Matt Koza is a crazy bastard.  And I think that’s dope.  For all my 25 and older crowd, you probably laughed out loud when you figured out what the inspiration was for this video.  If you don’t get, you probably lived a very sheltered childhood (and in the immortal words of the Korean store owner in Menace II Society, “I feel sorry for your mother.”)  At any rate, enjoy the raucously funky visuals for “Why Don’tcha Call Me No More,” the first single from Yahzarah‘s The Ballad of Purple Saint James, available now on Foreign Exchange Music.  Peep the epic cameos from Phonte, Nicolay, Geechi Suede (one half of Camp Lo) and Jesse Boykins III.

Let’s smooth things out a little bit.  If you’ve been following these Foreign Exchange videos, you may notice that they are following one cohesive narrative.  Matt Koza (the director) put some thought behind these clips and is building a nice little reel off of these.  The latest installment is for the song “I Wanna Know.”  A song about putting your pride to the side for a hot minute and making things work for the better. 

I still stand firm by my opinion that Leave It All Behind was one of the top 10 releases of this year.  At this point, it would make a perfect Christmas gift for your boo.

All I can say about this video can be consolidated in the following exclamation: WOW.  “House of Cards” seems to be the majority’s favorite song on The Foreign Exchange‘s critically-acclaimed Leave It All Behind.  And now w/ this video courtesy of director Matt Koza (who also directed “Take Off the Blues”), it gives the song a whole new energy.  It’s damn near a mini-movie.  Everyone’s had that bad day where they wanna just throw in the towel.  But it’s how we get over that hump and continue on which builds character and defines perseverance.

I was extremely excited to get this one up.  From the forthcoming album by the Dutch gentle giant /powerhouse producer Nicolay, Shibuya: City Lights Vol. 2, I give you the very first single “Lose Our Way” featuring North Carolina’s own Carlitta Durand.  Writing and vocal arrangements were handled by none other that Phonte Coleman (the American half of The Foreign Exchange). 

You will notice the Japanese influence in the production right away.  The whole album was inspired by Nic’s first visit to Tokyo in November of 2006.  All of the aural and visual stimulation of Japanese culture (something which Nicolay studied most of his adult life) was the life force behind his upcoming opus slated to drop in September.

DOWNLOAD | Nicolay f/ Carlitta Durand – “Lose Your Way”

I’d like to send a extra big happy b-day shout to the homie Nicolay today.  And he’s such a nice guy that he gave US a gift on HIS day.  Yet another unreleased banger that he’s letting see the light of day.  I’m LOVING this one.  Makes me wanna put on some shiny pants and spin ’til I get dizzy.  Am I alone on that one?  Maybe I am.  Anyway, there’s some history behind this one as well.  Nic says:

My bandmates and I had seen Ugene perform on a late night television show one night in ’95 or ’96, and we were all floored. A voice like Ugene’s, you just don’t hear everyday, especially in The Netherlands. It took us a while to track him down, but we eventually got a hold of him and somehow persuaded him to sing and play with us for a while. Fortunately for us, he ended up playing with us for several years. Most of my favourite memories from those days involve sharing the stage and the rehearsal studio with Ugene and Moon, who formed an incredible vocal tandem together.

To make a long story short: Ugene and I recorded this cover version of the Quincy Jones produced Donna Summer track “Love Is In Control (Finger In The Trigger)” in April of 2005. It was originally intended for a compilation album on an indie label, but they didn’t use it and so the track ended up on the shelf.

Ugene is another artist that deserves any and all attention. He’s currently working on a new project with a formation that actually includes two other friends of mine from Europe, Krewcial and G.U.S. Click here to watch one of their recent videos.

DOWNLOAD | Nicolay & U-Gene – “Love Is In Control (Finger on the Trigger)”

I love writing my own descriptions for these posts and injecting my own personality into every item I publish, but in the case of these Nicolay gems that he’s pulling out of the vaults lately, I can’t do much better what he has to offer.  Straight from the Dutch horse’s fingertips, the story behind this joint goes as following:

“Industry rule #4080: Record company people are shady…” (c) Q-Tip

DOWNLOAD | The Last Poets f/ Keith Murray – “Dakari (Nicolay remix)”

This is all very coincidental.  If you liked The Daytona 500 EP by The Kid Daytona, then this falls right in the groove.  Once again DJ Brainchild puts me on to something I shoulda known about my damn self because I was slacking on my blog surfing.  Nicolay explains this story the best so I’ll let you read it in his own words:

In July of 2006, I was approached by people representing world renowned jazz keyboardist Bob James. They were working on putting together a project, to be called Sampling Bob James: The Nautilus Project, on which several DJs and producers would present their take on one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop history, “Nautilus,” from Bob James’ 1974 album One.

To my delight, I was invited to be one of the contributors, but instead of sampling the original, I chose to ‘cover’ it and re-create the track from scratch.  They really liked my version of “Nautilus,” but the project has remained unreleased. My version did end up online, by way of a viral video. Ever since, people have been asking me for a high quality version, so… here it is!

I’m not gonna type alot for this entry.  All I’m gonna say that is my favorite f*cking song on Leave It All Behind.  Here it is folks, the video for the second official single from the aformentioned critically-acclaimed sophomore album by The Foreign Exchange. If this don’t make you wanna two-step and make some pancakes afterwards, you can officially declare yourself dead.  Directed by Matt Koza.

I’m just gonna let the imagery above do most of the talking.  All I want to say is that this is the video for the first single off of The Foreign Exchange‘s incredible sophomore album, Leave It All Behind (BUY IT).  It was directed by Salih Abdul-Karim and Dana Kinlaw.  Shouts to Okayplayer for premiering it.

Served hot right from my inbox courtesy of Mr. Coleman himself, here’s the sampler for the sophomore effort from The Foreign Exchange.  Shouts to Nicolay as usual.  OK I’m not gonna do alot of talking on this one.  If you clicked this, either you already know to expect greatness or are intrigued and ready to hear something new and exciting.  Either way, sit back and relax…

DOWNLOAD | The Foreign Exchange – Leave It All Behind (sampler)

New Foreign Exchange album coming soon!  For all of you fans of the debut effort (like myself), you have absolutely NO idea what in store for you with this new album.  These very creative promo videos should give you sort of an inkling of what kind of vibe and direction Leave It All Behind will focus on.  Some of you may scratch your head in confusion.  Others may be going incense / wine shopping later.  Phonte and Nicolay are about to TAKE it there.  Hold tight.