I checked in with Luam’s YouTube page to get the latest and greatest in her choreography. I’ve been slipping because I have clearly missed 3 videos being uploaded! This is the first and I didn’t get past this one to see the rest. This video is a great portrayal of how Luam brings all different races, sexes, and ethnicities together all for the love of music + dance. The choreography is on point as always but the song choice literally made me get up out of my seat and dance. I hadn’t heard Freakum Dress in a hot minute. The choreography made me want to put on my heels and parade around the house – minus the freakum dress…I’ll leave that for my weekend outing.

I’ve said for months now that Trey’s social media strategy is on point! Whoever provides his back end strategy and comes up with his non-traditional/traditional marketing tactics gets two thumbs up from me. Take yesterday for example:

First, Ludacris premiers his new single Sex Room featuring Trey Songz. The brilliance behind the release was the only place you could listen to the track was on Global Grind. I tried to YouTube the track and I found it. I tell you – by the time I listened to the track and copy/pasted the link to send it to my friend, UMG had pulled it down. When my friend told me she couldn’t listen to it, I thought she was joking. UMG must have had numerous detectives or insiders at YouTube monitoring to make sure people were not leaking the record too soon!

Instead, the track went viral instantly after Jo Jo (@YoungSimmons), the editor of Global Grind, sent a tweet that the track was available on Global Grind. Trey’s thousands of groupie girls went bananas and sent RTs informing their followers of the new single. I, personally, sent a tweet because I LOVE the track. It’s triple X-rated, but it’s the bomb diggity! I’ve had it on repeat for the last 24 hours.

Sex Room was a solo hit until…Trey premiered his video for Neighbors Know My Name, which is like his sixth edition of soft porn. The release of this video was brilliant too – although very weird. I’m not sure why, but the video premiered on Power 105.1 fm . I’ve never heard of that radio station before a day in my life and the website of the radio station had exclusive access to Trey’s video for a full day. Then, he uploaded the video on YouTube today. If you didn’t know the video premiered, there was no way you could miss it! On the homepage of YouTube.com, Neighbors Know My Name is the first video listed on the Videos Being Watched.

Trey is getting far more publicity than other artists I know, and the good thing is it’s all safe pub. You haven’t seen him robbing anybody, jumping anybody in the club, or engaging in illegal behavior. If you don’t like Trey, I feel sorry for you because 1. you aren’t the norm and 2. it doesn’t look like Trey is going anywhere!

Still feeling Slow Wine from Sunday, I was in a real Tony Toni Tone mood for #MusicMonday. Tony Toni Tone mood for me means tunes that embody love, calming, soulful harmonies and my song selections reflect just that…

This Monday, I posted:
Slow Wine by Tony Toni Tone
Let’s Get Down by Tony Toni Tone
Just Me and You by Tony Toni Tone
Voyage to Atlantis by The Isley Brothers
Rapture of Love by Anita Baker

I choose to blip my choices for #MusicMonday so they can all be viewed in one location at any time. You can go to my dj page on Blip.fm to listen to these and all other posts in a playlist. Visit this page throughout the week to get a glimpse into what I’m listening to or check back in on Mondays for my #MusicMonday selections.

by Tony Toni Tone: Slow Wine with an e; not Slow Wind with a d. This song came in my head yesterday and my boyfriend, who had never heard this song, argued me up and down that it was wind and not wine. But, oh no! I knew the word ended in e, although I couldn’t figure out who sang the song. My initial thought was a group, such as Guy, but I was wrong. I searched on YouTube and the results only showed videos for R. Kelly. Negative! Knowing a couple lines of the lyrics, I was thankful for Google. With a few power searches, I was informed that Slow Wine; Slow Wine; If I Could Wine You In My Arms; From Left to Right; Slow Wine was the 90s hit by Tony Toni Tone. My boyfriend had the nerve to say Raphael Saadiq isn’t the lead on the song and that’s the reason he had not heard the song. Only thing I have to say is…I won that bet!

