TopDawg14

Has anybody at MTV ever heard of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five? The Treacherous Three? Funky Four Plus One? Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew?

Talib Kweli - Lie A Lot

Rhymefest - Blue Collar The most slept on hip-hop album of '06

I'd like to believe that but I think the majors still have much more blood to suck out of rap before they start getting out of the business.

Update: Another $10.5 million in the overseas market pushed The Pursuit of Happyness above the $110 million total in overseas box office. Couple that with the U.S. box office and the movie has now grossed over $275 million worldwide. Domestic: $162.6 million Overseas: $114.9 million Total BO: $277.5 million

Uhmmm.... what was the question again? I was distracted by Jada. :1-say-yes:

A slim bit of hope for Will has emerged as heavy favorite Eddie Murphy lost to Alan Arkin for Best Supporting Actor. However, Jennifer Hudson, representing CHICAGO!!!!, just won for Best Supporting Actress

Yeah I agree with Tim. If Forrest and Leo weren't nominated then I would be more excited for Will. The only suspense is seeing him interviewed on the Red Carpet.

CNN's Paula Zahn did an hour long special on hip-hop entitled Hip-Hop: Art or Poison? on Wednesday, Feb. 21st. It was an interesting show although it seemed to me that Zahn just wanted to take the garbage, commercial rap and put the stamp on all hip-hop. She basically wanted to demonize hip-hop. I found a link to the clips that were on the special. 2.21.07 CNN Special: Hip-Hop - Art or Poison? What's your opinion on the clips?

