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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Pop Rock Nation

  • Biggie & Tupac: The Plot Thickens Again

    Chuck Phillips of the L.A. Times is at it again.
    The man who, several years ago, implicated The Notorious B.I.G. in Tupac Shakur’s murder has come forth with a new story: saying that Biggie and Sean “Puffy” Combs were part of a set up that led to Shakur being robbed of his jewelry and shot in the lobby of a New York recording studio back in 1994. Allegedly, B.I.G. and Puffy were among the conspirators behind the robbery based on Shakur’s refusal to join Bad Boy Records, the label Combs owns and B.I.G recorded for.
    As a lifelong hip-hop fan, a fan of both artists, and someone who was upset enough about the murders and the pervasive aura of violence that seemed to surround hip-hop back then that I temporarily took a breather from ingesting hip-hop as a whole, this report upsets me, but I’m not naive enough to think that there could potentially be some truth in what Phillips has allegedly dug up.
    Of course, this means I have to share my thoughts on the murders of the two rappers and the whole manufactured “East Coast/West Coast” rivalry that may have played a part in them.
    Let’s face facts: Tupac was killed on the Las Vegas strip directly after a Mike Tyson fight, while in the passenger seat of a car. Is it possible that no one witnessed his murder? Not really. Biggie was gunned down six months TO THE DAY later while in the passenger seat of an SUV that was leaving a widely attended music industry party. Is it possible that no one witnessed his murder? (especially when there were numerous people in the vehicle with him). No, not really. Someone knows something. The events were too widely seen and the time frames were too coincidental, and I’m betting that the two people that know the most are Death Row Records chairman Suge Knight and Sean “Puffy” Combs.
    I’m no “JFK”-style conspiracy theorist, but is it possible that Knight and Combs may have planned the murders of their biggest artists in concert? For all the talk about the two being bitter rivals, they were spotted together at a Prince concert (of all places) last year. Knight is quite obviously evil, and Combs doesn’t seem to possess much of a conscience, so I wouldn’t put it past them.
    The alleged involvement of Jimmy “Henchmen” Rosemond, a former associate of both Tupac and Biggie (who now manages The Game) complicates things. Rosemond’s close associate, a gentleman by the name of “Haitian Jack”, was allegedly the person who REALLY sexually assaulted the young lady who went on to charge Tupac with rape (remember, ‘Pac didn’t go to jail for actually sexually assaulting someone, he went to jail for being an accessory to the assault). Rosemond was allegedly in the studio with B.I.G and Puffy when Tupac was assaulted, robbed, and shot.
    All this adds up to one hell of a tangled web that won’t be completely unwoven until someone spills their guts, which likely won’t happen until either Combs or Knight (or both) passes away.

  • Can Diddy Do It Again?

    First off, will we ever get to call him Sean “Puffy” Combs ever again?

    This coming Tuesday, all girl pop group Danity Kane releases their sophomore album Welcome To The Doll House. It seems like just yesterday when Puffy, I mean Diddy, put the group together through the MTV show, Making The Band. When he whittled down the hopefuls, the result was Shannon, Aundrea, Aubrey, Dawn, and D. Woods. Having many weeks of television is a great marketing opportunity, as millions of people were able to watch the girls blend into a mature girl group. Also, Diddy and company utilized MySpace as a marketing tool better than any professional that I’ve ever seen. As a result, the girls sold over 200,000 units during the first week of release and eventually went platinum.

    Puff Daddy, I mean Diddy, is trying to strike while the iron is hot. Trying to duplicate his success with Danity Kane, Diddy put together an all male R&B group, called Day26, during the fourth iteration of Making The Band. The show was just as much boot camp as it was singing competition, but it worked, and when the latest version of the show featured Danity Kane, Day26, and solo artist Donnie J. all fighting for studio time, my thought was that Diddy done did it again. However, the music landscape has changed even more so than when Danity Kane’s first album was released. MySpace was still the hottest website around.

    If you’ve watched the season, the girls are desperately trying hard to match the success of the first album. The guys are just trying to find their place. Donnie J., who is sort of a mix between Jordan Knight and Justin Timberlake, is simply trying to not get lost in the shuffle.

    The good news is, Day26 looks to have the chops to be a real R&B group. Danity Kane needs a hot single to hit, but I can’t imagine their new album will be that much different from what worked last time. And at this point, who really knows about Donnie J., as we haven’t seen a release date for him yet? But you have to give Diddy props for being one of the hardest working executives in the game. Traditional music marketing isn’t necessarily working as well as it did in the past, and he’s taking chances and being creative in selling his artists. It’s worked once, and we’ll see if it can work three more times.

    Day26’s album drops March 25, 2008 and you can listen to Danity Kane’s new album, Welcome To The Doll House on MTV’s The Leak.

  • Chart Check: 3/15/2008: Usher, Sara Bareilles, Ray J and More!!

    Courtesy of the good folks at Billboard, here are this week’s Top 10 singles and albums:
    Top 10 Singles:
    1) “Love In This Club” Usher feat. Young Jeezy
    2) “With You” Chris Brown
    3) “Low” Flo-Rida feat. T-Pain
    4) “Love Song” Sara Bareilles
    5) “Don’t Stop The Music” Rihanna
    6) “No Air” Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown
    7) “Sexy Can I” Ray J. feat. Yung Berg
    8) “Apologize” Timbaland feat. One Republic
    9) “Independent” Webbie, Li’l Phat & Li’l Boosie
    10) “Superstar” Lupe Fiasco feat. Matthew Santos
    Top 10 Albums:
    1) “Good Time” Alan Jackson
    2) “Sleep Through The Static” Jack Johnson
    3) “Discipline” Janet Jackson
    4) “Float” Flogging Molly
    5) “Warpaint” The Black Crowes
    6) “Thriller 25” Michael Jackson
    7) “New Amerykah: 4th World War” Erykah Badu
    8) “Little Voice” Sara Bareilles
    9) “As I Am” Alicia Keys
    10) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
    And now some observations:
    *Anyone notice that among the Top 10 albums, there are 3 Jacksons (and a Jack Johnson)? Now might be a good time for La Toya or Rebbie to start working on those comeback albums.
    *Sara Bareilles, with appearances on the singles and albums chart, is officially the first breakthrough album of 2008. With Alicia Keys and Erykah Badu joining her in the Top 10 (and Amy Winehouse just behind at #11), it’s a good time to be a female singer-songwriter.
    Video for Sara Bareilles’ “Love Song” here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MR5xv3pt7KI (explicit lyrics)
    *Proof that the gap between major labels and non-major labels is lessening, the two top debuts of the week (at #4 and #5) are both distributed independently. This is Flogging Molly’s first Top 10 album ever, and the Crowes’ first in well over a decade.
    *Usher spends a second week at #1 despite the fact that the video for “Love In This Club” hasn’t even been *shot* yet!! Who needs MTV??
    *And is Ush coming back to snatch the crown Justin Timberlake stole from him?
    *Jordin Sparks is the first “American Idol” champ to score two Top 10 pop hits from one album since…our very first “Idol”, Kelly Clarkson.
    *Backpack rapper Lupe Fiasco scores his first ever Top 10. His second album, “The Cool”, has already outsold his 2006 debut (in only 3 1/2 months of release).
    *Formerly known as Brandy’s little brother, singer/actor/adult film star Ray J. scores the first Top 10 pop hit of his decade-long career with “Sexy Can I”. The last time his big sister hit the Top 10 was back in 1999.