When the chatter began about Mariah Carey’s Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, a collaboration with Timbaland was confirmed. However, when the final track list was revealed the entire production line-up consisted of Tricky Stewart and two others but nothing from Timbaland. Today, courtesy of Tapemasters Inc., the song between ‘The Whistler’ and ‘The Superproducer’ has leaked.
“Skydiving” is a bit of change from Timbaland’s productions but still sports the signature drum-heavy style. The song is a chilled mid-tempo and is pretty decent but there’s no questioning why it did not fit in with the rest of the album. Of course the lambs will eat this up. So join them and give the song a listen.
R&B/Pop-throb Chris Brown is finally in a new direction; one that consists of trying to pick his music career back up. Today, the first single from his forthcoming album, Graffiti, premiered. The song entitled “I Can Transform Ya” features Lil Wayne as well as Swizz Beatz who also is the man behind the production on this one.
First, there is no doubting that this cyborg inspired instrumentation is FIYAAA and the ‘I’m a fly guy’ lyrics give off a cool vibe but this is not “IT”. By “IT” we mean a song that is so appealing that everyone will have no choice but to shut their mouths and let Brown make his way to the top of the charts. The song is very urban which comes as a surprise because when he left the last project he left us with the impression that the Electropop route would be his path. We can see this doing very well on urban charts but as far as reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100, NAH. This is definitely a grower and hopefully Brown can reclaim the respect that he needs to keep himself relevant.
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It’s been 10 years since …Baby One More Time launched and boosted Britney Spears to super stardom. Her debut album was certified Diamond (10 million plus) and double Diamond worldwide. That’s an unfamiliar term because records just don’t sell that much anymore. Anyway, so with a decade under her belt, Spears is readying the release of The Singles Collection in about a month’s time. With that collection is the addition of a brand new single produced by Max Martin who produced Spears’ “Baby One More Time”, “Stronger” and “Oops!… I Did It Again”.
Well first there’s the song’s title, you are probably wondering what a simple digit could mean but in simple terms Spears’ is singing about having a threesome with her mate; a ménage à trois if you will. This song is so good, it’s the definition of Britney and is a perfect way to say, “I survived a decade, are you ready for another…?” The lyrics are catchy, the hook will have you hooked and it’s just a pure club banger. Even the autotune works in her favor and the way the production keeps up the pace then slows down then bursts like a sexual explosion is crazy. We really fought the anticipation and for good reason because Spears’ delivered with this one. Get into this pop perfection!
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Here’s an electronic duo from Australia who broke off from their previous groups to create a pair under the name Empire of the Sun. The name which was inspired by the novel of the same name is comprised of members Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore. They’ve been together since 2007 and are still going strong. From their album cover and general image they’re eccentric and look like a outcome of Blade Runner, The Neverending Story, The Fifth Element being thrown into a blender.
Their album, Walking On a Dream, was released back in October of 2008 yet we are just hearing of them. Which is quite bad on our behalf because we like to keep on top of artists like them. In fact we only heard of them when Luke Steele was featured on Jay-Z’s The Blueprint³. We later saw a song from them but were not too excited about it but just the other day we heard the title track from their album.
“Walking On a Dream” starts off with a keyboard riff that initially gives the song a late 80′s/early 90′s vibe. The lightness and falsettos in their voices in areas makes this song very cool to listen to. Also, if you want to compare you could get a slight MGMT vibe from this song. The video for the song was shot last summer in Shanghai, China just prior to The Olympics. Check both out below and you can purchase their album HERE.
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Kandi Burruss, where do we begin with this mega-successful female? Well Kandi got her start back in the 90′s with popular R&B group Xscape before leaving them in 1998. She then released her first solo album, Hey Kandi, in 2000 which spawned the hit single “Don’t Think I’m Not”. She later formed the duo Peach Candy with her close ATLien friend Rasheeda. To add to her singing talent, she could have lived off her career of songwriting; does TLC’s “No Scrubs” or Destiny’s Child “Bills” ring a bell? She’s written for everyone from Mariah Carey to *NSYNC.
