Did You Leave Me Feat. Chily Chil

* Can’t Say Goodbye Feat. Charlie Wilson

* Waste Of Time Feat. Raphael Saadiq

* One Chance (Make It Good)

* Those Gurlz

* Been Around Tha World

* Deez Hollywood Nights

* Neva Have 2 Worry

* Gangsta Like Me

* Life Of Da Party Feat. Too Short & Mistah F.A.B.

Almost every track on it :)

I Love Podcasts

Podcast |pɒdkɑːst| An audio or video broadcast available as an MP3 or MP4 file that you download from the internet and you can play on a portable music or video player, such as an iPod, or on a computer.

I spent most of last week watching podcasts. I am a big fan of podcast though I haven’t been downloading much till recently. I find podcasts very educative and I wish a lot of people in Ghana would take time off downloading movies, tv series and music and try podcasts. The thing about podcasts is that they cover almost every interest. My favourite ones include TEDTalks (video), BBC World Service Africa Today, BBC Documentary Archives and Pray-As-You-Go.

Last week, I decided to catch up on TED podcasts and I came across some interesting ones as usual. I like sharing so permit me to share the three I really enjoyed.

* David Cameron: The next age of government - This is a really good TED Talk. Tory leader, David Cameron talks about the new age, which he calls the pre-bureaucratic age where genuine people power is possible through accountability, choice and transparency. Cameron also talks about how Tory will make all public spending available online if they win the elections citing the example of the Missouri Accountability Portal.  It would be so cool if government does the same in Ghana. This could be a real corruption stopper.

* Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos augmented-reality maps: Blaise, the architect of Bing Maps wowed the audience with a demo of Bing’s Augmented Reality Maps. It’s quite scary too. If you have an interest in mapping, this talk is for you.

* Jamie Oliver: Teach every child about food. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver talk was about obesity, the food we eat and how it’s killing us and our children. I found this one very interesting. I have watched it like 7 times already. It’s sad the food we are eating is killing us. Jamie’s talk is mostly centred on the USA and UK but it can be related to every country. I have been able to relate it to Ghana. I walk the streets of Accra and Sunyani and I see children under 10 years who weigh more than I do. Travel to any major towns in Ghana and you will see people queueing to buy junk food and you don’t even realise it’s killing us.

Jamie Oliver

I urge you my beloved reader to give podcasts a try if you haven’t. I bet you are asking where do I start from. Start from iTunes, start from the iTunes Store. There are tons of podcast in their podcast directing covering comedy, music, economics, politics, cooking, fashion, science etc. Like I said there is a podcast for almost every subject. The  good thing is that I haven’t come across a podcast you would have to pay to subscribe to. Even if you come across one, there is always the free alternative. And you don’t need an iTunes Store Account to get podcasts from the store.