JumpinJack AJ

Less than a month, y'all. I can't find the tracklisting yet, but here's the cover.

BRITT NICOLE - Set The World On Fire (Neon Feather Remix) The Remixes (2015)

MAT KEARNEY - Just Kids Just Kids (2015)

I just wanna say that this is what I was hoping from her. I love her first three albums. Once the drama started, big dance singles overtook her career, though there are still some good songs throughout her albums. She pumped out at least one album a year until she took this break. I'm looking forward to more substantial lyrics and more musical production. I can't say that her current single is a perfect example, as Kanye West only takes away from the song, but I'm hopefully this album is everything it could be, and that her fame helps continue music's shift back to a better place.

Rihanna On New Album: It Will Be 'Timeless'By Jocelyn Vena | March 17, 2015 8:37 AM EDT Rihanna officially kicked off her next album cycle with the release of her Kanye West and Paul McCartney collaboration "FourFiveSeconds" back in January. With fans anxiously waiting for more details about the singer's forthcoming eighth studio album, she shared that the release will be a departure from what anyone might be expecting. "I've made a lot of songs that are just really, really big songs. From the jump, they just blow up," she told MTV about the album. "And I wanted to kind of get back to - not that they weren't real music, but I just wanted to focus on things that felt real, that felt soulful, that felt forever." Rihanna further noted that the release will have a "timeless" vibe to it."I wanted songs that I could perform in 15 years; I wanted an album that I could perform in 15 years," she said. "Not any songs that were burnt out. I find that when I get on stage now, I don't want to perform a lot of my songs because they don't feel like me. So I want to make songs that are timeless." http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6502357/rihanna-on-new-album-it-will-be-timeless

Here's a rare one...

DEAR MAMA SO MANY TEARS TEMPTATIONS">

I am guilty of sleeping on his stuff. I'll have to pay closer attention with this album, and revisit his previous stuff more closely.

SLUM VILLAGE w/ PHIFE - Push It Along (forthcoming album) (2015)

