RhythmicWords:: Dont like my words? then yanno...leave...no wait..suck it, and THEN leave

On Hiatus...if yanno...u havent noticed :-)

2008-09-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

Sooooooooooooo....I know the postings have been far and FEW between since ive moved to the city of Angels...and wellllll...things are only gonna get lighter due to school and work and weekends...0:-)...that is until I revamp the blog COMPLETELY and relaunch RhythmicWords at the end of the year!!!! and yesssssssssss...it will be bigger, better, and sassier! the same of the good shit...which is basically me talking shit! and reviews here and there yanno....but since ive been M.I.A. lately, lets do a quick run down of things ive missed, that i would normally give my 2cents on...cuz hats what i do.....

The VMAs = If the budget gets anyless, next years ceremony will be held in my parking garage...and oddly enough it probably wouldnt suck as much as it did this year.

New Music = Solange's album is amazing and Nikka Costa has a brand new album coming out Pebble To a Pearl Oct 14, so make sure you snatch it...

Fashion Rocks = You know shit is bad when Rihanna gives a better lip sync vocal than Mariah Carey....BUT! i will not and i shall not hate on Beyonce and her damn good rendition of "At last"

Raphael Saadiq = An Amazing man, releasing an amazing album SEPTEMBER 16TH!!!!!

Now sit tight till next time, but in the meantime! make sure u check out the blogroll to the right and knock urselves out :-)

peace!

Rhythmic Artist of the Month

2008-08-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND IM BACK! I know i should have yanno...said i was GOING somewhere...but it totally wasnt my intentions to be M.I.A. for over 2 weeks...OOPSIES! along with work and school, ya boys been BUSY....gotta make them coins now! I gots BILLS shoooooo, commenting on how wack an album is (i see u Usher) can only get me so far..... but I am back none the less! I know you derranged lambs are glad that u have purpose yet again and can leave ridiculous comments about how much I suck, and to those that actually READ my words, I just wanna thank you guys that have checked back periodically and hit me up wondering where the hell i've been, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside....but onto the matter at hand!

The Artist of the month!!!!!!! For this months choice, I went with Jamie Lidell, an artist that ive only known about for a few months, an artist one of you guys actually put me up on him (thanks Sarah Tone In!!!).

born September 18, 1973 in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England) is a musician and soul singer. He also has a group with Cristian Vogel called Super Collider.
Lidell is known for layering tracks made with his voice into a microphones, performing the percussion and melody as a sequenced beatboxing one-man band. Then over his augmented voices, he sings soul-inspired songs.

What initially struck my fancy about Lidell was his AMAZING voice and style of music, which is very reminiscent of Jamiroquai at their funkiest. His song "figured my out" has became one of my favorite and is featured off of his latest album JIM, which is amazing, was released earlier this year to great reviews.

Check out Jamie on His MYSPACE to listen to a few more of his tracks, but remember where u heard about him first...HOLLA!

Figured Me Out - Jamie Lidell

Something Supreme over at QH Blend...

2008-07-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

Starting today, my brother in bloggotry, QH is starting his countdown of his top 15 songs by The Supremes. For this write up, he asked for my 2 cents (because yanno..I matter lol), so make sure you guys swing by QH Blend today, and every Monday, to see the different tracks that are making the list. After listening to all of the tracks myself, I can tell you guys, your gonna be surprised by what you hear, and alot of songs you would never even associate with the supremes. So, go and get learned on everything Supreme!!!!! from the line up changes, to the evolution of their sound! reminisce, discover, and enjoy!

2008 In Music...So far: The Good, Bad and the UGLY

2008-07-25T04:17:00.000-07:00

With us well into the second half of 2008, I'm taking a minute to reflect on a FEW stand out albums that have dropped within the last 6 months, and let me tell you..in the words of Miss Mary J. Blige...it hasn’t been all roses, y’all. We've had amazing debuts, underwhelming follow ups and over all WTF moments....Lets skip down memory lane and discuss, the Good, the Bad...and the UGLY.

The Good

Al Green - Lay It Down
GENIUS, GENIUS, GENIUS...if this album doesn’t win album of the year at the grammys, it can only mean that the Grammys have it out for Al...or that u2 or the dixie chicks have new albums out...but in any capacity, this is a genius album, showcasing QuestLove’s GENIUS production, capturing a sound that’s so vintage and genuine..you’d think its an album of nothing but rare recordings from the 70s.

Janet Jackson - Discipline
This album hits HARD, from track 1 on through it’s solid, but much like other Janet albums, towards the middle and end it loses a bit of its steam for having certain tracks that could have been left on the cutting room floor. With tracks like “Feedback” and the horribly mismanaged “Luv,” this is a hot album .

Adele - 19
The debut album of 19 year old import Adele is nothing short of amazing. Now im not saying shes the white aretha franklin by any means, so fall back Estelle! But this is an album that touches on different genres from soul (thanks to adele’s BEAUTIFUL voice) to even folk, effortlessly. The production is fitting, the writing is genius and dammit...I dig it! The girl is truly talented.

Duffy - Rockferry
While being clumped into the same raft as Adele, as this seasons new Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, Duffy and Adele have something that the 2 others seem to lack at times...common sense... Atleast thats what I think until I see a tabloid of Adele with hot pink hair and duffy somewhere free basin’ to prove me otherwise.... but I digress... This album is a sultry throw back to the sounds of the 60s and 70s, which compliments Duffy’s airy, seductive voice to a T.

Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
Many have made the argument that this album doesn’t have as many stand out cuts like their last one, St Elsewhere, did. Now, I completely agree with that, because even in the gnarls barkley style of music, this album doesn’t have many tracks that people would coin “single worthy” ... BUT, this album in its own right is pretty damn phenomenal, the song “A Little Better” should put The Odd Couple in everyones top 10 list all on its own. The beauty of it all, this album is nothing more than expression...you just KNOW Danger mouse is not behind the boards wrecking his brain trying to figure out what sound will get them to number 1 on TRL., and I LOVE that about them.

Estelle - Shine
This album, so far this year, has been the biggest surprise for me, I honestly didn't expect to love it as much as I do. Shine is across the board a GREAT effort by Estelle, with sounds, talents and influences coming in from every angle.

The Bad

Mariah Carey - E=Mc2
This album has grown on me IMMENSELY....but still! The only reason why it did is because its MARIAH and I want to genuinely like this album and anything she does, lord knows if it was some run of the mill broad I probably would have used the cd as a coaster...but then again my argument for not liking it is because it ISN’T someone else singing this tart mess. I said it once and I’ll say it again...Mariah is ABOVE this crap she’s singing about today...Give me “Stay the night,” give me “Mine again,” hell, give me ANYTHING other than Rae rae and Mae mae.

Madonna - HardCandy
Now, I’ve never posted my opinion on this album until now, for the main reason is because at times I would feel so torn, its far from a horrible album..and not too far from a good album. I see where she tried to go and I think the intentions behind it was pure...LMAO @ me acting as if this madonna album Is a superman remake or some shit...but seriously, I think on paper this album was gonna be genius, but with uninspired beats from ~~pharrell~~ The Neptunes and MUCHHHHH less than Stellar, sometimes downright booboo beats from power couple Timbaland and Justin Timberlake...this album didn’t hit as hard as it could have...don’t get me wrong, I still jam to it...but I think it could have and SHOULD have been MUCH more than what it was.

The Ugly

Usher - Here I Stand
Here I stand, huh? Well I can tell you where his ass hasn’t been standing...in the top 10. This album is about as hot as a glacier. Now anyone that knows me knows im no Usher fan...BUT to say that I haven’t enjoyed a handful of songs from each of his albums would be a lie...I personally LOVED “throwback” from Confessions, along with others from that album....but this time around, the sequencing was HORRIBLE, track selections were baffling (why his song “that girl right there” feat Ludacris didn’t make the album, I still don’t know) and album length only made it that much more of a task to listen to the album as a whole.

Majority of the 106 n’ park line up
Im just clumping all this shit together, I don’t have the time nor the patience to go through those buffoons individually.

With the first half of 08' behind us, all I can say Is that theres been good, and theres been bad...sadly enough when its been bad..its been BAAAAAAAAD..so I can only hope that upcoming releases from Brandy, LL Cool J (LMAO, right), Raphael Saadiq (YES LAWD!), Eryakah Badu, T.I., Missy Eliott and Robin Thicke can make up for the mistakes of Jan-Jun...Time shall only tell...but if I left out any albums and artist (which I kno for a fact I have).....just sit tight till the year end list! Ahem...maybe they will make my top 10...who knows.

Rhythmic Interviews

2008-07-18T03:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to land an interview with Singer- Song writer Imani Coppala, 1/2 of the group Little Jackie. During the Interview we touched on various subjects from What/who inspired her to write the song "Cryin' for the Queen," to what was her favorite curse word (yes, here at rhythmicwords we're abit more laid back...Dateline we are not)...Heres some background info on Imani so you all can get a better idea of who this talented woman is....

Coppola had an early brush with fame when a demo she cut with Digable Planets
producer Michael Mangini during her freshman year at the State University of New
York landed her a record deal with Columbia Records. In 1997 the
19-year-old music composition major’s debut record “Chubacabra” earned radio and
MTV buzz with the cheeky, Neneh-Cherry-reminiscent lead single “Legend of a
Cowgirl” and her dynamic NYC persona was introduced to mainstream America.

Now check it out, and make sure you guys get the album The Stoop, out now!!!!!!!

New Videos: The Good, The Bad and the Rigotdamndiculous

2008-07-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

So I come online today and I see a bunch of new videos that are out, 3 of which I decided to put my 2 cents on because yanno...thats what I do *shrug*...today its Ashanti, Robin Thicke, and Pretty Ricky...

First up we have Ashanti with her song "Good Good" from The Declaration, which is in stores now.

I Personally LOVE the video, its colorful, its creative and its very different from anything on tv right NOW...im not saying its anything different than what we've seen in the past, but it plays off the song lovely, 2 thumbs up! plus i think its adorable how she has her boyfriend Nelly in the video, about time they realize they arent as important as Beyonce and Jay, so they cant play all coy about their relationship and shit...they betta whore their asses OUT...The actual album is VERY solid, if not her best since her debut...I just love when folks get it together, dont you?...so does this mean we have to stop calling her Ashitti now?

Next, its Mr. Blue Eyed soul himself, Robin Thicke and his song "Magic" from his album Somethin' Else, slated to hit stores Sep. 8th.

I am in LOVE with this song...the video tho? ehh *shrugs* I can take it or leave it..personally because I see eliments of Janet Jackson's "Feedback" and alil of Chris Brown's "Forever" in it...Not to say its a bad thing but...those elements werent working in the original videos so why in the hell would it work here? Dig the new direction and sound tho! WeRk it Robin...cant wait for the release you damn genius you!

Now last...and definately LEAST...Pretty Muthafuckin Ricky....

I...JUST....CANT....
What in the bedazzled, technicolored dream coat, gay bonanza, magestic magician, type shit is THIS??? somewhere Chris Stokes is salivating, I just know it....This is so gay even Bravo would go..."a bit much?"....I can not and I will not...Im not even going to touch on them RUINING a classic, im just going to go lay down and try to get these images out of my head the best way I can....lawd that record deal coulda been put to some good use...

Timbaland set to produce new Jay-Z album...

2008-07-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

According to MTV.COM, Timbaland is set to be the main man behind the boards for the upcoming JayZ album, that is untitled at the moment.

"He wants me to do the whole thing this time around," Timbaland said
Monday during a visit to the MTV News office. "I'mma make it a classic too.
You better believe it. It'll be a monster! I always say this: You get a first single
from me, I'mma get you up to gold. And it's hard to get you up to gold in this day [and age]."

Now I don't know about you guys, but lately Timbaland's work has been...uninspiring, to say the least...but personally I've always preferred his work with Jay, so I'm actually excited about this news. Ive always LOVED what would come from a JayZ and Timbaland collabo (I never really cared when Jay would hook up with the neptunes)...Hopefully this will get Timbalands juices flowing, because when they are..he IS arguably a genius, and Jay will have an amazing album....but then again JayZ could have an album produced by a fucking arangatang and it would be good to me, so bring on the goodness, I say!

Rhythmic Recommendation: Swagger Style

2008-07-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago I was featured on a hip and fresh fashion blog entitled "Swagger Style" by the lovely Style Master, where I was interviewed and asked about my take on the word "swagger" and what it means to me....anyhoo, give Style Master and his blog some LOVE! and check out the interview with me in the process! now go go go!

Where the hell YOU been, Rhythmic?

2008-07-16T03:12:00.000-07:00

in the words of Varnell Hill....DID YOU.....MISS ME!?!?!??!?!

Hey hey readers, ive missed u lovely folks the month ive been gone...i figured since I've been MIA for awhile that i'll at least shed alil light on where the hell I've been... As you guys know, Rhythmicwords is the brainchild of me, Rhythmic..and is ran and operated solely by me...couldnt you tell by the half assery that takes place? anyhoo...these past few weeks have been very busy for me, as some of you know ive recently moved to Los Angeles...(HOLLER!)...and im also in school..im going to the Art institute of California - Hollywood...(DOUBLE HOLLER!)...and living on campus...(womp wompppp)...so that's where a good junk of my time as been devoted to, just making sure i was all packed up and all shipped out when the time called for it...So what does that mean? will RhythmicWords be shutting down?....the answer is HELL NO!...i got too much shit to say!!!! lol...so look forword to the typical write ups, a long with interviews, reviews and the "This year in music...so far" coming up! in the upcoming weeks...

