(eonline) Whitney Houston says it all in a new track making the rounds online. "I want you to love me like I never left," the legendary songbird trills in the aptly titled "Like I Never Left.
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(AUDIO ) New Whitney Houston Song Leaked on Internet
July 27, 2008 by bbn editors,
To Be Invisible. Tribute to Curtis Mayfield & Interview with Todd Mayfield.
February 18, 2008 by sharon d toomer w/sean allison, writer-producer
For a span of nearly 40 years the legendary Curtis Mayfield produced a body of work that today is not only listened to in its original form, but covered and sampled by countless mainstream, pop and Hip-Hop artists. He is among the most profound contributors to music history that only few earn a right of claim.
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LeRoi Moore Saxophonist and Founding Member for Dave Matthews Band player dies.
August 20, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ap) Dave Matthews Band saxophone player LeRoi Moore, one of the group's founding members and a key part of its eclectic jazz-infused sound, died Tuesday from sudden complications stemming from injuries he sustained in an all-terrain vehicle accident in June. He was 46.
Moore died at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, according to a statement released on the band's Web site. The statement did not specify what led to his death.
Moore was initially hospitalized in late June after the accident on his farm outside Charlottesville, Va. More...
World's Best Cities and Festivals for Music Lovers
July 08, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(msn) World's Best Cities and Festivals for Music Lovers. . . . . More...
Bo Diddley, a Founding Father of Rock 'n' Roll, Dies at 79.
June 02, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ap) Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79.
Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla. , spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. More...
“Rapper Akon’s Con-Job Exposed.” Street Cred, well, not credible. Akon's invented tales appear to be part of a cynical marketing plan.
April 20, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(thesmokingun) Akon's ad nauseum claims about his criminal career and resulting prison time have been, to an overwhelming extent, exaggerated, embellished, or wholly fabricated, an investigation by The Smoking Gun has revealed. Police, court, and corrections records reveal that the entertainer has created a fictionalized backstory that serves as the narrative anchor for his recorded tales of isolation, violence, woe, and regret. Akon has overdubbed his biography with the kind of grit and menace that he apparently believes music consumers desire from their hip-hop stars.
While the performer's rap sheet does include a half-dozen arrests, Akon has only been convicted of one felony, for gun possession. That 1998 New Jersey case ended with a guilty plea, for which the singer was sentenced to three years probation. More...
Sean Levert , Singer and Son of Eddie Levert of the O'Jays, Dies in Jail at 39
March 31, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(btn) Legendary R&B singer Eddie Levert is mourning the loss of his son Sean who died of natural causes just before midnight last night. The 39-year-old was pronounced dead at the Lutheran Hospital after being rushed there from Cleveland's Cuyahoga County Jail. Levert was being held on charges that he didn’t pay $80,000 in child support.
Sean, a member of the 1980's R&B group Levert, was the younger brother of Gerald LeVert who died in November 2006, following an accidental drug overdose at the age of 40.
An autopsy on Sean’s body will be done this morning. More...
Erykah Badu returns to recording with 2-part release.
February 05, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(reuters)In her decade-plus career, R&B artist Erykah Badu hasn't been afraid to wait long periods between projects.
But now Badu is making up for lost time. Five years since her last release, the "Worldwide Underground" EP, she is putting the finishing touches on "Nu AmErykah," a double album to be released in separate installments.
The first disc, dubbed "4th World War," arrives February 26 via Universal Motown, while the second, as yet untitled installment is tentatively slated for the summer.
Badu isn't particularly concerned about whether the extended layoff may have affected her fan base. More...
Chad "Pimp C" Butler's Death Ruled Accidental. Combination of drugs caused death.
February 05, 2008 by editor (View Source)
(ap) Influential Southern rapper Pimp C died of an accidental overdose of a combination of drugs he had named in his lyrics — codeine and promethazine, the county coroner's office ruled Monday.
The drugs are key ingredients in "syrup," a narcotic of choice in Southern rap circles that was most famously celebrated by Three 6 Mafia and Pimp C's group Underground Kingz in the 2000 single "Sippin' on some Syrup. "
The coroner's office said Pimp C had sleep apnea, which causes people to stop breathing for up to 30 seconds at a time while sleeping. That illness combined with large amounts of prescription-strength cough syrup is what killed the rapper, coroner's Capt. Ed Winter said. More...
ROBERT MOE'S CD
January 27, 2008 by ROBERT
HELLO LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. . .
MY NAME IS ROBERT MOE.
MY CD FOR 2007: ROBERT MOE - CALLING YOU
I AM NEW TO THIS WEBSITE, BUT I WANT TO PERSONALLY THANK MANY OF YOU WHO KNOEW OF MY MUSIC TO CONTINUE LISTENING TO MY MUSIC. More...
