Album Releases I Don’t Mind Spending My Money On

Admittedly, I don’t buy as much music as I used to, let alone listen to a lot of new and underground artists as much as I used to.  But every once in awhile, someone will catch my ear enough for me to want to support their career.  I am pretty much a loyal fan.  Once I buy your first album and I love it,  I will more than likely buy all albums after that first one.  For instance, I have bought every single album for Outkast, Mary J. Blige, NaS, Jay-Z, Keyshia Cole and so on.  And as the years move on and on, what I’ll buy from the store or download from iTunes gets more and more scarce.  And it’s not even that I don’t like much of what’s out there; it just takes a lot more for me to want to spend my money on it.  So for what is supposedly coming out this year, this is where my money will be spent

Keri Hilson

Being that I love to write, I appreciate any artist that writes not only for others, but for themselves.  I first heard of Keri a few years ago when production clique The Clutch were going strong.  They had written for Ciara, Bobby V., Mary J. Blige, Britney Spears and others.  I heard a lot of unreleased material from her during this time.  She’s a talented writer and has a nice voice.  And with the recent shenanigans of Rihanna’s career,  this is a perfect time for her to get in.

Big Boi

Who knows when Sir Lucios Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty will be released but I will be first in line (or online) to purchase it.  Though I am not overly impressed by the recently relased “Ringtone” I did like the joint with Mary J., “Sumthin’s Gotta Give.”  Gyant over at SOHH Atlanta said that he heard the entire album and revealed that every track is on point.  And I’m not surprised.  Outkast always switches up their style from album to album all the while staying lyrically consitent.

Lily Allen

Lily Allen is just comical to me.  Not comical in the sense that she’s an idiot but comical in the sense that she’s a true bad azz yet a talented writer.  At first listen, you would think her melodic songs are sweet and syrupy but listen closer – she’s actually talking shit and I love it.  The song from her newest release, “Not Fair” is about a guy who can’t get her off no mater what.  Who can’t appreciate a good song about that?

J. Holiday

Even though “Bed” is nearly two years old, I can still listen to it back to back today.  His voice is sexy and strong and I enjoyed most of the cuts on his debut, Back of My Lac’. I’ve seen a few of his live performances and he gives a great show.  This is another album that has been pushed back numerous times but it is supposedly going to be a March release

Ryan Leslie

See previous post, Dope Boy: Ryan Leslie

Dr. Dre

I don’t know when the hell Detox is supposed to drop but I’ll definitely get it simply on the strength that it’s Dre.  How could you not buy it?  The beats are going to be crazy and the guest list will be endless.  And he’s been working on it for like 5 years.  So best believe it will be the shit.

And a few mabye’s:

Bobby Valentino

Adele

B.O.B.

Asher Roth

Dope Boy – Ryan Leslie

When I first heard the name Ryan Leslie it was in reference to the cute chick who can’t sing or dance, Cassie who was discovered in a club as she was rapping to some Biggie song or something.  He was amazed to see someone so attractive who knew of something so grimy and hardcore.  So he hollered at her – musically of course.  Then came the hit “Me & You” which was a hot song, no doubt.  At any rate, I envisioned this Ryan Leslie character to be some old head perv that just wanted to hit.  But lo and behold, he is something like a phenomenon.  I like all songs he has put out thus far, especially “Addicition.”  The lyrics and concepts of his songs, the production and even his videos are from what is seen on tv and heard on radio.  You can’t even put a category on his music.  You can’t classify him as rock, pop or rnb.  Then I saw his new video the other day, the rock version of “How It Was Supposed To Be” and that solidified my appreciation of him.  On top of that, he went to Harvard at the age of 15.  How dope (and sexy) is that?

Katie Couric’s Full Interview with Lil Wayne

Things I learned from watching Lil Wayne’s interview with Katie Couric:

1. Lil Wayne not only uses autotune when he raps, he also uses it when he speaks.  Why must he sound like that?

2. He changed his name from DeWayne to Wayne because he was named after his father who wasn’t around.  In his mind, this permanently eliminates his father.

3.  He is a gangster.  He does not ask questions.  He does what he wants.

4. He clearly did his homework before going in to this interview.  Note his ‘intellectual’ stance – hand resting underneath his chin, perfect posture, uses facial expressions to add emphasis.

5. He has custom made balls heehee

6.  He is no longer ‘addicted’ to syrup.  Good dodge (sorta)

7.  His weed usage is strictly medicinal…for his migraines.  uh huh

8.  He gets irate when it is suggested that he is a role model and is therefore influential to his kids and other kids.

9.  Did we know that he doesn’t write his rhymes down?

But shits and giggles aside, this was a pretty cool interview.  I gest used to hearing the same old same and some of this stuff was kinda new to me.  By the way, if you really know who’s gangsta, check this out.