I just wanted to shed alil light on what my situation has been the last few weeks....that is all

:-)

Sincerely,
The Management

Rhythmic Artist of Month

2008-07-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

IM BACK!....and for July's artist of the month I wanted to come back in a BIG WAY, so i present to you the dynamic duo known as Little Jackie! a group reminiscent of Groove Theory, this dup is comprised of a female singer-songwriter and a male producer that perfectly compliments one another. Heres alil 411 on the duo....

Blend the old-school R&B sound with a quirky hybrid of hip-hop and pop and you get Little Jackie, the creation of genre-defying singer-songwriter Imani Coppola and multi-instrumentalist Adam Pallin. With a nod to the soulful Motown rhythms of the past and a sneer to many of the social and cultural issues that consume the public today, Coppola has crafted an album of musical sugar and spice, filled with sweet, saccharine-tinged melodies and spicy, bold commentaries.

Now make sure you guys check out one of the songs from their debut album The Stoop, thats out NOW, entitled "Cryin for the Queen"...after you guys listen, take 1 good guess at who singer-songwriter Imani Coppala is talking about in the song...Your answer will be addressed when I upload the interview i was lucky enough to do with Imani later this week...and yes, shes as sassy over the phone as she is on the record.

Little Jackie - Cryin' For the Queen

Check out Little Jackie on Myspace...and while your there, its a MUST u check out "Black Barbie"

L.A. gone be the DEATH of me, yall!

2008-07-12T18:31:00.000-07:00

the weekend barely started and i just cant...i...just...cant...sit up to type lmao..holler at yall monday, i PWOMISE!

Ahem....

2008-07-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

Guess Whos BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!

that is right readers (the few i still have left) IAM BACK! and ready to get back to the goodstuff!...atleast not today anyway lmao...hollerback tomorrow...im off to finish move my shit into my dorm and hopefully bond with my roomy...id hate to have to end up shankin someone, i so do....be cool till tomorrow folks...and hope uve missed me..ive missed yall....witcha no comment leavin asses...I KID, I KID! dont take me off the blogroll...hehe

On Vacay....

2008-06-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

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'

2008-06-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

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

Estelle's private show in NY

2008-06-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-15T03:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-13T01:55:00.000-07:00

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'

2008-06-11T00:28:00.000-07:00

(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

2008-06-09T00:43:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-06-06T13:08:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-06T03:50:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-05T09:26:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-06-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

...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....

2008-06-04T10:52:00.000-07:00

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 :-)

Rhythmic Recommendation: Jennie Laws

2008-05-29T03:55:00.000-07:00

Its rare that im put up on an artist that I dont already know, that I like! But today that all changed (Thank ya kindly Aaron)...He presented me with my new song of the summer from an artist named Jennie Laws, that I will DEFINITELY be looking more into, and I certainly hope you guys do the same. Heres whats being said about this new gal on the block...

"With distinctive and dynamic vocal artistry, unique and original songwriting skills Jennie Laws has emerged as a beautiful and brilliantly talented new arrival on the cutting edge of today's music. With the release of her Debut EP featuring such Laws originals as "Heavenly," "I Just Wanna Be Close To You," "Do Deep" and "My Soul," she mixes contemporary urban grooves with folk-flavored nuances, bringing it all together in one accessible and appealing package."

ugh...WHERE...DO...I...SIGN!?!??!...for you guys itching to hear whats all the fuss...Click the link below to take a listen to Jennie's song "Heavenly"...enjoy and let me know, if you guys are feeling this....and if you are, show her some love on her Myspace by listening to a few other songs ("I Just Want to Be Close to You" is a MUST listen) and reading her Bio!...I seriously need to get my hands on that EP...I NEEDS IT IN MY LIFE!!!

Jennie Laws - Heavenly

Back in RhythmicRotation: Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun

2008-05-28T03:47:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I decided to enjoy a drink and one of my favorite albums of all time, Erykah Badu's Mamas Gun. I've been an Erykah fan since I first heard the vintage bass of "On and On" bumping through the speakers of my mom's old entertainment set, and from that point on I was HOOKED. When I sat down and treated myself to the genius that was the entire Baduizm album, I thought that there was no way it could get any better. I was proven wrong 3 years later when Erykah dropped Mamas Gun to the masses in the fall of 2000.

Mama's Gun is probably one of the most creative, inspirational, amazing, and daring albums of the past decade, all without coming off as pretentious, trite and forced...which is a very hard thing to do when it comes to making an album that connects to listeners on all levels, those seeking lyrical satisfaction, to those seeking musical pleasure, and the few who are still yearning for substance and meaning all at the same time.

With contributions from James Poyser and the late J. Dilla, Mamas Gun was crafted to become one of the most organic and innovative works of that time, which is funny considering that Badu herself was perceived as anything BUT during this time. No longer being looked at as the deep soul siren, she was discovered as being some what a fraud with foax dreads and a background that was a far cry from the Philly movement that began to take place at the time, or at least began to come to prominence, she was a bit farther down south...try Texas. With all of the mumbo jumbo aside, the material spoke for itself, it spoke for Erykah and testified exactly how genius this woman was, regardless of how high her headwraps were and how many fist she threw in the air.

Much more eclectic and experimental than its predecessor Baduizm, this album explored different sounds to accommodate the different lyrical content that Erykah allowed her pen to venture in. From the typical relationship ups and downs, to the new territory of self-esteem and injustice within the African American community, when it came to the authorities, Mama's Gun cohesively and effectively takes you on a journey. I've always appreciated this album much more than Baduizm for the simple fact that its an album that's not forced to be anything but what it is. It would have been easy coming off her her multiple Grammy wins, for the Baduizm album, with something exactly the same, that consisted of soulful retro sounds and head nodding grooves. Instead of keeping the same formula, or breaking it completely, she added to the already rich and refreshing sound. If it ain't broke, why not make it make it better? From the first sounds of the rock influenced "Penitentiary Philosophy" to the jazzy album version of "Bag Lady" (which I prefer to the single version btw) this album effortlessly glided across genres and melodic moods, yet keeping you in the same mind frame to appreciate each track equally.

All of the material on the album arguably leads up to the dramatic and emotionally touching conclusion of the album, its pinnacle, the masterpiece "Green Eyes." The near 10 minute track is split into 3 sections, the first "Movement 1 (denial)," being more of a vintage sound with piano work from James Poyser, it has Erykah sounding as if she were a blues singer from the era when Ella and Billie reigned supreme. In the second part of the song, "acceptance," the song gets more of a heavier jazz backing and develops a stronger thump thanks to the brilliance that is ?uestlove on the drums. The third and final section of the song features Erykah at her most vulnerable and collected, after laying everything bare in the "acceptance" portion of the song, it shows the conflicting thoughts of someone going through a tumultuous relationship perfectly. The piano workings of James Poyser and hypnotic horns leaves you wondering why there aren't more albums like this one.

This album was rare, being a sophomore effort that showed the epitome of growth on every front from the artist (something that's unseen now a days). Everyone knows my feelings on Erykah's Latest effort and I feel the way I do so strongly because I know what shes done, and what shes capable of doing. This is arguably one of the BEST albums of the past decade, and if I have to wait until 2010 for Erykah to rise back onto her mix of retro soul and funk thrown, than so be it. Settling for anything else from a woman that's displayed perfection would be less than civalized.

Me Likey...

2008-05-27T03:24:00.000-07:00

Heres the Pussycat Dolls performing their first single "When I Grow Up" produced by Darkchild. Now normally I wouldn't give 2 dirty cotton swabs about these broads, but im too damn busy dancing to this song to worry about alla that...I LOVE this track! Darkchild has definately did the damn thing with this production, its absolutely sickening. The girls have definately stepped it up (as if they had anywhere else but up to go) judging from the extensive choreography and live vocals...but how PRECIOUS is it that they ALL have mics? knowin damn well only 1 is turned on...too cute

Head on over to Rap-UP to listen to the song in HQ in its entirety.

Rhythmic Review: Usher - Here I Stand

2008-05-26T03:53:00.000-07:00

Do yourself a solid and buy the Al Green album.

Seriously.

that is all.

I give Here I Stand a THANKS BUT NO THANKS

Rhythmic Review: Al Green - Lay It Down

2008-05-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Three years since his last LP, Soul music veteran Al Green has a new release upon the horizon, the return to form opus, Lay It Down. Being an undeniable legend, respect is automatically given to him, and many that have paved the way like he has, but unlike many others, Mr. Green is no longer coasting on memories of hits that have been, he's trying to make you remember WHY he is a legend, by making music that is reminiscent of his legendary sound.

Coming to prominence in a time that saw other Soul Mavens like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Curtis Mayfield, Al always had a sound that was very clockable as his own, a heavily soul rooted sound with gospel influences that would provide a transcendent feel to anyone listening, plus the heavenly voice that seemed to glide over every harmony and melody effortlessly, always helped.

Unlike many artist that experienced a surge of success in the 60s and 70s that try and make a print in the fickled, fluctuating music market now, Al decides to stick to what he knows best, and that's soul. Nothing from concentrate or particularly geared toward the sound of today can be heard on this album, and that's a GOOD thing. Nothing hurts my soul more than a legendary singer collaborating with an artist out now because its "cool" or because its "what the kids are doing" It diminishes their credibility, confuses hardcore fans, makes them look ridiculous, and is just plain SAD (The Isley Brothers, anyone?)

This time around, Al bravely chose to collaborate with the drummer/producer/mastermind of the world famous The Roots band, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, and rightfully so. The production genius has found his way, more so lately, behind the sound board for other artist outside of the Roots camp and has captured eras and sounds from the past effortlessly. On his reworked Pharrell Out My Mind album, he turns the production upside down and captures the sounds of 80's Michael Jackson and Prince as if he were in the studio with them during those golden years. Other recent notables from ?uest have been his work with Common, D'Angelo and most recently with Erykah Badu on the apex of her Amerykahn Promise album with "Telephone". ?uest didn't disappoint when it came to working with Al; Lay It Down jogs the memory of classic Al G-reen recordings, yet breathes new life into a sound that has desperately been needed in today's music.

The title track "Lay It Down" opens up the album and foreshadows the raw and pure soul that will be displayed in tracks to come with help from the gritty gospel voiced Anthony Hamilton doing background. This duo shows up again on the song "You've got the love I need" and showcases the beautiful juxtaposition between Al's angelical voice and Anthony's unapologetic textured coos. The light and breezy "Just for me" lays smack dab between both 'Lay' and 'You've got' so it provides a nice cool down before your forced to catch a groove with the latter's bass egging you on to get out of your seat. The beautiful horns in "Take your time" featuring Corrine Bailey Rae is reason enough to give this man an Grammy, the back and forth between Rae and Green is so smooth and effortless it takes you back to a time when Male and Female collaborations were common and refreshing with the Marvins and Tammies and Roberta and Donnys. The shining moment, more so than the countless others, on this album has to be the John Legend collabo on "Stay with Me (By the Sea)," the track gives the genius sound of earlier Al works a rejuvenation of sorts and shows how a person's signature sound of the past can be modified to the now, Stevie and Aretha take notes.

With fads coming and going, manufactured artist rising to dominance, and vocadors replacing live instruments, soul has been desperately needed to water the dehydrated music industry. If Al gets his way, he won't only quench the thirst of real music lovers, but will drown out all the crap while he's at it. The result of an amazing and timeless talent with genius production, suitable collaborations and the need to make GOOD music, rather than the need to make NOW music, is one of the most soulful albums in recent years and definately the best this year so far.

I give Lay it Down an A+

Janet wants to 'Rock Witchu' this fall

2008-05-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

So this is supposedy the new promo art I ~~snatched~~got from ToyasWorld for the upcoming Janet Jackson 'Rock With U' tour, that kicks off on September 11th.
I know alot of you janet fans are giving this whole tour hooplah the BIG side eye, since she was supposed to go out for the 20 y.o album but never did, but this time I think its all legit.

Tickets go on sale June 7th and lawd knows im gonna get mines, especially if shes gonna be looking as fierce as she does in this promo pic. (I love janet, lawd KNOWS I DO, but if i have to see her dance in one more pair of parachute pants and bug stomping boots, im gonna fucking SCREAM I swear) You dont know WHEN this heffa goin back out on the road again so make you guys get the tickets while theyre hot!

Now enjoy a clip of Janet on Ellen the other day cuttin a rug to Rhythm Nation.

*screams*

RE: The Desperate Housewives Finale

2008-05-18T23:08:00.001-07:00

WTF was THAT shit???

like...seriously

Should the Neptunes be added to..."The List"

2008-05-17T17:53:00.000-07:00

Now im sure you guys all remember the list I made up not to long ago (and recently made an addition to) regarding producers and their lack of creativity. Welp heres a new contender that I've been going back and forth with; something ive been on the fence about for awhile now. To write, or not to write, off The Neptunes? that has been the question I've posed by myself for the past few years.

I've been a fan of the Neptunes work for literally years, ever since I first heard "When This Feeling" by Swv, I knew this sound was new to me, I knew I wanted to hear more of it and I knew I LOVED it. The neptunes worked through out the early to mid 90s with artist like Swv and Blackstreet, but it wasn't until 1998 when the song "Superthug" by N.O.R.E dropped that everyone flocked to that sound, a sound that would later be coined the "Neptune sound." A spacey, futuristic, synthesized, slightly weird, and at times heavily percussed, sound bombarded the air waves in the summer of 98 and more notably the following year with the debut of 99's most buzzworthy artist, Kelis. With the hype around their sound grew, the bar and level of creativity was raised imensly as more high profiled acts sought out for the neptune sound, Jay-Z and Mystikal all experienced great success with first singles created by Chad and Pharrel, soon EVERYONE sought them out, hell even the Backstreet boys and Sade had them a neptune remix!

