Category: Music

Champagne Brunches: Clew’s Musically Inclined New Album

There are usually only one or two factors that will attract a layperson (someone without specialized knowledge) to listen to new music. For starters, if they are already familiar with the artist, they may listen to their new music off the strength that the artist’s past music was jamming. However if they’ve never heard the artist before, most likely the only thing that will attract them to listen to a song is if the beat completely snatches their attention. I feel that Champagne Brunches is one of the only few projects where each track is accompanied with a dope beat!

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Hip-Hop artist Clew, has been mentioning Champagne Brunches for a while now in different interviews and on social media. As soon as September began, some of his fans became a helping participant in his album promotion. These loyal fans designed creative hand made signs portraying the release date of the album. Clew then posted them to his social media handles creating a bigger buzz for Champagne Brunches.

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I feel that the biggest message Clew is relaying throughout this project is that “If you’re not following your dreams then you’re foolish”. He mentions that specific statement in the very first track “#Adreamcometrue” and also the last track “Intro“. Both of these tracks were structured with the same musical piece and also recorded with live harmonious musical instruments. These two tracks give me a very soulful vibe that natural communicates to my body giving its functions no choice but to participate in an un controlling head nod.

It’s honestly hard for me to say which track is my absolute favorite so I will just share my highlighted thoughts about some of them:

  • Track 4, “Party” is completely jammin from the beat all the way to the subject matter. This song brings me back to the crazy party experiences I’ve experienced in college.
  • Track 7, “3 Am” is a dope track! I was excited to hear the actual song especially since Clew introduced us to a snippet of it in his previously released single “73 Supreme“.
  • Track 10, “Wow” is a turnt song that I can envision played in a club or radio setting that would inspire people to dance.
  • Track 11, “Picasso” captures his nice rap flow showing his advanced skills as a lyricist.

Overall, this album gives you a smooth listen all the way through it’s likely that you won’t desire to skip through any tracks. “Don’t die with your music still in you” is a really profound quote that I heard first from one of my favorite authors Wayne Dyer. He described how many will allow fear to take them away from fulfilling their purpose. Although, I feel that many are multidimensional, meaning that we have more than one purpose to fulfill, creating music is definitely one of Clew’s purposes. I’m proud that you are inspired to release all of the music inside of you.

Champagne Brunches is now out on iTunes, Tidal, Google Music, Spotify, Shazam, and Datpiff.  Go listen now and let us know your favorite songs on the album? Was this album juicy or dry? Drop your thoughts below!

 

Dropping the Job to Pursue the Dream {Clew The Artist}

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“Clew is Art”

 

“Getting a job is what made me say naw I don’t want a job” is one of the most inspiring statements that Clew said during our interview. He outlined how getting a job actually influenced him to pursue his dreams full throttle. Clew is a Jackson State University graduate with bachelors in English, who is using his education and life experiences to excel in his artistry. He desires the freedom to do what ever it is that he wants to do, at any given time that he wants to do it.

Clew dropped his first mixtape “A Dream Deferred”  early 2015, including 12 tracks with the intro track quoting the words of the famous Langston Hughes’ poem. This tape was very poetic and covered a wide range of topics from illustrating the “African American Dream” to chasing that “Paper“. This was a great tape to be Clew’s first because it showed his talent through his rap flow. However, I feel that his newer music shows more of his ingenuity because the musical rhythms command your immediate attention and his delivery causes you to decipher each lyric.

Clew is not a new guest to TJE’s platform. Ironically, I interviewed him on the same day last year but due to a series of events that occurred I never posted that footage (funny insider). Clew was featured on TJE’s 2k16 Cypher, he performed at TJE’s Second Anniversary event, and he also premiered his dope visual for one of his latest songs “Lil Boy Black” right here on the blog. We have also been friends for 8 years so he is one of my first supporters! Watch the dope interview with Clew below and comment your thoughts on his music!

 

This is one of the latest tracks Clew dropped this year. What y’all think?

 

 

@Goclew on all social media
@Goclew on all social media

The Adjustment of Lil Boy Black {Clew’s New Video Premiere}

Earlier today, Little Rock’s very own newly notable hip-hop artist Clew, symbolizing his birth name Christian Lewis premiered his new song/video “Lil Boy Black”. The reaction from his faithful fans were more than rewarding but the developing views from this video, created an anticipated buzz that resulted in new followers. I had the opportunity to speak with Clew before the release of his new video to ask him a few questions.

