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Tag: Trey Songz

  • Jay-Z Runs San Jose

    I attended the Jay-Z concert at the HP Pavilion on March 24th in San Jose and though it was a bit rough early on, I’d have to give the show a solid thumbs up.

    Because I was coaching my sons’ little league baseball team earlier that evening, I figured that showing up late to the concert wasn’t going to be an issue. I didn’t need to see Trey Songz perform anyways. He performs for the ladies. If I wanted to see a sweaty dude take his shirt off, I’d watch UFC. Wait.

    I’d also heard that Young Jeezy was going to follow Trey and if I were to say that I was a huge Young Jeezy fan, I’d be lying to all of you. I couldn’t name one Jeezy song.

    Jay-Z Runs San Jose

    But I’m a big Jay-Z fan. I was there to see Jigga and it didn’t matter who else was going to be there.

    I got there in the middle of Trey Songz’s set and after he performed, there was a short intermission and we (I was with my cousin Tomiko and my friend Christal) went to get some beverages and to use the restroom. The bar was packed and it took forever to get served, but I wasn’t all that bothered. The less I saw of Young Jeezy, the better I would be.

    But then I heard a familiar sound from the bar. It was as the sound of Auto-tune dying. I hoped it was just the CD track of Jay-Z’s D.O.A. playing over the loud speakers, but I wasn’t too sure and peaked my head out towards the stage. It was Jay, and he was already flowing. We hurried back to our seats. Where was Young Jeezy?

    After only what seemed like a few minutes, but was probably closer to a half hour, Jay-Z handed the mic to Young Jeezy. Young Jeezy was Jay-Z’s half-time show. And that’s when I got on my Blackberry to pass the time.

    I haven’t been about to find any reason as to why Jeezy didn’t do his set before Jay. Maybe they didn’t think the Bay Area was feeling Jeezy and would’ve been antsy waiting for Jay? Was Jeezy late? Did he oversleep? Whatever it was, I wasn’t happy with the half-time act and couldn’t wait for Jay to get back on stage.

    When Jay came back on, he went through many hits and songs from his latest album The Blueprint 3, backed by his Roc Boys band. And after about another half hour, he finished Thank You and acted like the show was over. But then he decided to go into what he dubbed OT (overtime).

    OT was designed for the older Jay-Z fans. In fact, he mentioned that OT was going to be all older songs and for the newer fans who are now Jay-Z fans because of his latest album, they might’ve wanted to check out so they could beat traffic, unless they wanted to learn.

    OT was exactly what he described it would be. He performed verses from songs like Money Ain’t A Thing, Ain’t No *****, and even a less than popular Jay-Z song from his second album, Where I’m From, which is also the song Diddy jacked for Angels. After that, he was about to dip into one of my favorite Jay songs, Dead Presidents, but then he stopped and said it was going too far back.

    For most of the older tracks, he just did the memorable verses that the fans would know and would move on (to the next one). He ended the show with Encore before doing some interactive stuff with the fans, including the Roc Wave.

    Jay-Z is not what you’d call a standout live performer. But he’s as cool as they come and had the crowd in his hands. He even shouted out Bay Area favorite Too Short as a Too Short song played behind him.

    He didn’t have a Bay Area State Of Mind, but he didn’t need to. The crowd loved him.

  • 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

  • Whitney Looks To #1: Chart Chat 9/9/09

    Whitney Houston’s rehabilitation is complete. Her “I Look to You” debuts at #1 on this week’s Billboard chart with 305,000 copies sold. It’s the best Soundscan week of her career-not counting the “Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale” soundtracks, on which she was a featured artist. Sales should stay pretty healthy, with what promises to be a quite revealing interview with Oprah airing soon.

    Elsewhere in new releases, R&B singer Trey Songz debuts at #3 with his new album, while right behind him stands the Insane Clown Posse. Yes, folks, there are still a lot of Juggalos out there. Other debuts include Chevelle at #6, Pitbull (on the heels of 2 big singles) at #8, The Used (they’re still around?) at #10 and The Black Crowes at #12.

    Next week, look for Jay-Z to crown the Billboard chart with “The Blueprint 3”. Of course, the Beatles reissues that came out today will sell big, although they will not be eligible for the Billboard 200 and will instead appear on the “catalog” and “comprehensive” charts.

    Here’s this week’s Top 20

    1) Whitney Houston “I Look to You”
    2) Miley Cyrus “Time of Our Lives EP”
    3) Trey Songz “Ready”
    4) Insane Clown Posse “Bang! Pow! Boom!”
    5) Colbie Caillat “Breakthrough”
    6) Chevelle “Sci-Fi Crimes”
    7) Kings of Leon “Only by the Night”
    8) Pitbull “Rebelution”
    9) Taylor Swift “Fearless”
    10) The Used “Artwork”
    11) Black Eyed Peas “The E.N.D.”
    12) The Black Crowes “Before the Frost…”
    13) Zac Brown Band “Foundation”
    14) Soundtrack “Hannah Montana-The Movie”
    15) Maxwell “BLACKsummersnight”
    16) George Strait “Twang”
    17) Reba McEntire “Keep on Loving You”
    18) Various “Now 31”
    19) Chris Young “Man I Want to Be”
    20) Daughtry “Leave This Town”