Keepingitreal

The year rap got drunk: 2009's best hip-hop songs about booze

The last 12 months are likely to be remembered for their eclectic cultural sweep -- as the year Tiger Woods was sucked into a vortex of groupie hell, Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme came tumbling down and “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” became a legitimate dinner party talking point. But at street level, ’09 will go down in the annals for something else entirely. It was the year hip-hop finally plunged face-first into full-blown alcoholism.

We’re not talking about “You can find me in the club / bottles full of bubb” -- or any of that namby-pamby, bling-era conspicuous consumption (Jay-Z, as well as every other MC to rhyme “Cristal” with “pistol,” please pay your waitress and leave). Mainstream rap went giddy, downright hiccuping drunk, glorifying alcohol consumption. This year, the pop charts were awash with MCs and R&B crooners extolling the virtues of chasing a buzz and winding up wasted -- hopefully with some kind of sexual conquest to offset the bar bill.

Somewhere, Charles Bukowski and Dylan Thomas are probably tuning in to Power 106 FM. Meanwhile,  auto-tune savant T-Pain and Crunk’s capo di tutti capos, Lil Jon, emerged as this year’s preeminent champions of booze-sozzled hip-hop. So herewith, the top 9 (as in '09) most alcoholic-enabling hip-hop songs of the year.

“Shots” – LMFAO featuring Lil Jon

Jägerbombs, lemon drops, Jello shots and kamikazes as well as premium liquors such as Ciroc Vodka and the rappers’ de facto favorite (judging by its ubiquity in hip-hop songs since 2006) Patrón tequila all get a shout-out on this Crunk-inflected club-banger. Even if the song’s “we came to party” ethos is hardly groundbreaking, its hook remains unforgettable: Lil Jon hoarsely screaming the word “shots!” 16 times in a row.

“Blame It” – Jamie Foxx featuring  T-Pain

“Blame it on the Goose, got ya feelin’ loose / Blame it on the 'trón, catch me in a zone / Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol,” Foxx sings with no small amount of added Auto-tune attitude in this boudoir jam that was all but inescapable on Top 40 radio earlier this year. Yes, he is talking about Grey Goose and Patrón. But later in the song, he lays bare his reasoning: by continuing to fill a potential love interest’s cup, she’s more likely to lose her inhibitions – “Fill another cup up / Feelin’ on your butt what?”

“Crack a Bottle” – Eminem featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent

“So crack a bottle / Let your body waddle / Don’t act like a snobby model / You just hit the Lotto,” Em sing-raps on the chorus of this party track. The operative thinking here conflates sobriety with snootiness and getting wasted with winning a lottery jackpot.

“Crazy Night” – R. Kelly featuring  R. City

“This Hennessy got me,” R. Kelly croons on the lead cut from his latest album, “Untitled.” Then he gets to the chorus: “If you’re drinkin’ what I’m drinkin’, put your hands up in the sky / If you’re thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’, you’ll say, 'What a crazy night!' ” But R’s consumption hardly stops there. In the song, he also brags of a “thousand dollar” bar tab, concluding, “I need another shot of that Bacardi” -- recklessly ignoring the inevitability of a hangover such booze mixing will provoke.

“Maldito Alcohol” – Pitbull

Reggaeton was no stranger to hip-hop’s reigning dipsomania. Exhibit A: Boriquan rapper Pitbull spitting lyrics (in Spanish) such as “I don’t want water / I want a drink”. . . “Damn alcohol, sweet torment / Give me a drink on the rocks.”

“Wasted” – Gucci Mane

“Party, party, party, let’s all get wasted,” the rapper exhorts on this hit single. “Shake it for me baby girl, do it butt naked / I’m so wasted, she so wasted / Tell the bartender send me 20 more cases.” The discrete charms of this hit single don’t end with the incontrovertible logic of its chorus, however. Mane also presumes the intoxication of certain notorious pop divas, mentioning that the booze has got him “geeking like Whitney and Britney.” CONTINUE READING...

Intimate Ella Fitzgerald, Rediscovered

 WITH all the multi-disc jazz boxes that have come out in recent years — the complete Miles Davis on Columbia, the complete Charlie Parkeron Savoy, the complete Duke Ellington on RCA and so on — it’s hard to believe that any significant tapes by any major musician might still be languishing undiscovered in a record company’s archives.Yet Verve has just released “Twelve Nights in Hollywood,” a four-CD boxed set of Ella Fitzgerald singing 76 songs at the Crescendo, a small jazz club in Los Angeles, in 1961 and ’62 — and none of it has ever been released until now.

