After he impressed the world with his October’s Very Cold project, mashing up Drake with Coldplay, Chi Duly is back with his latest offering entitled Balloon of Haus. The 11 track offering showcases Chi Duly’s take on some of The Weeknd’s most popular tracks spanning from his three mixtapes.
I’ve heard many chop & skew The Weeknd’s vocals before, but Madeaux does it a little differently in “The Space Between Us.” He doesn’t try and overemphasize The Weeknd to entice people in, but takes what makes the vocals one of a kind and turns it into an even grander hypnotizer. At first I wasn’t quite sure if some of the vocals were even The Weeknd himself, they were that chopped & skewed, but that’s what makes it so special, he lets you glimpse in & out, seamlessly flowing through electro manipulation.
Paper Diamond hops on as another Weeknd remixer and remakes “Same Old Song” with finely cut bass that rolls over those signature Weeknd vocals. Wasn’t all that much of a fan of the original, but Paper Diamond throws in that mind-numbing bass that gets me every.damn.time.
Any Weeknd mixer/masher should be all over this. Combining an artist with potential that hasn’t been seen since MJ, as well as the legend himself, makes for one dirty mashup.
JAYBeatz is the first on deck with a “Dirty Diana” collision that carries the two well, but doesn’t live up to what I’d think combining these two would bring. At times, I can barely tell MJ from The Weeknd, JAYBeatz plays off the two nicely, but also doesn’t bring anything spine-tingling to the mix, like his Weeknd/Drake mash. Still like the direction and the ideas he’s bringing, can’t wait for more.
I keep on thinking that Abel’s albums after House of Balloons will live up to their predecessor, they won’t. I’m not saying Abel will never top it, it’s just not gonna happen in this trilogy. The problem isn’t Abel’s vocals or lyrics, it’s the production. Doc Mckinney & Illangelo are fine producers, I just don’t think they stepped up Abel’s sound in the last two albums. There is a shitload of producers that could do something completely different, completely original with his voice and it’s gotta be Abel’s next step.
That said, it’s still a damn decent album with lyrics that are evolving through simple honesty. Abel has one interesting story, not just because of his quick rise to fame, but how he’s taking it all in. Make sure to check out his “Dirty Diana” cover, as well as the rest of the album (shit.is.poetry). I still can’t believe I never thought up Abel covering MJ, so obvious now.
Drake’s sophomore album, Take Care, releases on November 15, but here’s a sneak peak from Flow 93.5. Unfortunately, this radio rip of “Crew Love” has those annoying ass watermarks all over it. Once I find a version without ‘em, I’ll throw that up, but take a listen to this for now.
*Update: got a legit copy up now. Lovin The Weeknd viiibes. Actually like Drake in it too – usually I have to rely on remixes of Drake to appreciate his flow.
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In this installment, JAYBeatz mashes up Drake’s “The Real Her” & The Weeknd’s “Thursday,” and once again topples both originals. I hear so many Weeknd remixes, yet so many fail to capture where The Weeknd is pushing R&B – JAYBeatz is one in a handful that takes this vision and pulls off a spin of their own. He should really start considering a full-length mashup album featuring these two, it would get mad promoted.
I’ve always had an affinity for The Weeknd’s vocals, but for some reason or another I wasn’t feeling it in Drake and his version of “Trust Issues.” I guess it took Jaybeatz mashup with “I’m on One” to set me straight. Here’s a tune to just sit back and let these two release our everyday stresses of everyday life.