Money Mike and I previewed the 51st Grammy Awards today. We also discussed 2009 January album sales, Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson’s comeback, The Boss and his fight with Ticketmaster, and D’Angelo’s new album.
Money Mike couldn’t get to the show in the first 20 minutes, so our friend Carletta called in to help me pass some time. Listen below.
[podcast]http://fightgameblog.com/sound/SonicClash%20Radio%20-%20Episode%203.mp3[/podcast]
A decade ago (has it really been that long?), Lauryn Hill was on top of the world. Blessed with the rare double talent of being able to sing beautifully and rap skillfully-I dare you to name a better female MC EVER-she had superstar juice all over her. After initially gaining notoriety as an actress (“Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” and “As the World Turns”), Lauryn broke through for real as the most talented third of the Fugees, a group that smashed together hip-hop, R&B and Caribbean flavors and scored the most left-field hit of 1996 with “The Score”. This album turned out to be the biggest hip-hop seller of the year, not a small feat during the year in which we lost Tupac.
There had been some internal drama within the group for some time. The rumor mill had Lauryn and bandmate Wyclef Jean dating (something that’s been confirmed by Wyclef’s wife, although both Wyclef himself and Lauryn have more or less stayed mum on the topic), while Lauryn was immediately singled out for her beauty and talent, which led to some discontent on the behalf of Wyclef and third member Pras, the Andrew Ridgeley of the group. ‘Clef struck first, reaching Platinum status with his album “The Carnival”, but Lauryn struck best, releasing her stunning record “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” on 8/25/98. Despite A-list support from the likes of D’Angelo and Mary J. Blige, “Miseducation” was all about Lauryn. The album sold 7 million copies, registered the highest first week totals for a female artist at the time, became the first hip-hop record to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, and was arguably the best R&B record of the entire decade. Lauryn was the entire music world’s “it” girl. Gorgeous, brainy, talented, and seemingly grounded. (more…)
Well, there had to be a comedown, right? After a couple weeks of high-wattage major releases, this Tuesday brings a ton of volume, but no real star power, at least from where I stand. You, of course, might feel differently. Here are some of the highlights:
Motley Crue “Saints of Los Angeles”: Tommy Lee and Pam are back together. Nikki Sixx is now a successful author with a top-selling book and accompanying soundtrack, Mick Mars still seems to be held together with safety pins and spit…and the Crue just keeps on a-rollin’. This one’s getting tons of play on VH-1 Classic (who love them some hair metal), and you can watch the band play these new tunes on their Cruefest tour all summer.