Friday Free For All: Pharell Williams Remixed and Antwon
Pharrell – “Happy (Cousin Cole Reggae Mix)” Nobody has been more ubiquitous in pop charts for the past year than Pharrell Williams. From “Get Lucky” to “Blurred Lines” to “Happy”,…
By Travis Holcombe • • 1 min readPharrell – “Happy (Cousin Cole Reggae Mix)”
Nobody has been more ubiquitous in pop charts for the past year than Pharrell Williams. From “Get Lucky” to “Blurred Lines” to “Happy”, Williams is in cultural beastmode once again.
As it tends to happen with wildly popular songs, “Happy” has been played to death in recent months and at this point, I know, you’re probably sick of it and would be completely fine with never hearing the words, “Because I’m happyyyyyyyyy—,” again until at least 2023.
With that said, this Cousin Cole reggae mix of “Happy” is really tight and breathes new life into “Happy” (for me anyway).
If this was some anonymous producer, I’ll be honest, I probably wouldn’t have bothered giving it a listen, but Cousin Cole has proven time and time again to being one of the smartest, most ear-pleasingest remixers around.
With this “Happy” remix, Cousin Cole recasts Pharrell as a ’60s reggae toaster.
How Cole heard “Happy” and thought — that would make a great reggae track! — I dunno, but that’s the genius of Cousin Cole and it totally works.
Antwon – “Heavy Hearted In Doldrums”
If you had a machine and you were able to meld Kool G Rap, Biz Markie and Akinyele into one rapper, Antwon would be the result.
After putting out a pair of excellent mixtapes (including last year’s “In Dark Denim“, Antwon firmly established himself as one of the most exciting new voices in rap.
“Heavy Hearted In Doldrums“ is the San Jose-based cloud rapper’s first official “album” and his most sonically pleasing release to date.
Antwon is lyrically focused throughout the release and is backed with wavy production from the likes of Tulip Pezley (of Oddience), Matrixxman, and Lil Ugly Mane (as Shawn Kemp).
Grab the whole album at the UNIF Clothing website for the low, low cost of typing in your email address.
Check out Antown’s “Don’t Care” here. But if you’re sensitive about NSFW language and graphic sexual detail, you would be well-advised to sit this one out 😉