2.22.07 - Fresh from the post-Grammy buzz, sales picked up for a number of artists including Mary J. Blige(with 2 albums in the top 25), Justin Timberlake, Corinne Bailey Rae and Gnarls Barkley. Perhaps the biggest story is the continuing success story of Robin Thicke. His sales jumped 90% from last week and now has platinum in his sight when most analysts didn't think he would go Gold. The Evolution of Robin Thicke continues to get great word of mouth and increased airplay... on urban radio stations. The late Gerald Levert debuts at #2 while Norah Jones continues her strangle hold on the #1 spot. Pos/Artist/Album/TWSales/%Change/LWSales/Total Sales 1 Jones*norah Not Too Late 210,861 -11 235,687 852,843 2 Levert*gerald In My Songs 165,275 999 756 166,045 3 Various 2007 Grammy Nominees 131,240 116 60,746 317,083 4 Rae*corinne Bailey Corinne Bailey Rae 119,791 132 51,550 1,121,317 - platinum 5 Fall Out Boy Infinity On High 118,747 -54 259,674 378,947 6 Thicke*robin Evolution Of Robin Thicke 115,681 90 60,796 599,879 - Gold+ 7 Timberlake*justin Futuresex/love Sounds 107,774 123 48,357 2,755,824 - 3X platinum watch 8 Dixie Chicks Taking The Long Way 103,407 714 12,704 2,004,936 9 Daughtry Daughtry 101,890 34 75,868 1,627,518 10 Mayer*john Continuum 80,442 182 28,494 1,417,977 11 Akon Konvicted 69,751 8 64,643 1,569,843 12 Red Hot Chili Peppers Stadium Arcadium 67,067 194 22,839 1,912,757 - 2x platinum watch 13 Underwood*carrie Some Hearts 60,916 60 38,173 4,921,021 - WOW! 14 Williams*lucinda West 57,155 999 267 57,452 15 Nickelback All The Right Reasons 51,558 17 44,066 4,928,333 - 5X PLATINUM WATCH!!! 16 Furtado*nelly Loose 47,597 16 41,040 1,396,313 17 Rascal Flatts Me And My Gang 47,388 27 37,454 3,734,813 18 Dreamgirls Soundtrack 45,723 2 44,713 779,390 19 Groban*josh Awake 45,180 11 40,748 1,504,739 20 Fergie Dutchess 45,055 32 34,255 1,433,868 21 Blige*mary J. Breakthrough 43,381 161 16,638 2,819,450 - 3x platinum watch 22 Pretty Ricky Late Night Special 42,509 -7 45,732 283,132 23 Legend*john Once Again 41,962 138 17,645 947,554 - Platinum watch 24 Blige*mary J. Reflections: A Retrospective 39,447 62 24,334 567,474 - Gold+ 25 Beyonce B'day 39,261 13 34,770 2,265,566 26 Stefani*gwen Sweet Escape 38,319 24 30,924 884,141 27 Urban*keith Love Pain & The Whole Crazy T 37,428 54 24,354 1,143,389 28 Jump In! Soundtrack 35,985 2 35,353 263,943 29 Mcphee*katharine Katharine Mcphee 34,761 -28 48,252 199,035 30 Shins Wincing The Night Away 33,136 -13 37,950 243,525 31 Celtic Woman New Journey 33,036 -14 38,571 142,973 32 Various Now 23 32,121 7 30,018 2,044,152 33 Tisdale*ashley Headstrong 30,802 -52 63,827 94,681 34 Hannah Montana Soundtrack 30,267 10 27,606 2,211,804 35 Morrison*van Van Morrison At The Movies 29,306 999 213 29,531 36 Beatles Love 28,561 28 22,290 1,309,392 37 Young Jeezy Inspiration: Thug Motivation 28,302 2 27,821 858,445 38 Atkins*rodney If You're Going Through Hell 28,241 11 25,457 775,617 39 Allen*lily Alright Still 28,127 -22 36,129 98,723 40 Fray How To Save A Life 27,971 -0 28,025 1,878,596 41 Aguilera*christina Back To Basics 27,160 66 16,341 1,379,143 42 Hinder Extreme Behavior 26,817 -4 27,842 2,060,736 43 Daddy's Little Girls Soundtrack 26,794 109 12,807 70,450 44 Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere 26,672 192 9,127 1,232,070 45 Bennett*tony Duets: American Classic 26,129 147 10,600 1,407,327 46 Swift*taylor Taylor Swift 23,196 21 19,233 416,674 47 Blunt*james Back To Bedlam 23,102 152 9,161 2,517,374 48 Ludacris Release Therapy 22,867 64 13,966 1,083,957 - Platinum 49 Paisley*brad Time Well Wasted 22,602 19 19,014 1,816,387 50 Connick*harry Jr. Oh, My Nola 22,053 -41 37,428 103,843 51 My Chemical Romance Black Parade,the 21,836 8 20,174 931,313 52 Turner*josh Your Man 21,691 23 17,600 1,662,227 53 Evanescence Open Door 21,241 7 19,886 1,572,120 54 Ciara Evolution 21,218 -3 21,848 988,256 55 Carroll*jason Michael Waitin' In The Country 20,356 -65 57,608 78,116 56 30 Seconds To Mars Beautiful Lie 20,277 10 18,406 804,893 57 Various Totally Country V6 20,109 -14 23,345 80,493 58 Mellencamp*john Freedom's Road 19,332 -10 21,427 119,724 59 Various Wow Gospel 2007 18,784 -17 22,526 66,058 60 Eminem Presents: Re-up Eminem Presents: Re-up 18,639 -1 18,896 873,146 61 Sugarland Enjoy The Ride 17,869 16 15,408 866,017 62 Nas Hip Hop Is Dead 17,814 1 17,552 633,803 63 Spektor*regina Begin To Hope 17,451 11 15,700 283,348 64 U2 U218 Singles 16,574 33 12,487 616,889 65 Scott*jill Jill Scott Collaborations 16,566 -7 17,742 84,628 66 Griffin*patty Children Running Through 16,158 -39 26,631 42,992 67 Jay-z Kingdom Come 16,144 -3 16,660 1,351,775 68 Bloc Party Weekend In The City 16,100 -66 47,726 64,101 69 Gym Class Heroes As Cruel As School Children 15,935 -5 16,727 160,562 70 Birdman & Lil' Wayne Like Father Like Son 15,774 -6 16,870 619,741 71 Omarion 21 15,280 -2 15,609 280,480 72 Strait*george It Just Comes Natural 15,025 23 12,251 953,029 73 Snoop Dogg Blue Carpet Treatment 14,963 -8 16,333 782,147 74 Blue October Foiled 14,272 14 12,564 860,759 75 High School Musical Soundtrack 14,169 6 13,371 3,828,256 76 Game Doctor's Advocate 13,874 12 12,417 847,441 77 Bocelli*andrea Under The Desert Sky 13,694 31 10,444 537,435 78 Three Days Grace One-x 13,532 1 13,343 582,260 79 Elizalde*valentin Vencedor 13,249 20 11,063 111,396 80 Brown*chris Chris Brown 13,185 19 11,056 1,845,502 81 Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Don't You Fake It 13,173 9 12,077 461,662 82 Killers Sam's Town 13,040 8 12,032 1,022,526 83 Mcgraw*tim Vol. 2-greatest Hits 12,957 18 10,995 1,670,329 84 Dukedagod Jr Writer: Writer's Block 4 12,926 999 39 12,965 85 Tyrese Alter Ego 12,760 4 12,262 295,713 86 Bow Wow Price Of Fame 12,516 13 11,113 420,522 87 Brooks & Dunn Hillbilly Deluxe 12,429 15 10,807 1,284,277 88 Snow Patrol Eyes Open 12,413 14 10,871 898,537 89 Seger*bob Face The Promise 12,356 14 10,859 741,203 90 Simon*carly Into White 12,157 -18 14,892 160,595 91 Il Divo Siempre 12,144 -7 13,098 852,969 92 Tunstall*kt Eye To The Telescope 11,911 6 11,186 977,778 93 Pickler*kellie Small Town Girl 11,579 2 11,340 433,267 94 Hudgens*vanessa V 11,316 10 10,274 382,463 95 Hellogoodbye Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Din 11,295 10 10,296 270,429 96 Hicks*taylor Taylor Hicks 11,160 1 11,079 633,885 97 Incubus Light Grenades 10,977 2 10,763 494,342 98 Adkins*trace Dangerous Man 10,969 10 10,010 551,911 99 Madonna Confessions Tour 10,882 -21 13,827 65,366 100 Diddy Press Play 10,797 29 8,339 531,099

