This was the only song I played today! I first heard this song a couple weeks ago and loved it! I’ve been searching ever since, attempting to figure out the name of the song and who sang it. Up until today I was unsuccessful. Time this track came on, I blasted this song in my office and literally asked everyone if they had heard this track before. From the music gurus on down, everyone said no…except one person. Out of the blue, my intern says “I’ve heard that song before.” HUH!?! All this time with me driving myself crazy and I’m positive my Google search bar has shut down with my variations of searches like “I don’t feel the same” + “way I walk” + “way I talk”. I borderline was about to start asking anybody and everybody about this song, which I apparently did. It was worth it though because this is my new jam. It’s been on repeat all day. Outasight is an extremely talented artist who must have been underground for a few years. He’s soul and new hip hop, with some amazing use of instruments. I’m feeling him. My intern hooked me up with both of his albums and I’m excited to listen…This video isn’t the usual YouTube disaster with just a photo. SinceI thought it was important to see the lyrics that comprise the song.
by Ciara ft. Ludacris: This joint is FIRE! My friend sent me this song to listen to about a week ago and I didn’t think it was that good. Today, I realized that I had not heard the full song and it may not have even been the right song for that matter. When I realized this video premiered, I had to see it and boy oh boy …this video! I don’t even know what to say, but Ciara has come back with a vengeance. She can’t really “sing” but homegirl shoollllll can move. There is *nobody* who can move like this. You think Beyonce can do this and you a lie. Only thing I know is that I’m about to be eating carrots and celery, signing up for some pole dancing classes and getting a Brazilian wax!
by Erykah Badu: After years of wondering when this musical genius would grace the world with her uniqueness again, we were recently rewarded with her new track titled Window Seat. The single is Erykah at her finest: soul, flow, and smoothness. I immediately knew I would play it on repeat. I L-O-V-E this song! When I saw her video for the track this weekend, I was shocked and didn’t really know what to think.
First, I was confused. The video has nothing to do with the song! At what point does an artist say I want to walk down the street naked for my video? I don’t get it…well actually I do get it because her new album, New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), comes out tomorrow. So, the video could clearly be seen as a marketing stunt.
Yet, the video has such a deeper meaning. This is creativity with lyrical and visual expression. So many would automatically stereotype Erykah for her actions in the video (including myself), which is the whole point of the video. Towards the end of the video, she is shot and falls near the same grassy hill where President Kennedy was shot in 1963. The words “groupthink” can be seen leaking from her head onto the sidewalk and in an overlay you hear:
“They who play it safe, are quick to assassinate what they don’t understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel more comfortable in groups, less guilt to swallow. They are us. This is what we have become, afraid to respect the individual. A single person within a circumstance can move one to change. To love ourself. To evolve.“
Enough said.
P.S. Even though the purpose of the video was to generate “groupthink” or encourage change, I question whether this video will really cause a positive movement to promote individualism. It takes a woman stripping down to her natural state for such a conversation to begin. It will take so much more for the movement to occur.
by Earth, Wind, and Fire: I was searching on YouTube today for a video and came across this group called Pomplamoose. The group is comprised of Nataly and Jack and I love them already! Although, Nataly’s blank stare while singing kinda freaks me out :/ I love the Indie Rock feel. I love how they play their own instruments, sing, and combine it all to make one track. Every song they sign they turn into their own style. This is true talent with the ability to edit it and make it look pretty – I’m impressed. I was going to post the Beat It video, but when I saw Jack’s grandma dancing, I had to choose this one. This video is extreme humor. I seriously laughed out loud! I hope you watch and find humor too! If you feel so inclined to buy the group’s album, you can do so here. However, if you are like me and the last cd you bought was 2002 or before, you’ll find another way…
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!
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!
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!
by The Emotions: I had this song in my head for *days* and it was driving me insane. Not because the song was stuck in my head, but because I didn’t know what the song was at the time. The only part I could remember was “hmmmmmmmm hmmm hmmm hmmmm to the world”. I also knew that wasn’t the melody of the whole song. I requested help from my friends, my mom, and my step dad. Try explaining your musical thoughts to people when you know you can’t hum! I received the same response from all of them: laughter! I knew I would figure it out one way or the other. I used all kinds of technology to help me find the song – one I will blog about next – none of which helped.
I knew I was either going to listen to oldies until I heard the song again or I was going to magically figure it out. And I did just that…I researched every old school female artist I could think of. Eventually, something told me to analyze the harmonies and the sound of the song and think about what other songs sounded like this one. I somehow got to The Emotions and watched other Related Videos on YouTube until I found a match. I became an expert at scanning songs and starting them a minute into the track. When I first heard this one, I thought “Could THIS be the song? This may be the song!” You have no idea how happy I was when I took it back to the beginning and heard that “hmmmmmmmm hmmm hmmm hmmmm to the world”. I have listened to this track at least 30 times since then – enough to where I know all the lyrics and I will never again have to question what the song is.
I figured I’d make a list of my top 5 favorite Christmas songs. All of these songs provide a special memory for me and I can remember the first time I heard each song. These are all my favorite songs and I would like to know what your favorite Christmas songs are too! If you have a favorite that I didn’t include in my list, add your song in the comment section.
1. The Temptations’ Silent Night
2. Donny Hathaway’s This Christmas
3. Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You
4. Boyz II Men Let it Snow
5. Johnny Gill’s Give Love on Christmas Day
6. Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song
7. Mannheim Steamroller’s Faeries
8. Vanessa WIlliams’ Baby It’s Cold Outside
9. Stevie Wonder What Christmas Means to Me
10. Celine Dion O Holy Night
I only picked ten songs, but if I could pick eleven, Favorite Things by Luther Vandross would be my choice! Merry Christmas Baby by B. B. King would be twelve, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by the Jackson 5 would be thirteen, and the list goes on..
By the title of this post, you are probably thinking someone hacked into my blog and wrote something. NOT! In the last year+ my boyfriend has gotten me hooked on football. He has turned me from a random watcher into a fan! Every Sunday, we start at 1 and end about 11, cheering on our fave teams. When it comes to Sunday Night Football, I stand in front of the TV and jam to Faith Hill singing the NBC theme song. I love it! I sing it Monday – Saturday too. It’s so catchy, I promise you’ll be signing “I been waiting all day for Sunday night” by the time the song is over!
