Oooooooh I really like this! Michelle breeze of DarkPop got on this track with London native, Kano.
On DarkPop’s site they write, “The music, lyrics and photographs on the album chronicle our lives over the past 3 years. A jigsaw of ideas and poems that fell into a strange puzzle. We decided early on to do everything ourselves, and with naive enthusiasm embarked on a mammoth journey.”
.. Well, it’s one hell of a journey. Also, check their site for their album ‘Golden Lillies + Mr. Smith’ It’s the only place you can cop it.

… Interesting stuff.

Clearly I’m not talking about the heavy metal Ronnie James. “Dio” is the alias of the 21-year-old Dutch rapper Diorno Braaf. Even though I don’t understand Dutch, I can still enjoy his sound and the videos! I was watching the video on the making of his track “Cool,” and Dutch sounds like such a bazaar language. (Check out my original post on Nederhop – hip hop of the Netherlands). Born in Amsterdam in 1988, Diorno was Influenced by Notorious BIG, Jay-Z and Eminem, and eventually started to write songs and rap in 2004. Check out some of his videos after the jump.
Visit his website here at diomusic.nl.

Dio feat. Jayh – Cool from Opslaan Als on Vimeo.

Dio – Cool Remix ft. Jayh, Ado’nis, KV & Kempi from Dux-Deluxe on Vimeo.

Dio & The Madd – Baby from Opslaan Als on Vimeo.

My music just keep piling up. Jeesh. My highlight tracks here would have to be J. Cole’s Playground, Statik’s Come Around and Rich Kidd’s So Much More.

Matisyahu ft. Akon – One Day

Shanell ft. Ne-Yo & Lil Wayne – Other Side

J. Cole – Playground

Lupe Fiasco ft. The Neptunes – Beaming

Drake – It’s Been A Pleasure

Jason Derulo – Ridin Solo

Jason Derulo – Blind

Rich Kidd ft. Colin Munroe & Saukrates – So Much More

Statik Selektah ft. Talib Kweli – Come Around

Usher ft. Nicki Minaj – Lil Freak

J. Holiday – Champion

I was first introduced to the Swedish music scene through Lykke Li, and what a phenomenal introduction that was. Now, this mysterious Swede-pop crew has got me in a trance. The band was originally signed through Sincerely Yours, a label founded by another Swedish pop group, The Tough Alliance. However, just this past December, the band switched over to the record label Secretly Canadian. Their first album, jj n° 2, was released in July 2009. Keep a heads up for their second album, jj n° 3, which hits Sweden and the US March 9, 2010. Their covers are my favorites though!

Just warning you, the song you are about to listen to may tempt you to seek out your most readily available drug dealer. “Guess what drug?” I am assuming if you were to be in a club and listen to Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” while on X, this is exactly what it would sound like… This song flows about as smooth as that purple in Lil Wayne’s cup.

Download  jj’s  n° 2 album here.