As years went by, it seemed that the Neptunes began to pigeon hole themselves, producing repetitive and uninspired tunes that seemed to serve only one purpose, to give the artist seeking them out that "Neptunes sound," a sound that peaked in 2002, and nothing more. I guess my beef with the boys is that they have moments of genius (Kelis' first 2 albums along with all of the N*E*R*D recordings and things of that nature) and other times it just seems like they dont give a shit, and that aslong as its a Neptunes beat its gold!.

If a song has a clear purpose and executes that purpose well, its a cool with me. "Hot In Herre" was nothing more than a club banger intended to get chicks dancing on random objects as if there were snakes on their backs...mission accomplished...high five to them, while on the other hand certain songs actually stirred up actual emotions, like 702's "I still love you" and Mary's "Steal Away," but when theres just a song thats worthless and really serves no purpose on an album other than giving the artist bragging rights as having a neptune track, thats where my gears get grinded, and thats how its been the last few years.

For every In Search Of theres an The Neptunes Presents...Clones, and I get it, there has to be a balance, not everyone can have a good day all the time, especially when your in high demand. Theres always gonna be a big chance that out of all 4563463456 tracks produced that theres gonna be a few duds. I much rather they pace themselves and pick their collaborations wisely, because much like my friend QH over at the QHblend stated, its all about the quality rather than the quantity. I much rather hear 1 AMAZING neptune produced track on every other artist's album instead of hearing an ok to mediocre neptune track every 8th track of EVERY urban album. With that said I leave it up to you guys, what do you think? Should the Neptunes be given the permanent side eye? or has recent production for Kenna, Madonna and the new N*E*R*D "Everybody Nose" remix restored a little faith in the dynamic duo?

I think im finally buying what this broad is selling...

2008-05-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

Maroon 5 Featuring Rihanna - If I Never See your Face Again

Now this song was originally featured on Maroon 5's sophomore album Soon Before Long and Being a big fan of Adam and the gang, I liked it, much like the album as a whole. Did I love the song? not really, did I love the follow up to their amazing debut Songs About Jane as much as the SAJ album itself? not so much... but did I like both, the song and the album A LOT, u bet ya...But now that the song has been reworked with, everyones favorite light skinned gal of the moment, Rihanna (since theres 1 every few years or so) The song is slated to be featured on not only Maroon 5's re release but also the rerelease for Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad . I must say this extra kick and sass is JUST what i think the song lacked, like many of the songs from SBL, they were all great but at times often felt like they fell flat and made u wonder what else could have been added to the song to really make them POP. The video is amazing the new embellishments are genius in my opinion, and dare I say it..this makes me like Rihanna and actually buy what she's peddling, now am I going as far to say that shes a credible artist that exudes creativity and is anything special? no..but will I roll my eyes slightly less when I hear her on the radio, sure.

but ALLLLLLLL I kno! is that on the Maroon 5 rerelease, their Mark Ronson remix to "Wake Up Call" featuring Mary J Blige BETTER be on that bitch...thats all I KNO....ugh how amazing would that video been? Mary rockin out, bouncin up and down, wig flyin to and fro...ugh I need a glass of water just thinkin of that hotness.

Swagalicious

2008-05-13T03:38:00.000-07:00

The funny boys over at The REAL are at it again...

Rhythmic Artist of the Month

2008-05-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

For May's artist im going with the up and coming soul siren Duffy. My lovely sister in blogging Tha Connoisseur initially asked me about my thoughts on this artist a few weeks ago, so this month I decided to bring back my thoughs regarding the Rhythmic Artist of the month. Hailing from Wales, this singer-songwriter is considered one of the Amy-ish new comers storming onto the scene from the U.K, with her heavily soul influenced sound and a big voice that shes not afraid to use. I initially became aware of Duffy over a month ago when a friend of mine linked me her "Mercy" video when she was MSN's artist of the week, and not too long later I listened to "Warwick Avenue" after that it was a WRAP. The voice, the style, the production, all of it screamed throw back 60's to me, when genres weren't so clearly defined and artist intentions for a sound were more organic and less contrived to be so this or that, and I loved every minute of it. After listening to her entire album, she had me sold on what she was selling and I believe she has a great future ahead of her.

Now before the comparisons come into play and people begin to make up their minds about her for all the wrong reasons, give her a thorough listen! without taking into account all of the static and praise surrounding her from the Mtv's and the Vh1's of America (because its become so fun to hate on the "next best thing" hasn't it?) and unfair comparisons (not to Amy Winehouse or Estelle, but to a more logical yet lazy Dusty Springfield comparison) One of the things I hate when it comes to a new TALENTED artist is when people say "I don't like him/her because he/she isn't nowhere near as good as _____". Now...I always think..."Who the fuck asked that?" but I digress, Duffy is a talent that should be given a try and if after a good listen she still doesn't float your boat, so be it.

Now check out Duffys video for "Mercy" and then head over to Iamduffy.com to get better acquainted.

Gnarls Barkley - Going On

2008-05-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

absolutely...genius

Christina Aguilera SHANT be victimized on upcoming album

2008-05-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

According to Hollyscoop, one of my favorite white girls, Christina Aguilera, has a new album in the works and is refusing to follow trends going on in music today. She says that the upcoming album will be "very different" from 2006's Back To Basics and that it will be "very very interesting," she also goes on to say that shes working with "a lot of different people" this time around to help her production wise. One thing that Christina said that tickled my fancy was this...

"I love Timbaland's music for example but I would never work with people like that because everyone else is doing it already."

And I know thats right! FINALLY, someone that gets it!..following whats hot right now WILL NOT work for you in the long run. Getting a particular producer or artist on your record simply because there's hype surrounding him/her doesn't always mean it will work for you! Lord knows Maroon 5 activated my side eye somethin TERRIBLE throwin Rihanna on one of their songs for their upcoming rerelease, all I could think about was the robot from Lost in Space when I heard that news, DANGER!!. I think its safe to say that there will be no T-Pain, Akon, Justin Timberlake or Neptunes collaborations coming up on the new Christina Aguilera album, and for that i say AMEN! now if only Christina could have tapped Mariah on the shoulder and put her ass up on some game.

Rhythmic Review: Estelle - Shine

2008-05-01T15:18:00.000-07:00

U.K. phenomenon Estelle Swaray, better known simply as Estelle, has debuted on this side of the pond with her American debut album Shine. Initially, she wasn't on my radar and at first listen I counted the first single "American Boy" off as nothing more than just a cute song featuring every ones go to boy of the moment, Kanye West. Being backed by John Legend and signed to his Home School Records imprint didn't have me signing on the dotted line to buy whatever she was selling, although, After further listening to the track and reading some interesting words this little lady had for her fellow U.K. acts, I realized exactly how amazing the song was and how promising Estelle's sophomore album might be. I thought I deserved it to myself and to her to give her music a fair listen, and how glad I am that I did.

With an All Star cast of producers and collaborators that include John Legend, Will.i.am, Wyclef Jean, Swizz Beatz, Kanye West and Cee—Lo Whats the result? Arguably the best R&B/HipHop album of the year so far. While Estelle is aided with a bevy of popular producers you can still tell that the essence of who she is as an artist is still apparent in the music. The Mark Ronson produced "Magnificent," featuring Kardinal Offishall, doesn't sound like anything left on the cutting room floor from a Amy Winehouse or a Lily Allen session, it has, what i can only assume to be Estelle, written all over it. The track has a refreshingly Reggae flavor to it, which one can only assume Mariah Carey tried to attempt on her song "Cruise Control" but ended up failing miserably.

While the comparisons to Lauryn Hill have been made (simply because both are black females that are talented vocalist as well as lyricist) Estelle makes a name all her own, doing things musically that have been lacking in the R&b genre for awhile, which is, STAYING TRUE TO THE GENRE! On songs like the remarkably soulful throwback "Pretty Please (love me)," and the Aretha Franklin sampled "More than Friends" she reminds everyone why the term Rhythm and Blues was coined for the genre in the first place. At the same time shes effortlessly able to take outside influences and make it work to her advantage (instead of merely doing it for the sake of being different) like on the smooth Caribbean tinged "Come Over."

Estelles skills as an MC are just as good as her ability with the harmonies. Her lyrical flair shines (no pun intended) on the feisty "Wait a Minute," which cleverly samples "I Put a Spell on you" and allows Estelle to dish about how she simply wants to keep company with a man for his..talents... and that anything else he can keep to himself by saying "You say I aint right but you keep comin back cuz this girl is tight,You aint spendin the night, uh uh after were done here its back to the wife." On the Wyclef produced "So Much Out the Way"she perfectly balances both the gritty rhyme spitting Estelle during the verses while the delicate songbird Estelle comes out during the chorus in a perfect music cohabitational kind of way.

With the recent onslaught of successful female U.K. acts, one can only think how Estelle will compare with the other ladies. To be quite fair and honest, Estelle is unlike any artist to recently rise from the U.K. musical rise, or any artist in America for that matter. She effortlessly marries the sweet softness of R&B/soul with HipHop and provides a vivid juxtaposition between the genres that makes you fall in love with them all over again; when was the last time you can say an artist did that? and no, the shit Tpain does DOESN'T quality. If this album is any indication of what Estelle is capable of, given the right support behind her, she will be one import that will be around for quite awhile and I will gladly take her with open arms.

I give Shine an A

Agree with me? let me know! if u absolutely disagree and think im on something? let me kno that too! hit up the comment section and share!!!!...remember, sharing is caring!

News on Common's 'Invincible Summer'

2008-04-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

The folks over at Billboard.com got a chance to listen to an 8 track preview of Commons upcoming album Invincible Summer (lucky basstids!) set to drop June 24th. After listening to the tracks, billboard is saying that the album is shaping up to be "electro-tinged departure from the MC's previous lyric-driven albums," and ALSO that this time around Kanye wont be contributing on this effort as he did on the last two Common albums, Be and Finding Forever. Common went on to tell billboard:

"I created this music for the summer time, it's about feeling good," Common tells Billboard.com. "This is the type of music I felt was missing from my body of work." (Click Here to Read the Rest)

I personally CAN'T WAIT to hear the new material, I think this direction would be a pleasant departure from the mellow soul vibe that Finding Forever gave. I mean I would have had to activate my side eye if he came with an album sounding just like the last 2, I absolutely LOVED Be and Finding forever (even though it was a bit moodier than Be) I think its great to see hes not scared to try something new because of his recent crossover success he's had from the last 2 albums.

Back in RhythmicRotation: Sunshine Anderson

2008-04-30T11:55:00.000-07:00

Rediscovering a Cd can seem like Christmas day (say when u come across an album like Brandy's debut) but often times it can seem like a cruel joke and often makes you wonder why the album is in your collection in the first place (Dangerously In love, i see you) But luckily, its more common for me to come across an album and fall back inlove with it, or even more so than before. I played with this idea back in October with my Faith Evans post, that people seemed to enjoy, but now i decided to make it a fixture here at RhythmicWords and call it Back in RhythmicRotation and share with you what I've recently pulled out of the collection to nod my head to.

Back in 2001 when I first heard the soulful sassiness of "Heard it All Before" my interest were immediately sparked by not only the fresh sound but the sweet texture of the voice behind it and I soon became amazed by radios eagerness to play and its push behind the record (oh how those days have come and GONE). Sunshine Anderson came onto the scene sounding like nothing at the time and providing a quite pleasant and DESPERATELY needed departure from the overflow and resurgence of pop music that came at the time. Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, and Destiny's Child all came out with some of their most successful albums of their career during this time (and arguably their most POP influenced music), but all I could do was focus on the little soul engine that could.

Sunshine became a break out hit and experienced an amazing amount of success from her first single alone, WITHOUT the annoying endorsements from prominent hiphop figures that force feed us broads left and right now a days, and WITH nothing more but pure talent. "Heard it All Before became a top 20 hit on the billboard 100 and her album Your Woman debuted at number 5 on the billboard top 200 album chart and went on to sell 750, 000 copies.

Better than the neck rolling, finger snapping women's anthem that was "Heard it all before" was the overall album Your Woman. Produced entirely by former SoulLife A&R Vice President Mike City (Brandy, Dwele, Carl Thomas), the album flawless from track 1 to 18 with interludes that didnt stop the flow or interrupt the feel and vibe of the record. The production paired Sunshine's amazingly raw voice (a voice that I don't think was used at full church, soul SANGIN potential) with beautiful melodies and polished arrangements that were displayed on some favorites of mine like the smooth "Lunch or Dinner," the sweet and endearing "Being Away," and the simply beautiful "Last Night", which just so happened to feature a little known Anthony Hamilton ( I think Sunshine's voice complimented Anthony's like no other duet, he's done since, has). One of the most memorable and stand out tracks is the amazing "A Little Sunshine," if your not yet in the mood to step outside and enjoy the sun beaming down on your face and the birds a chirpin in your ear than take one listen to that track and your spring will officially start off on a good note for its the quentisential "Go out and smell the roses, then fall in love with somebody" song.

This album can definitely be put on the shelf and keep company with other albums that are considered some of the better R&B albums of the past 10 years, it was nothing but the R&B/Soul in its PUREST form, it didn't try to be anything else but and came off organic and cohesive, a true album lover's album that could put you INTO the mood to listen to it. With some albums for you to really appreciate it, or even want to listen to it, you already have to be in a certain mood or mind frame; Your Woman is an album that will have you nodding your head and tapping your foot whether you intended to listen to the moody melancholy of old Mary, the vocal supremecy of Faith or the uptempo activity of Janet, and thats an album I intend to revisit more often.

Heard it All Before

Mariah Tops the Charts, But is it anything to Piss the sheets about?...