Rick Ross Is a Terrible BabyDaddy

This right here is the exact reason why you must make sure your child and the mother of your child are respectfully and properly taken care of…

It’s been a few days since the beef began brewing between Curtis and The Officer.  I hesitated to be lured into watching it because I think it’s all silly and it’s really not going to make me buy anyone’s cd that I wouldn’t normally buy in the first place.  But I keep seeing it all over the place and my curiosity got the best of me and I finally watched the interview of him and the mother of The Officer’s kid.  A lot of things went through my mind after watching this.  The first thing being the astonishment of someone having sex with his blubbery ass and without a condom no less.  Words can’t even describe the visuals that popped into my head.  Too much to fathom.  Then the fact that she was so willingly open to let Curtis and the whole world know just how shitty he is.  She speaks about The Officer only paying small amounts on food and clothing for the child, then goes on to tell that her car was taken away.  Tragic, yes.  But I wonder how this even came to fruition?  Did Curtis go seeking her out or did she somehow get a hold of him?  At any rate,  The Officer should be ashamed and embarrassed and should be fully aware that there is no way to come back from this.  It’s mainly funny because Curtis has the capability of burying someone’s career with very few attempts.  The Officer is in quicksand right now.  The more he tries to scratch his way out,  the quicker he sinks.  He does not have enough to go up against Curtis and should just quit.  He’s already got the corrections officer gig hanging over his head.  What he really needs to focus on is taking care of Tia before she fully puts his ass on blast.  But then again, I guess it’s really too late for that too.  According to ThisIs50.com the book is set to be released in March.  Too bad for Officer Ross. And with the economy being as bad as it is, who knows if he can even go back to his old 9-5 gig…

New Videos: Ciara feat. Young Jeezy – Never Ever/Jazmine Sullivan – Lions, Tigers & Bears

Admittedly,  one of the main reasons I like Ciara is her amazing dancing abilities.  Everytime she comes out with a new video, there are moves in there that I will undoubtedly try (and miserably fail) to emulate.  She’s almost our modern day equivalent of Aaliyah, though no one will be able to take her place.

Jazmine Sullivan also has a video to one of my favorite tracks from her debut, “Lions, Tigers and Bears”. Love the visuals in this video

Music Rules My Life

My earliest memory of music was when my family moved here from New Orleans. I was around five years old and I was watching TV one day and saw Michael Jackson’s video for “Thriller.” I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the dance moves, the costume changes and the makeup. Even at that young age, I paid very close attention to details. After then, I remained glued to the TV watching every pop and r-n-b video that came across the tube.
After this I pretty much inherited my own musical tastes. I would listen to the radio and record every song that I liked and I would even go so far as to write the lyrics to most of the songs I had so that I knew exactly what they were saying and so I could sing along. I eventually upgraded to recording videos onto vhs tapes. I watched every music show on BET and MTV. And please believe that I still have those tapes to this day. By the time I hit junior high, I was buying damn near every cd that came out, especially the cd and tape singles that would have a shitload of remixes of one particular song. I would read the inserts from front to back and note who wrote the songs, who produced them, what samples they may have used and even who they said thank you to.

I also associate a lot of memories in my life to certain cd’s or songs:

“Supersonic”, ‘I’m Bad”, “Make It Last Forever”
Reminds me of my older brother who is seven years older than me. He was still living at home at the time and had different musical interests and I quickly gravitated to his genre. My parents used to go out a lot back in the day so whenever they were gone we would play the music so loud that the china cabinet upstairs would shake and rattle. These songs would play in the background while we were cleaning up the house or just chilling watching tv (on mute of course).

Johnny Gill – “Let’s Get The Mood Right”
Lost my virginity to this one. I was in college and was with an older guy at the time. He used to come to campus and scoop me up and take me to Augusta for the weekends. Even though I loved the cd, I can’t bring myself to listen to it anymore. It will forever remind me of that weekend. UGH

D.J. Jimi – “Where They At”
I went back home (New Orleans) one summer and this is ALL they played on the radio. My summer boyfriend had a Kid-N-Play high top fade and me and my cousin would go to the mall to collect numbers. When I got back home to Atlanta I wanted to buy the tape. At the time, the music store Turtles was still in existence and I had to get my friends older sister to buy it for me since I was underage.

Snoop Dogg/”Nothin But A G Thang”/”Deep Cover (187)”/Doggystyle
My personal introduction to the West coast. Although I knew about NWA, Eazy E and Ice Cube, I wasn’t into them that much. There was something about Snoop’s delivery and dare I use the word, his ‘swagger’ was very intriguing to me. Listening to this song made me feel very gangster-girlish (or as gangster as an 8th grade suburban chick at the time could feel). Then when “Nothing But A G Thang” came out, I was sold. I was an official Snoop Dogg fan. Also makes me think of 10th grade school year. It was my first year in high school and I was officially cute and somewhat fine and it was also the first year that I went to the infamous FreakNik. We played this cd the entire weekend. My best friend’s older sister took us and drove us around with her friends all weekend. Of course no 14-year old should be at such a function. I left on a Friday night and returned on a Sunday evening. Mom and Dad were LIVID. I was on punishment for a long time (no tv, phone was taken out of my room and no hanging out) but it was well worth it!

