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R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass dies at 59 In an Aug. 1, 2000, file photo Teddy Pendergrass, right, performs at the Good AP – In an Aug. 1, 2000, file photo Teddy Pendergrass, right, performs at the Good Neighbor Community Outreach … * Singer Teddy Pendergrass dies at 59 Slideshow:Singer Teddy Pendergrass dies at 59 * Talented Musician Killed In I-80 Shooting Play Video Music Video:Talented Musician Killed In I-80 Shooting CBS 5 San Francisco * ShowBiz Minute: Cowell, Maguire, Dixie Chicks Play Video Music Video:ShowBiz Minute: Cowell, Maguire, Dixie Chicks AP By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Ap Music Writer – Thu Jan 14, 12:13 pm ET NEW YORK – R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass, who was one of the most electric and successful figures in music until a car crash 28 years ago left him in a wheelchair, has died of colon cancer. He was 59. Pendergrass died Wednesday in suburban Philadelphia, where he had been hospitalized for months. The singer's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, said his father underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had "a difficult recovery." Before the crash, Pendergrass established a new era of R&B with an explosive, raw voice that symbolized masculinity, passion and the joys and sorrow of romance in songs such as "Close the Door," "It Don't Hurt Now," "Love T.K.O." and other hits that have since become classics. He was an international superstar and sex symbol. His career was at its apex — and still climbing. Friend and longtime collaborator Kenny Gamble, of the renowned production duo Gamble & Huff, teamed with Pendergrass on his biggest hits and recalled how the singer was even working on a movie. "He had about 10 platinum albums in a row, so he was a very, very successful recording artist and as a performing artist," Gamble said Thursday. "He had a tremendous career ahead of him, and the accident sort of got in the way of many of those plans." Pendergrass, who was born in Philadelphia in 1950, suffered a spinal cord injury in a 1982 car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down — still able to sing but without his signature power. The image of the strong, virile lover was replaced with one that drew sympathy. But instead of becoming bitter or depressed, Pendergrass created a new identity — that as a role model, Gamble said. "He never showed me that he was angry at all about his accident," Gamble said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "In fact, he was very courageous." Pendergrass left a remarkable imprint on the music world as he ushered in a new era in R&B with his fiery, sensual and forceful brand of soul and his ladies' man image, burnished by his strikingly handsome looks. Gamble said Pendergrass was one of a kind as an artist and boasted a powerful voice and "a great magnetism." "He was a great baritone singer, and he had a real smooth sound, but he had a real rough sound, too, when he wanted to exert power in his voice," Gamble said. But it wasn't Pendergrass' voice that got him his break in the music business — it was his drum playing abilities. He met Harold Melvin, who was looking for replacement members for his group, the Blue Notes, and signed on to be the drummer. Later, he became the lead singer of the group, which became known as Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. The band started working with Gamble and Leon Huff and had signature hits in the early 1970s with "Wake Up Everybody" and "If You Don't Know Me by Now." But Pendergrass had creative differences with Melvin and soon left for a solo career, according to his Web site. It was then he would become a sex symbol for the R&B genre, working women into a frenzy with hits such as "Only You" and concerts dedicated for ladies only. "The females," Gamble said, "loved Teddy Pendergrass. The females were very attracted to him and his music." Unlike the songs of many of today's male R&B crooners, Pendergrass' music bordered on eroticism without explicit lyrics or coarse language — just through the raw emotion in his voice. "Turn Off the Lights" was a tune that perhaps best represented the many moods of Pendergrass — tender and coaxing yet strong as the song reaches its climax. Fans were devastated when, at age 31, Pendergrass was critically injured after his Rolls-Royce hit a tree. He spent six months in a hospital and returned to recording the next year with the album "Love Language." He continued to sing and recorded several albums, receiving Grammy nominations. "To all his fans who loved his music, thank you," his son said. "He will live on through his music." It was 19 years before Pendergrass resumed performing at his own concerts. He made his return on Memorial Day weekend in 2001, with two sold-out shows in Atlantic City, N.J. Gamble noted Pendergrass' charitable work for people with spinal cord injuries, his performances despite pain and his focus on the positive in the face of great challenges. "He used to say something in his act in the wheelchair, 'Don't let the wheelchair fool you,' because he still proclaimed he was a lover," Gamble said. But his career was never the same. Gamble said it was difficult for Pendergrass to project vocally like he once did: "The breathing aspect of it, he wasn't really able to deal with it." And while he had albums, he was no longer seen as the sex symbol but more of a sympathetic, tragic figure, even though he still had a strong following among his core female fans. After the accident, he dedicated much of his life to helping others with spinal cord injuries and founded the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance to do just that. Gamble said he wanted to help others. "In his quiet moments, he probably did a lot of reflection. But I never saw him pity himself. He stayed busy," Gamble said. "(But) I feel that he's in a better place now. ... He doesn't have to go through that pain or whatever he was going through anymore."

