K’naan Performs “Is Anybody Out There” ft Nelly Furtado (Live On Letterman)
K’naan stopped by Letterman to perform his EP single, “Is Anybody Out There,” with Nelly Furtado. Nelly goes off at the end of this performance.
A Week With Pharrell by the New York Times
The singer, songwriter and producer Pharrell Williams, 38, is a music consultant, along with Hans Zimmer, for this year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Mr. Williams was a founder of the fashion lines Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream. A native of Virginia Beach, he now lives in Miami. BEE-SHYUAN CHANG
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15 In Miami, it’s usually warm, but I’m mostly indoors. I started off my day wearing a Billionaire Boys Club white crew neck T-shirt, blue denim jeans and SpongeBob SquarePants toe socks. I love SpongeBob; I just think he’s funny. Squidward is my favorite, though. If he was a human, I would hang out with him. I had a photo shoot scheduled with my good friend Nigo for his brand Human Made and we decided to have the shoot at my apartment. I modeled a lot of the clothes, which pay homage to the very early Levi’s cuts, and ended up really loving these striped shorts. They were simple but the fit was awesome. I tried to take it from Nigo, but he said he needed it.
After the shoot, I headed to the studio to meet up with Diplo. Kept on the jeans and changed into a blue flannel shirt, black N.E.R.D. logo skullcap and my custom Timberland six-inch black leather boots. I drew on the boots with white and red Sharpie paint pens. It’s a bit American mall rat- and punk-influenced: some cartoon graphics and a small Chanel CC logo. After, I stopped by one of my favorite stores in Miami, the Webster. The owners have great taste and they carry Chanel. I’m a really big fan.
Behind the Scenes of Savage Journey to the American Dream
This piece takes you behind the scenes of Stalley’s photoshoot with Ryan Mikail for the artwork for his new project, Savage Journey to the American Dream.
Eminem’s Digital Royalties Lawsuit: Leaked Audit Highlights Huge Stakes for Music Biz
Over the last few months, the music industry has been rocked by multiple lawsuits alleging that artists such as Kenny Rogers, Sister Sledge, Rob Zombie and others have been cheated out of substantial money from the improper calculation of revenues from digital music. The plaintiffs in these cases assert that the music giants have been wrongfully treating digital music purchases as “sales” rather than “licenses,” and thus only sharing 10-20 percent of revenue instead of a near 50-50 split they believe is owed.
Let’s assume the plaintiffs are right. What comes next? Do record labels have any way to limit the damage and what kind of money is at stake?
Heavy D Documentary To Air On Centric TV On Sunday
This Sunday, Centric TV will air Be Inspired: The Life of Heavy D, a documentary celebrating the life of the recently departed ’80s rapper Heavy D, who was a pioneer of dance-hip-hop. D died in November from a blood clot in his lung, and had a crazy career that saw him hiring Diddy as an intern, and producing early Jay-Z songs. The documentary airs Sunday, Feb. 26.
Neako – Tr33 (EP)
NEAKO presents the new project, TR33. Three new records and two interludes, which explain the LVLYSL & ZEBRAGANG movement. TR33 (pronounced TREE) are originally three missing tracks from the LVLZebra sessions, giving fans a soundtrack and further insight of the LVLYSL philosophy. Click below for the little EP:
DMX Shares His Experience Shooting ‘Belly’ With Hype Williams
MTV2 will be premiering “Belly” this Sunday, to celebrate, Sucker Free got a chance to meets up with DMX & Nas to discuss the film and how it impacted in hip hop. The Sucker Free Countdown airs on Sundays at 11a/10c on MTV2. Also tune into MTV2 this Sunday at 9p/8c for the premiere of “Belly” followed by an encore at 1a/12c.
The Dream Comments on The Weeknd, Frank Ocean
Since The Dream has been sort of quiet for a while, both The Weeknd and Frank Ocean have come in to claim his spot. Now that Dream is ready to re-imerge, I was actually curious to hearing what he had to say about these two artists. He says of The Weeknd:
I think he’s an incredible melodically driven artist. People often say to me that he sounds a lot like what I do, and I’m sure that the influence is there. But he’s not me, nor is he trying to be me. He has his own culture of those guys that like that music. He’s an artist first. I’m a songwriter first.My gears that I have to go through… One minute in my mind to be Beyoncé and one minute to be Rihanna and one second to do a hook for Kanye and then have to write records for myself. I’m so many people, I’m never just one person. So I don’t have to reinvent because artists around me reinvent for me. The records that I’m going to do two years from now for myself are going to be dictated by what Rihanna does in two years or what somebody we’ve never heard of does. So that’s the difference between me and anybody else that’s in that place—because there hasn’t been a cultural writer that’s an artist also, really, since R. Kelly.
He talks of Frank Ocean and whether he thinks Ocean is a writer or artist first:
I would say an artist first. Whenever you’re signed as an artist, you’re pretty much an artist first. I think he signed to Tricky [Stewart], actually. I definitely don’t hear any of my stuff in what he does. I can’t personally hear it. He has a great cult following also. I think he and The Weeknd have this niche, which is what artists need to find out and go directly to the people they’re talking to. Only those guys know who they’re talking to. That’s what you need at the end of the day.
The Weeknd – Same Old Song (Dolor Remix)
**UPDATED with better link. Like I say with remixes, mashups, etc – A good remix gives you a new perspective on an original song, but a great remix brings the original track to a whole new level. Dolor definitely goes in with “Same Old Song” from The Weeknd. Props to producer Dolor.
Also, you can download the official instrumental to this right here.
Nike Foamposite One Galaxy All Star Pack (Video Review)
Here’s a video review of the much-too-overhyped Galaxy Foam, which releases tomorrow I believe at select stores.