2008-04-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

At least that's the questioned posed by Yahoo music (and me too). Mariah debuted this week at number 1 with 463,000 units sold, amazing right? yes and I'm extremely happy for her, although u guys KNOW my views on the album. Are the sales earth shattering? not quite..while this is the biggest debut in HER career, Yahoo music gives alil break down on who had bigger debuts last year, 10 in all...

Mariah Carey's E=MC2 opens at #1 with sales of 463,000--the fattest opening-week
total of her career. Carey's previous top opening (404,000) was made by her most
recent album, The Emancipation Of Mimi. E=MC2 also tops Jack Johnson's Sleep
Through The Static for the best opening so far in 2008. Johnson debuted with
sales of 375,000 in February. The last album to open with a higher sales number
was Mary J. Blige's Growing Pains, which opened with sales of 629,000 in December.

Clicky clicky to read the rest of the article.

Throwback Thursday

2008-04-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Another week, another throwback...seems like times flying isnt it?...anyhoo this weeks throwie comes from The Dramatics with their song "Oceans of Thoughts and Dreams" from their 1977 album Shake it Well.

The Dramatics (formerly The Dynamics) were a soul music vocal group, formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1962. They changed their name by 1967, when they garnered their first minor hit, "All Because of You." However, the group did not break through until their 1971 single, "Whatcha See Is Watcha Get."

This is my favorite song by the group, many of you may remember the beat but not
know where to place it. Beyonce and her back up singers sampled it for the song "Girl"from their lackluster album Destiny Fulfilled (honestly yall, that album was asthought out and properly executed as an Aretha Franklin work out tape..i canhear papa knowles now sayin CAN WE GET THIS SHIT OUT THE WAY SO BEYONCE CAN DROP!!!)...Anyhoo..ENJOY and share ur thoughts!!!

Estelle graces the covers of Bleu Magazine

2008-04-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

The super talented Estelle is the covers of Bleu Magazine for its Spring issue and looking absolutely gorgeous. Along with being the first artist to be featured in a double cover for the mag, the Atlantic/Homegrown recording artist exclusively chit chats with contributing writer Lenox Lee about how the U.K. knows squat when it comes to promoting black artist and her comparisons to Lauryn Hill, check it out:

"I think they compare me to her (Lauryn Hill) because I'm dark-skinned and I sing
and rap. But, if they're saying the music is just as great,then compare me
all day because I'll be really happy about that."

The spring issue of Bleu Magazine will hit stands on April 29th, the exact SAME DAY as Estelle's album "Shine" drops...make sure you guys run to not only the music stores but news stands as well. Now peep some of the hot Photos from the shoot.

special thanks to Rafael for the pics :-)

Listen to 30 Second clips of Estelle's "Shine"

2008-04-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

Right now you all can head on over to Amazon.com and listen to 30 second clips of every song from Estelle's upcoming album "Shine". After listening to all of the clips I CAN NOT WAIT to listen to them in their entirety, ESPECIALLY "Pretty Please" featuring Ceelo...this album is giving me a HUGE spring/summer feel...I have a feeling this will be in HEAVY rotation this summer for me, like "Introducing Joss Stone" was last year...take a listen and tell me what you guys think.

No wonder Estelle is RhythmicWords artist of the month YOU NEED TO KNOW for April, shes amazing... Estelle's album "Shine" hits stores on the 29th!!

"Stay Down" Video

2008-04-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

I love Mary and I love the song (even tho its probably my least fav from the album)But I must say that I LIKE the video...don't love it, but I don't hate it either (this is the stan talking btw..MARY CAN DO NO WRONG!). The video is nothing to piss the sheets about and I think its far from something worth waiting MONTHS for (after all, the album did drop in DECEMBER and this is only her SECOND video).

Im dying to see what the video for "Work that" looks like, since it was the original second single and even had a video shot for it before the label decided to do dumb shit like shelve that idea, ask fans for their opinion and then completely ignore us (how FAR down was "stay down" on that list of songs voted to be a second single fellow fans?)...For whatever reasons the label decided to roll with "Stay Down" as the second single and slap jacked a video together because of Marys busy concert schedule. They threw her ass infront of a green screen, got some clips from An Inconvenient Truth and told Hype to MAKE IT WORK!...love her to DEATH but imma need Mary to assess her situation

btw...Mary can rock the HELL out of a fur cant she? Heffa will rock an endangered african lion cub shawl with matching mittens and think nothing of it lmao.

Throwback Thursday

2008-04-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Once again, my girl Mo has saved me..and I thank u puddin snack! without you Rhythmicwords would probably be as relavent as Lil' Mama's music.

Anyhoo...this weeks throwie thursday comes from Erma Franklin, sister of another more well known Franklin, singing the ORIGINAL version of "Piece of my Heart"...Many of you know this as a Janis Joplin song, when in all actuality hers was just a remake with a different arrangement, not to take away from Janis' version (because I absolutely adore it) but CLEARLY Erma upped the soul factor.

Erma was born in Shelby,
Mississippi, but moved several times during her childhood before settling in Detroit, Michigan.
Her mother Barbara (Erma's
middle name, 'Vernice', was also her mother's middle name), who was a gospel
singer, left the family when she, her two sisters, and her brother were young
children. Erma and her sisters, Aretha and Carolyn, sang at their
father, Reverend C. L. Franklin's,
Detroit-area Baptist church.

Now after u listen, clicky clicky on over to read up on her on her Wikipage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erma_Franklin

Rhythmic Review: Mariah Carey - E=Mc2

2008-04-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Its no secret that Mariah has always been one to embrace the extremes of musical genres when it comes to her albums, whether it was pop on her '94 album Music box or with hip hop on her 1998 album Rainbow. Carey has always been capable of honing in on one specific genre moderately well, but it hasn't always been whats best for her, simply being able to do something isn't reason enough to do it. Mariah has shined when she combines all of the genres shes dabbled in through out her career into 1 cohesive album that hits on all levels, much like she did with, arguably one of her best albums, 1998's Butterfly and most recently with 05's Emancipation of Mimi. Its been apparent that since '95s Daydream (when Mariah really started broadening her musical horizon) that with more options musically came more chances for confusion and stumbles. One amazing album always seemed to be followed by a less than stellar or down right horrible effort. After dabbling with a more urban sound on Daydream and the remixes stemmed from, she upped the ante and came with a brilliant and well balanced mixture of the mainstream safe sound she was known for and the hiphop spice that Daydream merely played with and it WORKED on 1998's Butterfly. After Butterfly came Rainbow, which seemed to take all the good aspects of Butterfly and ran them into the GROUND. Groovy urban head nodding jams turned into bass bumping headache inducing annoyances that made NO SENSE coming from Mariah....

If it ain't broke, add a bunch of new shit to it and UPGRADE IT! EMBELLISH EMBELLISH EMBELLISH! seems to be the motto of Mariah Carey, I'm sure that's the drag queen in her coming out but damn, just because a certain something works once doesn't mean you beat us over the head with it for the second time around, someone read the definition of overkill to this woman please!

This brings me to E=Mc2!!! Mariahs 11th studio album that comes 3 years after THE comeback album to end all comeback albums, 3 time Grammy award winning, 6 million copy selling The Emancipation of Mimi. Much like the fate Rainbow suffered, Mc2 is nothing more than the overkill and sad attempts of what was successful from its predecessor. "We Belong Together" was the break out hit from Emancipation, so I'm going to give you 1 guess at what a few tracks from this album resembles... you've got it! The essence of "We Belong Together" can be heard in the sombre bids "I Stay In Love," "Love Story," and "Last Kiss". In all defense, Jermaine Dupri produced all of these tracks, with the exception of "I Stay In love" (that was produced by Brian "1 trick pony" Michael-Cox). Jermaine also did We Belong Together and I suppose its only right these songs all leave the same taste in your mouth, when you can just hear Mariah in the studio saying "DO WHAT YOU DID BEFORE JERMAINE! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!..BUT YANNO..EMBELLISH!!!" even "Cruise Control" jogs the mind of a lazier and slightly unattractive version of "Shake it Off."

The few saving graces on the album come from the tracks that are clearly out of place. The smart and sassy "Im That Chick", produced by Stargate (Beyonce, Neyo,Chrisbrown) gives a 70's soul/dance feel and makes you wonder why Mariah isn't doing more stuff like this, it was clear with "Stay the Night" from the emancipation that this road is one that needs to be tread more often. It allows Mariah to be playful, fun, coy and sassy without coming off as a 30 something akwardly trying to recapture her tweens as she does way too often.

The Swizz Beatz produced "O.O.C." (Out of Control) is a hypnotic and mellow summer track that would have been a nice intermission from vocal heavy tracks, if yanno... Mariah would have put any on the album, while "I'll be loving you Long Time" shines merely from the Debarge track that it samples.

And while I hate to admit it, "Migrate" has grown on me through leaps and bounds. Are the lyrics "Speed dial connecting me to Rae-Rae, Click in Shawntae and Mae-Mae" silly? yes, but are they anymore profound than "Them Chickens is ash and I'm lotion" from "Its like that"? no. Once I heard the cd quality of the song on a sound system, like intended, I began to appreciate it for what it was, A mindless club banger.

As nice as it would be to say these tracks save the album; cuts like "Side effects" featuring Young Jeezy cant help but make you want to slap Mariah upside her head and break all of her heels. The song wouldn't be tolerable in the hands of an artist with the lowest of expectations, let alone a legend like Mariah thats capable of MUCH MUCH better, and sadly enough that can be said for majority of this entire album. Even though "Side effects" deals with personal issues that surrounded her marriage to Tommy Matolla, all potential retrospective artistry is killed by the unfitting production (nobodys tryna ghost ride the whip while listening to how Tommy use to Ike your ass Mariah...and I wont even get into how random the AH HA'S and other pointless adlibs from Young Jeezy further hender the track). If Emancipation made her the down chick in touch with the urban community than E=Mc2 makes her the slutty chick that gives it up in the restroom at house parties.

Dont get me wrong, PLEASE DONT, I consider myself a HUGE Mariah Carey fan, owning every album from her debut to The Emancipation and everything inbetween, but even this album has me scratching my head and asking myself, Did I miss something? the transition from her last album to this one is non existent. This effort would have been much more convincing if it came BEFORE the emancipation during a time she was still trying to find her footing after 2 commercial failures.

While many refer to her as Mariah "Black for the remix" Carey, I like to think of her as Mariah "dumb for the airplay" Carey. Majority of this album will be eaten up by radio and the boppers, snappers and teens that it caters to, the same people that probably don't even remember a Mariah pre Rainbow, or care for a Mariah DURING Glitter ... and that's the sad part. Growth of an artist usually captures a brand new audience without alienating those that have helped you get to where you are and those that have stuck with you during periods that you like to forget about yourself, or simply pass off as soundtracks (bullshit). Butterfly, Emancipation and Daydream are praised as fan and critic favorites for balancing all that Mariah is capable of effortlessly and Proving that, with her magnitude of talent, she IS capable of being a little bit of everything to everyone, now can someone please tap her on the shoulder and let her know that for me...

Good ISN'T good when BETTER is expected and for that..
I give E=Mc2 a D+

In Stores Now!!!!!!!!

Agree with me? let me know! if u absolutely disagree and think im on something? let me kno that too! hit up the comment section and share!!!!...remember, sharing is caring!

Singing LIVE and Sounding GOOD

2008-04-10T17:20:00.001-07:00

Just when Mariah Carey makes me want to throw her to the wolves, she reminds me why I love her so, damn her. Mimi performed on Idol Gives Back Tuesday night and like everyone else ~~I missed it~~ I crossed my fingers and prayed she wouldnt be getting her eagle on during the performance, to one of her negroidian songs from the new album, for a special about starving babies in Africa (with Mariah, you NEVER KNOW). But the mimi pulled through and performed one of my favorite songs "Fly like a Bird" from the Emancipation of Mimi. The performance was the best she's done since well...the last time she performed "Fly like a Bird", which was at the 07 grammy awards..check it out

the review WILL be up Monday morning...so come on back now, ya hear??

Clevelands Next Top Model

2008-04-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

ABSOLUTELY. GENIUS.

i'll do some real work tomorrow...i swea!

E=Me not buyin this shit

2008-04-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

For now at least...HEY! I'm a broke college student, I can only afford to buy GOOD things at the moment...with that said, the Mariah review will be up next week (or whenever I'm able to listen to it without wanting to wear a veil, dark sunglasses and cry uncontrollably)

When Producers Stop Giving a Damn..part 2

2008-04-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

If you look back at an older post you'll see this isnt the first time ive shared my thoughts on this fellow and his "talent". I said it once, i'll say it again...this man is a waste of a good bank account. Turns out the beat that Usher paid hundred of thousands of dollars for could have been made for FREE on a computer program that im sure cost less than $50. Watch the video as this random fellow shows you what Polow did to bamboozle Ushers dumb ass by basically duplicating the beat in his own bedroom...

This is so good it MUST be fattening...Now in a perfect world this would spell the end of Polows career, but his phone is probably ringing off the hook with offers because of it smh. Im sure he's busy roaming fruity loops for beats to put down for Ciaras first single or some shit

BLEU Magazine Wants You to Migrate

2008-04-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

The wonderful people over at BLEU Magazine have recently relaunched TheBleuMag.com and wants to invite everyone over to check it out. Its a pretty snazzy layout, you guys do yourselves a favor and check it out...to add the cherry on the sundae, the new page is letting you listen to a High Quality version of "Migrate" by Mariah Carey. Sounds like the real thing, unlike the high quality Radio Rip thats been going around.

