Browsing Tag hip hop
Wernerâs Weekly (week 23)
This is Wernerâs Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Dua Lipa – Love Again (Wildcard this week)
- Stefanie Heinzmann – Labyrinth (Wildcard last week)
- Dirty Heads (feat. Train) – Vacation
- Drew Sycamore – Jungle
- Farmer & Friends (feat. Zuzu) – Wanna Be With You
- Hurry – A Fake Idea
- The Deep Blue – Jealous Sea
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Wernerâs Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: Public Service Broadcasting, Sigrid, Twenty One Pilots, Volbeat, and more.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Dirty Heads (feat. Train) – Vacation
Jared Watson, Dustin âDuddy Bâ Bushnell, Jon Olazabal, Matt Ochoa and David Foral formed Dirty Heads in 2003. Redefining the sound of Southern California, their sound contains equal parts alternative, hip hop, reggae and rock. And not unsuccessfully so, for they amassed over 1,3 billion streams to date. As with so many hits nowadays, TikTok is a big driver recently.
The quintet released the original version of Vacation in 2017, on their sixth album Swim Team. The song pays tribute to those who love their jobs. It went on to become one of the bandâs biggest hits, reaching the top echelons of Billboardâs specialist charts like Hot Rock and Alternative Airplay. As a spin-off, Dirty Heads even released their own beer; Vacation Session Ale + Pineapple.
In the summer of 2019, the track suddenly spawned the #vacationtransition trend on TikTok. This was revived in early January 2021 by influencers Bryn Sato and Glenca Chysara. The #vacationtransition hashtag now has over 45,5 million views (and counting). Over 493.000 user generated videos (including one by Jared Watson himself) were watched more than 548,5 million times.
In response to its resurgence, Dirty Heads recorded a new version of their viral hit, which features the band Train. Watson says about it: âThank you to Pat Monahan for hopping on this new version. Itâs a gift to everyone who has made us smile with their âVacation Challengeâ videos over the past year.â
If you love Twenty One Pilots and donât know Dirty Heads yet, do yourself a favour and check them out!
Recommended as well:
Dirty Heads – Lift Me Up
Follow Dirty Heads on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
Follow Train on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Punnany Massif – Tokiiiooooo
Hungarians Måté Felcser and Roland Farkas have known each other since 1994. Together, they organized parties and made radio shows. Only in 2003, they formed the hip hop collective Punnany Massif. Tokiiiooooo is their new single.
It doesnât take much knowledge of the Hungarian language to understand what the song is about. The band wrote the song to support the Hungarian athletes who are currently preparing for the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo. Not only do some of them appear in the video, they do so presenting their official Olympic outfits to the public.
Musically, Tokiiiooooo has a Yello-like drive, while Pitbull fans are sure to like the rapping style. Rapping along may prove to be a challenge, though⊠đ
Recommended as well:
Punnany Massif (feat. PĂĄsztor Anna, Charlie & PetĂł Szabolcs) – Ami Volt Az Majd Lesz!
Follow Punnany Massif on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Spotify
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wernerâs Weekly (week 53)
This is Wernerâs Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Glades – Get In The Way (Wildcard this week)
- Grand Corps Malade – Pas Essentiel (Wildcard last week)
- Aaron Frazer – If I Got It (Your Love Brought It)
- Calogero – VidĂ©o
- Ella Grace – Unfree
- Pyro – Your Love
- Why Donât We – Slow Down
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Wernerâs Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wernerâs Weekly (week 52)
This is Wernerâs Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Wernerâs Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: Clean Bandit (feat. Yasmin Green) vs. Crystal Waters, KT Tunstall, Pale Waves, and more.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wildcard (week 51):
Grand Corps Malade – Pas Essentiel
Grand Corps Maladeâs lyrics arenât socially critical per se, but Fabien Marsaud (his real name) wears his heart on his sleeve. His April single Effets Secondaires (âside effectsâ) for instance, was a COVID charity track. Applauding the real heroes of the Corona crisis, the healthcare workers, all proceeds were donated to two French hospitals.
The same crisis was the inspiration for GCMâs new single, but this time, he points the camera at the cultural sector. In his home country France, like in most of the rest of the world, theatres and venues are closed. Not only out of fear of being potential virus âsuper spreadersâ, but also because the governments label them ânot essentialâ. GCM opposes that view. In a French newspaper, he calls it cruel and unfair. âIt made me want to speak up about all of those things that may seem non essential, but in the end make life worth living.â Elsewhere, he calls the song âan ode to freedomâ.
