Album Review: Canal Street Confidential by Curren$y

After already dropping an album and two mixtapes in 2015, 'Canal Street Confidential' is the fourth project from Curren$y (a.k.a Spitta Andretti) this year. His consistency to create and distribute good music is one of the reasons the loyal fanbase loves him so much. But can his new album live up to the expectations? Or does it feel like a rushed cash-in?

Canal Street Confidential

The album features eleven tracks in total. There's also a deluxe edition available with two bonus tracks, but will not be taken into account during the review. The majority of the instrumentals are produced by Purps from 808 Mafia, the other tracks include productions by Cookin' Soul and Cool & Dre, who are known to collaborate with Curren$y once in a while. In my opinion, it always felt as if his other projects were missing some bass-heavy tracks. However, in Canal Street Confidential there seems to be more bass present than usual. Although it still maintains the 'smooth' sounds that are characteristic for Curren$y.

The album also features some popular collaborators, including Future, Lil Wayne, Lloyd and of course Wiz Khalifa. These good friends of Curren$y were specifically asked to contribute, instead of ''anyone who happened to walk in the house that day''. Each of them brings their own sound to the track, giving Canal Street Confidential some nice diversity. The track 'Bottom of the Bottle' featuring Lil Wayne and August Alsina even has a mainstream feel, which got Curren$y some radio plays. It wasn't even on purpose though, the three artists from New Orleans each added their own part and the song just happened. 

Curren$y's performances are once again remarkable, with a flow and delivery that continue to impress. And especially for people who are inspired by his achievements, the lyrics are very relatable. As always it also includes his usual braggadocio lines about bitches, drugs and cars, with the typical humoristic twists. The hooks sometimes lack a little in lyric variety, but despite that they are still memorable in a good way.

It also includes a fun and memorable skit, which acts as an introduction to the track 'Winning' featuring good friend Wiz Khalifa. In the skit, Curren$y tells a little story about their humble beginnings which shows that he doesn't forget where he came from. This little insight adds to the experience that is Canal Street Confidential. The other skit after his solo track 'Cruzin...', as introduction to 'Superstar' (featuring Ty$), feels like it's just there to fill up time though. I would've preferred another verse for 'Cruzin...', since it features one of my favourite instrumentals from the album. However, this little annoyance doesn't change much when looking at the whole package.

Verdict

With Canal Street Confidential, Curren$y maintains his streak of releasing good projects. It includes memorable instrumentals and solid performances from the man himself as well as the featured artists. Overall, it's is a great experience for the die-hard Spitta fans, but it also offers something for every kind of taste. I think me, and a lot of other people will enjoy the album even after Spitta's next project comes out...in like three months.

Do you agree with the verdict? Or do you think Curren$y could've done better? 
Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Open Source Creative Suite (Part 5)

An alternative to the Adobe Creative Suite

Introduction

The Adobe Creative Suite is a Software Package used by Art Designers all over the world, but unfortunately it's not free.

In this series we will try to give an overview of the different parts of the Suite and where possible give alternative software for you to use.

This week we will be discussing:

After Effects

The post-production software that allows you to apply visual effects and animate elements to your previously edited video. It's easy to use and features many different built-in tools. On top of all the functionality, it's also possible to use plug-ins from simple color presets to advanced lighting effects. 

And as always, one of the biggest advantages of Adobe products is that it integrates with other programs like Premier Pro and Photoshop, as well as third party software. 

The alternative we would like to recommend is:

Blender

Blender was first used as an in-house tool, developed by Dutch animation studio's NeoGeo and Not A Number Technologies (NaN). After NaN went bankrupt, it was released as open source with the help of crowdfunding.

The open source project is now a free and complete package for professionals. As part of that package, it features a fully functional (non-linear) video-editor. This means it allows for adding simple effects like transitions, text and adjusting colors. 

But it's way more than that. As an alternative to After Effects, it can be used for visual effects, motion graphics and compositing. And the possibility to create animated films using 3D-modeling, animating and physics simulation opens really makes it a worthy opponent. It even features an integrated game engine, allowing you to create your own games.

Another pro from Blender is that it has a fully customizable workspace environment. Being able to choose the visible functions and more, can be used to build distinct layouts for various tasks. In combination with the hotkeys, it can greatly improve the workflow. 

Like any other program geared towards professionals, it takes some patience to figure everything out. However, once you do, the possibilities seem endless. Luckily the Blender website provides great support with manuals and tutorials to get you started on your creation. On top of that, it has a community that is always happy to help.

Download

Tutorial

Community

Open Source Creative Suite (Part 4)

An alternative to the Adobe Creative Suite

Introduction

The Adobe Creative Suite is a Software Package used by Art Designers all over the world, but unfortunately it's not free. 

In this series we will try to give an overview of the different parts of the Suite and where possible give alternative software for you to use.

This week we will be discussing:

Premiere Pro

Which is a software application designed for video-editing. Sometimes they use the term 'non-linear editing system' (NLE) to refer to these kinds of software. This is because you're not tied to a predetermined and ordered sequence, unlike 'linear video editing', which was just called 'video-editing' until the computer-based systems became available. 

Premiere was actually one of the first NLEs, released for the Mac back in 1991. Due to the competition from Final Cut Pro, made by Mac itself, Adobe chose to release the Premiere Pro version on Windows-platform as well. 

There's also an Elements version of Premiere which is geared more towards the Consumer. The Pro version is, as the name suggests, targeted at the Professional and has a lot more input and output formats, effects and features in it's arsenal.

There are several free video-editing Software applications available, but we like to recommend:

Lightworks

Although it's not really open source (see: this thread), it has a free version as well as a paid version. The Free version has a few less features and output formats compared to the Pro version. However, you probably won´t miss them unless you´re a real professional.

The only minor issue with Lightworks is that there is a pretty steep learning curve to be able to get everything out of it.

However, there are some great basic and advanced tutorials available on their website to get you started. 

Once you start to understand how it all works, you´ll probably grow to love it. The layout is customizable and in most cases you can choose multiple ways to achieve what you want. It all works really smooth, especially when trimming or cutting scenes or audio. On top of that, there are some nice transitions and effects that are easily modified, aloowing you to create the video that you want. 

Compared to Premier Pro, the only thing really missing in Lightworks is the integration of other software and plug-ins. Some special features like the ´Shake Stabilizer´ for Premiere are nice a touch, but if you want to get started or do semi-professional editing for free, Lightworks is the way to go.

Tutorials

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