On Vacay....

You guys keep it cool while I try and do the same...its only gonna be a few days...a week and a half at most...maybe...but I shall return! and with great vengeance, so don't forget about lil ol me!!! ....now don't mind me, im off to go find myself...and preferably alcohol

:-)

-Rhythmic

Noel Gourdin takes you to 'The River'

For you guys that have been around since the beginning of the blog you guys may remember that my second rhythmic artist of the month back in September was a man by the name of Noel Gourdin. Turns out Noel is finally getting some love and a push by the label and has himself a brand spanking new video for his song "The River," that I snatched from lovely folks over at Soulbounce. You guys can click here to read my old post on him to see how I feel about this guy, but as far as the video goes, I love...check it out

Artist Site

More Videos

Estelle's private show in NY

This past saturday in New York, UK import Estelle graced the stage of an invite only concert hosted by hot 97's own, Dj Enuff and Angie Martinez at the Soho Puma store. The wonderful people over at Digiwaxx media put it together and from looking at the pics and judging from Estelles prior live shows, the shindig must have been hot...unfortunately, I couldnt make the event being a westcoaster and what not...*le sigh*...yet again, not being an east coaster is THROWN in my face...But check the rest of the pics below to peep out photos of Estelle with Gym Class Heros front man Travis and her shakin a tail feather with a fan...fun times...and make sure you get that Estelle album Shine, which is in stores NOW, its the real deal!

Disclaimer time, folks...YAYYYYY!

Who knew we'd get here so fast, huh? time does indeed fly...But recently I've noticed with the growing of the page that there's been many to come along that may not necessarily agree with my review, opinions and/or musical taste and that's COMPLETELY fine and WELCOMED here at rhythmicwords...why? because these are MY words, MY opinions and MY taste that I'm sharing with others in hopes it will introduce them to a different view on things, and not everyone is gonna feel the same way I do, thats a given. One thing that's not completely fine is the harassment and displays of bitchassness within the comment sections and/or within my Email box (stans rubbed the wrong way are RUTHLESS, honey!)

If me calling one your favorite artist a talentless nymph, a bottom feeder, or a wolf in a lacefront only here to do Satan's work angers you to the point I happen to lose you as a reader, I'm sorry, but that's how I feel and all I can tell you is to go elsewhere. Since this is MY blog, these are MY views and they're not going to change by the disapproval of others... If i happen to write something and you strongly disagree or agree with my views, LET IT BE KNOWN! thats what the comment section IS FOR (because sometimes you guys open me up to some things, too)...but what it isn't for is flat out acts in creepyness and unecessary provocation. I WILL NOT have my comment sections looking like an episode of Jerry Springer, sorry. If you want all that, you can take that shit over yonder where its welcomed, cuz....I SHANT BE VICTIMIZED!

that is all :-)

-The Management

Rhythmic Interviews: Chante Moore!

The WONDERFUL Chante Moore was NICE enough to ring me up for a phone interview on Wednesday to talk about her new album Love The Woman, which is dropping June 17th. In the interview Chante discusses why she hasn't recorded a solo album since 2001, the collaborations on the album, along with who she wishes she could have collaborated with that she didnt get a chance to.

Considering im a huge Chante fan and it was my very FIRST interview (so bare with me at moments lol) I think it went really well, if u dont then yanno...push stop? anyhoo...Make sure u all SUPPORT the album when it drops! but in the mean time u can hit up amazon.com to listen to clips of each track until My review next week.... now check out the interview below!

Still a 'Love Fool'

(Disclaimer!!!!: This is a write about GOOD music...so u guys that thought "Dangerously In Love" by Beyonce was album of the decade, yall may wanna sit this one out..u may get a nose bleed from reading....)

I remember it like it was yesterday, sitting in the living room of my great-grandmothers house (nanna as we all affectionately call her) and skimming through the channels on tv looking for something to watch. Once I heard a melodic piano I was compelled to put the remote down and enjoy the visual and sonic masterpiece that was coming from the television. Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" from the bands third album Travelling Without Moving. The song went on to become a break out success for the group, earning them 4 MTV moon man, including one for Video of the year, and a Grammy award soon followed. The group is my favorite of all time and initially caused me to broaden my musical horizon outside of the R&B and Hip-Hop I was exposed to at the time.

