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Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

music-news-from-breakups-to-the-lastest-buzz

  • Not Necessarily The News – Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Suge Knight

    I love the music gossip and braggadocio.

    The End Of Lupe?
    According to Billboard.com, Lupe Fiasco has stated before that his last album could be his next and that he will name it LupEND. And he even explained that END would mean everywhere, nowhere and down here. I thought END simply meant END.

    Big Boi Promises 3 Times The Outkast
    Big Boi promised a solo album for each he and Andre 3000 as well as an Outkast album before the year is over based on an article on MTV.com. That’s great news except release dates are so tricky that when you wet the appetite of fans, it’s easy to disappoint when something happens and the albums get pushed back. But that’s not even the best part of the article. Big Boi says that his album will be called Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty. I guess Speakerboxxx 2: Da Return was taken.

    Suge Knight Blames Kanye
    It’s quite odd to me that Suge Knight is suing Kanye West if this SOHH article is correct. He was harmed at a party that Kanye hosted before the 2005 VMAs. He’s suing Kanye for the price of the diamond earring that he lost after being shot in the leg. Well, then Tupac’s estate should be able to sue Suge Knight since Pac was shot and killed in his car right? Eh, it’s not even important to bring up the past. But I just find it so frustratingly odd when things like this come out. Suge Knight isn’t really newsworthy, but then again, this ain’t necessarily the news.

    Photo of Lupe Fiasco by Drflet

  • Friday Throwback – Buffalo Stance

    Hey, it’s still Friday on the West Coast.

    My dad was very slow to any sort of new kind of music. But every once in a while he’d surprise me with something that was kind of hip. Enter Neneh Cherry.

    Cherry has always been this mysterious musical figure to me. I’m almost sure that I haven’t heard anything else except Buffalo Stance, but I should have right? She’s this eclectic artist with a great name and even named her first album Raw Like Sushi. Like, shouldn’t she have been a break out star?

    – Even though this video was probably shot in 1989, it’s still far closer to the videos of the 80s than of the 90s.

    – Huh? Sucka.

    – No money man can win my love either Neneh.

    – I wonder how much the gold toothed smile dude got paid to be in this video for 2 seconds.

    – She really needed about 5 hours worth of acting classes for this video, but it’s great in all of it’s terribleness.

    – How do you like that fat gold $ around her neck?

    I didn’t know this, but this song was a number three single on the top 100 charts and number one on the dance charts.

    Pops was right on the money with this one.

  • What’s in a Voice? Rolling Stone Presents The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time

    Aretha Franklin. Photo by Ryan Arrowsmith.

    Ah, lists. Meant to be discussed, meant to be argued. The latest list to come from the folks at Rolling Stone magazine is “The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time”. It’s a semi-interesting list, with some curious choices as well as some expected ones.

    To no one’s surprise, Aretha Franklin tops the list. In her heyday, the Queen of Soul could have sang a TV instruction manual and made it sound soulful. I can’t argue with her placement even though she’s fallen into a super-sized parody of herself in recent years. Thankfully, Patti LaBelle, a singer whose voice is just as strong and has held up better, also pops up further down the chart, although the admission of Mary J. Blige while omitting Chaka Khan is a head turner.

    There are plenty of distinctive musical voices here. Some are inarguable. You can’t have a list like this without including Freddie Mercury, whose voice could blow the fur off a farm animal. Actually, if this was my list, I’d have placed him a hell of a lot higher than #18. Otis Redding? Check. Bono? Check. Van The Man? Double check. They even made room for my boys MJ and Prince.

    However, no list would be a list without a couple of head-scratchers. While Bob Dylan and Bjork are certainly unique vocalists, I wouldn’t necessarily call them “great” singers. Dylan’s nasal whine is grating on a good day. I’ve always maintained that while he is obviously a genius songwriter, his songs sound a helluva lot better coming out of someone else’s mouth. I personally love Bjork, but while I think her voice is expressive, I think it’s part of an overall package with her music and her visuals. I would pay (or have paid) money to see Nina Simone or Luther Vandross sing without musical accompaniment. There’s a bluesiness or a soulfulness in the voices of John Lennon or Steven Tyler that resonates even when they’re singing the blandest material-hey, no one else could have made me like “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing”. But Bjork? Not so much. Unique does not always equal great.

    Anyway, since I haven’t been able to get my grubby little hands on a copy of the magazine, I haven’t gotten the chance yet to see what the tributors have to say about the artists profiled on this list. However, you can have a look at the list here and let us know what you think. Is there anyone on the list who shouldn’t be there? Was anyone incorrectly omitted?