Madonna – ‘Like A Prayer”
I had a radio in my room that I would listen to every night at bedtime. For some reason, I thought that I would grow up and become some great international superstar singer. I even told my parents that I wanted to take singing lessons. But I have absolutely no vocal skills so that was quickly put to rest. At any rate, the station I listened to was some soft rock station and every night for like two months they played this song. This is the point where I really began to pay attention to the lyrics of songs. At that age, I really didn’t know what the hell Madonna was talking about but I could tell by looking at the video that it was supposed to be pretty deep. This also helped me to be very open-minded about music. To this day, I can listen to everything from rock to jazz to rap to indie.

Shai – If I Ever Fall In Love
The first cd I ever owned. It was a Christmas gift and I also got a cd player boom box with it.

Cash Money Millionaires (circa 1998, 1999)
And I’m not talking about from the last few years ago. I mean, when they were still unknowns, before they were one of the coolest groups from the south (aside from Outkast and Goodie Mob of course). I’m talking about the Hot Boyz, Juvenile “Ha”, “The Block Is Hot”. Back before the big breakup when they were one big happy family. Turk and B.G. were still part of the crew. IMO this is them at their very best. Their latest music may be more radio friendly or more catchy but anyone who swears that The Carter series is Lil Wayne’s best please go back to these years and listen to everyone in their crew. At any rate, I was in college (Georgia Southern) at the time and we had a 4-bedroom apartment with 6 occupants. Hands down the best time of my life. Plenty of road trips, drinking and other college shenanigans. This was at the highlight of my ‘ride-or-die chick’ days and CMM were essential to the lifestyle.

Jay-Z, DMX (circa 1999, 2000)
Also in college at this time, these are probably the years that I bought the most East coast rap ever in my life. I had always like Jay Z but down here we didn’t hear that much east coast. I feel that when songs like “Money, Cash, Hoes”, “Get At Me Dog’ “Is That Your Chick”. We played these on our way to class, to the club, on road trips. This was also when Belly came out and I swear me and Keisha were living the same lives.

Nas – “It Ain’t Hard To Tell”
When my love affair with Nasir Jones began. Half Man Half Amazing. I was awe struck, put in a trance. I had never heard anyone rap like him before and also be so cute at the same time.

T.I. – “I’m Serious”
When my love affair with TIP began. I was a senior in college and I remember seeing the video for the first time. I was in my boyfriends apartment and I remember telling him, this nigga is about to blow up.

Outkast – Southernplayalistikcadillacfunkymuzik
The first time I ever listened to, related to, and loved a rap group. They were from Atlanta and I knew everything they were talking about. It wasn’t booty music (which I used to love back then too) and it wasn’t r-n-b music. It was southern hip hop in its purest form. I will forever love Outkast.

I swear I could go on and on but I’ll cut it short and ask what are some of your musical memories?

Dirty Laundry

I have loosely been following the Mashonda/Swizz Beatz/Alicia Keys love triangle and was somewhat shocked when I first heard of the allegations. I mean, it’s not far fetched that a male entertainer would cheat on his wife. I guess I was more intrigued by the pairing of Swizz and Alicia Keys. Seems like an odd couple to me: Swizz is all hood and hip hop and Keys is all sophisticated-looking. But then again, when she first came on the scene about 8 years ago she was kinda hard. But who am I to say? It’s not like I know them personally, all I know is the image of them that I see on TV and in video. Even more astonishing to me is the fact that Mashonda is putting all their marital business out there for everyone to know. I personally wouldn’t want the world to know that my husband was cheating for one and that secondly that it was with another woman in the same field as me who was much more successful one at it than me. It makes me wonder why she’s really putting it out there like that. The most obvious reason is that she is hurt and feels betrayed. No woman wants or really expects for the man that she loves to step out on her and it hurts even worse when other people know it. So magnify her situation by 10 because in her situation, there are a few more layers to it than would be for a normal person (as in someone not in the entertainment business). Take a look at the people involved: Swizz Beatz is a well known and successful producer and rapper, Alicia Keys is known worldwide and has tremendous success of her own. Then take a look at Mashonda. She is also a singer but hasn’t made her mark like Keys. I remember hearing way back when they first hooked up and got married. I hadn’t heard much about her per say, but it was known that she was on his label and before then she had worked with Eve, Jay-Z and Mya. Then she released a cd that didn’t do so well. This was quite some time ago though. So fast forward to now and here is her husband who has taken up with another woman in the same field as her and has achieved much more. That shit’s gotta hurt. It’s like seeing your man out with another woman and she looks better than you and her hair looks better than yours and she’s way flyer than you are. Pride is a muthafucka. So what if this is her springboard to come back out again? If controversy sells, and everyone already knows the important and salacious details then why not have your breakout song about the situation? I’m pretty sure this is also her cathartic release and whatnot, but what if his philandering ways gave her the motivation to get out there and really push herself? I’m just turned off by the song because there is a fine line between revealing the truth and sounding like a bitter woman and I would hate for her to fall in the latter category. Some things are just better left for your diary.  Listen below…

“Dirty Laundry” – Mashonda feat. Eve