March 14, 2015 | Published By Amanda Mester2Pac’s Pivotal Classic Me Against The World Turns 20 Years Old (Food For Thought)20 years ago today (March 14, 1995), Tupac Shakur’s Me Against The World was released, and with it came the rapper’s most introspective work of his career. Released during a time of exceptional turmoil for 2Pac, the album signaled a musical changing of the guards, post-Thug Life and pre-Death Row, that manifested itself as an exploration of the anxiety germane to the legal and personal issues enveloping him at the time. After being accused of sexual assault in late 1993, ‘Pac was the victim of an attempted murder the following year (both incidents transpiring in New York City), experiences which shaped the feeling and sound of Me Against The World, the first solo album he released in over two years. Earning conspicuous accolades like being the first artist to debut an album at the top of the Billboard 200 while in prison, Tupac managed to be omnipresent during the album’s release despite (or perhaps bolstered by) being locked away. In an interview included within the 2003 book Tupac: Resurrection 1971–1996, ‘Pac was proud of the fact that the album had surpassed Bruce Springsteen’s Greatest Hits in sales, a tremendous achievement for a Black artist making music deliberately for the hood and particularly poignant considering Springsteen’s international super-stardom and 22-year foothold in music. About Me Against The World, ‘Pac goes on to say, “it was like a Blues record. It was down-home. It was all my fears, all the things I just couldn’t sleep about.” That paranoia, whether brought on by internal or external stimuli, is a dominating force in nearly every track, but also present are moments of nostalgia, sensitivity, and optimism that elevate the album to more than just a one-dimensional piece of work. The album’s intro, a nearly two-minute compilation of soundbites from various news segments, serves as a backdrop for the forthcoming content. Reporters discuss the incidents around his 1994 legal issues, as if to remind listeners of the extenuating circumstances under which he recorded the album. In a stellar example of the re-purposing of others’ work, a concept upon which Hip-Hop is based, the album’s first song begins with an altered William Shakespeare quote. Adapted from Julius Caesar, a story exploring the familiar trope of a man being brought down by his own comrades (“I no longer trust my homies, them phonies tried to do me”), the quote bellows “a coward dies a thousand deaths, a soldier dies but once.” Tupac often included warnings about trusting others, especially the ones who claim to be your supporters, so it’s fitting that of all Shakespeare’s plays, it is Julius Caesar that is alluded to at the top of a song titled “If I Die 2Nite.” Tracks like “So Many Tears,” “Lord Knows,” “Death Around the Corner,” and the title track deal directly with suicidal thoughts and symptoms of depression in ways that make Tupac extremely vulnerable and emotionally exposed. Lines like “now I’m lost and I’m weary, so many tears / I’m suicidal, so don’t stand near me,” “if I wasn’t high, I’d probably try to blow my brains out,” “Am I paranoid? Tell me the truth / I’m out the window with my AK, ready to shoot,” and “the question is will I live? No one in the world loves me” are exemplary of Tupac’s conscious effort to externalize the internal in ways he hadn’t before. No doubt a result of the hardships he was navigating throughout the recording process, what ostensibly would make him appear weak or “soft” in fact fortified him into not just another “thug” rapper, but a man capable of reflection on par with the greatest Blues musicians. In February 1995, Heads all over the world could be found listening to “Dear Mama,” an ode to motherhood and the lead single from the album. Released on February 21, just one week after ‘Pac began his nine-month prison sentence, the song has become Hip-Hop’s most enduring homage to mothers and, by extension, women. In a tinge of unfortunate irony, Shakur was locked up for the alleged sexual assault of a woman, an irony compounded by “Can U Get Away,” a track depicting ‘Pac as a man attempting to convince a woman to leave an abusive relationship. The importance of those two tracks when discussing the vitriolic misogyny far too common in Rap music from that era cannot be overstated. In the former, Tupac made it acceptable for a “thug” to openly love his mother and in the latter, he publicly disapproved of domestic abuse. It isn’t until “**** the World” that he seems to directly address the allegations against him, albeit fleetingly in only one lyric (“Haha, what you say? Who you callin’ rapist? Ain’t that a bitch”). Whether or not this was intentional, there is a level of maturity inherent in choosing not to pen a track devoted to the woman who, according to him, wrongly accused him of a crime that seemed antithetical to his views on women, at least those on Me Against The World. Although not known at the time, Me Against The World would prove to be a harbinger of Tupac’s eventual demise. The final album released before his signing to Death Row Records, it remains a crystallized specimen of unadulterated Tupac, before the influence of Suge Knight and his next home’s sound and reputation. In a calculated move by the Death Row CEO, Knight offered to pay ‘Pac’s $1.4 million bail in exchange for signing a three-album contract with his label. For many, that move is the definitive junction in time when the rapper signed his death warrant, for it was his relationship with Death Row which set the stage for the forthcoming (and some say overtly orchestrated) East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry in Rap music. Two decades later, as we prepare ourselves for next year’s twentieth anniversary of his death, Me Against The World holds up, for many, as the greatest album of his career. Although still replete with the violence that litters his entire discography, the album can, in many ways, be seen as his last album, for never again would Tupac explore the genesis of his pain as cohesively and completely. Nevertheless, the year and half of life he had remaining after March 14, 1995 left an indelible impression on the Culture and despite the tremendous sense of loss since his passing, we have albums like this one that remind us “a real mother****er will pick the time he goes.” Amanda Mester is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn, New York. Follow her on Twitter @CanEye_KickIt

It's the 20th anniversary of 2Pac's best album. 2Pac fans, share your thoughts and memories on the album. I'll post mine a little later.

