Because if this list of songs for his forthcoming untitled album (which is scheduled to hit stores on Sept. 29) is the real deal, I am already way too excited about Track No. 13 thanks to its title and its roster of guest stars. I mean, come on, doesn’t “Pregnant (feat. Tyrese, Robin Thicke, The-Dream & Maxwell)” make you at least a little intrigued, too? [Hip-Hop Gone Global] More »
Last night Island Def Jam, in a display of largesse that according to Vibe editor Danyel Smith felt “very 1999… in a good way,” held what it called a Spring Collection Preview, in which the label’s various upcoming releases got the fancy-party-with-canapés preview treatment for journalists and other industry wags. Among those releases was the video for Kanye West’s “Paranoid,” which features Rihanna (she was in attendance to pick up an award commemorating 16 million record sales and preview her July 4 attire); some industrious attendee decided to whip out a video camera during its airing, resulting in the clip you see above. Risky! And also kind of annoying to watch, in those $5 DVDs that you buy from people selling them on the subway way. The same fate befell the video of The-Dream’s “Walking On The Moon,” which also features Kanye; check it out after the jump. More »
While music-business types were recovering from a week of drinking margaritas and arguing over how to better market themselves online at the South By Southwest festival, old-school Internet expert Anil Dash was discussing how The-Dream was using search-engine optimiation in order to make his name stick out among a host of search results for Susan Boyle: More »
Obviously, we need to talk about the new song that takes over the top of Billboard‘s Hot 100, and the mind-blowing record it sets.
But before we do that, let’s talk about Hilary Swank.
I find Swank’s movie career totally incomprehensible: She either wins Oscars, or she tanks. Not even Meryl Streep has won two Best Actress statues, yet in under a decade Swank has gone to that podium twice, like some kind of modern-day Katharine Hepburn. You’d think that would make her one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, or at least its most respected. Sure, she wins roles in some blockbuster-type stuff (The Core) or prestige-like stuff (The Black Dahlia), but these movies are invariably flops. Swank’s successes seem to have had no impact on her career, or the way she’s regarded by the general public. She’s some kind of metaphor for the in-and-out nature of post-millennial fame.
All this leaps to my mind when I consider Flo Rida, the rapper who reaches No. 1 on the Hot 100 for the second time, with the kind of sales total that you’d think would make Lil Wayne, Kanye West or Jay-Z bow respectfully.
But if I were them, I wouldn’t. Because after all, who is this clown? How did Flo Rida become the Hilary Swank of pop music?
Whatever his songwriting chops–he wrote “Umbrella,” after all, meaning I can appreciate the skill even if left cold by the end results–I got fleeced buying a used copy of Lovehate, the debut album from Atlanta pop R&B radio killer The-Dream. More »
A profile of the producer/singer/guy-who-wears-wads-of-cash-as jewelry The-Dream (government name: Terius Nash) in Women’s Wear Daily starts off as one might expect: He likes expensive things and is part of the line of producers who have remade urban radio in their own image, stealing some of the spotlight from the singers of their songs. In the middle of the piece, however, writer Jacob Bernstein manages to capture the unsustainable nature of the current urban music business.
R. Kelly horns in on The Dream’s “Shawty Is A Ten,” teaches me that the song’s real title is “Shawty Is The Shit.” More »
R. Kelly horns in on The Dream’s “Shawty Is A Ten,” teaches me that the song’s real title is “Shawty Is The Shit.” More »
