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  • Vital Idol: Mariah Carey Says Bye Bye To …

    Before I start this write-up, I wanted to mention that Music Help Web has a Twitter page. You can read us on Twitter where we update quick news items that aren’t necessarily something we’d blog about, but still are important. Now, onto the show.

    Last night’s show was Mariah Carey Night. All of the remaining contestants performed Mimi’s songs and overall, I was very surprised at how well they did. I figured we were in for a tough night. While I didn’t necessarily agree with the judges that David Cook did a great version of Always Be My Baby, as the reason I like that song is because it’s fun and innocent and he took all of that away, I do think they were fair and gave everyone just about what they deserved.

    – Has anyone noticed that Randy Jackson’s side burns are nearing Brandon and Dylan levels from nearly 15 years ago?

    – The Idol contestants are performing One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men and Jason Castro croaked through the very first verse. I think they told him to lip synch the rest of the way.

    – I predict a Brooke, Carly, and KL Cook bottom three by the way.

    – Ryno is splitting the folks into two groups tonight without telling them what being in either group means. In one group is Syesha, Carly, and Jason and in the other is David Cook, Brooke (straight), and KL Cook. David Archuleta is the only one not in a group.

    – A man that used to look like Elliot Yamin but has terrible facial hair and a curly mop on top of his head is singing what seems to be his next single. I wished for Trainwreck, but he’s singing Free.

    – Mariah isn’t singing Touch My Body, which I’m guessing is because she’d probably have to dance a little bit. But she’s instead singing Bye Bye and standing as straight as the mic stand.

    – She’s not as skinny as the toothpick that is Brooke White, but Mimi is looking skinny.

    – Whichever group Big Dave Archuleta joins must be the group that is safe, because it would have four members versus three.

    – That Ryno is such a sneaky guy. He just switched David Cook with Syesha. David Cook, Carly, and Jason Castro are safe along with Big Dave.

    – Syesha is safe, leaving the two blondies.

    – Brooke is safe and Big Rube Studdard will celebrate this year’s Sanjaya, KL Cook, home.

    Next week is Andrew Lloyd Webber? Did I hear that right?

    (I guess so – check out this message board thread.)

  • New Releases 4/15/08: The Emancipation of Mimi’s New Album

    Yep, it’s April 15th. Hope your taxes are done! With freshly received refunds in hand (hopefully), let’s mosey on down to the record store, shall we? Here’s what’s new this week.
    Mariah Carey-E=MC2: The most highly anticipated release of the year thus far has finally arrived, and I’m sure Mariah is having a good laugh thinking about the fact that five years ago, her career was considered dead. At any rate, her 10th studio album features Mariah’s usual mix of hip-hop influenced club bangers and emotional ballads. Guests include Young Jeezy (ugh), T-Pain (ugh) and Jermaine Dupri (ugh). It’s still my contention that Mariah has yet to make a definitive album, and that the best album she’s released to date has been her first, but I must say that I’m fairly intrigued here.
    The Naked Brothers Band-I Don’t Want To Go To School: Is it me, or is The Naked Brothers Band the most inappropriate band name for a bunch of pre-teens in recorded music history? That’s just inviting the pedophiles to come on board. Anyway, from the little I know about these kids, they’re Nickelodeon-endorsed, and they’re sort of like a more garage-y, less talented version of “Mmmbop”-era Hanson. The little girls will go apeshit for this, I’m sure.
    Apocalyptica-Worlds Collide: I thought these guys were just a vaguely classical Metallica tribute banc, but they’re so much more! Well, the cellos are still there, but this album from the Finnish (I believe) metal album contains all original material, and also features guest appearances from Slipknot/Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor as well as the lead singers from Three Days Grace and Lacuna Coil, making this sort of a new-metal (as opposed to nu-metal) all-star album.
    Everclear-The Vegas Years: At least five if not ten years past his sell-by date, Art Alexakis and his rotating group of bandmembers are back on a major label (after a one-album detour into indieville) and they’re releasing that old standby-a covers album! It looks like the thrust here is pop/rock of the Seventies and Eighties, with Thin Lizzy, The Go-Gos and Hall & Oates among the artists/bands covered.
    Also in stores this week: a new one from WB-endorsed rockers Phantom Planet, new country act Lady Antebellum (whose name makes them sound like the latest U.K. rap phenomenon), a new album from jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, the debut album from Jordan Zevon (son of the late, legendary Warren Zevon), a new album from William Shatner (which finds him reading the book of Exodus!), and the long-awaited, much-anticipated return of White Lion (remember them? This might jog your memory: http://youtube.com/watch?v=oUR86bnKLaI)!!!
    Happy shopping, people.
    Oh, and get a full list of this week’s releases here: http://www.pauseandplay.com/cdfront.htm

  • Dear Alicia: Are Those Keys Wound A Little Too Tight?

    Probably Alecia Keys

    So, folks are buzzing about some comments made by Alicia Keys in her interview featured in the latest issue of “Blender” magazine.

    (You can find a portion of the interview here:http://www.blender.com/AliciaKeysUnlocked/articles/22761.aspx)

    At any rate, here are a couple of Alicia’s quotes:

    “Gangsta rap was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other”.

    She also says that the East Coast/West Coast rivalry that eventually claimed the lives of The Notorious B.I.G and 2Pac was perpetuated by the government and the media “to stop another black leader from existing”.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350916,00.html

    While it might be easy to dismiss her remarks out of hand, there are truths hidden in each of her statements.

    Gangsta rap (as with hip-hop in general) initially gave a much-needed public voice to disenfranchised black youth. Once artists like N.W.A. started seeing dollar signs, they went from being the disenfranchised black youth to exploiting disenfranchised black youth. Compare “Straight Outta Compton” with “Niggaz4life”. Both are based on reality, but the two realities are completely different. One is the viewpoint of the kid on the street trying to make people listen, the latter is the viewpoint of a superstar entertainer whose removed himself from that street and is now revelling in his spoils. As my friend Bryan (who I don’t always agree with, but usually makes valid points) has stated (and I paraphrase here), at some point it went from education to exploitation. And the majority of it is willful self-exploitation. Gangsta rappers are selling out their own. Soulless artists like 50 Cent, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Lil’ Wayne and others promote violence, drug addiction and even gang ties (in how many interviews has Wayne admitted to being Blood-affiliated?), and something tells me that there’s no all-seeing “The Man”-type person behind the scenes pushing them to say what they say. And even if we’re gonna blame the suits behind the record companies for promoting this stuff, L.A. Reid is just as guilty as Jimmy Iovine, you know what I’m saying? At any rate, gangsta rap might not be an actually thought-out ploy to say “Hey, let’s release this music and watch the niggers shoot each other silly”, the artists are definitely complicit in the acts of violence that threaten urban communities, and the “cool” factor of selling drugs, violence, etc.

    The second statement is a little less easy to explain away. While she gains points right away for suggesting the obvious (that the Big/Pac donnybrook was media-perpetuated), she loses major points by using the phrases “Notorious B.I.G” and “black leader” in the same sentence. While Tupac was undoubtedly charismatic, political and intelligent (before he became Suge Knight’s bitch), Biggie had no political opinions or aspirations whatsoever. While it’s tempting to say that Tupac would have matured into a black leader (he certainly had the skill set to), I think lumping Biggie in there is a bit laughable (hey, I love the man’s rhymes, but I didn’t listen to them to gain any profound social or political insight).

    I think Alicia’s a little misguided (and certainly stands at risk of losing a substantial amount of her fan base), but I wouldn’t say her comments are entirely off-base. There’s a little bit of truth in every wacky statement, isn’t there?