Olu - Beautiful Darkness
Heart-on-sleeve hip hop is generally something not often found in most mainstream music. Kanye West bucked this trend when he released Runaway from his My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. Also on the album was the fantastic track Blame Game which contained an unbridled venting of the rapper’s problematic relationships accompanied with John Legend singing the chorus.
So why am I discussing Kanye West so much in this post? Beacuase Cincinnati emcee Olu has clearly been inspired by his music. Firstly, Beautiful Darkness features the same backing piano track from Aphex Twin’s Avril 14th as a sample and also because the subject matter of Olu’s track and its title resemble the lamentations of Blame Game and MBDTF album respectively.
I don’t think the resemblance detracts from either artist and sample sharing has become increasingly common in hip hop as the mixtape culture continues to thrive (this issue was brought to light by the Pete Rock and Lupe Fiasco fiasco).
Download - Beautiful Darkness
Olu & Of Oceans - Wait
This just dropped in the last few days and it features a new Olu verse over the classic track In Love Not Limbo which we posted about not too long ago.
If you’re a fan of alternative hip hop then this song is for you.
Olu has a knack for taking memorable indie songs and making them into his own. To date, he has sampled tracks from The xx, Aphex Twin, No Doubt, Matt & Kim, Phoenix, Bibio and heaps of other artists which feature across several of his mixtapes.
Most of his music is made available for free download since he hasn’t paid royaties to the original artists to sample their music. I think that arrangement works well - we can legally download the music for free, and there are no lawsuits for him!
Enjoy.
Download - Wait
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Give You More (Produced By Olu)
Olu |
Olu feat. The xx - Give You More
Olu is an up-and-coming unsigned rapper from Cleveland, Ohio. The dude is about to turn 20 and has already released several mixtapes, which includes a lot of songs produced by the man himself.
He has a loyal following which is destined to grow, but his music is good enough to listen to now. Take Give You More for example. The track heavily samples The xx’s Heart Skipped a Beat, (one of my favourite tracks from their album) speeds it up and transforms it in to his own personal tale of love and the breakdown of a relationship.
Even at the sped up pace, the music still retains it’s bittersweet feel. Olu’s unrestrained storytelling gives the song an element of harsh reality (the bitter) while the sample keeps the music sweet enough to make you want to keep listening.
Download - Give You More
