Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 2011, album, beyonce, music, premiere, R&B, video
This week has been full of Beyoncé news. On Sunday we got an iconic performance of “Run The World (Girls)” at the Billboard Awards which you can watch HERE. Beyoncé also received Billboard ‘Artist of The Millennium’ award on the same night.
Today we got a number of things. Most importantly, Beyoncé released her single called “1+1′, from her upcoming album, ’4′. ’1+1′ is a soulful ballad, with probably the best lyrics from any Beyoncé song. Beyoncé might have a hard time getting this to #1, but if Adele can make such a soulful song like, ‘Rolling In The Deep’ #1, then so can Beyoncé. You can listen to the song via Rap-Up and download it on iTunes. Beyoncé performed the song on American Idol tonight, and you can watch that performance below.
On top of that, the tracklisting for ’4′ was also revealed today. The album will include 12 songs, with the opening track being ’1+1′. There will also be a 2-disc deluxe edition which will be released on the same day. Check out the tracklisting below, and pre-order ’4′ by clicking HERE.
- 1+1
- I Care
- I Miss You
- Best Thing I Never Had
- Party (featuring Andre 3000)
- I’d Rather Die Young
- Start Over
- Love On Top
- Countdown
- End of Time
- I Was Here
- Run The World (Girls)
I know it’s a little late, but I just recently had the chance to listen to Jazmine Sullivan’s sophomore album, “Love Me Back”. I’ve never really been into J. Sullivan, but after hearing all the positive talk about the album I had to check it out. I can now say that I have officially fallen in love with Jazmine. This album is simply genius. There isn’t one bad track on here; not one filler. Jazmine Sullivan has brought back real R&B, and in a ferocious, strong way.
We hear a lot of inspiration from older R&B and soul on this album. We hear Jazmine channel Prince in, “Good Enough”, and give props to 90′s hip-hop in the lead single “Holdin’ U Down”. Then we have some serious songs like, “Redemption”, where Jazmine sings about domestic violence. I never saw this coming from Jazmine Sullivan. We also hear some 80′s inspiration in “Don’t Make Me Wait”. The only place the album falls short is with “10 Seconds”, just because we’ve heard too much of these types of songs in the past. I thought she was another Keyshia Cole, or Mary J. Blige, but she’s not. Jazmine is in a league of her own. Throw all those comparisons away, because Jazmine has shown with this album that she is her own woman, and no one else in the R&B game has done an album as good as this since the early 2000′s. Albums like “Love Me Back”, and Kanye’s recent “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”, give me hope that there are actually some true musicians left in this music industry.
- Holding You Down (Going In Cirles) – 9/10
- 10 Seconds – 5/10
- Good Enough – 10/10
- Don’t Make Me Wait – 9/10
- Love You Long Time – 8/10
- Redemption – 9/10
- Excuse Me – 8/10
- U Get On My Nerves – 7/10
- Stuttering – 7/10
- Famous – 9/10
- Luv Back – 8/10
M.O.G. Rating: 9/10
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: album, Hip-Hop, HipHop, music, Nicki Minaj, R&B, Rap, review
Thanksgiving week will probably be the biggest week for music in 2010. With releases from Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Robyn, My Chemical Romance, Justin Beiber, and Beyonce’s highly anticipated tour DVD, it’s going to be interesting to see who comes out on top. The biggest contenders for the #1 spot seem to be Kanye West and Nicki Minaj, whose projects have gained crazy hype over the last year. I reviewed Kanye’s album a few days ago, and now I’ll be giving my two cents on Nicki Minaj’s debut album, “Pink Friday”. I can call myself a Nicki Minaj fan, and have defended her in discussions with the so many Nicki haters.
Did Pink Friday live up to the hype? Yes and No. The album does a great job at maintaining it’s “Barbie” theme throughout, with some fun and cute tracks with features from Rihanna and Natasha Bedingfield. But, the album falls short a bit in terms of the beats and memorable lyrics, which are the biggest things about hip-hop. Most of the beat’s on the songs sound extremely cheap and underproduced. The track with Kanye, “Blazin”, sounds promising, but Kanye is the only positive thing about the record. The same thing happens with her song featuring Drake.
Still, Pink Friday does do what Nicki said it would, which is “bringing female rap back”. The album is better then a lot of hip-hop albums out, and can even compete with Drake’s “Thank Me Later”. The best song on the album is no doubt “Roman’s Revenge”, which is probably the biggest collaboration of 2010. My personal favorite is “Save Me”, a heartfelt, original song, where Nicki finally shows her real singing skills. “Dear Old Nicki” probably features the best lyrics after Roman’s Revenge, and has the best mix of Rap and Singing on the album. The Natasha Bedingfield track surprisingly works really well, and makes for a perfect single choice. The rest of the songs fail to make much impact and could have been replaced with some harder songs like Roman’s Revenge which I’m sure she recorded in the album sessions. Check out the ratings below:
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I’m The Best – 5/10
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Roman’s Revenge f. Eminem – 9/10
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Did it On ‘Em – 7/10
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Right Thru Me – 7/10
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Fly f. Rihanna – 7/10
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Save Me – 8/10
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Moment 4 Life f. Drake – 6/10
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Check It Out f. Will.I.Am – 8/10
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Blazin’ f. Kanye West – 6/10
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Here I Am - 6/10
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Dear Old Nicki – 8/10
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Your Love – 9/10
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Last Chance f. Natasha Bedingfield – 8/10
M.O.G. RATING: 7/10
“(I Only Know Him) In The Dark” – DOWNLOAD
JoJo has been away from the music scene for a long while now, thanks to the problems she’s been having with her record label. Now the R&B star is back with a new mix-tape that hits stores on September 7th. “In The Dark” is the first cut to be released from the “Can’t Take That Away From Me” mix-tape. The song is a big departure from JoJo’s past work, but is a good effort nonetheless. According to Rap-Up, the song isn’t necessarily an indication of what JoJo’s next album will sound like.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alicia Keys, beyonce, Brazil, Candids, Melina, R&B, video
Looks like it’ going to be amazing! The girls looks great!
