Music Mondays are dedicated to students’ love of constantly fresh and bumpin’ music. No matter if it’s hip-hop, pop or Euro-beats, the staff here at Onward State appreciates whatever can get a party started. Here’s your week’s playlist to get you through another frigid week of snowstorms and apartment hopping.

1. Nicki Minaj-Moment 4 Life
With the third single from her mixtape, “Pink Friday,” Minaj has made sure that 2011 is her year. This track, featuring fellow Young Money artist Drake, tells the story of two children who want to be rappers and one day reach their goal and want to remember this “moment 4 life.” Yeah, it’s kind of cheesy, but Nicki’s back and forth with Drake makes it obvious why she’s on top: because she can actually rap. The video just dropped early last week, so there’s still time to enjoy the song before it gets overplayed. Maybe this track will give you another excuse to go to the I AM Music II Tour with Weezy this Spring.

2. Enrique Iglesias-Tonight
Now to be completely honest, I never though I’d be recommending the same artist whose song “Hero” was the theme of my 8th grade dance, but damn, this song is hot. After being shown the very sexy (and pornographic) video for “Tonight (I’m Fucking You),” I was immediately in love. It finally broke that barrier that says you should only allude to things in songs instead of directly referring to them; Enrique obviously said “fuck that.”  The attempt to tone it down by substituting “I’m fucking you” with ” I’m loving you” in the radio edit failed miserably–it’s still steamy.  This song has just hit over a million downloads and is already number one on the hot dance charts. In similar dance fashion to his last single “I Like It,” this song featuring Ludacris gets the party rocking even harder. Next time you need a song to get the girls dancing, put on this song and whisper the lyrics into her ear as you grind the night away.

3.Kanye West-Alors on Danse Remix
Okay, so this is kind of two people’s songs. Yeezy raps over a sped-up version of Belgian singer Stromae’s “Alors on Danse” and turns the song into an international hit also featuring Philly rapper, Gilbere Forte. This song hooked me from the original Stromae beats and choruses, but with a little bit of Ye getting a hold of the song takes it a long way. This song is perfect to play at your parties since no one will know what the chorus means (so we dance), besides you and your few foreign friends. Put this song on to get a little taste of the Euro-pop you’ve been missing in your life.

4.The Game-Ain’t No Doubt About It
In preparation for the long-awaited next album from G-Unit rapper The Game, a few tracks have slid through the digital world, including this song featuring Pharrell and Justin Timberlake. I enjoy this song for JT more than I do The Game, but overall it’s a catchy feel-good song like any Timberlake production. Pharrell also adds a nice touch to the song especially since he can actually sing (*cough* The Game *cough*). This is the first track to come from the upcoming album, but the first official single, “I’m the King” with T.I., has also recently dropped. No matter your affection for him, this new album will be full of guest appearances from everyone–Weezy and Dre to Lady Gaga and Akon.

5. Iron & Wine-Monkeys Uptown
This is definitely my favorite track from the past week or so. Listening to Iron & Wine’s brilliant new sound feels like I’m listening to a whole new Sufjan Stevens album rather than another depressing folk album. The entire “Kiss Each Other Clean” is a great rock record for this Winter. My pick from the the album, “Monkeys Uptown” is a funky, almost psychedelic pop song that reminds me more of a jazz club than an indie artist. Overall, this is definitely the best album of the week to check out.

About the Author

Marcus Correll

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