Thabiz.com Blog

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Lil JJ’s: Almost Grown Variety Show DVD coming soon

Lil JJ, the star of the Nickelodeon multi-generational comedy series “Just Jordan” presents:
“Lil JJ’s: Almost Grown Variety Show”, the first of its kind, full-length stand-up comedy for kids!

View official trailer

LIL JJ'S: ALMOST GROWN VARIETY SHOW
DVD available in stores June 3rd
CodeBlack Entertainment
Pre-Order DVD Here

SYNOPSIS

Almost Grown is a live variety / sketch show hosted by Lil JJ, the star of Nickelodeon’s hit sitcom, “Just Jordan”. Almost Grown showcases Lil JJ’s comedy, acting, rapping and dancing talents. Almost Grown also features show stopping performances by teen heartthrob Lil Tre, the precociously talented nNocent, Life and the Almost Grown Dancers.

DVD BONUS FEATURES

Exclusive song and music video entitled "Almost Grown"

Hilarious behind the scenes footage of the making of Almost Grown

“Da Jammies” trailer & Music Video

New music from Solange "I Decided"

Geffen Records presents the sophomore release from Solange Knowles, SoL-AngeL and The Hadley Street Dreams due for release on August 26th. Check out the first single "I Decided"

“I Decided” Audio Stream:

Listen to "I Decided"

Talented singer, songwriter, artist, and entrepreneur, Solange Knowles AKA SoL-AngeL, is ready to set the world on fire with a sound that is sure to breathe life into a sometimes stagnant music scene. With her sophomore set, SoL-AngeL and The Hadley Street Dreams, on her new label home of Geffen Records through Music World Entertainment, Solange takes us through a walk in yesteryear with an uber modern twist. SoL-AngeL and The Hadley Street Dreams is due for release on August 26th.

On SoL-AngeL and The Hadley Street Dreams, SoL-AngeL enlisted help from producers and songwriters that she knew would capture the sound she wanted to project instantly; but getting them to believe in her wasn’t easy.

“I literally had to beg Cee-Lo to listen to my music but once he did he signed on immediately,” states the giddy SoL-AngeL. “We wrote and recorded ‘T.O.N.Y’ and ‘Sandcastle Disco’ (produced by Soul Shock) that same week. Producer Jack ‘Splash’ joined in to produce ‘T.O.N.Y’ and went on to produce two more songs for me: ‘Would’ve Been the One’ and ‘Ode To Marvin,’ my special take on Mr. Gaye’s ‘What’s going On,’ both of which I wrote with Splash and Makeba.”

For the remainder of the album SoL-AngeL went on to work with Pharrell for the finger-snapping, feel-good first single “I Decided,” Lil Wayne makes an intoxicated guest appearance on “Champagnechronicnightcap,” Bilal helps write and appears on “Cosmic Journey” and “Wanna Go Back,” which Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry lends vocals to, and Raphael Saddiq produces the soulfully insightful, “Same Song, Different Man,” which features Estelle.

Solange Official Site:

http://www.solangeknowles.com

and MySpace page:

http://www.myspace.com/solange

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Listen to the Lil Mama song L.I.F.E.

Listen to the Lil Mama single "L.I.F.E.".

Lil Mama's album "VYP Voice of the Young People" is in stores now.

http://www.myspace.com/lilmama

Watch the N.E.R.D. video "Everybody Nose"

Watch the N.E.R.D. "Everybody Nose" video

Also be sure to check out N.E.R.D. on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/nerdofficial

N*E*R*D* - Seeing Sounds (Star Trak / Interscope)

SYNESTHESIA [sin-uhs-thee-zhuh] - noun
A neurologically-based phenomenon in which a stimulus of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway, as when the hearing of a certain sound induces the visualization of a certain color.

You already know the story of the Neptunes. World-famous producers and songwriters, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, over the course of their decade-long career, have literally changed the course of music. It started with the redefining of hip-hop, the two of them wielding a minimalist, synthesized palette and a limitless imagination to create a sound that was as sophisticated and elegant as it was raw and rhythmic. Soon the Neptunes would alter the landscape of pop music, as well, creating driving rhythm & blues influenced work that artists in every genre would seek out to help establish their creative impulses. They have worked with everyone from Madonna and Justin Timberlake to Jay-Z and Gwen Stefani; from Britney Spears and Busta Rhymes to Kelis and the Clipse. Think of your favorite songs in the last ten years: most of them are Neptunes productions.

But N*E*R*D* are not the Neptunes, and the Neptunes are not N*E*R*D*.

"The Neptunes is what we do, but N*E*R*D* is who we are. It's our life," Pharrell would say in 2000, in describing the group that includes him, Chad and longtime friend and creative wunderkind, Shae. The three of them together combine for uninhibited explorations of sounds, emotions and truth, adhering to no agenda, subscribing to no rules. N*E*R*D* is the way they live their life, the way they see the world.

The words Pharrell used to describe N*E*R*D* in 2000 ring just as true in 2008, with the release of the group's third album, Seeing Sounds. The album is a blistering mash-up of booming hip-hop beats and rollercoastering rock riffs, rumbling crunk rhythms and scintillating soul music. Whereas their first album, In Search Of..., was an imaginative, exploration of identities, and their second album, Fly Or Die, sought out the range of genres and sounds that have influenced the group, Seeing Sounds grinds everything together, evoking a sound that is un-tethered by preconceptions and convention. It is also an album that amplifies the style and attitudes that have made Pharrell, Chad and Shae transcendent cultural icons.

"We are only a slave to the energy, the energy and the emotion," Pharrell describes. "We don't care about genres. Why would we? For us, it was just about being what we are. We aren't limited by anything other than our imaginations and what we feel, so why would we make music packaged into a little box?"