Shrinking Market Changing Face of Hip-Hop. Sales slid 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and that trend seems to be continuing.
December 30, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nyt) If you’re looking for a two-word motto for hip-hop in 2007, you could do worse than that: “Keep grinding. ” This was the year when the gleaming hip-hop machine — the one that minted a long string of big-name stars, from Snoop Dogg to OutKast — finally broke down, leaving rappers no alternative but to work harder, and for fewer rewards. Newcomers arrived with big singles and bigger hopes, only to fall off the charts after selling a few hundred thousand copies, if that. Hip-pop hybrids dominated the radio, but rappers themselves seemed like underground figures, for the first time in nearly two decades.
Sales are down all over, but hip-hop has been hit particularly hard. More...
"MERENGUE, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!" Is merengue an endangered species?
November 07, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(nydn) Look at the nominees for Best Merengue Album in the Latin Grammys and you can't help but notice: All five - Kinito Mendez, Juan Luis Guerra and Tono Rosario from the Dominican Republic, and Elvis Crespo and Limi-T 21 from Puerto Rico - have been stars for well over 15 years. And all arguably reached the pinnacle of their careers in the 1990s.
It's a clear indication of what anyone who listens to Spanish-language radio already knows: There's trouble in merengueland. Where are the young artists? Have reggaeton and bachata gobbled up the fan base so completely?
An upbeat but slightly frustrated Mendez addressed the decline of merengue as he made his way through New York on a tour through Dominican strongholds like Lawrence, Mass. , and the Bronx. More...
Soul Survivors: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. True to the art of Funk.
October 31, 2007 by editor (View Source)
This editor has seen Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings perform. She and they are true, funk performers. Check them out when you get a chance. Funk lovers won't be disappointed.
(newsweek)
Apollo may have been the sun god, but the Harlem theater that bears his name is a temple of funk. More...
Nas Explains Controversial Album Title (“nigger”), 'We're taking power from the word'
October 19, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(mtv) Nas says you shouldn't believe anything you've heard about Def Jam putting the kibosh on his next studio album. In fact, he insists he hasn't come across any resistance from the label.
The name of the LP has changed slightly, though. He's going all the way there: It's now called Nigger, and it is set to hit stores December 11.
The MC said he's just two weeks from completing the LP and has done most of the work with his friend and constant collaborator, Salaam Remi. More...
Music industry’s biggest names are considering offering their music free online following success of the experiment by the band Radiohead.
October 09, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(telegraph) Some of the music industry’s biggest names are considering offering their music free online following the success of the experiment by the band Radiohead to let fans download their new album without charge.
The band’s website topped the chart of music websites with an 11-fold increase in internet hits after the announcement, according to internet monitoring agency HitWise.
Now Jamiroquai and Oasis, two major names that are not contracted to a record labels, are rumoured to be considering following Radiohead by offering work for free, according to industry sources.
Radiohead refuse to reveal how many fans have pre-ordered their seventh album, In Rainbows, but figures from HitWise show the move pushed the site up from number 43 to the top slot for music websites in the UK.
While CD sales are falling dramatically, download sales have grown from zero in 2003, to 26. More...
Producer Sues 50 Cent, Lil Kim Over "Magic Stick"
September 17, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(allhiphop) Rapper 50 Cent and Lil' Kim have been with a $2 million lawsuit by producer Carlos "Phantom of the Beats" Evans, who claims he was never paid royalties for producing the hit single "Magic Stick. "
The lawsuit was filed yesterday (September 11) in Manhattan State Supreme Court by Carols Evans, who claims he signed an agreement to produce and mix "Magic Stick," featured on Lil Kim's 2003 album La Bella Mafia.
Evans claims he was paid $7,500 for his production work on the single, which hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over two million copies.
He hasn't seen any royalties since the album's release in 2003.
"It was one of the hottest tracks on that album, and I didn't collect my royalties," Evans told the Associated Press. More...
Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl striptease back on center stage. Court to determine 'intent' of wardrobe malfunction.
September 11, 2007 by editor (View Source)
(AP)A federal appeals court on Tuesday will consider whether a notorious "wardrobe malfunction" that bared singer Janet Jackson's breast during a televised 2004 Super Bowl halftime show was indecent, or merely a fleeting and accidental glitch that shouldn't be punished.
The case is the second recent test of the federal government's powers to regulate broadcast indecency. Last June, a federal appeals court in New York invalidated the government's policy on fleeting profanities uttered over the airwaves.
The 3rd U. S. More...