Albums, Featured, Hip-Hop | Logic – Under Pressure [Album Reflections]

Posted by on October 21, 2014

Where do I begin?

Exactly 1,163 days I received an email.  That email just so happened to be my first official introduction to Maryland hip-hop artist, Logic.  Described as a young, talented MC known for his lyrical prowess – I couldn’t have said it better myself and fortunately for us, that’s still the same Logic we’re looking at today.  Since that introduction, Logic has been my favorite artist, period.  To call out a few – he’s genuine, personable, tenacious, confident, well spoken, and last but certainly not least, one BEAST of a rapper.  Preaching “peace, love & positivity” since the very start, he’s one artist who has stayed true to his message, through and through.  His story has undoubtably changed hundreds if not thousands of people’s lives for the better.  The craziest part is, Under Pressure is still just the beginning.

When asked what “Under Pressure” means to him, Logic responded,

“For me, it’s the duality of who I am. Being Bobby and being Logic, being under pressure personally in all the things that I go through in my life. Just as a regular dude, ’cause outside of music, there’s people who look at me like I’m not shit. I’m just little Bobby, dealing with the pressures from my family, where I come from. All that. Also, being in the rap game and just being under pressure to sell whatever you gotta sell.” [via XXL]

He’s right though – he’s the debonair “Young Sinatra” on the street, then he steps into the booth and all previous conceptions vanish. He embodies some form of legendary lyrical machine.  That to me is what separates Logic from much of his competition.

It’s clearly been a long time coming to deliver the album and as you’ll hear on “Growing Pains III”, he has recorded over 1,700 songs in the past 10 years, only 150+ of which have been released to date.  Under Pressure is far from a grab bag of records.  Carefully crafted, Logic and team have put countless hours into this album and I hope that after listening, you’ll recognize that.  The 12 tracks (15 on the Deluxe version) collectively paint a bigger picture.  As expected, the album is a very raw, personal look into Logic’s life, and more specifically his upbringing.  From family struggles to personal and musical accomplishments, you’ll truly understand the person behind the mic after listening to this album.

As if I haven’t already giving you enough of a reason to go buy the album, legendary producer No I.D. blessed it with his executive production.  I don’t mean to jump the gun, but typically anything he touches turns gold.  Then platinum.

“Conversations with No I.D
Who made hits with Ye, got hits with Jay
Now he wanna fuck around and make hits with me
If it’s meant to be, then it’s meant to be
Can’t express what that meant for me, what it mean to me
Man, I swear the shit like a dream to me, what it seemed to be” – Till The End [Track 12]

Last but not least, I want to once again give a shout out to the whole team at Visionary Music Group.  Logic’s in house producer, 6ix stepped up and destroyed the production on half of the album.  The rest of the team is too humble to take credit, but I thank you all for the work you’ve put in.  VMG is a blueprint for organic growth, keep at it boys (& girls?).

Without further adieu I suggest you GO GRAB BOTH DIGITAL VERSIONS on iTUNES and take a trip to your local record shop (or Best Buy, Walmart, Target, etc.) and clear out the shelves (if you can beat Henry to it)!!!  100k the first week!

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Abstract Hip-Hop, Chill, Electro, Videos | Hozyboy – Woods

Posted by on October 20, 2014

Too be honest, this dude came out of nowhere. One minute I was aimlessly looking at nothing on the internet and the next I was the most stoked I’ve been in a while to say the least. At first it was just the music video, displayed above, that turnt me up. On my Reddit feed it read “VISUAL MINDBLOWING VIDEO & MUSIC”, “Wait for the watermelon to explode after the asian man plays the flute”, and “Cartoons, nature, and asian man, and a watermelon. Honey for your eyes” so I was intrigued – which he definitely wasn’t lying once I got to actually watching the music video. F****** brilliant. I was then so stoked off the music video that I found a SoundCloud link and clicked it instantly. Not only is “Woods” a vibing, feel good beat, his other compositions are crazy impressive as well. Hozy is 100% worth the look with other dope songs like “You Just Got Abducted by Some Turnt Up Aliens” and “Retro Heartbreak“; It’ll be exciting to see what this aspiring artist will come up with next.

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Events | The Glitch Mob Love Death Immortality Tour

Posted by on October 16, 2014

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The Glitch Mob’s sophomore artist album “Love Death Immortality” showed the poise and grit we heard in their previous efforts. Now the show is going on the road. They have already toured much of North America during the spring and hit much of Europe over the summer, but now they cap things off with a final few shows this fall, including some big venues like NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom and DC’s Echostage.

They will be joined on tour by The M Machine who are always a good time and have their unique sound to play for you, with Chrome Sparks kicking things off in his own weird, downtempo way. The Glitch Mob are masters of their own live show, so don’t miss out. Check out the dates below and grab tickets here.

Glitch Mob Fall Tour 2014

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Hip-Hop, Mixtapes, Rap | Ace Cosgrove – UsvsRobots (Mixtape)

Posted by on October 7, 2014

Ace Cosgrove hails from the DMV, and is no newcomer to Fresh New Tracks. His soulful twist on rap saw him relative success leading up to the release of this tape. And now that UsvsRobots is finally available to the world, it’s only a matter of time before things really propel to the next level.

The DMV has been incredibly strong recently, and everyone is awaiting the next artist to pop. Take a listen below and see why it might just be Ace Cosgrove.

Featured | Exlusive Interview with Boomrat Founders

Posted by on September 22, 2014

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In an era where technology and music are even more intertwined, and platforms such as SoundCloud, iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, Beats and Hypem are even more in competition with each other to break the way we discover music, 2 young entrepreneurs, Ariel Lee and Andrew Silberstein, come along with Boomrat, the newest platform to shake up the music/technology scene. For those who aren’t familiar with the website, Boomrat is a blog aggregator which compiles the latest posts from the hottest dance music blogs (FreshNewTracks included) to display a real time interactive chart of the hottest tracks of the moment. I had the chance to sit down with Ariel, and Andrew to discuss the idea behind their latest venture, their background, what makes Boomrat unique, what they’re listening to, and so much more! Click on the jump for the full interview and check out Boomrat.com and see what the hype is about!

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Hip-Hop, Videos | Choices – Tarik (Prod. Matty Fee)

Posted by on September 21, 2014


Tarik has created a work of art. This short story is about all the choices we make in life and the results of these choices. This powerful video will create a lasting impression on you while showing that Tarik is not an artist that is leaving anytime soon. His mixtape is dropping tomorrow night, Here To Stay and we will be posting it on the site. Follow him below on his social media to stay updated.

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Exclusive, Pop | Premiere: Melleefresh – Apparition (Original Pop Mix)

Posted by on September 18, 2014

Melleefresh - Apparition (Original Pop Mix)
For dance music fans, the name Mellefresh is familiar. She has most notably collabed with Deadmau5 to create Freshmau5 back in the early days of his career on tunes like “Hey Baby” and “Sex Slave”. More recently, the singer, songwriter, producer and DJ has been branching out beyond deadmau5’s twisted mind into drum n bass and tech house / minimal with Alixanderlll, part of the revered Azari & III duo. She is also an accomplished artist in her own right and is taking it out to the world with this self-produced and self-written tune “Apparition”. Melleefresh brings together the modern and the pop sensibilities of the 80s as the robotic voice clashes with the themes of love in the tune. We have the premiere for you until it is released on October 6th via Play Records, so stream away now!