The Autotune'd Era

Recently, I been hearin' A LOT of different opinions and standpoints on what seems to be the newest trend in Hip Hop, the pitch corrector known as autotune. It seems like with the release of Jay-Z's street single off BP3, D.O.A. the line has been drawn on this new trend, either you're with it, or against it...

Well...I guess it's time for me to let ya'll know where I stand on the line...

First of all, as far as Hip Hop is concerned, Jay ain't got NO room to talk. Let's rewind to 3 months ago, when Mr. 808s and Autotunes himself, Kanye West, specifically stated BP3 was FULLA autotune'd out records, but they decided to remove all those records from the album and release an "anthem" called Death of Autotune. Now, let me ask you a simple question, from a political standpoint as well as from an artistical standpoint, why the hell would you fill your album up with something, remove all that from the album, and drop a song that's ANTI what your own album was just full of? I ain't tryin' to disrespect a legend like Jay-Z, but that nigga is a toenail away from fallin' off right now, and he decides to diss somethin' the MAJORITY of the music industry is usin', INCLUDIN' Jay-Z...

....ain't that right Guru?

But enough about the camel, this is how Dice feels. I really don't understand the hate on autotune. This music is an artform, different styles come and different styles evolve into new styles. Now days, space age rap is what's poppin' and the autotune feel is an aspect of that. Hatin' on this would be the direct equivalent of hatin' on Bone Thugs and Twist during the rise of the tounge twistin', rapid fire spit. Imagine if Jay-Z made an album full of this....

Nigga What - Jay-Z

....and then 3 months later, he scraps all the tracks and releases a Death of Fast Rap, dissin' Twista and Bone Thugs. How you gonna diss a new style?

My first track with autotune was done in November of '07, about 6 months after Epiphany dropped and about 3 months before Lollipop dropped, which was the beginning. It was a track called Some People Hate with Tommy Kost

Some People Hate - Th0mas ft. S.Body

It was too ill, but lookin' back at this track is bringin' out my negative side when it comes to autotune. Back then it felt authentic usin' this, when these days if I use it, it feels like I'm hoppin' on a bandwagon, which is one thing I HATE doin' as a musician. This "trend" talk gotta stop right now, if you use autotune, use it 'cause it'll make YOUR song doper, don't use it 'cause another nigga is usin', don't use it to attempt to sing, if you can't sing you can't sing. Everybody can't be like T-Pain, who deff made this popular in today's era seeing as how most these kids don't even know who Roger Troutman is, but that's a whole different blog in itself.

Point - Autotune should NOT become somethin' that's cool to hate just because everybody is hatin' it, just like it should NOT become somethin' that's cool to use just because everybody is usin' it. I've used it myself before it was hot to use, so my stance is golden. Funny how the first track I ever used it on got a hook that goes, "Some people hate, some people love, some people fiend 'cause they can't get enough." Track done in '07 and describes autotune in '09 perfectly. But don't worry ya'll, I'ma do my best to keep FAVORITISM autotune free. Dictated, not read. Certified by DICE.

Exclusivity...

So...after my last disappointin', inadequate, epic failure attempt at a blog, I hit a bit of a slump when it comes to hookin' up the fanbase with that D.I.C.E. EXCULSIVE music. I think my last blog was early fall of '08 and since then alotta rabbits been pulled out the hat, lotta hits been made and alotta updates been slept on....

But, I digress, we are now in the midst of summer '09 and things lookin' nice in my rearview while I been ridin' in the fast lane. I'm lookin' at settin' a studio up at the crib with the help of the great white hope, Mista Kost....

...and once that gets setup, the mixtapes and exclusives will be DAILY....

...but until then, I'm lookin' at the deal with my boy 21 th K and H.O. Records, some real nice emcees on that label. Me and the Beatridas fam still goin' hard, Wolf Rellik got that new album droppin' called Paradise with me on there, mixtapes on the way there too. And of course, me and the superproducer/extraordinare Blaksmith have a mixtape as well as album comin' and I promise all ya'll it will be a CRAZY experience, just based off some of the tracks we got done already. I can't release the name of the album yet, but the mixtape title alludes to it, plus there's quite a few hints in the lyrics. Any guesses?...

Dice & Blaksmith - The Birth of a Soul Rival Mixtape (2009)(Mastered)(Exclusive)

And of course, you KNOW, I ain't forgot about the upcoming release of my highly anticipated sophomore release....Favoritism....I'm just a perfectionist, so this one been pushed back alot, but it IS comin'...

This IS the official DICE blog, I'ma update this as often as possible with exclusives, you tryna get some hard bumpable music from some hot artists, then keep checkin' back. If not, never check again, its Dice ya'll, ONE!