I came across this video last week and I was completely amazed. Jonah, the 5 year old – yes FIVE year old – drummer featured in this video has more skills than 20+ year olds who profess to have the same talent. I almost sent Diddy a tweet suggesting that he should add Jonah to his band vs. those two whack drummers he chose from Making His Band.

I don’t understand why Jonah’s parents have only chosen to teach him or have only allowed him to play rock songs. (Check out his covers on his branded YouTube Channel). Completely absurd to me…however, I do appreciate the rock songs more than Jonah playing pimp this, ho that, sex this up. When I think about it that way – it makes complete sense! If this lil rugrat is rockin this hard at 5 years old, I can’t wait to see the music he’s making by the time he’s 10 years old.

I know I’m technically a day late for the recognition of the beginning of Black History Month, but yesterday was a looong work day. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it. At least it’s the truth

I came up with this idea to profile a legendary, by my definition, artist every day for the month of February. You will learn a little history, remember or be exposed to a few songs, and be encouraged to rock to some old school music. It’s time to celebrate! It’s Black History month.

Lady Gaga. She opened the show and was a hot mess! I loved Lady Gaga’s music until I saw her perform months ago. She is just too much. She does all of this with her outfits only to be talked about the next day. That’s a good marketing plat. But, she can not perform! If you look at the replay of her performanc, she is super stuff! Then, she pulls Elton John into her performance and he has all kinds of dust, paint and mess on his face with sparkle sunglasses on. #FAIL!

Green Day. A Whoooooole lot of people on stage, but a good performance and great harmonies. The drummer was so into it!

Beyonce.. She made me confused. She didn’t accept her award, which she received right before her performance, but could perform. #FAIL. Her weave looked a mess. Homegirl can sang tho because she tore the stage up! She sang If I were a Boy, but I’m sure I was not the only one expecting something else…like Put A Ring on It. Then, she sang a cover of Alanis Morissette’s You Oughta Know. It was bomb too because I love that song. What was with her rolling around on her knees though? That was a mess! P.S. Jay-Z I think you better take note of Bey’s song selection. She aint singing these hate songs for nothing.

Pink. I remember Pink from way back – when she had Pink hair. I don’t know what it is with her know. Barely no clothes on. When will people realize that sex is not the only way to sell!?! Besides not knowing a single word she said, her performance was awesome. I don’t know if she was actually singing, but even if she was lip synching – having to do all that while twirling from the ceiling and looking graceful is enough! She must be taking some kinda intro into Cirque de Soleil class because that’s the second time she’s done a circus act performance. Get it girl.

Black Eyed Peas. I was so excited to see the Black Eyed Peas perform, but looks like they needed another week of practice. They sang my jam Imma Be, but when they mixed tracks to sing I Got a Feeling, the beat got allllll messed up. It took the band 5 seconds too long to catch the beat! They did get me crunk tho. Can’t hate on the BEP because I love them :/

Lady Antebellum. I never heard of the group, but their song, I Need You Now, was nice. I’ll be downloading their album tomorrow…

Zac Brown Band. Don’t remember too much about their performance. However, they did win Best New Artist, which I don’t understand how. The Ting Tings or MGMT should have taken that award. I guess I can give them props because they are from Georgia. On to the next…

Taylor Swift + Stevie Nicks = Super Fail! Taylor was super flat and sounded a ham! I can’t believe they sang one song together, and then Stevie picks up a tambourine. You give a legend like that a tambourine and you need to get kicked off stage! Stevie should have run that show and had Taylor on as backup.

MJ Tribute. What about Us? Celine Dion, Usher, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Smokie Robinson: The first real performance of the night! 5 great singers. Well rehearsed. In tune. Flawless.

Bon Jovi. NO performance can compare to the MJ tribute. It was hard to focus after the tribute. Jennifer Nettles performed. Bon Jovi performed Living on A Prayer – which was chosen by the fans watching at home during the show.