The various sections of www.TheBleuMag.com will highlight the best of the best in its field. The fashion department prides itself in showcasing exclusive and edgy fashion spreads that will leave you wanting to catch a flight to the fashion capital of the world. The Entertainment section is where you will get your "first sneak peek" at what tomorrow will be a #1 song, #1 album or that breakthrough artist in the country. With the BLEU TV Spotlight we will ensure to get you all the in-your-face-action at all the hottest events around the country, be it political, fashion, entertainment and or humanitarian.

BLEU Radio is the place for you to tune in and feel right at home, with live talk shows, up-to-date playlists and the very latest in news.

Along with that, Bleu Magazine has recently enlisted the services of College Hill's Ray Cunningham. He will have a weekly blog entitled "Tell it Ray Ray!: Why Just Have Hollywood when I can have NY too...Soon the World!" that will feature entertainment news, exclusive one-on-one interviews, gossip, Internet trends and politics among other things on. Thats all good and sassy but emmm wha I gotta do to get some employment love!??!?! Throw a nigga some music review opportunities....geesh! lol

More Mariah and Madge shit...

2008-04-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Cant wait until the 15th to hear the new Mariah album? head on over to Amazon.com and listen to 30 second clips of each track from the album. Since these are only previews im not going to give a review or even a real opinion, that would be unfair, and after all, I want to listen to the all the songs in their entirety before i say I don't like them!..but anyhoo... im just gonna say that so far im digging "O.O.C", "I'll be loving you long time", and ofcourse "Im that Chick" ...which tracks sparked your interest? which songs turned your stomach? coughsideeffectscough... let me know in the comments!

Haven't seen Madonnas new video? check it out

I must say that i actually really like it, energetic and fun..Madonna looks amazing and definitely on the creative side, unlike the song, I love how she breaks it down at the end..She is GETTIN it for 50 isnt she? A visual that DEFINITELY surpasses the song (and yes, i purposely ignored Justin Timberlake...i mean...shouldnt we all?)

Throwback Thursday

2008-04-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

This weeks Throwie thursday comes from the Grammy award winning group The Fifth Dimension. Their 1967 hit "Up up and Away" became a break out hit for the Pop group, peeking at number 7 on the pop charts and earning them 4 grammys at the 1968 ceremony, including both Record and Song of the year. I absolutely adore this song and it was one of the first songs I heard from the group and it peeked my interest, then of course I listened to their 1969 number 1 hit "Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine in" and it was a wrap. Take a look at the group perform "Up up and away" and just appreciate the brilliance of the horns and the strings..ugh

Mariah and Madonna Break Records...

2008-04-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

With all this good news going around you just KNOW Mariah is probably somewhere downing a bottle of champagne and wearing hello kitty pajamas while she greases Da Brats scalp...

As expected, Mariah Carey moves past Elvis Presley and into sole possession of second place for most No. 1s in the rock era, as "Touch My Body" soars 15-1 on the Billboard Hot 100 to become her 18th chart-topper. With her album "E=MC2" yet to hit retail, Carey might equal the Beatles' record of 20 No. 1s before her set runs its course.

Presley will also be nudged from his standing as the artist with the most top 10s in the rock era, as Madonna surpasses him with her 37th top 10, "4 Minutes." The track, which features Justin Timberlake, clocks a 68-3 jump. Previous to the establishment of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958, the industry standard chart was the Best Sellers in Stores tally, where Presley scored his first 12 top 10s.

Billboard.com

Well congrats to both of the ladies for accomplishing such an amazing milestone in both of their careers...how ironic is it that its with both of their weakest songs to date? but anyhoo, being a big fan of Mariah and a casual one of Madges im happy for both of them regardless, even tho this is nothing more than validation for Mariah to continue to do dumb shit when it comes to her career, by the next album my guess is that her lipgloss will be poppin! Madonna on the other hand gives me the vibe that she could give a shit regardless.

New Adele Video

2008-03-31T06:35:00.000-07:00

This new video is for "Cold Shoulder" from the beautiful and talented Adele off her debut album 19, whish is slated for a summer release here in America. The video was directed by Phil Griffin. Now start out ur week on a good foot by clicking play

Throwback Thursday

2008-03-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

The musical GENIUS that is George Benson won a grammy back in 1977 for his hit "The Masquerade" and its this weeks throwie thursday. This song was number 1 on the pop, jazz and R&B charts. Now after you listen to this amazing song, do yourself a favor and head on over to georgebenson.com to get acquainted with this legend. This man is the reason why im SO picky when it comes to my male vocalist of today...when u grew up listening to this, Frankie Beverly, Donny Hathaway and others... the fellows out now can't even make me raise an eyebrow....now PLEASE...CLICK PLAY!

Im not tryna start shit...I SWEA!

2008-03-26T22:43:00.000-07:00

But tonight Keyshia Cole debuted her new video for the beautiful song "Heaven Sent" on BETs Access Granted. When watching this video, which is gorgeous btw, my mind ventured off to a video thats somewhat similar. This video took me back to the amazing "Everything" video by Mary J. Blige. Now say what you want, but this video by Keykey is VERY reminiscent of Miss Marys is it not?...Dont get me wrong, I love "Heaven sent", its actually my fav track from Keyshia's album.... but CLEARLY "Everything" was the prototype for this video...but watch both below, "Heaven Sent" and "Everything", which is CLASSIC...classic Mary, classic Hype Williams (when...yanno..he gave a damn) and classic 90s R&B (when..yanno...R&B was good)...now enjoy both of these videos and draw your own conclusions..swagger jacking?, paying homage? or mere coincidence? but remember...im not tryna start shit..I SWEA! 0:-)

Keyshia Cole - Heaven Sent

Keyshia Cole - Heaven Sent (music video)
by geronimos87

Mary J. Blige - Everything

...and yes..the stan came out of me during this post...sue me.

So who in Mariah camp secretly hates her?

2008-03-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Thats the only explanation i can come up with for her not performing this song on snl a few weeks back....Mariah performed for those bitches from The Hills the other night and her performance of "Touch my Body" was ofcourse televised. What wasn't televised was her performance of another track from E=Mc2 which is called "That Chick you Like". After looking at the performance and listening to the song im wondering why the hell it wasnt aired and why she didnt perform this on snl instead of "Migrate", clearly someone is tryna sabotage the Mimi by tellin her to do dumb shit. Im loving this track and I havent even heard the HQ version yet, and thats BIG considering those one trick ponies known as Stargate produced it, i dont even hear a guitar! kudos to u guys!!!. The song seems very fun and summery and im loving the pinch of Michael Jackson flavor in it. Its finally good to hear something from the new album that doesnt make me cringe or make me have to listen to it 435253245 times just to tolerate it..because for a minute there E=Mc2 was shapin up to be E=Me not buyin that shit.

Mariah Carey- I' m the chick you like
by miki2530

btw...how AMAZING does she look? it kinda make u wonder why they insist on airbrushing her to DEATH in her promo pics...i mean SERIOUSLY, ive seen less digital altering in disney/pixar movies

Rhythmic Review: Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

2008-03-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

The dynamic duo is back with their follow up to the extremely successful debut St. Elsewhere, that garnered critical acclaim from scholars, D-boys, blacks, whites and everyone in between. With their sophomore album The Odd Couple hitting stores this week, the speculation and curiosity for the album is reaching its peak. "Is the album as weird as the first?", "Does it suffer from sophomore jinx?", "Have they sold out completely and let Timbaland produce the album?". Well the answers are NO, and thank God to the last question, ABSOLUTELY NOT to the second, and YES to the first (and I'm loving every minute of it). Odd Couple is a continuation from St. Elsewhere and with the brilliant formula Danger mouse and Ceelo used the first time around, it would only be logical not to fix it.

The Grammy award winning group that consist of Danger mouse, who's still working his creative genius behind the boards as a producer, and Cee-lo on vocals. If you were a fan of, admired or had an undying love for St. Elsewhere than this album will solidify your love of this group. Odd Couple isn't a carbon copy of St. Elsewhere by any means, it just merely takes creative concepts and sounds, that are complimented by Cee-lo's vocal intensity, from the last album and displays it all on this album, see "Open Book".

Pop influences plucked from the 50s and 60s, that are very reminiscent of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, are merged with soul sounds of that era and crashes smack dab into the Hip-Hop heavy, electronica experimentation of now BEAUTIFULLY. On songs like "Surprise" this musical collision course of sounds is the most apparent, while "Whatever" gives you a feeling of what the Beach Boys would sound like if they were around now and the group consisted of experimental stoners. Unlike the first album, the upbeat schizophrenic moments are toned down abit, think alittle less "Go Go Gadget Gospel" and alittle more "St. Elsewhere", the song that is, from their first album.

One of the MANY stand out tracks on the album "A Little Better" evokes a cocktail of mixed emotions. The head nod inducing beat is intoxicating and addicting all at once, the track is 3:07 long as you wish it were an experience that would never end. Its a perfect closing to an album that takes you on an adventure dealing with such topics as having a relationship with a blind woman that loves based on inner beauty, "Blind Mary," to the emotional confession and disparity on "Who's gonna save my Soul", which is set to be the groups second single.

Listening to This album can only be summed up as one word, an experience. With the textures this album display, you get a strong admiration for this duo and their knack for putting upbeat, fun, electronic, hip-hop beats to dark lyrics and menacing vocals. The juxtaposition of emotions and sounds displayed through out this album is gutsy and just plain fun to listen to, never knowing when or where a turn will come.

A post on Gnarls website earlier this month read "With the shifting seasons, furtive romantic entanglements and fierce college basketball rivalries, the latter half of March can be confusing. People need to be soothed and inspired now." That quote couldn't be any truer with tracks like the utterly genius first single "Run" making it virtually impossible not to be inspired and "Charity Case" being as soothing as it wants, these tracks all come together effortlessly and proves that this Odd Couple is more of a perfect pair.

I give The Odd Couple an A

IN STORES NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Agree with me? let me know! if u absolutely disagree and think im on something? let me kno that too! hit up the comment section and share!!!!...remember, sharing is caring!

Hooked on Honest

2008-03-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

I kno ive been lagging and completely let thursday come and go without a throwie thursday post (I truly am lost without u Mo) BUT! I have good reason...Time Warner has been throwin me more shade than a Jlo fan at a Mariah Carey concert...BUT now that im back online and running, heres some funnyness to start out ur weekend right...

Too bad this product doesnt really exist...id LOVE to put it in when artist are on tv talkin about their upcoming releases..u kno when they say "this is my most personal album yet, i really love it" knowin damn well they be wanting to say "I NEED THE COINS!"

IM SO HAPPY I COULD JUST SPIT

2008-03-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

This week is turning into a GREAT balance from last weeks horridness...first Gnarls Barkley moves their album up and entire month, then Mariah showed us the beauty of ~~photoshop~~ fierce photography and now ladies and gentlemen........

ADELE WILL ENJOY A SUMMER RELEASE HERE IN THE U.S.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... thats right folks, save your coins from those import prices...RhythmicWords' February artist of the month Adele has inked a record deal here in America with Columbia Records and her amazing debut album 19 will be released and hopefully met with the warm reception it recieved back in the U.K. (it debuted at number 1 there), but she aint leanin and rockin with it so it'll most likely take an entire year and a few grammy nods or an Apple ad for people to stunt her (damn shame).

"Columbia Records will give hot British newcomer Adele's debut set "19" a summer Stateside release, through a joint venture struck with XL Recordings."

Billboard

Mariah's E=MC2 album cover

2008-03-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

Like I was telling Nova, before I snatched this cover from his page (YOINK!), im surprised this album cover wasnt a shot of Mariah squatting in someones alley or a close up of her with a razor blade hidden under her tongue...yall kno how SHE been doin it lately, rollin around wit RayRay and Mae Mae and what not...but this album cover, the angle, the font, the body...everything is absolutely GORGEOUS, I cant find one flaw with it...ofcourse theyve all been airbrushed away, but thats neither here nor there. GET IT MIMI! now if only her songs reflected this adult, mature, sexy and confident image and didn't scream MY LIP GLOSS BE POPPIN! than i would be markin down the days on the calender for this release...

I TOTALLY want her retoucher to do my drivers license picture...oh and it completely SHITS on madges cover...but than again give Stevie Wonder a kodak and a day at the park and im sure he could come up with a better picture than that mess.

GNARLS BARKLEY MOVES UP RELEASE DATE!!!

2008-03-17T23:58:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! some GOOD shit!...

Word on the blog block is that the boys will be moving up their album an ENTIRE MONTH...that's right folks, so instead of releasing The Odd Couple on April 8th, it will hit stands on the 25th of THIS MONTH, that's right...NEXT TUESDAY, A WEEK FROM TODAY!, but the album will be available digitally TODAY. Just when my wallet started to heal I see its time to rub some nickels together to make magic *sigh*..but this is COMPLETELY worth it...great way to minimize illegal downloading I would imagine, SNEAK ATTACK ON YALL ASSES!, but also hinder any peek potential first week sales...but lets be real, this is Ceelo and Danger Mouse, they could give a hot heave about sales, ITS ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC, BABY! ugh im so excited about this news I may need an asthma pump...gimmie a minute, yall

Quack Quack..Im a Chicken..

2008-03-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

So a few folks have asked for my opinion on the MiMi performances on last nights SNL so I figured id post about it. I initially wasn't going to, because well...why? she didn't care enough to give a good performance, why should I care enough to comment on it? But anyhoo, Nova pretty much said everything I was thinking about the entire situation perfectly, so go check it cuzz Mimi shant victimize me!

But doesn't the "Migrate" song remind you of Camrons "Im a Chicken Head" skit from his Purple haze album? Listen to the negrodian display and tell me thoughts of MIMI doesn't run through ur head!!! the way Mariah's been lately i wouldn't be surprised if a skit like this makes E=Mc2...not a good look mimi..not a good look at all...CHICKEN HEADS, UNITE! BAKAWWWWK!

