After carving the 2002 gay anthem “Your Body is a Wonderland” and dating Jessica Simpson, teen idol, Hendrix wannabe, John Mayer, releases a new single called “Waiting on the World to change“. The song won Mayer a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2006, and was even used in a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode (instant street cred).
Here’s the video for “Waiting for the World to Change”
“Runaway Love” is a star studded collaboration between Ludacris and the mother of all social causes, Mary J Blige. And it is indeed a social cause they take up in this song, as Ludacris along with Mary J, herself a runaway with a sordid past she is all but embarrassed to tell, weaves a tale of three girls dealing with the dangers of rape, drugs and alcohol abuse.
Ms. Blige’s dedication to such causes—a kind of commitment that one has only to things experienced in the flesh—seems to have rubbed off on Ludacris, who has never tackled such issues before. The solemn tone of the song, the desperate resignation that it hinders, is very reminiscent of “Runaway Train“; that 1993 award-winning track by rock band Soul Asylum, in which images of missing kids repeatedly appear in the music video, invoking the familiar pictures of missing peoples on the back side of milk cartons. “Runaway Love” is the third single released from Ludacris’ fifth album, Release Therapy (2006). The song, that features Mary J. Blige on the vocals, was produced by Polow Da Don.
Ludacris and Mary J did not go for the milk carton imagery themselves, yet they veer dangerously close to it as they tell the story of nine year old Lisa, ten year old Nicole and eleven year old Erica; all runaways with tragic chronicles.
The song is spectacular, as is its cause and the intension behind it. I give it a much-deserved 10 TONYS and thank the duo for their work.
Image via The New York Times.
Rap mogul, Def Jam president, and Beyonce’s BF forever decided to restart his hip hop career (cut by an early retirement four years ago) and ended 2006 with a new, much anticipated comeback album, Kingdom Come, a Jay-Z release packed with celebrity collaborations and a dazzling production crew.
Named after a DC comics graphic novel, Kingdom Come is the time Superman returns to earth after a long self-exile. You gotta love, or at least appreciate, Jay’s pop culture taste and self indulgence (the man should just call himself Superman and get it over with).
“Show Me What You Got” is the third track on the album, and it is pretty impressive in terms of production work: from the saxophone loop, which is a sampled version of a Public Enemy song by the same name, to Flava Flav’s background hollerin’ “show ‘em what you got”. Face it ladies and gents, this baby’s a Z100 hit!
If “Say It Right“, Nelly Furtado’s new single from her third album Loose, has the tingling, bitter-sour taste of metal, but that’s probably the sound Nelly was really going for.
And when you consider that Furtado collaborated with rapper Timbaland on this album, the decision to go with 1980’s British Synthpop sound a-la Eurythmix, seems even more unlikely.
Photo thanks to Rock Line Radio
“Lips of an Angel” by Oklahoma-based rock band Hinder, is one of those ballads that would have made me weep if I was that kind of woman who wept to cheesy ballads. I’m not. But you might be!
Telling the story of torn love for an ex-girlfriend, lead singer, Austin Winkler, assures us the song is not about cheating but rather about the difficulty of letting go. And though it may sound like the cheap excuse I would use to dump someone, Winkler makes it sound believable. And even if it isn’t, what girl can resist a line like: “you make it hard to be faithful, with the lips of an angel”? hmm…
Photos via movie-montage.com and sportsposterwarehouse.com
Some songs are meant to tug at your heart strings and make you reach for the tissue box almost immediately. “Gonna Fly Now“, the theme song to the cult movie Rocky, is one such song.
Playing in the background as Rocky Balboa undergoes a grueling training regimen, the song climaxes as the strapping Sly Stallone reaches the top of the staircase at the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. It has become an institution at sports tournaments, not to mention a private anthem for many an aspiring athlete.
Composed by Bill Conti to lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, “Gonna Fly Now”, dates back to 1977, when it first hit the Billboard Hot 100 list. Later versions of the song include a jazz rendition and a disco adaptation.
The latest sequel to the Rocky legend was released in December, making now the perfect time to get reacquainted with a classic.
The lead single from Akon’s sophomore album Konvicted, “Smack That” is a rapper collaboration made in heaven. This time Akon invites everyone’s favorite white-boy to create a track very different for the Ake-man’s usual soulful temperament. With expressive hits such as “Ghetto” and “Lonely” under his belt, “Smack That” is a real departure for Akon into club music.
But it is not only a transformation from soul to club that characterizes this single, but also a dramatic, massive, off-the-chart, out-of-this-world Billboard move that is linked to this musical sensation. What I’m refereeing to is the biggest leap made by in single song in all of Billboard history! Indeed, “Smack That” has made it from no. 95 to no.7 in its second week alone. This is the biggest move made by a song in all of the Billboard’s 48 years.
