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Tag: Ashanti

  • 2009 Hip Hop Honors Live Play By Play

    VH-1’s Hip Hop Honors show is one of my favorite shows of the year. It’s still amazing that VH-1 of all stations pays respect to the hip hop genre best, but hey, I’m not complaining.

    (By the way, I know that it’s not technically live considering I’m on the West Coast, and I’m DVRing it so that I don’t have to watch commercials, but when people look at this in a few years, will they even know?)

    (Wait, I just let the cat out of the bag. Damn.)

    This year’s show pays respect to the Def Jam label. I hope we see some Rick Rubin tonight. I know we’ll see a lot of Russell Simmons.

    And away we go…

    Russell Simmons at the 2008 VMAs
    Russell Simmons at the 2008 VMAs
    – I think I saw Rubin already. It was either him or Jesus Christ. I’m not quite sure yet.

    – If you like you some Tracy Morgan, this is your show. If you don’t like you some Tracy Morgan, I’m not sure how much of this you’ll be able to stomach.

    – Hey, LL is on this show even though he doesn’t have a record to pimp. Wait, didn’t he just start a new TV show?

    – Black Thought and Eminem tear up Rock The Bells, but I was a bit sad watching because it takes Em doing hip hop karaoke to show that he can still bring it.

    – Jazzy Jeff was spinning and ?uestlove was on the drums by the way. Talk about all-star cast.

    – Why is Jimmy Fallon on this show? Oh yah, he put the Roots on his show. He can be on it.

    – You know how Dr. Dre got all swoll in his later years? Chuck D doesn’t believe in that.

    – Another reason I like this show is because it’s the one time a year where we get to see what Flavor Flav did that truly made him famous.

    – I’m not quite sure that Ludacris deserves to be on the same stage that Public Enemy just graced, but oh well, it’s all about the love tonight.

    – KRS-One doing No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn? Well, he can do whatever song he wants as long as he doesn’t get mad at us.

    – For The Love Of Ray J is still on? It’s amazing that the same station that puts Ray J in his drawers on TV is the same station that puts this show together.

    – Warren G and Trey Songz just doesn’t have the same ring to it as Warren G and Nate Dogg. “And I see my homie Trey,” just doesn’t work for me.

    – Only Brett Ratner would use the name “Method Man” and the words “true genius” in the same sentence. I’m not sure Mef’s mom would say that. Whatever happened their TV show Method and Red?

    – Uh oh, I may get a little excited here. Mary J is here and she and Meth are going to perform I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By, and it’s not the Diddy remix.

    – Onyx is on the stage and everyone watching all said at the same time, “I guess Onyx is still alive.”

    – I think the last time I saw Eve was on last year’s Hip Hop Honors show.

    – Ja Rule and Ashanti are on the stage doing an old favorite. Wait, I’m not sure any of their songs were old favorites. I always thought that they should let Ja Rule stand on a box whenever he was rapping on stage. He looks like Tupac’s mini me.

    (For the first time in the history of this show, I hit the fast forward. I apologize. Ja Rule and Ashanti did a second song. I couldn’t take it anymore.)

    – There’s been an Oran “Juice” Jones sighting. I repeat, there’s been an Oran “Juice” Jones sighting.

    – Hold on, I may have to fast forward again. I think Tracy just introduced Rick Ross. On most of the earlier performances, Russ Simmons and Chris Rock were rappin’ along with the songs. Not with Ross. They’re just pretending to like it.

    bbvsta_dmxvsem– DMX is back! If you’ve been wondering what X is into lately, he’s supposedly “fighting” on an MMA show. Notice the word fighting in quotes.

    – Let’s put it this way; Kid Rock is a more charismatic rhymer than Rick Ross.

    – EPMD is doing Crossover, but poor Parrish’s mic isn’t working.

    – Foxy Brown is wearing the same clothes she wore in 1997, except she’s about 25 pounds heavier in the chest area. Always trying to keep up with Lil’ Kim.

    – I can’t believe they ended the show with Doug E. Doug doing Kanye’s Touch The Sky.

    – Oh well, even though it was probably the worst of the Hip Hop Honors show, there was still some good stuff. Watch for the first half.

    – By the way, was Jay-Z busy or persona non grata?