Jamiroquai is commonly mistaken as being a solo artist rather than a group consisting of multiple members, that have changed like musical chairs frequently since the conception of the band back in the early 90's. Jay Kay, the lead vocalist, face and writer for the band has always been such a persona and figure in the funk world, hes commonly looked at AS Jamiroquai and has always been pushed to the forefront when it came to the videos and the overall image of the group (for those of you still scratching your heads, think...Sade...sorta). While I'm not intending for this post to be a history lesson on Jamiroquai, I do want to travel down a funk-memory lane and share with you my Top 3 albums from the groups discography (they have 6 studio albums all together) and I'm touching on some memorable tracks from each of my top albums. I hope jogging your memory on such an amazing band will make you break out their old albums, or better yet...purchase them, if you haven't, since they all have the potential to be the perfect soundtrack of anyones summer.

To make it easier for you all, every track I'll mention you can listen and/or watch the video for by simply clicking on the title...see, I got u ;-)


3. Travelling Without Moving
Released: 1996
The spot for my 3rd favorite Jamiroquai album became a VERY tight race between 2 albums, Traveling without Moving (1996) and The Return of the Space Cowboy (1994). While I do believe that ROTSC was more so of an album lovers album, meaning every track flowed properly, the music was great and sequencing was completely up to par, I personally had to give the slight edge to TWM for memorable and classic material.

This album, the groups third, was a breakout success and put them on the radars of many, but with all that ASIDE and focusing exclusively on the material and music of the album, it was amazing. Ofcourse, "Virtual Insanity" must be mentioned if not for all the hype that was around then for the genius that is the song. One of the strongest songs on the album can arguably be "Everyday," the chill groove that sounds like it could have been apart of their first album Emergency On Planet Earth (1993). Gems like "Alright" and "Cosmic Girl" make up the albums first half and set the tone for the upbeat feel good vibe of the entire record, the tender and mellow piano and string masterpiece "Spend a Lifetime,"proved that this album was more than just a "worthy for the singles and nothing more" type of composition that many have painted it out to be and is considered the albums brightest moments.


2. Dynamite
Released: 2005
Coming after the A Funk Odyssey(2001) album, which was met with mixed reviews from critics and fans alike, Jamiroquai made a conscious decision to coexist the sounds of their early stuff with the genius work that appeared on AFO and on Synkronized (1999). When Soul inspired vocals, Funk influenced sound and Disco Tinged breakdowns all came together effortlessly, the result was their 2005 album Dynamite. It managed to be a full circle display of their career, grabbing sounds from each era, and came off completely diverse

Coming to a happy and beautiful Medium, the band eases the hearts of those shaken from AFO by giving them "Starchild," which is reminiscent of their older work, "When You Gonna Learn" to be exact, from the bands first album Emergency On Planet Earth (1993). The album's apex "Seven Days in Sunny June" teeters between the urban vintage sounds of motown and the smooth, transcending feel that the group has been known for and is the quintessensial summer song. "(Dont) Give Hate A Chance" packs a punch on both the speakers and in lyrical content.


1. A Funk Odyssey
Released: 2001
Slightly less organic than their previous albums, this one is all about the fun and growth of the band, without coming off all over the place and slightly schizophrenic like on the 1999 Synkronized (although like the rest of you, I LOVED me some "Canned Heat").

The guys took the highlights from that album and evolved, polished and honed in on exactly what they intended to do initially; the result, a soul stirring, head nodding journey in funk and disco that may have been so advanced in its retro sound that it flew over many peoples heads. This is my favorite album by the guys because its simply FUN, fresh and at the time, and arguably still to this day, it was nothing else like it.

The album forced you to think outside of your narrow box of genres and preconceived notions of what a certain sound should be and made you simply love it or hate it, I chose to love it. The album was an almost natural progression that you expect from artist after years of doing a certain something. From the sensually seductive grooves of "Corner of the Earth" to the mellow jam "Little L," both perfectly contrasting to the funktastic album opener "Feel So Good," These tracks all make this album memorable and one of my favorites of all times. One of my favorite Jamiroquai songs tho is also on this album, "Love Foolosophy."

For those of you who may or may not remember the stylish and chic video for "Love Foolosophy", featuring Heidi Klum providing eye candy, you know i've got you, ENJOY!

Rhythmic Review: Jennie Laws - Introducing Jennie Laws

Hailing from Toronto Canada, Jennie Laws is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, song-writer and composer. On her debut EP, Introducing Jennie Laws, she tickles the pallets of music lovers that are hungry for live instrumentation, delectable melodies and lyrics that relate to a wide variety of emotions.

