A Lot About Nothing

Yes, I know this is probably old news by now, but I was busy the last couple of days! I’m sure most of you have already seen the sub-par performance by Britney Spears at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, but if you haven’t click here to view if you’re in the U.S. and click here for the Canadian link to the video (blame those copyright restrictions) from Sunday night.

Personally, I don’t think her body looks that bad for someone who’s a young mother of two… but put some more damn clothes on, please! And what was with her weave? She needs to fire whoever put her extensions in after her head-shaving incident. Why make a come-back when you’re not even performing? It would have been nice to actually hear her sing since she obviously wasn’t doing any dancing. She almost look like she was gonna pass out at the beginning and end of her performance. Sigh… poor thing.

I won’t even get into Kanye’s cry-baby antics as to why he was throwing a hissy-fit over not performing on the main stage and opening up the show, or not winning in any of the categories he was nominated in.

Okay, I will. Here’s the video from backstage at the awards show:

When West was performing at a pre-MVA concert he freestyled:

I can’t believe she would perform / She hasn’t had a hit record in years. I gotta get my money right / Or maybe I gotta get my skin white.

Quit complaining and grow some balls, Kanye! You probably have more money than all of the 3rd world villages combined, so be a man and be grateful for what’s been given to you!

Oh, and lets not forget the fight that broke out between Pamela Anderson’s ex’s Tommy Lee and Kid Rock. I tell you… some of these so-called celebrities really need to get their act together. Can’t wait for next year’s awards antics!

I picked up an interesting freebie at work recently Hits of the 90’s: Classic Music Videos, so I put it in my DVD player to  check out some of the vids, because I didn’t recollect some of the tunes by just the name on the DVD jacket. Eagle-Eye-Cherry’s “Save Tonight”, Ace Of Base’s “All That She Wants”, Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” and Ce Ce Peniston’s “Finally” were just a few of the videos that were on the DVD. I remember watching a lot of them back when MuchMusic actually played music videos instead of crappy reality shows, station-produced celebrity gossip shows, and dozens of daily reruns of So You Think You Can Dance season 2.

One of the titles that caused a faint recollection was 4 Non Blondes “What’s Up”. After watching the first few seconds of the video I was like, “I remember this song!”.  The funny thing is that I could’ve sworn I heard this song used in something else recently. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Was it a car commercial? Movie soundtrack? Then it hit me:

If you haven’t been listening to the radio recently, then you’ve been missing out on Jully Black’s new amazing track “Seven Day Fool”. This song is so catchy… I feel like dancing 60’s-Hairspray-style whenever I hear it.

Visit her official site to check out new images (holy legs!) and to listen to “Seven Day Fool” if you haven’t been privileged to already! Don’t forget to visit her MySpace site as well.

Jully’s new album Revival drop October 9th.  Make sure to pick yourself up a copy.  Trust me, all the tracks are amazing… you’ll be bumpin’ them 24/7.

According to a report by MTV News, the New York-born rapper went ballistic after learning that the audio and video for “Follow My Lead” featuring Robin Thicke (and starring actor Dustin Hoffman) surfaced online last Thursday — weeks before it’s scheduled release.

50 Cent, who’s given name is Curtis Jackson III, reportedly ripped a giant plasma TV off the wall when he heard the news from his G-Unit office. He also threw his cell phone through the window, said he’s going on vacation and is not speaking with any reps at Interscope, who he believes is behind the leak.

I think someone needs to learn how to control their temper. Sure, having your video leaked to the net before you wanted it to may be upsetting, but look on the bright side Fiddy: You now have about a third of your album out there for fans to enjoy before it officially comes out on September 11th!

His first two singles for the upcoming album, “Straight To The Bank” and Amusement Park”, obviously didn’t blow up as well as 50 thought they would, which is the main reason for the multiple delays of the of Curtis album release. Back from the studio, his current single, “I Get Money” is doing well, and so is “Ayo Technology” featuring Justin Timberlake. So, four singles into his new album, plus the leaked collaboration with Robin Thicke… I guess I could probably see why Fiddy flipped out.

On the flip side, contender Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and “Stronger” have been positively received and he’s about to drop “Good Life” featuring T-Pain. West’s Graduation is set for release on September 11th as well, and Fiddy is betting his rap career that he’d outsell Kanye on the blocks.

In an interview posted on SOHH.com last Friday, 50 stated:

Put it like this… Let’s raise the stakes. If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I’ll no longer write music. I’ll write music and work with my other artists, but I won’t put out any more solo albums.

Do I sense publicity stunt? Let’s hope he’s true to his word. Let the battle begin!

Today is the final day of Harbourfront’s Global Hip Hop: The Four Elements festival, part of their free summer weekend festival World Routes. I had the privilege of watching one of the best classic Hip Hop films ever made, Wild Style.

Okay, so I had to leave an hour into to the film because I promised my friends that I would head down to watch Russell Peters‘ free performance at Yonge-Dundas Square, but that was worth it. The place was packed. I heard there was an estimated crowd of at least 15,000 that packed the Square. I was in the back b/c I got there around 7:30, but the speaker system was pretty good. Russell Peters had the large crowd in hysterics as he performed snippets of his well-known cultural routines. Filipino-American Jo Koy was also up from L.A. to perform. This guy his hilarious… I’m glad I got a chance to catch him live. Italian-Canadian musical duo The Doo-Wops also performed that evening.

After that I went off with my friends to add more clothes to my very large wardrobe: H&M had a big clearance sale (50% off all red ticketed items). I was shook by what I thought was some sort of terrorist attack (along with some other jumpy spectators), but I realized it was just the beginning of the pyrotechnic performance by the Bängditos.

I then rejoined my other friend at Harbourfront to catch one of the most amazing live shows I’ve seen in a while: The Wild Style 25 Concert featuring Grand Wizard Theodore, Busy Bee and Fantastic Five. Now this is what real Hip Hop is. Theadore (the inventor of the ’scratch’) was phenomenal with his sets. And when the Fantastic Five and Busy Bee came on stage, they had the crowd go wild. I really wish more young people would listen to the roots of Hip Hop, and stop falling into the superficial traps of the ‘bling’, the money, the cars and the ‘hoes’. Hip Hop isn’t about guns, violence or how many years you’ve spent in prison. Hip Hop is about peace, love, unity and having fun.

Here’s a clip from one of the famous scenes from Wild Style:

Yesterday I also had to chance to see two interestings screenings at the festival: From Mambo to Hip Hop: A South Bronx Tale, and Remixed in Japan. Henry Chalfant’s From Mambo to Hip Hop examines the rhythms that blossomed in the Bronx in the late 1940s with mambo, through the birth of Hip Hop in the 70s, and it’s connections. Melody Weinstein’s Remixed in Japan shows the explosion of Hip Hop in Japan, it’s meaning, it’s form of self-expression, and follows some very intriguing Japanese people immersed in the Hip Hop culture.

Here’s a trailer for From Mambo to Hip Hop: