Twitter [I know, hear me out] is kinda good for inspiration.

Homegirl I don't know [or maybe I do, I'm not good with screennames] seems to think that Cee-Lo as a singer doesn't compare to Cee-Lo as a rapper. And worse, that Cee-Lo's singing hinges on 'Crazy'. 'Crazy' is a dope vocal performance, honestly, but I won't use Gnarls Barkley in this. Won't use a Goodie Mob song, either.

First of all, Cee-Lo the rapper isn't too much different from Cee-lo as a singer. Distinctive voice, often lapses into the other personality, takes you to the corner outside the church. And to be clear, I'm a through-and-through stan for him - dude can flow in 6/8. Here's why I like Cee-Lo the singer better - and why I think he's just a little more ill when he's holding notes.

The man is a marvel live.+ His voice is a singing voice that happens to be an awesome rapping voice, not the other way around. Surely, his rapping doesn't sound unnatural or forced or anything, but the way 'looove' billows out of him here is just gorgeous.

Estelle - Pretty Please (Love Me) ft. Cee-Lo

+ The man has a gift for harmony. The flow on this guest verse is nice - the push that he gives every bar by backing himself up with the three-part, eventually breaking into song, is what really kills it. This is my jam.

Esthero - Gone ft. Cee-Lo

+ He sings because he's happy, and he sings because he's free.

Cee-Lo - The Art of Noise ft. Pharrell

Honestly, after listening to him for an hour, it's really hard to separate Cee-Lo's two skills from each other. He harmonizes all the time and his solo albums blur vocal lines all over the place. I think a lot of my love for him as a singer comes from joints like the Estelle one or the Asher Roth one where he shows up to just take it to another level. I'd probably feel the same way about guest-spot raps.

Here, have another.

Kelis - Lil Star ft. Cee-Lo

Goodie Mob still got some tour dates left. If you're within driving distance, get your brakes checked.

Updated on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 22:28 by Tyler

'Mayor' got a video like ten seconds ago and I'm never up on anything this early. This song's been my ish for a while, maybe two months now.

Basic concept, superb execution.

Pac Div + Nipsey + Jay Rock > any rookie class I can think of. It'd be great if they all dropped major labels in the same calendar.

[Pac Div's gruesome myspace]

Them talking about how 'Mayor' is 'NWA meets Beastie Boys meets the future in PacDiv' after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Above is the album cover for Fidelity Castro's forthcoming album, Hi Fidelity.

It's pretty great - I got an advance copy somehow. The lead single, 'Communist Party', exemplifies what the clan of Latin Americans, all US citizens, are capable of; tongue-in-cheek home-country rhetoric over some pretty rockin' horns. And vocoder! Wow. It makes you think that the singer must be hiding something, but for some reason the T-Pain effect over some good flamenco rhythm just pops.

The seven-piece band are, apparently, down with Cuba, though they come from all over the place: the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and, obviously, Mexico. That should be apparent from the song. They're also distinctly glitchy - the duh-duh-duh bassline makes it a more interesting listen than, say, Los Mocosos, their closest counterparts. My friend Candice would probably love them.

Here's Communist Party for your listening pleasure:

Let's hope Hi Fidelity finds a distributor soon.