A new interesting twist to Pop and HipHop music as a whole, Frank Ocean introduces an unearthly potion to the music industry and the way in which avid RnB/HipHop/Poppers percieve their auditory addiction. Ocean dissolves emotional boundaries of his listeners in his newest project Nostalgia, Ultra. He definitely uses aspects of nature as the "canvas" to depict his story- from the waterfall sound effects in his song "Swim Good", to the droning sound of the alarm clock in "Strawberry Swing," Frank Ocean deliberately manipulates sounds that we, as humans hear and take for granted, in our daily lives, to emphasize and reinforce "EXISTENCE." Moods provoked: Nostalgia, Sadness, Reflection, Morose, Melancholy, Romance, Happiness...if you thought Cold Play was the "classic group" which transcended all musical genres...you have not yet recieved Frank Ocean as your instrumental gift. Check him out on Youtube or his site http://frankocean.com/
Before you go there have a looksy at our choice select from Nostalgia, Ultra : "Novacane"
Check out Brandy singing her butt off in the bathroom!
iTunes' top 10 selling singles and albums of the week ending Nov. 29, 2010:
Singles:
1. "Firework," Katy Perry
2. "Raise Your Glass," P!nk
3. "We R Who We R," Ke$ha
4. "The Time (Dirty Bit)," Black Eyed Peas
5. "What's My Name?" Rihanna, Drake
6. "Grenade," Bruno Mars
7. "Only Girl (In the World)," Rihanna
8. "Just the Way You Are," Bruno Mars
9. "Like a G6," The Cataracs, Far East Movement, Dev
10. "Bottoms Up (feat. Nicki Minaj)," Trey Songz
Albums:
1. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," Kanye West
2. "Pink Friday," Nicki Minaj
3. "Burlesque," Various Artists
4. "Glee: The Music — The Christmas Album," (Glee Cast)
5. "Cannibal," Ke$ha
6. "Loud," Rihanna
7. "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys," My Chemical Romance
8. "Speak Now," Taylor Swift
9. "Sigh No More," Mumford & Sons
10. "Come Around Sundown," Kings of Leon
Miguel's album debuted today, and things are looking rather promising for the fresh RnB singer hailing from San Pedro, California. His biography reeks with warmth, mystery seduction and decadence as it explains "The California native has one of those raw honey falsettos that oozes into your soul and stays there, even after the music stops. Billboard Magazine exclaims, Miguel, 24, “offers both the sweetness of Babyface and the passion of R. Kelly.” Yum." Now that we're all sugar-fied with his origins, let's see how he topped off in album sales.
As of right now, Hitdailydouble.com does not have information re: sales. Shall we wait for next Wednesday to arrive? More feesible.
In the mean time we can speculate about his success/failure and see if our predictions are verified next week. Like Nelly's album, the public hasn't really witnessed adequate marketing for Miguel's album. Of course, unlike country grammar boy, Miguel was hittin the pavement at rocket speed, touring with none other than RnB icon, Usher on his song titled campaign "OMG Tour." On a positive note, we can assertively conclude that in touring around the country, Miguel acquired a vast following, one which might propel album sales, OR the opposite, pillage his sales rank in the Billboard charts. In an era of advanced technology, everyone takes to the nearest computer screen to pirate and install their Top 40 Hitlist onto their iPods. Can Miguel beat that odd? We'll just have to anticipate. With Nelly as the blueprint for a comeback "failure," thanks to his label (smh) let's see how wining Miguel fairs out! (Smizing)
Okay well for now, here's the video for All I Want is You, not that you haven't seen it already....(SN: TeamMiguel: Where are the sequel videos???)
If you wanna go and take a ride with me to low albums with no ranks and no closings, oh why did this happen to meeeee...heyyyyyy I aint got no monayyy!
Unfortunately, this is our remix of "Ride with Me," a song which had signified Louisville's own country rap star Nelly's rise in the music indstry, and is now emblematic of...his demise. His latest album did not do well in the markets, barely coming in at 56 thousand units sold across outlets, and Nelly blames his label for everything. Points of interest in album disappointment?:
Lack of Marketing
Think about it. In today's entertainment market, which is essentially powered by heightened technology, Limewire, Frostwire and other file sharing mediums, noone wants to go out to the store to purchase their fave artists' albums. That's of the past. To supplement this deficit, an artist must have a capable marketing crew to position their client - Nelly- correctly in the market- this means being more creative and artistic with the marketing plans for efficient information syndication. The public doesn't just want to see random TV Ads promoting your album. We see them everyday.