These aren’t bootlegs; the CDs were mastered from the original tapes, which were produced by Norman Granz, Verve’s founder and Fitzgerald’s longtime manager.

They capture the singer in her peak years, and at top form: more relaxed, swinging and adventurous, across a wider span of rhythms and moods, than on the dozens of other albums that hit the bins in her lifetime.

Richard Seidel, the producer of the boxed set, first heard the tapes early this year. He was driving to Massachusetts from his home in New Jersey and brought along some rough CD transfers to play in the car.

“I was feeling kind of down that day,” he recalled, “and the more I listened, I could not help but start to smile. I’ve worked on dozens of Ella projects over the years, but there was something different about this one — the sheer rhythmic joy she projects, the endlessly inventive improvising.”

There’s nothing rare about a joyous Ella Fitzgerald recording; the woman exuded joy in nearly every note she sang. Yet the level on these sessions soared higher and plumbed deeper.

Gary Giddins, the veteran critic and author of “Jazz,” agrees. “This ranks on the top shelf of her live recordings,” he said. “It’s about as good as it gets.”

Why these tapes stayed locked in the vault for nearly half a century — and what it took to set them free — is a tale of a producer’s neglect, a jazz sleuth’s obsession and a string of happy coincidences. CONTINUE READING...

I Can Transform Ya (Featuring Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz)

Rihanna's 'Rated R' Album Cover Debut

You've probably seen Rihanna's racy single cover, and now PopEater is proud to exclusively premiere the cover for her impending album, 'Rated R.' The grainy black-and-white cover shows the R&B queen draped in hand jewelry and covering one eye.  The album, which is set to be released on Monday, Nov. 23, is Rihanna's first album since 2007's 'Good Girl Gone Bad.'

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It is also Rihanna's first album since she was assaulted by boyfriend Chris Brown in February. The 'Rated R' cover was shot by famed photographer Ellen von Unwerth, who says that "Rihanna was looking to create something a bit new for the look of the album." Von Unwerth goes on to say that Rihanna is "so beautiful, sweet and tough at the same time -- and a pleasure to shoot," adding that she's "fantastic to work with -- very giving, very creative, very involved in every aspect of the shoot, and ready to push the boundaries."
The first single off of 'Rated R' is a slowed-down track titled 'Russian Roulette,' a dark tune in which Rihanna sings: "And you can see my heart beating / You can see it through my chest / And I'm terrified but I'm not leaving / Know that I must must pass this test / So just pull the trigger." You can listen to the song on Rihanna's Web site, Rihannanow.com.

Jennifer Hudson finds happiness a year after nightmare

In the year since three members of her family were brutally killed in Chicago, Grammy and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson has found ways to heal and start a new life. And it appears the 28-year-old is happy again. The actress and singer has gushed over her role as a new mother. And she has poured herself into her work, from a gospel-tinged rendition of the national anthem at the Super Bowl months after the slayings to last month's "VH1 Divas" concert in New York. Now she is set to return to Chicago in a few weeks to film an ABC prime-time special in which she'll share memories of her childhood Christmases in her old neighborhood and the church where she started singing.It will be a bittersweet journey as she films "Jennifer Hudson: I'll Be Home for Christmas," which is scheduled to air in December.A year ago, just as her career was really taking off with roles in movies like "Sex and the City" and "The Secret Life of Bees," Hudson had to return home for the worst reason possible.On Oct. 24, 2008, the bodies of her mother, Darnell Hudson Donerson, 57, and brother Jason Hudson, 29, were found in the family's home on the city's South Side. The body of her 7-year-old nephew Julian King was found days later in a sport-utility vehicle on the city's West Side, slightly more than 10 miles away. All three had been shot. Hudson has repeatedly declined to talk publicly about the killings. She and her publicist declined AP interview requests."She's heartbroken," said Bob Israel, 40, who was friends with Jason Hudson and lives near the Hudsons' Chicago home. "They were a close-knit family." William Balfour, the estranged husband of Jennifer Hudson's sister Julia, was charged with first-degree murder in the killings. Prosecutors alleged Balfour killed them in a jealous rage because he was upset that Julia Hudson was dating another man. Balfour pleaded not guilty and remains jailed. The following days were tumultuous for Jennifer Hudson, including a trip to the Cook County medical examiner's office to identify Julian King's body. A picture of the cherub-faced boy, nicknamed "Juice Box," was posted on Hudson's MySpace page after the killings and remains there. SOURCE: SUNTIMES.COM