This is long, but if you love Guy, New Jack Swing, or 90's R&B, you'll love this article.Teddy Riley revisits crafting Guy’s debut album | Return To The ClassicsApril 8th, 2012 | by Chris Williams By the late 1980s, R&B music was at a crossroads with its aging audience and sound. The genre itself was looking to go into a more youthful direction. Fortunately, help was on the way in the form of a teenage prodigy from Harlem, New York. Building off of the successes from Johnny Kemp and Keith Sweat in 1987, the newfound New Jack Swing genre was leaving its mark on pop culture audiences. In the same year, the mastermind behind this incredible blending of Hip-Hop and R&B would become part of a group named Guy that would ultimately define themselves as the trailblazing unit that would propel the dominance of New Jack Swing with their debut offering. Their self titled album, Guy would be released on June 13, 1988 by Uptown Records. Uptown Records was the newest label on the scene and their youthful exuberance shined through with the hot acts they were signing in both the R&B and Hip-Hop genres respectively. Guy became the first R&B group signed by Andre Harrell. From his previous working relationship with Teddy Riley, Harrell knew that the group possessed the capabilities to become something special. The group failed to disappoint with their debut offering and left quite the impression on the multitude of music fans worldwide. This album would introduce the collective pioneering the development of a groundbreaking genre of music, which placed them in a different class among their contemporaries. Their style of rhythm and blues was a welcomed breath of fresh air with the lovers of the genre. Each of the 10 songs on the album highlighted the captivating, soul stirring lead vocals of Aaron Hall, songwriting of Timmy Gatling, and the prodigious songwriting and production talents of Edward “Teddy” Riley. All of these elements proved to be explosive once the album hit stores in the early summer of 1988. The concept for the group was formulated by Timmy Gatling and Aaron Hall when they worked together at the same clothing store in 1987. Shortly thereafter, Teddy Riley was introduced to Aaron Hall by Timmy Gatling and Guy formed as a trio. As the story goes, the group was managed by Gene Griffin, which led to a meeting with Andre Harrell at Uptown Records. Upon hearing the music the group created, they were signed to the label immediately. It would be here where they would stake their claim as a force to be reckoned with in the world of music. After signing their record deal, Guy would release their debut album a year later and the rest would be history. Between the months of October 1987 – March 1988, Guy was recorded at Teddy Riley’s home studio in Harlem, NY. SoulCulture recently sat down with Teddy Riley to discuss the making of such an epic album. Riley tells a riveting story of how the group was initially formed and how they chose their name. “The group was formed with Timmy Gatling and Aaron Hall,” says Riley. “Timmy Gatling used to work at a store in Brooklyn called Abraham & Straus. Timmy discovered that Aaron could sing one day when they were working together. Once Timmy heard Aaron singing, he was curious to know what Aaron was doing with his talent and who he was working with. Aaron told him he wasn’t working with anyone because he was singing in the church. “Timmy gave him the idea that they should get together to form a group. At first, it was just about Timmy and Aaron being in a group. He brought Aaron to the studio with me and I was just finishing up Keith Sweat’s album. The studio was out in New Jersey and it was an extension of the Power Plant studios. It was called Quantum Sounds. “He brought him to the studio and I met Aaron and Timmy told me he wanted me to produce them. I said that’s cool. Timmy wanted me to hear Aaron sing and he blew me away with everything. I never heard anyone sing that way other than Charlie Wilson or Stevie Wonder. “I told Timmy that I’d love to work with Aaron and the feeling was mutual. Aaron told us he’d like to do this as a whole group and he wanted me to be in the actual group because he heard me play and then I heard him play so we really attached ourselves at the hip from that point on. I told him we could do a few records to see how they would turn out and that I really didn’t want to be part of a group. Aaron told me if you’re not going to be in the group then I’m not sure I want to do this at all because he thought it would be great with me being the producer and that I should sing too.” He continues. “Aaron and my mother were the ones to push me to sing because I never wanted to be a singer. We met the next day after I finished Keith’s album. Aaron came over to my house and we exchanged ideas about doing the group and going back to Gene after we finished the demos. We figured he still had contacts to help us get a record deal. We found Gene and he just came back to New York and he was staying downtown in a five-star hotel. We went down there and told him that we had something. He told us he would come to my house to see what we had. At this time, I was living in the St. Nick’s projects on the first floor. “Gene came to the house and Aaron was already there. As soon as he came to the house, Aaron and I had already started knocking out joints. Our first song was ‘I Like.’ When we first got together, our group didn’t have a name at all. We were at the house and we went down to 125th street to go to a clothing store. I remember that I kept seeing him wear the same clothes. He told me he only had one pair of shoes. I told him we were going to the store to get some clothes and shoes. Timmy and I took him to this store named Two Guys. It was here where we found our style for the group. At this store, we found the name for our group also. We took the ‘s’ off of Guys and removed the ‘Two’ and that’s how we came up with the name Guy for our group.” Riley retraces all of the footsteps involved in landing the group’s record deal. “We got our record deal through Uptown Records because I worked with Keith Sweat, but at the same time I was working at Roof Top Records with my partners,” says Riley. “We owned the company and we signed Kool Moe Dee as our first artist. While working at Roof Top Records, I remember Andre Harrell and all of Queens and Brooklyn coming up to the Roof Top. My uncle Willie and my partner Gusto actually owned the place. My other partner was Greg G from the group, the Disco Four and Lavaba Mallison. Lavaba and all of us used to be at the Roof Top. “This is around the time Andre Harrell said he was going uptown to check out this kid who was doing music. I can remember people talking about me and how I was doing music. I produced ‘Go See the Doctor,’ ‘Rap’s New Generation,’ and Doug E. Fresh’s song ‘The Show.’ They thought all I could produce were rap records, but no one knew I did R&B too even when I did Keith Sweat’s album. “I moved on to R&B music and that’s when I came up with the style of putting rap and R&B music together. Andre Harrell bought Heavy D to me and I didn’t really need Gene to make that contact. I ended up bringing Gene in to make that contact, but in the end I had a middle man. I actually could have signed the deal by bringing up Aaron and Timmy to Andre’s offices and cutting out the middle man. Either way, I felt like there was something happening and that there was something special going on with this group. I felt like we were the Gap Band on steroids. I met Andre Harrell first and then I made the contact between Andre and Gene so that our business would be straight and no one would get over on us. “Coming in, we didn’t know the business; we just wanted to do music. That’s how we got with Andre Harrell because I was working with Heavy D, Al B. Sure, Groove B. Chill, Finesse and Sequence and a group called The Girls. They were all signed to Uptown and Andre was just sending me group after group to work with. I was knocking everything out as he was sending it to me. “I thank Andre Harrell for the opportunity to help me explore my music back then. I was just on to something. I felt like a kid in a candy store who bought some new candy, which was R&B. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was playing chords that felt good to me. This is what Andre Harrell loved.” Riley recalls the studio atmosphere during the recording of the album, the chemistry that existed between the group members and manager Gene Griffin, and why Timmy Gatling quit the group before the album was completed. “The studio atmosphere was at my mother’s house,” says Riley. “We did the whole album there and I used the Akai 12 track. I couldn’t afford anything and the Akai 12 track was given to me by a friend of mine who was an engineer. He started giving me equipment because I knew how to use it. My uncle Willie brought me the keyboards and the little drum machines that I needed. I did the vocals in my bathroom and when I didn’t have a drum machine I would use the microphone that my uncle bought me as a bass drum. I would put the microphone between the holes of the toilet tissue and that would be my bass drum. “I learned from Doug E. Fresh how to do the snare drum and hi-hat sound with my mouth. When I did the snare drum and hi-hat sounds, the microphone was taped between the holes of the toilet paper roll and that’s where the sound came out of,” he laughs. “I did this all in the bathroom, but I had the ambience from the bathroom to give me the reverb. I had every vintage keyboard including a Fender Rhodes and a clavinet. “Everything you hear on that album was developed in my mother’s house. My witnesses are my mother and the lady upstairs named Ms. Black, who used to bang on the pipes telling me to turn my music down. After we made our first hit, she told me we could play our music anytime we wanted to. She was always for kids to stay off the streets and not sell drugs. I was always in the house and she would wonder what I was doing because she was always hearing me bang on my machine until I got the sound I wanted out of it. “I had Sound Tools, which is Pro Tools now, but Sound Tools is how I was able to record separate vocals on that Akai 12 track. We would mix it down with Sound Tools. I developed this album with everything I had. I tried to use different sounds, but it was just the stock sounds on the Roland D-50. Everyone used that keyboard after I used it. I made that keyboard famous. The same keyboard string sounds I used for Guy records I used for Michael Jackson as well. I never changed until I started getting the real deal Holyfield.” He adds. “The creative synergy that Timmy, Aaron, and I had was just magical. It was something where we didn’t even know what we had. People around us could see it, but we couldn’t. My uncle Boopsy used to come around to sing our songs. Pretty much every artist and celebrity has that one uncle who will come in and try to sing your songs while you’re trying to create. Well, that’s when we knew we had something special. My uncle used to come over my house just to hear us sing. Then, he used to try and join in like he was going to be a part of our band,” he laughs. “I lived on the first floor so you could actually come to my window and hear me play music. When Aaron would sing, all of my friends and the kids from the block used to come to the window to see and hear us. They heard the music before we even put it out. Basically, we had a live concert there for everyone. “It’s so crazy how Timmy left the group. We all used to live in Washington, DC with Gene. When we lived out there, we didn’t get along at all. Aaron and I got along real well, but Timmy was jealous of Aaron and I being so close. Timmy and Aaron would get into little fights. They got into a big, big argument and it almost came to blows. Gene got upset with all of us. I was the youngest of the bunch and I never got into trouble. “Timmy and Aaron used to argue with each other a lot. We used to do crazy stuff with girls and what not and Gene was playing that Joe Jackson type of role by keeping us away from those crazy things. It was good for us and it was good for me. One day, Aaron was hanging out and Gene told him not to go out. Aaron went out and got into a car accident again with this girl he was seeing. Aaron came back home with his neck hurting. Gene thought he was lying because he told him not to go anywhere. Gene made Aaron take the train back to New York because we were on our way back up there. “He said to Aaron, ‘If you can make it back to New York, you may still be in the group.’ He used to have us doing military stuff,” he laughs. “At that time, Aaron didn’t really have a place to go, but he ended up making it back and he came to my house in the projects. I let him in and we ended up going back to the studio to do more work. Gene gets there and says ‘What is this mother f-cker here for?’ “I said to myself I’m in trouble now. I said to him, ‘Because he’s in the group and if he’s not in the group there won’t be a group at all. I’m not going to be in the group if Aaron isn’t going to be in the group.’ He said, ‘Whatever you say Midas.’ He used to call me Midas because he said I had the Midas touch. The day Aaron came back is the day Timmy and he got into another heated argument. “Gene told Timmy that he wasn’t going to be starting anymore fights. Timmy basically told him he wasn’t going to tell him what to do. Gene then told him it was time for him to leave. Timmy left and that was it. We weren’t worried about the group being broken up because I had Aaron still. Gene came back in the room and said ‘Timmy is out of the group and that it was final.’ “I didn’t really know much of anything that was going on behind the scenes because Gene and Aaron kept that stuff away from me. Aaron was more protective of me more than anything so that it wouldn’t mess with my creativity. Aaron was always protective over me until Damion Hall came to the group,” he laughs. “Gene had us straight and he never let anyone take advantage of us.” Riley briefly recalls the making the first single from the album, “Round and Round (Merry Go Round of Love).” “‘Round and Round (Merry Go Round of Love)’ is a song that I didn’t like at all,” says Riley. “It was because it sounded too much like the Gap Band. It was always a dream of mine to have the Gap Band and Guy perform this song together. It’s the reason why I said I didn’t like it because I would rather perform the song with them.” “Round and Round (Merry Go Round of Love)” went on to peak at #24 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart in the late autumn of 1988. The next single to follow “Round and Round (Merry Go Round of Love)” was the up tempo, infectious “Groove Me.” Riley remembers how the song came together at his house and later on in the studio. “Groove Me’ started at the house and Aaron did the vocals,” says Riley. “The original vocals from the 12 track ended up being the ones we used, but when we got to Sound Works Studios, Aaron wanted to try to sing his vocals over again because he knew he could do better. Gene told him to go for it. He never stepped on Aaron’s toes when it came to singing part because Aaron was the teacher of the group. “We did the vocals over on “Groove Me,” but they ended up not being the actual vocals that we sung at the house. We ended up using a lot of vocals from the house recordings because they were real. There weren’t any off notes. He was just on point. He did his thing.” “Groove Me” went on to peak at #4 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart and #33 on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Singles Chart. The third single to be released from the album would be “Teddy’s Jam.” Riley explains how the song’s title was influenced by Aaron Hall. “Teddy’s Jam” “Like I said before, Aaron was always pushing me to sing,” says Riley. “He came up with this song in the house. I told him it was a cool idea because when I played him the music he said he wanted to put some singing on it. He started singing ‘Jam’ all over the track. And it ended up being ‘Teddy’s Jam.’ We didn’t have a name for the actual song, but Teddy’s Jam just stuck. It became a signature track. I love performing this song live.” “Teddy’s Jam” went on to peak at #5 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart and #25 on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Singles Chart. The fourth single to be released from the album would be the iconic “I Like.” Riley recounts how Timmy Gatling played a role in shaping the song. “Timmy had the idea and the lyrics for ‘I Like,’” says Riley. “He just started singing them and after I heard the lyric ‘My dreams are now reality’ I started cooking up chords to go with it. I was doing hip-hop beats and marrying them to some chords and that’s how we came up with this song.” “I Like” went on to peak at #70 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, #2 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart and #36 on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Singles Chart. The final song to be released from the album would be “Spend the Night.” Riley tells a compelling story after the song was completed. “This is the time where Aaron and I saw our lives passing by very quickly. After Aaron and I produced the song ‘Spend the Night,’ the same day we were at Tony Bennett’s son, Dave’s house at Hill Sound Studios in Teaneck, New Jersey. After finishing that song, we were so happy and we were on our way back to the projects. “I remember I was driving my brand new 5.0 Mustang that Gene just gave to me. It was kind of icy on the ground and we were listening to the song. I was in tears listening to the first song I ever sung on. Not even 10 minutes from leaving Dave Bennett’s house, we got into a five car accident and it was my fault. I hit the gas because I was feeling good and I was singing my part of the song in the car. I hit the gas again and my car swerved and I ended up hitting four brand new Cadillac’s at a Cadillac dealership. “We went from side to side because it was a one way street and my foot was still on the gas so it felt like we were on a bad amusement park ride. At the end of it, we landed in a parking spot. My head hit the steering wheel and almost hit the glass. Aaron’s head and neck went into the glass, but it didn’t break because the dashboard was holding him back. His neck ended up being fractured and my face was bashed in and I was bleeding from the nose and mouth. I had my first car accident after singing my first song.” “Spend the Night” went on to peak at #15 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart Riley provides insight on how some of the remaining songs on the album came together. “‘Piece of My Love’ and ‘Goodbye Love’ were the album selling songs. They were the incognito tracks that people could only hear if they bought the album. These two tracks are the reasons why our album sold so many copies. “When all of the rumors came out where people thought Aaron was saying ‘you dumb b-tch,’ it’s what made the guys and girls go out to buy the album. People used to come up to me and say these are my songs. When Aaron got into the room during the recording, he knew exactly how he wanted to sing these two songs.” Guy peaked at #27 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. It managed to stay atop the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart for five non consecutive weeks between 1988 and 1989. The album went on to sell more than three million units worldwide. To this day, it’s regarded as one of the best albums released from an R&B group during the decade of the 1980s. Their debut record signified that the brand new genre of New Jack Swing had staying power on the music charts. It also signaled a generation shift and set in motion a new blueprint for R&B groups in the early part of the following decade. These three young men gave the world one more reason to love harder with their timeless ballads and club records. Guy holds its weight among other classic albums from any group in any generation of music proving their legacy will endure through the rest of time. Guy – Guy LP Released: June 13, 1988 Label: Uptown Records Buy: iTunes / Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk Sourced From: http://soulculture.com/music-blog/teddy-riley-revisits-crafting-guys-debut-album-return-to-the-classics/#ixzz3UNPWO3Rg Follow us: @SoulCulture on Twitter | SoulCulture on Facebook

