I’ve got to be honest – when I first set foot into the listening session for Kid Cudi’s long awaited debut Man on the Moon: The End of Day, I was completely skeptical. Cudi, who wowed me once with “Day N Nite” then wowed me twice with the Crookers Remix, but only gave me half of my download’s worth with “Sky Might Fall” and “Make Her Say” had something to prove to me. That was until the album was played in its entirety and the pieces fell perfectly into the puzzle. It’s been a while since music had a Byronic hero, but if Kid Cudi plays his cards (and chords) right, he could very well be that dude for Hipster-Hop.

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Everyone remembers that guy, right? He was that hard of hearing man (I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt here, people) named Reh Dogg who wrote the Epic Fail “Why Must I Cry”…CD’s on sale at CD Baby in case you plan on hating someone during the Christmas season.

Anyway, remember the video?

Watch that and let’s discuss…

He has about 60 more of those you know. They vary from love to hate to love to hate to Obama. I don’t get it, but you might, which is why more and more people are coming out of the woodwork to make videos like this. Here is the most recent example (thanks for sending this to me, kris ex):

Watch THAT and let’s discuss…

I’m offended that we even have to discuss this, but seriously something’s wrong here. We can get all Freud about it and question the religious undertones in this song slash video. We can sit and question his intentions. Was he joking? Was he drinking? Did he find a white pill in the bottom of his medicine cabinet and pop it out of curiosity? I have no idea. The thing is, he recorded it, he can’t sing, and if you check the comments attached the video, someone plans to remix it. I guarantee you, someone is going to find it funny enough to release it somehow some way. Remember her? Yeah, Riskay the d*ck sniffer. She got signed you know. Maybe it was to her cousin’s label, but she got signed. That video is an official video. Someone wrote a treatment and shot it. How does this make you feel? If you’re not sure, watch this:

Remember her? Of course you do. You’ve said “It’s so cold in the D” at least three times this month and you’ve never even been to Detroit. I’m going somewhere with this, I promise. These videos fill the pages of your favorite blogs daily. They make YouTube bajillions of dolllars. You watch them, send them to friends, find yourself singing the silly songs at your desk. That’s cool. But here’s where the situation gets sticky. Every time your favorite artist’s album gets shelved, you can sit and wonder if it was to make room for a William Hung album because he has no trouble releasing music on an actual record label. Think about that.

This has been a Snark Jacobs Public Service Announcement. Now keep your mouth away from my d*ck!

First off, let’s talk about rappers accessorizing with weird girls. How much longer will this trend continue? It was nice of T.I. et al to sample M.I.A. on “Swagger Like Us” and Jay-Z to turn around and sample her musical cousin Santigold on “Brooklyn Go Hard” (at least he let her jump on a verse and get a collaboration credit, but we won’t get into that). But Wale? Lady GaGa? Really? He couldn’t have borrowed a few extra Mark Ronson dollars to get the aforementioned chicks on his track? Instead he gets Lady GaGa, who truth be told is probably more expensive at this point, but she does this half-assed hipster girl impersonation that makes her sound less like Maya and Santi and more like Gwen Stefani back when we hated her on “Rich Girl”.

It’s sad because Wale is a good MC. He’s better than this. There’s alot of real estate in a Lady GaGa cameo right now and I get that. But let her let her GaGa hang out and not try to sound like people out of her league (I will go the distance and defend Gwen at this point). Regardless, if you haven’t already heard (though I’m sure you already have), here’s the sad sad single of Wale. Dare I say this, but somebody call Drake for me.

Dowlizzoad: Wale featuring Lady GaGa – “Chillin”

-Snark Jacobs

…or like Phish or the Puff Daddy and the Family Tour circa ’98. Anyway, for someone who barely leaves her house, seeing these shows definitely made me realize I should caulk the wagon and float it across the river some more like they did in the Oregon Trail game. Anyway let’s start with Monday.

Lily Allen. I remember the last time or the time before that when she came to New York and was all mad and drunk, everyone started hating her. I caught her when she was on the sobriety kick, so the drunkisode didn’t do much to my opinion of her. She’s brilliant live. Her voice is flawless and she can carry a tune like it’s a designer bag on Fashion Avenue. A few months back I was fortunate enough to get into the overly packed Bowery Ballroom show (thanks Cornerstone!) where all of the MySpace kids from Long Island were standing around with emo haircuts gyrating to “LDN”. Lily called that her favorite show, and I agreed…until this one at Roseland on Monday night. So the stage set up has the big block “Lily” letters like her recent album release It’s Not Me, It’s You. Only about five minutes late, she hit the stage in a navy blue hoodie, white shirt, leggings, gym shorts and hi-tops. Opening with her drug talk-slash-social commentary single “Everyone’s At It”, Lily breezed through most important songs from both of her hit albums. She even squeezed in a few lines from the Mark Ronson collab “Oh My God”. A cool point in the evening was during “Fuck You” where most of the audience had middle fingers held high.Then came the encore(s). First she performed “Smile”, the first single from her debut album Alright, Still. That carried into an extended electronic chaotic little dancy party to the tune of Kid Cudi’s “Day N Nite” which then led into “The Fear” with a final closer of Britney Spears’ “Womanizer”. There were no celebrity sightings besides me and some woman who resembled Montana from the Real World Boston. Someone in the audience was drunk and vomited all over the place, and it wasn’t Lily Allen. It wasn’t me either, I was watching from the Mezzanine. VIP, bitches.