Update from BoxOfficeMojo.com: From mostly holdovers as well, The Pursuit of Happyness grossed $7.8 million over the weekend for a $104.3 million total. The drama had average openings in Peru ($101,249) and South Africa ($192,611). Its top countries are Italy ($19.8 million total), the U.K. ($18.5 million) and Japan ($17.1 million). Domestic: $162.1 million Overseas: $104.3 million Total BO: $266.4 million 2006 Domestic B.O. Rank: 10 2006 Worldwide B.O. Rank: 14

Thoughts from All-Star Saturday Night: * Leave it to Ben Gordon to mess up the Shooting Stars Challenge. I hope John Paxson can trade him. It's not that I don't like him I just think that a change of scenery will do both sides some good. * Josh Howard had the best dunk in an otherwise weak Slam Dunk Contest. He should have gotten a 50 and David Stern should have let him dunk on the 12-foot rim. * Jason Capono? Are you kidding me? * Overall I though the whole night lacked the type of buzz it had in past years. In tonite's game, I expect the West All-Stars to easily dominate this game.

UPDATE: The Pursuit Of Happyness finally fell out the top ten this past weekend(it ended the weekend at #12) but it still did well enough to bring its U.S. total past $160 million. The Oscar-nominated movie(for Best Actor) pulled in $2.3 million over the weekend. The bigger news is that the international totals are skyrocketing. TPOH pulled in another $18.8 million last week and it seems that the movie will make well over $100 million overseas. Coupled with the international numbers, The Pursuit of Happyness has now grossed over $250 million worldwide! Domestic: $160.5 million Overseas: $89.9 million Total BO: $250.4 million

Hall & Oates - I Can't Go For That

IT'S A CELEBRATION!!!

