Why Colors is the place to go on YouTube

YouTube is arguably the biggest media platform in the world right now, it seems that the website will never end as the world of the media is continuously expanding day by day.

There is a variety of different music channels on YouTube, for the UK scene there is GRM Daily, Link UP TV and a load of others which I am sure you have all heard of.

The Americans have the NPR Tiny Desk Concert platform, which I am a huge fan of. But, the best platform, where I find a lot of my new music comes from ‘Colors’ – based in Germany. This platform exposes all talents coming from all over the world, opening the eyes of all music fans to different sounds and cultures.

Sitting on 2.3 million subscribers, I have watched this channel grow over the last 18 months or so. Here are a few of my favourite Colors performances which I revisit often.

J.I.D – Working Out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzpJl-i7ZRg

J.I.D comes in here with a smooth, mellow and jazz-infused performance of ‘Working Out’. This is such a nice song, with a really catchy hook and incredibly unique vocals, this really is really up my street.

This episode was a part of the Colors partnership with Adidas, which requires the artists to wear football shirts.

So with a Real Madrid shirt complimenting the purple backdrop, the whole vibe of this song just fits in together. Theres nothing else to say other than, Hala J.I.D.

Remi & Jordan Rakei – Lose Sleep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpW3kkNIj0

This is one of my absolute favourites of the Colors collection. With a live band and a really rough yet such a smooth performance from Remi and Jordan Rakei, it just all comes together to create a song with relatable lyrics and skin-melting harmonies that fit in together perfectly.

I have been a fan of Jordan Rakei for a while, as he came up on the Soundcloud wave with Loyle Carner and Tom Misch.

His vocals have been consistently perfect on everything that he has done, and this song is no different.

Yung Internet – Superchimi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6__zlCeV2w

Yung Internet are a Dutch double team that deliver Dutch bars over very wavy beats. This is the first song I heard from these guys, I didn’t understand a word they said but I just caught such a vibe.

Going back-to-back on such a hard beat is so difficult, but these two did it effortlessly. This performance is really that the Colors channel stands for.

The talent does not have to be British or American, it can be anything it wants, and I love the idea of a different culture of Hip-Hop being so accessible.

Daniel Caesar – Best Part https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GGGliIxpgc

There isn’t many words used to describe how stunning this is from Daniel Caesar. The Toronto based singer here delivers an absolutely effortless performance of Best Part.

The album version of this song is a 10/10 but the live feeling of this song really makes this a solid 11.

Holding a mug during this song, Caesar really captures a Sunday morning feel in all aspects of the words.

Eliza – Wasn’t Looking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nplzEY0IXA

Eliza comes in here with a performance of her ‘Wasn’t Looking’. The London-based singer-song writer gives a really honest and raw performance of her single, showing off her effortless, yet delicate vocals to the best of their ability.

Although this video has done well for views, it seems that more could be done to publish raw female talent coming from the UK like this.

Of course, we have Jorja Smith, but the UK is begging for some more soulful, Amy Winehouse-influenced singers like Eliza.

The Colors channel is a fantastic platform to discover new music from a variety of different genres from many different places around the world. The list of my favourites would go on here if I had the time.

From Jorja Smith, Not3s and Giggs, to Tom Misch, Puma Blue and Mac Demarco. This channel has so much at it’s abundance. So check the channel out already if you haven’t seen some of the talent on offer on this platform.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2Qw1dzXDBAZPwS7zm37g8g/videos

Is Avelino the man to take over 2019?

Avelino has had a mental 2018, dropping banger after banger has become a regular occurrence for the Tottenham rapper, and I think he may have well just set himself up for his biggest year yet.

A.V started the year off by dropping the visuals to ‘1 In a Million’ which is off the award-winning album ‘No Bullshit’ – which is easily one of my favourite albums of all time. It was played a lot on the radio, and I’m sure a lot of you had already heard the song before the visuals were dropped. Sick song nevertheless.

This was then followed up by the music video for ‘U Can Stand Up’ which features Dave. Again, this track was probably already heard off the ‘No Bullshit’ album. But, with the video currently sitting on just short of 1 million views on GRM Daily, it’s not hard to see why this is a certified track.

Moving a bit further on into the year, Avelino dropped ‘More Everything’ which features J Styles, (Ice City Boyz) this is more of a ‘Grimey track with Av’s own unique spin on it. J Styles is also a sick feature on this track – as he is on Nines’ Trapstar. The music video is sitting on just under 500k. But for me, the song and the visuals all put together, make this song ridiculously underrated.