*Capitalize on social media by popping up at the actual headquarters like Kanye did at Facebook Inc in California. Instead, land your country behind at Twitter. Purchase a media plan for TV networks airing championing sports, like the recent Thanksgiving day football fiasco. ADs are more memorable when they are attached to activities, and/or events with earth-shattering momentum.
*Create a contest way in advance, for aspiring models across the United States, to land a cameo in your next video. Utilize banners on tour buses while traveling from state to state. Don't fly to where you wanna go. Instead be the average person and travel old-fashioned style: ON THE FLIPPIN ROAD! This maximizes your promotional potential.
*Speaking of promotions, why didn't we see Nelly in the NYC hosting parties? Promoters are definitely important.
*Speaking of promoters, why didn't we see Nelly doing "hey, how ya doing," visits at college campuses in the US. See, proper planning means proper banking. It's not that difficult to contact the Offices of Campus Life at colleges and universities of your preference to book an appearance. It's not all about the fancy ballroom shows, award show appearances or whatever foolywang else comprises of high-end entertainment.It's about bringing yourself down from the celeb stratosphere, and being relatable to your darn fans. Nelly's marketing team has neglected that component in their campaigning initiatives, (if they orchestrated any at all and at this rate, I highly doubt it.) You have to convince the biggest and wildest money spenders to go out and buy your album. Best thing to do is to employ this principle " Be where the bees are, you'll get more honey, go to college campuses, you'll get more money."
Lack of PR
No matter how much people try to downsize the role and responsibility of a publicist, the proof of their importance is in the pudding. You can tell when there is a lack of PR as it relates to an artist's strife for reignited relevance- case in point Nelly. We didn't see Nelly appear on TV that much. 106 & Park doesn't count either. Why wasn't he on The View? Why wasn't there a publicity stunt executed to further propel TV ADs for his song "Just a Dream?" Maybe a new love interest would have perfectly complemented the buzz worthiness of his album's single. WHO KNOWS! The creative options are endless when it comes to PR and Nelly's administrative camp was just not on that level.
In any case, we caught up with YBF.com to gain some insight into why Nelly blamed his record label for his musical failures. The rapper tweeted, "A record deal is a 50/50 partnership!As a artist its your job to provide the record company with music that they(record company) can sell,Thing about the partnership is that n the public eye the responsibility is not 50/50!the artist is always the 1who catches 90% of the blame."
He continued tweeting saying, "If u only ship 200 thound [thousand] of an album how many are u f#cking tryen [sic] to sell?? the artist does control that nor does he or she control marketing."
So our thoughts surely reflect Nelly's sentiments. What's your take? Is it the label's error that Nelly did strikingly bad in the market? Or have people moved past the dirty south, country grammar phase and found residence in a minimalist, HipHop/Pop realm? wink wink MBDTF???
Kanye West sparked widespread buzz upon the release of his newest project " The Runaway," which was the avant-garde sequel to his controversial song and video, "Power." The Runaway, was a 30-minute long film which featured finished samples of Yeezy's album which debuted today.
Get a load of NPR's music review:
A friend recently claimed that West is the only famous rapper who still matters. I'd imagine fans of Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg or Lil Wayne might take issue with that opinion, but it's doubtful that any of those MCs ever merited a mention in a presidential memoir. As West himself might ask, should any rapper have all that power?
Most rappers have huge egos — and few are as inflated as West's — but unlike other MCs who talk big but sound tinny, West's lyrical arrogance is easily matched in grandiosity by his musical ambitions.
On his last album, 808s and Heartbreaks, West draped everything in chilly, AutoTuned minimalism. But with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, he turns it all around with a hefty, dense sound.
All of that volume is there to commandeer space — this is music to saturate concert halls and shake bleacher seats. But it's not just loud — this is also West's most baroque album, with intricate layers of choral harmonies and long instrumental noodling.