Mary J. Blige. She sang Bridge Over Troubled Waters with Andrea Bocelli. Mary is always classy and the performance was a great duet. This was grown folks music. Not that immature, childish mess that dominates mainstream media.

Dave Matthews Band. He’s. Still. Hot. He had a stage full of artists, musicians, and singers all up there to perform with him. I don’t know the last time the Dave Matthews Band was nominated for a Grammy, but they will always be welcome to sing at the Grammys in my book. They are a staple of American music culture. I don’t have their latest album, but the performance of You and Me was great. Will be getting tomorrow…

Maxwell. Performing live sounds just like the album version. Whew Lawd! He performed Pretty Wings and I just watched in amazement. Definitely not the best he could have been because his voice was a little hoarse, but he did exceptionally well. The performance ended with a collaboration with Roberta Flack singing Where is the Love? Roberta’s voice is unchanged, sounding exactly the same as she did years ago. I pray for her because her health does not appear to be the same as she was somewhat stiff on stage and did not move. She was amazing to be performing at 72 years old. Please appreciate and recognize this musical legend while she is still with us on Earth.

I think Jeff Beck performed but I missed it. Oopps. Had to warm up a snack.

Lil Wayne, Drake, Eminem, and Travis Barker on the drums. This was one of the hottest performances of the night! I was super crunk when listening. I just needed the sound to be there 100% and it wasn’t. I don’t know if the performance was censored or if there was connection issues, but we didn’t wait all night to have the sound go out. JUST WHACK!

Its 11:45 now…I’m out!

by Mariah Carey ft. Nicki Minaj: I don’t even know what to say about this video besides it is a hot mess! I miss the old Mariah – you know…the one before Honey! Mariah has become a disappointment. And don’t even get me started on her assistant, Nick! Oh my bad. I meant her husband. I think back to Vision of Love, Emotions, Can’t Let Go, Anytime You Need a Friend, and I Give My All (just to name a few) and those are some PRICELESS jams. Today, I don’t even take the time to download her albums. Even when I can get them for free! I’m really speechless when it comes to Mariah today. Only thing I can say is watch and I hope you can make it thru the whole video. It honestly took me 3 times to make it thru. Be on the lookout for Nick, who was the director and included a special segment from Drum Line. Just whack!

It’s been a while since I’ve downloaded music. Yesterday, I did not download anything new, but rather downloaded albums that included songs that I’ve liked for months. Most of these artists have an indie rock, new wave, electronic, electropop feel. You would never find any of these artists on the radio unless they were featured on a track with Jay, Kanye, Lil Wayne or Drake. Yet, they are super talented! So, make sure you support these artists by downloading their music and/or attending their concerts or shows that may be in your local city.

Cop these:

Youth Novels by Lykke Li

So Jealous by Tegan and Sara

Raggatronic by Enur

Demon Days by Gorillaz

Week of 1.25.10: Every now and then I force myself to listen to the radio. I started sometime last week and I can’t believe I’ve made it this long. Every – not one – but EVERY time I turn the radio on, I hear the same song.  If I didn’t like the song I’d probably be mad, but since I like the track I guess it’s ok. I only noticed they had the song in heavy rotation because I was constantly jamming to the track, and as days passed I was able to rap the lyrics. I began to question myself like “Woah! How you do know the words to this?”

If what they say is true about the amount of radio play an artist gets directly correlates to the number of singles/albums an artist sales, I know this artist is headed straight to the bank on a weekly basis! Just as I imagined, I just heard on the radio that the single alone has gone gold – that means 500,000 sold! Most people can’t even get their full album to go gold. That is super impressive being that the album isn’t set to release for at least two more months.

So….I’ve played the game long enough. Press play below to see who I’ve titled as the Radio King for this week. I will post the official video when there is one. I’m interested to see what a censored version could look like!