If I can turn off the snark for a second, I wish a speedy recovery to Travis Barker and DJ A.M. and also send my heartfelt condolences to those that were killed in the plane crash in South Carolina Saturday morning. While no one would choose the alternative, can you imagine the memories those two guys are going to carry with them for the rest of their lives?
OK, snark back on. Here are this week’s most interesting stories from the world of music:
Kanye vs. 50 Part 2: Guess He Didn’t Learn The Last Time
With Kanye’s new “808’s and Heartbreak” album coming out on December 16th, 50 Cent has decided to revisit the “battle” that put his last album, “Curtis” against Kanye’s “Graduation” and release his fourth album, “Before I Self Destruct” at the same time…sort of (50 will release his album on December 9th). For those that don’t remember how that one ended, Kanye sold something like 30% more than 50 did in its first week, and has sold about 60% more over the cycle of release. So, unless Curtis has one hell of a publicity stunt in his pocket (which isn’t outside the realm of possibility), I think it’s fair to say that Kanye will whoop his ass once more. How much you wanna bet 50 sells less in two weeks than Kanye does in one?
The R. Kelly Interview: What the Fuck Was He Thinking?
GG touched on this trainwreck of an interview here, but the conversation R. Kelly had with journalist Toure on BET qualifies as the biggest television trainwreck since Britney drawling “we’re country!” and losing her false eyelashes in an interview with Matt Lauer a couple years back. There was also a very interesting expose on the Kelly trial in Blender magazine a month or so back. It’s just kind of sad that all these people are coming out of the woodwork NOW. Why now??
Check out Funkmaster Flex airing Kelly out. This is almost scary.
…But Vulgarity is so Funny!!!!
For the second year in a row, the Emmy Award for best song accompanying a TV show or sketch went to a song whose title can’t be stated on broadcast TV. The terminally unfunny Sarah Silverman won for “I’m Fucking Matt Damon”, following last year’s win for Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg’s “Saturday Night Live” classic “Dick in a Box”. I approve this win only because I hope it reminds Sarah of her ex-boyfriend Jimmy Kimmel (whose show this skit originally appeared on, and who went Sarah one better with “I’m Fucking Ben Affleck”, shown below) and how he dumped her unfunny ass.
Britney’s Back Bitch…But Even Better…
So yeah, yeah. It’s nice to see that Britney Spears is resembling her pre-meltdown self again, and her upcoming album, due in December, will probably boast tons of fun dance songs that Britney had absolutely no involvement in other than running her voice through Protools or an Autotune device. You know who else is coming back, though? TOM JONES!! Yep, Carlton Banks’ favorite singer is returning on November 25th with an album called “24 Hours”. It’s reported to have a retro sound similar to Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” (which basically means the songs will sound like Tom’s hits from the Sixties), and it will boast cameo appearances from Bono and The Edge!! I love Tom Jones! I love Tom so much I’m gonna give you guys a THIRD YouTube video to watch today!
I Guess She Didn’t Like Mr. Boston
The weirdest news of the week has Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson becoming engaged to a contestant on “I Love New York” nicknamed “Punk”. Do you think J. Hud was sitting in front of her TV eating popcorn when she stopped on VH-1 and said “I want THAT guy”? Granted, she can probably have her pick of just about any guy she wants, but of all the TV shows in the world, hell, of all the reality shows in the world, she picks a dude that swapped spit with New York?? I’m nowhere near cynical enough to think that this was a perfectly-timed publicity stunt designed to create interest in her upcoming album, which has NO buzz going for it right now? Hmmm…I don’t know.