Thousands feared dead in Haiti quake; many trapped AP Haiti quake could affect 3 million: official Play Video CBC.ca – Haiti quake could affect 3 million: official * Strong earthquake hits Haiti Slideshow:Strong earthquake hits Haiti * Haiti quake rescue escalates Play Video Video:Haiti quake rescue escalates Reuters * Haitian Americans React to Devastating Earthquake Play Video Video:Haitian Americans React to Devastating Earthquake AP A man gestures behind a person trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in AP – A man gestures behind a person trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Port-au-Prince Wednesday, … By JONATHAN M. KATZ, Associated Press Writer Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press Writer – 13 mins ago PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after a powerful earthquake crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters. Untold numbers were still trapped. President Rene Preval said he believes thousands of people were dead from Tuesday afternoon's magnitude-7.0 quake. "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed," Preval told the Miami Herald. "There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them." Even the main prison in the capital fell, "and there are reports of escaped inmates," U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva. The Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince was among the dead, and the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was missing. The international Red Cross said a third of Haiti's 9 million people may need emergency aid and that it would take a day or two for a clear picture of the damage to emerge. At first light Wednesday, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter evacuated four critically injured U.S. Embassy staff to the hospital on the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the military has been detaining suspected terrorists for the last seven years. President Barack Obama promised an all-out rescue and humanitarian effort, adding that the U.S. commitment to its hemispheric neighbor will be unwavering. "We have to be there for them in their hour of need," Obama said. Other nations — from Iceland to Venezuela — said they would start sending in aid workers and rescue teams. Cuba said its existing field hospitals in Haiti had already treated hundreds of victims. The United Nations said Port-au-Prince's main airport was "fully operational" and open to relief flights. Aftershocks continued to rattle the capital of 2 million people as women covered in dust clawed out of debris, wailing. Stunned people wandered the streets holding hands. Thousands gathered in public squares to sing hymns. People pulled bodies from collapsed homes, covering them with sheets by the side of the road. Passers-by lifted the sheets to see if loved ones were underneath. Outside a crumbled building, the bodies of five children and three adults lay in a pile. The prominent died along with the poor: the body of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, 63, was found in the ruins of his office, said the Rev. Pierre Le Beller of the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in Landivisiau, France. He told The Associated Press by telephone that fellow missionaries in Haiti had told him they found Miot's body. Preval told the Herald that Haiti's Senate president was among those trapped alive inside the Parliament building. Much of the National Palace pancaked on itself. The international Red Cross and other aid groups announced plans for major relief operations in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. Many will have to help their own staff as well as stricken Haitians. Taiwan said its embassy was destroyed and the ambassador hospitalized. Spain said its embassy was badly damaged. Tens of thousands of people lost their homes as buildings that were flimsy and dangerous even under normal conditions collapsed. Nobody offered an estimate of the dead, but the numbers were clearly enormous. "The hospitals cannot handle all these victims," said Dr. Louis-Gerard Gilles. "Haiti needs to pray. We all need to pray together." An American aid worker was trapped for about 10 hours under the rubble of her mission house before she was rescued by her husband, who told CBS' "Early Show" that he drove 100 miles (160 kilometers) to Port-au-Prince to find her. Frank Thorp said he dug for more than an hour to free his wife, Jillian, and a co-worker, from under about a foot of concrete. An estimated 40,000-45,000 Americans live in Haiti, and the U.S. Embassy had no confirmed reports of deaths among its citizens. All but one American employed by the embassy have been accounted for, State Department officials said. Even relatively wealthy neighborhoods were devastated. An AP videographer saw a wrecked hospital where people screamed for help in Petionville, a hillside district that is home to many diplomats and wealthy Haitians as well as the poor. At a destroyed four-story apartment building, a girl of about 16 stood atop a car, trying to see inside while several men pulled at a foot sticking from rubble. She said her family was inside. "A school near here collapsed totally," Petionville resident Ken Michel said after surveying the damage. "We don't know if there were any children inside." He said many seemingly sturdy homes nearby were split apart. The U.N.'s 9,000 peacekeepers in Haiti, many of whom are from Brazil, were distracted from aid efforts by their own tragedy: Many spent the night hunting for survivors in the ruins of their headquarters. "It would appear that everyone who was in the building, including my friend Hedi Annabi, the United Nations' secretary-general's special envoy, and everyone with him and around him, are dead," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on RTL radio. But U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy would not confirm that Annabi was dead, saying he was among more than 100 people missing in its wrecked headquarters. He said only about 10 people had been pulled out, many of them badly injured. Fewer than five bodies had been removed, he said. U.N. peacekeeping forces in Port-au-Prince are securing the airport, the port, main buildings and patrolling the streets, Le Roy said. Brazil's army said at least 11 of its peacekeepers were killed, while Jordan's official news agency said three of its peacekeepers were killed. A state newspaper in China said eight Chinese peacekeepers were known dead and 10 were missing — though officials later said the information was not confirmed. The quake struck at 4:53 p.m., centered 10 miles (15 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince at a depth of only 5 miles (8 kilometers), the U.S. Geological Survey said. USGS geophysicist Kristin Marano called it the strongest earthquake since 1770 in what is now Haiti. Video obtained by the AP showed a huge dust cloud rising over Port-au-Prince shortly after the quake as buildings collapsed. Most Haitians are desperately poor, and after years of political instability the country has no real construction standards. In November 2008, following the collapse of a school in Petionville, the mayor of Port-au-Prince estimated about 60 percent of buildings were shoddily built and unsafe normally. The quake was felt in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, and in eastern Cuba, but no major damage was reported in either place. With electricity out in many places and phone service erratic, it was nearly impossible for Haitian or foreign officials to get full details of the devastation. "Everybody is just totally, totally freaked out and shaken," said Henry Bahn, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official in Port-au-Prince. "The sky is just gray with dust." Edwidge Danticat, an award-winning Haitian-American author was unable to contact relatives in Haiti. She sat with family and friends at her home in Miami, looking for news on the Internet and watching TV news reports. "You want to go there, but you just have to wait," she said. "Life is already so fragile in Haiti, and to have this on such a massive scale, it's unimaginable how the country will be able to recover from this."

