Next up on the PL►YList is crunkcore artist J Bigga.  Crunkcore is a fusion genre that draws inspiration from hip-hop, crunk, electro, pop, and occasionally screamo, according to about.com.  The crunkcore genre is often criticized by reviewers for its willingness to appeal to the lowest common denominator of hip-hop, electro, and screamo to create songs of little substance and cheap thrills.  While I agree that most crunkcore lacks deeper meaning, I tend to enjoy the occasional crunkcore track, simply because the genre is so unpretentious and accessible for a quick thrill.

J Bigga’s style of crunkcore does not feature much screamo influence, except for Take My Picture where J Bigga experiments with screaming vocals overtop a heavily electronic track.

J Bigga or John Browning also goes by Gunnuh (as in going to) on some of his tracks.  He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and eventually moved out to Los Angeles to further pursue his musical ambitions, according to his bio on his song, Swag Police.  He founded GLDBRS entertainment, and he runs his own website at jbigga.com.

J Bigga is a very prolific, and oftentimes profane artist with a personal style mirroring that of the scene trend of 2007-2008.  He even has a song called So Scene.  His channel features over two hundred videos and songs, some with titles like Fuckin’, Threesome, and Oh Dang, Let’s Bang.  Though the three aforementioned songs share similar themes, they exhibit very different styles.  Threesome has a gentle electronica feel, similar to Owl City’s sound, while Oh Dang, Let’s Bang is a much faster hip-hop track and Fuckin’ coasts on auto-tuned vocals.

I like J Bigga’s overstated, silly, and irreverent take on music.

His song Sweater is the unofficial anthem for that article of clothing as J Bigga sings, “Look at my sweater,” over a bubbly bass line.

He created My Muffin as a parody of Soulja Boy and VIC’s song Get Silly, showing how a song about muffins is about more than Get Silly.

Acting British features a terrible, funny British accent.

Occasionally J Bigga produces less vulgar tracks addressing themes a bit deeper than get silly (or makes silly vulgar songs, like The Land of Mushroom Unicorn Sex).  Our Shadows Shudder addresses themes of love and hate, though the video is slightly inappropriate.  My Loose Change explores rejection and money.  Breathe Carolina is about unrequited desire and stress.

J Bigga’s most insightful song is definitely Puppies; an upbeat crunkcore track about a girl who gives him puppies in his heart.  J Bigga even released a seven minute long video to explain the concept of this song.

J Bigga’s latest project was his Murder Scene EP released about a year ago, and he has not been too active since, though there are still plenty more J Bigga songs out there.

To start this PL►YList, I’d like to introduce you to Dante Cimadamore or Give Me Motion.  Dante | Give Me Motion is one of my favorite little known artists.  His songs often feature only vocals and an acoustic ukulele, and usually have a very laid-back, indie vibe.  Although, I really enjoy some of today’s synth heavy tunes, Dante’s pure, simple sound provides a great alternative.

He’s a pretty laid-back guy himself.  He’s from Los Angeles, California, and he describes himself simply as, “Song Maker | Sun Bather,” on his channel.  Dante is also a semi-regular attendee of Burning Man as Nice Peter can confirm.

Dante is probably best known for his work with Nice Peter and Maker Studios.  He is heavily involved with the successful Epic Rap Battles of History YouTube series, and has a few cameos in the series.  Even before ERB, Dante, along with Nice Peter and Kassem G, gained some recognition from their Superman Socks song, and the street music skit that the song is based on.

However, in addition to his ERB activities, Dante writes and produces his own music and occasionally covers other songs, like Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.

Ocean Blue is one of Dante’s original songs.  It’s a lullaby on the ukulele that pays homage to the color blue, singing, “For no reason but the truth/ I’ll stay here where the sun trickles through/ ocean blue.”

Cheap Chinese features Dante on an acoustic guitar, strumming out an original, mellow love song.

His Empty Rooms EP consists of five songs, and is available on iTunes, where every single review has given the EP five stars; user, themusicalchair, raves, “This is what good music sounds like (:.”  Most of Dante’s reviews tend to be positive, though since he is not too well known, he has only a handful of reviews and a lack of major coverage.  However, if he becomes more well-known, it’s likely the positive reviews will continue.  The Empty Rooms EP starts out with the upbeat, introspective Just Words, and concludes with the slow, deep Archipelago Me.

Almost all of Dante’s songs contain some positive, inspirational message; perhaps best exemplified by his song Coffee Panda (or L.O.V.E. C’mon!), whose lyrics are all about love and friendship!

Much of Dante’s music is available for free, and according to his twitter, he’s hard at work producing more, so keep an eye out if you’ve liked what you’ve heard so far!