MUSIC REVIEW | R. KELLY A Stream of Medleys, a Flash of Sincerity

By BEN RATLIFF ~ R. Kelly was aiming to have a new album, “Untitled” (Jive), out by now. Its release has been postponed until Dec. 1, but the dates for his Ladies Make Some Noise! tour stayed fixed, and the delay of the record either freed or forced him to put more emphasis on his nonmusical life in his show at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday. -Last year Mr. Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges in Chicago. “I was kind of scared to bring it up,” he announced deep into the show, looking suddenly cautious, “but this is the first tour since my court case.”

He gathered some bravado. “They said, ‘Don’t bring it up.’ ” He swore. “I’m a grown man. I’m still here.”

Finally he was getting somewhere. Mr. Kelly had been running through medleys, something he has often done in the past; he roamed the stage with Andre Boykins, one of his longtime collaborators, leading the crowd in tag-team singalongs.

For a long while the show was calculated to impress upon the audience the volume of clever lyrics he has written, but without sustaining any particular cleverness. Though he was funny about once every five minutes, putting on operatic tones for nasty lyrics and dealing out lubricious parts of his repertory— “So Sexy,” “Hotel,” “I’m a Flirt,” “Freaky in the Club,” “Wonderful,” his new single “Number One” — the show was lordly and self-satisfied while proceeding in fragments. It was doing something new for R. Kelly: making him boring.

After proclaiming that he was still there for the fourth or fifth time, he started talk-singing, a device reminiscent of Sam Cooke. It always works, making his art look effortless. Before heading into the chorus of “Heaven I Need a Hug,” for a short stretch he made what seemed like stream-of-consciousness melody out of his relief:

Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus.

I’m still here.

I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for the goodness of him. CONTINUE READING...

ALICIA KEYS GOES BACK TO COLLEGE!

MULTI-GRAMMY AWARD WINNER KICKS OFF THE ELEMENT OF FREEDOM: THE LECTURE & PERFORMANCE SERIES

AT NYU THIS WEDNESDAY

[New York, NY – October 19, 2009]  Fresh off of her star-studded annual Black Ball fundraiser for Keep A Child Alive and the premiere of her brand new video for “Doesn’t Mean Anything,” twelve-time Grammy Award winner

Alicia Keys  kicks off “The Element of Freedom: The Lecture & Performance Series” at New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, October 21; presented by the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music, Tisch School of the Arts.  This is a private event and not open to the public.

Named after the singer’s upcoming album THE ELEMENT OF FREEDOM, this unique lecture and performance series offers the opportunity for students studying music and other entertainment fields to obtain first-hand information from Keys on how she applies the element of freedom into her creative process and life in general. 

Alicia comments: “For the first time in my recording career, I think I’ve finally found an understanding of the creative process by just allowing myself to be free.   I took a totally different approach for this album and didn’t confine myself in a studio or allow myself to be negatively affected by deadlines, which can hinder any creative spirit.  I've found a freedom and flow that I try to implement everyday. Hopefully the points discussed during these lectures will resonate with the students as they continue to find and define their creative process and style."

Additional events will be held at UCLA’s Royce Hall on October 28^th with more dates to be announced. 

Keys’ fourth studio album, THE ELEMENT OF FREEDOM, will be released December 1^st on MBK Entertainment/J Records.

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2009 SoulTracks Awards Finalists Named!

EXCERPT FROM SOULTRACKS.COM ~ Hey SoulTrackers, the time has come!  After a month of receiving nominations from you and having 2,000 soul music artists and industry people narrow the choices down, we finally have named our finalists for the 2009 SoulTracks Readers' Choice Awards!  There were so many quality artists it was a tough job, but our committee narrowed it down to seven finalists in each category. And between October 23 and November 8th, SoulTrackers will be voting for this year's winners.  If you are on our email list, you'll receive your personal ballot by email on October 24. If you're not on our list, sign up at the top left hand corner of this page and you'll receive a ballot by email.  Only one ballot is allowed per email address. This year's SoulTracks Readers' Choice Awards will be broadcast on December 7th at 8:00 p.m., hosted by our good friend Jodine Dorce of Jodine's Corner. Stay tuned and we'll tell you all of the places you'll be able to hear the awards show. And this year's awards will have a special purpose.  This year we have adopted  Detroit's Cornerstone Schools, a series of three urban schools that have become a national model for how to education our children. 95% of Cornerstone students graduate from high school and each student begins musical training in third grade.  So for each ballot cast in this year's Awards voting, SoulTracks will donate $1.00 to Cornerstone Schools. So every person who takes the time to vote among the deserving artists will also be helping a young student's education. Here are this year's Awards finalists:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Calvin Richardson - Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby Womack