It’s hard to say what part Eminem played in the success of this song and its record breaking Billboard move since surely his appearance makes for an enormous following, but considering Akon’s solo success and his position as an established singer/songwriter, I think it’s safe to say it was at least one part Ake to two parts Em.
If you haven’t gotten the chance to see the music video yet- check it out! It is a short remake of the famous Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte movie, 48 Hrs, and its brilliant. And if that doesn’t sound good enough to make you go see it, maybe this will: Playboy owner Hugh Hefner’s girlfriend, Kendra Wilkinson, appears in the video too!!!
But the music video and the giant collaboration aside, “Smack That” is a great song. It definitely gets my 10 TONYS and I wish I had more to give it. Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate this song!
Saving the best for last, today’s holiday ringtone is the funked up version of “Jingle Bells”—look for the bells that jingle to the hip hop beat.
Can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something about its simplicity and the monotony of its lyrics that, when said over and over, sounds so much like a chant. So if your family is anything like mine, meaning that emotions run high and mouths go flaring in all directions and family feuds reach an all time high during this time of year, a musical piece that can get the whole family chanting away may be the perfect solution for you.
Remember that holiday tradition, probably only ever seen on Hallmark cards, of families gathered around the piano singing a carol or two? I say lets modernize the tradition but opt for the same effect. Make your cell phone the focal point of Christmas Eve. Get your loved ones, or those who call themselves family and have invading your house for the night, to gather round it. When everybody is present and accounted for, Jingle a Bell and Hip a Hop. ahhh… alas, tranquility. Now, it’s time for a family photo.
It worked for me and my family and therefore “Jingle Bells” gets 10 big ones (TONYS) from me!!! Don’tcha just love playing the family shrink??? HaHa!
Oh, and by the way, there are 3 more Jingle Bell ringtone versions Jingle Bells”>to choose from! 
As promised earlier this week, I’m keeping the holiday spirit going with a fresh mix of cell tunes guaranteed to perk up your Christmas and your phone.
This time I give you Rudolph - Santa’s loyal driver - only this time he’s changed zip codes. If you remember, Rudolph was that tragic deer with the shiny nose who nobody wanted to play with, right up until he got picked up by Santa and soon thereafter became the North Pole’s most notorious P.I.M.P. Come to think of it, this story is a lot like what happened to P Diddy’s infamous umbrella boy who went from utter obscurity to gangsta notoriety just by working for the P-man. I wonder if Mr. Diddy thought of Rudolph when he offered that lucky guy the job of holding his parasol. Anyways, Rudolph and Santa, as the song goes, were strictly confined to the North pole. What that meant was snow, sleet, and killer traffic on the slopes….
The Rudolph of the song I bring you, though, lives far, far away from the North pole. How far? Jamaica. The sunny Caribbean. “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” Jamaican style is a sun-kissed and coconut-smelling listening experience. It’s the perfect solution to get away from the cold, without actually having to get away from the cold. A trip without tacking a trip, a fun-lovin’ treat for all you warm weather enthusiast, and generally a delight for all those dreaming of a sea-and-sun vacation. Give it to yourself, give it to your friends; I give this song 10 TONYS and I remind you: it’s the perfect way to say: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS!!!
This week it’s all about holiday spirit and the ensuing demand to be jolly. Knowing as I do that we were not all born equal and therefore that Season Greetings don’t necessarily have that same warm-fuzzy effect on all of us, as the plummeting temperatures and mounting snow don’t necessarily make all of us want to run outside and make snowmen, but rather cause some of us to cuss relentlessly until around May when we can wear shorts again, I have decided to bring those Holiday-challenged amongst us a musical treat: Ladies and Gents…it’s traditional Christmas carols with a twist!!!
So have you dreamt of a white Christmas lately? Just like the one you used to know? If so, have you been bored out of your skull? If you’re still sleeping while answering this; nod once for yes, twice for no. If you nodded once—a blazing, blasting, rip-through-your-eardrum hip hop version of that good ol’ granny song may do the trick for you. It just may be what the doctor ordered to fight the holiday blues.
This hip hop version will do more than make you want to walk from door to door with the local church quire—it will make you want to trade in your winter coat for some dancin’ shoes. Me, I took to the streets in a frenzy of holiday spirit and have been “selling” this idea to friends ever since.
For pulling me out of my holiday rut and for being a way cool track, “White Christmas”—the hip hop version—gets a perfect score. 10 TONYS it is! And here I sign off, but not before I urge you guys to be on the lookout for more funky Christmas ringtones coming your way this week…