Well, it's gotten really bad, really fast at work. The level of selfishness and laziness behind how the schedule is made has made it so that I've had to turn down two acting gigs and skip over a third. The schedule is so bad over the next two or three weeks that I can't even manager a personal life. I need out. NOW. Praying and expecting something is to come my way fast. I have the chance to audition for my dream role in two or three weeks, so I'd like to go into that with a new job. One of my friends has suggested their job. It's not my passion, but it would greatly improve the quality of my life if I get it. Good pay. Set schedule. Work from home. Nuff said, let's see this work out. Last night I came across this T.D. Jakes sermon that spoke to me, which I feel many people can relate to.

KAT GRAHAM - 1991 (forthcoming album) (2015) I love this song...and not just because it heavily samples TLC.

This article is from August, how did I miss it?! De La Soul’s Next Mixtape Is Produced Entirely By DJ Premier & Pete Rock Email In March, De La Soul hipped Heads to the fact that Smell The Da.I.S.Y , their mixtape which featured strictly J. Dilla beats, was only the beginning, as far as 2014 is concerned. Posdnous, Dave, and Maseo are hard at work on the group’s eighth studio album, rumored to be called You’re Welcome. However, De La is loving the free-form of mixtapes. In an interview yesterday (August 4) with XXL magazine, De La revealed that their next tape is a benchmark union with two late ’80s New York Hip-Hop peers: Pete Rock and DJ Premier. “Right now we’re just accumulating beats,” Dave explained to the New York-based magazine, citing that recording will begin in September. “[DJ Premier and Pete Rock] have been sending us beats. No real idea of what the theme is gonna be, the theme behind the title (Premiem Soul On The Rocks [sic]), what that’s gonna be, if it’s gonna be skits, if it’s gonna be songs, remakes, whatever it is. Right now we’ve just been accumulating beats and waiting for Premier to handle some stuff as well.” With these group’s never working extensively together (Premier and Pete Rock are planning their own album), how do you think this will sound? Read XXL’s full De La Soul article, with additional album information. Related: Get Ready For a Lot of New De La Soul Music. A Mixtape and 2 Albums Are Coming Like what you see?Sign up for the Ambrosia for Heads weekly newsletter.