Darien - If These Walls Could Talk

Eric Roberson - Music Fan First

Foreign Exchange - Leave It All Behind

Leela James - Let's Do It Again

Maysa - Metamorphosis

Various Artists - Silky Soul Music: An All-Star Tribute to Frankie Beverly/Maze

SONG OF THE YEAR

Calvin Richardson - Woman's Got To Have It

Eric Roberson - The Power That Kisses Hold

Eric Roberson & Lalah Hathaway - Dealing

Foreign Exchange - Daykeeper

Leela James - Baby I'm Scared of You

Maysa - Grateful

Tortured Soul - Did You Miss Me?

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Ali Ollie Woodson

Calvin Richardson

Darien

Eric Roberson

Rahsaan Patterson

Russell Taylor

Ty Causey

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Choklate

Leela James

Maysa

Oleta Adams

Syleena Johnson

Wayna

Yahzarah

DUO OR GROUP OF THE YEAR

Foreign Exchange

Jaspects

Kloud 9

Melba Moore and Phil Perry

Swing Out Sister

The Revelations feat. Tre Williams

Tortured Soul

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Chester Gregory

Darien

Jesse Boykins III

Kimberly Nichole

Melinda Doolittle

Shae Fiol

The Revelations feat. Tre Williams

MAJOR LABEL ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Anthony Hamilton - The Point of It All

Chrisette Michele - Epiphany

Ledisi - Turn Me Loose

Mary Mary - The Sound

Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night

Raphael Saadiq - The Way I See It

Will Downing - Classique

 

Neo-soul singer Maxwell is back in the game

 
Maxwell was feeling a bit apprehensive when he hit the stage at Oakland's Paramount Theatre last October to begin a monthlong 13-city tour. Other than a television salute to Al Green four months earlier, the neo-soul singing sensation hadn't appeared in public in six years. Nor had he released an album in seven. Now he was taking the risk of performing several new songs his fans had never heard from a CD that wouldn't hit stores for nine more months. "You just kinda cross your fingers and jump off the cliff," Maxwell, 36, says by phone from Toronto recently. He and his band were rehearsing there for another monthlong tour that stops Saturday at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord. "I think the only thing that is undeniable is a live performance," he says of his reason for doing unreleased songs on last year's tour. "It's the fastest way to get music to your audience that's memorable and hopefully exciting for them. That's kind of why I wanted to start out that way, instead of just trying to go through the conveyor belt and the whole system. I was basically cutting the middleman out." The Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter's initial fears proved unfounded, as the tour was a critical and box office success. "It was such a blessing, such a surprise," he says. "There are no words to describe what it feels like to be validated by real people, not the industry telling you whatever, but the actual people. And I think also that people in the industry kinda enjoyed watching something like that happen. I would think it maybe brought them back to the part of them that loves music for just the music's sake and not just for what tends to happen as you get into the politics of the music industry."The new CD, "BLACKsummers'night," also was successful, entering Billboard's pop and R&B charts at No. 1 after its July 7 release. And the ballad "Pretty Wings," the first single, was the second of the singer's career to top the R&B and adult contemporary charts."BLACKsummers'night" is the first in three-CD trilogy for Columbia Records. The others will be titled "blackSUMMERS'night" and "blacksummers'NIGHT" and are slated for release in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Maxwell and his guitarist, songwriting collaborator and co-producer Hod David have finished recording "blackSUMMERS'night" and "blacksummers'NIGHT," although the tracks have yet to be mixed.  Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/09/PKU219VBFT.DTL&type=music#ixzz0TqAYKjMf

MARIAH CAREY CONCERT ON YOUR CELL PHONE: Singer's Vegas show on Saturday available for $9.99.