As we moved into the summer, Avelino brought more vibes and energy with ‘So Fine’ which features Wstrn’s Haile. Smart lyrics from A.V and incredible vocals from Haile make this track a solid summer piece. This was released on GRM Daily, and is now sitting on 1.8 million views. I feel like this is the song that has gained Avelino some more recognition, which in my opinion, is completely deserved.

Not3s featured on Avelino’s ‘Boasy’

 

Avelino and Not3s took over the summer with ‘Boasy’ – with this track arguably gaining the most radio time and the most recognition out of the singles that Avelino dropped. This was a ‘proper’ summer track which was suitable for everyone. So it’s not hard to see why the song did so well. It’s on 2.2 million views on GRM Daily now – making it Avelino’s second most viewed song on YouTube. With number 1 being ‘London’s Calling’ which seems to feature every other rapper in London.

Finally, Avelino has most recently dropped his latest single ‘Facts’. This is a very hard track. Is it Grime or Rap? Avelino creates his own lane which is what I like. The song opens with the line “I should be bigger than I am” which I couldn’t agree more with.

Avelino’s career is just starting in my opinion, he has continuously evolved from the early days of dropping ‘Money Over Everything’ and even the ‘Young Fire Old Flame’ content, Avelino has continuously adapted his sound. Which is why I think he is definitely the one to watch in the coming months.

Avelino, Facts – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK2Y5fORiAA

Kenny Allstar: Block Diaries album review

Kenny Allstar has been a dominant figure in the world of UK Urban, Grime and Drill for as long as we can all remember. He runs ‘Mad About Bars’ while running a show on 1Xtra – he can do it all.

But, has Allstar’s new studio album met the incredibly high standards that he has set for himself on all his other platforms?

The album opens up with ‘Love the Game’ which features The Streets and Not3s. It’s an intense opening track which uses the iconic voice of The Streets very effectively. Not3s comes in with his own afro vocals which slot in nicely.

Kenny Allstar’s beat is good here, it has a very strong opening track feel to it, it is definitely just an album track and I’d be extremely surprised if this was Kenny’s next official single, even with Not3s in it.

The first single from the album, ‘Tracksuit Love’ featuring Headie One follows the opening song on the album, not much to say on this one, as I’m sure everyone who has listened to this album heard ‘Tracksuit Love’ ages ago. Nice track nevertheless.

Throughout the listening of this album, I was subconsciously comparing it to Charlie Sloth’s album, ‘The Plug’. But right from the get go of Block Diaries I could see that this was a very Drill orientated album. Which is cool – but I doubt it’s going to get the same commercial recognition of Charlie Sloth’s project.

Track number 3 is one of my favourite songs from the album. ‘Stepped In (Sexy Back)’, featuring Suspect, Afro B and Swift is much more of an afro type beat. I was excited to see Suspect being on the feature list on this album, and his flow is sick, especially over a more afro type beat.

Suspect also features in track 7 ‘Cocoon’ which also includes Nafe Smallz. This is where the album makes the transition from a very varied album, towards a more of a drill oriantated album. Suspect again lay his verse down well. Am I convinced by Nafe Smallz however? I’m not sure.

If Kenny was going to go for a Drill sound for the majority of this project then he needed to get some serious names on the feature list. He definitely did for track 10 ‘Tryna Do Me’ which features SL. I’m a huge fan of SL, and on this track he sticks to his own style and Kenny facilities for that perfectly, with a sick beat with heavy bass and some light keys on the piano.

My favourite song from the album is track 16 which features the chief, M Huncho. Huncho has a very exciting future coming, I have been a huge fan of him since he dropped the ’48 Hours’ EP. Again, it’s more of a drill beat again but Huncho comes with a different energy which turns a standard drill beat into his own vibe which nobody can replicate. I can definitely see M Huncho working with Kenny Allstar in the future, and I think Kenny would be stupid not to.

As a whole, the album is good. It is produced really well with a good variety of different beats – even if the majority are drill beats. As I said, It’s hard to not subconsciously compare this album to Charlie Sloth’s project. However they are both so different – and this album especially shows that DJ’s can be producers – and I hope this Kenny Allstar projects encourages more DJ’s to switch lanes in their careers every so often.

Rating: 3/5

Written by Jack Lynch