The movie was ill!!! I loved it. The dialogue is fast, smart, abrasive, and hilarious. I loved that it was funny without being a comedy. Also, the character wasn't anything like he's played before. I might have to see it again before it leaves theaters.

I'm not paying more than $5 to see this movie. That either means I'm seeing it at the ghetto movie theater or when it hits the $5 bin at Walmart. It seems impossible that they can make this movie relevant and not just an attempt to make money off a great movie from the 90's.

This hits me hard. I love Brownstone. They are one of the best groups from the '90s.

Report: Charmayne 'Maxee' Maxwell of Brownstone Dies From FallSinger suffered a mysterious accident while in Denmark, source says. By Evelyn DiazPosted: 03/01/2015 01:56 PM EST Charmayne Maxwell of the '90s R&B group Brownstone has died, TMZ reports. The singer reportedly suffered a fatal fall in Denmark on Saturday. According to a Danish media outlet, Maxwell was attending a soccer game when she fell. Her death has been described as an "accident," though according to unnamed sources, family members are looking into whether she committed suicide. Maxwel's brother Brandon Maxwell, however, denies rumors that his sister hinted at suicide on Twitter before her death. "People are so dumb. This is actually BS..." he tweeted, with a link to a blog post alleging Maxwell posted a suicide note. He also wrote, "Bad things happen to the most innocent people. My sister died in the most terrible way and I'm in so much pain right now." Friends of the singer, known affectionately as "Maxee," have been reacting to the tragic news on social media. Teisha Brown, Maxwell's fellow Brownstone member, A photo posted by teishajb (@teishajb) on Mar 1, 2015 at 8:56am PST ">wrote, "I just need to be by you 1 more time on stage MAX!" The girl group, signed to Michael Jackson's MJJ label, scored its biggest hit with 1995's "If You Love Me." The song earned them a Billboard Music Award and a Grammy nomination. She was married to Danish music producer Carsten Soulshock Schack and is survived by a son. Our condolences go out to Maxwell's family. http://www.bet.com/news/music/2015/03/01/report-charmayne-maxee-maxwell-of-brownstone-dies-from-fall.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charmayne Maxwell Dead: 5 Fast Facts You Need to KnowPublished 2:28 pm EST, March 1, 2015 Updated 6:06 pm EST, March 1, 2015 (Instagram/nicoleajmax) Charmayne “Maxee” Maxwell, a member of the 1990s R&B group Brownstone died suddenly Saturday in Los Angeles after a fall, according to multiple media reports. She was 46. Maxwell’s death was reported to be an accident. Maxwell was found by her husband, according to TMZ. Here’s what you need to know: 1. Maxwell Reportedly Died of Cut To Neck According to the Danish news site Here & Now, Maxwell died after a fall after attending her son’s soccer game in Los Angeles. Maxwell’s family has confirmed her death on social media and to Danish media. According to TMZ, Maxwell’s husband found her at their home, bleeding and unconscious. She was home alone with her son when police believe she fell and cut her neck, possibly on a wine glass. Police do not suspect foul play, TMZ reported. RIP Charmayne Maxwell: Photos to Remember Brownstone SingerCharmayne "Maxee" Maxwell died mysteriously after a fall Saturday. She was 46. Maxwell was part of the 90s R&B group Brownstone. 2. Maxwell Was Part of the R&B Group BrownstoneMaxwell, who was born in Guyana, was a member of the R&B group Brownstone in the 1990s. The group was signed to Michael Jackson’ MJJ label and is best known for its 1995 Grammy-nominated song “If You Love Me.” The group also included Nicci Gilbert and Mimi Dobby at the height of its success. Maxwell also had a solo career, with her song “When I Look Into Your Eyes” reaching No. 1 on the European charts in 2000, according to MTV.com. 3. Maxwell Was Married To Danish Music Producer SoulshockMaxwell has been married to Danish producer Carsten “Soulshock” Schack for 20 years, according to the Here & Now report. Soulshock has worked as a producer and writer for several artists, including Usher, Brandy, Monica and Whitney Houston, according to whosampled.com and was a judge on the Danish verison of X-Factor in 2010, according to IMDB.com. Maxwell and her husband have a young son, Nichoj. They lived in Los Angeles. 4. Maxwell’s Brother Mourned Her Death On TwitterHer brother, Brandon, has taken to social media to mourn his sister’s death. Brandon Maxwell also denied rumors that his sister’s death was a suicide, saying in a tweet “People are so dumb. This is actually BS..” with a link to an article claiming she killed herself. 5. Her Friends Have Also Posted Tributes On Social MediaOther friends, including her fellow Brownstone member Teisha Brown, also posted tributes Sunday on social media.