Mariah Carey will make history on Saturday (Oct. 10) when her performance "Mariah Carey Live In Las Vegas" becomes the first concert to be simulcast to mobile (Internet enabled phones) and other digital devices worldwide.Virtual concert tickets will cost $9.99 and are available by texting Mariah to 313131, through Mariah Carey's official Web sitewww.MariahCarey.com and Facebook or MySpace page by clicking on the "Mariah Carey Live In Las Vegas" link, or by going directly towww.iviago.com, where a 60-second preview is available for viewing. The concert stream will be sent on the day of the event to anyone who purchases a ticket, and can be viewed right away or saved for future one-time viewing. Like other digital video services, the content may be paused mid-stream and continued at a later time, but may not be rewound or replayed once it has been viewed. In addition, starting Oct. 20, the concert will also be available as downloadable video clips with a select number of mobile phone carriers in North America, South America and Europe.

Common, Questlove, & Big Daddy Kane LIVE tonight..

September 09 2009, 20 Years High and Rising Tour: De La Soul. At Grande Halle de la Villette, Paris, France

Boyz II Men Surprise Guests At Hennessy 2009 Artistry Series In Atlanta

Show Invite / Common & Questlove Interview!

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Common Defines What Artistry Means To Him (Hennessy Artistry 2009)

Real Talk Online: Keepingitrealonline.tv

Questlove on the Art of Blending New Music

Whitney Houston Million Dollar Bill

 

CLICK HERE TO HEAR "MILLION DOLLAR BILL!"

Artist: Whitney Houston Title: Million Dollar Bill Label: Arista Records Total Tracks: 1 External Release 08-07-2009 Artist Website: www.whitneyhouston.com

The Numbers Game: Music

The Game is on tour overseas, but thanks to the internet, he knows exactly what's being said about him and it's almost a given, he'll respond, especiallywhen Jay-Z is calling him a "groupie". The only billboard in the Central Texas town of Gatesville (pop. approx. 15,000) has become a lightning rod of controversy. A retired black minister rented the sign on Main Street that reads, "Gay Rights are Not Civil Rights." The sign owner, Virginia Miller, tells the Dallas Voice the pastor "wanted to get the message out to black people .. everything they fought for is being hijacked."

Twista gets the shine in this week’s Numbers Game for a few reasons. One reason is obvious; His seventh album Category F5 lands on the charts at #8. Another reason? Even though this guy is still constantly trying to recreate “Slow Jams”, I remember when Twista was one of the most underrated MC’s in the game. I guess H20 was wrong with his prediction that Category F5 wouldn’t crack the Top 20. But hey, Young Water still turned in a great review of the album (Which you can check out here).

Also making debuts on the charts this week: Joe releases his 8th studio album with Signature. La Coka Nostra (A group comprised of Everlast, DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, Ill Bill, & Slaine) dropped their debut album A Brand You Can Trust. And lastly, long time Tech N9ne collaborator Krizz Kaliko releases his second album Genius (Shout out to Chris!)

#2 Maxwell/BLACKsummers’night (Last Week: #1) – 103,300; Total: 422,000 [2 Weeks]
#5 Black Eyed Peas/The E.N.D. (Last Week: #5) – 54,300; Total: 726,800 (Gold) [6 Weeks]
#7 Joe/Signature (Last Week: NA) – 49,100; Total: NA [Debut]
#8 Twista/Category F5 (Last Week: NA) – 45,400; Total: NA [Debut]
#13 Eminem/Relapse (Last Week: #9) – 28,400; Total: 1,269,900 (Platinum) [9 Weeks]
#22 Jeremih/Jeremih (Last Week: #15) – 20,800; Total: 108,300 [3 Weeks]
#34 Beyonce/I Am Sasha Fierce (Last Week: #30) – 14,600; Total: 2,311,600 (2x Platinum) [36 Weeks]
#84 La Coka Nostra/A Brand You Can Trust (Last Week: NA) – 5,400; Total: NA [Debut]
#179 Krizz Kaliko/Genius (Last Week: NA) – 5,300; Total: NA [Debut]

Countdown to Ledisi's Turn Me Loose

  R&B-Jazz singer Ledisi is preparing to drop her sophomore album for Verve Music, Turn Me Loose, on Aug. 18. And in preparation for it, songs from the album are being streamed for free online at ledisimusic.com. Right now three songs can be streamed: "Love Never Changes," Please Stay" and "Goin' Thru Changes." And each week, two song streams will be added to the site until all 13 are online. Yours truly reviewed her last album, Lost & Found, and from what I've heard of her new music so far, it's gonna be a big step forward for her. To stream the music, just click the link below.Ledisi - Countdown to Turn Me Loose (via ledisimusic.com)