Nina Sky. I’ve seen Nina Sky perform about a trillion times. Seriously, a trillion. I even saw them perform in Miami and traveled even further to like, Staten Island to see them perform with a live band. Talk about touring the East Coast to see a group. This performance last night at SOB’s was a homecoming of sorts. Nicole and Natalie have been touring the world still riding off the success of their self-titled debut from 2004 and getting their sold out crowd ready for this way too long awaited follow-up album The Musical. There’s been talk as to whether or not two twins who made a good album five years ago can return with a great album five years later. The answer is hell yes, and their new songs and “never let you down” stage presence are proof of that. The girls stepped on stage last night to the tune of Big’s “Sky Is the Limit” – totally apropos given the origin of their group name. Both clad in cute dresses – Natalie with a bob-cut and Nicole with the side of her head shaved (sorry Cassie, you weren’t the first…or the last) – they danced around and flawlessly sang through new songs like “The Real” and “Curtain Call” and oldies but goodies like “Turnin Me On” and a reworked “Move Ya Body” that interpolated Michael Jackson’s “Ya Wanna Be Starting Something”. They even covered Mary J’s “Real Love” and Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”. Nicole, who moonlights as a DJ (we’ve talked about this already) got on the 1′s and 2′s for a hot second while their DJ Stealth played hypeman. They closed their set with “On Some Bullshit” and also led the crowd in a middle finger lovefest. Pitbull came on later and he had bongos. The end.

In all, both shows gave me more of a reason to leave my house. DVR, prepare for some major abuse.

-Snark Jacobs

For years Res became one of those artists that you desperately missed once she took a break from the spotlight. The truth is, she wasn’t technically taking a break.

We saw her modeling for Ecko and then she did some songs here and there. Then Idle Warship popped up at SXSW last year and everyone was like “Whoa look! It’s Talib Kweli and Res and some other girl! (I kid I kid, we love you Graph Nobel).” So while Idle Warship is doing their thing bringing that bad ass rockish rappish fusionish music, Res is also working on her new album. She released part of it on MySpace (ten tracks) called Black Girls Rock.

Well I’ve got Track 11 – a-ha! From Res herself. The song is called “Sunday Nite” and it mixes that same mellow sound we loved about her before, with a little soulful industrial thing going on, and some handclaps. It’s definitely signature Res stylings and we can’t wait to hear more. Also, she’s trying to push 5k on her Twitter page, so follow that girl. Twitter.com/The1Res

Download: Res – “Sunday Nite”

-Snark Jacobs

A good friend of mine (she’s a Chicago native and shall remain nameless) put me onto a song by an artist named Phoenix Phenom known as the Queen of Chicago Juke. Her song “Boom Dynamite”, well, to say the Black Eyed Peas stole heavy from her for “Boom Boom Pow” would be an understatement. Don’t even get me started on Fergie’s rap. You be the judge. FYI Peas, a little Auto-Tune does not make it a different song.

The Original.

The Cheap Imitation.

For more info on Phoenix Phenom click here. Don’t click that link, Fergie. You’ve done enough damage already.

-Snark Jacobs

Mixed and mastered by fellow ATLien Mr. SOS, this is a witty albeit “no seriously” cry to all those robotic singers (not just the grand high FemBot, Rihanna) who use and abuse this little program. We heard through the grapevine that a viral video will follow. Until then, check the song out:

Chapter 13 – “Blame It On the Auto-Tune”

Click here to download the track

-Snark Jacobs

Watch this video and then we’ll discuss it.

So the girls have come a long way from sitting on cars with matching Sidekicks in their “Move Ya Body” video debut. Now they’re sitting on cars with matching Blackberries. Evolution is key. This is a hot little video which shows Nicole and Natalie right off the Westside Highway in NYC standing in heels on cobblestone cursing out some poor invisible bastard. Then they go inside and it’s a big party where Tony Touch is deejaying and they’re performing. There are some more familiar faces in the crowd, a favorite shot being Julissa B shimmying through a door of lit vines like nobody’s business. There’s also a dancing pig. He’s not a cop so the Hip-Hop community will be pleased, nor is he being eaten so various religious communities will be happy as well. There’s also a trunk full of CDs. Take THAT iTunes!

Nina Sky released a couple of teaser singles over the past couple of years (“Sugar Daddy”, “Flippin’ That”, “Clothes Off”, “Curtain Call” ft Officer Ross). They were all really good, but this one has moxy. It shows Nina Sky grew up and are doing their thing since making the jump from Universal to Polo Grounds/J Records. The Musical is set to release “soon” but in the meantime NI**Sky is kicking ass as a DJ (Just ask ?uestlove on Twitter) and **NASky is kicking ass as a clothing designer (Just ask one of her collaborators MadeMe). Gotta love a good side hustle.

Click here for behind the scenes photos from the “On Some Bull—-” video shoot.

-Snark Jacobs