The Pursuit of Happyness continues its impressive overseas march at the box office. The movie picked up another $23 million overseas to boost its total over $70 million. According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, the movie is ranked #1 in Germany & New Zealand. The domestic success of TPOH is not to be left out though. The movie is now ranked #10 in the 2006 Yearly Box Office standings. It is one of the most successful dramatic films in box office history. Domestic: $157.2 million Overseas: $71.1 million Total BO: $228.3 million

Update: The Pursuit of Happyness grossed another $3.1 million this weekend finishing in 9th place. It is the 11th straight weekend that the movie finished inside the top 10. The film, starring Academy Award nominee Will Smith, has now grossed $157.3 million in the U.S. Domestic: $157.3 million Overseas: $48.1 million Total B.O.: $205.4 million

BEARS 27 COLTS 17

THIS IS A 5-STAR POST!!!! :wickedwisdom: :1-say-yes:

Update: Chalk up another $17 million for The Pursuit of Happyness' overseas box office total. With strong showings in Australia, Germany, Italy and the U.K., The Pursuit of Happyness has now grossed $48.1 million overseas. Coupled with its massive U.S. box office total, TPOH has now grossed over $200 million worldwide!! Domestic: $152.9 million Overseas: $48.1 million Total BO: $201.0 million

The Chicago Sun-Times has an interesting piece on DJs and mixtapes: Too much drama ATLANTA MIX TAPE RAID KNOCKS HIP-HOP OFF ITS GROOVE AND HAS DJS RUNNING SCARED January 28, 2007 BY JIM DeROGATIS Pop Music Critic On the afternoon of Jan. 16, a combined squad from the Morrow County Sheriff's Joint Vice Task Force and the Clayton County Police swept into the offices of the Aphilliates Music Group on Walker Street in Atlanta and arrested two men, DJ Drama (Tyree Simmons) and DJ Don Cannon. To outside observers, it looked like a SWAT raid on the lair of some dangerous dealers. But the police weren't after drugs. They were after ... music. In addition to four vehicles and all of the company's computers, officers seized recording equipment and 81,000 CDs, which were the real targets of the raid. Known on the street as mix tapes, these independently produced discs are a vital part of the hip-hop scene in many cities, including Chicago, where they serve as a way for fans to discover new artists or hear established stars in different contexts. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the umbrella lobbying group for the major labels, they are also illegal, since the music has often been copyrighted by the record companies. The Atlanta raid resulted in Cannon and Drama, one of the most famous mix-tape DJs in the United States, being charged under the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) laws, which were written as a tool for prosecutors to combat organized crime. And, as intended, the case is having a chilling effect throughout the rap world, where many artists are questioning whether the case will shut down a valuable way for them to get their music heard. Old idea for new music The name "mix tape" lingers from the 1970s, when enterprising bootleggers first compiled songs by popular artists on unauthorized 8-track tapes to sell at flea markets and truck stops. Starting as do-it-yourself cassettes and later shifting to homemade compact discs, mix tapes have been a part of hip-hop culture since its birth, either as compilations of hits and unreleased tracks by various artists or as collections focusing on one performer and often highlighting works in progress. Sold on the streets, via mail order and sometimes in record stores -- including some of the biggest chains -- the sound quality can range from pseudo-professional to very poor. But mix tapes have the advantage of being immediate, often featuring material recorded only weeks or days earlier, and including collaborations, remixes, free-styles and outtakes often unavailable on official releases. One of the most successful forces in the music world today, Chicago's Kanye West paved the way to superstardom by releasing a number of mix tapes. Issued in 2003, "I'm Good" and "Get Well Soon" included tunes he produced for other artists as well as tracks from his debut album "The College Dropout" well before its official release. West sold the discs on eBay and other Web sites, as well as in Chicago record stores. Just nominated for three Grammy awards, Lupe Fiasco did the same thing, first making a name in the hip-hop underground via mix tapes, then keeping himself in the spotlight during his long wait for Atlantic Records to release his debut album. One of Fiasco's most popular mix tapes, which includes his version of West's "Touch the Sky," can still be found for sale on Amazon.com. In recent years, mix tapes have gone mainstream. The host of "Hood Radio," heard weeknights from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Chicago's Power 92 (92.3-FM), DJ Pharris sells his popular "I-94" mix tapes via his MySpace Web site, and he recently was singled out as one of America's best DJs by a soft drink's promotional campaign, which also praised DJ Drama. And the success of local rapper Bump J. can directly be attributed to his mix tapes -- a fact heralded on his official Atlantic Records bio. (West and Fiasco could not be reached, and DJ Pharris and Bump J. did not respond to requests for comment.) Issue not black and white The economics of mix tapes are simple: Artists who produce their own keep the profits from sales after production and distribution costs. DJs who compile the work of numerous artists sometimes buy the songs from those performers, or sometimes get them for free from artists seeking valuable exposure and promotion -- though there clearly are also cases where mix-tape DJs use songs without securing anyone's permission or financially compensating any of the creators. But many industry observers believe the RIAA is less concerned about artists' rights than lost profits: The group has pointed out that sales of hip-hop CDs fell 20 percent from 2005 to 2006, and it's blaming piracy rather than the other possibility -- that there simply was a dearth of blockbuster releases. Most music lovers would agree it's immoral as well as obviously illegal for a bootlegger to buy one copy of Kanye West's "The College Dropout"; use CD burners and color photo copiers to make thousands of duplicates, and then sell those as the real thing, keeping all of the profits. Indeed, the RIAA has singled out Chicago as one of 12 U.S. cities on its list of "piracy hot spots," and it has enlisted the help of police several times in recent years to crack down on that kind of bootlegging operation. (The last major bust was in February 2006, when 3,000 pirated CDs and DVDs were seized from the home of a local bootlegger.) But what if we're talking about the artist selling or giving his own music to a mix-tape DJ, or even filling that role himself? West was already signed to Roc-A-Fella Records -- which meant the label owned the copyrights for his songs -- when he released those tunes on his own mix tapes. In the end, no one was hurt: Roc-A-Fella made millions of dollars when "The College Dropout" was officially released and became a multi-platinum hit; West became a wealthy and famous star, and his earliest fans can boast about owning the now-rare mix tapes where his music was first heard. This kind of mix-tape success story seems to be a very different case from the bootlegger selling shoddy copies of "The College Dropout" manufactured in his garage, but the RIAA makes no distinctions. "We don't consider [the Atlanta raid] being against mix tapes as some sort of class of product," Brad A. Buckles, executive vice president for anti-piracy at the RIAA, told MTV News. "We enforce our rights civilly or work with police against those who violate state law. Whether it's a mix tape or a compilation or whatever it's called, it doesn't really matter: If it's a product that's violating the law, it becomes a target." Chicago DJs ducking, covering Mix-tape DJs in Chicago and across the United States are hearing such statements as a declaration of war, and many are running scared that they'll become the target of a raid like the one against DJ Drama. But few think that the mix tape will ever disappear. "It's just like anything else: If there's a demand, somebody will be there to fill it," one veteran mix-tape DJ told me, speaking on the condition that he not be named. "Maybe this all will make it a little harder to get [the mix tapes] out there, but they're not gonna disappear. If anything, the fact that you might have to start looking harder [to find them] just means they're gonna be hotter than ever."

Update: Fresh off an Academy Award nomination, The Pursuit of Happyness is continuing its impressive run at the box office. The movie pulled in an estimated $5 million this weekend to finish #7 at the box office. The film, featuring Golden Globe, SAG Award and Academy Award nominee Will Smith, has now grossed $152.9 million domestically. Domestic: $152.9 million Overseas: $31.2 million Total B.O.: $184.1 million

Cool interview... and yes, the music was very annoying. I wonder if Jada ever has to smack Will on the back of his head sometimes when Will is doing all that flirting. I know he's just being friendly but it's obvious these women would love the chance to get at him if they had the opportunity. It must be great to be him.

Audio Two - Top Billin'

Ed O.G. & The Bulldogs - I Gotta Have It OLD SCHOOL HIP-HOP!!