.. . ...

To Continue this weeks theme...

2008-03-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

Of Disappointments...I present u Madonnas new album cover!

Yea...I pray this is just a joke, too...

Throwback Thursday

2008-03-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

This weeks throwie thursday i decided to go with an artist thats been in my heavy rotation alot lately, Singer/Song writer/Fierce bitch Miss Carole King with the song "Tapestry" from one of the best albums of all time Tapestry. Not only is the album critically acclaimed, and a personal favorite of mine, it sold like hot cakes! check it out.

Tapestry would remain on the charts for nearly six years and sell over 10
million copies in the United States alone, an estimated 22 million world-wide,
remaining her most popular album among fans and critics alike. The album
garnered four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year; Best Pop Vocal
Performance, Female; Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"); and Song of the Year
("You've Got a Friend").

Along with being an amazing musician Carole has penned songs for dozens of artist, most notably "Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin, "Some Kind Of Wonderful" by Marvin Gaye and "If its Over" by Mariah Carey, just to name a VERY FEW.

Now Clicky Clicky and take a listen to this beautiful song thats beautifully written by Carole and then head over to wiki and read up on this musical genius

Sigh..it has begun...

2008-03-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

Just when u thought it was safe to imagine this nigga in the bottom of some volcano sizzling atop the back of his ~~American Pitbull terrier~~ Wife Tameka. Usher's song "Love in this club" is atop the hot 100 for the second straight week .

I heard the track for the first time earlier this week, I purposely ignored it while every other blog posted clips...clips of the clips..and clips of clips from radio simply because i was anticipating a new usher record like I'm anticipating an STD. Iam not a fan...never been..and the fact that his music has never been anything to scream from the mountain tops about has helped, and this song is no different. Don't get me wrong "U don't have to call" had me shaking a tail feather along with a few other tracks from 8701 and "Nice and Slow" is considered, by me, one of the pivotal R&B tracks from the 90. As time progressed Usher's music pretty much reflected whatever time period they were released, the material was nothing new, the sound was nothing fresh and the odd part was...by the way he acted u could have sworn he was on some David Bowie Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust type shit.

When Usher pushed over 1 mil in one week with Confessions, for me it was like that one ass hole at your job with the horrible self righteous attitude and the "I can do no wrong" mindset getting employee of the month, hence giving him more vindication to be an even bigger asshole. I dont kno whos the bigger douche, him or Justin Timberlake, although Justin I can tolerate, atleast when it comes to his music (lord knows I cringe whenever his ass tries to be all hip and witty come interview time). But anyhoo...I guess this is my long winded way of saying the song sucks, the only reason why its percieved as hot, dat crack, or pure fiyah (or whatever the hell else its being called now a days in the place of "Cool") is because of Usher the person, and people, for some reason, loves him....lord knows anyone else with that track it would have been hugging the bottom of the charts...and speaking of charts..CONGRATS TO LUPE FIASCO!!!! he has his very first top 10 record, "Superstar" climbed up to number 10 this week!!!!!! and can someone tap Mary J. on the shoulder and let her ass know "Just Fine" wasnt the smash they expected and by dropping a new single, instead of just talking about dropping a new single, would make a good selling record a GREAT selling record? thanks in advance!

Thoughts????

2008-03-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, a friend of mine linked me this video and i just had to share and get thoughts on it. Im all for backing a presidential candidate and what not, and i have, but for the longest ive wished that supporters would turn this into whos the BEST for office, not whos the blackest or who has the most hormones. I just wish those with a voice and the potential to influence would educate those, that are unwilling to learn or just dont know where to go or what to do, on each candidates pros and cons so THEY can VOTE for who they think will best benefit THEM, and contrary to popular belief, that may not be someone thats the same race or sex as you. Is being black or being a woman reason enough to vote someone into office? I dont think so. It boggles my mind when people tell me who they voted for and I ask why and they simply reply "because hes black" or "because shes a woman". WE GOT TO DO BETTA TO GET BETTA YALL!

Ummm...WTF?

2008-03-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

Just when i was about to come out the Danity Kane closet, they go and pull some shit like THIS...the video for their lead single "Damage" from the upcoming album Welcome To The Dollhouse. Love love love the song and all the tracks ive heard so far from the effort, but this video here... I dunno what to say, i mean the video looks like a tacky commercial for a new slutty bratz doll or something. Its bad enough that the video is debuting a WEEK before the album drops, and it turns out to be this bedazzled, silver metallic mess...i just shant be victimized by Diddy and his "if it aint me, i dont give a shit" business mindset

Rhythmic Review: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War

2008-03-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

I know plenty of you are wondering, why on earth am i just posting my review for Erykahs new album when it came out nearly 2 weeks ago? Well, its taken me THAT LONG to actually appreciate the album for what it is, I'm not EVEN gonna say it took me that long to GET IT because lord knows this broad she has me scratching my head at some points. Erykah is a genius and at times it works in her favor and against her, while listening to the album I felt like it should be a class at the community college just to dissect it!!! I don't consider myself a Erykah stan, but at the same time i don't consider myself a casual listener of her music either, but i think this album went over the heads of many(NOT ALL) fans, stans and listeners all the same. I know its Erykah, I know she's one of the cool kids in this over populated homeroom known as the music industry, and I know it makes you one of the cool kids for liking her, but for this effort i think its ok to say...I don't get it.

I made a huge mistake going into this album. After listening to one of the hottest tracks so far this year, the first single "Honey", I went in with the mindset that Erykah would be on some Mama's Gun/ Baduizm type shit, but once i got to track 3 on New Amerykah I realized, that was FAR from the case. The album starts out with a funky...intro? track? who the hell knows, but whatever it is it definitely gets to the point and sets up the album perfectly, that is until you glimpse at the stereo and realize your 4 minutes deep and it isn't off yet! much like the majority of New Amerykahs tracks, this one overstays its welcome, and the last few seconds is pointless ramble and destroys the momentum from the next track, one of New Amerykahs best, "The Healer".

This track should be changed to "The Grower", because that's exactly what it will do. If you don't fall in love with the track automatically because you think Erykah is trying to claim your soul, or because its just so different, then you definitely owe it to yourself to give it a few more listens. The head nod inducing track is produced by Madlib, a California based producer/rapper/dj and chronicles Erykah undying love for hiphop, stating that "Its bigger than religion". Directly following "The Healer" is the infectious "Me" and proves that one song going directly to the next works beautifully for Erykah, all extras aren't needed.

This year, Erykah will release New AmErykah, a series of at least two albums (the first of course being 4th World War and the second dropping in the summer) dealing with sociopolitical issues that will come to life through different musical styles jumping from multiple decades. That's great and all and I applaud the ambition behind it, for something like this isn't done in R&B (and NO Beyonce re releasing Bday doesn't count!) but I would have preferred it if Erykah left ALL the concepts at the door!, with 5 years since her last studio album it would have been MORE than refreshing just to get an album of hers showcasing her amazing voice, lyrics and knack for working with brilliant producers, instead this album is bogged down with over thought and forced experimentation.

The main problem with New Amerykah is the overall random feel the album showcases all too frequently. From the unnecessary mumblings and chanting that comes after many songs, that practically ruin the transition and interrupts the mood, i.e. "Me" . Tracks would have shined and the point would have came across PERFECTLY without any of the extras, i.e. "Twinkle" and "Soldier". At other times I feel to truly understand and enjoy this album you have to go on a treasure hunt, waiting sometimes 2 minutes through a track just to get a refreshing and much needed surprise, a vintage Erykah Badu sound when a track switches up in mid listen! This most notably happens on tracks like "Master Teacher" and "The Hump", The former going into a beautiful lounge type track and the ladder into a slow soulful groove that would have went PERFECTLY on Baduizm. Erykah isn't exactly new to doing this, showcasing this on Mamas Gun with "Green Eyes", but the difference then was the track went from great to GREATER. That track didn't leave you thinking "Why didn't she make the entire album sound like this? or at least the entire song".

This is not really a drive through town on a spring day while enjoying the music type of album, unless u have your skip finger ready just in case you don't want random chanting blasting from your ride. I'm sure Erykah developed this album with a certain mind set, in a certain environment and naturally assumed her fans will be on that wave length with her, but im afraid not everyone is willing to get high and listen to this album while laying under their beds in moon suits or whatever other weird shit that she may have intended. With that said i do believe Erykah is brilliant and shes never really been a slave to formulaic Soul R&B, but when you try TOO hard to be deep, different and experimental, it kind of comes off as weird, unnecessary, and pretentious...which basically sums up this album for the most part.

I Give New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War a C

In Stores Now!!!!!!!!

Agree with me? let me know! if u absolutely disagree and think im on something? let me kno that too! hit up the comment section and share!!!!...remember, sharing is caring!

Danger Mouse to work with Beck? YES LAWD!

2008-03-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

While roaming through the Okayplayer message boards I came across this gem of information....Danger Mouse, 1 half of Gnarls Barkley, will be producing the upcoming Beck album!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AMEN! I can not wait for this collaboration, 2 weird ass people that make GENIUS music on their own teaming up? STOP IT!...I just pray it isnt TOO WIERD (u kno, on some Erykah Badu hypnotic chanting type shit..but more about THAT tomorrow)..now pardon me while I go listen to Sexx laws

'The Odd Couple' Tracklisting

2008-03-05T01:17:00.000-08:00

Now according to Billboard.com the boys new video may make fans all fucked up in the head...And No not because of the Justin Timberlake cameo! Click Here to fine out why. Now check out the Official tracklisting...am I the only one completely AMPED?

"Charity Case"
"Who's Gonna Save My Soul"
"Going On"
"Run"
"Would Be Killer"
"Open Book"
"Whatever"
"Surprise"
"No Time Soon"
"She Knows"
"Blind Mary"
"Neighbors"
"A Little Better"

The Odd Couple in stores April 8th!!!!!

So u can take '4 Minutes to Save the World', but not a song?

2008-03-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

After listening to the HQ radio rip of the new Madonna Song "4 Minutes to Save the World" featuring Justin Timberlake and produced by Timbaland, I realized this song is kinda hot...if it were someone ELSE singing the female vocals besides Madonna, for any OTHER album besides Hard Candy. Im not saying that Madonna brings down the track AT ALL, it just doesn't seem like a Madonna track period. Im sure its the quality of the radio rip that makes Madonna's vocals seem almost non existent next to the loud looping horns and Justin Timberlake.

The main problem I have with the song is that it sounds like something that should have been on Timbaland's Shock Value album, not a new Madonna record...especially after releasing an album like Confessions on the Dancefloor that had such a STRONG first single... For those that have heard the song already, honestly tell me u cant picture Nelly Furtado on the track instead of Madonna and have it feel more believable? With that said I feel the track is TOO Timbaland and not enough Madge.

Im honestly not surprised because I think Timbo has been wearing himself thin for YEARS...hes not at a creative peek as he once was when an Aaliyah song sounded NOTHING like a Missy Elliot song. Now you cant tell a Justin song from a 50 cent song from a Nelly Furtado song, and now apparently from a Madonna song. I fear the new project will be overproduced and nothing more than a forced attempt to top the Hot 100 Charts. Seeing that Flo-rida's hideous single "Low" has dominated that chart for the past 10 weeks, that would be my indication as an "artist" to stay as far away from that goal as possible.

Rhythmic Review: Janet Jackson - Discipline

2008-03-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years, when it came to Janet and her music it's been a lose/lose situation for her. Damita Jo was an extremely solid album overshadowed with controversy,that wont get anymore attention from me past this sentence, so yanno, it must have been bad right? wrong. On 20 Y.O, faithful fans justifiably screamed they were ignored when a sound directed more toward a BET friendly audience made up the bulk of the album. A Pop/R&B hybrid sound perfectly molded by Janet earlier on in her career, that could be appreciated by not only the Beckys of the world but also the Beckeishas, was abandoned, an album was appreciated by many was slammed by many more. Now with her 10th studio album, Discipline on the shelves, new cries and concerns are being made by fare weather fans and critics alike. Janets not growing! Janets too old!! I miss old Janet!!, which for many new and young fans is The Velvet Rope Janet...yea those that don't even own Rhythm Nation or janet still feel the need to flap their gums. She just cant win, Penny is STILL getting the iron!!! Luckily this time around shes not trying to cater to anyone or recapture any particular sound of the past, only to fail miserably like a few other divas have...this time shes simply doing what she does best, and that's have FUN, proving that Janet is at her best when she does what the hell she wants with or without the help or input of others.

I initially went into this album completely detaching Janet the CELEBRITY from it. When it comes to an album with entirely TOO much hype surrounding it that's what I tend to do, its the best thing to do to get a fair review and a fair appreciation for it. I can care less how ugly her man is, how many nipples she's shown to the world, or her age. Its ALL about the material, and for the most part on this album, the material is damn good. With that out of the way I appreciated the fact that this is a great pop album and a solid Janet album.

I'm far from a Janet Stan so I purchased and listened to this album off of the strength of the AMAZING first single "FeedBack" and follow up "Luv", both produced by Rodney Jerkins, who is at his best and makes you wonder why he didn't do the entire album if the chemistry between he and Janet would produce tracks like this. These songs are very reminiscent of Full Moon era Brandy, but much more suitable and believable because its Janet, Miss Jackson if ya nasty!!!!!!! bringing the futuristic songs to life instead of yanno... Moesha. Thanks to Rodney many of the Interludes Janet is so famously known for doesn't seem as much of a hindrance and unnecessary as they have on past albums, and in a few cases add to the appeal of the song that follows it like on the infectious and fan favorite "So Much Betta".

