Michael Jackson Rehearses with Dancers

Michael Jackson appears healthy in video clip of rehearsal at Staples Center on June 23. What an incredible clip.

What I'm Watching...Drake - Best I Ever Had

Holy woooooow. Thanks illroots.com for the vid. Thanks Kanye for directing. Thanks whoever for the casting. Thanks to the basketball players. Yes. Thanks. Everyone's gonna have this on their site, I figure why not. Video's too good not to, although the lyrics do not match the video's direction whatsoever. Oh well. That's Kanye for you. Haha. Guess he knows how to increase publicity and gain fans while possibly losing other. Check it out.



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What I'm Listening To...Daniel Merriweather ft Wale

I heard and saw this video in a Journey's store in the mall over the weekend. "Change" is off his album Love & War out now in the UK is no newcomer to music. He's worked with Mark Ronson in the past and has again teamed up with him to help him create this album. This single has a nice vibe to it. Daniel Merriweather does a good job singing on the track as Wale puts it down lyrically. Simple as that. Check it out...



Daniel Merriweather feat . Wale 'Change'


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Road to Release Day: Eternia & MoSS: "AT LAST" Episode 4

Episode #4 features Eternia receiving an Encore @ the legendary Lyricist Lounge show in NYC, while performing unreleased tracks from the new album “AT LAST” for the first time. Jeru the Damaja hosts the event and speaks on Eternia’s skills, and Eternia leaves a fan from NJ at a loss for words. Over the next 6 months, Eternia will release steady video & audio leaks leading up to the release of Eternia & MoSS's debut album, "AT LAST". Follow them as they shop for a record deal, promote the album, and countdown to the release date. And you just never know what special guests may pop up... stay tuned!



Check Episode One
Check Episode Two
Check Episode Three


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Music Monday - Anthony Hamilton "Her Heart"

I think Anthony Hamilton is one of the most underrated singers out. I dig dude and some folks seem to forget that he has a lot of great music out there. I pretty much own every Anthony Hamilton release, including some of his live music. I decided to slow it down just a bit with this Music Monday. I like the chill vibe that Her Heart provides and had to throw it out there. Happy Monday and enjoy!

TELL 'EM WHY YOU MAD: Tha Lady Blogga on Black Embarrassment Television

I am not a watcher of BET for various reasons. But due to the untimely passing of Michael Jackson, the BET Awards were supposed to be a celebration of Michael Jackson. So I decided to put those reasons to the left and watch in his honor.

Well…

Let me start with the Red Carpet Pre-Show. During the Red Carpet Show, it was just a debauchery of performances for the no talent artists we rip-apart daily. Let’s start with the grammar and overall hosting presentation of Rocsi a.k.a. Wrecksi, Terrance and Toccara. I think that if you are going to host a show, there should be mandatory protocol that needs to be followed. First of all, you need to speak proper English. Tocarra was a total embarrassment when speaking to the guests on the red carpet. So was Terrance. He referred to Illinois as “Illinoise” and did it with such confidence. Wrecksi was her usual ghetto self and she was “shouting out” and “hollering” at people every chance she got. All of which would be acceptable if they were on the set of 106 and Park (aka 106 & Playground). But as the nation was tuning in, CNN was covering and just the fact that it was supposed to be an awards show, these red carpet hosts should have stepped their game up.

The red carpet performances were like one big amateur night at the Apollo. Actually, I would have appreciated the talent of the folks at the Apollo much better. On the Red Carpet stage were the talentless acts Pleasure P, Jeremih, Beyonce clone Latoya Locket, New Boys (Whoop?), Day 26 (Whaaaaat?) and another group of instructional dance singers/rappers that I don’t even remember. Once Day 26 won the “Best Group” award over “The Roots”, my capacity for remembering any of this nonsense was out the window.

The show was supposed to be a tribute to Michael Jackson (at least that’s the hype BET went into it with). Jamie Foxx was on his usual BS. He cracked his usual jokes and changes into a new Michael Jackson outfit between acts. I can’t say that I liked it but given the situation, people needed to laugh. While listening to some people sing his MJ songs, I only hoped that he would walk out on the stage and tear it up. But he wasn’t going to. It was awful. Listening to their performances only saddened me and made me miss him more. I know they only had three days to prepare but they could’ve done a better job. I mean, I didn’t expect anything more. This is BET for goodness sake.

