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?
After taking a break to look at the mid-year charts, we’re back on our weekly grind. Here are this week’s Top 20 singles and albums, as compiled by the good folks at Billboard magazine.
Top 20 Albums
1) “Tha Carter III” -Li’l Wayne
2) “Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friends” Coldplay
3) “Camp Rock Soundtrack” Various Artists
4) “Modern Guilt” Beck
5) “Rock & Roll Jesus” Kid Rock
6) “Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 28” Various Artists
7) “Mamma Mia Soundtrack” Various Artists
8) “Good Girl Gone Bad” Rihanna
9) “T.O.S. (Terminate on Sight)” G-Unit
10) “Where the Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles” John Mayer
11) “Here I Stand” Usher
12) “One of the Boys” Katy Perry
13) “Indestructible” Disturbed
14) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
15) “Spirit” Leona Lewis
16) “Last 2 Walk” Three Six Mafia
17) “Definition of Real” Plies
18) “Revelation” Journey
19) “3 Doors Down” 3 Doors Down
20) “Two Men with the Blues” Wynton Marsalis & Willie Nelson
Top 20 Singles:
1) “I Kissed a Girl” Katy Perry
2) “Take a Bow” Rihanna
3) “Lollipop” Li’l Wayne feat. Static Major
4) “Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis
5) “Forever” Chris Brown
6) “Pocketful of Sunshine” Natasha Bedingfield
7) “Viva La Vida” Coldplay
8) “A Milli” Lil’ Wayne
9) “7 Things” Miley Cyrus
10) “Bust it Baby Pt. 2” Plies feat. Ne-Yo
11) “Leavin’” Jesse McCartney
12) “When I Grow Up” The Pussycat Dolls
13) “Burnin’ Up” Jonas Brothers
14) “Dangerous” Kardinal Offishal feat. Akon
15) “Disturbia” Rihanna
16) “Shake It” Metro Station
17) “Closer” Ne-Yo
18) “Get Like Me” David Banner feat. Chris Brown
19) “Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)” Three Six Mafia feat. Project Pat, Young D & Superpower
20) “I Luv Your Girl” The-Dream
*Geez, looking at hip-hop’s presence on this week’s singles chart almost makes me ashamed to be a fan of rap music!
*Speaking of the Top 20 singles, it’s obvious from looking at it that there are very clear ways to get yourself a hit single in summer 2008:
1) Be a hot chick (or a group of hot chicks, in the case of PCD).
2) Be Chris Brown or Date Chris Brown (the Brown/Rihanna axis is responsible for 1/5 of this week’s Top 20 singles chart)
3) Be a terrible rapper, be a mediocre rapper with a lot of hype and charisma (Lil’ Wayne) or be an articulate, political emcee and sell your ass for a hit single (David Banner)
4) Be Ne-Yo (who has two entries as an artist and also co-wrote Rihanna’s “Take a Bow” at #2.
5) Have a Disney channel tie-in (Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers are joined by former teen titan Jesse McCartney).
*Geez, that top 20 singles chart makes you appreciate Coldplay all the more, huh? Is this really what radio plays these days? (I’ll admit that I haven’t listened to a Top 40 radio station in literally five years if not more).
*Wynton Marsalis scores his highest chart entry ever and Weeded Out Willie lands in the Top 20 for the first time since the Reagan administration. Let’s hear it for odd collaborations!!
*Who green-lit a movie based on a Broadway play featuring the music of ABBA? Seriously??!?! And Meryl Fucking Streep is in this movie!! If we do a Duran Duran musical, do you think we can get Dame Judi Dench?
*Hey, I don’t hate ABBA. After all, Swedes have a knack for great pop music. Plus, ABBA lend themselves well to covers, as this Erasure cover from my high school years will attest to.
*Think Fiddy has trashed his record company’s offices yet? I wonder what publicity stunt he’ll plan for his *next* album?
*Natasha Bedingfield has somehow finagled herself into a long-running Top 10 hit with “Pocketful of Sunshine” (a song I’m admittedly lukewarm about), and her album of the same name darts back into the Top 40 six months after it’s release, approaching Gold status. Hmm. Who’d have thunk?
*Also on the “he’s hanging in there better than I thought he would”, Jason Mraz. His third effort, “We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things” has hung around the Top 30 for 9 weeks now and is on pace to outsell his previous effort, “Aren’t I Just A Little Full of Myself” “Mr. A-Z”. “I’m Yours” is a cool little summer song, too.
*Finally, check out that Beck album. You won’t be disappointed.
According to many news sites (including MTV news), 50 Cent is scheduled to second Floyd “Money May” Mayweather in his match against the Big Show at Wrestlemania 24 on March 30 in Orlando, Florida. 50 Cent rapped Mayweather’s intro music last year for his fight with Oscar De La Hoya and was seen on HBO’s 24/7 documentary series hanging out with Mayweather. Mayweather has even used 50’s I Get Money as his WWE theme music during his TV appearances.
Wrestlemania is WWE’s Super Bowl and all of their attention and focus goes toward the event. Just last year, partly because of Donald Trump’s involvement, Wrestlemania 23 was the highest grossing event in company history. From the outside looking in, 50 Cent’s involvement with WWE looks harmless. But based on an article that came out earlier this year by the Albany Times Union, 50 Cent may have more in common with WWE superstars than just appearing at Wrestlemania. He was on a list of entertainers who reportedly purchased steroids and human growth hormone in the past. Aligning himself with the WWE is an interesting choice, but the buzz around the report has died down to where it’s out of the public eye already. But I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about it again as Wrestlemania comes closer.
John Legend is scheduled to sing America The Beautiful to start the show and Snoop Dogg is pegged to appear on the show as the MC of the Playboy Bunnymania match. Maybe 50 can teach Snoop how to pump some iron and they can become a tag team.