While were on So Much Better, Bringing in the shock value on this album are the tracks produced by Jermaine Dupri that are actually GOOD. Many blamed Dupri for the lacklusterness that was 20 Y.O. but this time around his creations "Rock With You" and "The 1" proves that he is a great producer when he approaches individual artist differently, what works for Mariah or Usher doesn't work for everyone else, who knew. While the former takes you to a care free let go and dance type of mind set the ladder makes you want to pop it as hard as you can and with Missy Elliott along lending guest vocals, it doesn't help much when it comes to fighting the feeling.

This album is by no means perfect, with forgettable tracks like "Never Letchu Go" and The Dream penned, Tricky Stewart produced "Greatest X". Clearly judging by this track these gentlemen completely ignored the reception of 20 y.o. because this song would have went perfectly on there, and I would have hated it just the same. Just because these tracks aren't high tempo dance joints doesn't mean that's why they don't stand out in my mind. The potential single "Can't be Good" gives a perfect head nodding groove alternative to many of the ass shaking uptempo tracks on Discipline while "Whats your name" has summer single written all over it.

The title track of the album along with the closing song "Curtains" Reminds listeners that Janet isn't in competition with the Beyonces or the Britneys of the world but is following her own path, one paved by herself alittle over 2 decades ago. With majority of her albums, Janet has always possessed one important thing, a point of view, no matter how overdone or repetitive it may have been, shes always had one. Proclaiming that shes "misbehaved" and that her "punishment should fit her crime" Janet comes off strong and comfortable in every good possible way, although a bit reminiscent of that one overly sexual track from like every Janet album since the janet album itself back in 93.

I think that Discipline is a VERY solid album, her best since 2001's All For You. The production is genius on the tracks that work and along with the visuals it all adds up to make this one of the best Pop albums I've experienced in months. Regardless if you want to knit pick at Janet and say she's Too old (apparently after you turn 30, sex and fun shouldn't be in your vocabulary, unless your Mariah and I guess u get a ho pass or something) or focus on her past work and play the compare and contrast game (shes in a happier place and a somewhat simpler time in her life, so I wouldn't imagine her to be as introspective as she was on TVR), this album WORKS and you can't deny that. If this album doesn't perform as expected I hope Janet still chooses to stand behind it, because no matter how popular it is among celebrities to slam an album AFTER it flops (Mariah "GLITTER WAS A SOUNDTRACK DAMMIT!" Carey or Mary J."Love and Life was all LUCIFER AKA DIDDY'S DOING!" Blige and even Janet herself "THE MUSIC JUST WASN'T RIGHT!, ALL 2 ALBUMS WORTH OF TRACKS! OOPSIES") I believe this album deserves the support now and forever because its a suitable addition to the legacy that is Janet Jackson

I give Discipline a B

In Stores Now!!!!!!!

New Gnarls Video

2008-02-29T13:43:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love it, nothing could have really made me love the song anymore or any less because i think its pretty genius..BUT...i totally could have done without the Justin Timberlake cameo...as if he needed anything else to make him more of a douche...now hes REALLY gonna think hes all deep and cutting edge..

New Cheri Dennis Photoshoot

2008-02-29T11:00:00.000-08:00

The lovely people over at 2R's Entertainment has sent me a lovely behind the scenes clip of Cheri Dennis on the set of her new photo shoot for BLEU Magazine. She looks gorgeous and her album is actually pretty good, its such ashame yanno..diddy doesnt give a shit..BUT This issue drops on the stands the second week of March with Jaslene Gonzalez of Top Model fame gracing the cover, so take a look see below

and if your wondering WTH is a bleu magazine?...welp here u go...

About The BLEU Magazine
"A quarterly magazine focused on delivering to the world a new representation of urban-gay culture. BLEU is a dynamic team of people. We’re in the music industry, fashion, television and publishing business. And of course a few assorted misfits who spend rent money on designer clothes and never wait behind velvet ropes. BLEU is a variety of things and types of people, all of whom are absolutely fabulous!"

www.THEBLEUMAG.com
www.myspace.com/BLEUMAG

AMEN and AMEN!

THANKS YOU GUYS!

2008-02-29T00:18:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody, i just wanted to thank ALL OF YOU that took the time out to send me all the love on my birthday!!!!! through text, phone calls, emails, messages, ims... appreciated it ALL very MUCH...i wrapped myself in all the love like a blanket and kept myself warm through the night!! lol...i keed i keed..the vodka did that....but again I THANK YOU!

New Estelle...

2008-02-29T00:12:00.000-08:00

Heres the new video from Estelle, The uk talent recently signed to John Legends record label...I never really stunted her or the song to tell u the truth, but once i seen the video it kind of made me give it a second listen and go figure..i love it...u can check out the video and spot cameos from Miss legend himself, kanye and Terrence from 106 n park (who interrupted him working the crafts stand on set? now yall kno workin for BET make niggas take side jobs!)...anyhoo, im loving the video and the song has grown on me alot...just thought id share it with u guys...SHARING IS CARING!

Throwback Thursday

2008-02-28T23:38:00.000-08:00

Better late than never yall...But for this week i decided to roll with a song thats been back in my heavy rotation lately...its Diana Ross' "Top of the World"...ive ALWAYS loved this track...from the laid back breathy vocals to the strings, its definately a diana fav in my book.. Enjoy you guys

Coincidence?...I THINK NOT!

2008-02-27T09:15:00.000-08:00

Its been a minute since i did one of these, so i figured why the hell not...

Not a good look Janet..not a good look at all...and Tanisha? ehhh love the barret?

POP OFF janet, POP OFF!!!!

My 2 Cents on Beyonce playing Etta...

2008-02-26T21:45:00.000-08:00

Ok, ive been asked a few times whats my opinion on beyonce landing the role of Etta in an upcoming movie (not because im the all knowing, they just know i always have shit to say about shit lol) Ive shared it a few times but i figured id throw my opinion out to u guys cuzz yanno...my words matter lol...so heres what I said to my bestfriend when she asked a few minutes ago...

SunShineCali760 (9:31:04 PM): do u think that beyonce is the right person to portray etta james

RhythmicSoul05 (9:31:11 PM): nope
RhythmicSoul05 (9:32:15 PM): i think etta has everything beyonce doesnt...sass, character and an all around personality..i think it will be a BIG stretch for beyonce...playing deena wasnt and thats why she shined a bit..i think this role will either prove her as an actress or just a bitch that got lucky
SunShineCali760 (9:32:44 PM): lol yea
SunShineCali760 (9:32:56 PM): but isnt etta a big gurl
RhythmicSoul05 (9:33:18 PM): chile yes...that will be interesting to see too
SunShineCali760 (9:38:20 PM): who would u want to play her if u had your pic
SunShineCali760 (9:38:41 PM): i think no name people do better in roles like that
RhythmicSoul05 (9:39:03 PM): i agree, no one i can think of honestly..id like to see a no name really come out and shine
SunShineCali760 (9:40:36 PM): yea cause people are going to have to much hope ridin on bee and i dont think its going to do as well if it had a big fat greasy black women that nobody knows and thats not fair to etta
RhythmicSoul05 (9:42:36 PM): yea..and plus when u have such FAMOUS people acting..the audience doesnt see past that celebrity playing the roll, especially when theyre playing someone who was/is equally famous or a legend...when we looked at beyonce in dreamgirls we seen deena jones because we didnt really kno who deena was, not many people went into the film expecting her to become SHERYL LEE RALPH as deena jones yanno..but with this upcoming project when we look at beyonce we will WANT to see etta, because after all thats whos shes portraying but we wont, were gonna see beyonce because we already have a reference in our mind as to who etta is and i dont think beyonce has the acting talents to transform into someone else and make us see that on the screen
SunShineCali760 (9:43:35 PM): yea

*P.S...janet review will be up tomorrow...erykahs, need a few more listens so give me a minute

Igganunt Convo of the day...

2008-02-24T01:06:00.000-08:00

BaNwT829 (12:52:19 AM): que tu doi partir = that you must leave
RhythmicSoul05 (12:52:41 AM): oh..u just think ur a cute lil bilingual bitch arent u
BaNwT829 (12:54:23 AM): it feels so good to be finally understanding it
BaNwT829 (1:01:31 AM): i cant wait until i really learn
RhythmicSoul05 (1:01:40 AM): baron whats wednesday?
BaNwT829 (1:01:49 AM): and i go to paris and all the french boys fall in love with me
BaNwT829 (1:01:54 AM): because im from american
BaNwT829 (1:02:08 AM): and i just say eat ur damn hearts OUT!!!!!!!!!
BaNwT829 (1:02:22 AM): i dont date people who eat snails and frog legs
BaNwT829 (1:02:53 AM): and then i meet carine
BaNwT829 (1:03:05 AM): and we fall in love and have 2 daughters and then a son
RhythmicSoul05 (1:03:33 AM): wednesday, whats so special about that day?
BaNwT829 (1:03:39 AM): wed is the 27th
RhythmicSoul05 (1:03:47 AM): AND WHAT DAY IS THAT MUTHAFUCKA!?!?!
BaNwT829 (1:04:05 AM): ur bday fool
RhythmicSoul05 (1:04:16 AM): yea..it is isnt it :-)
BaNwT829 (1:04:43 AM): nigga u aint the only one with a bday
RhythmicSoul05 (1:05:04 AM): but im the only one u needa care about!
RhythmicSoul05 (1:05:05 AM): NIGGA

in the immortal words of miss MaryJ Blige....FRIENDSSSSSSSSSS HOW MANY OF US HAVE THEM?!?!? I DONT THINK WE REALLY NEED THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Janet is MTVs Artist of the Week

2008-02-22T14:29:00.000-08:00

Looks like the people over at Island Def Jam got their heads out of Mariahs snatch for 2 minutes to throw some coins Janet's way...With the upcoming release of Discipline only days away, its time to get the promotion engine in gear...Janet will be hitting up Good Morning America and Then TRL..Yes Janet is BACK on MTV and its not even after 1am! times are a changing for Miss Jackson..hopefully the sales will reflect the change too. Not only will she be on TRL but starting monday she will also be the MTVs Artst of the Week. She joins artist like Alicia Keys, Kenna, MIA, Lupe Fiasco and others...basically starting monday she will have a bunch of weird ass commercials running during the credits of the RealWorld/RoadRule challenges...BUT ive got my hands on one of the commercials, and its quite HILLARIOUS....Check it out

Genius LOVES company

2008-02-20T21:51:00.000-08:00

now i MUST thank my beautiful sister in fierceness MO for droppin this gem on me, I knew Amy was performing but i didnt kno it would be with the GENIUS Mark Ronson, with Adele at that!...I absolutely love Adele and Amy, and Mark is on my Raphael Saadiq level of genius producers for me...Now check out this performance from the Brit Awards featuring these 3 along with Daniel Merriweather (yes thats his name, yall)...now ofcourse there were other performances and winners and stuff but yanno...who cares

and how GOOD does amy look? im SOOO happy for her

Janet Covers VIBE

2008-02-20T19:00:00.000-08:00

Janet is gracing the cover of April's issue of VIBE magazine and is looking absolutely gorgeous, sloppy homeless woman weave and all. Apperently they couldnt get enough of Miss Jackson over there at vibe because they gave her 2 covers...the second one I could totally live without, yea yea theyre playing off of her brothers Off the Wall album, cute..but tired...dont get me wrong, she looks gorgeous but ehhhh...yea! shes Michael's sister...we get it!!! and where in the fuck did the suit come from? how random...Anyhoo, Discipline drops this Tuesday on the 26th...GO SUPPORT IT! my review for the album will be up, yanno...eventually *shrugs*

Fierceness Of the Day

2008-02-17T21:30:00.000-08:00

Start your week in a Bright way with this throwback...

Sybil - Dont Make me Over

Preview "New Amerykah Part One"

2008-02-17T11:50:00.000-08:00

Right now, u all can mosey on over to Amazon.com and listen to 30 second clips of every track from the upcoming Erykah Badu album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) which is scheduled to drop next Tuesday (Feb 26)..ahem..the day before my birthday...but anyhoo...Click Here to go straight to the page and get ur ear full...im waiting for the entire album to give my 2 cents in the Rhythmic Review, so untill then..enjoy

About Damn time...

2008-02-16T17:51:00.001-08:00

About damn time this bitch takes a picture thats actually Fierce, because if u ask me she hasnt since the 90s...Those pictures she takes weekly on Top model are laughable at best....I absolutely love these pics and i think she looks amazing, mostly because she doesnt even look like herself...no more airbrushing my ass!... That shit sounded cute for a minute didnt it Tyra? Miss Tyra is gracing the cover of this Months Entertainment Weekly and doing a damn good job if i say so myself...The new season of top model starts This Wednesday on the CW.

Yea...its been one of them days, yall...

2008-02-14T22:39:00.001-08:00

Oh, February 15th..how I anticipate thee

Yea i kno..its been a clip heavy day...its kinda hard when ur DRINKING AWAY THE SORROW!...oh well...*shrugs*

Noah's Arc movie scheduled to set sail this year...

2008-02-14T16:42:00.000-08:00

To soften the blow of the news that Noahs arc was being cancelled, the fans were told that an upcoming movie was in the works! we just didnt know...when..how..where and why...but now it seems like things are coming together and everythings a go! so I Galivanted on over to AfterElton and Heres whats goin down...

"The film's working title is Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom (I guess a shark was too dangerous?) and we're told it is a wedding-themed film (they won't tell us whose wedding...) that will pick up where the series left off at the cliffhanger season finale. Production begins in March and newly-out lead Darryl Stephens (Noah), Doug Spearman (Chance), Rodney Chester (Alex) and Christian Vincent (Ricky) are set to return, with other casting to be announced soon. "

Throwback Thursday

2008-02-14T11:16:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, I figured since I lagged last week with throwie thursday (thanks mo) that this week i'll give u 2 for the price of 1!!!! With both of these legends gracing the grammy stage last Sunday, and the mini drama that took place afterwards, I figured what 2 better artist could I choose other than Miss Aretha Franklin, the QUEEN of soul and Miss Tina Turner, the QUEEN of rock&roll?