GCM wrote the track only at the end of November, with Swiss DJ/producer Quentin Mosimann. It contains a repetitive chorus that sticks in your brain. But even more clever is the incorporation of the whistle from Break Machineâs 1984 hit Street Dance.
Two weeks ago, An Open Letter To Creatives by The Lottery Winners was the Carte Blanche Music Wildcard. Grand Corps Maladeâs new single is an equally heart-felt track, but about the cultural sector. I couldnât agree more with the message of this song. Thatâs why Pas Essentiel is this weekâs Wildcard!
Recommended as well:
Grand Corps Malade – Effets Secondaires
In the Wildcards 2020 playlist youâll find all of this yearâs Carte Blanche Music Wildcards so far.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wernerâs Weekly (week 51)
This is Wernerâs Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Holy Holy (feat. Queen P) – Port Rd (Wildcard this week)
- The Lottery Winners – An Open Letter To Creatives (Wildcard last week)
- NewDad – I Donât Recognise You
- Ocean Grove – Dream
- Slowride – I Feel Like You
- Texas & Wu-Tang Clan – Hi
- The Hold Steady – Family Farm
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Wernerâs Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: Gwen Stefani, Calogero, Taylor Swift, The The, and more.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Texas & Wu-Tang Clan – Hi
No need to introduce Scottish pop act Texas and no need to introduce American hip hop crew Wu-Tang Clan. No need even, I presume, to mention their earlier collaboration. Or perhaps I should, for those who were born in this centuryâŠ
In January 1997, Say What You Want was the first single to be released off Texasâ fourth album White On Blonde. Itâs the bandâs biggest hit to date. A year later, the song was re-recorded featuring Method Man and RZA from Wu-Tang Clan. Re-named Say What You Want (All Day Every Day), this version was re-released as a double A-side with Insane in 1998. Partly thanks to a joint performance of the song at the Brit Awards in London, it became almost as successful as the original.
Over 22 years later, Texas teams up with Wu-Tang Clan again. With the groupâs RZA and Ghostface Killah to be exact. Less than 3 minutes long, Hi is a fun upbeat track that gives plenty of room to the rappers in the verses. Basically, Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri only sings the choruses.
Hi is the first single to be released ahead of Texasâ upcoming tenth album of the same name. The long-player will come out in the new year.
Recommended as well:
Texas – Letâs Work It Out
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Wernerâs Weekly (week 48)
This is Wernerâs Weekly, your compass to the music that matters, containing the two most recent Carte Blanche Music Wildcards, and the best of the other new releases in alphabetical order:
- Joel Culpepper – WAR (Wildcard this week)
- Keleketla! – International Love Affair (Wildcard last week)
- Eelke – Iâm A Man
- Just – Dark Days
- Raye – Love Of Your Life
- Shaka Ponk feat. Cypress Hill – Pure 90 (Rapping Queen)
- Slum Sociable (feat. Kye) – You’re In My Head
Click the links for more info and listen to each of the tracks via the Wernerâs Weekly player below.
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist. Also added last week: LP, Miley Cyrus x Dua Lipa, The Radar Station, and more.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.
Shaka Ponk feat. Cypress Hill – Pure 90 (Rapping Queen)
Celebrating 15 years on the scene, French rock band Shaka Ponk just put out their triple album Apelogies. It features all of their hits, live tracks, covers (from Nirvana, Kim Wilde, De La Soul and even Dalida) as well as new songs.
One of those new tracks is good old-fashioned rock tune in every sense of the word. Entitled Pure 90, itâs exactly that: a throwback to the â90s. Funky horns, a fat groove and a collab with Cypress Hillâs Sen Dog⊠all ingredients are there. Lyrically, it references Insane In The Brain, House Of Pain and Public Enemy as well, to complete the picture.
If you canât stand explicit lyrics, donât click below. If youâre in for a motherf*cking party, please do!
Recommended as well:
Shaka Ponk – Faking Love
Shaka Ponk – Mysterious Ways / Rocksta (feat. Skin, De Staat & KillASon)
For more great new music, follow the constantly updated Carte Blanche Music playlist.

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.