    Photo of Russell Simmons by Philip Nelson, Live Streaming Expert and shared via creative commons

  • Catch a Falling Star: Nelly

    Nelly. Photo by reeb0k2008.
    Nelly. Photo by reeb0k2008.

    Actually, if you think about it, Nelly’s six or seven year run was longer than probably should have been expected. The St. Louis rapper’s career was more or less based on a gimmick-Nelly pretty much spilt the difference between your average singer and your average rapper…and make no mistake, he was pretty average at both. The failure of his current album “Brass Knuckles” and his label’s yearlong campaign to turn shit into sunshine to no avail should put the cap on the career of one of the biggest selling pop rappers in recent history.

    Make no mistake, Nelly was a superstar from the moment he appeared on the scene in the summer of 1999. At a time when Midwest rappers from Bone Thugs n Harmony to Eminem were making waves, the rapper was in the right place geographically, and his sing-song flow had massive amounts of pop (and youth) appeal. Despite the occasionally sexually explicit lyric, he was the MC that was playable to a street audience as well as the Nickelodeon set.

    (more…)

  • New Music In Stores & Online: 6-3-08: Weezer, Ashanti, Jewel and more!!

    While there aren’t any blockbusters arriving in stores this week, there’s a pretty healthy bunch of new music. Here are some titles you might want to look out for.

    *Various Artists “Now That’s What I Call Music 28”: These compilations have been money in the bank for about a decade, but sales have slipped as the general public has realized that they can download the songs they like individually. Anyhow, this edition is significantly less R&B/hip-hop-centric than it has been in the past, with the likes of John Mayer, Fall Out Boy and Colbie Caillat joining recent hits by Lil’ Wayne, Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown.

    Home

    *Ashanti “The Declaration”: Remember about six years ago, when Ashanti was the hottest thing going? Well, this is her fourth album, and I’m not convinced that anyone really cares. She’s pretty much ditched Irv Gotti, Ja Rule and the Murder Inc. camp on this release, which features guest appearances from Babyface and Robin Thicke. “The Way That I Love You” has not made a lot of noise on the pop front, but it was a Top 5 R&B hit and definitely has one of the more interesting videos of the year so far.

    http://www.ashantimusic.net/

    *Jewel “Perfectly Clear”: A week or so ago, I posted Jessica Simpson’s new single, which found the pop vocalist heading into country territory. Jewel is another female singer who’s decided to do a genre switch (at least for now), and it probably goes without saying that Jewel’s adaptation of country flavors is probably a lot less forced (and a lot less blatantly commercial) than Jessica’s is. At any rate Jewel has never particularly interested me beyond a couple of singles, so I’ll skip this one. It is her first release on a new label, though, which usually means that a greatest hits compilation from her former label probably isn’t too far away. Now that, I’ll pick up.

    http://www.jeweljk.com/

    *Weezer “Weezer (Red Album)”: If you want short, hooky pop/rock songs, Weezer and The Foo Fighters are your best courses of action. Both bands have outlasted their contemporaries simply by doing what they do best. You know what a Weezer album is going to sound like, for the most part…or maybe you don’t! This, their fifth album, finds the band members switching up instruments on occasion and also finds band members not named Rivers Cuomo singing lead. First single “Pork & Beans” is already huge. Expect the rest of the album to follow suit. Also, keep in mind that this album wasn’t even supposed to exist, as the band reportedly split up after the release of 2005’s “Make Believe”.

    http://www.weezer.com/

    Also: Indie-rock darlings The Ting Tings, who recently scored the #1 single and album in the U.K. (as well as a coveted iPod commercial here in the States) release their debut “We Started Nothing” today…metal favorites Disturbed are back with “Indestructible” (alas, it features no Genesis covers)…soul siren (and daughter of the legendary Donny) Lalah Hathaway straddles the line between smooth soul and smooth jazz on “Self Portrait”, her new effort…meanwhile, two popular frontmen do the solo thing: Gavin Rossdale (formerly of Bush, currently Mr. Gwen Stefani) tries to re-establish his music career with “Wanderlust”, while Bret Michaels of Poison tries to capitalize on his reality show success with “Rock My World”.

    Happy shopping!!