In small doses, these captivating arrangements are a reminder of why no one straddles hip-hop and pop music with quite the same daring as West. However, with the average song running nearly six minutes, the album often crosses from avant-garde into merely indulgent, especially when some songs drag into seemingly endless codas.
With all that self-seriousness, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy could use more shots of West's once-signature levity. One of the more playful tunes — about a text message breakup — becomes one of the most memorable thanks to West's clever double entendres and searingly intense production by Bink.
I've always enjoyed West's ability to surprise and defy expectations, and part of me admires how over the top My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy feels. With songs about marrying porn stars and a Hydra-like posse cut called "Monster," the album's fantasies are heavy on the dark and twisted. But what's beautiful feels buried under ponderous ruminations on sex, fame and money.
West is always complaining about how success has ruined him, and his public train wrecks might attest to that. But in his moments of clarity, his musical visions are among the most dazzling around; maybe by the next album, we'll get a peek at some of those fantasies, too.
Get a load of NPR's music review:
Kanye West's best gets buried under sex, fame and money on the rap icon's highly anticipated new album.
On Monday one of the most anticipated — and most leaked — albums of the year hits stores: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West. The rapper began releasing several of its songs on his own website since the late summer, and he even produced a 35-minute music video to go with it. Now, the final, complete album is in the offing.
On his last album, 808s and Heartbreaks, West draped everything in chilly, AutoTuned minimalism. But with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, he turns it all around with a hefty, dense sound.
All of that volume is there to commandeer space — this is music to saturate concert halls and shake bleacher seats. But it's not just loud — this is also West's most baroque album, with intricate layers of choral harmonies and long instrumental noodling.
In small doses, these captivating arrangements are a reminder of why no one straddles hip-hop and pop music with quite the same daring as West. However, with the average song running nearly six minutes, the album often crosses from avant-garde into merely indulgent, especially when some songs drag into seemingly endless codas.
With all that self-seriousness, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy could use more shots of West's once-signature levity. One of the more playful tunes — about a text message breakup — becomes one of the most memorable thanks to West's clever double entendres and searingly intense production by Bink.
I've always enjoyed West's ability to surprise and defy expectations, and part of me admires how over the top My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy feels. With songs about marrying porn stars and a Hydra-like posse cut called "Monster," the album's fantasies are heavy on the dark and twisted. But what's beautiful feels buried under ponderous ruminations on sex, fame and money.
We all love the infamous Nicki Minaj now don't we. Hailing from Trinidad & Tobago, via Queens, New York, this dyme-a-licious, rapper/singer duo is the only female rapper on the radiowaves, and has demonstrated a multi-talent capacity unknown to her music predecessors- without releasing an album, Nicki Minaj has accrued wide-spread acclaim on her released singles and collaborations on both national and global plateaus. Her branding strategies have been far more than just , "haphazard" intentions- the concept of "Harajuku Barbie" introduces a multi-ethnic and cultural component, which does in fact, cement the Eastern Hemisphere with the Western Hemisphere. Quite simply, she draws in Whites (Characteristic of traditional Barbie Dolls,) and Asians (Newly introduced Harajuku Dolls, whose popularity generated from Gwen Stefani).
Today, Nicki Minaj's Album has dropped. Seems as though someone close to Nicki Minaj's Camp leaked her entire album prior to its release. And we have it as well as thousands of other entertainment blogs. We understand that embedding the download within this article doesn't necessarily set us a part from the rest, but analyzing why it happened and the ramifications of this trend, does. So, let's think! Why has Pink Friday dropped on Monday and not Friday? Furthermore, why has the album dropped before November 22 period! How will this affect Nicki's album sales? Think about it. This is her first album, and the "musiclerati" would have assumed Nicki's album to fly off the charts, in lieu of her success with her jaw-dropping singles, "Massive Attack," and "Roger That." It would have, had the same marketing procedures and confidentiality of her products, still been enforced. What changed? Do you think someone in her camp was paid to leak Nicki's album prior to its release date by none other than Lil Kim or Foxy Brown? When you let that idea marinate a little, it seems appropriate and sensible to make such a stark accusation, as both hiphop divas have publicly confessed their disdain for the blossoming rapper queen. We here at Life and Style Union are definitely pro-Nicki Minaj and we're cheering her on for sure. BUT...here's
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