Fast forward to 2009 and Kandi is back in the limelight by joining the second season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Using the reality show as a means to further help build her brand Kandi is also about to return to her music career. On November 10, 2009 Kandi will release her sophomore album, B.L.O.G.S. (Bitches Love Online Gossip Shit). She’s already released the first single entitled “I Like Him” featuring Rick Ross and Rasheeda but there’s a song from the album that’s been floating around the net that’s caught our attention.
“Fly Above” is set to appear on B.L.O.G.S. The production and melody of this song is… well pure ear-candy (no pun intended). Oh, it is also a perfect song for those of you who think you have a slew of haters on your trail. Kandi also hit up Good Day NY to perform the song for the first time. We know Kandi can sing but she did not do anything but make us cringe in this performance, it must have been her nerves. Below, you can listen/download a snippet of the unmastered version of the song as well as watch the interview/performance.
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It was obvious that the third time was not the charm for Ciara with her album, Fantasy Ride, failing to become a success on the charts. Despite it being one of her better albums the buzz was killed after all the leaks and many push-backs. So recently Ciara has been out in LA with a lot of arranged paparazzi run-ins and it seemed like she was trying to become the next media muse or something. Well news was released this morning that the main reason for her relocation is so she could begin work on her fourth untitled album.
Ciara has been laying low as of late, but for good reason. The R&B singer is well into recording her fourth album and we’ve got the exclusive details.
Christopher “Tricky” Stewart and his songwriting partner The-Dream have been secretly spending the summer in the studio producing the entire follow-up to Ciara’s Fantasy Ride. Stewart broke the news to Rap-Up.com in an exclusive interview. “We’re doing the whole project,” he reveals. “We’re pretty good into it at this point. We’re about 14 songs deep right now.”
The 23-year-old ATLien relocated to the West Coast to work on the album with Tricky and Dream, who crafted “High Price” and “Like a Surgeon” off this year’s Fantasy Ride. “She came out to L.A. to work with us. We’re out here making this record ’cause it feels good and the vibe is good,” says the Grammy-winning producer.
The as-yet-untitled effort will feature danceable tracks that have become Ciara’s signature. “This record obviously is gonna have tempo to it, but I think it’s gonna have even more substance than the last record,” Tricky discloses. “She dances and we always want to bring out what she does that other people don’t.” (more…)
With over 20 years in the business the Boyz II Men are here with the first single, “Open Arms”, from their forthcoming album Love.
If any of you want to take a trip down memory lane to a time when the radio was filled with R&B music that had meaning and was tasteful then take a listen to this. This is classic Boyz II Men and you bet it’s nothing like what’s being played on your Top 40 radio station. Love is in stores November 17, 2009.
After reports that She Wolf was pushed back to a November release, the album still seems to be on track for a October 9 release. With the release date in near sight it’s only normal that the album preview is revealed and Amazon is the place for that preview.
When the snippets were leaking about a two weeks ago the album sounded like a let down but after listening to the tracks in chronological order the album seems to be pretty decent. However, this album almost feels like a rip off. Reason being, Shakira only releases a new album every few years and technically there are only 9 new songs from the album. The other 4 are repeats; 3 of them are just Spanish translations and 1 is a remix. Oh, Wyclef Jean and Shakira will NOT have another worldwide smash on their hands with “Spy”. Besides that Shakira delivered with this album.
With the release of Mario’s fourth album, D.N.A., to be released mid October, Amazon has the 30 sec preview of each track.
Overall, we’d say the track list is decent but there are a handful of songs that have leaked from him that we rather see on there. A proper opinion is due when we here the album in full.
Why o why is JoJo not getting the proper treatment. We mean every song she’s leaked within the short past has been radio-worthy and today is no different. This new song is entitled “Keep Forgetting (To Forget About You)”.
The song starts off with JoJo calmy singing with her vocals picking up as she progresses into the chorus. The content is typical of her; a relationship but the combination of great vocals and a great beat is her formula so why knock her. It’s just a shame now because if she ever does release her album we’ll probably have heard all the material.
