Starting this week, voting goes until 2 PM (EST) on Fridays.
Born and raised in Harlem, Troy Ryan performs under the name DJ Webstar. Citing the work of Outkast and Tupac as major influences, Georgia-based rapper Bree is working on his debut with Drift City Records. The Chicago-duo Christian Rich have already worked with the likes of Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown, and set to debut EP The Decadence. Hip-hop artist Curt@ins premieres his powerful, shocking, forcefully driven video “Black Folks.” Trip Lee, a founding member of the group 116 Clique, just released his solo sophmore album 20/20 last week to great acclaim.

Bree

“Girls Cry”

The beginning of this video alternately reminded me of Michael and Janet Jackson’s “Scream” vs. TLC’s “No Scrubs.” Also I will now be using the word “swaggeristic” in my everyday vernacular. (PS. The make-up in this video is SICK. Major props to the artist.)

Christian Rich

“Famous Girl”

I dig anything by Kubrick so I liked that this video was playing with a little Eyes Wide Shut theme. (Notice all the men are wearing animal masks. Coincidence? I think not.) On my first original listen, I was very worried we would be seeing another case of over-used Auto tune again, but it’s treated very delicately here. It adds a nice touch to the song rather then drowning it in a sea of distorted noise. I was completely surprised when the video took that very strange dark Law & Order: SVU ending. I was really expecting the hero to come in, sweep the girl out of danger, and ride of into the sunset. So bravo for shocking the hell out of me.

Curt@ins

“Black Folks”

I think it goes without saying that we can all respect WHY this video was made and the integrity of such a move. Without a doubt, it’s an incredibly bold statement and I would even say a necessary one. It’s important to remember that we are prone to apathy and I admire the steps taken to prevent it.

Trip Lee feat. Tedashii

“Real Vision”

I am psyched to see the hip-hop genre being used for a positive message because it’s easy to get lost in the “money, cash, hos” persona occasionally and forget that it’s so often been a form of music that it used to bring attention to any number of causes. The video does look slightly low-budget, so bright colors were used to counter-act the production quality, but it’s a fine effort especially in terms of lyrics.

Webstar & Jim Jones feat. Juelz Santana

“Dancin on Me”

So… yah. Not my thing. At all. What happens if they’re performing live and the Auto tune breaks? Also, somewhere Beyonce is pppiiissssssssed.

This week I have to give it to Christian Rich for being so bold with the ending. Leave me your thoughts below!