The whole beginning of the show was about Michael Jackson. The opening act was all about New Edition. While they had all the Jackson 5 dance moves down, their singing was washed up completely. Bobby Brown even played the role as Tito, he gained like an extra 150lbs and looked awful on stage. He went as far as to do the lip licking thing in the camera… TACKY!! Ne-Yo (who came to the show with an extra from “Candy Girls” and claimed her as his girlfriend…*side eye*) came out and sang “Lady in My Life” and THANK GOD!!! Finally some quality sound. Ciara sang “Heal the World”. And she really shouldn’t have. She did the song no justice. I can’t understand why they didn’t let these artists stay within their range and sing up-tempo songs. The ballads they tried to accomplish were just… Uggghhh.

As the show progressed, we forgot about Michael and had to endure other stuff. I guess because this was such a closely watched event, Jay-Z felt it necessary to make an appearance singing “Death of Auto-Tune”. I am almost positive he wouldn’t have bothered otherwise. While the song is beginning to strike me as lame, his stage performance was not the usual. He finally got a haircut and he was actually unusually energetic. I’ve seen Jay in concert a few times so I am used to his usual dead stick performance.

I mean, I wasn’t surprised at the sloppiness and unprofessional put together show. I especially loved the bad timing of the censor button pusher, who censored the “bad word” after it was already said… And I think he just gave up after awhile because Eddie LeVert managed to say “shit” with no problem. Speaking of LeVert, it was great to hear the O’Jay’s. Real music sounds good and I hope the new breed of whiners and crooners had their notepads out.

There were many things just wrong with this awards show. I could have listed many other singers to have put together meaningful tributes to Michael. I am annoyed that Chris Brown was not a part of the show. Rumor has it that he was not included because of his recent rift with Rihanna. Well there were plenty of alleged woman beaters on the stage last night so that can’t be the reason. Aaron Hall, Bobby Brown, Don Cornelius… And these are all respectable men??

Let’s not forget the ridiculous run of the advertisements for the “Frankie and Neffe” and “Tiny and Toya” shows that made me want to vomit. Who is going to watch that garbage?! Who cares about washed up celebrity relatives? I know I don’t.

The BET Awards show just confirmed what I already knew. That channel needs to be canceled from my cable package immediately. I thought they would have stepped up and actually made themselves look good. Instead, it was a mockery of our culture and music and I am thoroughly embarrassed. I have never known Michael Jackson to be a “friend” to BET. I guess because he’s black and they are a black network, it only seemed right. If Michael Jackson were alive, guaranteed, he would not have been watching that bullshit last night.

The Old Prince Comes to the US ...

Yep! The Old Prince will be released in the States on June 30. We've been posting a lot of Shad over the last few months leading up to this release. We'll be surely posting more after the release. I dig dude a lot. Check the vid! Enjoy.



Check out more from Shad:
Shad "Rock to It"
The Old Prince Hits the States
What I'm Watching Right Now ... Shad
A Second Listen ... Shad

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"You deserve better" DJ Mr President Talks Hip-Hop

Check the interview with DJ Mr President as he talks about the release of his upcoming project (due out mid July). Dude talks about his frustration with mainstream music. We definitely share a bunch of his opinions on the state of hip-hop. He says you won't recognize most of the artists on his mixtape but they are lyricists that must be heard. Check the interview.

TALKING TO PREZ ABOUT "REAL MCs" from LA FAMILIA ENTERTAINMENT on Vimeo.

Check It ... Derill Pounds

It’s unique.

That’s the only real way to explain his sound. To stick it in a particular genre would be a grave injustice but if I were forced, I’d leaned toward calling it alternative hip-hop.

No cookie cutter music here. Derill Pounds, the 27-year-old emcee out of Oshkosh, Wisconsin (yes, home of Oshkosh B’Gosh) has been experimenting with music for a while. There’s passion in his music and his sound and lyrics are driven by keeping it real. Yeah, dude definitely keeps it real!

We reached out to dude at least a month back for this Q&A. We’re finally posting it now. Check it out.

How would you describe your sound/music?
Just being myself. I know its cliché but its true. It’s really just about being influenced by so many things in my life kinda shit. I’m gritty. I’m smooth. I freak you out. I’m not the way you like hip-hop. I make you think. I wanna break your face. Take you to a new world. Let’s go to the park kinda shit.