The album's title gives a clue to this thinking. It follows the concept of synesthesia, which is a neurological sensation that occurs when the stimulation of one sense, involuntarily - and some say preternaturally - stimulates another: seeing the color red and feeling the taste of your mother's blueberry pie, or hearing the whisper of wind through trees and feeling goose-bumps on your skin. More to the point, with N*E*R*D*, it could be hearing a musical note or a melody and seeing a flashback from the youthful romance of your adolescence.

"It was something we were watching on television, on the Discovery channel, on the phenomenon of synesthesia, and we realized that was how we see, hear and make music," explains Shae, who serves as the group's conceptual glue. "That's how it's always been, we just never knew there was a name to it. And when we learned about it, we knew it had to be the title of the album."

"Every thought makes a sensory impression," Pharrell says, "but sometimes the wires are a little crossed. When you hear a sound, instead of just your brain receiving electric impulses and then interpreting them, something happens and it invokes other things, a feeling, a memory, an emotion. That's how we make music."

Indeed, while Pharrell and Chad are classically trained musicians, sophisticated players who play all of their instruments on all their hit-records, they author the music of N*E*R*D* from a more honest, emotional, and ephemeral place. It is more than just musical notes on a 16-bar grid, or the demonstration of technical skill, or a hot beat. "It's been five years since our last album and we've seen and heard and done a lot in our lives," says Shae. "We feel free, and we need to express that. It's like we're doing it for the first time all over again."

Seeing Sounds was recorded over the last fifteen months, and is a reflection of the life lived by the three men as they have traveled the globe and interacted with people from all walks of life. "In that way, the music is a reflection of the world in a way that producing for someone else could never be," Pharrell explains.

The album's first single, "Everybody Nose," is a testament to how the restraints of conventional songwriting and rock music have been interminably clipped on this album. Its proclaimed taunts ("All the ladies standing in the line for the bathroom!") are driven with a thundering bass that gives way to a deep, drum-heavy rhythm track. The song careens between the head-nodding bravado of hip-hop and the body-moving energy of dance or punk music. "And people know what we're talking about," Shae says of the song's clever title. "It's an observation of what we've seen and it captures that sex, drugs and rock 'n roll mentality," says Shae. Indeed, it is salacious and sexy, diplomatically dangerous. And while contrary to popular belief - it is an anti-drug song.

The overarching theme of Seeing Sounds is its energy. A song like "Killjoy" moves at a quick clip, like a fast-rap throwdown by Big Daddy Kane from back in the day, with a fierce percussive breakdown serving at its emotional center. "Anti-Matter" moves through several different tempos throughout the song, flirting with psychedelic guitar funk and a dirty south bounce, teasing the senses with its stop-and-start momentum. "Spaz" has the complex rhythms of Indian music that eventually gives way to noisy breaks. In forgoing all genres, or rather in not remaining faithful to any one genre, the boys in N*E*R*D* are creating their own.

"We made this music anticipating the live show," explains Pharrell. "That was the most important thing. We know what we want to do on stage - we want to get fucking crazy, fucking insane - and if we make pussy-soft songs, no one's going to want to jump."

Indeed.

Pharrell takes it one step further. "No one will ever know what kind of a rush it is on stage to play these kinds of songs until you experience it for yourself. But that's the thing, we wanted to give that feeling to our audience."

Not all the tracks on Seeing Sounds are sonic monsters - they also display the group's musical breadth. "Sooner or Later," evokes the elegance of '60s UK pop, while "Yeah You," a first-person account of having a female stalker, flirts with smooth, '70s soul-jazz.

In the end, it's about transposing those feelings we all have - of rebellion and conflict, of confidence and insecurity - into a form of music. Seeing Sounds, hearing memories.

"Our fans are an army of individuals celebrating individuality," says Pharrell. "They come from so many different walks of life, there are so many archetypes in our crowds, and they all meet up here in that moment with our music. That's a beautiful thing and we have to honor that in our music.

"We're not doing this for the money. We are just trying to keep the movement going. We owe it to the people. More than rock out, we want them to bounce all over the room and get lost in it."

Be ready. N*E*R*D* is coming.

"What is a N*E*R*D*? N*E*R*D* stands for No One Ever Really Dies. The Neptunes is what we do, but N*E*R*D* is who we are. It's our life. N*E*R*D* is just a basic belief, man. People's energies are made of their souls. When you die, that energy may disperse but it isn't destroyed. Energy cannot be destroyed. It can manifest in a different way but even then it's like their souls are going somewhere. If it's going to heaven or hell or even if it's going into a fog or somewhere in the atmosphere to lurk unbeknownst to itself, it's going somewhere." - Pharrell Williams, 2000

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Ashanti "The Declaration" album cover

Universal Motown The Declaration IN STORES JUNE 3rd

AshantiMusic.Net
http://www.universalmotown.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ashanti

New Chris Brown Single "Forever" from Exclusive: The Forever Edition

Chris Brown is set to release Exclusive: The Forever Edition on June 3rd. The Forever Edition, is an updated and revamped version of his multi-platinum release Exclusive and includes the original 16 tracks from the sophomore effort plus four brand new tracks that feature top-notch collaborations and a bonus DVD with unreleased concert and behind the scenes footage.

"Forever,” the lead single from the upcoming Forever Edition is a slight departure from Chris Brown’s usual musical forte. Produced by super-producer Polow da Don, “Forever,” is a rhythmic up-tempo song with a funky pop edge. Additional bonus tracks include: “Heart Ain’t A Brain,” “Super Human” with Keri Hilson, and the “Picture Perfect Remix” featuring Bow Wow & Hurricane Chris. Completing the Forever Edition package is a bonus DVD with a special montage of performances from his recent Up Close & Personal sold–out tour and never before seen behind the scenes footage.