Game Feat. Keyshia Cole "Game's Pain", "Blaze The Philly, It's Summertime, Shout Out To Will Smith!"

50 Cent "I Get Money"

Nice mix

DMX "Where The Hood At", it don't get no harder

Good music don't sell these days so of course it'll work Craig Mack feat. Biggie, LL, & Busta "Flava In Ya Ear"(Remix), probably the best remix ever

Fat Joe & P. Diddy Feat. Dre "Girl I'm A Bad Boy"

Ja Rule Feat. Ronald Isley "Daddy's Little Baby"

LL Cool J Feat. Tamia "Don't Be Late, Don't Come Too Soon"

I think Game has improved over the years, when he first came out about 5 years ago I thought he was kinda annoying but he's turned out to be one of the better mcs in hip hop, when he started beefing with 50 he got motivated and started coming out with some fire music which actually helped his career, he's only improved since that battle... I thought his last album was right up there as one of the top albums of 2008 up with Nas', LL's, and Ice Cube's last albums, it was up to that caliber to me, sure he got a big ego but who doesn't, lol, I just enjoy the music....

Talib Kweli "Wishing On A Black Star", this new Hi-Tek/Talib Kweli mixtape with Statik Selektah is FIRE!!! http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/11108/talib_kweli_hitek_reflection_eternal.html

Lupe Fiasco "Superstar"

JJFP "You Saw My Blinker"

Busta Rhymes Feat. Swizz Beatz and KRS-ONE "New York S***"(Remix), I never knew this hot track existed until I found this DJ Clue mixtape: http://www.livemixtapes.com/mixtapes/166/best_damn_remixes_pe.html

The first thing I did when the clock struck 2010 was watch the "Will 2K" video ha ha Right now I'm listening to LL Cool J "I'm That Type Of Guy"

Brian Mcknight "Angels We Have Heard On High"(Feat. Josh Groban)

Skillz has turned into the Marv Albert of the rap game, I'm digging this

Kool Moe Dee "Look At Me Now"