What's your favorite part of doing your music?
Everything! It’s something I just really love to do. It takes me away. It takes me there. I enjoy playing live and meeting new people, but also being a hermit and working on it like some monster in the attic.

What the hardest part of doing your music?
Still having to work everyday! (Haha) Just supporting your self doing it. No glamour involved for the d.i.y. artists, but it teaches you a lot of good and a lot of bullshit. You gotta be humble and just have fun, but really get on your grind too, and I haven't seen the half of what it could be in other places or levels of whatever mainstream medias mingle in.

Who do you work with on you music?
A handful of people. Bufus Wood has been my primary partner in crime making the vast majority of my beats and also one time and soon once again band mate for the "apple bomb fruit flys". It’s just too many to name – so many good peoples and inspirations. Really fortunate that I've gotten to do the things I have with the people I have. Not much of a name dropper.

Who are your musical influences?
Once again, too many to name! Just a couple would be Kool Keith, Steve Miller Band, Tribe, De La, Operation Ivy, Da King & I, Slug, Heiro, and maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnyyyyyy more...

Where do you want to see the music go?
Lots of places. I really enjoyed being on the road touring, but would also like to do it more and on the coasts. I just wanna have fun with it and enjoy something I feel like I really need to do. Get to some new heads and have them enjoy it too.

What's upcoming? What projects are in the works?
Releasing my new album "emotional rollercoaster rescue" and trying to push that and some new audiences, friends, and fans. Help my brother Adrian out more with his up and coming "Anti-Famous Ent." Working on some new things with Bufus Wood and J.B. ill. Just see where it takes me and enjoy myself doing it. I’m having fun. I have something to say and I don’t really feel like going away... big ups Mad Bloggers!

Check Music: www.myspace.com/derillpounds

I Don't Care


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J. Period + Black Thought "Brooklyn Go Hard"

We posted the full video but Black Thought really goes in on Brooklyn Go Hard, so we just posted that part of the clip. J. Period pretty much did a live mixtape during his set and Black Thought ripped it!

J.Period & Black Thought "Brooklyn Go Hard" (Live @ Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival 2009) from J.Period on Vimeo.

Check out our other post on Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival for the full Black Thought performance

The State of Hip-Hop According to Charles Hamilton

"It's got to the point that an inspirational song is turn my swag on..." - Charles Hamilton

Yeah, you already know how I feel about Charles Hamilton. I think the dude is mostly reckless with his words and says things to just get a rise out of people. Even in this video, he's a bit scattered in some places but for the most part, I think Charles Hamilton says some real stuff in this video.Check it out.

Tha Lady Blogga Remembers MJ ...

Waking up this morning felt weird. I was hoping that’s the news wasn’t true. But it was. Michael Jackson was really dead…

I was trying to figure out what to say. How to address this in a blog but the words couldn’t come. Even though I did not know him personally, it saddened me to tears. Michael was one of those people who were supposed to be immortal. He would be around making music forever. So this is almost surreal.

I remember being a little girl and having the craziest crush on Michael. My wall plastered with posters. I had all kinds of Michael Jackson paraphernalia. Being that my dad was a DJ, I was lucky enough to have his music on vinyl. And my dad had two copies of everything so I would sometimes get in trouble for taking his second record. If I wasn’t dancing in the living room, I was sitting and staring at the album cover and imagining…

Michael’s music was incredible. From a little boy, he sang from the heart; always genuine, always original. Many of the artists out today wanted to be him, at some point. A lot of people sampled his songs and modeled his style but nobody could do it like him. And nobody ever will.

The radio never sounded better. It is unfortunate that it took the death of an icon for us to hear quality music on the radio. I sincerely hope that artists sit back and take a good look at their music. They need to take a good look at the fact that their work ethic sucks, their level of creativity is nil and their focus on what good music is needs to be examined. Some people need a serious adjustment on the garbage they create and step their game up.

It is a shame that Michael died in the public eye, which is what he hated the most about show business. Instead of people paying homage to his great artistic works, the news and other media are trying to still, break him down. I hope that he can finally rest in peace. I know heaven is rockin’ right now!! Most of our greats are up there … R.I.P. Michael Jackson