TJE: What is the name of the project that this song will appear on?

Clew: The project name is actually still up in the air. This song was supposed to be on a project entitled “Champagne Brunches”, but the vision for that project changed. “Lil Boy Black” will be released on a small EP alongside a few other singles that I’ve put out this year.

TJE:When did you write this song and was there a personal inspiration behind it? 

Clew: I wrote this song after a situation that took place in my life. One of the lil homies accidentally killed his friend trying to be “hard”.  I also wrote the song for everybody that has witnessed this take place. Maybe in their neighborhood or even on the Internet. But I had to shed light on how destructive and deteriorating we can be toward ourself.

My first thoughts on seeing this video was Earth Wind and Fireeeee! LOL. For those who personally know me, that simply means it was a dope video. It was great witnessing Clew’s vision for this video come to light. I feel that this song is a good view point for others who are easily acceptable to peer pressure. Make better decisions before it is too late. Check out his new video below and comment your thoughts. So far this video has 1,326 views on Facebook please share with everyone you know to support Clew.

Trailing Tlo Da Champ’s Lucid Dreamzzz’s

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Tony Lofton, more known as Tlo Da Champ, is a 26 year old hip-hop artist born and raised in Jackson, MS. Full with personality, he has been growing his fan base more and more by connecting with many through his countless performances around the city. Tlo is one of the few artists that helped me celebrate the second anniversary of The Juicy Expressions, by blessing the stage with a dope performance. He is apart of A.I.M. H.I.G.H. Records, where he has the opportunity to produce creative works solo as well with others.

While now currently involved in numerous business affairs, he dropped his latest full project “Lucid Dreamzzz’s” on September 11, 2015. Simply defined, a lucid dream is a dream in which you are actually aware that you are dreaming. My favorite track on this project is “Come Back”. In this song, he describes how he wants a girl to come back –not just to him but back to the way she was before he hurt her. I also like “Righteous”, “Wreckless”, and “Beat Back”.

Tlo is probably the goofiest person I’ve ever interviewed because he kept me laughing the entire time. Watch the interview with him below and comment your thoughts on the #JuicyQuestionOfTheDay? Also let us know what your favorite track is on “Lucid Dreamzzz’s”.

Follow @Tlodachamp on all social media
Follow @Tlodachamp on all social media

Watch the full version of “Beat Back” below!

The Rationale of a “Menace”

At 6:00pm today Lil’ Ron, a hip-hop artist from Jackson, MS released his new single “Menace” ft. Isiah Binladen & J.Skyy. My initial time hearing the song, I was distracted by everything that was going in the the video but when I listened again it all made sense. This song in my opinion is illustrating the rationale of a Menace. Dictionary.com defines menace as a person whose action, attitudes, or ideas are considered dangerous or harmful.

In Lil’ Ron’s introductory verse he started with these lyrics “A f***ed up child hood is why the way I am, got me in the state where I don’t give a damn. Mama working two jobs daddy gone too far I’m looking for direction, I ain’t got nobody but Tupac. Praying for my trouble soul hustle I’m defining that, trying to beat statistics but I’m a product of my environment. Those lyrics paint a picture of what the world looks like through his eyes.

One of my favorite spiritual authors Louis Hay quotes “One of our biggest spiritual lessons is to understand that everyone is doing the best they can at any given moment. People can only do so much with the understanding, awareness, and knowledge that they have.” When I first heard her say this I truly believed it and it expanded my consciousness on others point of view.

I think that someone’s upbringing has a lot to do with their perception in life. I truly believe that if everyone was born into a perfectly loving environment then some people wouldn’t choose the mistakes that they perform. (Of course that would only happen in a perfect world that doesn’t exist.) Some people are not able to bounce back from certain detrimental things that happened throughout their childhood or life  while others can. Instead of judging someone on sight for the actions they choose or how they behave, take time to remember that you have no idea what it feels like to walk in their shoes; you don’t know what they’ve experienced through their walk of life. This doesn’t excuse any behavior but it gives insight on people’s mentality.

All in all,the song is great because it shows a diverse way of viewing people and/or situations. The beat is definitely jamming and J.Skyy’s hook flows very smoothly with the song. Watch the video below and tell us your thoughts on Lil’ Ron’s new single “Menace”. Do you feel that people are doing the best they can with the knowledge and understanding that they have? Express your thoughts below!!!