Articles by Michael J. Warren

Foreign Exchange Evoke Chaucer on 'Tales from the Land of Milk and Honey'

PUBLISHED Sep 1, 2015

"More than anything else, the biggest crime as an artist is to be boring." Phonte Coleman, the primary songwriter, vocalist and animated g...

Alessia Cara

Four Pink Walls

PUBLISHED Aug 28, 2015

If any lyrics succinctly capture Alessia Cara's music industry experience so far, it's the very relatable refrain, "What am I doing here?"...

The Foreign Exchange

Tales from the Land of Milk and Honey

PUBLISHED Aug 21, 2015

Every Foreign Exchange album is a departure, an abrupt turn from what you've come to expect that takes a minute to grow on you. Tales from...

Lianne La Havas

Blood

PUBLISHED Jul 29, 2015

Blood seems like an odd title for Lianne La Havas' sophomore album. One's immediate word associations veer to the macabre, to violence, to...

Azekel

Raw, Vol. 1

PUBLISHED Jul 17, 2015

Few things are as falsely claimed in popular culture as the word "raw." Raw was Eddie Murphy at his zenith; it was Big Daddy Kane when he w...

The Internet

Ego Death

PUBLISHED Jun 30, 2015

On the most recent episode of their podcast, The Music Snobs asked if the Internet are the only band moving R&B forward. Much debate and di...

Lianne La Havas Reveals How Her Past Influenced 'Blood'

PUBLISHED Jun 26, 2015

"I'm different now from what you've seen before," Lianna La Havas assures Exclaim! firmly as we discuss her new video for the song "Unstopp...

Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment

Surf

PUBLISHED Jun 2, 2015

For the better part of a year, Chance The Rapper has been warning us about his crew the Social Experiment and their upcoming Surf album, th...