Both of these songs happen to be my personal favorites of Tina and Arethas...First up we have "Call me" by the 20 time Grammy award winner Aretha Franklin and the song comes from her 1970's album This Girl's inlove With You. Next we got the 8 time grammy award winning Tina with "River Deep, Mountain High" which was released as a single in 1966 and produced by Phil Spector....I hope u all enjoy!!!

Aretha Franklin - Call Me

Tina Turner - River Deep, Mountain High

Fierceness of the Day

2008-02-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

Since the Grammys were only 4 days ago and was still fresh in our minds, for good or bad reasons...i figured id post 2 of my FAVORITE performances that WOWED me, MOVED me and left me absolutely speechless from 2 of my favorite divas...No, not Amy and Kanye.....MARY AND CHRISTINA!....no they werent at sundays ceremony at all. These amazing performances come from LAST YEARS festivities...ahh yes lets reminisce...the year where the Dixie Chicks snatched shit up for talkin shit, Justin threw as much of a bitch fit for not winning album of the year as Kanye did (fuck both them niggas, Gnarls was ROBBED), Mary finally won 3 of her OWN grammys during the televised portion of the show and Christina proved that she had SOUL!....enjoy

Mary J. Blige - Be Without You/Stay With Me

Christina Aguilera - It's A Mans World

Happy Valentines day, Yall...

2008-02-13T23:13:00.000-08:00

I was gonna go into a long rant about how overhyped this day is but i decided to repress my lonely negro syndrome for another date...basically im just feelin too damn lazy...enjoy ur day lovebirds and for the rest of you, try not to drink urself to sleep while listenin to Amy Winehouse...Lord knows i have my fingers crossed

Dedicated to the One I Thug Love from jeff on Vimeo.

I'm Just Sharing...

2008-02-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

Start your HumpDay out nice with one of my favorite TLC tracks...the Neptunes produced "In Your Arms Tonight"...this is a slept on gem from the girls because it was on the VERY forgetabble 3D album. After the initial shock and sadness that many felt after the untimely death of Left-Eye, reality set in...the Remaining members still had an album to release and due to the fact that neither of them really had the spunk, charisma or real talent that Left Eye possessed, the album pretty much slid dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn the charts...why this song was never released as a single still boggles my mind...this is classic Neptunes production, when they were in their PRIME production wise...yanno before Pharrell started to do whatever the hell he wanted behind the mixing board and just put the neptune stamp on it.....enjoy

Me Likey....

2008-02-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

Really Doe - Magnetic Power

Get Your Own Player!

Im in love with the Jennifer Hudson sample...Now clicky clicky to head over to Nah Right to find out who the hell this is.

So Delicious it MUST be fattening....no pun intended, Aretha

2008-02-12T18:03:00.000-08:00

So! according to BlackVoices, Aretha "No, seriously, More gravy!!!" Franklin was NOT feeling the love from Beyonce grammy night. ReRe was quoted as saying:

"I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between the Grammy writers and Beyoncé, however I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy. In addition to that, I thank the Grammy's and the voting academy for my 20th Grammy and love to Beyoncé anyway."

GET HA RERE! GET HA!...This quote from Aretha stems from Beyonce calling Tina Turner "The Queen" during their performance sunday night, a title thats rightfully been attatched to Aretha for DECADES...but all jokes aside, im sure Beyonce meant NOTHING by it what so ever..in order for her to have meant something, actual thought would've had to go into it, and we ALL kno that just aint happenin from the Bedazzled one anytime soon...the girl barely knows what day it is let alone being able to throw shade at anyone, let alone the Queen of Soul...hell, can she even throw shade at a wall in the middle of the day? My guess is no...plus she was just probably saying what was wrote for her...after yanno...reading it a few hundred times

New Mariah!!!!!!!!! + My 2 cents, ofcourse

2008-02-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

Not only has the first single from Mariahs upcoming album debut today, but also the NEW album title and release date...Christmas came early this year for u Lambs out there....According to Mariah's Official site, the new album will be titled E=MC² and drop April 15. For you that havent heard the new track "Touch My Body" yall can mosey on over to ConcreteLoop.com...Now i woulda posted the song myself, but ehhhh I SHANT be victimized!...shoooooo...

My thoughts on the song? I think its really cute..nothing new, nothing special, EXTREMLY safe... A very safe track thats sure to impact radio in a BIG way...u can just tell when a song is MEANT for radio (todays radio atleast), the melodies are simple, the lyrics are on an almost remedial level and the singer usually tames his or her voice down to a none threatening whisper, unless ur Rihanna and yanno...thats considered straining and pushing urself, but anyhoo...For some reason I expected the song to be a club banging uptempo track, why im not sure....

Im keeping hope alive that Mariah will have some type of challenging and fresh material on her album this time around..shes been dabbling with the same formula for over a decade hoping it works, and we all know sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't....but before u lambs start hissing and getting that "WHAT THE HELL DO U KNO, MIMI GETTIN MONEY AND U JUST HATIN!!!" email all typed up and ready to send...i LIKE THE SONG! i repeat...i LIKE THE SONG!...i just want more from one of my favorite artist thats all *shrugs*...and i KNO Mariah's never been a Lauryn Hill or Amy Winehouse with the pen and pad...but "If Its a Camera up in here, then I best not find this on youtube"????

...Too Much Like Right

2008-02-11T00:11:00.000-08:00

To let Amy sweep all 6 of the awards she was nominated for (she won 5) would have made entirely too much sense...a genius album winning awards that it ACTUALLY deserves???? that hasnt been heard of since The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Letting Amy, a heavily SOUL influenced artist, sweep ALL the major awards would have been entirely too much like right

The award show this year was an overall joke and one anticlimactic performance after another. Unlike other award ceremonies in the past, im not going to give a blow by blow of this shit, i wasted enough hours of my life watching it, i refuse to waste 1 more putting together a indepth post about it...I SHANT BE VICTIMIZED! So here are a few of my favorite moments...and I say few because these are the only things I actually remember lol

Performance Of the Night:
Kanye West

At first I was a bit lost, even with the help of Daft Punk I didnt get the real point of the first half of his performance...yea he wore glasses that lit up, who gives a hot hell? but it wasnt untill the second half after all the smoke and unecessary shit left the stage was when he touched the ol corazon. The Tribute to his mother was absolutely beautiful and touching, i loved he sung live and was backed by the strings...proving that Kanye is at his best when hes not being KANYE!...genius...His acceptance speech, altho started out nice, the comment made towards Common all reminded us of the ass he could be at times... letting us all forget that for just one moment would have been too much like right.

Acceptance Speech Of the Night:
Amy Winehouse

She deserved an award for thanking RayRay n' dem and giving a shout out to her man in jail ALONE...now was it just me or thanks to Amys acceptance speech and the gospel tribute, the Grammys were a bit BETish this year? Regardless of the year Amy has experienced regarding her personal life, her music is undeniably amazing and something completely new while being vintage and classic at the same time. I commend the academy on seeing this and giving this broad 5 out of 6 grammys, and in a perfect world i'd like to think her personal issues had nothing to do with her wins but i also kno the publicity certainly didnt hurt. I don't think her wins come off as a reward for a person doing bad things, just as a reward for raw and brilliant talent...so SUCK IT Natalie Cole...Miss Cole was interviewed for FOX 11 News and took the opportunity to let it be known that she didnt think Amy "Deserved" any of her awards she won saying "I Dont think Bad Behavior Should be Rewarded"....talkin greasy is so much easier when u can ignore your OWN past isnt it? or did all the drugs and trips to pawnshops make u forget?

The rest of the night for me is a big blur, a big BORING blur of missmatched pairings, unthought out performances and random ass presenters, solange anyone? I think for the most part the winners this year was on point, ALTHOUGH I think Jill was robbed (Although she picked up one with Lupe Fiasco for "DayDream"). "No One" is a cute song but the fact that Alicia sounds like shes being punished in a sex dungeon while singing it should have said something and hendered her chances at winning, but i guess when ~~Lucifer~~ Clive Davis is your boss, anything can happen. I loved how motha Prince sprinted onstage to present the award to Alicia, im mad he was the prettiest girl there.

One of the most shady moments of the show for me was when Rihanna won the "Apex song of your career, seriously bitch appreciate it cuzz you'll never have another hit like this" award...i keed i keed...she won best for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration with Jay for Umbrella...well miss Rihanna strutted past Beyonce, snatched jay and galivanted on stage like it was nothin, yall..i love every minute of it! it was so delicious it HAD to be fattening!!

Im sure all that shade Ri was throwin cooled down the entire staples center yesterday. LA was a good 80 degrees shoooo, half the room and their edges need to thank Rihanna shooooo....

And while were on the Bedazzled one, I wasnt at all blown away by the Performance she did with Tina...u can tell nerves got the best of her while being 125 years old got the best of Tina...But i do commend Tina for yanno, not only being a legend but not having an ego that many divas would have when it comes to performing with someone half their age and in their prime...

Thats enough about the shit i could careless about, lets get to the winners! Congrats to them all...and Tpain too, I guess...

Click Here to head over to MTV so u can get a rundown of all the winners...

Final Question:
Now seriously...whos penis do u think is bigger out of these 2??
Hmmmm...now thats a hard one...But I think I know Whos Willing to take one for the team and find out...

Adele debuts at number 1 on U.K. charts

2008-02-04T18:48:00.000-08:00

Thats right..RhythmicWord's favorite Adele has topped the album charts in the U.K. with her debut album 19...I swear, everythings SO MUCH fiercer over there..from the music to the people!(talent like Adele's would NEVER have debuted at number 1 here in America, hell she may not even be recognized over here untill her SECOND album...Feist anyone?)...Its good to kno that people SOMEWHERE get it. The GENIUS album has even led to Adele being awarded the BRIT award and the new Critic Choice honor...GET IT BITCH!

London-born singer-songwriter Adele's "19" has already led to a BRIT Award, the
new Critics' Choice honor, which she will receive at the Feb. 20 event at
London's Earls Court. The album's high debut also follows the success of her
first full single "Chasing Pavements," which spends a third week at No. 2. Her
previous limited edition single "Hometown Glory" has also just charted, landing
at No. 32 on download sales.

Click HERE to read MORE

RhythmicWords:: Dont like my words? then yanno...leave...no wait..suck it, and THEN leave

On Hiatus...if yanno...u havent noticed :-)

Rhythmic Artist of the Month

Something Supreme over at QH Blend...

2008 In Music...So far: The Good, Bad and the UGLY

Rhythmic Interviews

New Videos: The Good, The Bad and the Rigotdamndiculous

Timbaland set to produce new Jay-Z album...

Rhythmic Recommendation: Swagger Style

Where the hell YOU been, Rhythmic?

Rhythmic Artist of Month

L.A. gone be the DEATH of me, yall!

Ahem....

On Vacay....

Noel Gourdin takes you to 'The River'

Estelle's private show in NY

Disclaimer time, folks...YAYYYYY!

Rhythmic Interviews: Chante Moore!

Still a 'Love Fool'

Rhythmic Review: Jennie Laws - Introducing Jennie Laws

R.I.P.

Rhythmic Artist of the Month

Throwback Thursday

Someone at BET needs to be FIRED...

Im Just Tickled Pink....

Rhythmic Recommendation: Jennie Laws

Back in RhythmicRotation: Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun

Me Likey...

Rhythmic Review: Usher - Here I Stand

Rhythmic Review: Al Green - Lay It Down

Janet wants to 'Rock Witchu' this fall

RE: The Desperate Housewives Finale

Should the Neptunes be added to..."The List"

I think im finally buying what this broad is selling...

Swagalicious

Rhythmic Artist of the Month

Gnarls Barkley - Going On

Christina Aguilera SHANT be victimized on upcoming album

Rhythmic Review: Estelle - Shine

News on Common's 'Invincible Summer'

Back in RhythmicRotation: Sunshine Anderson

Mariah Tops the Charts, But is it anything to Piss the sheets about?...

Throwback Thursday

Estelle graces the covers of Bleu Magazine

Listen to 30 Second clips of Estelle's "Shine"

"Stay Down" Video

Throwback Thursday

Rhythmic Review: Mariah Carey - E=Mc2

Singing LIVE and Sounding GOOD

Clevelands Next Top Model

E=Me not buyin this shit

When Producers Stop Giving a Damn..part 2

BLEU Magazine Wants You to Migrate

More Mariah and Madge shit...

Throwback Thursday

Mariah and Madonna Break Records...

New Adele Video

Throwback Thursday

Im not tryna start shit...I SWEA!

So who in Mariah camp secretly hates her?

Rhythmic Review: Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple

Hooked on Honest

IM SO HAPPY I COULD JUST SPIT

Mariah's E=MC2 album cover

GNARLS BARKLEY MOVES UP RELEASE DATE!!!

Quack Quack..Im a Chicken..

To Continue this weeks theme...

Throwback Thursday

*Sigh*..it has begun...

Thoughts????

Ummm...WTF?

Rhythmic Review: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War

Danger Mouse to work with Beck? YES LAWD!

'The Odd Couple' Tracklisting

So u can take '4 Minutes to Save the World', but not a song?

Rhythmic Review: Janet Jackson - Discipline

New Gnarls Video

New Cheri Dennis Photoshoot

THANKS YOU GUYS!

New Estelle...

Sigh..it has begun...