Laws' lyrical gifts are evident on the song "You Choose," a song about taking control of the state of your life and being in a rut solely because you choose to be there, boasting on the chorus "That's how you choose to be...you don't want to be happy." Yes, the girls gifted with the pen.

Elsewhere on the Ep, Jennie shines vocally and showcases her amazing guitar skills on the personal favorite "I Just Wanna Be Close To You." The synth touched tune is reminiscent of any Neo-soul classic of the 90's (yanno, when it was cool to say Neo-soul) with a subtle conga to add a slight taste of Teena Marie into the mix to provide a head nodding groove to the beautiful track.

The EP's bonus track "I'm Falling" is probably the most daring, yet simple track out of the bunch. Sounding like it could have been recorded by Stevie Wonder during the Songs in the Key of Life sessions, Jennie manages to take a sound thats incredibly familiar and make it completely recognizable as being original and even better, hers. The overall sound of this album can't really be pegged since it effortlessly tiptoes across multiple genres and touches on various flavors that can only be categorized as jazz/soul/acoustic hybrids.

An EP, short for Extended Play, is a record that isn't typically long enough (usually 10 to 20 minutes long) to be considered a full blown LP, an album 30 to 80 minutes long. Jessie Laws manages to accomplish what many albums seldom do, in half the time, and that's capturing an audience, representing who she is, and doing it all with a strong sound that could easily overpower and overshadow her soft and sincere vocals, but it doesn't. Instead, each compliments the other because organically Jennie doesn't do anything that stretches or takes her out of her comfort zone, which is broad and wide enough as it is, since after all...She did Write, Produce and compose EVERY track on the album. If that isn't a BIG introduction, I dont know what is.

I give Introducing Jennie Laws a B

BUY INTRODUCTING JENNIE LAWS ONLINE TODAY!

R.I.P.

In an interview Janet Jackson did with the people over at SOHH soulful she was asked what would be the next choice for a single, she dropped the horrible bomb that the Discipline album is basically DEAD...

That’s pretty difficult to say, only because of the record label at this point.
We started off with “Feedback” and the label and myself haven’t quite seen eye
to eye since the "Feedback" single so they’ve kind of basically stopped all
promotion. I’m trying to figure out a way to say this, but just to say it and to
be quite honest, they just stopped all promotion whatsoever on the album so I
don’t think you’re going to hear another single off this album.

Now aint THAT some shit. One of the stronger albums of the year is being treated like the bastard step child. What grinds my gears even more is the limitless opportunities she had with the Discipline album, these record execs don't know which way is up, let alone how to market an album and a LEGEND like Janet properly. The album was GREAT and she could have had MULTIPLE singles from it, branching from the dance heavy "2Nite" (recently heard in the new Sex and the City film) to the summery groove of "Whats your name." Im just livid at the fact Janet is always getting the short end of the stick while certain artist (im not gonna name names, today im gonna be nice) are allowed to get rereleases for less than steller albums. I don't know why im surprised really, I should have known nothing good would come from Island DefJam the way you heard more about Mariah's upcoming shit brick of an album during Janet's time to shine. I know it was all about business on their end, with Mariah coming off of the hugely successful Emancipation of MiMi and Janet coming off of the...well...20y.o....but DAMN! give the legend her props. I could see if the album was WACK and they were like "ehhh yea Janet..GO GET EM TIGER!", but its full of GREAT material! and she should have only gotten a great backing behind her. While Mariah got buildings and shit lit up in her honor, Janet was thrown on 106 n park, told to smile, giggle, and make shit happen...SHAMEFUL

Ok...im done

Island Defjam...SHANT VICTIMIZE ME!

Rhythmic Artist of the Month

For my monthly Artist of the month features, Ive always broke it down into 2 categories so I could feature 2 seperate artist, an artist you already know, and an artist you NEED to know. Typically I feature the artist of the month you NEED to know, since they're either new or up and coming, but since Ive already had a feature, and an upcoming review on the horizon for this months artist you need to know, the incredibly talented Jennie Laws, this month I decided to reintroduce some of you to Miss Chante Moore, June's Artist of the month you already know. Heres a part of her official bio to take you back down memory lane of this amazing, and often horribly overlooked, vocalist...

