What It Is! (Kahil El'Zabar album)

What It Is! is an album by American jazz percussionist Kahil El'Zabar, which was recorded in 2012 and released on Delmark. It was the debut of a quartet comprising three young players from the school of Chicago's AACM: tenor saxophonist Kevin Nabors, pianist Justin Dillard and bassist Junius Paul. The album includes five originals and two jazz standards by John Coltrane: "Impressions" and "Central Park West".

Reception

The Down Beat review by John Murph states "Kahil El’Zabar moves toward the center this time around and releases one of his most accessible discs yet. The adventurous drummer and bandleader steers an impressive quartet, composed of some of the newer generations of the AACM, and emphasizes blues, swing and groove."

The All About Jazz review by Troy Collins says "Whether navigating funky R&B, modal post-bop or expressionistic abstraction, El'Zabar's young sidemen invest their efforts with palpable conviction, imparting even textbook extrapolations with heartfelt urgency."

What It Is

What It Is is a slang phrase popularized in the 1990s as a greeting or as another way to ask an individual about their well-being or general perception of things (similar to "How are you?", "How is it going?" or "What's Up?") It is a shortening of the greeting, "What it is, what it was, and what it shall be," popular in the 1960s among African Americans.

It also may refer to :

Music

Album

Song

Other

Don't Feed da Animals

Don't Feed da Animals is the second studio album by American rapper Gorilla Zoe. It was released on March 17, 2009.The album peaked at number 8 on the US Billboard 200, number 2 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and number 1 on the Billboard Top Rap Albums. The album sold 29,000 copies in its first week, and 134,660 copies to date.

Critical reception

Don't Feed da Animals received mixed reviews from music critics. Steve 'Flash' Juon of RapReviews credited the album for toning down on the skits and featured guests to showcase Zoe's vocal delivery but found it lacking with more luxury rap and silliness. Juon called it "a slight improvement over [Gorilla] Zoe's debut, but his personality still tends to get lost in the mix and he sometimes seems to be a caricature of Southern rap instead of one of its stars." David Jeffries of AllMusic said that while the album carried the usual ear-grabbing club tracks, it was kept down by the more sophomoric lyricism in tracks like "S*** on 'Em" and "Lost". Brendan Frederick of XXL said he saw some growth in Zoe's brag-rap lyricism along with introspective in the track "Lost," saying that he found his "comfort zone somewhere between singsongy rap and electro R&B, proving that this boy from the hood is finally starting to man up."

Qwote

Qwote is a singer-songwriter artist born in Haiti and based in the United States.

Qwote was born in Haiti and was raised by his grandmother. He started to write music at age 12. Residing at various times in Long Island, New York City, he later on moved to Miami, where he found his niche in the Miami clubs. He had his first big break appearing on rap artist Trina's 2008 album Still da Baddest in the song "Phone Sexx." He was featured alongside Pitbull on a minor hit in Austria called "Superstar" by Jump Smokers!. His 2009 song "Don't Wanna Fight" featuring Trina became a hit in New Zealand. He recorded a rearranged version of the same song with Shaggy and a second one with Pitbull. He also recorded "Shawty It's Your Booty."

He has made a version "Vem Dançar Kuduro" (an original credited by Lucenzo featuring Big Ali)" / "Danza Kuduro" (an adaptation by Don Omar featuring Lucenzo). Qwote's version is credited to him featuring Pitbull and Lucenzo. It entered the Top 40 on the UK Singles Chart straight at #13 in its first week of release.