YouTube Helps Aspiring Artists Get Discovered

By J9 of J9's MusicLife


Earlier in the year, everybody was talking about this unknown white dude from Detroit named Danny Vola who uploaded an acoustic cover of Waka Flocka's No Hands on YouTube.  Before actually hearing it, one would probably assume this was a joke and wonder how could anybody turn a Waka song into an acoustic song.  Well to people's surprise, Danny actually did a decent job putting his own interpretation to the rap hit.

This clip now has over 2 million hits and Danny has appeared on several radio and TV shows as well as even performed with Waka and Wale.  Danny released this song on a mixtape in December that features other rap covers like Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa.  Click here to view his official page and check out other performances.

Then in April, Boston musicians Nick Noonan and Amy Heidemann, known as Karmin entered the YouTube spotlight with their rendition of Chris Brown's Look At Me Now.  But what got me and many others was Amy's ability to clearly articulate Busta's fast paced lyrical verse with such ease. . .she killed it!  Due to this instant stardom they've appeared on The Ellen Show and performed with The Roots.  Their clip received 3 million hits in less than a week and now has over 29 million.

 

Click here to learn more about the duo and hear other covers like Someone Like You (Adele), Grenade (Bruno Mars), Whip My Hair (Willow Smith).

To read the full post, click here.

Introducing Frank Ocean: Nostalgia, Ultra

By Steven Hyden March 15, 2011

Much like the ’80s BMW on the cover of his debut album, Nostalgia, Ultra, gifted singer-songwriter Frank Ocean apparently is out of touch with the times. That doesn’t jibe with his résumé, a seemingly impeccable combination of mainstream R&B credentials (he’s co-written songs for John Legend and Justin Bieber) and underground cool (he’s associated with outlaw hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All). But after going nowhere as a solo artist signed to Island Def Jam, Ocean decided to post Nostalgia, Ultra as a free download last month. Hearing the record, it’s no shock that Ocean’s label didn’t know what to do with him. Nostalgia is a moody, frequently downbeat character study, a sort of musical version of the Reagan-era confessional Less Than Zero.

Ocean presents himself as a troubled guy in his early 20s who does cocaine for breakfast (as he sings over an aestheticized shuffle supplied by superstar producer Tricky Stewart on “Novacane”) and can’t decide whether to rue or revel in his conflicted feelings about women (the hit-single-in-waiting “Songs For Women”). Sampling world-class sulkers like Coldplay and Radiohead, as well as Stanley Kubrick’s queasy dissection of marriage, Eyes Wide Shut, Ocean saves his boldest move for the 7-minute epic “American Wedding,” fantasizing about his nuptials as the ultimate hymn of coke-addled self-absorption, The Eagles’ “Hotel California,” plays out in its entirety. Like the rest of Nostalgia, it’s dark, playful, a little tasteless, and absolutely riveting.