Rev. Run: The Story Behind "Christmas In Hollis" By Grouchy Greg Watkins Although Hip-Hop Christmas records do not get as much airtime, the genre has produced a number of notable holiday records. There‘s “Christmas Rappin’” by Kurtis Blow, “Santa’s Rap” by The Treacherous Three and Doug E. Fresh and one of the most creative, “Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa” by De La Soul. But by far, Hip-Hop’s most popular Christmas record is “Christmas in Hollis” a 1987 hit for world famous rap group Run-DMC. The group, now members of The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, is known as The Beatles of Hip-Hop because of their worldwide success and their list of achievements in making rap music the global phenomenon it has become. They were the first Hip-Hop group to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone, the first to have gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums, the first with an endorsement deal (“My Adidas”) and the first to gain regular airplay on MTV. Rev Run. is even the first person in Twitter's history to reach over 1 million re-tweets, due to his popular "Words of Wisdom" messages that are sent out daily to his hundreds of thousands of followers. “Christmas In Hollis” was originally featured on the Special Olympics charity album, A Very Special Christmas, which boasted cameo appearances from artists like Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Sting, Whitney Houston and numerous pop star of the day. The record was crafted by music genius Rick Rubin, producer of legendary artists like The Beastie Boys, Metallic, Danzig Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond and many others. Reverend Run was kind enough to reveal to AllHipHop.com, for the first time, the story behind “Christmas in Hollis.” Reverend Run: As told to AllHipHop.com: I was sitting there eating breakfast one morning and I got a call from my [legendary Def Jam ] publicist, Bill Adler. He said “Joe you have to make a Christmas record for the Special Olympics. You have to make a Christmas record. I was like OK. Just being my crazy self, eating breakfast, maybe smoking, being run. I sat there with the eggs, bacon, toast with Jelly, a piece of paper close by. When he hung up, I was eating breakfast, I wrote it in that same seat and within 20 seconds the song was written. It was a moral thought. I almost felt like I was a preacher back then somewhere in my heart. All I could think of was, suppose I saw Santa on Hollis . And I didn’t know it was Santa. Supposed I thought the dog was really a reindeer. Suppose Santa dropped his wallet. Man, I would never steal Santa’s wallet. I’d love to deliver it back to him. I bet you God is so good, that he will make Santa lose his wallet and if you give it back, God would say it was meant for you. But if you keep that wallet, then you are a loser, a sucker. So that’s where my mind was as the song was flowing out of me. [breaks into verse]: It was December 24th on Hollis Ave in the dark/When I seen a man chilling with his dog in the park/I approached very slowly with my heart full of fear/Looked at his dog, oh my God, an ill reindeer/But then I was illin because the man had a beard I see this right now and imagine myself in the park on 192 park on 25th Street, all of this happening and I am getting chills now as I recite this verse: And a bag full of goodies, 12 o'clock had neared/So I turned my head a second and the man had gone/But he left his driver's wallet smack dead on the lawn/I picked the wallet up then I took a pause/Took out the license and it cold said "Santa Claus"/A million dollars in it, cold hundreds of G's/Enough to buy a boat and matching car with ease/ But I'd never steal from Santa, cause that ain't right/So I'm going home to mail it back to him that night/But when I got home I bugged, cause under the tree/Was a letter from Santa and all the dough was for me And that’s how I imagine life, I imagined God to be in that rhyme, I wrote it in 20 seconds and I think it’s truthfully the best rhyme I’ve ever written as far as the poetic aspect of it, the spirit of it. I have written some dope rhymes, but that one has every element of a “Dr. Seuss.” Now a lot of other stuff I have written over the years and I’ve never said this before, but that might be the most poetic, Hip-Hop, B-Boy Dr. Seuss verse ever. I mean Dr. Seuss would never say “ an ill Reindeer,” so I imagined myself to be the new modern Dr. Seuss for that verse. When I finished and we gave the record into the Special Olympics and these big artists like Cyndi Lauper had submitted a traditional songs like “Jingle Bells.” I didn’t know any better to do that. I would have never done that. I didn’t think to not write a new song. We aren’t singers anyway, so there was no way I was singing anything, it would have been wack. I was blessed as a poet at that moment and god blessed me.

In recent years TI's actually been one of the better mainstream rappers, if Q-Tip, Mos Def, or Common don't win anything I wouldn't mind if he won something, and yes I agree that DOA and Run This Town are overrated singles just mostly everything Jay-Z released in the last 10 years beside the Blueprint and Black Album eras, Jay-Z is a talented rapper but he's not the rap savior that people make him out to be

Outkast is a lot like Nas, they can't seem to make anything on the same level as their 1st albums but really not many have, Outkast is probably the best hip hop group besides Run-Dmc and Nas is like the second coming of Rakim, btw I'll take the worst Outkast album over the best Kanye West album anyday for the record

Montell Jordan "Never Alone"

Kool Moe Dee "Death Blow"

De La Soul "He Comes" Feat. Ghostface Damn I was forgetting how great this "Grind Date" album