Since arriving on the R&B music scene over 15 years ago via her sensual debut single "Love’s Taken Over," Chante Moore has flourished into an accomplished female favorite. Billboard singles like "It’s Alright," "This Time" and the top two smash "Chante’s Got a Man" helped put her name on a short list of artists known for consistency. After recording two duet projects with fellow R&B vocalist Kenny Lattimore (also her husband of six years) and achieving regard in the gospel world, the Grammy-nominated vocalist returns to the solo spotlight with her new CD, Love the Woman, due June 17th on Peak Records.

With collaborations from Raphael Saadiq, George Duke, Jamey Jaz and Warryn Campbell, im highly anticipating this release. Its been far too long since theres been an album of new Chante material thats..yanno...just her...(Love ya tho Kenny! honestly, I got the first 2 albums!)...For those of you who haven't heard Chante's first single "Ain't Suppose to be This Way" clicky clicky below to take a listen and check out upcoming tour dates to see if shes performing near you!

Chante Moore - Ain't Suppose to Be This Way
Second link incase the first one doesnt work: By clicking here

CHANTE MOORE TOUR WITH NORMAN BROWN
April 26... City Of Lights Festival... Las Vegas, NV
May 18 ...Hyatt Newporter... Newport Beach, CA
May 24 ...Benaryoa Hall... Seattle, WA
June 16 ...Chene Park... Detroit, MI
July 20 ...Oceanside Pier Amphitheater... Oceanside, CA
Sept. 19 ...Hyatt Newporter... Newport Beach, CA
Sept. 21 ...Thornton Winery... Temecula, CA

Throwback Thursday

To celebrate the top 10 debut of the BRILLIANT Lay It Down album, I decided for this weeks Throwback Thursday I'd roll with the soulful Al Green. In 1972 he released one of my favorite albums of all time Im Still Inlove With You, which Rollingstone ranked at number 285 on their list of 500 greatest albums of ALL time. One of my favorite tracks from the classic album was the track "Im Glad Your Mine." From the amazing intro with the drums to the subtle strings, it automatically became a favorite of mine before I could even appreciate what it was I was listening to....now sit back and ENJOY

Someone at BET needs to be FIRED...

...yanno more so than usual...but anyhoo! Today D.L. Hughley was announced as the Host of the 2008 BET awards, set to air Tuesday June 24th. Now it may just be me, but DL hasnt been funny since the 90s, and by that I mean the EARLY 90s. I personally dont get the resurgence in his stock as of late, with 'The Hugleys' being back in syndication on TVone and all (I personally can watch EVE appose to that mess, ANYDAY). Who ever authorized this move should be TERMINATED...can we say Damon Wayans? that year was single handedly the WORST, he was so unfunny I was embarrassed for him...I can only cross my fingers this year wont be TOO tragic, plus i have to look at the bright side...they could have gotten Chris Tucker...*shivers*

Along with the DL announcement, more performers have been added onto the line up for the award show....

"Alicia Keys, Chris Brown, Kanye West and Young Jeezy Will Join Previously Announced Performers Usher, Lil Wayne and Nelly for 'The Hottest Ticket on Television'Legendary R&B Icon Al Green to Receive BET's Lifetime Achievement Award and Celebrated Producer/Arranger/Composer Quincy Jones Set for BET's Humanitarian Award."

Cant wait to see the Kanye performance...as far as the rest, blah!....Youve seen one Alicia Keys performance, you've seen them all...Chris brown, how many times can you see him vogue on stage in something shiny? and I could give two rusty pennys about Young Jeezy.

Im Just Tickled Pink....

Here I Stand = Selling 433,000 copies in 1 week

E=Mc2 = Selling 463,000 copies in 1 week

So this officially makes Usher the SECOND biggest debut of the year behind Mariah Carey, and with releases from Coldplay and Lil Wayne on the Horizon, I doubt he will get too comfy at the SECOND position...Now do u think he'll STFU now that he doesn't have the bragging rights he had during the 'Confessions' era when he was the biggest douche that u could imagine?...OOOH or better yet crawl under a rock? just wondering.

Oh but wait, lets go down the laundry list to see who ELSE in the urban music circle has debuted with a bigger bang than Usher in the last few months...just yanno...for funsies...

Mary J. Blige - Growin Pains = 630,000

Alicia Keys - As I Am = 740,000

Justin Timberlake - Futuresex/Lovesounds* = 684,000

My point in all of this? I just don't like the nigga *shrugs*....OH! and congratulations must go to Al Green for debuting at number 9 on the Billboard charts, his highest charting album EVER, according to Billboard.com.

*I know this album came out back in '06....I'm just being a bitch :-)