My show opened this weekend, so I haven't seen it yet, but I'm gonna try to catch it in the next two nights. :)

MEGHAN TRAINOR - Walkashame Title (2015) She is one of my favorite songwriters. Not only is she crazy talented, but she's funny too.

CHRIS BROWN + TYGA - Ayo Fan of A Fan (2015) Not my usual taste, but I like this album.

Chamillionaire Is Now An Entrepreneur In Residence at a Venture Capital FirmBy Alex RussellIn a letter penned by VC Mark Suster explaining the head-turning week he's had at Upfront Ventures in Los Angeles, he explains the presence of a new face around the office: Chamillionaire. The same Chamillionaire who was showing us how to get our respective shines on not a decade ago. But if Kanye has taught us anything, it's that we can find success in multiple creative outlets. In the past five years or so, Cham has been quietly but actively involved in the tech startup scene, from speaking on social media engagement in the music industry to hanging out with Y Combinator associates. He's also been making some investments himself. He was one of the earliest investors in Maker Studios, an online video network founded in 2009 and sold to Disney for $500 million last year. The firm he's currently hanging with and advising, Upfront Ventures, has a vast portfolio that includes some acquired startups such as Bill Me Later (Rick Ross may or may not have been referring to this method of monetary transaction on his verse for Nicki Minaj's "I Am Your Leader"). Suffice it to say that Chamillionaire has transcended the days when he explained on YouTube how Michael Jordan sonned him, or maybe that was just an early example of his Internet savvy and ability to manipulate viral stories and plant social media engagement. At any rate, in a world in which Internet entrepreneurs like Ben Horowitz make business decisions through the inspiration of rap songs, it's not surprising to see that we now have rappers getting their own piece of the pie. We can all agree that Chamillionaire should be given a platform to speak at the next TechCrunch Disrupt conference. Source, plus a good interview: http://www.complex.com/music/2015/02/chamillionaire-is-now-an-entrepreneur-in-residence-at-a-venture-capital-firm?utm_campaign=complexmag%2Bsocialflow%2B02%2B2015&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

Mark just posted this on his Facebook... Marky Mark, Fresh Prince, and Donnie D. I assume this is one of those MTV Rock + Jock Games...1991 or 1992.