Issue 54
This newsletter is a tribute to Mats Nileskär. Some of you’ve stumbled across his name when Kendrick Lamar used his interview with Tupac on his album, To Pimp A Butterfly. The interview became the epicenter of the whole album. Mats is a journalist in Sweden. He’s hosted a radio show called P3 Soul since 1978. He’s done over 6,000 inteviews with famous hip hop, rap and R&B stars since then. Tupac, Jay Z, Aretha Franklin, Sly Stone, Questlove, Aaliyah, Beyonce, James Brown, and many more.
XXL interviewed him shortly after the Kendrick album was released and asked him about his trip to USA and specifically how the interview with Tupac occured. He describes it as:
”It was during one of my length trips to the States. At that time I was going for five or six weeks doing 200, 300 interviews over six weeks all over the States. And Tupac was on my most wanted list, but he was very tough to get a hold of; it was one of those real tough ones. It was before cell phones and Internet and everything, so when I checked into my hotel I got a message from reception from, I think it was Atlantic Records; it was when he released the Thug Life album.
”Tupac’s
in the office, come now.” So without having time to go through it in my
head—I had the research in my head, but no time to do real research,
which I do for lengthy interviews—so I just went out to the Atlantic
office. He was sitting there, we kicked it for one hour. Without any
sort of… I wasn’t prepared, we just did it and it went great.”
Find more of his interviews, like a recently released one with Young Thug that is wildly interesting here.
Bad Bad Bad (ft. Lil Baby)
I remember when I first heard Young Thug back in 2013 on his mixtape 1017 Thug. I was chocked by his special voice. I find that his voice is one of the greatest instrument there is. It’s as true today as it was 2013 and I’m far from getting tired of it
Mac 10
Trippie Redd released a new album this week. He got a lot of heat for having his features carrying him, and I have to admit that the only reason this stuck with me is because of Lil Baby and Lil Duke. Baby is one of the best newcomers on the scene right now. He’s everywhere as well (and often featured with DaBaby).
Creep On Me
I’ve featured GASHI before, and I regurarly play some of his older stuff. With this track, he use all of his talents to its fullest. On top of that – a fun feature by the hit-maker French Montana and DJ Snake.
Bill Collector
A$ap Twelvyy got
a lot of heat for not releasing enough music. Well, int he past years
he’s turned that around by constantly releasing singles from time to
time. And they’re all well crafted, like this new one.
100 Shooters (ft. Meek Mill)
A Franklins newsletter doesn’t feel like a Franklins newsletter without Future. I’m happy he’s constantly delivering quality music, like this track with Meek. Future can’t do bad hooks – prove me wrong!
Ecstasy
Young Thug released a new album today, hence he’s featured twice. This track is one of the first on the album and really sets the tone: this album will give you all the intense trap, Thug-crazy lines you’d ever need…
Want to write a guest post?
It would be fun to get some input from one of you. Share a couple of tracks, write something about them like we’ve done previously at Franklins. It would be fun to hear your current top tracks and some information about the artists. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you feel like it!