S. Samuel
Although late British singer Amy Winehouse has her Lioness: Hidden Treasures posthumous album dropping in just a few weeks, producer Salaam Remi promises she did not have a secret overload of unreleased records.
Asked if Winehouse’s unreleased music is anywhere close to late rap icon 2Pac, who still has new music dropping over a decade since his passing, Remi said the singer’s stash is nowhere close.
“She didn’t record like 2Pac, so that’s not the case,” Remi told MTV News of Winehouse. “There are definitely things that people hadn’t heard that have been recorded, but they’re in different modes in different forms. But she wasn’t a recorder like that. … She’d just do one take of a song, she’d write it and then she’d go sing it. Back to Black was a short album in comparison; it was like 37 minutes — [She was like,] ‘This is what I’m writing, this is what you get, underline, bye.’ … It’s not that type of [2Pac] recording process, but there are definitely a lot of things that people haven’t heard before or weren’t aware of.” (MTV)
In early November, Winehouse and rap veteran Nas‘ “Like Smoke” posthumous duet emerged online.
A bittersweet treat. My Hot 97 family got the scoop on this new Amy Winehouse x Nas song, “Like Smoke” which posthumously fulfills the late singer’s wish to collaborate with her friend “Mr. Jones”. It’s a gorgeous retro-soul track, in typical Winehouse style and produced by Salaam Remi back in 2008. “Like Smoke” is the lead single off Lioness: Hidden Treasures, a collection of songs Amy recorded before her death this past July. “…like a polygamist with a twist, will I marry again, maybe, I guess….I be out in London, Camden, hunting for the answers why the God take away the homie. I can’t say that I’m a firm believer that we all meet up in eternity. Just hope the big man, show me some courtesy….” (Miss Info TV)
Winehouse’s The Lioness: Hidden Treasures is expected to hit retail outlets in early December.
An album of material recorded by Amy Winehouse before she died, including new tracks as well as reworked versions of songs made popular by her and other artists, will be released on Dec. 5, an announcement on her Web site said Monday. The album, called “Lioness: Hidden Treasures,” will be released by Island Records, which released her two previous albums, “Frank” and “Back to Black.” (New York Times)
Some of the project’s music reportedly dates back nearly an entire decade.
“Lioness: Hidden Treasures” consists of a dozen tracks spanning some of the five-time Grammy-winning singer’s earliest recording sessions in 2002 through her final studio session earlier this year with Tony Bennett, when the singers dueted on the pop classic “Body and Soul.” It will also feature “Between the Cheats,” a new song she recorded in 2008 with Salaam Remi for possible inclusion on what would have been her third album. During the same sessions she recorded a duet with rapper Nas, “Like Smoke,” that will be on the new collection. The tracks on “Hidden Treasures” are produced by Remi and the producer of her “Back to Black” breakthrough album and hit single “Rehab,” Mark Ronson. (Los Angeles Times)
Amy Winehouse passed away in July 2011 due to medical complications.
The Lioness: Hidden Treasures is slated to hit stores Monday, December 5th.
Check out “Like Smoke” below:
