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Tag: Ice Cube

  • New Music In Stores & Online 9/16/08: Nelly, Buckcherry, Ne-Yo & More!!

    Welcome to the final release week of summer 2008. Oh, what a summer it was, too. There was Li’l Wayne and Coldplay and Metallica and…ahh, the memories. Lots coming out this week. Let’s get crackin’:

    The cover of Nelly's new CD, "Brass Knuckles".

    Nelly: “Brass Knuckles”:

    Remember, like, five years ago when Nelly was the hottest shit since sliced bread? Boy, how times have changed. The “Hot in Herre” guy’s label has burned four singles trying to get something on the long-delayed “Brass Knuckles” to catch fire. Hasn’t happened, even with he and Ashanti getting it on like a D-class Jay-Z and Beyonce on their new song “Body On Me”. As would be expected, there is an extremely long list of guest artists on this album: LL Cool J, Chuck D. (!??!??!), T.I., Rick Ross and Fergie are just a few of the artists who make cameos here. Will Nelly be the next artist to appear in a “Catch a Falling Star” column?

    Seriously, Chuck D? Really?!!??!

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  • Chart Chat 8/31/08: T.I., Pink, Kid Rock & More!!

    T.I.'s "Paper Trail" album is due on September 30th.

    Top 20 Albums:

    1) “A Little Bit Longer” Jonas Brothers
    2) “Rock & Roll Jesus” Kid Rock
    3) “The Illusion of Progress” Staind
    4) “Mamma Mia Soundtrack” Various Artists
    5) “Raw Footage” Ice Cube
    6) “Breakout” Miley Cyrus
    7) “Tha Carter III” Li’l Wayne
    8) “Love on the Inside” Sugarland
    9) “Camp Rock Soundtrack” Various Artists
    10) “Shwayze” Shwayze
    11) “Viva La Vida or Death & All His Friends” Coldplay
    12) “Good Girl Gone Bad” Rihanna
    13) “One World (Soundtrack)” Cheetah Girls
    14) “One of the Boys” Katy Perry
    15) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
    16) “Now That’s What I Call Music Vol. 28” Various Artists
    17) “Fast Times at Barrington High” The Academy Is…
    18) “Spirit” Leona Lewis
    19) “Indestructible” Disturbed
    20) “Jonas Brothers” Jonas Brothers

    Top 20 Singles

    1) “Whatever You Like” T.I.
    2) “Disturbia” Rihanna
    3) “Forever” Chris Brown
    4) “I Kissed a Girl” Katy Perry
    5) “Dangerous” Kardinal Offishall feat. Akon
    6) “Paper Planes” M.I.A.
    7) “Viva La Vida” Coldplay
    8) “Closer” Ne-Yo
    9) “So What?” Pink
    10) “Take a Bow” Rihanna
    11) “When I Grow Up” Pussycat Dolls
    12) “Put On” Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West
    13) “A Milli” Li’l Wayne
    14) “Leavin’” Jesse McCartney
    15) “Crush” David Archuleta
    16) “Get Like Me” David Banner feat. Chris Brown
    17) “One Step at a Time” Jordin Sparks
    18) “Got Money” Li’l Wayne feat. T-Pain
    19) “All Summer Long” Hit Masters
    20) “Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis

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  • New Music Revue: Nas’s “Untitled”

    Sometimes it’s hard to separate artistry from publicity. I was recently involved in a healthy debate regarding whether Amy Winehouse’s success is due to her artistry or the fact that she’s a walking, talking trainwreck (I vote for the former). The fact of the matter, though, is that in an environment when record sales are falling and record companies are scrambling to make their bottom line and justify their extravagant expenditures, artists are relying more and more on publicity stunts to keep their names in the headlines, which ends up putting true music fans in a bind, unable to separate the artist and the artistry from the celebrity.

    This is one of two reasons I was initially skeptical about the untitled (or self-titled, depending on how you look at it) ninth studio album by the rapper Nas (or NaS, as iTunes annoyingly lists his name). As anyone who has even a remote interest in popular music must know, a mild furor arose when Nas announced what he intended to originally call the album: “Nigger”. In a hyper-sensitive world where the media seems to pounce on every available opportunity to create division and drama, a simple word/album title turned into a political football (interesting that no one batted an eyelash when Ol’ Dirty Bastard titled an album “Nigga Please” less than a decade ago). Various stories began circulating around the press: was Nas going to get dropped from Def Jam, his label? Would certain stores not carry the album if released? Why was the album’s release date continually getting pushed back? Why did Nas rip off the whip-welt scarred back cover of dead prez’s “Let’s Get Free” for the front cover of his album? Ultimately, Nas chose (or was asked, depending on who you believe) to change the title of the album-well, actually the decision ended up being not to title the album at all. I’ve viewed this whole situation with a cocked eyebrow, amazed at the ability of the average rap fan to buy in to what was obviously (at least partially) a publicity stunt milked to raise maximum awareness of the album’s release (as it turns out, the gambit didn’t exactly work. While the album debuted at #1 on this week’s album charts, it did so with the lowest first-week sales of any Nas studio album since his debut).

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