“I guess it’s better that they talk about me than say nothing at all” sighs R&B chanteuse Ciara Princess Harris. After all, every minacious blogger requires a muse or two – and this army brat is entirely too gorgeous and accomplished to not inspire the occasional rumour. “It comes with the territory. I’ve always believed that if people talk about you then that’s great - because you’re on their mind.” And since “Love Sex Magic” – her lusty duet with Justin Timberlake - exploded all over radio, television and the Internet earlier this year, the ever private Ciara has been ...
Hip-Hop is a young man’s sport. It always has been. Sure, older models like the Ice-T, Ice Cube and LL Cool J may still be in service, but they long ago traded-in the bulk of their music cache for movie and television credits. Of course, there are anomolies like Hip-Hop’s puppetmaster Jay-Z, now in his 40th revolution of the sun and still dictating youth culture on and off the dance floor. But the recent success of DJ Class, the man behind the braggadocios club anthem “I’m The Ish”, is completely unprecedented.
The Fresh Prince is no longer the only Grammy nominated urban artist out of Philadelphia to have spent his formative years living in a mansion. Meet Jazmine Sullivan. Sure, Jazmine may not have a high-powered Bel Air attorney for an uncle, but her father was curator at Philly’s historic Strawberry Mansion, where the Sullivans were invited to reside during his employment at the house museum. And contrary to the high-life depicted by Will Smith’s Fresh Prince persona, Jazmine’s mansion life involved considerably less high-jinx. “It was lonely; I was by myself a lot – my friends weren’t really allowed to ...
After a major label marauder that left her burnt-out and in need of professional counselling, rap’s self-proclaimed ‘biggest midget in the game’ is back piecing together her musical vision independently with her appropriately titled sophomore effort - Jigsaw. Gone is the Def Jam recording contract; gone is the Jay-Z endorsement; and gone are all the ridiculous pressures that came along with it all. Lady Sovereign is now operating on her own terms, signed to her own label, and revelling in the realisation that she is “So Human”. Rhyme & Reason recently caught up with the North London lass to offer ...
“I never thought I’d see the day someone sampled one of my songs”, exclaims super-producer Jermaine Dupri in reference to the debut single [”Hussle In The House”] from Los Angeles rhyme-slinger Nipsey Hussle. Continuing his stream of thought, Janet Jackson’s shorter half offers his nod of approval to the South Central native’s interpretation of his work; “I f**ks with homie.”
We’ve all been anticipating the video for “Best I Ever Had” since So Far Gone first dropped. The eye candy is aplenty… although there is somewhat of a stretch betwen the video concept and the actual song lyrics. But I’m willing to give a pass to both Drake and Kanye West [director] on this one.
“Take that D like the champions you are!” - Coach Drake
Wow! *blushing*
Here it is… the official music video for “Better on The Other Side” - the Michael Jackson tribute from The Game, Chris Brown, Diddy, Boyz II Men, Usher, Polow Da Don and Mario Winans.
Jacked from Rap-UP.
Rhyme & Reason correspondent D Trell was in LA this past weekend for the BET Awards, hitting the after party circuit and chatting with the likes of Soulja Boy, Nipsey Hussle, Jazze Pha, Trina, Slim Thug, Lola Luv, Huey, MemphHitz and Ray-J. Check out a few video snippets above…
Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas remembers Michael Jackson in this teary video address to the King of Pop.
R.I.P. Michael Jackson
The Game, Chris Brown, Diddy, Boyz II Men, Usher, Polow Da Don and Mario Winans came together to record the above tribute for the late, great MJ. The song is titled “Better On The Other Side”.
This is the single most ridiculous video I’ve seen all week… even above Perez Hilton’s water-logged will.i.am rant.
Hurricane Chris performs his hit single “Halle Berry [She's Fine]” for the Louisiana House of Representatives. I feel like I should say more but I’m speechless…
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has accused Will.I.Am of The Black Eyed Peas, and Will’s manager Polo, of assaulting him in Toronto, Canada outside of an after party for the 2009 Much Music Awards.
Taking to his Twitter account to announce the incident, Hilton made the following post: “I’m in shock. I need the police ASAP. Please come to the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel now. Please.” This post was swiftly followed by an update, this time accusing Will.I.Am of assault: “I was assaulted by Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas and his security guards. I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke.”
Will responded to Hilton’s accusations with a video blog, denying his involvement in any physical altercation. Will’s video statement is available to view above. Perez Hilton has since released his own video statement in response to Will, while also offering a detailed version of the evening’s events. Hilton’s video response is available to view at this link.
Perez Hilton’s accusations are questionable. His initial Twitter post states that he was assaulted by Will.I.Am and his security guards. In his video statement, Hilton changes his story to suggest that Will was not involved in the physical altercation and that it was Will’s manager Polo who struck him. No mention of Polo was made in his initial Twitter accusation.
Another interesting fact to note: Will.I.Am’s video response was uploaded to a platform that allows video embedding. Perez Hilton’s video statement does not support embedding, instead requiring viewers to visit his website in order to watch his video statement. This certainly smells of a publicity stunt.
Let’s be clear; Perez Hilton earns a living as an emotional terrorist - so his display of self-righteousness in his video statement is cringe-worthy. And while R&R doesn’t condone physical violence under any circumstances, we also don’t sympathize with emotional terrorists.
I can see this ending with Will suing Hilton for defamation of character.
EXCLUSIVE BLACK EYED PEAS INTERVIEW COMING THIS WEEK!
French DJ David Guetta is really making his mark on the pop charts this year - both with his work with The Black Eyed Peas ["I Gotta Feeling", "Rock That Body"] and his Kelly Rowland assisted single “When Love Takes Over” from his upcoming album One Love. Check out the behind-the-scenes from the “When Love Takes Over” music clip above…
Mariah has a history of tapping unlikely rap collaborators - from The Lox to Ol’ Dirty Bastard. So while Gucci Mane’s appearance on the remix of her first single ["Obsessed"] from Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel isn’t entirely surprising, it is slightly disappointing.
On the weekend of the release of their highly anticipated Flying Colours Live deluxe edition, the original version of the Sydney trio’s hugely acclaimed third album has gone GOLD after 58 weeks in the ARIA charts. The deluxe edition of the album features the Flying Colours LP plus their brand new single On Tour (currently in high-rotation on Triple J and Nova nationwide) along with a DVD which features their intimate performance at Sydney’s sold-out Metro Theatre in February of this year. In addition, the DVD also includes MTV’s Out of Africa documentary which showcases the beginning of the Flying Colours journey.
Flying Colours Live DVD trailer above.
